Barum

Barnstaple Town  0  Plymouth Argyle  6

Friendly

I had to turn the dial on the charm up another notch when Mrs H suggested that on the back of a dismal weather forecast for the Sunday, a day in the caravan playing I-Spy was perhaps the best we could hope for…

You see, it’s all well and good having a Plan A, but Plan’s B and C are equally important. I hadn’t just plotted my Devon match schedule around the days we’d already agreed football was on the agenda, I’d also got a contingency schedule should an opportunity arise, and indeed it did.

In fact, from memory, the conversation in the end came round to my truly wonderful wife actually suggesting I went to football on the Sunday, as opposed to the words coming from my mouth, how good is that?

I did of course suggest we have a family day out, in Barnstaple, but they declined, I was flying solo with their blessing, oh days of happiness!

The Old Stand

So, Barnstaple Town. A team I’ve seen play just the once, and that was in a pre-season friendly game at Newquay when we were on a lads holiday. I don’t remember an awful lot about it, but I do know we’d had a few Newquay Steam Lager’s and at half time we were booted off the pitch by a club official having decided to embark on our own game of football in the penalty area.

I was trying to recall if I’d ever been to the town of Barnstaple before and again from memory, I think the best I can offer is going through it in the car on the way back to our holiday destination in Ilfracombe following a day trip to Westward Ho! (remember the exclamation mark)

Terracing & Stuff

I can’t remember seeing the ground of Barnstaple Town, but I do remember seeing the ground of near neighbours Bideford and their awesome floodlights. That ground will have to wait for another holiday.

The journey through up the M5 and along the A361 was punctuated by various heavy spells of rain, but the roads were clear as we sped past Tiverton, South Molton and ultimately into the large North Devon town just over an hour after departure time.

The Mill Road ground is located to the North West of the town centre, on the edges of the River Taw estuary. The huge bridge that crosses the estuary can be seen from the ground and in turn the bridge itself offers fine views across the town.

Rugby & The Bridge

What a lovely ground it is. You enter behind the goal and to either side of you are areas of uncovered terracing, with the dressing rooms in the left hand corner. Looking to the right you’ve then got the clubhouse and tea bar that runs up to the corner flag, while a tall covered terracing area, with seats bolted to the front, spans a good two thirds of the length of the pitch.

Behind the opposite goal is flat standing, but with a grass bank at the rear which offers a fine elevated view of proceedings, assuming you can climb it. On the opposite side of the covered terracing is a seated stand that looks as though it’s been in place for a very long time. The seats are wooden planks bolted to the floor and the roof is quite low, but the view is absolutely fine.

All in all, a very nice venue, characterful and atmospheric, I was in a happy place! But, as an added bonus for enthusiasts of the sporting facility, behind the far goal is the rugby ground, and that too is an impressive stadium with a large seated stand on one side and a smaller structure opposite.

Terracing

Barum (as they are known) were members of the Western League from 1948 through to 2016. In their final two seasons they won the First Division and then came runners up in the Premier Division which gave them the opportunity to take promotion to the Southern League.

The jump to the Southern League is a massive one for clubs like Barnstaple Town. Geography is a huge factor and with that comes travel costs and indeed player recruitment. Obviously having seen Bideford make the move a few seasons earlier they felt the time was right, but it’s not been easy. 

They finished 17^th out of 22 in their first season and last time out they finished next to bottom.

There was talk in the close season that the club may take voluntary demotion to the South West Peninsula League, but that ultimately didn’t happen. What this season holds for them, especially with a reportedly reduced playing budget and a reliance on more local players, remains to be seen, but with mandatory promotion now in place, it does beg the question as to whether some of the more remote Western League clubs might actually not want to win the league?

As for the game, well Plymouth fielded a youthful side, and despite Barnstaple putting up a good fight, they eventually ran out comfortable 6-0 winners. Pre-season friendlies are notoriously difficult to gauge anything from, so it’s hard to predict how Barum may do this season, but again, if it ends up being about survival in the Southern League, what cost will come with that?

They start the season with a trip to Portsmouth based Moneyfields, a steady three and a half hour journey, on a good day, so with it being holiday season, who knows?

Mill Road

The custodians of the football club will ultimately decide what course to take, but there is no easy answer to this. Geography means progress comes at a higher price than most, and this great football club is too important to be allowed to die as a result.

A fabulous day out, and with all due respect Mrs H, a lot better than a game of I-Spy in a caravan!