Pz & The Mousehole

Penzance  2  Wendron United  2

South West Peninsula League – Western Division

It’s been a very interesting Summer in the far West of Cornwall.

Penzance Football Club (or Pz as they are referred to), one of the oldest and most recognised names in Cornish football, announced they were to merge with near neighbours Mousehole (pronounced 'Mowsell').

The story went on to have various twists and turns, but as you can perhaps imagine, this wasn’t overly well received by the loyal followers of Pz. Outcry, to put it was simply, was the seemingly collective response, but, before we start to try and unravel the tale, let’s talk about a fantastic August Saturday spent in the town and at the truly wonderful Penlee Park.

The holiday was fast drawing to a close, and with the South West Peninsula League season having kicked off in the midweek, it was time to take in some ‘proper’ football as opposed to the recent raft of pre-season friendlies.

Penzance is around a 45 minute drive from our now base in Falmouth, and very pleasant it is too on a sunny morning. Parked up on the Quay, our first point of call was the Escape Rooms, we got out with a couple of minutes to spare, and the basis it costs over £50 to take part in, I would have been mightily peed off if we’d got out in half the allocated time, I like my money’s worth!

Wetherspoons came next, and the one in Pz is certainly one of the better ones. On that, a good mate of mine has the proud record of having had a pint in every single Wetherspoons in the UK and Ireland, both currently open and now closed. The list is over 1000 venues long! It’s a mightily impressive performance and one that I think merits an article in the quarterly company magazine.

The problem is, my mate is a bit shy of publicity, but, this is the same chap who once went on Radio 5 Live to be interviewed by Sybil Roscoe about an upcoming Groundhop. That was all well and good until he took it upon himself to tell the story about an acquaintance who once drove the best part of 150 miles to a game, only to spend the entire match sat in his car having refused to enter the ground because they didn’t do a programme!

So, on that basis, for revenge purposes, it might be time to name and shame……!

Digression aside, it was a very good Spoons, but having played with the app and devoured a small banquet, it was time to make the move to Penlee Park.

The ground is located to the West of Pz, very close to the seafront, and actually just over the road from the home ground of Cornish Pirates Rugby Club. Parking was tight as the ground is very much in a residential area, but with a space found, the first thing to strike you as you walk up to Penlee Park is the wonderful gates and turnstile block, painted in white, with the club name adorning the frontage. It is something of an iconic structure and it doesn’t take too many Google searches to find photographs of it.

It was a bit too early to go in, so we took advantage of the large social club that sits outside of the ground. It wasn’t busy, but the few that were in were talking in hushed tones about the recent developments at the club.

So, what actually has happened over the Summer?

I’m working a bit on what I can pick up from online sources, but it appeared an announcement was made that Penzance and near neighbours Mousehole were to merge, and the chap who was General Manager at Mousehole had been ‘elected’ to the position of overseeing the process.

Questions were raised over the legitimacy of the announcements and whether it was actually constitutional to start such a process prior to an EGM. It was also of grave concern to the supporters of Pz that this was more of a takeover than a merger, and as a result well over 100 years of history and tradition would be lost.

It was suggested that with very few volunteers and allegedly no money, Pz were vulnerable to such a ‘takeover’ and needed a bail out. Pz did subsequently come out and refute the money side of things, but clearly they did need more hands on deck, and a manager.

What Pz did have was a very well located and good standard ground, and obviously a large catchment area. A merged club could thrive, but at what cost?

Anyway, Pz then had an AGM, it was announced the merger was now in fact off, and then went on to introduce a new Chairman, who no one had heard of. It seemed promises and assurances were made, but then…….just after the game that I’m about summarise, the club announced that the Chairman was no longer involved with the club at all, and a subsequent announcement a few days later suggested that what had been promised hadn’t materialised, and the club would move forward regardless, with a new sponsor in place.

So, we’ll leave that now, lets talk about the ground and the game.

The ground is a real smasher, when you walk through the turnstiles you go up a slight slope and the pitch runs width ways in front of you. Opposite is a grass bank with trees overhanging it, while this extends round to the right hand side where a further grass bank offers a great elevated view.

To the left side of the entrance is a cracking old seated stand painted in black and white, with bench seating, while to the side of this is the tea bar. The players change next to the clubhouse and enter the pitch up another slope that comes out behind the goal. The ground is also floodlit.

It was a lovely hot day, but somewhat windy as the forecast had suggested, and what we were treated to was a very entertaining game of football.

Jacob Cleverly gave Pz a deserved lead and that was how it stayed until half time. Cleverly then scored a relatively soft second goal juts after the break that crept through the goalkeepers legs, but then visiting Wendron United got a real grip on the game.

TJ Walter pulled a goal back and then late in the game they got a deserved equaliser through Joe Souch. While all this was happening, Wendron had Jamie Webb sent off for a two footed challenge, while Pz saw Mark Vercesi sent off for retaliating.

A very good day all round, a super game at a great set up, and let’s hope that whatever has really happened off the field that cause so much unrest, is now behind Pz and they can start to move forward as a club, in their own right.