1500 Up

AFC Creswell   0   Innings   8 

Worksop Sunday League – Division Two

I had it all worked out, at some point in April / May of last season I would be reaching a landmark, and that landmark would be the 1500^th venue I’d seen a football match take place at.

Clearly that all fell apart, so the countdown had to begin in early August of the current campaign, and while in an ideal World it would have been somewhere exotic like Germany, Holland, Ireland or even Scotland, it was going to have to be somewhere a little more mundane than that.

The problem is of course is that you can’t plan these events with any great precision because things change quite quickly, especially in the current climate, so it was really a case of just seeing how the cards fell and accepting that it would be where it would be!

Looking back at previous landmarks, number 1000 was Honley in West Yorkshire, which turned out to be quite a good move because I took Mrs L with me, largely as it was also the village where she first lived when studying at Huddersfield University.

Number 500 was Carlton Town’s Bill Stokeld Stadium, a game against Hallam if I recall, whereas 250 up was the Brewery Field home of Spennymoor United. Number 100 was Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground, whereas going back any further if we are being honest, isn’t really what I would call landmark territory.

Anyway, turns it was going to be a Sunday for number 1500, and in terms of options it was either AFC Creswell, or, AFC Creswell!

AFC Creswell have dropped onto the radar as the Saturday team have joined the Notts Senior League as one of the more Northern outposts, and it quickly transpired that they have a Sunday side in the Worksop Sunday League, a competition I dabbled in last season and did enjoy.

I’ll be honest, despite the closeness of Creswell, it’s a village I’ve never ever visited, but it is one with a rich history.

A mining village in North East Derbyshire, just outside Clowne, one of it’s landmarks is the ‘Model Village’ which is an area of housing built in an octagonal shape (when looking at a map that is), which was constructed in 1895 to house the miners and their families. While the pit may have gone, the houses still remain.

The pit’s past was marked by tragedy in 1950 when a fire trapped 80 men who all perished in the disaster, while it’s eventual closure came in 1991. The local amenities all centred around the pit, when at the time it was a thriving village, and one of the landmarks was the cinema on Duke Street which was built in the 1930’s in an art deco style. It became a bingo hall in the late 1960’s before eventually becoming swimming baths and a leisure centre. The facility closed in 2016 and was sold in 2019 to a developer, it’s future did seem uncertain, albeit I didn't venture down to check out the current state of play.

Creswell Crags Visitors Centre sits to the East of the village, while at the South side of the village, just beyond the Model Village is the site of the old colliery, with the pit ponds still remaining further South still. It was close to the colliery that the cricket ground and indeed the football ground of the former Creswell Colliery were located.

Now then, Creswell Colliery FC, that’s a famous old name! I remember them from the early Eighties as a lower division Midland Counties League side, but the history is a bit more than just that.

With a history stretching back to the 1880’s, they played in the Central Alliance League after the Second World War, but their most famous day came in the 1954-55 season when they reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup, drawing Accrington Stanley at home. The game was switched to Peel Park in Accrington and despite a strong following, Colliery lost the game 7-1. I have seen copies of the programme for sale on eBay recently, I may have to invest!

The club moved into the East Midlands Regional League in the late Sixties, and by the early Seventies they were competing in the Mansfield League and the Sutton & Skegby League’s, until eventually joining the Midland Counties League in 1978.

They remained in the competition until 1982-83 season and became founder members of the Northern Counties East League Division Two South, along with the likes of Sutton Trinity, Long Eaton Grange, Retford Rail and Rolls Royce Hucknall, but after just one season they dropped into local football again and records from that point seem to have ceased to exist.

So here we are today, AFC Creswell, and having found the ground at the end of a small estate of new build houses, I have to say what a super little place they have.

A decent sized car park greets you, with a good sized changing room block adjacent. In front of this is the well manicured pitch, which is surrounded on two sides by elevated grass banking, giving good views of the proceedings, and of course the surrounding areas which are tree lined and aesthetically pleasing.

It has a very rural feel to it, yet if you know your history, this is a village steeped in hard industry, and I cannot recommend it highly enough as a place to watch football on a Sunday morning, or indeed a Saturday afternoon for that matter.

The game, as far as the hosts were concerned, oh dear!

Creswell got well and truly battered, to the tune of 8-0. Visiting Innings FC were on top throughout against an injury hit home side and four goals from Blaine Humphrey, three from Ricky Bolton and a single effort from Connor Brown did the damage. Perhaps from Creswell’s point of view, the less said the better!

But, today was about a visit to the village of Creswell, a look at the history of the place and the football that sits within it. Plus of course, it wasn’t a bad way after all to get to ground number 1500!