South Normanton United
3 Derby Athletic 1
Midlands Regional Alliance – Division Two Cup
I’ve got a lot of time for the Midlands Regional Alliance.
It announced at its AGM in the Summer that it wanted to aim
to achieve Step 7 status, the rationale I’m sure being the fact that Step 7
nationally is very much made up of what are effectively County leagues.
If you take this part of the World, Nottinghamshire,
Leicestershire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lincolnshire all
have their own leagues at the said step, but Derbyshire doesn’t.
Derbyshire clubs are catered for via the Central Midlands
League at that level, but therein lies a problem. If you are from the shire,
depending on your location that could mean you join the North or the South
division, and that will by definition dictate your level of travelling. In the
North for example you will face trips into South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
For example, Tideswell United to Lincoln Moorlands Railway or Appleby
Frodingham is a long way for this level of football.
Conversely the likes of Appleby and Lincoln, along with many
others, from a travelling perspective would be much better off in their own
County Step 7 arrangements, but for some reason, clubs generally elect to stay
in the CMFL and indeed the league does continue to attract new recruits.
Arguably the standard of football and standard of facilities
in general is probably better than your average Step 7 league, which few would
disagree with, but I suspect things are coming to a crunch, the footprint is
just too big.
The FA over recent seasons has embarked upon a restructuring
programme that has seen a much more streamlined pyramid take shape, and one of
the focus areas has been a standardisation of the requirements for Step 7 and
indeed the distribution of the said leagues.
Being completely pragmatic, if you take the CMFL and strip
out all of its non-Derbyshire clubs by moving them into their relevant County Leagues,
you would be left with a pool of clubs that could ultimately form a Derbyshire
County League.
I think the CMFL perhaps know that, and what was interesting
this Summer was their recruitment of a number of clubs, four of whom were
Derbyshire based, three of whom came from the Midlands Regional Alliance.
A Typical MRA Scene |
So, to bring it round full circle, the MRA wants Step 7 and
geographically could fill the Derbyshire gap, whereas the CMFL perhaps fears a
carve up and not wanting to be left out, they also want to be in the position
to the be designated County league.
Yes, I may be being a little conspiracy theorist, and I may
be putting two and two together to make five, but that would be my reading from
the outside looking in.
As I said, I have a lot of time for the MRA, as I do the
CMFL, but let’s focus on the MRA for the purposes of today’s blog. I’ve been
watching games in it for ten years now, and what I have seen is a number of
progressive clubs go on to better things. Clubs like Dronfield Town, Selston
and Belper United have all progressed to Step 6. Recruitment has been a
challenge, especially running three divisions, but despite a lack of applicants
and being let down at the eleventh hour, once again they have delivered the
three leagues.
The other impressive thing that has come on leaps and bounds
over recent seasons is the marketing and public relations side, with much of
that down to Dan Bishop, a man I know well who is Secretary of Moira United and
a league committee member.
Dan has been instrumental in bringing the league into the 21st
century, a good example being AGM night when he was quick to tweet the league
constitutions to the avid followers like myself, but not only that, ask him a question
and he gives you a straight answer, no fluff, no politics, just a straight
answer.
Broadmeadows And Beyond |
The league really do come across as well organised, but
speak to its member clubs and they will confirm it, which is testimony to those
running it.
I will admit though, to a completist like me, it does have its
challenges though. The constitutions are great, but then comes the guessing
game of where are the new sides going to play, let alone some of the local authority
merry go round movements in Derby that can throw the odd new one up from time to
time. Then there are the schools, I’ve lost count of the MRA games I’ve watched
at different schools, and as we know, schools have a habit of changing names!
Thankfully Dan puts a handbook online so if you are just a
bit patient, you get all the answers anyway!
The handbook does have its moments though, well, not so much
the handbook, but the club secretaries. You have to remember that your average
MRA secretary would only ever normally get calls about games from the opposition,
the officials or the league, so when you send them a text asking if a game is
on, it does create a bit of curiosity. Put yourself in their shoes, why would a
random stranger want to watch a game on a parks pitch, in the normal world, and
then go to the extent of checking it’s on, the kick off time and where it’s
being played?
The best one I ever had was with a club in Staffordshire, I
sent a text the night before, but before anything was confirmed to me, I got
the Spanish inquisition, who was I, why was I going, was I from the league, was
I a spy? In the end after revealing my full name, and purpose, I got a ‘yes’ to
my question. But, at the game the chap hunted me down and we had a really great
chat about the club and the league.
Subs Bench |
The way things have worked out this season, I only had one
new visit to make which in itself was a bit disappointing, but that new visit
was to be to South Normanton United, and today they were playing at home to
another newcomer in the form of Derby Athletic.
I sent the text, and got a positive response, but then the
communication continued, and this was a new one for me. The Secretaries printer
had broken and he needed some signing on forms, thinking I was originally from
another club or the league, he asked me if I could bring some along. Anyway, knowing
the forms are on the league website, I obliged anyway, printed a handful out
and delivered them to the ground pre-match. He was hugely grateful for my help.
The ground at South Normanton is actually in Broadmeadows,
located behind a small retail park and the Boundary pub. It’s got a couple of
pitches and a large changing room block, while the hosts moved up from the
Matlock & District League at the end of last season.
Derby took the lead, but Normanton quickly equalised to
leave it 1-1 at half time. Two quick fire goals mid way through the second
period, one of which was a penalty saw the hosts take the points in their
Divisional Cup game. The only blot on their copybook being two late red cards,
one for a stamp (alleged) and one for a second yellow after retaliating.
It was another good, honest and enjoyable day out in the
MRA, and another example of the league trying to attract forward thinking and
well organised clubs to its set up.
What the future looks like remains to be seen, some of that
will be in the hands of the Football Association, but I, like many others hope
they achieve what they have set out to do, but somewhere along the way, I
suspect someone, one way or another, may end up disappointed.
The Changing Block |
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