Grace

FCV Grace Dieu  2  Ellistown  1

Friendly

Admission / Programme – No / No

If you have the time or the inclination, feel free to scan back through my musings to December 2018 when I went to Thringstone Miners Welfare.

I talk at length about the nearby Grace Dieu Priory and it’s legendary ghost, the ‘White Lady’, and indeed the fact that the then incarnation of the said football club, if you trace it back, can be linked to a merger between clubs called Grace Dieu United and Thringstone United. I then went on to poke fun at the spiritual World, and the fact a ghost doesn’t have to buy a ticket to travel on a bus!

So, in short, on the main road the links Shepshed and the M1 with Ashby de la Zouch (A512), you have on the left hand side the ruins of an Augustinian Priory, which has been the site of numerous accounts of paranormal phenomena, largely attributed to the fact that it sits on the geological Thringstone Fault, which in turn sets it within close proximity to several ley lines. I don’t profess to understand how all of this stuff works, but it seems it’s got many of the features that prove attractive to spooks and ghouls!

I kind of forgot all about Grace Dieu Priory, pretty much within seconds of posting the blog, probably because it was nearly Christmas and I had stuff to do, but then last season I was chatting to my mate Dave and he told me he’d been doing a bit of research into a football club who played in the Under 21 Division of the Midland League, called FCV Grace Dieu, who appeared to be some sort of footballing academy….

I’ll be honest though, I failed to make the connection between the club and the Priory, right up until the Notts Senior League announced it’s constitution, and I think only when I saw the name actually written down, did I realise that we were talking about a club, that played in the grounds of the said Grace Dieu Priory.

This was now somewhat intriguing, what was FCV Grace Dieu all about, but also, how come it was located where it was, on pagan land!

Before we get into what detail I can glean, let’s give it the build up. I spotted via the media formerly known as Twitter that the club had a friendly against neighbours Ellistown, a club on the edges of Coalville. I engaged with Steve on the matter and a mutual agreement was made, we were going!

To access the ground, you have to keep your wits about you as the entrance is on the left hand side as you enter a fast band as you drop down a hill. Once into the entrance it’s a short drive up with fields on both sides, before you get to a car park that sits in front of an impressive building with the words FCV International Football Academy spelt out on the fascia.

Behind this impressive building, which was serving meals to the home playing squad when I arrived, is a modest sized Manor House clad in white rendering. Further educational and sports related buildings, of varying ages, are dotted around the complex, but more importantly from our point of view, what looks like being a very decent football ground is a work in progress on the Eastern edges of the site.

It's a 4G pitch, with the entrance via a tall fence behind the South goal, while moving round clockwise you have the Western side that isn’t accessible to spectators but it does have the dugouts and a green mesh fence that gives the ground an enclosed feel. The North side is also inaccessible but again it has a green mesh fence, but this time a large black and red banner sits impressively all the way along the end with the words, yes, you’ve guessed it, FCV International Football Academy displayed across it. The Eastern side is where the spectators can go, and you have a choice, you can either stand behind the barrier and go pitch side, or you can stand behind another barrier that sits at the top of a bank that runs the length of the pitch. It does look like building work is set to start on the top of the bank and I would hazard a guess that it will be the changing rooms and such like, as a an entrance way to the pitch area is already in place.

I did like the floodlights as well, the lamps were sat on top of what looked like green ladders, quite an old fashioned look about them, and I would suggest in keeping with the surroundings.

So then, what the heck is FCV Grace Dieu / International Football Academy all about then?

Well, it’s a privately owned football academy where students are full time residents, and they combine football stuff with educational matters. The roots of the academy go back to 2000, when the founder, Graham Starmer, who created the footballcv.com website (hence FCV), gave footballers a platform to be spotted by talent scouts, before choosing to expand and open up a football academy.

The academy initially started in Irthlingborough, before then moving to Stamford, until finally deciding upon the 66 acre site it currently stands on. Once located at Grace Dieu, that was when the students / footballers could become residential and take advantage of the facilities on offer.

Since the academy began, several players have gone on to sign professional contracts, and indeed gain international honours at varying levels.

But why Grace Dieu, from a location point of view? No idea to be honest, unless of course it was simply a case of it being the right location at the right time, but whatever the reason, it’s clearly worked out very well.

So, this season they have decided to drop a team into senior men’s football, and quite what a culture shock it will be when they rock up at some of the place and the pitches in the Notts Senior League is anyone’s guess, but for now, they are up for giving it a good go. They have been allowed to join the second tier of four in the NSL, so clearly they are confident, but what of the game against Ellistown?

To be fair, the young FCV side played some decent stuff and came out with a 2-1 victory that they just about deserved on the night against what looked to be a more experienced Ellistown side. I see from social media that Grace Dieu have over recent weeks announced a few new signings, and whether or not they are actual academy students I’m not sure? Maybe a blend of youth and experience is perhaps the right way to go as they transition to a different level.

This is definitely a story to watch with interest, off the field they look to be building something very impressive, on the field it isn’t necessarily about winning titles and promotions, of course they would love to do that, but player development is the key, and of course the two can go hand in hand.

Saying all that, I’m not sure how I’d feel about being a resident within spitting distance of a haunted house, no matter how good the facilities!