Oh When The Spurs

Gildersome Spurs Old Boys  2  Woodkirk Valley  0

Yorkshire Amateur League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

Hello Yorkshire Amateur League, it’s me again!

Yes, we’ve been to Ealandians, we’ve been to Greetland, and now with just one more club left in the promotion shake up, it was time to head to Leeds to watch the wonderfully named Gildersome Spurs Old Boys, who incidentally follow me on Twitter, thanks for that chaps, I don’t have many followers, stalkers maybe, but not followers……

I’ve been to see the Spurs play before, it was a long time ago though, 2015 to be precise, the first Saturday of the New Year and a County Cup tie against a side called St Nicholas. At the time they played at a school called the Bruntcliffe Academy in Morley, I remember it was bloody cold but there was a Toby Carvery down the road so I was happy with that!

Nowadays, they play somewhere else, in Gildersome itself, on a playing field just off Street Lane, which is almost directly opposite Gildersome Sports Club which I assume is the clubs base?

This is the thing though, last season the club finished in a promotion place and if memory serves me correctly they didn’t get promoted due to ground issues, so whether the Street Lane facility is going to be ok to get them up, I’m not sure, especially as the players have to change in the sports club and then cross over the main road to get to the pitch. Anyway, that’s one for the AGMs and all that, right now it was a chance to watch a game at a new ground, and the rest will kind of take care of itself.

Gildersome, now that’s a name you hear a lot on the traffic reports on the radio, along with Chain Bar and Ainley Top, they are notorious M62 carnage zones, and tonight was not exactly plain sailing. All went well until the M62 exit and then it all turns to brown stuff as you crawl Leeds bound. Thankfully Street Lane is only a stones throw from the motorway exit, so pain aside, I was soon driving past the ground and observing the fact that no one could be seen and no signs were apparent that a football match was taking place.

Not to worry though, I turned into the Sports Club and saw players walking towards the building at the end, it was game on, I was just a little bit early. Turns out it was bingo night at the club and I was advised by a local not to park at the club as I might not get out easily so I elected to go and park on the road alongside the pitch, and watched as players dodged the traffic to get onto the turf.

There are two pitches at Street Lane, one of them appeared to be hosting a game of what I will describe as ‘tag’ Rugby League, where the players have a ribbon hanging from their shorts that if it gets removed by an opponent, you have effectively been tackled. That provided a few moments amusement, but the action I was interested in was taking place on the other pitch.

As you would expect with a pitch that I assume is maintained by a local authority at this time of year, the grass was pretty long, it was bumpy and uneven, while it wasn’t that easy to see the pitch markings. As you wandered around the perimeter of the pitch it was also noticeably quite boggy so I elected to stand on the elevated banking at the South end of the pitch.

Visiting Woodkirk Valley had been in the promotion mix up until relatively recently, but they’ve dropped away as the likes of Spurs and Ealandians have put runs together that have propelled them into the pole positions, and with Spurs having only lost three games all season, promotion was already in the bag. Albeit the two previous games had been declared as walkovers which was presumably due to opponents not being arsed (the correct term is of course being unable to raise a team).

Gildersome won the game 2-0, it wasn’t a fabulous spectacle but the pitch didn’t help matters to be fair. All eyes will now be on what comes next.

Will it be the Supreme Division, the runners up spot is guaranteed so league placings won’t be an issue, it will I imagine come down to facilities.

It is of course possible I might be paying Spurs a visit again next season, albeit somewhere else, I’ll let you know in July when the YAL drops it’s handbook onto the Interweb.

I kind of hope I do go again to be honest, it seems as they follow me I can call them friends, but then again, they’ve not read this article yet, you can soon fall out with people you know!

A Tragedy? Never.....

Arnold Town  5  Wirksworth Ivanhoe  3

Central Midlands League – Premier Division South

Admission / Programme - £5 / £1

It would be completely out of context to describe a football clubs demise on the pitch as a tragedy.

The word tragedy itself is too strong a word when it comes to pure sport, sport is a pastime, a game, a source of entertainment, it is not as Mr Shankly foolishly said, more important than life or death.

But when I think of Arnold Town, I do so with a sense of sadness, and by the way, what I am about to say bears no reflection on those currently running and volunteering at the club, and nor is it in any way meant to be patronising or condescending, it’s just merely my thoughts.

When I first started watching non-league football in the early eighties, and thoughts turned to Nottinghamshire, they immediately went to Arnold Football Club. Based at the Gedling Road ground in the centre of the town, they were a force. In the 1977-78 season they reached the First Round of the FA Cup, losing in a replay to Port Vale, after holding them to a draw at home. But having originally been formed as Arnold St Marys, in the sixties and seventies they were one of the brighter lights in a powerful Midland League, finishing runners-up on a couple of occasions before becoming founder members of the Northern Counties East League.

Belper Town won the NCE in 1984-85, but the following season Arnold took their crown with a fine side lead by Ivan Hollett and John Harrison (who themselves had jointly managed the 1979-80 Belper Town Midland League winning side). They could have applied to join the Northern Premier League at this point, but along with many local clubs they took the decision to enter the newly formed Central Midlands League Supreme Division.

The grand plans for this competition never came to fruition, and Arnold didn’t grab it perhaps like some expected, and having merged with neighbours Arnold Kingswell to create the modern day name of Arnold Town, they finally clinched the title in 1993, and with it gained promotion to the First Division of the NCE, which of course was one league lower than where they left it seven years earlier!

