A Little Part Of Lancashire

Helmond Sport  1  De Graafschap  2

Eerst Divisie

“I don’t suppose you get many English people coming to Helmond to watch the football?” was my contribution to the small talk in a pub in the centre of the town.

“We had 100 Burnley supporters here two weeks ago” was the reply, and that clearly shut me up!

Yes, it appears that unknowingly we had arrived in 'Helmond Province', where the local football club has links with Burnley Football Club, a relationship that stems back over twenty years, quite why, I cannot tell you. 

Helmond is a small sized city that sits just to the East of Eindhoven, it’s twinned with Mechelen in Belgium and was also the birthplace of the famous footballing twins, Willy and Rene van der Kerkhoff.

Journey wise from our base in Duiven, it took around an hour to get to Helmond, and soon we were parked in the centre and making our way to the Lokaal 42 bar for food and drinkies. It was in here where the conversation was struck and the Burnley story came to light.

Now, I’ll be brutally honest, on our one and only trip to Turf Moor to watch Burnley a couple of years ago, it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. I guess when you are in with the home supporters and you are effectively an away fan (it was Spurs – the team of young Master Hatt), it’s never going to be the most comfortable of times. 

I did speak to a Burnley fan a couple of weeks later and he told me that we’d simply picked just about the worst area of the ground to get tickets in. So, benefit of the doubt, Burnley fans are great lads and lasses, we were just unlucky.

Anyway, Helmond Sport, the club formed in 1967 after local professional club Helmondia 55 had gone pop. They started out in the third tier of Dutch football until they were promoted to the second tier in 1968. They won the Eerst Divisie (as it is known) in 1982 and went on to have two seasons in the Eredivisie, before being relegated back to the second tier again, where they remain.

Other notables include a Dutch Cup Final in 1985 where a late defeat at the hand of FC Utrecht put paid to nay hopes of silverware. While twice they have got close to returning to the Eredivise, but on both occasions, in 2005 and 2011 they fell short at the final hurdle in the Play-Offs.

With a parking space secured we elected to make our way round the stadium to the Supporters Home (social club to you and me), where we were greeted on our way in, and of course my English accent was soon picked up on!

“Where are you from in England?”

“Is that anywhere near Burnley?”

Obviously the locals are not going to have heard of Belper so I told them I was from Derby, which quickly translated into Derby County, and of course those two magic words guaranteed to glean sympathy from any Dutchman, Phillip Cocu….

Suddenly we were guests of the Helmond Fanatics, in turn they came over to talk to us, they bought us beer, and offered us access to anything we wanted, food, taxis, bicycles, the lot! They were absolutely fantastic lads and really couldn’t do enough for us. They also told us about the clubs plans for a new stadium, but they were very much against it as the plans for the new Supporters Home did not met the expectations of the Fanatics (it was too small).

They try and make a trip to Burnley once a season, so they told us, and that visit is reciprocated as it was a couple of weeks ago during the international break. I couldn't see any similarities between the two places, or indeed the two clubs, so it might just be one of those things that started and simply just grew. Anyway, a signed Jeff Hendrick shirt sits proudly next to the bar in Helmond.

Securing tickets for football matches in the second tier is not difficult, you just walk up to the ticket office and buy one, with no need for a Passport, character reference or a DNA Sample, it was very easy.

De Braak, as it is known, is typical of many of the clubs in this division. It comprises of three box style stands, the main version having the hospitality areas at the back of it, while we chose to sit in the stand opposite, where the sizable number of away supporters are located at one end.

The Fanatics are located behind the goal, complete with their flags (with reference to the Clarets), while the opposite end is inaccessible for spectators. They also have proper floodlights, and by that I mean the old fashioned towers that could easily be climbed if you were that way inclined!

A modest 1,656 spectators had forked out to watch the game, and I would estimate several hundred had travelled from Doetinchem to support the visitors. The first half was not very good from a spectacle point of view, so the half time complimentary beer was well received, and having decided to take up a position behind the goal alongside the fanatics, we were treated to a much better second period.

Ralf Seuntjens gave the second placed visitors the lead just after the break and it did look like the three points were heading back to Gelderland, but then in the 85^th minute, Helmond’s Tibeau Swinnen found the net for an equalizer.

