Grand Finale

Ivybridge Town  6  Dartmouth  0

South West Peninsula League – Premier East

Admission / Programme - £6 / £1

The final destination on what had been a memorable SWPL Hop, was to be the Erme Valley Playing Fields home of Eastern Division champions elect, Ivybridge Town.

Ivybridge have been the dominant force in the division over the season, and a win over bottom of the table Dartmouth would leave the rest needing snookers, which they were never going to get, so in terms of the hosts, they were not only hosting a Hop game, they were in effect bidding farewell to the league as they will be playing in the Western League next season.

The bus squeezed into the car park, and Steve joined me just afterwards having made the journey from Callington with plenty of time to spare. Ivybridge, like Elburton, did a great job on the food and drinks front, with very nice pasties on offer, but space in the bar area was at a premium, so it was a case of going al-fresco, or, standing room only. We chose to stand, it was dropping cold outside, but, at least it was dry, and the pitch did look in excellent condition.

Ivybridge is a small town thirteen miles to the East of Plymouth, and since becoming a town in 1977 it has grown rapidly and now provides home to over 11,000 inhabitants. The football club was established in 1925 and started life in the Plymouth & District League, thereafter playing in the leagues various guises before becoming founder members in 1992 of the Devon County League.

They won the league in 2005-06, and then the following season when the South West Peninsula League was formed, they again became founder members, being placed in the Premier Division. They remained in the Premier section until 2019 when the league was split into East and West divisions, whereby the club became members of the East Division, a league they are about to bade farewell to as they move upwards.

So all looks good on the field for Ivybridge, but what’s the ground like?

Set a couple of hundred yards from the A38, behind a tennis centre, the ground is in a very rural setting with the River Erme and mature trees running down the West side of the ground, while the narrow road to Ermington runs to the East of the complex. The clubhouse and dressing rooms are set behind the North goal while the only cover at the ground is on the East side where an Atcost style seated stand is located.

Apparently, the pitch did used to be further South on the footprint, and this did cause some debate amongst the fraternity, I mean, was this a new ground or was it not? If we are talking pitch overlap, then it appears there isn’t any, so for some that makes it new, but for others as it’s all part of the same footprint, in which case it isn’t. I’ve never been before so I don’t care, we’ll let those that do care and indeed worry about such things!

Anyway, a nice setting, and again, a good crowd of 388 rocked up to watch a game that was a bit of a slow burner to begin with, but eventually the champions elect got into their stride and the goals started to flow.

It was 1-0 at half time to the hosts but they turned the screw and rolled out with a 6-0 victory. Owen Pritchard got a hat-trick, Connor Rush grabbed a brace while Bailey Mabin netted a solitary effort. The champagne was still on ice, but we’d gone beyond snookers now, it needed a stewards enquiry and some form of heavy punishment from a Financial Fair Play body to deny them of this one, and that ain’t going to happen!

But that was the Hop, it was all over, back on the bus to Exeter for some, while others made their way back to various parts of the UK. It had been superb, the clubs who hosted had done a magnificent job including Honiton who you had to feel desperately sorry for. But, none of it would have been possible without the drive, the organisational skills and the passion of Phil Hiscox who did an absolutely superb job of putting the whole event together.

I said at the very start of the first blog around the event that the thought of an organised Groundhop filled me with dread, well, you know what, next year the South West Peninsula League, thanks to Phil, is heading to Cornwall with the base being in Truro.

I wouldn’t miss it for the World!