2009/10 report

With the football season now ended for me, below is a brief outline of the season...


Number of games: 45
Number of new grounds: 40
Number of new clubs seen: 41
Number of different leagues seen games in: 18
Number of new leagues: 7


Central Midlands League: Easington United, FC 05, Kirkby Town, Louth Town, Parramore Sports, Westella & Willerby
Cheshire League: Whitchurch Alport
Conference: Mansfield Town
Coventry Alliance: Witherley United
Football League: Burton Albion
Leicester & District League: Belgrave, Cosby United, County Hall, Glen Villa, Mountsorrel Amateurs
Leicestershire Senior League: Melton Mowbray
Midland Combination: AFC Smethwick, Lichfield City, Shirley Town
Midlands Regional Alliance: Allenton United, Melbourne Dynamo
North Leicestershire League: Caterpillar, Markfield
Northants Combination: Brixworth All Saints, Medbourne, Ringstead Rangers
Notts Senior League: Attenborough, Bulwell, Cotgrave Welfare, Magdala Amateurs
Peterborough & District League: Uppingham Town
Shropshire County League: FC Hodnet, Morda United
Southern League: Cirencester Town, Hednesford Town, Nuneaton Town
United Counties League: Sleaford Town
Welsh League: Newcasgtle Emlyn, Treharris Athletic Western, Troedyrhiw
West Midlands (Regional) League: Lye Town

Best game: Burton Albion v Cheltenham Town (5-6) Cheltenham were two goals down three times before winning it in injury time. Nine goals were scored in the second half.

Worst game: A choice of three and struggling to decide between them: 1) Mansfield Town v Leicester City (0-0, pre-season friendly); 2) Cirencester Town v Thatcham Town (0-0, Southern League) and 3) FC 05 v Easington United (1-0, Central Midlands League)

Best team in relation to level: Lichfield City - hit division leaders Kenilworth for six and played some good football to boot.

Worst team: Cirencester or Thatcham - flip a coin!

Best ground in relation to level: Treharris Athletic Western with Hednesford Town a very close runner-up.

Most picturesque setting: Attenborough (Notts Senior League).

Best programme in relation to level: Easington United (Central Midlands League)

Worst programme: Lye Town (West Midlands League)

Best punch: Melton Mowbray v Barlestone St Giles (Leicestershire Senior League Division
1) - mass brawl and a Barlestone player lands a lovely right hook on a Melton player, which knocks him off his feet. I heard the punch land from sixty yards away. Referee missed it completely.

Most friendliest club: Louth Town

Best goal: Michael Pook's winner for Cheltenham @ Burton.

That's all folks from this season. Back in July or August.

End of season

WITHERLEY UNITED 1-3 WOODLANDS WMC
Thursday 20th May 2010
Coventry Alliance Premier Division
Church Road

This is to be my final game of the 2009/10 season and a decision made only about two days ago at that. I seldom have the chance to take in mid-week games due to work but, having booked the night off from work due to my wedding anniversary tomorrow (Friday 21st) I took this opportunity. For the first time since November my dad agreed to come with me and picked me up at 5pm to make the thirty odd minute drive down the A47 and A5 to Witherley.

The following information on the village is taken from Wikipedia:

“Witherley is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is in the far north-west of Leicestershire. The Warwickshire/Leicestershire border runs along the parish boundary, along the River Anker to the west and the A5 to the south, with Witherley village close by the town of Atherstone and the village of Mancetter. One of its notable features is the church of St Peter, noted for its very tall steeple, "52 yards (48 m)”. The village school is located next to the church - Witherley C of E primary school. In most circumstances, children attending the school later transfer to Market Bosworth High School when of age.

Proximity to the county border meant that parliamentary troops from the Warwickshire garrisons made several visits to Witherley and Atterton during the Civil War. A list of claims for losses and "free quarter" to the Warwickshire county committee in June, 1646 includes a claim for free quarter for a hundred men and horse under the command of Captain Levell and Captain Astewe from Colonel Purefoy's regiment of the Coventry garrison, estimated to be worth £9. Mr Lloyd, the rector, charged Captain Ottway's lieutenant for four horses and mares worth £13.6.8, and for three heifers worth £7.10. In 1650 this same Robert Lloyd was “sequestered” and forced to pay a fine in 1650 as a ‘malignant’ or for neglecting his duties (it is not certain exactly which as few details of his offences are provided).

