Going Dutch

Keyworth United  2  Wollaton  2

Nottinghamshire Senior League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

The message arrives from the Netherlands, the lads are coming over for a long weekend, and I’ve got two jobs, but two very important jobs.

Job One – collect them from Birmingham Airport, early on the Wednesday morning, and then get them back to Belper via some form of feeding station. 

Job Two – they want to go to a game on the Wednesday night, which is fine, but as monsoon season remains in full swing, I have my concerns that we’ll find anything.

Job One was easily dealt with, Job Two, well, as the day wore on all of the games close to home on grass were going by the wayside, and the only game I could realistically see being on, that wasn’t an unreasonable distance away was the Nottinghamshire Senior League at Keyworth United, where they were playing Wollaton on the plastic.

Theo and Rob have never been to Keyworth before, in fact they’ve never seen a game in the NSL before. In fact I could go on, we go to the Netherlands and end up at Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, they go to Keyworth, seems a fair reciprocal swap to me…..

So I picks the boys up from the hotel, then goes to collect Mr H senior who has also decided he wants to come as well. So, I know what to expect when it comes to the evening, to a degree, I’ve been watching stuff like this for years as you know, but what are my companions going to think? I’d worked on the principle that if they didn’t like, they had live football on the TVs in the bar!

So Keyworth United, I’ve been a couple of times before. The first time being in March 2008 on the old grass pitch at the very back of the Platt Lane complex, it was a 1-0 defeat to Clifton. They then installed the plastic pitch at the Platt Lane end of the complex and it would have been October 2010 when I saw them lose 2-1 to Nottinghamshire Police.

In Nottinghamshire football circles Keyworth United are quite a big name. I remember them from back in the old Notts Alliance days, when along with the likes of Rainworth Miners Welfare and Hucknall Colliery Welfare, they were one of the major players. Of course the league changed to become what it is now and many of the clubs moved in other directions, namely to the Central Midlands League and beyond, but Keyworth, other than a brief spell when they did move across to the CML, have always been associated with the County based league.

Keyworth, located just off the Nottingham ring road, to the South East of the City, is not a poor village by any means, and the football club are very much part of the community. When I say football club, it’s more of a sports club because Platt Lane is shared by both the football and the cricket. Teams are varying ages are based at the venue, and as we arrived it looked like the women’s team had just finished a training session on the floodlit 4G.

They have a decent sized car park and the centrepiece is the clubhouse and changing room complex, with it’s large bar and cafeteria area in the centre. The football was on the TV, if it was all too much for the Dutch boys, they would be ok!

You can access one side of the 4G to watch the games, and they don’t charge any admission to watch the games, which to be fair if they were still in the CML they would probably have to do. The NSL top flight is notionally Step 7, so the next step up would be within the National League System and based on their location it would mean Division One of the United Counties League. Sandiacre Town got promoted last season from the NSL and as is stands they are in danger of coming straight back down again.

Keyworth are probably more than happy plying their trade is the NSL, and to be fair this season they sat comfortably in a mid-table placing prior to the game against a visiting side who are probably not going to win the league, but they are well set for a top three finish.

The game, on a cold evening, and watched by a decent sized crowd including many of the women’s team, turned out to be an entertaining one.

The visitors looked the better side in the early stages, taking the lead through Joshua Stevenson, but just prior to half time a goal from Ajay Bentham levelled things up for the hosts. Jarrod Westcarr, who had looked a real handful, gave Wollaton a second half lead, and at that point you did wonder whether coming back a second time would be too much for Keyworth, but they had other ideas.

It was very late in the game, when after a spell of attacking from the home side, Scott Litchfield was the man on the spot to force home the equaliser, and to be fair no one could argue that they didn’t deserve a point out of the encounter.

So, a 2-2 draw, and you know what, other than a spell just after half time, everyone who travelled in the car with me watched the entire game. The lure of Arsenal v Brighton on the box at no stage was too great to prove to be a distraction.

Mind you, it could have been worse, had the weather been any good I was going to take them to watch Derby Singh Brothers on a park in Sinfin, and that might have been a step too far in hindsight!

Fine (Part 1)

 Wroxham  0  Gorleston  1

Isthmian League – First Division North

Admission / Programme - £10 / £1.50

So, I’ve been back from Devon for one night, and I have to break the news, gently, to Mrs H that I’m off on my travels again, not far though this time, just the mere 180 or so miles and three and a half hours to the Norfolk Broads!

