Sunday Lottery

Rempstone  0  Eagles Corner  1

Notts Sunday League – Division One

Admission / Programme – No / No

Sunday League football is a real lottery, on a couple of counts.

Firstly, the reliability factor, in the sense that sometimes you are on a wing and a prayer in terms of whether the game will actually take place as per the league website, and for that matter, at the stated venue.

Secondly, depending on the league and the depths of the particular league you are venturing into, sometimes the actual football can be absolute garbage, and I mean, truly horrendous.

So, you might be asking, why the hell do I go and watch it, albeit very infrequently?

Well, it’s only ever because I might spot that a ground I have on my hit list, that’s used by a Saturday side, is also used on a Sunday, so as long as it’s local enough I’m prepared to give it a go. By that, it means if I turn up and nowts happening, it’s not been an onerous trip, and furthermore, if the footy itself is crap, I’ve not travelled a long way for it, and, it’s not what some may term a ‘Wasted Saturday’.

Every so often though, and this is pretty rare I have to say, I turn up for a Sunday game and the whole experience is significantly more enjoyable than what I’ve seen on many a Saturday, and this happened only the other week when I decided to pay a visit to the Costock Road home of East Leake Robins, on a Sunday.

East Leake Robins, well I paid them a visit not long after we were liberated a couple of seasons ago, and at the time they were playing on a 4G which was at the school / sports centre in the village. A pre-season friendly against South Notts if my memory serves, and I’m not even sure at the time if we were even allowed to watch football, but Steve and I did, and we also found a pub where if we stood a good 100 yards from each other, we could have a pint, as long as we pretended to live together!

Anyway, turns out that was only a temporary home, because shiny and new things were happening at Costock Road, and the plan was that the Nottinghamshire Senior League club were always going to return back to base. A game was played at the ground last Christmas Eve if my memory serves me correctly, but I was far too dilatory to pick up on it, so it was a case of waiting for the moment when they officially took up residence.

I was aware that a Sunday side played at the ground as well, Rempstone, so in my wisdom, working on the principal that East Leake was by no means a challenging journey on a Sunday morning, I elected to give it a blast.

It was a bit of a wing and a prayer, other than Full Time showing the fixture, the battle against Arnold based Eagles Corner had not yet trended on any form of social media, so off we went, and upon driving down Costock Road, it became very apparent that the sports ground was a real hive of activity.

The car park was rammed so I had to go a couple of hundred yards down the road to park, it seems a kids game was pulling the crowds in, but, the players of both Rempstone and Eagles were also spotted falling out of cars and ambling in the general direction of the entrance.

You know what, they have a brilliant facility, one that is shared by various clubs, all of which are named on the entrance board on the way in, and on the board is indeed Rempstone, a stakeholder in the facility. Directly in front of you is a cricket square, with a small sized pitch to the left and the main full sized pitch, complete with dugouts to the right. Beyond these pitches behind a hedge are more pitches, which appeared to be mainly for juniors, but also some rugby posts could be spied in the distance.

The focal point though is without doubt the clubhouse, a modern facility housing dressing rooms, a bar and a snack bar that was doing a roaring trade with breakfast cobs. The exterior was in keeping with the local area, and has clearly been very tastefully designed, the village has without doubt a venue to be proud of and the clubs that have use of it are indeed very fortunate.

I have to say as well, the pitch that Rempstone and East Leake Robins use was in superb condition, billiard table like in fact, so before the game had even started, I had a real feel good factor about the place.

The game itself was a second tier clash, and having seen a few games in recent seasons from the top flight, I had an idea that it would be a good standard of football. Helped of course by the excellent surface, both teams put on a tremendous display and it turned out a first half goal from the visitors was to be the decisive moment in the encounter.      

So, a nice facility, a great pitch, a very good game, a sausage cob and a pint of Carling, it’s what Sunday League football is all about, isn’t it?

Social Experiment

Notts Olympic  3   Buyglass.co Reindeer  7

Nottinghamshire Senior League – Division Two

Admission / Programme – No / £2

Remember Notts Olympic?

Yes, a pre-season friendly at home to Heanor Town Reserves played at the Jubilee Sports Ground in Nottingham. The clubs first game having re-formed in the Summer, a club with quite a history that you are welcome to go back and read about, hence why I won’t repeat it here all over again.

Suffice to say, at that particular point in time, despite Olympic having teased us by saying that they were looking at various venues to base themselves at this season, the smart money seemed to be on Harvey Hadden Stadium in Nottingham, a venue that would have been befitting of a club with a rich history, stature and indeed ambition.

But then I was on holiday in the Lake District, and feeling a bit bored of looking at mountains I decided to have a view of the recently released fixtures in the Notts Senior League, which to be fair had been somewhat sporadic in their arrival on Full Time.

Where the hell was Gallows Inn Playing Fields?

It seemed that Steve had also spotted this at around the same time so an exchange of messages began, and it turned out that this was a sports ground on the edges of Ilkeston, opposite a pub called the Gallows Inn, which looked like it might have been the former home of Ilkeston RUFC.

Never saw that coming, nope, not one bit, largely because I’d never heard of the place, but even if I had, you never would have thought that Notts Olympic would have set up base in enemy country, Derbyshire! That would be like Sheffield FC, the oldest football club in the world (allegedly) moving out of the City and parking up in Derbyshire, that would never happen, would it………

Anyway, they clearly had their reasons why, and it’s not for me, or anyone for that matter to be critical without knowing the full facts, but as it stands, Notts Olympic are a Derbyshire based club, albeit only a goal kick away from their spiritual home county.

But then something happened, Rob Hornby, a legend in these parts and part of the NSL officialdom, a man who I know very well indeed, decided to give the club a little bit of publicity, by advertising the fact he would be producing a match programme for their first ever competitive home game at Gallows Inn.

Now I know what happens when Rob, or anyone for that matter, advertises that this is going to happen. It’s almost like a social experiment in the mass movement of a specific demographic of people.

