Everything's Premier

FC Premier  0  Leamington Hibernians  1

Friendly

It seemed a brilliant idea at the time.

The first Saturday in July, we were all systems go for Studley, I was just doing my final checks on Twitter, Steve was already well on his way from Chesterfield, the new season was almost underway.

But then I spotted a tweet from FC Premier, one of the new boys in the West Midlands Regional League. It appeared they were playing a friendly at their Ray Hall Lane home in Great Barr. A phone call to Steve followed, it was time for a quick change of plan, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, it meant we could save the floodlit home of Studley for another time.

Now then, anyone who has re-engaged with my relaunched blog might now be wondering what I’m talking about, only you would be correct in thinking that on Saturday 2^nd of July, we did in fact end up at Studley, not FC Premier. I’d better explain….

I was making my way through Streetly, along the edges of Sutton Park, admiring the kind of houses only criminal proceeds could fund, when Steve phoned me…

“I’ve got here, but the gates are locked.”

To be fair, it was getting on for two hours before kick off, I suggested to Steve that he hung on a bit because no one turns up for a pre-season friendly this early. It was only as I was taking a wrong turn onto a housing estate adjacent to the ground that Steve phoned me again…

“The away team have tweeted, some problem with a pitch mower, they’ve moved it to a 4G in Tipton.”

And that dear reader, is how we ended up in Studley.

Not to be deterred, another fixture appeared on the radar at Ray Hall Lane a couple of weeks later, so this time to make sure I contacted the Twitter person who indeed confirmed all was ok for the game against my old mates from Leamington Hibernians. On the day of the game the only slight worry was the heat and whether the game would be called off, or possibly the kick off time adjusted, but all was indeed well.

The West Midlands Regional League is always a bit of a guessing game in pre-season, in the sense that while they are pretty quick to get the constitutions out, finding out where clubs are actually playing is something of a lottery. Where a club played last season doesn’t always mean they will be in the same place following election to the league. Waiting for the directory or even the fixtures on Full Time is often the first indication of what might actually be happening. Pre-season venues mean nothing either, I’ve made that mistake before as well, but to be fair of all of the new teams this season FC Premier filled me with confidence, because Ray Hall Lane is the long standing home of the club (a Sunday side historically), so unless something bizarre happens, I’d like to think we’ve called this one right.

Steve was first to arrive, and he did indeed confirm that he’d seen players arriving, so filled with confidence it was a gentle walk up the road to the Malt Shovel for a snifter. The ground itself is located to the rear of the Birmingham County FA Ground and sits almost underneath the slip road that links the M6 to the M5. I’d got it into my head that they played on the pitch that runs parallel to the FA Ground on the North side, but I was wrong, it sits behind the West side of the ground and runs North / South as opposed to East / West.

Let’s not beat about the bush, it was roasting, and as we arrived at pitch side the grass was almost brown in colour so dry and parched it was. A rope barrier runs down one side, while the opposite side is tightly hemmed in by the adjacent railway line. The players changed in the nearby bowls club pavilion, otherwise in terms of structure and furniture, you had the permanent dug outs as the only barrier from the sun.

The game was played at a decent pace, interspersed with water breaks, and was ultimately decided by a penalty in the first half for the visitors, although to be fair it could have been 2-0 had it not have been for the referee disallowing an effort from the half way line that bounced up off the cross bar, only for the goalkeeper to then somehow manage to allow it to bounce off of him and into the net!

Fair play to the two sides though for putting on a display in the heat, and of course, FC Premier for getting that mower sorted out!