They smashed their way through the new league at the first attempt and then the following season they were runners-up to Lincoln United in the top flight, all was good in the World, Arnold were back on the map again.

They didn’t really kick on though, having mixed seasons thereafter, but always a well supported club, they were a mainstay of the Nottinghamshire scene, but then it all changed.

At the end of the 2007-08 season the club were forced to leave Gedling Road, and I don’t know the exact details as to why but from memory it was something to do with it being a public park, and one individual kicking off about rights of way and charging admission etc. I could be wrong, but put it another way, the club didn’t have a choice in the end, and I don’t think they were overly happy about having to give up Gedling Road.

Gedling Road was a lovely ground, with a low seated stand behind the goal and a long covered terrace along one side, I went on many occasions. I remember seeing them beat a powerful Burton Albion side in the FA Trophy in 1983-84, while the following season as Belper marched to the championship I can vividly recall our last defeat of the season coming at Gedling Road when we lost goalkeeper Mark Thornley through injury.

So, the club had to find a new home, and that was to be Eagle Valley, a large open space just over three miles North of Arnold, in fact closer to the village of Calverton than it is to Arnold. Put bluntly, it’s in the middle of nowhere just off the main road that runs from Arnold up to the eastern side of Mansfield. If you haven’t got a car, you aren’t going!

And that was kind of the problem, you had a town centre ground that pretty much everyone could get to, and then you move to Eagle Valley where a large chunk of your support would find a challenge to visit.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice facility with a variety of pitches, and a stadium pitch which has both a seated stand and a terraced stand, complete with large clubhouse, plus a huge car park, because of course, without a car, you ain’t going!

So crowds dropped, interest waned, the club fell into the East Midlands Counties League (Step 6), and then after a disastrous 2018-19 season when they finished bottom having conceded 154 goals (the fourth season in a row they conceded three figures), they found themselves back in the Central Midlands League, which was a very different competition to the one they thought they were joining in 1986.

In the first post Covid season of 2021-22, they finished next to bottom of the South division, again conceding over 100 goals, and at the time I must be honest, I was starting to fear for the clubs very existence. I actually watched them play away at Retford United last season and in that game they shipped nine goals, it was sad to see. I remember back in the day, gents like Roy Francis, Ivan Long, Mel Leivers and many others, what would they be thinking and feeling?

But, it seems things might finally be starting to turn, this season they have been largely sat in a mid-table place and on a lovely night for football I decided to head to Eagle Valley for the first time in a many a year to see the game against Wirksworth Ivanhoe.

Getting to Eagle Valley by car is straightforward enough, off the M1 at junction 27, head to Hucknall, turn left through Linby and into Papplewick before heading towards Nottingham on the Mansfield Road. At the junction with Oxton Road sits the ground on your left, surrounded by fields and trees.

A modest number of spectators rolled up for the game, 67 it seems, and crowds are typically below three figures these days anyway at Eagle Valley, but what they were treated to was a fantastic game of football.

Arnold were 2-0 up at half time, but shortly after the break Wirksworth had pulled it back to 2-2, and then found themselves 3-2 up as the game swung in completely the opposite direction, but that was the spur Arnold needed.

Jake Ogden completed his hat-trick and thanks to two goals from Liam Black, the game swung back again, with Arnold scoring three times without reply to record a 5-3 victory over a side who had held them to a 1-1 draw a week previously.

It had been fantastically entertaining, and you did wonder just whether the fortunes were starting to change for Arnold after so many seasons of toil. 

Ok, it’s a long way back, and Eagle Valley will never be Gedling Road, but surely if there is any justice in football, this club will get back to Step 5 and at least be punching along with old rivals Hucknall Town and Eastwood in the near future.

So no, it wasn’t a tragedy by any means, the club still exists, a nightmare, absolutely, but it’s possible to recover, and maybe now, that recovery is under way.

I certainly hope so.

Elland Back

Greetland  6  Golcar United Reserves  2

Yorkshire Amateur League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

So, we get back from Ealandians on a Wednesday night and thoughts turn to Saturday over a can of Carling.

The Yorkshire Amateur League was looking good again, and a quick glance at the fixtures tells me Greetland are playing at home, and a win would give them the league title and presumably promotion to the top flight.

Simple enough then, I’m going to Greetland, but where exactly is Greetland and where does the football team play. A school it appears, Brooksbank School, and thanks to Google Maps I found it pretty quickly, turns out it’s in Elland, and is only a five minute walk from the home of Ealandians.

Greetland were playing Golcar United Reserves with a 2pm kick off, and in short I was turning right about fifty yards before I turned right a few days earlier, and this time it was to take me to the sports facilities at the back of the said school.

I arrived nice and early, just as the players were arriving, and with little around of the refreshment variety it gave me a chance to do a little bit of research into the club. Greetland itself is a small village set just to the North West of the centre of Elland, and apparently, bearing in mind I referenced this in my last blog about Ealandians, the Tour de France passed through the village in 2014 as the cyclists went from York to Sheffield.

The football club though, well it appears they are over 50 years old, and as a club they have teams right through from juniors, to ladies, to disability teams and of course the senior men’s teams. The clubs base is the Community Centre in the village, but the first team, presumably to meet league requirements, play on the 4G at the school.