A group, who I would number at around 50 or so, from all parts of the UK, would simply turn up purely for the said programme. The game itself would be secondary, indeed, may not even be watched if we are being honest, it was all about the paper.

If pressed, I could confidently list some names of who I expected to turn up and I reckon I wouldn’t be far wrong in my assumptions, it is that predictable, hence why it never fails to work and indeed make a few quid for the clubs in question. It’s no different to an organised groundhop really, you have a database of people who irrespective of the location, the timing or the standard, who will simply turn up anyway.

So Rob, who absolutely 100% does this purely for the benefit of the clubs in his league, and his charity, spotted an opportunity in terms of Notts Olympic, and then once he’d got the club on board, he sets about a relentless social media bombardment. To be honest, you couldn’t miss it, twice, thrice daily stuff would be on the feeds, things gain momentum, train timetables are scoured, real ale venues are sourced, locals lock up their daughters (and sons), a movement was en-route to Ilson, and nothing was going to stop it!

My journey from Stapleford, in terms of spectators for the game, was probably the shortest of anyone watching. I spotted people from Edinburgh, Sittingbourne, Uxbridge, South London, Warrington, Long Eaton, Lowestoft, Castle Donington…..epic journeys for many, but mine took four minutes, and even though I was about an hour and a quarter prior to kick off in terms of my arrival time, I got one of the final spaces in the car park.

Rob had done a grand job, having set up a stand in front of the dressing rooms selling programmes and badges, while also encouraging the club to set up a small drinks and snacks area next to him to raise a few more quid. You know what though, the amount of work he does for charity is incredible, he is so selfless and thinks so much about those less fortunate, despite quite publicly admitting to having not had the best of times himself throughout his life.

The social experiment had indeed worked, 70 or so spectators had turned up, the bulk being present only because of Rob, and that in turn saw both the club and Rob’s charity gain, which is a win-win situation if you ask me, and let’s not forget, alongside all of that we had a football match to watch, if you cared of course!

Gallows Inn Playing Fields is a huge venue, as you enter from the main road, to your left is a railed pitch with some remaining floodlight pylons, and given the fact it’s adorned with rugby posts, was probably the one time home of the local Union club. At the end of the drive adjacent to the car park is the dressing room complex, while beyond that is a massive expanse of grass, with football posts located at varying intervals, while the piece of grass being used for our game was down in the very far corner.

It was a decent spot to be fair, with trees lining the perimeter and the River Erewash to one side and the Erewash Canal to the other. I didn’t realise until I looked on the map that just beyond the trees on the South side of the complex is the Hallam Fields Ground which was the former home of Stanton Ilkeston, and now indeed the new home for the rugby club.

The downside was that the pitch had not been marked out, so the club had to use cones to indicate where the touchline was, while in terms of the penalty area, shall we just say it was at the referee’s discretion.

The game was against Buyglass.co Reindeer FC, the club formerly known as FC Mansfield, not to be confused with AFC Mansfield. Buyglass is a company, Reindeer is a pub, the ‘dot co’ bit, well, I did think they’d missed the ‘UK’ element off, but it seems not, anyway, an interesting choice of name to say the least!

The game was not without entertainment. The visitors took the lead after five minutes when Jack Sellars found the net, but within ten minutes a cracking effort from Kian North saw the scores level.

Keiron Wood made it 2-1 to the away side with a neat finish and that was how it stayed up until half time. Sellars made it 3-1 after the break (Olympic were now on their third goalkeeper), while Sam Murphy made it four with a low shot. The hosts reduced the arrears just after the hour mark through Julian Coates, before North almost immediately scored to bring it back to 3-4, which way was this game going to go?

The way of the visitors, because Murphy scored twice in as many minutes to complete his hat-trick, before the same player got his fourth and his sides seventh in added time.

The crowd set off back to all four corners of the UK at the final whistle, I had a fifteen minute drive. Notts Olympic’s big day had been a success, in no small part due to Rob Hornby.

A little bird tells me the Notts Olympic home ground story might not yet be quite finished, so maybe the Derbyshire thing is only a temporary stay, but then again, you never know, they might well find that they like it over here!

Development

Pegasus U21  1  Collingham U23  4

Nottinghamshire Senior League – Development Division

Admission / Programme - No / No

Moving swiftly back to reality after the previous weekends escapades in the Isle of Man, it was very much a short hop situation, a double on the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire border at two venues less than a mile and a half apart.

If someone said to me at the start of the season I would be getting to two new grounds, less than fifteen miles away, within walking distance of each other, on the same day, I would have suggested they’d clearly not done their homework because that wouldn’t be possible…..

Wrong, it was very possible, and it came courtesy of the Nottinghamshire Senior League, a league that this season has dropped a fair few new venues on us, which to be fair is great from a geographical perspective, I mean, had it been the West Yorkshire League then I might have been paying more regular visits to Kilburn Petrol Station than I currently do, but the NSL, well, it’s backyard stuff isn’t it?

So, the plan evolved, and first on the agenda was Pegasus FC, a club based in Stapleford who had a side last season that competed in the Development Division of the NSL, but this season have opted to move into Division Three with a senior team. I don’t bother with the Development Division, largely because it’s youth teams playing on a Saturday morning, but once a side moves into the senior section and starts to play on a Saturday afternoon, then I get interested. That said, if a Saturday afternoon venue is being used in a morning, then yeah, bring it on, Wetherspoons breakfast beforehand and all that!

Pegasus have maintained a side in the Saturday morning section, and having done a bit of research I ascertained that they did have a home they called their own where all of the sides in the Pegasus set up play at. Pasture Road Recreation Ground is exactly that, a recreation ground containing three pitches of varying sizes, but with a changing room block next to the car park at the bottom end that is very much the property of Pegasus. They also have a tea / snack bar within the block and with several games being played over the course of the weekend, it’s a busy old place.

