The Long Way Home

Shawbury United  3  AFC Bridgnorth  3

Midland Football League – Division One

Admission / Programme – £5 / No

I can remember it so vividly, it would have been November 2004 and I was felling pretty crappy. I’d got a heavy cold, and on top of that the industry I was working within was going through a significant legislative change, so consequently it was a nightmare from a system and process point of view.

I was torn, did I just feel sorry for myself, admit defeat and go home, or, did I jump in the car, drive to Wem, and watch Shawbury United play Pelsall Villa?

I was nearing my exit of the A38 at Ripley, and I was on the phone to a colleague, the conversation had being going about five minutes and we’d kind of cheered each other up a bit so I decided rather than leave the A38 and go home, I would soldier on to Wem.

I was sat in the bar at Wem when it was announced that there would be a delay to proceedings because Pelsall had got kit issues (it was in a players car and he was running late). Anyway, eventually we got going and it was while I was stood waiting for the referee to start the game, that a bloke I was next to turned to me and said…

“I  can get here from f***ing Chesterfield on time, yet they can’t get from Pelsall!”

It struck a chord, because I too had started my journey that night, in Chesterfield, so as you can imagine, we got on, and we got on well, especially when I also learned he worked in the Financial Services industry like myself!

That man was Steve Reading, my mate Steve, the man who for almost twenty years now I’ve spoken to on a weekly basis about football, about life, about pubs, about all kinds of shite to be honest! I’ve lost count of the number of games we’ve either gone to together, or just met up at, by choice or by accident. Our other halves are letting us have a jolly boys weekend away together in a few weeks time when we finally get to the Isle of Man for a couple of games, the emergency services have been placed on alert!

There is an irony though, and it only came to light some time after that night. The game itself ended 4-1 to Shawbury, but it was declared null and void because the referee chose to only play forty minutes each way! At the time, because we had been chatting, we had no idea. Anyway, for all intents and purposes, the game where we first met, no longer exists in the record books!  

From time to time we do laugh about that night, but to be honest, since that day, I’ve never seen Shawbury play again, despite them being stalwarts of the West Midlands Regional League and nowadays the Midland League.

One thing I have been aware of though is that fact that Shawbury have been desperate to play in their home village in Shropshire, but they’ve been denied for years due to a lack of suitable facilities for the level they compete at, despite having got planning permission on a site back in 2014. They played at Wem when I first became aware of them, then when they left Wem they went to Ludlow, but at the start of the season, with rumours of work starting any time soon on the site in Shawbury, it was announced that for the current season at least, they’d be playing on a 4G ground located in what is effectively the car park of Shrewsbury Town’s ground.

Being the cynics that Steve and I are, we both worked on the principal that because talk of the move to a new home in Shawbury has been going on for such a long time, it was very much in the “we’ll believe it when we see it” category. So, on that basis we’d add the home at Shrewsbury onto the visit list, as it may not be quite as temporary as had been suggested. This isn’t a dig at Shawbury by any means, it’s just that history tells us these things are often more prolonged than anyone intends them to be, largely due to the unforeseen! I actually do hope that they do get into Shawbury sooner rather than later, not least because having now been to the temporary home, it’s clear that as a club they are going to struggle to move forwards until they have a place of their own.

In simple terms, to access the ground you drive into the large car park at Shrewsbury Town, follow it round to the area at the back of the South Stand, where you will find a 4G pitch with a viewing area down one side, while next to it is a building that houses the dressing rooms and a tea bar area that served a limited selection of offerings.

Other than the gate receipts, it’s hard to see how else Shawbury will be able to generate any income from home games, but then I guess life has been like that for a while now? There isn’t any cover at the ground, but thankfully it was a warm and dry evening.

If the facilities were a little underwhelming, the game certainly wasn’t.

Shawbury raced into a two goal lead inside ten minutes thanks to strikes from Seth Ellis and Ablay Sowe, but on the 12th minute Bridgnorth pulled a goal back through Jordan Graham.

Luke Morris then made it 2-2 in the 26^th minute, and the turnaround was completed in the 43^rd minute when Mark Danks made it 2-3 just before half time.

Shawbury forced a last minute equaliser through Bobby Abyemang but then as we were well into the lengthy spell of eight minutes of added time, the game took a sour turn when Jordan Graham went down in the box with what was clearly a serious injury. After initial assessments by the medical team at Bridgnorth, the referee elected to blow the final whistle, and it subsequently transpired that Graham had suffered a double fracture of his leg, with the x-ray being displayed for all to see the following day via social media. Clearly, I join everyone in wishing him a speedy recovery.

A very entertaining game, at a good club who desperately need to get back home finally after all of these years. I reckon once it happens, I ought to perhaps go with Steve, it would be like old times, let’s hope on this occasion when they do kick a ball again in Shawbury, the referee remembers to play ninety minutes!