They only joined the Yorkshire Amateur League at the start of the current season, having won the Premier Division of the Halifax & District League the season before, going the full campaign unbeaten. The clubs performances clearly warranted being parachuted into the second tier of the YAL, a competition that boasts seven divisions which in this day and age is some feat.

They’ve taken it by storm to be fair, only two defeats all campaign is impressive stuff and with the Supreme Division beckoning, you wouldn’t put it past them to make another challenge for the honours.

So what’s Brooksbank School like then? Well, you can probably imagine, it’s a big old complex with a mix of traditional style buildings where headmasters in mortar boards and gowns would patrol, along with more modern structures, where teachers in jeans, sporting beards and tattoo’s wander the corridors insisting they are addressed by the pupils by their christian names! Not in my day, I can tell you…….

Anyway, to the rear of the school are the sports facilities, while on a plateau, on the edges of a hillside which looks up towards Ainley Top, is the floodlit cage that contains the football pitch. Like many of it’s type it has a viewing area down one side, and with a league title at stake, by kick off a good number of locals had made their way to watch the proceedings.

The game didn’t start overly well for the hosts, finding themselves behind in the game early on against the second string side of the Huddersfield based club, but once Greetland got into their stride they put on an impressive display of pace and movement, running out 6-2 victors, with the star of the show being Reece Wilby who netted a hat-trick.

As we moved into the closing stages, Greetland officials clad in smart club tracksuit tops went to their cars to collect various alcoholic substances, which were clearly going to be shaken and opened (over each other) at the final whistle by the players. As the celebrations began I made my way to my car and set off back up the hill to the M62.

As you get close to the motorway junction you are pretty high up, and a glance to your left gives you the view down onto the football pitch, and as I did this, I could see the celebrations were still under way on the synthetic surface.

Greetland are on the up, they are one to keep an eye on, and as for Elland, well it’s becoming a bit of a footballing hotbed isn’t it?

The Elland Road

Ealandians  3  Morley Town  2

Yorkshire Amateur League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

I embarked upon one of the most enjoyable hours drives to a football game I’ve taken in many a year when I set off from Hillsborough to go to Elland on a sun drenched Wednesday evening!

A day in our Hillsborough office saw me head up the hill out towards Bradfield, with the large reservoir to the left, through the beautiful countryside and then round the windy bit where the cycling thingy went a few years ago, before dropping down through Midhopestones.

A short run across the Stocksbridge bypass takes you to the Flouch Roundabout and then it’s the long scenic road into Huddersfield that takes in Hepworth, Holmfirth, Honley (where Mrs H lived for a while) and Berry Brow. Once Huddersfield has been negotiated, it’s out along the rather posh Halifax Road before climbing up towards the M62, going underneath it, and then dropping down into Elland with lovely view from Ainley Top into the distance.

Yeah, I bloody loved it, an hour of my life that didn’t half lift my spirits, and left me feeling glad that May midweek early kick off’s are still on the agenda, with another couple of weeks worth to go at yet still.

So what took me to Elland then? Well, I’ve been staying pretty close in recent weeks to sides that may move from the Premier Division of the Yorkshire Amateur League, into the Supreme Division. We were now at a point that it looked likely that any number of the threesome that is Greetland, Gildersome Spurs Old Boys, and indeed Ealandians would be well placed for the promotion places.

Ealandians versus Morley Town, that ticked the boxes, and having read some positive reports from people who’d been to Ealandians both recently and over previous seasons, I was keen to go and have a look. To be honest though, I’ve only ever been to Elland a couple of times before in my life and both visits were quite a few years ago. Once to the wonderfully named Old Earth football ground, the home of Huddersfield Amateurs, and the other being the Halifax Irish home on the road out towards Siddal.

So, not being overly familiar with the town, I rocked up at the Elland Cricket Club home of Ealandians and grabbed a parking space. Turns out there was a Wake on in the Cricket Club bar, I found that out as I waltzed in to get a pre-match pint. I think for a few the drink had taken hold and the fact a complete stranger had turned up was of no concern to them at all, taxi’s kept arriving, I kept out of the way and sat back as people departed, as send offs go, God rest whoever’s soul it was, it looks like they had a good one.

What a lovely place to watch football it is, set up on high ground, with lovely views out over the general Halifax area, the pitch sits at the far end of the cricket ground and I suspect has something of an overlap onto the outfield. Flanked by a large wall on two sides, it does have a somewhat enclosed feel to it, but from a furniture perspective, none of that, and why should there be, in my opinion it would just spoil the location.

So we had a lovely location, but what about the game?

To be fair it was an entertaining encounter with the lowly visitors not making life easy for Ealandians at all. Twice Morley took the lead but playing up the slope Ealandians kept battling back and went in at the break leading 3-2.

The second half was largely one way traffic, with the hosts spending large parts camped in the Morley half of the pitch, but despite creating plenty of chances the goal that would have given them some daylight never came. As the game moved into the final minutes, sniffing an equaliser, Morley went on the offensive but couldn’t find a way through.

The victory all but sealed a top three finish for Ealandians and what should hopefully be a deserved promotion place for a great little club with a lovely home.

I can’t say as the journey back was quite as scenic as the one I made to get to Elland, what with it being all M62 and M1 back to Derbyshire, but, what I didn’t realise at the time was that three days later I’d be back in Elland again, less than a couple of hundred yards away from the home of Ealandians.

