Hosiery

Mansfield Hosiery Mills  8  Nottingham  1

Central Midlands League – Premier Division South

Admission / Programme - £3 / £1

One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on a football pitch happened back in July 2003 at a pre-season friendly between Sutton Town and Tamworth.

No, it wasn’t the 5-0 demolition of the Snipes that was the laughing matter, it was at the final whistle when the three match officials were leaving the pitch only for one of them to be accosted by an angry woman.

I can’t recall the exact words that were used, but the general gist was that said match official had told his wife / partner that he was going to be working late and couldn’t look after the kids, only for said wife / partner to discover that he was in actual fact out enjoying himself officiating a football match.

It was all a bit awkward, the remaining two match officials left the pitch hurriedly with smirks on their faces, while the one in the line of fire tried valiantly to defuse the situation, but he was failing dismally…..the spectators cheered as forefingers were poked into chests and verbal volleys were thrown unchallenged, he was being owned and I suspect any hopes of a post-match pint had probably pretty much gone!

It was my first ever visit to the Fieldings home of Sutton Town, a club who I’d not seen play a home game from 1988 up until that point. My last visit was for a Northern Premier League game played on a Sunday against Accrington Stanley at the old Lowmoor Road ground, but a combination of factors had seen a fifteen year gap between visits. In the interim the club had obviously moved grounds from Kirkby in Ashfield to Huthwaite where the Fieldings lies.

I did venture over a couple of times in subsequent years, both ironically on Boxing Day mornings against Buxton and Mickleover Sports respectively, and then for a period Sutton Town as a football club became something of a car crash, folding and re-forming, going from one league to another, in fact my last ever visit was in March 2008 for a Friday night game against Welbeck Welfare. The ground by now was falling apart, and at some point after that (the exact date I cannot recall and can’t really be that arsed to research), the club went tits up and that was it as far as Sutton Town went.

But, a new club has emerged in recent seasons, Mansfield Hosiery Mills, and they have set up home at the Fieldings, however, despite the locality and ease of a trip just over the M1, I’ve never been back to have a look at them. Part of that was due to the fact that my memories of the Fieldings were of a ramshackle set up that did little to please the eye, the other part was simply timing, it never fell right in midweek for me.

So, it’s a Wednesday night, they are at home to Nottingham, it was time to bite the bullet and take a trip down. A couple of people had told me that it had changed a fair bit over recent seasons, so I was intrigued to see what it looked like nowadays.

Located just off the Huthwaite to Sutton in Ashfield road, the ground is at the end of a new build residential street called The Fieldings, funnily enough…..and once down the drive which runs alongside the ground, with the Hosiery Mills cricket field on the opposite side, you come to the social club which is a very nice facility. It was open when I arrived so of course, I took the opportunity to enjoy the facilities.

With time moving on, it was time to take a look and yes, it was definitely much better than I remembered. The rickety old cover on the cricket field side has been replaced by a smart changing room and office building, which also incorporates within it a tea bar that you can perch inside of on a cold night (which it was). A section of seating remains behind one of the goals while the rest of the ground is hard standing. It looked far more tidier and cared for than on previous visits, so a thumbs up to the football club if it was of course them that have gone to the effort and the expense of making the improvements.

So what about the game then? Oh dear, the young Nottingham side started well and played some nice passing football at a high tempo, but then it started to go horribly wrong. As the game wore on, goal after goal found it’s way into the Nottingham net, and with it they lost both their discipline and their desire, it was only going to finish one way.

A hat-trick from Daniel Keenan, two from Daniel Harper and efforts from Jack Hutchinson, Tyrone Macaskill and Charlie Wood were more than enough to seal a comprehensive 8-1 victory. It could have been more, but I think in the cold light of day, eight was probably about enough!

While it might not have been quite as funny as that night back in 2003, it was entertaining all the same, and I think having taken the plunge, I’m much more inclined now to pop back a little more frequently.