Lockdown

Hallam  2  Frickley Athletic  0

Northern Counties East League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2.50

Let’s be honest, lockdown was a bit of a bastard wasn’t it?

Life as we once knew it, blah, blah, blah – never be the same again, blah, blah, blah – the new normal, waffle, waffle, shite!

Yeah, and guess what, life is kind of the same again, and the new normal, well it’s not that different to the old normal is it?

Well, actually, in some ways, we do have a new normal. Everything costs more because we’ve got to foot the bill of lockdown, we all now feel comfortable doing video calls, and crowds at non-league football matches are now bigger than they once were!

So it wasn’t all bad after all then, not if you are running a football club.

Don’t ask me to start a long winded debate about why non-league football crowds have suddenly risen exponentially since we were liberated, the reasons are several fold, but probably the main one being it was the first type of football we were allowed to go and watch, for quite a length of time, so those who wanted their footy fix latched on to it, and have kind of never looked back.

It’s happened at my local club Belper Town, it’s happened all over the Country, and, one club where it has definitely happened is Hallam FC in Sheffield.

In 2019-20 (the Covid Season), the clubs first home league attendance was 164, the last game before lockdown drew in 229. In 2021-22, the first game drew 293, but by November crowds were regularly topping 500. By the time we were at the end of the season three times the 1000 barrier had been broken. The trend continued last season when they made a return to the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, while again this season, only a couple of months in, the average is over 500, with a seasons best so far of 611.

Don’t get me wrong, the club in terms of on the field, have been on an upwards trajectory and that of course helps, but that alone can’t be the reason why crowds have doubled and now trebled in the Sandygate area of the Steel City.

So, it was time to go and take a look, and bearing in mind the last time I set foot in the place was 2014, I was kind of wondering what might have happened to have caused so many people to make the regular pilgrimage?

Before we do that, what’s the history with the Hallamsters (in joke if you used to listen to Hallam FM)?

Well, formed in 1860 (Sheffield FC needed someone to play against), they made Sandygate their home and apparently this is acknowledged as the oldest football ground in the World. Now, I’ve seen various clubs claiming their grounds to be the ‘oldest’, ‘most continually used’, ‘oldest professional’, but I’m going with Hallam as having the oldest ground in the World, largely out of solidarity as I work in the City.

I can’t be arsed with detailing all the older history when players wore flat caps and stockings, but following the War they became members of the Yorkshire League where they remained until 1982 when they became founder members of the Northern Counties East League. They bounced around in the second and third tiers until 1987 when they won promotion to the Premier Division, and other than a short stint in the early 90’s and a slightly longer one from 2011 until 2022 when they got relegated back to the First Division, the top flight has been their home.

I first went to Sandygate in 1988, the clubs first season in the Premier Division, to see Belper Town win 3-2. My overriding memory was a sloping pitch and post-match drinks in the cricket club pavilion which sits right at the far side of the ground. I then went a few times in the 90’s, three times to be precise, and on every occasion Belper won 2-1, while one of the more memorable visits came in 2005 when I saw Sheffield FC win a feisty encounter 5-3.

Has Sandygate changed much over the passing years, or at least since my last visit? Well, alarmingly, the old pub over the road called the Plough has been flattened, that was a disappointment I have to say, but otherwise, once through the turnstiles it’s not an awful lot different.

I guess though, when you look at the Sandygate footprint, and how the ground is very much hemmed in tightly to it’s surroundings, the club is limited somewhat in terms of what it can do from a developmental perspective. Behind the goal at the Sandygate Road end, the narrow space between the pitch and the wall had been filled with a covered terrace that runs from the corner by the turnstile, up to the first goalpost. The side to the East of the ground sees a small outside bar, the nice and spacious clubhouse, a tea bar, an elevated seated stand, and some dressing rooms, all working their way down the slope to the bottom end where it’s flat standing behind the goal. The West side of the ground is out of bounds for spectators as it’s the cricket field side. But, in short, the club doesn’t have an awful lot of space left to develop, that hasn’t already been developed.

It was a wet night, and the problem with wet nights at Sandygate is that the amount of cover is limited, so you need to be out of the bar early to get your space, I was just that, out of the bar just in time to tuck myself into a space at the back of the terracing!

The place has a buzz about it, a family feel, this isn’t a shabby area of Sheffield either, the clientele who live locally, and indeed rock up to watch the football, are not that short of a shekel, if you build it, let them eat well and drink well at it, play a bit of decent football at it, then they will come and spend their well inheri….sorry, earned cash!

It’s been a decent few years on the pitch as well, let’s not forget that, and the club have certainly done a fine job in building their profile, with excellent use of social media and marketing. Hallam FC have kind of become the second favourite club of the United and Wednesday fans, again, taking advantage of the period when Bramall Lane and Hillsborough were out of bounds for a lengthy period.

So, Frickley Athletic were in town, a club who were once crowned the second best non-league team in the Country in the old Gola League days of the late eighties. And to be fair, they put up a decent show and probably on reflection felt aggrieved not to have come away from the game with something, but Hallam did them 2-0.

The first goal came on the half hour mark when the unfortunate Brandon Murillo diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper, before Danny Buttle got the second on the stroke of half time via a penalty. Frickley played well up the slope in the second period but for all of their efforts, they couldn’t find an opening.

Hallam march on, whether this is the season they make a push for the top five and a play-off spot is hard to say, the NCE Premier is a tough old gig and a fair few quid does fly about. Time will indeed tell I guess.

Lockdown eh? So much to answer for…….