More on that later…….

Mickleover Memories

Mickleover Royal British Legion  1  Clay Cross Town  2

Central Midlands League – Premier Division South

Admission / Programme - £4 / £1

Not many places take me down memory lane when it comes to my childhood, but Mickleover is a place that certainly does.

As far back as I can remember, we would all get in the car on a Saturday morning and off to Grandma Doreen’s we would go, 8 Oak Drive, I remember it so well, a bungalow at the end of a cul-de-sac. We would spend the day at her house while Dad would head off to football, at first it would be to watch the Rams, but then it became Belper Town, until such a time when I was old enough to start going to games with him.

I started going regularly to football in 1983, at the age of eleven, but some Saturday’s, if it was a longer distance away game for Belper we’d not always go, sometimes we went to Burton Albion instead, but every so often the Baseball Ground as a special treat, which I think Dad liked because he used to leave me in the car listening to the radio while he met his mates in the Vine pub at the end of Madeley Street to have a beer and play cards.

I can’t recall why this happened though, but one Saturday in March 1985, as Belper were heading towards the league championship, I found myself in Mickleover minus my Dad. The Nailers were at home to Sutton Town, and I can think of any logical reason why I wouldn’t have been at the game, but anyway, I wasn’t, he was, so I decided to have a little wander.

With permission from Mother granted, I took a little stroll around Mickleover to Ypres Lodge to watch Mickleover Royal British Legion play Denby Drury Lowe in a Central Midlands League game. My memories are hazy, I just remember a large expanse set amongst some housing, with some wooden buildings in one corner, presumably one of which was the actual legion itself. The game ended 0-0, and that was kind of it.

Football in Mickleover at that stage in the Eighties was all about RBL, they had some decent players, they played in the FA Vase for eight seasons, and indeed for one season in 1992-93 they competed in the FA Cup, ironically losing to Belper Town. They were founder members of the Central Midlands League, where they remained until 2001, before dropping out into local football. Of course that kind of coincided with the club from just up the road, Mickleover Sports, who’s own climb up the leagues is well documented.

RBL bounced back though, returning to the CML in 2013 from the Midlands Regional Alliance, a competition they remain in still today. After that game in 1985, I didn’t return to RBL until 2010, this time for an MRA game against Punjab United, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The actual British Legion building was now a large two story construction that also serves as something of a community hub. With a bar on the top floor, you could walk out onto the balcony and watch the game if you so wished.

This season, they’ve had probably the clubs best campaign in many a year, they look like finishing runners-up in the league, and only a few days previously they had beaten tonight’s visitors Clay Cross Town to win the League Cup at Alfreton Town’s ground.

As I say, Clay Cross Town were to be the visitors tonight, and barring an unmitigated disaster (trust me, they’ve had one or two at the Cross), they are going to win the league, and should they get a win at Poppyfields, as the ground is now known, then the title would be 99.99% in the bag.

I’ll be honest, and this isn’t meant to be in any way a knock at Mickleover Sports (or FC as they are now known), but whenever I go to Station Road I don’t actually feel like I’m truly in Mickleover, and that’s probably because it’s on the very edges of the place, and to get to it you don’t enter the village itself. But to go to RBL, I go past places I can remember so well as a child, East Avenue on the left hand side which took you round past the shops and the Robin pub. Along Western Road, to the junction with North Avenue, the route I would have walked from Oak Drive back in 1985, all memories of an innocent childhood.

I enjoyed spending time in Mickleover as a child, but we move on don’t we, so sentimentality to one side, what have I got to tell you about the night RBL played Clay Cross?

Firstly, I do like the place, you now drive up through a small new build estate and park to the side of the large building. The RBL building dominates one side of the ground and with the bar opening at 7pm, it paved the way for some al-fresco boozing to take place. Opposite the RBL are two small areas of cover that sit adjacent to the dugouts, while the fence that backs up to some more new build housing sits tightly to this side of the ground.

To the left of the RBL is an all-weather area for small sized football, while behind the goal it is open, as it is behind the right hand goal. Trees are maturing around the edges of the ground, so despite it’s hemmed in nature, it does have a very nice aesthetic feel to it.

One member of the RBL management team is David Holmes. Dave I remember from his playing days, and quite some player he was. He had a brief spell at Belper Town before going on to Gresley Rovers and really making his mark, earning a big money transfer to Gloucester City when at the time some thought he may move into the Football League. He then had spells with Burton Albion, Ilkeston Town and Alfreton Town amongst others before retiring.

The game was tight, two good sides to be fair, and it was RBL who took the lead through Mason Booth-Davies, only for Callum Lytham to equalise on the twenty minute mark. The game remained close as we moved into the second period but the vital winning goal came via Sam Kelly in the 72^nd minute when his shot took a deflection and eluded the RBL goalkeeper.

So, Clay Cross effectively won the league with the victory and I assume promotion to the United Counties League, but RBL on the other hand, I can see no reason why they can’t be in the mix for the title next season. Promotion though, mmm, not sure that getting floodlights at Poppyfields is going to be that straightforward given the amount of housing in close proximity.

But for me, just to be able to go back into the heart of Mickleover is something I’ll never tire of doing, memories of my formative footballing years, a time when Derby County were in the third tier of English football, oh hang on a minute……….   

