The Boys Of The NYPD Choir......

Bessacarr  3  780 JLC  2

Central Midlands Football League – First Division North

Admission / Programme – No / £2

Christmas Eve football is a bit of a rare novelty, in fact the last time I managed to get to a game on the 24th was back in 2005 when I actually managed a double. On that day it was a morning kick off at Wellingborough Whitworths, followed by a quick drive down to Irchester United for an afternoon game.

So, with it falling on a Saturday in 2022, it did tempt a couple of fixtures secretaries to be royally kind to clubs, with the Somerset County League and the Central Midlands League being those thinking more about spectators than players and officials (it could be argued)!

I wasn’t going to Somerset on Christmas Eve, that would not have been a popular move, so it was going to be the Central Midlands, however, slowly but surely fixtures went by the wayside, leaving me with just a couple of options as the day dawned. One of those being a noon kick off at Dinnington Town, but having been there only a couple of weeks ago and being less than overwhelmed by the ‘developments’ that have taken place with the new 4G going down, I wasn’t really up for that.

No, the one I decided I was having a bit of was Bessacarr v 780 JLC, a 2pm kick off at Cantley Park in Doncaster, and more importantly confirmed as being on by the club. Confession time now, I have been before to Bessacarr, but I didn’t publicise the fact. 

It was 2^nd January 2021 and the development side in the Doncaster Senior League had a home game against Bawtry Town. It had snowed heavily, it was forecast to snow a bit more, and, at that time we were not fully liberated and it seems my tier status and the tier status of Doncaster were not compatible with each other. In short, I shouldn’t have been there, and until I actually pulled up at the ground, I didn’t even know if the game was going to take place. It did happen, it snowed some more, and the journey back was somewhat treacherous. But if anyone asks, I didn’t go, ok?

So, a return visit, this time legally, no need to pretend to have a Donny accent, and having arrived a good hour before kick-off, my first sight was of a few familiar faces, the desperados who simply can’t go without a game on a Saturday, wherever it may be! (I include myself in that collective by the way)

To be fair to Bessacarr, they were well set up for the day, a tea bar (and a real bar) were available for those who required food and beverages, while items of memorabilia and plentiful match day programmes were available to purchase for those who required something to touch and hold.

Ground wise, Cantley Park is exactly that, a big park on the East side of Doncaster that has numerous football pitches, a small pitch and putt gold course, and to the rear the training ground of Doncaster Rovers. Those of a historical bent may recall a team from the mid-Nineties called Case Sports who rocked up in the Central Midlands League for a period of three seasons. The works team of an agricultural machinery manufacturer, they were actually based at Cantley Park and according to some reliable sources who have more detailed knowledge than myself, they actually played on what is now the DRFC training facility.

Anyhow, with a brick building that houses various dressing rooms and the also the social area sat adjacent to the car park, the pitch that Bessacarr play on sits directly in from of it, and if we are being really precise, right next to the first tee of the golf course! They have a rope down one side, but other than that, apart from what they sell in the building, taking a gate etc would be impossible because of the open and public nature of the facility.

Both sides play in Division One North of the CMFL, with visiting Scunthorpe based 780 JLC, who are centred around John Leggott College, lying second in the table, and Bessacarr fifth, it turned out to be a very entertaining game of football.

The visitors took the lead from the penalty spot early in the game and looked the better side, but gradually the hosts worked their way back into proceedings and took a couple of chances late in the first half to go in at the break with a 2-1 lead.

Bessacarr got a third goal in the second period before 780 got a late consolation which set up a tense finish, that the home side managed to ride out for a deserved victory.

Given the volume of the travelling fraternity, someone was inevitably going to do a headcount and the figure that was being whispered around the touchline late in the game was 65, which to be fair was probably about right, with around half of that number having travelled from well outside of the Doncaster boundaries, legally of course.

On that, I spotted and indeed chatted to people who had travelled from Oxford, Merseyside, Cheshire, Garstang (yes, it was him who is named after a mode of transport….), Manchester and also Reading. Bessacarr, by agreeing to play on the 24^th, had done well out of this, and the suggestion of a certain Hop Afficionado from Long Eaton to produce a programme at £2 a pop proved to be a good one.

It seems New Years Eve also falls on a Saturday this year, and guess what, the CMFL have arranged a series of fixtures, let’s just hope neither the weather or the more volatile CBA don’t put a spanner in the works, so once again the desperados can get their fix. I mean, it’s not like their isn’t any football on every other day of the week at this time of year!

And the bells, were ringing out, for Christmas Day, finally.......