But like all good teams, the ‘Super Boeren’ were not fazed by the setback and in the last minute they grabbed the winner through Jasper van Heertum. De Graafschap are looking for a swift return to the Eredivisie after being relegated last season. Helmond fall to fifth from bottom, albeit in a league where in all fairness you simply don’t get relegated.

The escape from Helmond was easy and soon we were back in De Tol (a pub in Duiven), reflecting on our first game of the Football Weekend to have taken place in our host Country. The memory will always be of the superb welcome and the hospitality of the Fanatics, who have over the years as a national collective, had a reputation for some of the more unsavoury elements of football, but certainly not in this case.

Respect to Helmond, and somewhat grudgingly, to Burnley........

Taxation

Borussia Monchengladbach  2  AS Roma  1

Europa League – Group Stages

The third day of the tour started with the usual lie in, followed by the mid-morning breakfast, with our driver Hendrik ‘Keke Rosberg’ Elsinga due with us about thirty seconds after he set off from his home of two miles away!

This time it was myself, Theo and Ben who were jumping in the car, and with Ben being a professional in the field of tax along with Hendrik, we felt it best to let them sit together in the front and regale each other of amusing stories about VAT Returns…..

Myself and Theo talked football and beer, the lads in the front must have been bored senseless with us!

Anyway, we went via Venlo to the City of Monchengladbach (Gladbach hereafter for typing purposes) and were very soon parked in the club car park and making our way to the bus stop to head to the city centre. Just six hours until kick off this time, so we needed to find something to do!

That something came courtesy of the NaNaNaNa pub (a tribute to the Muppets?) on the Alter Markt, a real football supporters home with the walls covered in scarves and various other items of memorabilia. The pub filled up over the course of the afternoon with Gladbach fans, and also quite a few from Roma who had made the journey North. Bearing in mind Celtic were playing at Lazio at the same time, getting out of Rome probably wasn’t a bad idea if you were a Roman.

Once five o’clock chimed we made our way back down the main street into the heart of Gladbach and found a very nice Italian restaurant where very good fayre was had by all, and the food was pretty good as well! The final stop in Gladbach before we made our way to the very West edges of the City and the stadium, was he Humboldt pub which sat adjacent to the bus station. Once again, a real football supporters pub with memories of ‘Die Fohlen’ adorning the place along with the colour green which of course is so associated with Borussia.

The club then.

One of the biggest names in not only German football but also Europe, they currently sit top of the Bundesliga with Dortmund, Leipzig and Munich for close company. The clubs golden era came in the Seventies when they won the Bundesliga an incredible five times, and were runners-up twice.

They appeared in the UEFA Cup Final four times in the period, winning it twice. Dutch outfit Twente were beaten in 1975 while the crack Yugoslav’s Red Star Belgrade succumbed in 1979. They also famously reached the European Cup Final in 1977 but were beaten by Liverpool in Rome.

The days of great players like Gunter Netzer, Berti Vogts and Allan Simonsen came to an end and since the Eighties the club has never been close to returning to the summit of German and European football. That said, the club moved to the new Borussia Park stadium in 2004 after leaving the famous Bokelberg, and had something of a revival, certainly over the last ten years.

They’ve made it to the Europa League and the Champions League in that period, and it was for a Champions League game that we made our last visit to Borussia Park, when Manchester City were the visitors in 2015.

They are still a very big club though, with attendances averaging 50,000, and despite the game against Roma being sold out, we managed to obtain tickets via an official website where season ticket holders can re-sell unwanted tickets.

You can’t fault the Germans for their planning and organization. A fleet of buses are on hand from outside the railway station that transport fans free of charge to the stadium, and within fifteen minutes of jumping on board we were being dropped off a few moments walk from the ground.

Borussia Park is an imposing structure, but so much more impressive at night when the green neon lights shine on the interior and exterior of the stadium. It’s built in a bowl like structure, and once through the turnstiles the concourses are open to the elements, and it was a cold night in Gladbach. Alcoholic beer was being served, which was a change because in previous years for European games, in Germany and Holland, the beer had to be alcohol free.