Spike Island

Parklands  2  Knutsford  0

Cheshire Football League – First Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

I’ve been waiting years to be able to write a blog about my experiences in Widnes, and finally the time has arrived, thanks to Parklands Football Club who after beating Knutsford 2-0 have gained promotion to the Premier Division of the Cheshire Football League.

Widnes, and indeed Runcorn, the two Cheshire towns that are conjoined by the Runcorn Bridge, a bridge made famous by Sheridan Smith, Will Mellor, Ralf Little and some other actress who’s name escapes me, who starred in ‘Two Pints Of Lager…..’, which of course was set, for a lot of the time, in a pub under the shadows of the said bridge.

Runcorn, well, I know it pretty well, I went to the old Canal Street back in the mid-Nineties to see Runcorn FC play Leek Town, while I’ve also been to the homes of Runcorn Linnets and Runcorn Town. Town in particular being a belter of a ground set right in the heart of the oil refineries and such metal shininess on the very edges of the River Mersey. We had a regional office in Runcorn as well once that I was summoned to visit on a number of occasions, it gave the opportunity to explore the town centre at lunch times and also to grab a sandwich and eat it on a park bench under the bridge!

So that’s Runcorn, but this isn’t about Runcorn, it’s about Widnes, so sorry Widnes, the floor is now yours!

Widnes then, as a town it first came to my attention in the Eighties, purely through the Rugby League team and the excitement that occurred when they signed Jonathan Davies from Rugby Union club Llanelli for a then massive fee. Widnes were the dominant force in the sport and the code busting move was massive news at the time.

Fast forward to 1990, Madchester was in full swing, loose fitting clothes was the fashion, and along with a mate, we bought tickets from Way Ahead Records in Derby to watch the Stone Roses perform live at Spike Island, in Widnes.

Now, looking back, the day went as you would expect, a Sunday morning bus trip, a warm day in what is effectively a nature reserve on the banks of the Mersey, with the Runcorn Bridge up above. Tickets were being touted and begged for on the way in, security was breached as people came over the fences, and after listening to various support acts, including Paul Oakenfold, on came Ian Brown and the guys.

The sound quality wasn’t great, Brown is not a charismatic man when it comes to being on stage, so little in the way of insight or banter from him, but as the afternoon moved into the evening and for many the substances were taking hold, we were part of an iconic moment in British music history.

Then we all went home, talked about it a bit back at college, and sort of forgot about it, until about twenty years later when we had a Roses revival and our kids suddenly decided they were into them! In fact I remember telling my own daughter about the gig only a couple of years ago, for once in her life when it came to talking to me, she was momentarily speechless, but only momentarily, “Dad, wtf?”

I have been to a sporting event in Widnes, at the Halton Stadium, which is basically the rebuilt home of Widnes Vikings (as the RL team are now known). Runcorn FC Halton had a spell playing at the ground, and I saw them take on Droyslden. Someone had vandalised a match poster outside the ground and changed the game to ‘Carthorses v Thugs’, it was about right at the time, neither club exists anymore, or at least not in the guises they once were!

Oh, I also stayed in a hotel on the Northern outskirts once when I had an early morning flight from Liverpool to Belfast, it meant a dawn drive through the middle of Widnes out to Speke, I don’t remember an awful lot about it, but it wasn’t overly busy at 4.30am!

So then, memories blurted out into the written format, let’s fast forward to present day reality.

I’ve had my eye on Parklands because they’ve lead the way in the First Division for the bulk of the season and a recent unbeaten run has seen them on the brink of promotion, and as I try and keep on top of the Premier Division, a late season visit ticked the boxes.

My mate Dave is an expert when it comes to roads, and he advised me to give the sat nav a swerve and rather than go up the M6 all the way to the M62, he told me to get off earlier, join the M56 and then take the new bridge, the Mersey Gateway, into Widnes.

That all made sense, and for the princely sum of £2 I got a very easy run over the river, with the old Runcorn Bridge to my left, and was soon on the North bank of the Mersey, taking the exit for Widnes and being directed away from the town centre in a Westerly direction.

Parklands play at the Parklands Sports Club which is on the very outskirts of the town, and as you would expect given the name, it’s a large complex that appears primarily devoted to football. What was really impressive was the social club which was a smart multi-roomed facility which on the day was hosting two separate Holy Communion’s

The actual playing area at the far end of the complex comprised of a couple of dugouts and sections of rope down each side of the pitch to prevent what could easily have been a mass pitch invasion should Parklands have got the result that would have ensured promotion.

To be fair though, despite Knutsford’s lowly league position, they didn’t make it easy for the hosts, in fact it took until after the half time break before the deadlock was broken and that came courtesy of Noah Robson, who’s finish lead to wild celebrations among the home contingent.

A second goal from Conor Speed effectively sealed the points, and meant Parklands could relax a little as the game moved into it’s closing stages, knowing promotion was in the bag.

The decent crowd had turned up to watch the game, and at the final whistle the celebrations started, and as I write this blog, further victories for Parklands have seen them go on to clinch the championship. It will of course be interesting to see how they fare in the Premier Division next season.

I elected to head back through the village on Cronton and out North onto the M62, on toll bridge in a day is enough for me….but with memories of Widnes stirred, it was time for some Stone Roses on the way back.

“She wakes up with the sun, she asked me what is all the fuss……..”