Pasture Road is the main route from the centre of Stapleford that leads out to Ilkeston, and so happened to lead directly to game number two which was to be on the very edge of Ilkeston on the very same road, but more on that ‘social experiment’ a little later. However, with a game against Collingham U23 advertised on Full Time as a 10.30am kick off, the day was set, and arriving just after 10am I decided to make some enquiries as to what pitch I would be watching the game on.

Turns out the kick off was scheduled for 11.30am, which wasn’t a problem, in fact it meant less waiting around for the second game, but what it did mean was I had a fair bit of time to kill. Knowing I needed to find a cash point I decided to head back into Stapleford to park up and have a look around.

I’ve never set foot in the town centre area of Stapleford before, and equally, I didn’t know they had a Wetherspoons either, and no, I didn’t partake. Mrs H had kindly prepared some sustenance for me and as I was in the wagon, a 10.30am pint was not really on the radar, this wasn’t the Isle of Man you know!

So with time suitably killed, it was back to Pasture Road, a short game of wacky races took place to find a car parking spot, and I sat listening to the radio waiting for things to happen. To describe the venue, the car park and the dressing rooms are accessed via a small housing estate that you enter into via Pasture Road, and then immediately in front of you are a couple of small sized pitches, while the full sized pitch sits away in the far corner nearest to the main road, with housing on two sides, trees to the rear, and one side open to the rest of the recreation ground.

It was a pleasant venue, and on what was a nice day weather wise, the players eventually made their way to the pitch when the preceding kids game had finished, and we could settle down for the main event, Pegasus U21 v Collingham U23.

It was the opening game of the season for both clubs, and to be fair to both sides they put on a decent spectacle, but in the end the Collingham lads, who were that bit older, had the edge throughout, largely due to being that bit more physical than the more youthful Pegasus side.

Two goals from Thomas Davies, and solitary efforts from Noah Martin and Isaac Sills saw Collingham home, while the consolation effort for Pegasus came from substitute Derek Foley.

It had been enjoyable, and a modest crowd, mostly parents, rocked up to watch it. But at the final whistle, I had to make my move, car parking at the next venue was very definitely going to be at a premium, because something was rumbling just over the border in Ilkeston, and it wasn’t the sound of the stampedes because the pubs had just opened…..

Ellan Vannin

FC Isle of Man  0  Prestwich Heys  2

North West Counties League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme - £10 / £2

Since the mid 2000’s I’ve been a keen follower of the League of Ireland.

So much so, I got to a point a few years back where I’d managed to visit every ground in it’s two divisions. It was quite an achievement to get to that point, but to be honest, it’s one of those competitions whereby very little actually changes from one season to the next, so keeping on top of it isn’t really a challenge, it’s the getting there that takes the hard work!

Recently, this season for that matter, a new side has arrived in the shape of Kerry FC, and that remains on the ‘to do’ list, but prior to that, the only mop up jobs I’ve had to do since it was first completed were at Limerick when they moved to Markets Field, and Cabinteely when they appeared out of nowhere on the South side of Dublin.

That’s not to say though that each pre-season we hear rumours of clubs who are set to join, only for nothing to come of it. We’ve had suggestions that a team from Mayo was to join, another from Carlow was in the pipeline, while former LOI venues in Monaghan, Kilkenny and Kildare have all been mooted, but to no avail.

We’ve then had some crackpot rumours to go with it, Irish Sea FC and Molly Malone FC were a couple of belters, then of course FC Paddy’s Wigwam and Top of the Morning Athletic were mentioned in the briefest of dispatches (I made those two up, but the first two were genuine!).

However, one club was mentioned a few years back, Ellan Vannin FC, and that created a bit of a stir, especially on the basis that Ellan Vannin is the Manx language name of the Isle of Man, a place clearly not part of the Republic of Ireland.

It was suggested that an enquiry had been made from the Isle of Man about entering a club, and yes, of course that would create a question mark around jurisdiction, but as is commonly known we had a precedent set with Derry City. However, the bigger challenge may well have been that of logistics, long bus journeys are the norm in the LOI, boats and planes not so.

The story came, and the story went, but then it re-surfaced again in August 2019 when it was announced that FC Isle of Man intended to submit an application to join the English football pyramid. They were duly accepted into the North West Counties League for the 2020-21 season, but Covid and the restrictions around travel to and from the island meant they didn’t kick a ball in anger and were ultimately suspended by the league, but, with restrictions lifted, they were accepted for the 2021-22 season.

However, the deal was that all games on the island kicked off on a Saturday evening, to allow for visiting teams to travel, and on a more local level, so as not to clash with and have an adverse impact on games being played in the Isle of Man League on a Saturday afternoon.

Costs was of course a factor when it came to clubs travelling to the island, but it was again agreed that both visiting teams and match officials travel and hotel costs would be picked up by FC Isle of Man, who themselves are owned by the parent company known as Sporting Club Isle of Man.

Promotion was won in the first season at Step 6 following a runners up finish, the only logistical blip being when New Mills refused to travel at one point due to player unavailability (certain Covid restrictions around vaccination status remained), but otherwise all did seem to run smoothly, culminating in a Play Off Final victory over, yes, you’ve guessed it, New Mills! New Mills didn’t have an availability issue on that occasions it seemed!

Last season at Step 5 was more challenging, the club did avoid relegation following a late season rally, and the average attendance of around 1600 in the clubs inaugural season, halved to around 800, but with a change in manager, optimism is indeed high that this season they could make a push to challenge for Step 4 status.

So, we set off on the 40 minute walk from Onchan Raceway, meandered along the promenade in Douglas and then made our way via the backroads and a couple of alleyways down onto Peel Road, where the Douglas Bowl is situated. The ground is about a fifteen minute walk out of the centre of Douglas and is located in an area that’s made up of a sports centre, a power station (yes, I’m not joking!), a KFC and a petrol station. Industrial and commercial would be the words to use, but to be fair, once you approach the ground, and indeed set foot inside it, it has a very welcoming and attractive feel to it.