With seats taken behind the goal, it was time for the game. Some familiar names were in the Roma side, Manchester United’s Chris Smalling played at the back, while ex-City striker Edin Dzeko played in attack. From a Dutch perspective, Justin Kluivert played wide on the left, and the former Ajax man is the Son of legendary striker Patrick.

The first half wasn’t overly compelling but a Federico Fazio own goal ten minutes before the break gave the Germans the advantage. That advantage was ended by Fazio who redeemed himself with a 64^th minute equalizer, but like the game in Leverkusen, a late goal was to come…..

The game was in the fifth minute of added time (the final minute) when Marcus Thuram (Son of Lillian) netted the winner, sparking crazy scenes. The bench invaded the pitch while the Roma fans responded by dispensing their beer over the security fences and onto the delirious Gladbach supporters.

It as a thrilling end to a decent, if not spectacular game, and keeps the hosts hopes of making it to the next stages very much alive in a group that also contains Istanbul Basaksehir and RZ Pellets WAC (no, me neither….).

Our car parking space turned out to be a very good one as once again thanks to super German planning and efficiency, we were back on the Autobahn and quickly over the border back into the Netherlands.

More tax talk in the front. We stuck to cheese, ham and Heineken in the rear. Hendrik got us back in double quick time, with time for one more before bed. Back in England, particularly in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, all hell was breaking loose with flooding, we were blissfully unaware, but we do know how to mitigate higher rate tax…….        

Bayer

Bayer Leverkusen  2  Atletico Madrid  1

UEFA Champions League – Group Stage

The Football Weekend 2019 was going to be a little different this time around.

I was flying solo as Mr H Senior was unable to make the trip, so I must admit that it did feel a bit strange sat on the train from Amsterdam Schipol to Duiven on the Tuesday morning.

Day One was always going to be a big day as it was what seems to be the now annual trip across the border to watch Borussia Dortmund take on Inter Milan at the wondrous Signal Iduna Park.

Dortmund has been blogged before so I won’t spend too much time dwelling on it, but with five of us in Hendrik’s new motor, complete with cans of Heineken, we were parked up a good four hours before kick off, meaning a good session was going to be had in the brilliant Strobels pub which sits in the corner of the stadium.

Along with myself and host Theo, we had Hendrik of course, along with Jasja and Edwin, and as you can probably imagine, it got a bit lively given the time to beer ratio! The highlight in the bar being the moment Theo spotted two members of the Dutch National Squad management team. They got the chance to have photographs and a quick question and answer session with us before beating a safe retreat!

The game was superb, the strongly supported Italians had a 2-0 half time lead but the hosts produced a superb second period to win 3-2.

The following day also promised much, this time with Daan at the wheel and with Jasja again with us along with his mate Maurice, we crossed the broder once more, before finding the trusty City Centre car park in Leverkusen. I’ll be honest, Leverkusen as a place is not worth visiting, it’s dead and it’s drab, but thankfully our strategic car parking spot was within minutes of Leverkusen Mitte Station, and with that was a much more attractive option.

Cologne, or Koln as the locals call it, is a mere fifteen minutes away on the train, and before long we were stood in awe looking at the amazing Dom cathedral. it’s so impressive, we actually used valuable beer time looking around it! Before long though, we’d found our way to the Alter Markt and the impressive Corkonian Irish pub where we’d had lots of fun with the Arsenal fans a few years previously! This time it was a shade quieter.

Koln is a wonderful city, but time was becoming tight so we headed back to Leverkusen, where the aesthetic highlight for me is the fantastic Bayer factory sign that lights up the evening sky. A ten minute walk from the station, through the park, is the BayArena stadium, the home of Bayer Leverkusen, the club formed in 1904 for the workers of the famous factory.

It’s impossible to compare Leverkusen with Dortmund, in terms of both scale and history, so I guess when you visit Bayer the night after a packed Signal Iduna, it does feel a little bit like a comedown, but that’s not to say it’s still not a fabulous club with a great facility.

Leverkusen have arguably punched above their weight for years now. They rose to prominence in the Nineties with some big name signings like Bernd Schuster and Rudi Voller, while Manager’s Christope Daum and Klaus Topmoller took them to the edge of glory, but sadly, with four second placed finishes between 1997 and 2002, the Bundesliga title was the Holy Grail that they couldn’t achieve.