I’m nervous, but after a deep breath and a couple of bravery pills, I throw it in, the moments silence felt like a lifetime before I got a response…

“Fine!”

That’s it then, the all clear, well, what else does the word “Fine” mean, irrespective of the tone used?

I’ve had my eye on Wroxham all season, in fact I’ve had my eye on both Wroxham and Gorleston, the two Norfolk clubs that are very much out on a limb when it comes to the Isthmian League Division One North. I worked this out, a good number of clubs in the division are in Essex and in some cases inside the M25, so for a club like Wroxham a fair few of the away trips are two hours or more away. But, the alternative is probably not a lot better, the Northern Premier League East Division, or, the Southern League Midland Division, the travelling is probably not much different.

So, they are where they are, and if they want Step 4 and above, this is what they have to contend with, so I’m not going to moan one little bit about a voluntary journey I was making that was going to take the best part of three and a half hours!

Sat nav bingo took me down the M1 to the A14, along to beyond Newmarket and then up through the Thetford Forest to the Norwich Ring Road. Wroxham sits to the North East of Norwich so once I was comfortably into Partridge Country it didn’t take long to work my way round to the village that does indeed sit within the Norfolk Broad, and is in fact often referred to as the ‘Capital of the Broads’.

It was Easter Monday, I’d made good time and I did wonder whether it might be a good idea to head into the village and have a look at the waterways, but, I decided against it, the sun was shining and the football club had already announced that the bar was open!

The football ground is set down on a narrow road to the very South of the village, and is flanked to the right by the railway line, and slightly further to the left by the River Bure. It’s a very rural, and indeed a lovely setting for a football ground, and having chatted to the very friendly chap on the gate, he told me that they had even considered watering the pitch that morning because the surface was so hard. Weird isn’t it, we’ve had record levels of rain, ridiculous numbers of games called off and then a football ground set in the middle of an area that is surrounded by water is considering having to water it’s pitch!

The ground is very nice, on one side you have the dressing rooms and a homely clubhouse facility, while opposite on the River Bure side of the ground you have an old fashioned but well cared for seated stand. Behind the North goal it’s open standing while at the South end of the ground you have a section of modern terracing behind the goal. It ticks the boxes from a grading perspective, but it’s also, more importantly a nice place to watch football.

Wroxham Football Club were formed in 1892, playing in the local leagues before joining the newly formed Anglian Combination in 1964. They proved to be a successful club, winning the Premier Division title five times, and with the last one in 1987-88, it gave them promotion to the newly formed First Division of the Eastern Counties League.

The title was won in their first campaign and with it came promotion to the Premier Division, a league they joined in in 1988 and remained in until 2012. During that period they won the championship eight times, and twice they won it three times in a row, with the halcyon days being the Nineties and early Noughties.

It was inevitable then that they would make the move up, which they did in 2012 by joining the First Division North of the Isthmian League, but that move lasted five years before they were relegated back to the Eastern Counties League. A runners up spot in 2021-22 saw them promoted back again, where of course they remain.

For a club that dominated the Eastern Counties League for such a period, you might be forgiven for thinking that they made a few waves in the FA Vase, well if you did you would be correct. They made the quarter finals in 2001-02, losing to Durham City, then in 2009-10 they beat a highly rated Whitehawk in the semi-final, only to succumb to a dominant Whitley Bay side at Wembley, the North Eastern powerhouse running out 6-1 winners. The quarter finals were again reached in 2019-20 but they were well beaten at home by Bristol based outfit Bitton.

It's a lovely sunny day, a good crowd of 319 has rocked up to Skinner Lane to watch the local derby against Great Yarmouth based visitors Gorleston, but what happened?

Not a massive amount to be honest, it wasn’t the greatest game you are ever going to see, and as it went on you felt it was going to be decided by the solitary goal, and that goal came on the hour mark for the visitors courtesy of Lewis Johnson. It was goal that was met with delight from the noisy following from Gorleston, who to be fair never stopped singing throughout the game.

Wroxham are going to finish mid-table, never in danger of going down, but at the same time, never likely to trouble the play-off spots. Maybe for a club like Wroxham, considering where they are located, and considering the pool of players they can realistically pick from, maybe going any higher is simply not a reality right now. But you don’t have to always be aspiring to progress, consolidation and sustainability are not a bad thing, especially when you look at what goes on elsewhere.  