You enter in one corner and climb the steps, whereby in front of you is a ring of blue seats that extends in an uninterrupted fashion all the way around the elliptical bowl. The section of seating on the side where the dressing rooms are located is covered with a canopy like construction, otherwise it’s open to the elements. Four corner floodlight pylons adorn the ground, while the pitch is of the 4G variety, and probably sensibly so given the logistics of teams travelling to games. Food and drink could be had from a couple of locations, but it’s a dry ground, you cannot get any alcohol, unless of course you can blag your way into the visiting official’s area, but that was something we didn’t attempt! Our mate Pete travelled over last season with Rocester FC, and being part of the official party, he was ‘looked after’ shall we say!

The Douglas Bowl isn’t solely for the use of FC IOM, another club, St Mary’s, use it in the local IOM league, while it’s also used for finals and representative games. Older readers might also recall the Manx Cup, a tournament that used to take place in the late Eighties and early Nineties when teams from the North West (Blackburn, Bolton, Wrexham, Oldham to name but a few) came and competed along with an Isle of Man Select XI in a pre-season competition, well the Bowl was used for some of those games.

It was a lovely night, the visiting Prestwch Heys fans had clearly spent a very enjoyable afternoon in the hostelries of Douglas, and with a crowd of just shy of 800 in the ground we were treated to a game that the visitors won 2-0, and on balance deservedly so.

It was FC IOM’s first home game following a run of six fixtures on the road, and after just three minutes they were awarded a penalty for a foul but Dean Pinnington’s spot kick was tame and comfortably saved by Jordan Hadlow.

The visitors took the lead in the first half through Jack Coop, and then twice in the second period the Ravens (FC IOM’s nickname) were hamstrung by players being sent to the sin bin. This took it’s toll and in the dying minutes of the half Greg Daniels scored a second for Prestwich following a corner.

As the game moved into added time, FC IOM suddenly found a gear it looked like they didn’t have, and made progress by getting the ball into wide areas and providing crosses into the danger area, but this was to no avail as Prestwich dug in and defended well to keep them at bay.

Overall, you felt Prestwich were that bit more streetwise, and while FC IOM did have some key players out, on the evidence of that game alone, work needs to be done if they are to be thinking about a promotion challenge. I guess though, if they are reliant on players from the island, the talent pool will of course have it’s limitations. I don’t know if they recruit from the mainland or not, but I would suggest if they are to go for it, they may well need to, and that adds further costs of course.

At the final whistle it was a walk back into Douglas and a few pints in the football themed Rovers Return pub. The England v Argentina rugby game was being shown, and of course that attracted a certain type of viewer, but they were harmless enough and far too worried about the merits of running versus kicking to bother us in any way. After that it was back along the front to our hotel and a couple more drinks before retiring for the evening.

Just before we returned to the airport, we had a quick wander along the promenade in a Northerly direction to pay a visit to the Summerland Memorial. Summerland was a leisure complex in Douglas that burnt down in August 1973, killing 50 people, and if you walk past the memorial, the site where the complex was situated remains, with the rear wall still intact, deemed unsafe to remove due to the instability of the cliff that it’s conjoined to.

Summerland is the biggest tragedy to ever happen on the Isle of Man, and of course only recently we had the fiftieth anniversary of the event. I only became aware of it a couple of years ago when I listened to a broadcast on Radio 4, it was a pretty harrowing listen.

So, back to the airport, and as we waited for the bus, the Prestwich Heys party was assembling outside their hotel, some looking a little weary! The flights this time went without a hitch, and by mid-afternoon we were walking through Liverpool Airport.

Ellan Vannin, you didn’t disappoint!

 

Bangers

Onchan  6  Douglas & District  0

Isle of Man Football League – Division Two

Admission / Programme – No / No

“I’m gonna have to be straight with you, the chances of us landing in the Isle of Man right now are marginal.”

The words of the captain on the 0710 flight from Liverpool to Ronaldsway, Steve and I just looked at each other, surely our second attempt to get to the Isle of Man wasn’t going to fall on it’s arse, was it?

Bearing in mind last season, with flights and hotels all booked, we ended up having to cancel due to a late fixture change for FC Isle of Man (our intended destination), surely this wasn’t going to go wrong this late in the day, bearing in mind we were about to take off?

Anyway, on the basis that I’m about to write a report about a game on the island, you are safe to assume that we did actually make it, but the Easyjet debacle, I’ll come to the finer details on that shortly!

Yes, we had a plan, the planets aligned, Manchester City had an international break so Steve could be released into the wild, and as long as someone didn’t bugger about with the fixtures at the last minute, then FC Isle of Man v Prestwich Heys was the game. Furthermore, if all went to plan, we could also take in a game earlier in the day in the local Isle of Man Football League.

The early flight from Liverpool posed a bit of a logistical challenge, but, being resourceful, we decided to book a cheap hotel in Runcorn, which meant a short run over the bridge the following morning. Runcorn was a delight on an extremely warm and muggy evening, it started with the lad on the check in desk at the hotel trying to establish whether we were a couple or not, followed by a meeting in the car park with a group of gentlemen who advised us of the perils of drinking in Runcorn.

Drinking in Runcorn it was though, we left Wetherspoons just after the fight in the street between a paralytic woman and a topless bloke, and as the two plod cars turned up we chose to have a walk along the ‘promenade’ before taking in a back street boozer and heading back to our (separate) beds.

Then came the flight, it was a bit foggy in Liverpool, but then we had the announcement, it seems Ronaldsway Airport isn’t as advanced as other UK airports and as a result you need a minimum of a kilometres visibility in the event of fog, and at 7am, that visibility was 700 metres. The pilot elected to fly over anyway, with extra fuel on board, and hope that it cleared before the fuel ran out!

