Frickley Colliery

 Frickley Athletic  2  Emley  3

Northern Counties East League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme - £7 / £2.50

The South Yorkshire coalfields were at War, it was March 1984, and the National Union of Mineworkers, lead by Arthur Scargill, went into battle against Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government.

It was bloody, it was brutal, it caused misery, it destroyed families, it destroyed communities, it destroyed many a good working man. As time went on, poverty, hunger, anger, violence and an overwhelming sense of desperation, balanced against that of solidarity with their comrades, saw South Yorkshire’s miners spend almost twelve months, on strike, not earning, fighting for the cause, to simply keep their pits open, and keep their livelihoods. Entire communities, were quite simply, at stake.

The miners lost the battle, and their leader, Mr Scargill was right, the pits were closed, and while that in itself created untold damage, much of the damage had already been done. The scars of the Miners Strike, perhaps even more so than the scars of the closure of the pits, are still painful to this day, and in South Yorkshire, they will simply never ever forget.

The Miners Strike ended in March 1985, and for the small town of South Elmsall, which sits between Doncaster and Barnsley, it was a place that like so many others, suffered, economically, socially and indeed physically.

South Elmsall had something though, they had something for people to cling on to, a football club, a football club called Frickley Athletic, a club that within fourteen months of the strike coming to an end, were officially the second best non-league football club in the Country.

This needs putting into context a little. In 1979 the non-league football pyramid first started to take shape, and that came in the way of the creation of a single division top tier, taking the best clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League. By 1980 Frickley Athletic became members, and in the 1985-86 season they came runners-up to Enfield.

In comparative terms, the last team to finish runners-up at this level, in what is the same league, were Notts County….think about that for a moment.

So, given the backdrop of what was going on all around them, the success of Frickley Athletic is without doubt one of the most remarkable stories of modern times when it comes to non-league football, but because it didn’t end in glory, riches and masses of publicity, I don’t feel it gets anything like the credit it deserves. Interestingly though, it’s a little known fact outside of South Elmsall, that the band Chumbawamba wrote a song about Frickley, it goes like this…

“Frickley in South Yorkshire, a small mining town

Where once the riot coppers beat the pickets to the ground

It has a football team, and a stand full of fans

Who love their game and who love revenge

If a cop comes near the ground on a Saturday afternoon

He’ll be heading the bricks until he’s over the moon”

Formed as Frickley Colliery, the club were a Midland League side through the Forties and Fifties, before joining the Cheshire League when the Midland League folded for a period. The Midland League came back though and Colliery re-joined that in 1970.

A move to the Northern Premier League came in 1976 and along with that came a name change to Frickley Athletic, and following a third placed finish in 1979-80 they were admitted to the top table. Gradual progress came, culminating with the heady second placed finish, but twelve months later they ran in next to bottom and were relegated.

Seven seasons were spent in the top flight, punching above their weight against giants such as Barnet, Altrincham, Telford United, Maidstone United, Kettering Town and Yeovil Town. They were the unfashionable club, the club who’s ground made many a Southerner turn their nose up, the club who’s small but loyal band of fans had to put up with the ridicule over the strike and the impact it had, the club who had the absolute right to be exactly where they were, but when they did get relegated, the club that very few wept for.

The period from 1987 through to 2017, thirty years if I’ve done my maths right, was spent in the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League. The highlight during this period came in 2005-06 when lead by Gary Marrow (in his second spell), a man who I got to know well during his tenure as manager of Belper Town, took them to runners-up and a play-off, but otherwise, you did sense in more recent seasons that every year it was all about simply surviving.

The drop to Step 4 came in 2017, and despite making the play-offs again in their first season, the trajectory was a downhill one and at the end of the 2020-21 season they were relegated to the Northern Counties East League.

The FA Cup has been kind to Frickley. As Colliery they most famously made the First Round in 1971-72, drawing 2-2 at home to Rotherham United, losing the replay at Millmoor 4-0. But then as Athletic, it was that famous 1985-86 season that saw them reach the Third Round. A victory over Halesowen Town in the First Round set up a trip to Hartlepool United where the blues came away with a 1-0 victory. The Third Round saw Rotherham once again as the opponents, and this time the Football League neighbours won 3-1 at Westfield Lane.

