Agricultural

Holbrook St Michaels Juniors  7  Burton United  0

Midlands Regional Alliance – First Division

The MRA merry-go-round is always something to keep you on your toes.

I have a tried and trusted formula with the Midlands Regional Alliance, and it works a bit like this.

Sometime in early July I contact Dan Bishop who is a league official and ask him what’s happening, and to be fair, he tells me as much as he knows in terms of new teams etc, subject to AGM’s and the like.

What happens at the AGM can be a bit of a lottery though as teams could in theory be admitted at very short notice, and possibly even admitted after the AGM. It has been known for teams to be at the AGM, but never kick a ball, or occasionally, not even turn up at the AGM, but still be admitted!

But then, until the fixtures come out, or the league handbook, whatever comes first, as a committed hopper, you really don’t know what new grounds are going to present themselves to you.

Prior to this campaign, I was of the view that I’d have Sleetmoor United, Acorn Albion and Burton United as new grounds, but as it transpired, Burton United was not a new ground, but both Willington and Holbrook St Michaels Juniors, who were existing members, did have new grounds.

No one’s fault, just the way it works at grass roots level on a Saturday, and in fairness to the league and it’s officials, the ground grading requirements are pretty relaxed, so teams can play wherever they like as long as they can provide the basics.

I’d got a plan, with Acorn Albion having been ticked off in pre-season, I worked out I could do my remaining three grounds in the space of a weekend, but it did involve going way out of my comfort zone, and, spending a Saturday afternoon at what was historically an agricultural college!

Yes, Holbrook St Michaels Juniors, who up until the end of last season played at Belper Sports Centre on the 4G, and a mere ten minutes walk from my house, had decided to up sticks and move to Broomfield College, which is part of Derby University, sitting on the road from Smalley to Breadsall.

I’ll be honest, despite the fact that my daughter has just spent a year studying at the college, and my son is about to spend two years doing the same, I had absolutely no idea that they had a football pitch. I cannot recall anyone else playing the at the college, not even college teams, this was all a bit of a mystery.

So, with a plan to stay local I plumped for the game against newcomers Burton United, who of course were playing themselves on Shobnall Sports Ground, and not Meadow Lane as first suggested. A quick text to Holbrook in the morning confirmed all was ok, and very much on at Broomfield, so I made the relatively short journey to the college.

I must admit, it’s very weird travelling such a short distance on a Saturday to watch football. But given the amount of travelling done just recently when you think about Dulwich, Devon, Cornwall, Canvey Island, Tottenham and Maidstone, it’s not a bad thing to be just down the road, especially given a midweek trip to Dunston is just around the corner!

The college had a large car park, and just beyond this hidden by trees is the football pitch, which is located on a plateau. You walk up through a gate and on first impressions I was very pleasantly surprised with what I saw. A wooden barrier surrounds the entire pitch, while down one side is a large fence to stop the ball escaping in the direction of the college buildings. One side of the pitch is a grass bank, while at the bottom of the bank are two smart dug outs.

The pitch was in great nick, and my first thoughts were that I couldn’t understand why anyone has never played on this pitch on a Saturday in the past? Maybe it simply wasn’t available, but to be honest, I see no reason why it wouldn’t be more than adequate to host Step 7 football.

Anyway, that aside, Holbrook are the lucky custodians of the pitch on a Saturday, so whoever brokered the deal to use it, great work!

The game was very one sided. Holbrook won it 7-0, although many of the goals were scored in the second period when Burton had effectively surrendered.

Holbrook were never in danger, and despite all of Burton’s efforts in the early stages, they never for one minute looked like having the ability to score a goal. To be fair, the score line ran away with them in the end, but from an attitude perspective they gave all they had, but they were nowhere near good enough.

This is another problem the MRA face, as in where to place new clubs. Of course the new applicants are bound to give it the ‘big un’ and say they should be in the top flight, experience tells the league that they should start at the bottom, but the compromise is the middle division, but that more often than not proves to be too much, especially for sides that have no track record. I hope Burton don’t end up whipping boys and then drop out, but history says…..

So, one down and two to go, keep reading the blog, things are about to get very different indeed. Bob L. Hatt is about to enter uncharted water, twice!