The club has remained a powerful force in Germany though, regularly qualifying for European competition and of course once reaching a Champions League Final before losing 2-1 to Real Madrid. Their history is very much made up of ‘Nearly’ moments, leading to the media dubbing them ‘Neverkusen.’

We’ve been to the BayArena a couple of times before, once to see Aris Salonika in a Europa League game and also to see AS Monaco in the Champions League, but it had been a few years now since our most recent visit. As a ground it isn’t the biggest, holding just shy of 30,000, but it is very atmospheric. It’s a typical bowl shaped construction, with the Ultras at one end, while the opposite end is made up of largely corporate facilities.

It wasn’t quite full, but I suspect the official attendance figure would suggest a sell out on the night, despite the away supporters section being half full at best.

The first half was a poor spectacle, with the hosts taking the lead just before the break thanks to an own goal from Thomas Partey. Kevin Volland made it 2-0 ten minutes after the interval and all looked good in the World for Dutchman Peter Bosz and his merry men, despite Nadiem Amiri getting a straight red five minutes before the end.

Madrid were poor, but any team managed by Diego Simeone is never going to give up. Four minutes into the five of added time and the previously ineffective Alvaro Morata found the net, and then moments later he had a great chance to make it 2-2, but failed to find the target. A draw would have been harsh on Leverkusen who were the only team who appeared to be trying to win the game.

We made it back to the car in good time and were easily away from Leverkusen and onto the Autobahn. Base camp was made around 1am local time (bearing in mind games kick off at 9pm), giving us just enough time for one more beer before bed. You will see a theme developing here over the course of the next few blogs.

A glass was of course raised to Mr L Senior during the course of the day, and as we exchanged images and messages on WhatsApp, you sensed he wished he was with us.

Maybe next year….  

Swarfega & The Banger

Chertsey Town  7  FC Romania  0

Isthmian League – Division One South Central

Me and my old mucker Derek were just coming into Staines-On-Thames when he decided to tell me a story involving a tin of Swarfega (made in the fair town of Belper you know!)

It appears as a youngish lad, when living in the locality, he was driving his Mother’s Austin A30 along Staines High Street when one of his prankster mates thought it would be a good idea to stick a banger into a tin he kept in the back of his car (for hand cleaning purposes he claims).

Anyway, he lit it while they were driving, and off it went, causing quite a scene on the High Street, but not only that, the clean-up operation was something of an ordeal for Derek as green sticky stuff dripped from the car roof onto his head. Don’t suspect Mother was too impressed either……

I was still chuckling at the story as we went past Thorpe Park and found our way down Alwyns Lane and into the car park at Chertsey Town. I’d got Chertsey on the radar this season, and with Derek having spent many a happy Saturday at the ground in the mid-sixties, we decided to pair up for a visit.

Not only would it be a new ground for me, it would give Derek another chance to have a trip down memory lane, when the ladies from the local army base were free and relatively easy on a Saturday night!

Chertsey are new to the Isthmian League this season, after having had a superb campaign last time around, with a Combined Counties League Championship and FA Vase double, thanks to a fine victory over Cray Valley PM at Wembley.

It’s not always been like that though at Alwyns Lane as a look at the record books suggests.

They made the familiar moves up through the Spartan League in the Seventies, into the Athenian League, before pitching up in the Isthmian League in 1986. They’ve moved up and down the Isthmian divisions like the proverbial yo-yo’s, having been in the Premier Division for a couple of seasons in the mid-Nineties. While the promotion they gained from the CoCo last season was the second time they’ve bounced back in recent years after relegation from the Isthmian.

They’ve never gone beyond the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup, and prior to winning the Vase, their best run had been to the Fifth Round. So, in summary, steady rather than spectacular, but right now, from the moment you walk into the ground you sense the club are on the brink of something big.

Talking of big, the game against FC Romania was to see pupils from three local schools invited as guests as a thank you for their support last season, it was to end up with the club getting their biggest gate of the season so far with a touch shy of 400 pitching up to watch the encounter.

Having grabbed the last spot in the tight car park, which is right on the edge of the smart town centre, we made our way through the turnstiles and were warmly welcomed. Having made our way to the bar, with the Vase and the CoCo Trophy on display, we were once again welcomed as we sampled some of the local fayre, when I say local, I know Becks isn’t brewed in Chertsey, but if it’s served locally then it’s local enough for me!

