Triangulation

Atherton Town  0  Vulcan  1

Friendly

Triangulation – I like that word, you hear it a lot on TV programmes where cops are trying to track people down via mobile phone locations, usually at really tense bits on dramas like ‘Line of Duty’ or ‘Silent Witness’, typically when they are closing in on the baddies!  Apparently though, it also refers to a psychological and someone sinister practice whereby individuals with narcissistic tendencies try to influence and control others for their own gains, 'gaslighting’ is another word used for it.

That’s all a bit deep though, my favoured explanation of the word is where you take three points on a map and join them together to form a triangle. No idea why you would do that or what purpose it may serve, other than to make pretty patterns. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t go around drawing triangles on maps, but, if you had a map of the Lancashire town of Atherton, then you could do just that, with football grounds as your points!

I first went to Atherton back in 1994, Belper Town had drawn newly promoted Northern Premier League side Atherton Laburnam Rovers in the FA Cup. The game finished a 1-1 draw, we went up on the players bus and I can vividly remember we shunted into a car in Hazel Grove when passing a pub called the Grapes. I’d been on a night shift the evening before in a local factory and seem to recall sleeping most of the journey, both ways.

Atherton Collieries, who at the time were lower down the food chain than LR, were visited in 2003, for a North West Counties League game against Glossop North End. It was a Monday night and the visitors won 1-0, from memory whereas LR’s ground was on the edges of the town, Collieries ground was very close to the centre of the action.

The balance of power has shifted in Atherton, Collieries are the major force now playing at Step 3, in fact Belper go their early this season for a midweek game, their first venture to the town since 1994. However, another club has moved up a level in the football pyramid this Summer and that is Atherton Town, who have been promoted to the Premier Division of the Manchester League, which is notionally Step 7.

Town play at Butler Park in the Howe Bridge area, which sits on the Southern edge of the town, and I’ve got to be honest, I know very little about them. Looking at Football Club History Database, it does suggest that they joined the Manchester League in 1985, but how accurate that is I’m not sure, but what I can say is that other than the odd promotion and relegation between the top two divisions, that is where they have remained ever since.

I try and keep on top of the ‘Manc League’ as Steve and I describe it, so with Town getting promotion at the end of last season along with Moorside Rangers and Uppermill, I thought I’d take the opportunity to pay them a visit on a day where they had a 1pm kick off, allowing me to listen to the start of the Football League season on the radio for the drive back.

The game against Vulcan was a double header with the reserve teams also playing each other at 3pm, for the Holly Prince Memorial Cup, a charitable cause that both teams support. The games were well advertised on social media, so with no concerns around late call offs, it was time to make it a hat-trick of visits.

I decided to go via the M6 and along the East Lancs Road, before heading up past Leigh Sports Village and into Atherton. The journey took just under two hours from blighty, interspersed with some rain showers, this is Greater Manchester in July remember!

Butler Park sits behind the Howe Bridge Leisure Centre and is adjacent to the cricket club, but it does have it’s own enclosed facilities. The car park is sizeable, and both a clubroom and a separate changing block sit just outside the pitch area which is surrounded by a concrete post and fence surround. Inside the fence the pitch is fully railed, it has hard standing all around it, while a small shelter stands behind the goal to provide a bit of cover from any inclement weather.

First impressions were that Atherton Town are a very friendly and welcoming club, with an array of volunteers, all decked in club leisure wear busily going about match day duties. There is a definite sense of pride in the club and its facilities, with the promotion last term clearly buoying all of those involved. Can they go any higher in terms of what they have at their disposal? If I’m honest at first glance I would say that they aren’t a million miles away from having a Step 6 set up, clearly getting floodlights is the big challenge but located in an area some way from any housing, maybe the big hurdle of planning could be relatively straightforward to overcome.

As pre-season friendlies go, it was an entertaining and competitive affair. I thought Atherton had the edge for large parts of the game but the visitors took the lead quite late in the second period with a low shot that eluded the home goalkeeper. It could easily have been parity moments later when Atherton won a penalty but the spot kick came back off the cross bar and the rebound finished up in the arms of the goalkeeper.

So with the game finishing 1-0, and the reserve game finishing 4-3 to Atherton later in the afternoon, the destiny of the Holly Prince Memorial Cup came down to penalty kicks and it was to be the visitors from Newton-Le-Willows who came out on top.

I decided to head back via the M61, M60 and over the tops via Glossop and Buxton, which wasn’t the best move for picking up radio reception and the football updates, but there is something special about the opening day of the Football League season, although, I can never recall it starting in July before now.

There are three points to every triangle, and in the case of Atherton, if you get chance, head to the point in Howe Bridge, you won’t be disappointed.