I decided to head back via Kings Lynn, Holbeach and Sleaford, it was a pleasant albeit long and somewhat tiring journey, but you know what, I’m glad Mrs H was “Fine” about me going to Wroxham, what a great club, and what a lovely place to watch football.

When are they building that motorway that goes to Norwich…….

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! 

 

Spuds

Elburton Villa  1  Bovey Tracey  2

South West Peninsula League – Premier East

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2

Back at the Holiday Inn, Steve and I enjoyed a couple of overpriced beverages on our return from Holsworthy, it had been a great day, and after the disappointment of Honiton, it was as much of a relief than anything that the day went to plan.

The Saturday involved a trip further West, I was hot footing it to St David’s again while Steve was travelling by car, for he had a somewhat off-piste adventure to contend with in the afternoon. It was a bright morning, and barring a weather related disaster, all was set fair for a good day, which was to start in Kernow, it was Passport’s at the ready!

Liskeard Athletic was the first port of call, the first game on their Lux Park pitch since December, it all went to plan even if we were hit with a rain / hail storm in the first half. Over 500 rocked up to see the local derby against Dobwalls, but the home side ran in 2-0 victors. I won’t blog it as I’ve done Liskeard before, but game two, that was a different matter….

Steve had been to Elburton Villa, so he was off to watch Callington Town Reserves on the plastic, but I boarded the fun bus and we made our merry way back across the Tamar Bridge and to the East of Plymouth. The traffic as we got into Plymouth was a little sticky, but before long we were climbing the hill and turning right into the car park at Villa, a ground that has been on a SWPL Groundhop before, but, when they played on the top pitch, as opposed to the bottom pitch which they play on now.

The sun was shining, and Elburton had got the beer flowing, so knowing that the afternoon game on the Saturday is usually the poorest attended on the Hop (due to alternative options), they clearly worked on the principle that selling beer and food was the best way to make the money!

The bar, at the top of the bank before you enter the ground, while tight space wise, was doing a roaring trade, and before we knew it, the players were about to head down the bank to get the game underway.

What’s the deal with Elburton Villa then?

The club came about in 1982 following on from former guise Elburton Red Triangle, starting out in the Plymouth & District League before becoming founder members of the Devon County League. 

When the Devon County League merged with the South Western League in 2007 they did of course become founder members of the South West Peninsula League, making their debut in the Premier Division.

By 2016 they had been relegated to Division One West, but by 2018 they found themselves back in the top flight again, eventually settling at Step 6 when restructuring saw the Premier Division split across an East and West Division, with the East being their home since then.

They’ve never played in the FA Cup, nor have they ever won the FA Vase, but they do keep trying!

The ground is part of a large expanse, with the car park just off the main road, and the old pitch directly in front. You walk to the right of the old pitch where the bar and the dressing rooms are located, then in front of you, set in something of a bowl is the new pitch. 

Steep grass banking adorns two sides, behind the top goal and down a large part of the South side of the ground. A small area of cover sits right at the top of the bank behind the goal, while at the bottom of the banking on the South side is a small Atcost style seated stand for around fifty spectators. You can stand behind the opposite goal, but the North side of the ground is out of bounds.

A good number of spectators chose to stand on the top of the grass banking, myself included, and it was from that vantage point on a lovely Spring day, that an entertaining spectacle broke out in front of the crowd of 311.

Visiting Bovey Tracey took the lead in the 12th minute through Josh Haynes who controlled and finished well, and then the same player made it 2-0 on the half hour mark. The game took an interesting turn ten minutes into the second period when Mitch Thomas slid across goal to block an Elburton shot, only to be sent off for handball. Turned out that Thomas did not use his hands to stop the ball, it hit him full in the spuds, which video evidence later confirmed, and pleasingly, the red card was overturned on appeal!

Elburton converted the penalty thanks to Bentley Alcantara, and from that point onwards the hosts took the game to the visitors, but it was to no avail, other than in injury time when an on field altercation saw both sides have a player sent off, namely the aforementioned Alcantara for Elburton, and Neil Last for Bovey Tracey. No hard feelings though, they shook hands, had a bit of banter and spent the last few moments watching the game together!