The ground at Alwyns Lane is a lovely old non-league ground, with an imposing seated stand sitting adjacent to the club house, with the dressing rooms to the opposite side of the stand. Running from the club house to the corner flag is some uncovered terracing which continues behind the goal, albeit it is covered for the width of the pitch. The tea bar sits behind the terracing to the rear of the goal, and the hot dogs are to be highly recommended.

Further terracing extends down the side opposite the main stand, with cover over two thirds of it, while a smaller area of cover sits behind the far goal.

The pitch was in superb nick, despite the heavy rain of the previous twenty four hours, and all was set for an intriguing encounter which could have seen Chertsey go top of the league if results went their way.

I have to say, the hosts put on something of a master class and lead 4-0 at the break. Lubo Guentchev (Son of Boncho) had scored twice in the first four minutes before Jake Baxter made it 3-0 after just ten minutes played. FC Romania battled hard and had a couple of chances to score but with ten minutes remaining until half time, Andrew Crossley had made it four and the game was effectively over.

At half time I had a quick chat with the Chertsey Chairman who talked about the positive feeling at the club on the back of last season, and he confidently predicted they would win the game by seven or eight goals……

Jonathan Hippolyte made it 5-0, Baxter got a second to make it six, while Crossley got his second and Chertsey’s seventh in the last minute. It had been a clinical and superb display of confident and attacking football, some of the best I’ve seen this season in close on sixty games.

Both of us thoroughly enjoyed our day out at a great club with a fantastic future ahead of them if they can tap into the enthusiasm, and the continue with the momentum they’ve currently got. Their support is vocal and passionate, and it’s clear to see the bond between the players and the supporters.

The journey back was a tricky one given the arrival again of the heavy rain, but we still made it back to Nottingham for 7.30pm. I guess it was nowhere near as tricky as driving down Staines High Street with an explosive tin of Swarfega though?  

A Recent History

Gresley  0  Newark Flowserve  1

Midland Football League – Premier Division

I was browsing the match day programme in the social club at the Moat Ground when something struck me.

In Gresley’s club history, they make no mention of the proud yet turbulent record of their predecessor, Gresley Rovers.

Ordinarily, when a club rises from the ashes of an entity that has gone before, especially when the fall and the rise dovetail with each other, it’s often the case that the new club assumes the history of the old club.

I don’t for one minute think the officials and supporters of Gresley FC, who came to being in 2009, made a conscious decision to disassociate themselves from Rovers, indeed you only have to look on the walls of the social club to see the memorabilia to see that’s not the case.

It got me thinking though, about the story behind football and Gresley, of what was, and also, what could have been had plans come to fruition. It’s also a pertinent story of what can also happen when a club chases the dream and it’s custodians are allowed to take huge risks with it’s mere existence.

I suppose I first became aware of Gresley Rovers in the early Eighties, listening to the match reports from West Midlands Regional League games on Radio Derby, where I seem to think the late Brian Spare was the correspondent.

It was in the mid to late Eighties when things started to take off at the Moat Ground. In seven seasons from 1985 onwards the club achieved two fourths, a third, two seconds and two successive championships which took them into the Southern League.

They became something of a household name in the 1990-91 season when they reached the FA Vase Final at Wembley. The game against Guiseley finished 4-4 and was widely regarded as the best game ever seen at the stadium, until of course Charlton Athletic and Sunderland had an epic Play-Off Final a few years later.

The replay at Bramall Lane finished in a 3-1 defeat for the Moatmen, but the disappointment was tempered somewhat with the first of the two championships.

In the clubs first season in the Southern League they came close to Vase glory once again, going out in the semi-final stage to big spending Bridlington Town, but in the league a second placed finish, saw them promoted to the heady heights of the Premier Division, the highest level the club had ever played at.

A rivalry with neighbouring Burton Albion was now very much on the table, and in the clubs fourth season in the top flight, having finished higher up in every season than the previous one, they were crowned champions, with Paul Futcher at the helm. This was a title that Burton had been trying to win for years without success, the young upstarts had very much put one over on them. How different that picture looks now.