William King claimed that Captain Flower's men had taken a horse worth 5s and John King claimed for a saddle worth 8s taken by Captain Flower's lieutenant and asked for £2 for quartering about forty soldiers from Coventry. The Astley garrison also plundered the villages, leading to a claim for forced requisitioning including the "carriage of a load of hay from Hartshill Leaz to Astley House" worth £1, and the carriage of 14 loads of hay worth £2.6.8. Francis Orton claimed he was taken prisoner by Lieutenant Hunt of Astley about Michaelmas, 1643 and forced to pay £1.13.4 for his release. The constable of the parish claimed 12s 9d for provender. John Mason senior wanted compensation for his gelding, worth £2.10 taken by Lieutenant Hunt to Astley and William King for a mare worth £2.13.4. (Exchequer accounts, SP 28/161)

The civil parish includes Atterton.”

The club play their games on Church Road in the middle of the village and is a typical village recreation ground affair. The pitch is roped off along the two touchlines and they have their own clubhouse on the site. Next to the pitch is the Blue Lion public house where we were before and after the game having a drink and something to it. I have never been to a game in the Coventry Alliance before and was unsure of the standard that would be on show. My verdict was that is off a decent level and is no worse than anything in the Notts Senior or lower division of the Leicestershire Senior League. The game is one that visitors Woodlands should have won more comfortably than they actually did as they dominated the first half but only had two goals to show for their dominance. The opening goal came on five minutes when following a mistake in the home defence, the ball was played across the box and was slotted home from twelve yards out. Woodlands continued to press and deservedly make it 2-0 on 32 minutes, when following a cross from the right, the ball was volleyed home from a few yards out. Despite being outplayed the home side should have gone in only a goal down after the referee and linesman failed to spot the ball going under bar from a header. The second half was not as entertaining as the first but Witherley got a goal back midway through when the centre forward rounded the visiting keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net. Woodlands sowed the game up right at the death when they hit Witherley on the counter attack to give the scoreline a deserved look.

Welsh double part 2

TROEDYRHIW 1-0 CORUS STEEL

Saturday 15th May 2010

Welsh League Division 3

The Willows

Game two of our Welsh double sees us make a ten minute drive in the Merthyr Tydfil direction to the village of Troedyrhiw for their Welsh League division 3 clash against Port Talbot side Corus Steel. Corus still have a chance of promotion to the second division after being promoted to the Welsh League in the summer from the South Wales Amateur League while Troedyrhiw's current stint in the Welsh League has been since 2001. The club play at the Willows Community Centre, a short walk from the railway station. The club are currently in the process of building a stand along the far touchline as the only cover at present is in the form of an overhang attached the changing rooms.

The following history on the club is taken from their website:

"Although Troedyrhiw have come from the very bottom of the pyramid system to attain Welsh League status in five years, this is not a new club. In fact the former mining village between Merthyr and Aberfan has a long football history, with Troedyrhiw Stars first putting it on the map in 1908-09 when they won the South Wales Amateur Cup. In the years leading up to the Great War, the Stars enjoyed some good Welsh Cup runs, notably in 1912-13 when they reached the last eight beating Abertillery, Rhymney, Cardiff Corinthians and Colwyn Bay before losing 1-0 at Chester.

The Star's successors Troedyrhiw FC started to make their mark in the 1930's, winning the Welsh League's Division 2 in 1932 and starting a 20-year unbroken spell in the top flight, with again some good Welsh Cup runs (in 1933-34 and 1934-35 they reached the last 16) though their best league achievements came in the years following the World War 2, when they finished 4th, 3rd and 2nd in successive years. After that it was downhill until relegation came in 1951-52. After over a decade in Division Two East, they found themselves in the midle division when the Welsh League re-organised in 1964 but finished last-but-one. Rather than drop into the lowest of the 3 non-regionalised divisions, Troedyrhiw withdrew from the league in 1965.

And there their story might have ended, as the decline in importance of the South Wales coalfield saw so many village's clubs disappear from the scene. For 30 years Troedyrhiw was barely on the football map, though its Boy's Club continued. A local pub team, in 1993, approached Brian Harbord, who was on the committee for the Boys Club, and asked could they play at The Willows as the senior team and use the unused facilities on a saturday afternoon. Brian, with the help of John Phelps pushed for this to happen and won a majority vote. Troedyrhiw Boys Club Seniors were formed with John Phelps as Chairman and Brian Harbord vice-Chairman. Mark Harbord took over as player-manager with the team based in the Merthyr Premier Division. After two seasons Mark Harbord brought in Brian Sparks to take over as manager, and Mark took the player-coach role. In their first season together they guided Rhiw to the title in dramatic style, needing to win their last game. After going a goal down they came back to win 2-1 and clinch promotion to the Amateur League(1995-96).