And that was Elburton, it was time for the last episode of Whacky Races to start as the bus and all of those in cars headed back out of Plymouth in an Easterly direction, albeit not far, Ivybridge which was a mere 7 miles away, the show was nearly over, but not quite…..

 

Proper Job

Holsworthy  0  Bude Town  0

South West Peninsula League – Premier West

Admission / Programme - £6 / £1

It was from the East Division to the West Division for the final game of the day, and I have to say, of the six games we got to over the weekend, this, in terms of an overall experience was the best of the lot.

Holsworthy had done a proper job, turning the local derby against fierce rivals Bude Town into a real community event, so much so a crowd of over 900 rocked up to watch it, and other than a goal, the evening had pretty much everything, but more on that later.

We are talking a proper old club when we are talking about Holsworthy AFC. They were formed in 1891 and played in the North Devon League until 1953 when they moved to the Plymouth & District League. 

In 1971 they moved to the prestigious South Western League, where they spent an unbroken thirty years before making a sideways move to the Devon County League in 2003, winning it at the first attempt.

When the South West Peninsula League was formed in 2007, the club became founder members, starting out in the Premier Division before being relegated to Division One West in 2010. Always on the border between the East and the West Division’s, they moved to the East in 2019, but were then moved back West again at the end of last season.

They did trouble the FA Vase briefly in the late Seventies and early Eighties, but they didn’t win it! 

So, after a brief moment of parking confusion in the middle of the North Devon town, we eventually got dropped off just outside the turnstiles, and were met with quite a noise as we entered, only it seems the club had the idea of organising a DJ for the event, and if they wanted to upset the neighbours, they were doing a right good job of it, the volume was loud!

The ground is a lovely old fashioned town centre ground, with a good sized clubhouse and dressing room building behind the goal, along with a temporary bar, and a very impressive outdoor catering facility that produced excellent burgers! An old school style stand sits along one half of the touchline, while it’s hard standing apart from the areas that were out of bounds, namely part of the dugout side of the ground. Viewing wise, given the size of the crowd, spots at pitch side were at a premium.

The atmosphere by kick off was electric, the away fans were in good voice, a smoke bomb landed on the pitch just before the game got underway, and the pitch itself looked fine, thanks to some excellent work, which included the use of heaters and a gazebo on one are that was of concern. The DJ (Disco InKernow) had whipped the place up to a frenzy, this was Step 6 football, but not as we know it!

The game might have ended 0-0 but it was a proper old fashioned battle. The referee had his work cut out as tackles flew in and no holds were barred. You sensed, as much as there was respect between the two clubs, on the field, they both desperately wanted to stick it up each other!

Ok, so it finished 0-0, but, a great game of football to watch that kept you continually engaged with proceedings, and in the end, probably from a points perspective, the right outcome, although of the two clubs, Bude would probably be the most frustrated at not getting the three points. Prior to the game Holsworthy had been on a run of six successive defeats, while Bude had been unbeaten in the last three.

Holsworthy though, just wow, and if ever a club deserved a game to be on, and to have a successful evening, it was them. They did a fabulous job in terms of the arrangements and in terms of doing what’s important on occasions like this, catering for the crowd, and making sure they had every opportunity to spend some money!

Spend a few quid we did, the bar did a roaring trade, the catering facilities likewise, and as the blue smoke from the visitors pyro’s wafted across the pitch as we left the ground, we left feeling like we’d been treated, like we’d been well looked after, like we were part of something that for Holsworthy Football Club was something quite special.

They did not disappoint, take a bow guys, the night was yours!

The T-Side

Torridgeside  0  Okehampton Argyle  3

South West Peninsula League – Premier East

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2.50

The time had finally come, after a few years absence, the South West Peninsula League was to finally host another of it’s legendary Easter Hops!

It’s widely accepted on the circuit that the South West event, hosted and organised by the brilliant Phil Hiscox, is the best of the lot, and that’s meant with no disrespect to any other organisation(s) that may also arrange such events. It’s renowned as the best for a variety of reasons, not least the fact that it’s stage in a truly beautiful part of the UK.

I’ve never been to an organised Groundhop before, the sheer thought normally makes me recoil in discomfort, but as soon as I saw the plans for Easter in Devon, I’d made my mind up, my virginity was going to be truly broken.

Starting on the Thursday night in Honiton, the event would them move on to North Devon taking in Torrington, Torridgeside and Holsworthy on the Good Friday, and then on Easter Saturday we would head down the A38 to Plymouth for games at Liskeard, Elburton and Ivybridge.