But, the title was the beginning of the end in many ways. Talk at the time was of a new stadium in nearby Albert Village, with the club having been refused promotion to the Football Conference due to the facilities at the Moat Ground. A huge amount of money had been spent in winning the league, and the legacy of this spending, and what followed, ultimately saw the end of Gresley Rovers.

Two years later and they had been relegated back to the lower divisions of the Southern League, where they stayed for five seasons before being moved laterally to the Northern Premier League. That spell also lasted for five seasons, before a next to bottom finish, and the club ultimately folding. 

It was as inevitable as it was sad, but with a strong supporter based, the newly formed club were accepted into the East Midland Counties League for the following season. They finished second, before winning it the year after and with it gaining promotion to the Midland Football League which they went on to win at the very first attempt. Suddenly Gresley FC were back in the Northern Premier League, three years after the old club left it.

A dalliance with the play-offs in 2015 was as good as it got, plus a Vase quarter final against Whitehawk in 2009 reignited the memories, but ultimately at the end of last season, they finished bottom and were relegated back to the Midland Football League, where right now, they sit bottom of the pile.

I first went to the Moat Ground in 1988 and saw them lose an FA Vase Fifth Round tie against Emley in front of a very big crowd. While later on that year I also saw a lively League Cup tie against rivals Tamworth and also a Derbyshire Senior Cup Final against Alfreton Town where me and my mates from Alfreton did well to avoid a very good kicking from the locals!

I saw Burton Albion succumb 2-0 in the championship season, and on that occasion the crowd were hanging from the rafters. In fact, between 1994 and 2007 I used to get down a couple of times a season, often with Belper, whereas when the club re-formed, again, maybe once a season I’d make the journey down the A38 and the A444, but to be fair, until tonight I’d not been since New Years Day in 2017.

The Moat Ground is wonderful in its mixture of structures and hemmed in ramshackle nature. I typically head in through the turnstile behind the goal, which is quite literally behind the goal. To the left of this is a low area of cover, while moving clockwise around the ground you come to another small area of covered terracing that then becomes a low seated stand.

Behind the opposite goal used to be further areas of cover, but this end is now inaccessible to spectators as the pitch was deemed too small and now runs right up to what is the perimeter wall. Moving further clockwise still is another small area of cover before some open terracing with the tall hospitality area up some steps sat behind. The main stand is adjacent with the dressing rooms behind, along with the famous tea bar renowned for its delicacies.

Beyond the seated area is some uncovered standing with offices, a shop and the social club behind. It really is a fantastic arena, but, in terms of progression, they can do nothing with it, and I would imagine maintenance costs are not cheap. The pitch has always been known for its undulating nature, and all things considered, as unpopular decision it may be with the loyal fan base, they need a new stadium and the talk is that plans are progressing.

What about the game? Well Gresley lost 1-0 to an in form Flowserve side who are rumoured to be splashing the cash, and for the first half they looked very much second best. To be fair though to the young Moatmen, they battled incredibly hard in the second period and had the visitors on the back foot for large spells, but didn’t really look like making a breakthrough.

As I drove back from Church Gresley I did wonder what it must have been like to have been a follower of the club over the past thirty odd years, a real rollercoaster I would imagine. But, consider this, you have two choices.

Choice One – Stability, financial security, longevity, peaks and troughs, but nothing spectacular. A steady existence

Choice Two – Five championships, four promotions, Wembley, FA Cup First Round, three relegations, folding and re-forming

I know what I’d take, and I don’t honestly think the vast majority of Moatmen would swap what they’ve had, despite the lows and the catastrophes.

Eastenders

Barking  0  Margate  0

FA Trophy – First Qualifying Round

Sometimes, even the big things slip gently under the radar.

Today was a massive case in point, my plan was never to go to Barking, and not only that, it wasn’t until I got home that I realised just where I’d been.

The rain was biblical and with a band sweeping South West to North East across the Country, it put paid to a ridiculous number of games taking place on grass pitches. I had three choices on my ‘A-List’, all on grass, all off, so I had to look on the ‘B-List’, which typically involves a 150 mile plus journey to somewhere in the South of England.

The weather forecast suggested that my safest bet would be the South East, and from Friday night through to Saturday breakfast time, I couldn’t make my mind up. I started with Brentwood Town early on Friday evening, but the more I thought about the more I was thinking I was going to play it safe and go 3G, so by bedtime I was going to AFC Sudbury.