Wales

Sheffield Town  0  Swinton Athletic  5

Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

I had a plan, I was going to go to Wales for a 6pm kick off, but when I checked the social media account of the team from Wales just before leaving our Doncaster branch at 5pm, I saw the game was off because the visitors from the Dearne Valley could not raise a side.

Not to worry though, right next door to Wales another game was taking place, and that was on, I could do it in 20 minutes from Doncaster…..

Confused, ok, well it gets even more confusing when I explain in more detail!

Firstly, we are not talking Welsh Wales here, we are talking the South Yorkshire variant that sits just off Junction 31 of the M1. Playing at Wales High School are Kiveton Park FC, a pretty famous club who once graced the Yorkshire League back in the day, and have indeed had it tough over the past few years. They were forced to leave their home in the village of Kiveton Park and relocate only a short distance away, it wasn’t ideal and from what I can glean it left a bitter taste, but more on that later.

Strangely though, it wasn’t the end of football in Kiveton Park though, because moving into the ground initially were Renishaw Rangers, who plied their craft in the Central Midlands League, and they morphed into Kiveton Miners Welfare, who remain today but word on the street is that they might be about to fold.

They share the ground with another team, Sheffield Town, current members of the Premier Division of the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League, and it was to be the game against Swinton Athletic that was my plan B, after of course Kiveton Park v Wombwell SA Reserves was called off late in the day.

So what cracked off with Kiveton Park and the ground in, err, Kiveton Park then?

Well, history wise, they were formed in 1881, and to cut a long story short they moved up through the leagues to the Yorkshire League, before it became the Northern Counties East League in 1982, which they became founder members of.

Ground grading issues hit them and they were forced to resign and join the Central Midlands League, followed by having a period in abeyance in the mid Nineties when the colliery closed down. A lack of floodlights hampered progress, and that combined with increasing travel costs saw them join the more locally based Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League.

It started to turn sour though, local residents began to complain about car parking, and attempts to gain grants floundered due to the clubs links with the Miners Welfare. However, the final nail in the coffin came when CISWO (Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation) indicated they were considering selling the ground off, and to facilitate that they increased the rent to a level ‘Kivo’ could no longer afford. A move to the school in Wales followed, but all of a sudden, the ground started to be used by Renishaw Rangers, and has been used ever since by other clubs. Begs a question I guess?

So right now, Kiveton Park FC are indeed in Wales, and as I’ve said, Hard Lane in Kiveton Park is being used by Kiveton Miners Welfare and of course, Sheffield Town.

Sheffield Town, so what’s the story with them then?

Well, they are pretty new to the scene, and to be fair information is a little scarce, however they were the team formerly known as Burngreave FC and at the time when they joined the County Senior League they played at Fir Vale School close to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield. The Burngreave side rose through the divisions and by the time they made it to the Premier grade they took the decision to change their name to Sheffield Town (Sheffield is a City of course but someone had already got that name!). The move to Kiveton Park came at the start of the season, and to be fair, they have previously made enquiries about promotion to Step 6 so clearly with that in mind, they are ambitious.

So, do I have history with the Hard Lane ground then? Well, of course I do…..

My last visit was in 2005 for a Central Midlands League game between Kiveton Park and Newark Town, it didn’t end well for Kivo, they lost 5-0. I remember it vividly, not because of the game ,but because of my visit to the Saxon pub beforehand that is less than a five minute walk from the ground.

The Saxon at the time was an interesting venue, for a Saturday afternoon, I won’t say I felt unwelcome, but I was glad to escape with all body parts intact. I wouldn’t say it was the least welcoming pub I’d ever been to, but it would be in the top two along with the infamous Lodge at Thurnby where I genuinely felt scared!

Moving back to present day, I spotted the Saxon to my right as I went to the car park at Hard Lane, and, decided to have a little revisit, just to see if my original views were unreasonable or not!

It’s been done up, and to be fair the welcome was friendly, no issues at all with that, apart from, it appears it is a designated mobile phone free zone. Signs were up all over the place, including printed on the bar staff’s T Shirts, stating that if you want to use a mobile, you have to go outside, even for browsing, I know that because I asked!

So, I had to sit with a pint, and stare at the wall, I didn’t like it, it felt unnatural, I had no friends to talk to so I quickly left…..I suspect I won’t be back again now having tried it twice! It obviously works for certain locals in Kivo, but not for me!

Has the ground changed much since I last went? Well the old stand which is synonymous in terms of it’s style with others on Miners Welfare grounds in South Yorkshire, has been done up and now contains seats, while a former hospitality box which has been taken from Hucknall Town’s former Watnall Road ground has been plonked next to it.

Otherwise, the changing rooms are still outside of the perimeter of the ground in the far corner, and the old post and rail around the pitch remains. In fact, it remains largely unspoilt, and yes, it’s clearly seen better days, but it’s one of a dying breed, an old fashioned miners welfare ground, where large crowds gathered in the halcyon days of the Yorkshire League in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s.

The game was pretty much a one sided affair, championship chasing Swinton won 5-0 against a Sheffield side that is battling against the spectre of relegation. Nathan Walsh gave the visitors a first half lead while Walsh again and Curtis Wilkinson made it 3-0 at half time. Goals followed after the break from Justin Greenwood and Wilkinson who became the second plater to bag a brace.