As we got over the island, the fog was still an issue, so the announcement came that unless things changed pretty quickly, we were heading back to Liverpool. It was only a matter of minutes though after the announcement came, that the seatbelt lights went on and the cabin crew were ordered to prepare for landing, it seemed, we were finally going to be getting our feet on Manx soil!

Land we did, and guess what, no sign of any fog, it must have lifted pretty quickly, but by this time another thought had gone through our heads. If Prestwich Heys were flying from Manchester, what was the status with their flights? Two flights from Manchester were coming over in quick succession and were due to land not long after our flight, but according to the boards, both had been delayed.

It seemed the decision at Manchester had been taken to delay flights to allow the fog to clear, so when Prestwich tweeted a photo of their travelling group on board a Logan Air flight, we were comfortable in the knowledge that all should be good in the World.

Neither of us had ever been to the Isle of Man before, so this was going to be an experience. The bus journey from Ronaldsway took us via the famous Fairy Bridge (Hello Fairies), before dropping us in the centre of Douglas, our destination for the next 24 hours. We decamped to a café for some breakfast, and an opportunity to confirm the days plan.

We had looked at the Isle of Man League fixtures and initially picked out a couple of games in Douglas, close to our hotel, and only a few hundred yards from each other. One was at St George’s, which was adjacent to the pits and grandstand on the TT circuit, while literally round the corner from that was the home of Braddan, who were also at home. However, to cut a long story short, I got wind of a team called Onchan, who played at a banger / stock car stadium (with a bar!), and was only a twenty minute walk from base camp.

Bearing in mind the first game on the island was going to be Steve’s 2000^th ground, he wanted a special one, so my suggestion of one with a bar to celebrate ticked the boxes, Onchan it was to be, even if it wasn’t a game in the top flight.

But before that, we had a little bit of exploring to do. I wanted to have my photograph taken with the Bee Gees statue, seems they were from IOM (Steve thought they were Australian – and for that very reason he couldn’t stand them), so we got that done, and then we had a little meander around Douglas taking in the promenade, the shops, the harbour and the steam railway station. Douglas is a lovely place, I would recommend it to anyone.

With the touristy bit done, and the sun bearing down upon us, we decided to retire to a pub near the harbour for a quick snifter. What was notable throughout the day, was the fact that the TT (Tourist Trophy) absolutely dominates on the island. Pubs were adorned with photographs, shops in both the town and along the promenade were dedicated to it, and it was while looking at the photo’s in the pub that we decided that we’d take a walk up to the grandstand and pit lane which sits on the main road that runs up to Ramsey.

The walk was about twenty minutes, uphill as well on a very warm day, but it was worth the effort, especially as the grandstand was accessible, so with a seat on the upper deck we could look along the start / finish straight, and wonder just how you can actually average speeds of around 130mph on what are quite simply, public roads. With that visit complete, it was back down to the hotel to drop off the bags (taking in a quick look at the home of St George’s AFC), before the walk to the first game, which again was twenty minutes away, and again, uphill!

Onchan Pleasure Park was a hive of activity when we arrived, you’d got kids on mini go karts, a small boating lake, bowls, a kids play area, and rather handily the Ocean Views Bar & Grill, which backed onto the stand which looked out over the Onchan Raceway. Liquid refreshment was of course taken once we’d confirmed the game was taking place, and with a doorway leading straight out into the seats from the bar, it was as good as being in the corporate area!

Onchan Raceway is a cracking venue. The old wooden seated stand takes up about half of the length of the South touchline, but of course given that it is a raceway it is some distance from the pitch and it does have a safety fence in front of it. That said, if you wanted, you could walk down to the edge of the pitch, however we chose not to, and that was more to do with the blazing sun as opposed to the speed of access back to the bar!. Going round in a clockwise fashion the track banks round the West bend but on this bend, to the North side is another seated stand which from it’s elevated position, does give excellent views of the proceedings, be it football or bangers!

The North side has a grass bank leading up the half way line, but then after that is basically the pit area for the bangers and stock cars. A race meeting was taking place later that evening, so cars were being worked on, and, with dozens of vehicles stored in this area, to do a full circuit of the complex you had to go onto the track itself, admiring the many cars as you wandered past that had been saved from the breakers yard and turned into racing machines.

Onchan AFC were relegated from the top flight at the end of last season, and to be truthful, they were far too good for Douglas & District on the day. It was clear from early on in proceedings that they were the better side, and the 6-0 victory was by no means flattering to the hosts who made it two wins from two having put eight past Pulrose United the previous week.

At the final whistle, it was time to get the map out (well, phone), we had another walk to do, 40 minutes this time, back down to the front and then across the back of the town to the Douglas Bowl, the sun was still shining and Steve was still conscious, so far, so very good…….

 

Gearing Up

Middleton  1  Farsley Celtic Juniors  0

Yorkshire Amateur League – Supreme Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

Over the years I’ve kind of developed a bit of a sixth sense.

It’s all to do with clubs who look to be gearing up for a promotion out of the Regional Feeder League System, and into Step 6 of the Football Pyramid.

The clubs who apply to make this move are typically announced in early January of every season, and more often than not, I can work out in advance who they might be, even if the clubs themselves haven’t yet publicly declared their intentions. Process wise, clubs have to apply, be assessed, and then need to finish in the top five of their respective leagues, then, they have a chance.

Then of course there has to be a vacancy for them to be promoted, oh, and it also looks like some higher level FA ‘consideration’, of which the details aren’t made public, takes place, which may see one club be more successful than another.

Then you’ve got the South East where you merely have to form a team and find a piece of grass to be accepted, but in the North, see above, that’s how it works.

So, what is my secret for working out who might be looking to make the move in the North?

It’s either a sudden raft of ground improvements taking place, which coincide with a successful side on the pitch, or, a club suddenly announces a move to a new home, that might just tick all the Step 6 boxes! Clearly, neither of which are rocket science if we are being honest.

