By Popular Demand

Studley  2  GNG Oadby Town  0

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Ey-up, I’m back, have I missed much?

By popular demand you know, when the blog ceased back in January 2021, I got countless requests to bring it back, well, being honest, when I say countless, that’s a lie, I did actually count them. I got one from my wife (she thought it would keep me from under her feet), one from my Dad who I think saw it as a means of keeping track of where I was going in case my Mum ever asked, one from my mate in Holland who after all these years still can’t get his head around the concept of groundhopping, and one from a local referee called Steve who I name checked once and has remained loyal ever since…..

So why did I stop it? Initially because I was a bit naughty, I didn’t play completely by the rules, you see in my view, I thought travelling from one Tier Three location to another Tier Three location to watch a football game was simply a work event and as no party took place it was perfectly acceptable.

Trouble is, I’m not Boris, and it wasn’t allowed, so I did the decent thing and kept my head down, not wishing to drop any clubs in any bother for no fault of their own, because of course the responsibility to check the names, addresses and purpose of people visiting public parks fell very much at the door of the clubs, and making their cause any harder than it already was didn’t sit well with me.

But when we were finally liberated, I’d got myself a little side line. I’d entered into a business partnership with a fella from Liverpool called Gary who I met on the Internet, it involved meeting at motorway services, moving goods from one car to another. Goods he had sourced, which I then traded, and we split the profits. It was a pretty good gig, but it took time and an awful lot of envelopes and sellotape. Time was indeed money, and sadly as the profits from the blog were still sat in the same anti-money laundering process that Chris Kirchner the wanabee Derby County owner fell foul of (ie they didn’t exist!). Gary’s stash was the winner!

I did toy with bringing it back on a few occasions, even to the point of taking photo’s at games with every intention of posting, but, it didn’t happen, on top of all of the above, I’d fallen out of the habit. It was a shame in some ways, shall I tell you what you missed out on?

Well when we came back in the April after the three month lockdown where no parties took place, I had an onslaught on the Hope Valley League and it was simply wonderful. Venues like Buxworth, Youlgrave, Hathersage and Tansley were a real joy, so close to home but venues I’d never touched, not even considered in the past, I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.

I did see my biggest ever victory when Cannock United lost 17-0 at home to Shifnal Town in a very ill thought out League Cup concept (so much so they quit after just one game of returning), and I managed to get to the new York City stadium on a Saturday in June 2021, watching two games in the process.

Moving onto 2021-22, we had some sense of normality, I got to 138 games. If I could pick out highlights I would say re-completing the 92 with Brentford and AFC Wimbledon was great to do, as was the return to Scotland and the majestic Cliftonhill home of Albion Rovers. The season ended by the way at a Play-Off Final between St Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the most Northerly ground I’ve ever visited.

The non-league game of course served me well, I saw Belper Town get promoted in the play offs at Chasetown, that was a day and a half! But the ventures further afield were great days out. Merthyr Town was probably my favourite non-league venue visited, but Corinthian Casuals, East Thurrock United, Hebburn, Weston super Mare and Paulton Rovers were also memorable in different ways.

Holidays to the South West were great as always, and the highlights were probably Bridgwater United, Plymouth Parkway and the most Southerly footballing point in the UK at Lizard Argyle. It was also nice in the month of April to visit two venues I’d not been to since the mid-Eighties, one being Exmouth Town and the other being the iconic Hampden Road at Mexborough.

But what was a real bonus, last season especially, was getting out and meeting my old mates at games again. Steve, Dave, Pete and Malc to name but a few, being normal again was the new normal! Midweeks at Selston, Staveley and Borrowash were social events as opposed to football matches.

So, it’s the first Saturday in July and after spending the last few weeks piecing together who’s in what league and who’s playing where, a plan had come together, and by that it was going to be a trip into Worcestershire to the ‘new’ home of Studley.

When I say the new home, what I actually mean is that they’ve moved what is effectively the width of a pitch from their old ground onto a new 4g variant within the same complex. Look, I make these rules up as I go along, so in this instance it’s new, ok?

I was due to meet Steve, but the day took a slightly unusual twist, of my own doing I have to say.

Myself and Mrs H went to the Amber Valley Beer Festival the night before so I was a bit late rising and didn’t really spend much of my Saturday morning double checking and researching. I was just flicking through Twitter when I saw that FC Premier (new to the West Midlands League) had a game at their Birmingham County FA base on Ray Hall Lane. It’s a grass pitch and doesn’t have lights so I thought it would be a good move to get to that and save Studley for more inclement weather or indeed for a midweek.

I managed to contact Steve who was already on his way to Studley and convinced him my new plan was indeed an excellent plan, well, it was an excellent plan until Steve arrived only to establish that the game had been moved to another venue at short notice due to a faulty lawn mower issue….

By the time he phoned me to tell of this turn of events I was within a few hundred yards of Ray Hall Lane myself, albeit my navigation equipment had taken me to a housing estate as opposed to the ground, so it was a quick change of plan and back to the original destination, Studley!

West Bromwich was negotiated, the M5 accessed and before long I was cruising along the edges of Redditch thinking about the fact that this was the second season on the bounce where I’d set off for my first game of the season only to end up somewhere completely different! Last season I was going to Burscough via a meeting at a service station to collect some more of Gary’s merchandise, only to end up in Northwich and the home of Winnington Avenue.

I did go to Studley back in the 2003-4 season, it was a midweek game in the Birmingham Senior Cup against Redditch United incidentally. Some of it I recognised upon arrival, but much of it had changed. The old clubhouse has been refurbished and what was the stand now looks like it’s been converted into some office type buildings. The venue is also used by Solihull Moors as their training ground, and it’s been divided into two grassed areas (one of which was the old pitch) and a 4g surface that Studley use.

Heading up a walkway from the clubhouse you enter into the 4g arena and from a furniture point of view they have an Atcost style stand on the half way line, otherwise it’s hard standing all the way around. I’ll be honest, I was expecting more of a cage type venue, but it pleasantly surprised me, it actually felt and looked like a proper football ground.

Studley BKL as they were once known, joined the Midland Combination in 1987, working their way through the divisions until 2001 when they became members of the Midland Alliance. They remained in the Alliance until 2013 when they were relegated back to the Combination, which of course was renamed the Midland League the following year where the club played in Division One up until the start of last season when they were laterally shifted to the Hellenic League First Division.

The league was won and they now find themselves back in the top flight of the Midland League, at Step Five. It was during last season that the club made the move to the 4g pitch.

I won’t dwell on the game, it was a pre-season friendly and a goal in each half won the game comfortably for the hosts. The second goal to be fair was excellently worked and finished well. It’s really hard at this point to second guess how teams might fare in the new season, but I would suggest Oadby, who play at the same level but in the United Counties League, might struggle on the evidence available.

It was great to catch up with Steve, and after a break of forty days it was good to be back in the saddle again.

It’s also good, to be writing about it again once more, popular demand finally got the better of me…