And that was kind of it, it wasn’t Wales, but it was pretty damn close…..but, it’s just a shame that a famous old venue in Kiveton Park, isn’t able to host a famous old name like Kiveton Park.

Politics eh?

Stabbo

Stapleford Town  1  Sandiacre Town  0

Nottinghamshire Senior League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – No / Online

For those not familiar with the local pronunciations of East Midlands towns, it could be a bit tricky when listening to locals, trying to fathom out exactly where they are talking about.

I mean, for example, if you were nipping over to see the Ofton v Ilson game, then you would of course be going to watch Alfreton against Ilkeston. Then of course if you were planning a day out in Bowza, then of course you would be taking in the delights of Bolsover. Furthermore, going to watch the 'osses at Utcheter, you would probably be having a day out at Uttoxeter Races.

I heard a new one a couple of years ago, Stabbo. It seems if you are from the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire border town of Stapleford, then you are from Stabbo. As far as I am aware, it is nothing at all to do with the violent pastimes of the locals, not at all, in fact it’s like all of the others, a local pronunciation / nickname of the town in which they live.

The reason I heard it was because Stapleford Town Football Club had found themselves on the map and were making progress up the leagues. Now I first got wind of the club in 2013 when they became members of the Midlands Regional Alliance, going to watch them play against Willington Sports and duly winning the game 10-2. The original club in the town was Stapleford Villa (formed in 2002), and it was they who the current club evolved from, when Villa went into decline. For the record, Town were formed in 2012, with a clear vision to be a community club for all.

They moved on at quite a pace after that, transferring into the NSL and working their way to the top flight, indeed winning the championship in 2018-19 and finishing runners up last season to Southwell City. This season, they are in with an excellent chance of landing the championship for a second time, with the visitors this evening Sandiacre Town also in with a chance, but the one they need to overcome, with their games in hand, is Keyworth United. 

When I first went to ‘Stabbo’, they played at the Hickings Lane Recreation Ground, a short walk from the centre of the town, on a roped off pitch directly in front of the dressing room block. But nowadays they play on the opposite side of the recreation ground in a corner that’s flanked by housing and commerce. They have developed a railed off pitch and installed dugouts, but to gain promotion to Step 6, significant work would be needed to be done, something the club is acutely aware of. With eyes on Step 6, they did have a spell playing at the home of Borrowash Victoria, but they have since gone back to their home town, and are working with Broxtowe Borough Council on a way forward, with plans in place for a significant transformation at Hickings Lane.

The game did catch my eye for a couple of reasons, one being that I’d not been since they moved across to the other side of the complex, but more importantly, it was a local derby that had something on it. The two had met in late March at Sandiacre, and Stabbo had come away with a 3-1 win, this time around, Stapleford knew that a win was a must to keep the pressure on Keyworth. As I type this, Stabbo now need ten points from five games, my money is on them. In fairness though Sandiacre have applied for Step 6 themselves and again, I would be confident given the fact they will finish in a promotion place and have the facilities, they will be in the United Counties League next season.

A very good crowd of 177 (someone counted them) turned up for an early evening kick off on a pleasant night, and they were treated to a tight game. Chances were few and far between but the game was decided in the first half when Kieran Diver’s header from a corner struck the underside of the bar and was adjudged to have bounced down behind the line. 

The pitch itself wasn’t overly conducive to quality football, but the game was always engaging, and with their only being one goal in it, you felt the balance of power could shift at any stage. To be fair though, as the second half wore on, you felt Sandiacre ran out of ideas and in the end the result wasn’t ever in any real dispute.

So, at the final whistle it was a scramble to get out of the tightly packed car park, away through Trowell and over the border back into Ilkeston and then eventually home to Belper in pretty quick time.

Stabbo, don’t let the name put you off, they are a very god club and the folks involved were nothing but friendly. Keep an eye on them over the next few years, if they can get the ground sorted via the relevant local authorities, it may well be that the journey continues at a pace. 

15,000 people live in Stapleford, the potential is there, but they need help to realise it…

**Postscript - Stabbo won the league on Saturday 6th May with a 9-0 victory over Ravenshead

Big In Japan

London Samurai Rovers  6  FC Deportivo Galicia  1

Combined Counties League  – First Division

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2

I’m not going to repeat the debacle of what has been the 2022-23 season and my attempts to get to the Rectory Meadow home of Hanworth Villa, other than to say, since my last blog where I ended up elsewhere for the fourth time in less than six months, Steve has also had the misfortune of rocking up in the car park only to find that the game has just been called off (Easter Monday v Northwood to be precise).

But one thing I’m not is a quitter (apart from pretty much every role I ever took on at Belper Town Football Club – I’ve quit and had more comebacks than a heavyweight boxer when it comes to that club). So, I had a plan, I only discovered pretty recently that another club also played at Rectory Meadow, and that was Step 6 side London Samurai Rovers. Furthermore, I wasn’t going to go a Hanworth home game midweek (they did have a few to fit in), but, once we’d got to the holiday in Devon, I’d no longer got any Saturday home games left to go to, so if I wanted to get this season, I only had one way of doing it.

LSR (as I will now call them) only had one Saturday home game left and that was on what was officially the last Saturday of the non-league season when it comes to Steps 3 to 6. The game was against FC Deportivo Galicia (who themselves groundshare at nearby Bedfont Sports), and having looked at the league table, both clubs were well in with a shout of a promotion play-off spot to move up to Step 5.