So when I saw on the socials that Middleton FC, a team from South Leeds in the Yorkshire Amateur League, had moved from a 4G pitch in Belle Isle, to the impressive South Leeds Stadium, or John Charles Centre For Sport as it is also known, I began to wonder whether this was a move that had been made with a specific end in mind! If they have publicly declared their intentions, I'll be honest, I've missed it. 

I went to see Middleton play at the South Leeds Hub in September 2021, a home game against Wortley, it was one of those times when I could see the pitch within the complex, but I couldn’t find the entrance, well, I did eventually, but not without a bit of a drive round!

But they’ve moved, from somewhere which on the face of it was perfectly adequate, for a side who were quite happy playing in the Yorkshire Amateur League, to somewhere else. So, something has changed….

South Leeds Stadium sits, as you would expect, in the South of Leeds, not far from the M621. I chose to go on a day when Leeds United were playing at home to Sheffield Wednesday, and as a result, I got caught up in heavy traffic on the said motorway, what with Elland Road only being a junction or so further on. Indeed, from inside South Leeds Stadium you could hear quite audibly the roar of the crowd up the road.

The stadium itself forms part of a larger leisure complex, and is located at the end of an industrial estate that sits just off the main Dewsbury Road. The area is classed as Belle Isle, but close by is Beeston to the West, Hunslet to the North, and indeed the area of Middleton slightly to the East. Running behind the stadium is the Middleton Light Railway, something I didn’t know existed, and on the day of the game, trains could be seen taking happy passengers along the short route in the vintage carriages.

The stadium itself, which also serves as the home of Hunslet RLFC, and has previously been used as a base for Leeds United Reserves, is dominated by a huge stand on the East side, built over two tiers, that houses 3500 spectators. The entrance to the rear, which leads from the car park, takes you past the reception and down a corridor, before you enter onto a concrete walkway that splits the lower tiered seating deck.

Bars and corporate facilities sit between the two tiers, while for the purposes of the Middleton game, spectators were only allowed in the lower tier, and, you couldn’t get a pint!

A running track surrounds the pitch, while the rest of the vast expanse is made up of shallow grass banking that runs from the exterior fence, right up to the edges of the athletics track. The usual athletics paraphernalia is dotted around the complex, but for all intents and purposes, it’s all about the stand, and indeed it’s bowels that no doubt house a plethora of facilities.

Parts of the exterior of the stadium have been decorated by murals, some of which are football related, but much of it is linked to Rugby League, and of course the local area which is indeed a RL hotbed. Hunslet RLFC of course being the club as we know, once a big player in the English game, but now perhaps not so much, having never been a part of the much feted Super League.

What was the game like then? Well the opponents were Farsley Celtic Juniors, who I’ll be honest, I have no idea just how they are linked to Farsley Celtic right now, if at all. They certainly didn’t look to be very ‘junior’ although they perhaps once were! I think the answer may be in that statement, I suspect they were the junior side at one point, however when they reached a certain age they had to move into men’s football, but by the same token, they kept the name, and maybe the ties were cut in every other sense. Anyway, this is about Middleton….

The hosts won thanks to a first half goal from Liam Mudd, and despite having Jordan Duncan dismissed for an altercation by the corner flag in the second period, they did enough to take the points, without really creating too many clear cut chances. Farsley were always second best, and again, created very little in the way of goal scoring opportunities.

A small but vociferous crowd watched the game and saw Middleton continue to lead the way at the top of the table, if they carry on like this, you never know, they might end up finishing in a promotion spot, and then of course it’s all about the facilities.

Hang on though, haven’t they just moved into a 3500 seater stadium? Watch this space…sixth sense and all that!

Poke

Ashington  0  Consett  2

Northern Premier League – Division One East

Admission / Programme - £9 / £1.50

It’s a right old poke to Ashington.

So on that basis, my plan of action was an August Bank Holiday Monday, you know, when it’s all nice and quiet on the roads!

To be honest, right up until the Bank Holiday weekend I was in two minds whether to make the marathon journey on the Monday, but then I cast my mind back to previous years when places like Worthing, Dulwich Hamlet and Needham Market have been destinations of choice, and other than being ran into by a lorry on the way back from Dulwich, they’ve all been largely ok trips.

The Northern League once again provides two new clubs to the Northern Premier League, Newton Aycliffe were the champions and readers will recall I started the current season with a Tuesday night trip to the said County Durham venue. Ashington though gained promotion via the now defunct Inter-Step Play-Off, which in itself was slightly controversial as they only found out a couple of days before the game, that their opponents would be Glossop North End, and that of course would be an away trip.

Let’s not make any bones about it, as much as Ashington is a long journey, and for clubs in the First Division East like Belper Town, Carlton Town and Grantham Town, it’s definitely two toilet stops venture, this is a famous and proud old club that absolutely should be plying it’s craft in the upper echelons of football.

Historically, they were once a Football League club, joining the Third Division North in 1921-22 season, before missing out on re-election at the start of the 1928-29 season when York City beat them by 28 to 14 votes. During this period they had their best FA Cup run, losing to Nottingham Forest in the Third Round by two goals to nil, and, to this date, they remain the most Northerly club to play in the Football League!

They played in various leagues in the North East until 1968 when the Northern Premier League was formed, whereby Ashington were elected as founder members alongside the likes of Wigan Athletic, Macclesfield Town, Morecambe, Fleetwood, Boston United and Scarboroough, all clubs who at some stage went on to become members of the Football League themselves. A third from bottom finish saw them relegated, and by 1970 they were in the Northern League, where they remained until the end of last season.

The Northern League years saw a couple of Second Division championships won, but in terms of threatening at the top of the First Division, it was only really last season that they shone, and, after an absence of over fifty years, they are once again back in the Northern Premier League.

