When Wakey Went To Fev

Wakefield AFC  1 Rossington Main  4

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“So, you’ve come to see the birth of something special then?”

I’d been asked by the chap supervising the entrance at Featherstone Rovers main entrance if I was with the home team or the away team, to which I replied I was with neither, hence the comment that came back in my direction.

It’s funny though, I’d been having a conversation during lockdown with an old mate and for some reason we got onto the subject of Rugby League. Now I’m no expert on the game at all, I’ve got a reasonable knowledge of clubs, I know a bit about where they all play and what leagues they are in, but that’s probably as far as it gets. Ask me about players, tactics, politics etc and I’m like Boris Johnson addressing a medical convention.

I’ve been a to a few games over the years, most recently a couple of years ago I took in games at Sheffield Eagles, Bradford Bulls and Swinton Lions, whereas in years gone by I’ve got to Castleford Tigers, Dewsbury Rams, Bramley Buffaloes and Batley Bulldogs. My first game, and still my favourite venue, was Featherstone Rovers, at their Post Office Road ground. It was June 2007 and I saw them beat Oldham Roughyeds 24-18 in a bruising encounter, played in front of a very partisan home crowd.

I told my mate that one day I would love to go back, that was the end of the conversation, and to be honest, the last thought I had about the subject.

But then, almost out of the blue, Wakefield AFC, who appeared in the Sheffield County Senior League last season with something of a fanfare, suddenly and unexpectedly announced that they were to be playing their matches at Post Office Road. It’s fair to say a little bit of wee came out at that moment!

Football in Wakefield then, lets have a bit of a look, before we go on to talk about Wakefield AFC and all things Post Office Road and ‘Fev’ Rovers.

Wakefield is famous for being one of, if not the biggest city in England not to have a senior football club. With a population of around 350,000, it’s got twice the number of residents as High Wycombe, and Wycombe Wanderers are of course now a Championship side. When I say senior football club, within the boundaries of the city they have no club currently competing above the eleventh tier of football, in other words for the non-leaguers out there, nothing above Step 7. Hall Green United of the West Yorkshire League, by my reckoning is the highest ranked club.

It hasn’t always been like that though.

Back in 1921 the Football League created a Third Division North, and as a result encouraged applications. Wakefield City from the Yorkshire League applied and got four votes, which was some way behind the 25 votes that Stalybridge Celtic got, which saw them elected. It wasn’t the worse performance of an applicant at the time,  South Liverpool got just one vote, Lancaster Town got three votes, while just ahead of them were Doncaster Rovers with six votes and Rotherham Town with 13 votes, Strangely, the club that came closest to getting in was Castleford Town with 18 votes.

After that, other than at grassroots level, forget it, until 2000 when highly successful village club Emley moved into the City and played at the Wakefield Trinity Rugby League ground, largely due to ground grading holding them back at the Welfare Ground, and, presumably to tap into a larger potential support base. They came within a whisker of getting to the Conference, being pipped by Stalybridge, drawing a huge crowd to Belle Vue when the two sides met in what was effectively a title decider. Within a couple of years (2002) the club was subsequently renamed Wakefield & Emley, then in 2004 they became Wakefield – Emley in an unusual, albeit slight change of name.

Two years later and it was all change again, the club moved to the College Grove ground of Wakefield Rugby Union club, changed colours to yellow and blue (from claret and blue) and dropped the Emley bit from the name.

By now the club were at Step 4 (having been initially at Step 2), and after a few years of struggle they folded in 2014.

The football experiment in ‘Wakey’ had failed, seemingly, and with it, almost took a well established club down for good measure, but thankfully Emley reformed and now play back in the village.

Five years later, and we had the launch of Wakefield AFC, headed up by former Sheffield Wednesday Goalkeeper and Manager Chris Turner, who in recent years had turned to the boardroom, most notably as Chief Executive at Chesterfield.

They got a place in the Sheffield County Senior League last season, playing games out of the Dorothy Hyman Stadium in Cudworth, but the stated intention was always to play in Wakefield, with no secret of the fact that the venue was going to be Belle Vue.

So, it came as something as a surprise when, in blaze of publicity, Post Office Road was unveiled, and with tickets then being put up for grabs for the opening game at the stadium against Rossington Main, I simply had to!