Five of the seven venues I’d never visited, and with coach travel arranged from Exeter for the Friday and Saturday games, it was the ideal event. Accommodation was booked in Exeter, a full weekend game and travel ticket was purchased, and after a bit of encouragement, I talked Steve into joining me!

The South West has had an absolute mullering with the weather, and having lost a record number of games for that very reason, the South West Peninsula League is now at a stage where it is having to cram games in. In the run up to the event it felt like the conditions were utterly relentless, week in and week out games were being called off in droves, take Liskeard for example, they hadn’t played a home game since December, and no game at all since mid-February! We are about to enter April….

Anyway, the journey down from Belper was in large parts monsoon like, and as much as clubs had worked like Trojans to prepare the pitches and all the other things that are needed from an event that is going to attract attendances way beyond what they would normally get, you were in the lap of the Gods somewhat.

I arrived at the Holiday Inn around 1.30pm, Steve was a few minutes before me. We travelled separately as he was doing the event by car for reasons that will become clear. It was hammering it down, and after checking in we decided to have a relaxing afternoon sampling Exeter. The noises out of Honiton we relatively positive, and as much as we boarded the train knowing that the match referee would have the final say, you did feel reasonably confident we would be getting a game in.

To cut a long story short, after a wee dram in the town, we got to the ground an hour before kick off, the crowd was already pretty large, but it seemed a very small area of the pitch was of concern, and we are talking VERY small. The referee had form it seems, we had an assessor present, and despite the pleas from both teams and indeed from Phil Hiscox, even offering to narrow the pitch to cut the area out, he was having none of it, so back to Exeter we went, and you had to feel for Honiton, this has happened to them twice now on a Hop.

By the way, while on the subject, every pitch the following day, did not look as good as Honiton’s did, just saying…..

So, it was an early start on the Friday, while I trotted down to St David’s to catch the bus, Steve was off to AFC St Austell in the car. I’ve been to Torrington before so I won’t blog it, but it went very well, the game finished 1-0 to the hosts against high flying Crediton United, we were truly underway, and at the final whistle it was back on the bus for a journey of just under a mile to the neighbouring club in the town, Torridgeside!

Torridgeside are a relatively new club, only being formed in 1989. They made waves in the North Devon League, joining in 2003-04, working their way through the divisions before a runners up spot came in the Premier Division in 2015-16, and that ultimately earned them promotion to the South West Peninsula League.

A best finish in the First Division East came in 2018-19 when they finished fourth, and this was more than enough to see them accepted at the new Step 6 Premier Division East. A couple of Covid years interrupted matters, but since normality resumed they have finished 17th and 12th respectively, also competing in the FA Vase for the first time this season, losing at Cheddar in the First Qualifying Round.

This time around, it has been a struggle and prior to the game they sat third from bottom of the table, with the visitors sat in the top six.

The ground at Torridgeside is on the very edges of Torrington, and with the bus dropping us off at the top of the driveway to the ground, you take a steady walk round the edges of the rugby pitch (Torrington RFC) before arriving at the entrance and the very smart new clubhouse that I understand was only finished in the week prior to the game.

Food and drink was readily available, and after a chat with a fella from Shrewsbury who I’ve known for some time (get well soon mate!), Steve rocked up after his journey back from Snozzle and we could do a bit of exploring. Pretty much everything is down one side at Donnacroft, a small seated stand and a further area of cover are in situ either side of the dug outs, while the other three sides, while accessible, were of the grass variety and having done a lap, I was only just about ankle deep at certain points! But, it was a beautiful and picturesque setting, and the pitch, given it was covered in snow the previous morning (I’m not joking), looked in excellent shape. 

The crowd of 451 watched a first half that Okehampton dominated, and indeed raced into a 3-0 lead. You did fear that the hosts were going to get a proper walloping, but a combination of Torridgeside regrouping, and the visitors taking their foot off the gas, we had no more goals in the second period, but, you couldn’t at the same time argue about the outcome of the game.

Torridgeside did an excellent job of hosting the game, and they dealt with the large crowd admirably, hopefully, like all clubs who played the hosting rolls over the weekend, they made a few quid out of it.

But then it was back to the bus, a pitch inspection at Holsworthy had proved positive, we had another game to get to….