Whamaggedon

Frome Town  2  Wimborne Town  2

Southern League – Division One South

Admission / Programme – £10 / £2

Considering that Frome Town appear to have an ability to get games on in all weather conditions, and attempts to pay them a visit have been on the radar for nearly two and a half seasons, it’s a bit of a story as to why only now, have I actually managed to achieve it!

For the previous two seasons, I’ve tried to link it with being on holiday, and more specifically the return journey from a break in either Devon or Cornwall. But it’s either coincided with a weekend when they haven’t got a home game, or, a desire to get the family back home to Derbyshire at a reasonable hour has taken preference, when previously the best made plans to get to the game have been in place and all that.

At the start of this season I was determined, forget the holiday theory, that never seems to work, just get it in the planner and get it visited. Three weekends have been on the radar so far, one fell by the wayside quite early due to FA Trophy involvement, and then early in December I’d got a game against Exmouth Town all lined up, but I then bottled out of it due to freezing conditions and no Plan B being in place. Naturally it got played. Then only last weekend, Torquay in the FA Trophy, but the monsoons were forecast, and with no Plan B, I bottled it and went to the plastic at Horsham instead. Torquay had a lovely day out…….

I needed more faith in Frome, so far they’ve survived both a monsoon and an arctic blast, so let’s be right, on any other normal Saturday, we should have absolutely nothing to worry about, apart from the traffic which has of course lately been an absolute arse.

Saturday 16^th December, all looked fantastic, but then on the Thursday Mrs H threw me a domestic curveball, but I explained the situation, discussed the prospect of a detour from our next Cornwall venture, and finally she relented, domestic duties were re-apportioned, I could think about Frome once more.

Jensen Button is from Frome you know, I think Master H would have quite like to have gone and looked at his statue being a young petrol head, but he hasn’t got one, so that was a non-starter, I was going on my own, and given the traffic situation over previous Saturday’s I chose to depart earlier than normal, while of course Mrs H was doing domestic stuff.

The journey down via the M42 and the M5 proved to be somewhat entertaining thanks to the content of the Frank Skinner Show on Absolute Radio. The subject of ‘Whamaggedon’ was discussed, a game I play yearly, and as of today, the 21^st December, I’m still in it. Basically, you have to go from 1^st December to midnight on Christmas Eve without hearing the original version of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’. This has become a multinational pastime, avoiding being ‘Whammed Off’ during December, and personally,  in previous years I’ve had some shockers, including an early exit on 2^nd December once thanks to a taxi driver!

The conversation started on the radio over the fact the PA Announcer at Arsenal played it at half time during a recent game, knocking an estimated 7,000 people out of the game, but it then moved on to the fact that the estate of the late George Michael see’s the bulk of it’s proceeds going to charity. So, as the game has grown in popularity, and a number of radio stations no longer play the record, effectively the charities are being denied of valuable money through the royalties.

That’s unfortunate, but on a positive, only three more days to go!!

I left the M5, moved onto the M4 and then headed down towards Bath. I’ve got a new car by the way, and I’ve fallen out with it on a few occasions already, and it’s that piece of kit known as Apple Carplay, it does my nut in. One of the things I’d not done is disabled toll roads usage. How is that going to cause a problem in Bath you might ask?

Has anyone ever driven through Batheaston, in a car that’s as wide as a small tank? No? Well, firstly, two very narrow bridges, and one of them you have to pay a toll to cross, only a pound to be fair, but that’s a pound that I could have given to Frome Town FC in terms of an extra raffle ticket, and then we have a public outcry about George Michael’s lack of royalties??

Once Batheaston had been negotiated it was a pretty straightforward run down to Frome, and after negotiating the town’s ring road I was pulling up into the car park behind the goal just after 1pm, all very stress free (apart from the toll) it has to be said.

Frome Town’s history is of a club that joined the Western League in 1919 and remained in it until 2009 when a runners up spot in the Premier Division saw them promoted to the Southern League Division One South West.

Within two seasons they were promoted to the Premier Division where they remained until 2019 when they suffered relegation back to the second tier. The eight seasons at Step 3 saw a best placed finish of eighth in 2016-17.

Only two full seasons have been completed in the now named Division One South, and it was during 2021-22 that they finished runners-up, only to lose out to Bristol Manor Farm in the Play Off’s. This season, prior to the game against table topping Wimborne Town, they sat in second place.

Nothing remarkable has happened in the FA competitions, barring a First Round appearance in 1954-55 when Leyton Orient won 3-0 at Badgers Hill. The FA Vase quarter final was reached in 2004-05 but a 3-0 defeat at Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association (I know!) saw that run come to an end.

Badgers Hill is a wonderfully traditional type of non-league football ground. You enter via the turnstiles on the Berkley Road side of the ground, upon which sits the dressing rooms, two small covered areas, the original seated stand, a tea bar and a further building that houses the Supporters Club. Behind the goal on the East side of the ground is the large clubhouse that sits high up above pitch level, with a standing area in front of it, while moving round to the North side you have a tall and expansive cover sitting above some terracing steps, running from the half way line right down to the bottom North West corner. Behind the West goal is some more modern seating of the Atcost variety, but to help with viewing this structure is raised a good height above pitch level.

A super set up, I have to say, and while I was having a wee pre-match snifter in the bar, I was joined at my table by a group of Frome supporters. I was minding my own business, when all of a sudden the bloke next to me, who had an accent that I found familiar, said to one of his mates “I send all of the Frome programmes to my mate in Clay Cross, back where I came from”

My ears pricked up, so I leaned over and said “I only live down the road from Clay Cross…”, and that was the moment I met veteran Sherwood Forester, Errol.

A good half an hour chat followed with a man that ended up in Frome due to his military career, but had so many memories of North Derbyshire and it’s surroundings. But, kick off was due, so we bade farewell.

A crowd of 473 turned up to watch a thoroughly entertaining game between two pretty evenly matched sides. The opening goal came in the 33^rd minute when Jon Davies tapped home for the hosts after great work from Kane Richards. Frome had been in the ascendency at this point, but the goal galvanised the visitors and they found an equaliser within five minutes when poor defending let in Harry Morgan to score with ease.

As the game moved into first half added time, Frome retook the lead when a corner fell to the feet of captain Sam Teale and he made no mistake from close range.

The game swung from end to end in the second period, and following a spell of sustained Wimborne pressure leading up to the hour mark, it was an absolute pisswhistler of a strike from Matthew Neale in the 69^th minute that bought the scores level, a stunning strike that no goalkeeper would have saved.

Wimborne found the net again in the 75^th minute but were denied by the offside flag as the game started to get scrappy, and as the final whistle came, you had the feeling that both sides were relatively happy with a point gained.

The escape from the car park was quick, and as my Carplay went on a complete wobble, and I had to use a largely ineffective in car system that hadn’t yet been set up correctly as I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, I ended up back at the Batheaston toll bridge…..happy days!

Otherwise, home before 8pm, it had only been two and a half years in the waiting, but it was worth it, even if the lack of a Jensen Button statue was a bit of a let down, apparently, when you become a freeman of the town, a statue isn’t part of the deal!