Before Technology

Alwoodley  3  Calverley United  0

Yorkshire Amateur League – Supreme Division

It was like the good old days.

Following my little argument with a lorry on the M1 back on Bank Holiday Monday, the car has had to go in for repair, and as a result I’m now the proud custodian of a mighty fine Skoda Fabia. In white I might add…

Mighty fine apart from the fact it doesn’t have a sat-nav, so, I’ve had to resort to maps and directions to get to places I’m not overly familiar with, like the kitchen as Mrs H would no doubt say!

But it wasn’t so long ago that it was always like this. On a Friday night you would get the road atlas out, and the Non-League Directory, and then set about making some notes to refer to on the way.

It worked to be fair, but it wasn’t without it’s pitfalls. You had no idea about roadworks and delays until you were in them, and if you got a diversion you just had to keep a very close eye on the yellow signs! 

The worst problem was if you arrived somewhere to find a match was off, and then needed a Plan B. 

That happened to me once when I got to St Helens Town, the old Knowsley Road ground they shared with the rugby league club, only to find the game against Fleetwood Town had gone by the wayside. I had a copy of Football Traveller magazine with me and spotted that Ashton Town were at home, and thanks to a quick look at the map I noticed it wasn’t too far to Ashton in Makerfield.

With NLD wedged between my knees, off I went down the East Lancs Road, looking down at the directions from time to time, and with the game a couple of minutes old I pulled into the car park and watched them demolish Winsford United.

Not ideal, but again, it was a case of using the tools available to us at the time.

Nowadays had that happened, I would never have got to St Helens because Social Media would have told me of an issue with the game, and a quick flick of the sat nav and I could have been on my way somewhere else, stress free. Life is so much more simple these days.

So, I got in the car mid-morning on Saturday, and in my hand was a piece of paper, I referred to it a couple of times once I was on the A61 Harrogate Road, North of Leeds City Centre, but to be fair, finding the home of Alwoodley Football Club was not too onerous.

Alwoodley is a very nice part of Leeds, and the football club play at a Community Hall, which is just off a road named The Avenue. The pitch sits just below the centre and is railed on two sides, with dugouts on the hall side. Flanking the South side of the pitch is the rugby ground of Moortown RUFC, a very good facility for a club who play at a pretty good standard. They compete in North One East, which is effectively the sixth level of the Rugby Union pyramid structure, and involves trips to Kendal, Newcastle and Hartlepool.  Today they were at home to Malton & Norton, a club located between York and Pickering.

Thanks to them being at home, the bar was open, so I did indulge to be fair! Dry Roasted Peanut watch was also in action, and I can confirm that they were KP, so that’s a tick in the box Moortown!

With kick off approaching it was a short walk back to the football pitch where the home side, who’ve had a mixed start to the season, were taking on Calverley, who themselves after a good start, had slipped a little in recent weeks. Calverley of course featured as the home club in a recent blog, and what a good bunch they were.

The game turned out to be a comfortable home victory for a confident looking Alwoodley side, and it also turned out to be a very good day for Rob Oxley who scored all three goals for the hosts, the final of which came from the penalty spot.

So, three games into the Yorkshire Amateur League now, and now it turns out I’ve got another three to visit and not the two I originally thought. It seems Route One Rovers have moved to a 3G in Bradford that I’ve yet to acquaint myself with. That’s next weekend sorted….but it looks a bitch of a place to find without the sat nav!

As for Alwoodley, another enjoyable visit, to what seems to be a well run and forward thinking club, it’s perhaps just a bit of a shame they are having to compete with the rugby for support.