A Walk To The Welfare

Holbrook Sports  2 Ashbourne  3

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I wasn’t planning on going to a game today, until I spotted on Twitter that Holbrook Sports had a home match.

I looked at the weather, looked down at my post holiday belly, and thought to myself….I could walk to the game, it would do me the World of good? 2.6 miles each way Google Maps told me, I could do that, no problem, and just think how great I would feel having achieved it?

Let’s put my lack of fitness to one side for a minute, and talk about Holbrook and it’s football.

I first went to a game at the Welfare Ground in Holbrook sometime in the late nineties, when Holbrook FC were plying their trade in the Central Midlands League. Previously, Holbrook FC used to be known as Holbrook Miners Welfare, and they became founder members of the aforementioned CML in 1983, moving up and down the divisions, alongside a couple of spells when they dropped out of the competition completely, to where I’m not entirely sure.

By 1996 the club had dropped the Miners Welfare name as links between the football club and the neighbouring drinking establishment in the car park diminished, continuing life as Holbrook FC. The clubs highlight being a CML Premier Division championship in 2000 and elevation to the Supreme Division.

But then in 2003 they went back to the old Miners Welfare name - maybe they needed somewhere to go for food and drink after the games? Then after some good finishes in the league table, notably a third and a fifth, they were elected as founder members of the new Step 6 East Midlands Counties League, finishing in a fantastic third place in each of their first two seasons.

Another highlight came in 2009-10  when they drew near neighbours Belper Town in the FA Cup, and after securing a a notable 1-1 draw at Belper, they won the replay 1-0 at their Shaw Lane ground, a match and occasion that wasn’t without controversy. Who would have thought a game at Holbrook would make the news section of the Derby Telegraph, but, the less said about that, the better…..

By the start of the 2010-11 season, the Miners Welfare link had gone again, and this time it was a new name, Holbrook Sports. Guess what, they drew Belper Town again in the FA Cup, this time proving that the previous years victory was no fluke, winning deservedly 3-1 at Christchurch Meadow.

Top half finishes continued to arrive, as did yet another FA Cup tie against Belper, but this time the higher ranked club gained revenge with a 6-1 win at Shaw Lane. While in the 2010-11 season they had their best FA Vase run in reaching the Fifth Round (last 16). Coalville Town eventually put them out on their way to reaching the Final of the competition, but not before the Brookies had seen off the likes of Lancing and St Helens Town on the way.

At the end of the 2017-18 season, the club took the decision to step down from the EMCL, taking voluntary relegation back to Step 7 and the CML once again, where they remain.

Despite being so close to home, my visits to Shaw Lane have been infrequent, in fact my last visit was the FA Cup tie against Belper in 2010. I did try on a few occasions last season but both the weather, and some storm damage to the ground curtailed that. I did turn up one night for a game early in the season only to find it had called off just before my arrival, so I ended up making a detour to Mickleover Sports.

Google Maps said it would take 53 minutes, but I was sure I could beat that, so setting off bang on 7pm, I gave myself a relatively ambitious 45 minutes to get from home to the ground. It was all going well until I spotted a public footpath that from memory, cut out a large part of the Kilbourne Road and Sandbed Lane climb. That was fine, until I got lost, found myself straying from the path, ultimately ending up in a field, and then having to climb over a gate, some way further down the hill than I was hoping to find myself at!

Anyway, that slight mishap aside, I was making good time, and with a bit of a sweat on, I was walking through the car park as the players were just getting ready to kick off, I quite literally walked into the ground as the referee blew his whistle to start the game.

Shaw Lane is a nice venue on a late August evening, with it’s rural back drop and enclosed nature, it’s a great place to watch football. Since my last visit it looks like they’ve built a tea bar behind the goal, otherwise it looked to have changed very little, with the small area of cover straddling the half way line. The one big change though is the fact that the Miners Welfare, which sits in the car park, is now closed, seemingly for good and awaiting development / demolition.

Ashbourne from the Staffordshire County Senior League got off to a flying start, taking the lead in the first minute following a defensive mistake, before then going on to score two excellent goals to lead 3-0 at half time. To be fair to Holbrook they did have plenty of possession and also plenty of chances but they simply couldn’t make any of them count. The half time team talk, which was held on the pitch, saw no punches pulled by the Holbrook management, things had to improve.

And improve they did, Holbrook pulled a goal back almost straight from the kick off, before scoring again and reducing the arrears to just one goal. Despite lots of pressure, an equaliser would not come for the hosts, in what was a much more purposeful second period.

Then it was the walk back home, I decided to play it safe and go the road way, and what a lovely walk it was too, with a distinct autumnal smell in the air as the evening started to cool. Up through Holbrook, down into Bargate and past the White Hart where punters were sat enjoying a socially distanced pint. Then it was downhill to Openwoodgate, glancing though the varied house windows where TV’s were being watched, drinks were being drunk, and sofa’s were being reclined on. A left turn was taken at the crossroads as the walk took me back into Belper and the slow decline down to Whitemoor, over the recreation ground and eventually back through the front door.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening, and reflecting on it, I’d take a walk to watch Holbrook again, but maybe not leave it another ten years next time though.