Then when Saturday morning came, I looked again and began to think I might not need a 3G, so I looked at Barking, working on the principle that if the worst happened and it did get called off late in the day, I was only fifteen minutes from the plastic at Aveley. So that was it, Barking it was to be.

It was the worst journey of the season by some distance, I set off from home at 10.30am, to be held up on three separate occasions alone on the M1, twice in the Milton Keynes roadworks and then just before getting on the M25. The heavy rain wasn’t helping matters to be fair but as I got nearer to the smoke it had started to ease somewhat.

The M11 was a ball ache but largely because of the traffic heading to the West Ham United v Sheffield United game, whereas the last couple of miles was far from unbridled joy. Aveley in fifteen minutes, I really don’t think so! I finally pulled into the car park at 2.15pm, just shy of a four hour journey, thank you very much!

I’ll talk about the ground and the game first, and leave the club until last, simply because the history of Barking FC is perhaps the salient point here.

The Mayesbrook Park ground was first occupied by Barking in 1973 after departing their old Vicarage Field ground. It’s located to the East of Barking itself, half way to Dagenham, in a typical built up East end residential area.

The car park sits behind the goal just off of Lodge Avenue, and once through the turnstiles the small clubhouse is to the right hand side. Behind the East goal is very much the business end of the ground, with various portakabin and container type buildings housing the dressing rooms, offices, hospitality areas and such like. It does look like since being built in the early Seventies, little has changed, except for an area of terracing that spreads the width of the pitch, with a tall area of cover bang in the middle.

Behind the opposite goal is a small area of cover that stretches over the walkway, with a low roof, while the main stand sits on the South side of the ground, running from one end to just beyond the half way line. It’s split between one end seated, and one end terraced. The North side of the ground is just open standing.

The pitch was in superb nick, and I was hoping for an entertaining encounter between visiting Margate who sat half way up the Premier Division of the Isthmian League, and the hosts who were also mid-table in the South Central Division. Geographically they are more suited to the North Division, but as I always say, you have to draw the line somewhere, and arguably Barking got the short straw this time around. From reading the programme I was surprised to see this was the first time the two clubs had ever met which I found odd. But then again Margate are historically Southern League, and Barking Isthmian, so I suppose it does make sense.

To be truthful, the game wasn’t great, and I’m not just saying that because it finished goalless. The first half was pretty much bereft of any goal mouth action, although to be fair the second half was better with both sides creating a couple of decent chances, but poor finishing and good goalkeeping was the order of the day. The two will go again on the Kent coast on Tuesday night. 110 paid to watch it with a good number having travelled from Margate, including a woman with a drum who spent the ninety minutes singing on her own!

So, Barking Football Club, when I did my research I was somewhat taken aback.

They were an Athenian League club before the War up until the early Fifties when they joined the Isthmian League, where they had a lengthy spell in the top flight barring a four season period in the mid-Seventies when they dropped to the First Division. The crowning moment came in 1978-79 when they were Champions of the Premier Division, the season before the formation of the Alliance Premier League, it was an incredible achievement given the calibre of some of the clubs they were competing against.

Had it been a couple of years later, Barking would have found themselves in the top tier of non-league football, but at the time of the formation of the APL, the Isthmian League clubs were not considered for membership, despite the league being theoretically on a par with both the Southern and Northern Premier League’s. It wasn’t until the 1981-82 season that neighbouring Dagenham became the first club to make the move.

By 1991 they’d been relegated to the First Division, and then by 1997 they were in the Second Division. In 2001 they merged with East Ham United and became known as Barking & East Ham United. This lasted five seasons, and after a fifth placed finish in the Southern League South Eastern Division, the club tragically folded.

A phoenix club re-appeared the following season, in the Essex Senior League, and by 2017 they’d won the title and were back into the Isthmian League, once again, where they remain today.

However, the league championship aside, the other thing that struck me was the clubs pedigree in the FA Cup. In the championship season of 78-79 they reached the Second Round, losing to Aldershot, while the following year that beat Oxford United in the First Round before losing to Reading.