Now then, I remember a few years back, 2008 to be precise, when Ashington left their famous old ground, Portland Park. An iconic town centre ground, which of course once hosted professional football and saw a record crowd of 13,199 watch an FA Cup tie against Rochdale, it suddenly saw a pilgrimage of ground enthusiasts visiting it before it was too late to do so, the final game being against Seaham Red Star in the February of 2008 with close on 2,000 watching the game.

The new ground was opened in the August of that year with an FA Cup tie against Ossett Albion, 341 watched that, it seems saying goodbye is much more popular than saying hello!

So, how did the day go then?

Well, the journey up was quite a pleasant one, albeit the traffic did get a bit sticky around when the M1 and the A1 merged East of Leeds. The A19 took me up past Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Sunderland and then of course through the Tyne Tunnel, with North Shields, Newbiggin and Blyth to the East, before Ashington appears after a series of roundabouts. Parked up just after 1.30, it took me the best part of three hours, and to be honest, I’ve sat for longer waiting to get off the M1 at Alfreton before, so no complaints from me.

What’s the ground like then? Well, it’s tidy, with the focal point being the main stand / club building which is built on two levels with the smart bar area at the top, looking out over the pitch. As you walk up the stairs, on the wall is a large photograph of the Charlton brothers (who were born in Ashington) and ‘Wor’ Jackie Milburn, who is also a son of the town. The rake of the seating and the fact the seats are effectively at second floor level means the view of the action is a very good one, and on the day a crowd of just shy of 700 rocked up to watch the game.

Opposite the main stand is an Atcost style structure that runs virtually the length of the far side, with a seating section in the middle and terracing at either end. It is open flat standing behind both goals. The bar service was very quick, and inexpensive, while the more substantial food items could be had from a van behind the goal.

Game wise, well to be fair Consett won it 2-0 and it would be hard to find anyone in the ground who could argue it wasn’t the right outcome, not strictly based on the balance of play, but more so on their effectiveness. Ashington had plenty of possession but lacked a cutting edge, and when they did get into good positions, the Consett defence was very well organised and dealt with any problems. The visitors on the other hand took the lead in the ninth minute through Will Shaw, while Scott Fenwick grabbed the second ten minutes into the second half.

An enjoyable afternoon, and even the journey back was trouble free, albeit this time my technology took me out past South Shields and Hebburn to the A1 at Washington, before heading South.

It might be a right poke, but it’s an enjoyable poke, and pokes of that nature are few and far between!

Buzzing

Burton Hornets  1  Stapenhill Reserves  6

Central Midlands Alliance – Division One South

Admission / Programme – No / Sort Of!

Finally, the much rumoured merger between the Central Midlands League and the Midlands Regional Alliance took place in the Summer.

‘Merger’ isn’t quite the word some would use though, I have heard the word ‘takeover’ being mooted recently, although I haven’t yet heard it used alongside the word ‘hostile’, but let’s not open that political can of worms, I don’t want to get sued / banned from every ground in the league, bearing in mind I’ve still got a couple that I need to visit this season!

Anyway, it happened, and now we have got a league that comprises of it’s two Step 7 competitions, then it’s got four regional First Division’s (North, South, you can guess the rest), and then a Second Division where the geography stretches from Darley Dale, to Ashover, and then down to Newhall, Melbourne and Castle Donington. The criteria as to who got into Division One and who went into Division Two, well, pass, but anyway, there will be a rationale somewhere along the way.

When the provisional constitutions were announced, there was a bit of second guessing to be done, as some names we’d never heard of before had appeared, like Hatton United and South Normanton Villa, whereas Ruston Sports, Doncaster City and Gainsborough Town, we’d got a bit of an idea as to who they were.

However, the provisional constitution and the actual constitution are two different beasts, South Normanton Villa disappeared, Hatton United became Burton Hornets, Gainsborough Town went somewhere else and Ruston Sports appeared to change their name to Streina. That said, it was now set in stone, and to be fair based on the directory, I’d got three new grounds to visit, Streina (who may or may not actually kick a ball this season), Hemington Hammers (if anyone can work out where they actually play) and Burton Hornets, who it appeared were playing on the old Bass Recreation Ground, now known as Washlands Sports Ground, in Burton Upon Trent.

Now then, Saturday 26^th August was meant to be a Groundhop UK organised Groundhop Day in the new league, but that fell by the wayside when insufficient clubs were prepared to be flexible with their fixtures so it seems. One of the games that was meant to be on that planned event was the game between Burton Hornets and Stapenhill Reserves. But as soon as I arrived in the vicinity of the ground, I spotted a significant hurdle that I’m not sure could have been resolved very easily. More on that shortly….

The Washlands Sports Ground, I’m pretty sure was once one of the locations that Burton Albion were considering for their new stadium, and in some ways that would have made sense because it was already a sports ground, used by Burton League sides and also for cricket (Derbyshire played games at the venue). However, to get to it you have to head through Burton and then get on the bridge that takes you over to Stapenhill. Once on the bridge you have to turn left, and if you didn’t already know there was a left turn, you would miss it because it’s both tight and not visible until you are on top of it. This is where the Groundhop would have struggled, no way would it have got a bus (which they use) onto the single track lane, let alone down it! I can also see why it wouldn’t actually have been very suitable for Burton Albion, the road itself is a single lane, and then it becomes a potholed track that leads down to the facilities. Getting 2000 folk in and out of the place would have been chaotic!

Burton Hornets are a well run and large junior football organisation, whereas Hatton United were a Sunday side. The two, from what I can gather, got together to create a side playing in senior football on a Saturday, and by doing so they created a pathway for the junior teams and players.

They have a very nice facility to be fair, a facility that was once a playground for Bass and it’s employees. It has a cricket pitch, a football pitch, a cricket pavilion that the club use as dressing rooms and a clubhouse that opened at half time. There were also facilities back along the track towards the main road that looked to be smaller sized football pitches, but all in all, it was a nice venue, with the football pitch being nicely tucked into the corner with trees on three sides and the River Trent running behind the goal.