I’ve been to Westfield Lane a few times over the years. My first visit came back in the late Nineties when they entertained Gresley Rovers in the FA Cup, and since then I’ve been a couple of times when Gary was in charge, and more recently when Belper have been the visitors. I love the place, it’s proper, it’s authentic, it’s the epitome of Northern non-league football. It oozes history, nostalgia, and everyone who watches the club, or is involved with the club, has a story, a unique story about what Frickley means to them and what memories they have.

You have to remember, for many Frickley Athletic Football Club was the one thing that kept them going during the dark days, the one thing they could look forward to, the light at the end of the tunnel, the constant, the place where you could go and forget, meet your mates, have a pint and put the World to rights. That spirit, and the togetherness that the club creates, is perhaps, one of the main reasons why Frickley Athletic is still around, albeit at a much lower level, but still around, and still well supported.

You drop down a hill into South Elmsall from the Doncaster to Wakefield Road, the railway station is on your left and then it’s a quick right and left turn back up the hill, along Westfield Lane. A left turn then takes you through some new build houses and down in the dip below is the football ground.

Much has changed around the ground over the years, the pit houses that sat between the ground and the road have gone, replaced by new builds, while the iconic slag heap that sat behind the covered terracing on the far side has been landscaped and is now called Frickley Country Park. Ironically, the slag heap was flattened out, and now houses a football pitch on top of it, the home of South Elmsall United Services who play in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League.

But, little changes at the ground itself, the track down to the ground is uneven and potholed, while in front of you is the rear fascia of the old main stand, that used the house the dressing rooms and a small clubhouse bar. Once through the turnstiles, the stand has had some new seats put in in to replace the benches, but it is a large structure giving excellent elevated views. In front is some terracing, with the dugouts sat beneath at pitch level. I remember being at a game just after Gary had left Frickley to go to Grantham, and one of his first games back in charge of his new team was at Frickley. He copped for it from the terraces, big style!

A couple of steps of terracing run all the way around the ground, the grass banks that sat behind the goals have been long since removed, complete with the haphazardly placed crush barriers, while on the far side, in the shadow of the former slag heap, is some cover, but a section in the middle is no longer roofed, I suspect lost in the high winds.

One change that has taken place is a new changing room building behind the goal, built not only to serve the football club, but also the new pitch I previously mentioned, and the 4G pitch that sits adjacent.

In short, it’s as wonderfully characteristic, charming and decrepit as it always was, and please, long may it always be this way!

Sat in the bar prior to the game, you sensed a bit of a buzz about the place. Frickley went into the game against an Emley side who themselves knew a win would take them top, knowing that they sat well within range of the play off spots. All around on the walls of the bar are photographs and memorabilia from the glory days, could this be the season when they get their first promotion since 1980, when they joined the APL?

Realistically what is the best that Frickley could hope to be in the modern World? I think they are definitely a Step 4 club in size and stature, whether they could get to Step 3 and sustain a side is debateable, but any higher is just not realistic nowadays. The ground, as wonderful as it is, would needs thousands spending on it to get it back to the National League’s standards, whereas money is tight in South Elmsall, millionaire backers are not ambling down Westfield Lane to bankroll matters.

The game was a cracker, but the first half didn’t really suggest how the second half was going to pan out, with the score line 0-0 and Emley having the balance of possession and chances.

Alhassane Keita gave Frickley the lead on the hour mark, but then Emley’s task became harder when James Walshaw saw red in 74^th minute following what seemed to be an off the ball altercation while waiting for a corner. However, from that very corner, Charlie Barks grabbed the equaliser, and within four minutes Ruben Jerome tapped home to give the visitors the lead.

Frickley battled back and equalised with just three minutes to go when Lewis Binns scored from the edge of the box, but as the game was well into injury time, it was that name Jerome again who nodded the ball home before running to celebrate with the good sized section of Emley fans in the crowd of 321.

The home crowd trundled out of the ground at the final whistle, disappointed no doubt, but they’ll be back for the next game. I spent the second half stood at the back of the stand, which itself is decked with some colourful and impressive flags that have been made by the Frickley faithful.

One of them was of Arthur Scargill being arrested during the Miners Strike, at the infamous Battle of Orgreave if my memory serves me. Like I said, in these parts, they will never forget.