For some technical reason Troedyrhiw Boys Club Senior team had to become seperate to the Boys Club and then Became its own club, forming Troedyrhiw FC. After finishing in the top half on their first season in the Amateur League they went on to clinch the double in their second with the Division 2 title and the Intermediate Cup, beating Aberaman Ex to both. They then went on to finish 7th in division One in 1999, and 5th in 2000. Then the next season, lying handily in mid-table while Bryntirion and Barry Athletic made the running, Troedyrhiw did not emerge as obvious promotion contenders until the closing weeks, when a fine run of results as they cleared a big fixture backlog put them in the frame. The disappointment of losing the SWFA Intermediate Cup Final did not deter Brian Sparks's side, who finally went top of the league well into May as the season reached a climax that bettered any boy's comic storyline: Troedyrhiw led Barry Athletic by one point and entertained them at The Willows in the last game - if they drew or won, they would win the league and promotion to the Welsh League, if they lost, the visitors would be champions. Watched by a crowd of over 400, Rhiw fell behind in the first half before battling back and deservedly equalising through Andrew Richards after the break as they put an ageing Barry side under mounting pressure.

Troedyrhiw FC were in the relatively unusual position these days of having a ground already fit for Welsh League Football, and it was this advantage that guaranteed their automatic promotion without the need for a play-off with the Senior League winners. The Willows ground, situated next to the railway line a couple of minutes walk frpm the station on the Merthyr Branch line, is an enclosed ground dominated by the huge Boys Club building at its western end, behind one goal, the overhang of which provides a covered terrace. At the opposite end and on the southern side, the pitch is tightly hemmed in by the railway and houses respectively. Rhiw are back where they belong! "

We were charged £3 for admission which included a programme, though the programme was unfortunately was for the original game scheduled in November. The home side went into the game in the bottom three but on the day it was hard to tell which side was which as Corus did not look like a side going for promotion. To be honest it was a poor game and thus I have very little to write about that was settled five minutes from time when Chris Quinlan scored from the penalty spot at the second attempt, after the referee disallowed the first attempt for I believe encroachment.

websites:

Troedyhiw: http://www.troedyrhiwfc.bravehost.com/

Welsh Double Part 1

TREHARRIS ATHLETIC WESTERN 1-2 LLANGEINOR

Saturday 15th May 2010

Welsh League Division Two

Athletic Ground

An offer from Gary (plus along with some clubs kicking off at 12 noon) has given me the chance to take in two games today in south Wales. My only other game in Wales came earlier this season @ Newcastle Emlyn back in September. Gary picked me up at 7.15am and we set off to pick up the "Merseyside 2" - Pete and Ian from Coleshill Parkway station at 8am. From there we went to Bromsgrove for a breakfast at the Pit Stop Cafe on the A38 - excellent value for money with the food being bloody good as well. Thankfully the roads were clear and we made the journey without problems and arrived at the Athletic Ground with about an hour before kick-off.

Treharris is a small town with a population of over 6,000 located between Cardiff (17 miles to the south) and Merthyr Tydfil (10 miles to the north). The town was formed around Harris's Deep Navigation Colliery and coal mining excavations begun in 1878. Originally known as Harris's Navigation Pits the Deep Navigation shafts were, at the time the deepest in south Wales, some of them at a depth of 760 yards. Ownership was transferred to the Ocean Coal Co. Ltd in 1893 and remained in production until 1991. Most of the land where the Deep Navigation was situated has been landscaped and is now part of the new Millenium Park where many local football and rugby teams play and train.

The football club are, according the cover of their programme "South Wales Oldest Football Club". The club were formed in 1889 and were founder members of the South Wales League. The club became the league's first champions. In 1906 after dominating the South Wales League Treharris became one of the first clubs to play over the border when they joined the Western League. Four years were spent in the Western League and in their final campaign they became champions, and along with Cardiff City were elected to the Southern League. Just four seasons were spent in the second division of the Southern League before they resigned / were not re-elected in 1914. I stand to be corrected but I believe the club has been ever present in the Welsh League ever since. In 2008 they merged with local Merthyr League club Treharris Western to give us their present title. This season both Treharris and Llangeinor sit in mid-table with only three places and four points between them at the start of play. The two sides played each other three days ago @ Llanegeinor with Treharris recording a 2-0 victory.

