Poey Is Innocent

Hemsworth Miners Welfare  5  Bottesford Town  2

Northern Counties East League – Premier Division

It appears Poey is most definitely innocent, and I know that for a fact, because the man himself told me!

Anyone who has either been to, or watched Hemsworth Miners Welfare will have seen two large flags hanging from an available vantage point, and on one of them is the line ‘Poey Is Innocent’, with ‘Fitzy Whites’ in the centre of the Cross of St George.

When you spot the flags, and you really can’t miss them, you do begin to wonder just exactly who Poey is, and what exactly he has been accused of, falsely it seems!

I spotted the flags at Staveley last week, and when I got back home I did some research, via a couple of bloggers of excellent repute who had commented on the matter. One suggested Poey had been arrested as part of the famous ‘Fitzwilliam Nine’ who rioted in July 1984 during the Miners Strike, while another suggested it was an incident at a Leeds United v Leicester City game.

Anyway, I was walking around the ground on Tuesday night when I spotted a chap climbing down a ladder having hung the flags up on the netting that stops the balls from finding their way into back gardens. I decided to have a chat.

“So, who is Poey and what is he innocent of?” I said

“Well I’m Poey, and it was a game at Luton Town, I was in the Leeds end and got nicked for supposedly throwing stuff.” came the reply, followed by

“And I was innocent.”

So that was it, from the horses mouth so to speak, now we know, and Poey then went on to sell me a raffle ticket, which I missed out on winning by just one number!

I’ve only ever been to Hemsworth the once before, it was in early May 2007, they were playing at home to champions elect Bay Athletic in the West Riding County Amateur League, and I was well impressed with the set up they had.

It was only going to be a matter of time before they progressed to the Northern Counties East League and that happened at the end of the following season. They had seven seasons in the First Division before being crowned champions in 2015-16 and with it came promotion to the Premier Division.

Since being in the top flight they’ve finished ninth, sixth and fourth last season. With three clubs being promoted to the Northern Premier League at the end of the current campaign, I would wager that Hemsworth will be very much in the mix for one of those spots.

So, it’s over 11 years since my one and only visit, it was time to have a little wander back and see what’s changed.

First things first, Hemsworth don’t actually play in Hemsworth, they play in Fitzwilliam, the birthplace of Sir Geoffrey Boycott, him who doesn’t give a toss apparently! ‘Fitzy’ is a village that sits just off the main road that links Doncaster with Wakefield. For those who can only relate to locations by football grounds, think Frickley Athletic and keep going for a bit, or, if you are coming from the other direction, think Nostell Miners Welfare, it’s not far from where they play!

With no sat nav still, it was handwritten directions, but this time I managed to cock it up and ended up taking a detour via Upton, before eventually finding my way into the large car park that seems to have been hemmed in somewhat by new build houses since I last went. The football ground sits right behind the cricket ground, where I assume Sir Geoffrey played in his youth?

The clubhouse building is very smart indeed, on two tiers, and the cafeteria is located inside the building.  The dressing rooms also form part of the impressive structure.

The ground is fully enclosed with a seated stand on the far side, right next to what I initially thought was a smaller seated stand, but that, upon further inspection turned out to be the dugouts, and very impressive dugouts they are too!

It’s tidy, it’s smart, and it’s a friendly place.  It had changed a bit since my previous visit, in terms of the stand and the floodlights, but otherwise what was already a very good set up has only been enhanced, and yes, I suspect it’s fine for promotion as well.

Hemsworth didn’t play so well at Staveley last week so I was interested to see how they fared against the visitors from Scunthorpe, and to be fair to them I thought they played very well indeed,

Declan Parker gave the hosts the lead inside two minutes with a penalty, but Mason Ellender equalised with a header before the game was ten minutes old. Seon Ripley made it two for Hemsworth after eighteen minutes, while Parker got his second and the Hemsworth third on the half hour mark.

Jason Davies made it 4-1 on the stroke of half time with a thunderbolt of a shot, while just after the break Sidney Santos waltzed through the Bottesford defence to score a fifth. You felt at this stage the hosts might go onto to get more, but with a home game on Friday night against one of the early pacesetters in Thackley, they took the foot off the gas a bit and with the last kick of the game Robbie Leaning scored a second for the visitors.

A super night, a really good set up and a very good football team managed by Wayne Benn and Andy Hayward, two men who certainly know non-league football in West Yorkshire.

And that just left Poey to take down his flags, until the next game, when they’ll be re-erected.

I can feel a Billy Joel song coming on……..