In 1981-82 they reached the Second Round again, losing a replay against Gillingham, while in 1983-84 they lost once again in the Second Round, this time to Plymouth Argyle, who famously went on to reach the Semi Final that year. I remember that Plymouth run well, I was at the Baseball Ground that night for the Sixth Round Replay against Derby County when Andy Rodgers scored direct from a corner!

So, quite a history, and as I looked back through my records, what also came to light was the fact that I’d never ever seen Barking play, I’d seem the Barking & East Ham variation back in 2004 at Leighton Town, but never good old, plain and simple Barking.

Game aside, I was well pleased I’d chosen Barking above others on offer, otherwise it might have been some time before I got to know a little bit more of the history of one of East London’s most famous football clubs.

The Briggers

Worsbrough Bridge Athletic  4  Rossington Main  2

Northern Counties East League – Division One

I’ve only ever been to Worsbrough Bridge once before, it was a pre-season friendly back in July 2003 and it was to watch Gary Marrow’s Belper Town win 1-0.

Given the fact I work in Sheffield, its somewhat surprising that I’ve never been to the ground since, especially given that the Northern Counties East league is hardly sparing when it comes to scheduling midweek fixtures.

I have tried to go, but on many an occasion my best made plans fell apart due to weather conditions and a slightly suspect pitch that doesn’t take much to reduce it to a waterlogged swamp!

In fact, it’s that long since I went, the club has changed it’s name in the interim period, they are now an Athletic whereas before they were a Miners Welfare. I assume with the decline of the Miners Welfare in recent years, it was the natural an obvious thing to do.

I was determined to make it this season for a number of reasons, firstly because it is such a long time and I wanted to have another look, plus, I know they’ve done some work on the ground since so I wanted to check that out. Finally, I wanted to get to it before the bad weather sets in, which will undoubtedly make it doubly difficult later in the campaign.

Worsbrough Bridge Miners Welfare joined the old Yorkshire League back in 1971, and successive promotions saw them reach the top flight in double quick time. However, by 1982 when the Northern Counties East League had been formed, they’d dropped back to the bottom tier and consequently had to start in Division Two South of the newly created competition.

By 1991 they’d reached the First Division of the NCEL, and since then, that is precisely where they’ve remained. In most recent seasons, barring last time out, it’s been something of a struggle for the club, who dropped the Miners Welfare and took up the Athletic moniker in 2006.

The ‘Briggers’ play at Park Road, which saw its best attendance of 1,603 in 1971 when Blyth Spartans came to town in the old FA Amateur Cup. Park Road is shared with cricket, and sits on the main A61 road that runs from the M1 at Birdwell into Barnsley.

Parking is tight, but I was early enough to get in the car park. You walk down past the Sports & Development club to get through the turnstiles, and this brings you in behind the goal. Round to the left is open standing, and a small area of covered terracing on the half way line. You can’t get much beyond this as it leads to the cricket ground area which is out of bounds to spectators.

Going round to the right from the turnstiles the path takes you high up above the pitch which sits below a bank, while on the half way line sits the iconic old main stand which is like many in the area that have, and in some cases, still do adorn football ground with links to Miners Welfare’s.

Beyond the stand is a relatively new building that houses the dressing rooms and a small clubroom area that serves food and drinks, including very welcoming cans of Carling. Talking of welcoming, I found the home officials very friendly, in fact we spent some time, along with one of the match officials, talking about Belper’s recent game at Notts County in the FA Cup.

A crowd of 108 paid to watch the game against Doncaster based Rossington Main, and I have to say that the Briggers, managed by former Belper player Lee Morris, looked superb in the first half.

Ashley Emmett gave them an eighteenth minute lead, before Kieran Hirst got the second from the penalty spot on the half hour mark. Sam Race then scored a third just before half time in a game that had been very one way.    

I was expecting a deluge of goals from the Briggers in the second half but the game didn’t follow a similar pattern. Niall Doran pulled a goal back before Hirst restored the three goal advantage almost instantly. Main continued to battle and got a second goal in the final tem minutes from Tyla Bell.

It had been a very good game to be fair, and while the hosts were the better side, I was surprised to see them in the bottom half of the table on that showing.

I’ll try not to leave it sixteen years before I go again, but judging by the rain we’ve had over the weekend, it might not be before Christmas!