I have to say the clubs social media, the merchandising, in fact everything they’ve been putting out is slick, professional and extremely customer-centric. That bit you cannot fault, but, and this is the big but, can they make it work, and furthermore, can they make it work in Wakey?

Well until they actually put some roots down in Wakey it’s impossible to say, but in the meantime, I guess we’ve got to enjoy the ride. It won’t be easy because it doesn’t matter who you ask, Wakey is a rugby town, always has been, always will be, just like Castleford, Keighley, Dewsbury, Batley, all of those places on the M1 / M62 corridor. To change the tide from rugby to football in these places is deemed impossible, but, AFC are determined to make the impossible, possible.

So, Featherstone Rovers then?

This is a special one, it really is. The town of Featherstone is only small, with just over 14,000 inhabitants, which to put it into context, Dronfield is 50% bigger! Yet, it’s the home of a professional rugby club, which has won the League Championship in 1977 and the Challenge Cup on three occasions, most recently in 1983. They currently play in the second tier, but, in the last few seasons they’ve twice made the qualifiers to get into the Super League. Post Office Road holds 10,000 spectators, and last season the average gate was 2,300, bettered only by Leigh, Widnes and Bradford of the UK based clubs.

As you drive into Featherstone, which sits on the road between Ackworth and Pontefract, it reeks of the club, and rightly so, it’s something to be proud of, as is Post Office Road itself.

Just off the main Station Road, less than a five minute walk from the railway station, the stadium is accessed through a large car park. Today the entrance was via the main reception which then leads to a forecourt at the back of the main stand where food and drink was being served. The main stand is a large structure with wooden tip up seats, while to the left of it is a large building that houses the clubs other bars, function areas and corporate facilities. Opposite is another seated stand, while to the right is some open terracing with printed images along with back fence depicting the history of ‘Fev’.

Sat at the North end of the ground is another seated stand that’s been added since my last visit. The stand is actually from Scarborough’s old Seamer Road ground, while some more of the theatre of chips seating extends round to meet with the stand on the opposite side to the main stand.

It’s a cracking venue, and in a time when  RL clubs are moving to purpose built venues that are often shared with other sports, Post Office Road remains one of the iconic Northern venues, along with the likes of Craven Park at Hull, Wheldon Road at Castleford and of course, Belle Vue itself.

So what about the day and indeed the game?

The crowd was limited to 150, and all tickets were quickly snapped up. Spectators were only allowed in the main stand, but to be fair, social distancing was down to yourself to put in place, no seats were marked out of bounds for example like you see at some grounds. Quite a few of the traveling fraternity had turned up for the game, as I expected, and they were left alone to safely wander around taking photographs of the venue.

It was all quite relaxed, but because the crowd was limited, it always felt safe, to quote the current terminology.

Wakefield played some good stuff at times, but visiting Main were a bit too good on the day. The visitors took the lead in the seventh minute with a header, and then made it 2-0 after 24 minutes after a mix up at the back.

A third goal arrived just after half time, but then the hosts pulled a goal back when the Main goalkeeper contrived the throw the ball into his own net following a cross.

A fourth goal came for Rossington with fifteen minutes remaining when the goalkeeper could only parry a free kick, and it was to be the Step 6 side that reacted the quickest to put the ball in the net.

Wakefield have got some good players though, I would expect to see them in the mix to win the County Senior this season, and should they finish in a spot to get promotion, I would be astounded if they didn’t make the grade and move up.

But how far can it go, have I witnessed the birth of something special, along with 150 others? Look, for every club that sets out on this path and succeeds, many more fall by the wayside with the same ambitions. The club has to get into Wakefield at some point soon, it has to maintain it’s superb PR via social media and the like, which I’m sure it will, but, it has to be successful on the field if it wants to take a slice of the deep rooted rugby league support.

Football and rugby can live together and the two can survive and at times thrive, we only need to look at Wigan, Hull, Salford and Bradford for example, plus even the likes of Warrington and Widnes to a lesser degree. But at the same time it can be a massive ask for the two sports to work successfully together, and in towns that are entrenched in rugby, there is usually only one winner, just ask Leigh, and even St Helens about that.

You could also ask Wakefield, but maybe, just maybe, it will be a case of second time around. Perhaps the latest incarnation will strike a chord that it’s predecessor didn’t.

I hope so, because so far they look to be doing everything right.