I’ll be honest, up until recently I can honestly say, other than seeing their name on a list of member clubs, I had no idea who LSR were, what they were about, or where they had come from. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the element of surprise, but by the same token, I do like to have an idea of what I’m going to watch, so I did my homework.

Formed in 2017 they are clearly a very young club indeed, but at the time of formation they were known as London Samurai United. Based around the West London area of Acton, they were designed to serve the footballing needs of the large Japanese community, and from a playing perspective they started out in the Middlesex County League. They then merged with JL Rovers and with it came the new name, and a promotion to the Combined Counties League where they now reside. Up until this season they played at the Twyford Avenue Sports Ground in Acton, but the promotion to the CCL meant they needed better facilities, hence Hanworth.

Digging a bit deeper, it appears from a hierarchical perspective, they have some serious names involved with the club. Maya Yoshida (Schalke 04 & Japan) is a Principal and Shareholder, while Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal & Japan), and Takumi Minamino (Liverpool & Japan) are Vice Principal’s of the club.

This is a club that has very quickly become rich with membership, having male and female sides down to junior levels, and a huge membership base not just amongst the Japanese community, but all communities within West London. It is truly quite a success story, but more on the club later.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t massively confident before setting off, in fact the night before Steve was winding me up by playing a game of Hanworth Villa Postponement Roulette, partly because with the weather set fair, what inexplicable issue could arise to see the game being called off? I held my nerve, Steve was more of the view that due to the soft nature of the pitch, a mole infestation was probably going to be my downfall.

So yes, I checked Twitter on Saturday morning for both clubs and at the point where I was setting off we had nothing, but then having spoken to my old mate Dave on the way down he did inform me that LSR had indeed tweeted about the game etc. That said, I was still a touch apprehensive as I trundled the last couple of miles along the M3 (maybe I was having flashbacks to last time), and meandered my way around the houses before heading along the track into the car park.

It was as I was on the very final leg of my journey, in fact I’d already glimpsed the ground on my left as I exited down the slip road, that Steve phoned me out of morbid curiosity. He was sat in the bar of a leisure centre in Bridlington, preparing for some Bridlington League game or other where they were just trying to gather enough jumpers together to create some goalposts.

“Have you got a game mate?” He asked

“Well, we’ve got cars in the car park and we’ve got lads with LSR tracksuits and kit bags walking towards the ground as opposed to away from it which I guess is positive” I replied with

“Yes” he went on to say, “But is that one set of players or two, you need two for a game……”

For a brief moment I did pause, but then another car came into the car park, different tracksuit, all was looking good. Steve, at this point did state he was just happy that one of us had finally got to a game at Rectory Meadow, but, I did state that this was far from a done deal just yet!

So was Rectory Meadow as a venue worth the pain and anxiety that it’s put me through this season?

Given it’s location, it’s got quite a rural feel to it to be fair. The car park, once you’ve avoided potholes the size of a small gravel pit, is a large affair, and then to the left of it is the entrance along the East side of the venue. Immediately to your right is the dressing room building with the clubhouse next to it, which was indeed open for business.

While the clubhouse and dressing rooms are set away from the pitch, up close and personal to the grass are two areas of cover, one seated and one standing, both running from the half way line down to the South corner flag. It’s just flat standing behind both goals (one of which is out of bounds), while between the dugouts on the West side of the venue is a small seated stand which looks to be the oldest of the spectator areas at the ground.

The pitch itself, given all of the recent problems, looked fine, albeit it did look to be quite hard in places which makes you wonder if it has an issue in terms of when it does rain heavily, that water simply sits and struggles to drain away.

So the game, well the first thing that struck me from reading the programme was that LSR had a lad upfront called Morrison Hashii, and his goalscoring record is incredible. Prior to the game he’d got 69 goals in 41 games, and within that he’d netted fourteen hat-tricks. Without spoiling the surprise, he made it fifteen on the day of the game, and since then LSR have played a further game and he got a hat-trick in that! So, as it stands we are on played 43, scored 75, and sixteen hat-tricks!

So why is he still at LSR? Maybe he simply loves playing for the club and with his mates, because surely clubs at a higher level must have had a look, and indeed been prepared to pay him a serious amount of money to play for them?

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the game, LSR were a joy to watch and in the first half they swept into a 4-1 lead. Hashii scored twice in the period but the goal of the game came from Shuto Kono, who scored direct from the kick off after LSR had conceded a goal. He simply looked up and lobbed the goalkeeper from the half way line.

FC Deportivo Galicia were all out sea in the first half, despite still being in with a shout of the play-offs, and you did wonder what the second period might hold for both sides. To be fair, while LSR remained in control, the visitors were somewhat better organised and only conceded the two more goal, one of which being the hat-trick goal for the man of the moment.

The play-offs are in the bag for LSR, and on this showing you wouldn’t bet against them getting through them and with it a promotion to Step 5. As for Rectory Meadow, well, interestingly enough, as I write this Hanworth Villa are into the play-off final themselves, against Walton & Hersham, and if they get through that, which is a huge ask to be fair, then the ground could be hosting Step 3 football next season.

I’ll leave Steve to plot his strategy accordingly, for me, it’s taken all season, but finally the big tick can go in the box.

It’s done!