The ground is certainly one of the most interesting ones I have ever come across and one that I felt oozes character and charm in a rustic kind of way. We were not charged any admission or any money for the programme, though anyone who turned up nearer to kick-off was charged an admission though how much I don't know. The game was fairly even and played in the right spirit, with the visitors I would say shading affairs overall. Despite being an end of season game both sides had plenty of chances, though the majority did not trouble either keeper. Llangeinor took the lead on twelve minutes when following a double save from the Treharris keeper Jordan Mortimer headed the ball home from five yards out. Both sides continued to create chances but the not further scoring occured. The second half continued in the same vain as the first but following a spell of possession and territory for around ten minutes Llangeinor hit Treharris on the counter attack with Josh Ellis cooly slotting the ball into an empty net following a good save from the home keeper who injured himself in the process. The home side never gave up and got, what turned out to be a consolation goal in stoppage time when Ross Porter hit an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner from fully thrity five yards.

Overall a good game played in glorious sunshine at a superb ground that would have the health and safety brigade in England having a hissy fit!!!!!

websites:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treharris

Treharris Athletic Western FC: http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/treharrisathleticwestern/

Welsh Football League: http://www.welshleague.org.uk/

Welford on the up

RINGSTEAD RANGERS 0-2 WELFORD VICTORIA

Saturday 1st May 2010

Northants Combination Division 1

Ringstead Playing Field

Having spent last Saturday taking in three games in Shropshire I decided this week to stay relatively local. My choice is a top of the table clash in division 1 of the Northamptonshire Combination with both sides fighting it out with James King Blisworth for the divisional title. I pick up travelling companion for this afternoon Kevin Zupp who is Lutterworth Athletics secretary and programme editor, and at around 1pm we set off from his home in Kibworth and we set off on the forty minute journey.

Ringstead is a small village in east Northamptonshire some 20 miles north east of Northampton and 11 miles south west of Kettering. The population according to the 2001 census was 1,428 but driving through the village I would say (due to house building going on) this figure could be over 2,000 by the time of the next census in 2011. The oldest building in the village in the church of St Mary's which in part dates from the 12th century. The playing field is located on Gladstone at the eastern edge of the village and is surrounded by fields on two sides.

The earliest records I can find for the club are in 1999 when they joined division 3 of the Northamptonshire Combination. Promotion was achieved instantly with a runners-up spot behind winners Gretton Reserves. The next three seasons saw the club finish in 8th, 3rd and 3rd respectively before they were crowned division 2 winners in 2004 and with it promotion to division 1. Just three seasons were spent in division 1 before relegation back to division 2 in 2007. Two seasons were spent in the league's third tier before a 3rd place finish last season behind Finedon Volta and Daventry Drayton Grange secured promotion back to division 1.

With no bar at the club we had a drink in the New Inn in the village before the 2.30pm kick-off. It was a frantic first half with both sides contesting every decision with the referee, who at times seemed to enjoy being the centre of attention. The game was end to end though clear cut chances were at a premium. Ringstead, in an bright all orange kit had their best chance in the opening couple of minutes when their left midfielder forced the Welford keeper to tip the ball over the bar. The half was also a case of differing playing styles with the home side playing a more direct game with the visitors preferring to play the ball along the ground. Just six minutes into the second half and Welford had their best chance of the game when the ball was scooped over the bar from ten yards out. The game then turned in the visiting sides favour just two minutes later when Ringstead had a man sent off for a moment of sheer stupidity. Their number 11 had fouled a Welford player near his own corner flag and then for some reason decided to stamp on the Welford players back and the referee had no choice to give him a straight red. This gave Welford all the encouragement they needed and deservedly took the lead on 66 minutes when a corner was headed home from a couple of yards out. Four minutes later and it was game set and match when they made it 2-0, as they took advantage of a mistake by a home defender. A major clanger occured with just four minutes remaining, though this time not from either side but from the referee and the "home" linesman. A Welford player went through on his own and was brought down for a stonewall penalty but for some reason the linesman put his flag up for offside. Anyone who knows anything about football will know that this cannot possibly be offside but instead of the referee explaining this and overuling him decided to award a free kick to Ringstead.

Overall an enjoyable game in glorious sunshine and a deserved victory and promotion to the premier division for Welford.
Admission: none

Programme: none
Attendance: peaked 38 (head count)
Match rating: 4 out of 5
Google maps driving time / distance: 58 minutes and 47.3 miles



Websites:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringstead,_Northamptonshire

East Northants Online: http://www.east-northantsonline.co.uk/pp/location/detail.asp?id=454

Northants Combination: http://www.northantscombination.co.uk/