A couple of gents I know from the West Midlands were in attendance, as was Steve Hardy, a chap who is without doubt the non-league programme king, compiling the database of issuers and having over 8,000 different UK club issuers in his collection. I’ve known Steve for a few years and always have a natter, but, he only goes to games where a programme is being issued, but to be honest, I’d seen nothing, not even any home officials wandering about, so what was he doing here? Anyway, turns out Steve had done a programme for them, ten copies he told me, and they were all in the home dressing room. I never got one, but then Steve kindly emailed me a copy the following week.

The game was pretty much one way, Stapenhill Reserves were the better side and won at a canter. Cameron Briscoe, Jude Ayetine, Tommy Large and Jake Meaking all scored in the first half, while Joseph Biryomasho and Laiq Haidary scored in the second period as Hornets were put to the sword, their consolation goal coming from Tavis Johnston.

The second half was spent in the company of Dan Bishop, the Manager of Newhall United Reserves and a league official, I’ve known him for years, and he’s always good for a bit of info and a chat in general about the local scene. He’d been to watch the first half of Willington United v Melbourne Dynamo Reserves at the Marstons Sports & Social Club in the town.

So that was Burton Hornets, a very decent little place, and a nice easy afternoon out, which I needed after a pretty heavy night before in Sheffield! Teething troubles aside, this takeover, sorry, merger, might not be a bad thing for local football. 

Wing-A-Ding

Horsforth St Margarets  5  Rawdon Old Boys  1

West Yorkshire Football League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

Some events stick in the mind more than others, and the day I went to the wrong ground to watch Horsforth St Margarets is one of them.

There is slightly more to it than you might think though. It would have been in the now infamous Covid season of 2019-20 and I’d noticed that they’d moved from wherever they once played, to a 3G pitch at Leeds Trinity University on Brownberrie Lane, in Horsforth. I decided I’d have a bit of it so set off happily to Leeds, traversing the M621 and the ring road round to the West, only to find myself in a very nice area populated with pubs and restaurants, with Brownberrie Lane sat in front of me.

I then noticed on my left a big sign saying ‘Horsforth St Margarets FC’ on it, so into the entrance I went, parked up, had a walk around, and noticed that no one was in situ and clearly no football match was going to be taking place. It was only then that I realised I’d had a temporary memory blank, and for some reason I’d completely forgotten that I was meant to be going to a University campus.

Clearly then, with brain de-fuddled, I had a look at Google Maps and realised I’d turned left two hundred yards earlier than I should have done, but not to worry, I was soon parked up and having a subsidised pint in the students union bar.

Horsforth St Margarets moved again though a couple of years ago, to Woodhouse Grove School which was located in the village of Apperley Bridge which sits betwixt Leeds and Bradford, but then it was only recently when I was pratting about on social media that I spotted a post whereby they announced they were moving ‘home’.

Turns out ‘home’ was exactly where I went first time round, only not to find a game, oh the irony, but at least I knew where it was!

King George’s Field it’s called, and judging by the photographs, they’d put a smart rail around the pitch, they already had a clubhouse in place that was used by the cricket club as well, and, if memory serves, they have made noises in the past about a possible tilt at getting into Step 6 football.

So, it was an after work job for the game against very near neighbours Rawdon Old Boys. Seemed a good idea at the time but I’d forgotten just how much of a ball ache the M621 and the Ring Road can be during rush hour, but anyway, 127 sets of traffic lights, 89 roundabouts, 47 pedestrian crossings and an escaped giraffe later, we were pulling into the car park, which was absolutely rammed due to a kids cricket match taking place.

Neither club had put anything on social media about the game, I was just relying on the league website, but to be fair, as I walked towards the clubhouse I spotted a gentleman who I known of, who goes by the name of a method of public transport. If he was sat outside the clubhouse (he wouldn’t be in it, he won’t spend any money!), then we definitely had a game on.

In fact, rant time. You would be surprised how many travellers / groundhoppers / fuckwits, whatever you want to call them, rock up at grounds, perch their arses in clubhouses and don’t so much as buy a glass of tap water. I mean, you wouldn’t walk into a pub and do that, so why is it then ok to do it at a sporting social club? Do they not open to make money and help keep the club in existence, or are they just somewhere for people to drop in and keep warm?

Anyway, game on, and a very nice clubhouse was open serving both beer and snacks, while, somewhat surprisingly, a hatch to the rear of the clubhouse was serving hot drinks and a very impressive selection of food items, more akin to a pub menu! I had something waiting for me when I got back so I didn’t partake, but the food at ‘Wing-A-Ding’ did look very nice!

So, the pitch was set on something of a plateau, with grass banking behind one of the goals and part of the way down the side opposite the clubhouse. Behind the other goal it sloped down to where the cricket pitch was, while the area in front of the clubhouse was elevated slightly from pitch level.

The new barrier is a very neat and tidy thing while the pitch itself was in cracking nick. I would suggest getting floodlights might not be too much of a challenge from a planning perspective, while hard standing would need to be put in place, as would some sort of enclosing system as taking admission would be a problem in it’s current state. Otherwise, it’s a ground that certainly has scope for development.

The game itself was pretty one sided, although visiting Rawdon didn’t help themselves in the first half by trying to play out from the back. This tactic saw them quickly go three goals down before the break, with the strikes coming from Laurie Power, Joe Tasker and Jake Kilbride.

Power got his second as the game moved into the closing stages after Rawdon re-grouped and steadied the ship a little, before Sean Fitzpatrick scored the hosts fifth as the game came to a close. In the meantime the visitors did score a consolation goal through George Beaumont.

And that was that, the roads were a little bit more appealing on the way back, until the M1 decided it was going to go down to one lane around Meadowhall, and what a joy that was adding half an hour onto my arrival home time.    

I should have eaten at Wing-A-Ding…..