Saturday 20th April 2003
Nottingham is a city in the East Midlands with origins
tracing back to Anglo-Saxon times. The city is renowned for its links with the
legend of Robin Hood and was recognised for its lace-making, bicycle and
tobacco industries during the Industrial Revolution. Nottingham was granted its
city charter as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria in
1897 and has subsequently been formally titled as the City of Nottingham. 
The Nottinghamshire Senior League sits at step 7 of the
non-league pyramid, made up of former clubs from the Nottinghamshire Football
Alliance and is a feeder to the Northern Counties East League Division One. The
league was founded for the 2004-05 season and currently has a total of 47 clubs
split between three leagues of Senior Division and leagues One and Two.
I had a busy matchday even before entering the first ground,
seeing the opening goal or supping my first pint. My pre-match timetable was as
follows;
0357 Staggered
out of bed
0415-0435
Left home, drove to Gateshead town centre, left car and walked over to Central
Station.
0445-0620
Newcastle – Doncaster train
0630-0700 Doncaster
– Sheffield train
0732-0822
Sheffield – Nottingham train
0830 Boarded
the coach and finally departed at 0855 (25 minutes later as planned due to
waiting for the non arrival of 2 missing groundhoppers)
345. The Parish Hall Ground
Selston 2v2 Wollaton
Precision Nottinghamshire Senior League Senior Division
10.10am ko
The first
game of the day was at the hilltop village of Selston in the District of Ashfield,
which is part of Nottinghamshire's Hidden Valleys area. The village is a good 14
miles from Nottingham rail station so we arrived at the Parish Hall Ground at
around 925am. The ground was already a hive of activity when we arrived with stalls
from Terry the badge, some programme sellers and a marquee with club souvenirs
and a choice of real ales from the Naked Brewery, which I resisted trying until
half-time.
Selston FC
formed in 1968 as founder members of Alfreton & District Sunday League,
before playing in the Nottinghamshire Sunday football league from 1977. They
turned their attention to Saturday football in the mid-80s, joining the Central
Midlands Football League and won the C.M.L Division One Cup in 1991.
The club left the league in 1992 and played in the Midlands
Regional Alliance, winning the Division One title in 1993-94. Selston returned
to the Central Midlands Football League in the 1997-98 season, winning
promotion to the Supreme Division the following season, before again leaving
the league in 2004.
Around this time the club decided to disbanded the senior
side and concentrate on the development of youth football and it wasn't until
the 2006-07 season that adult football returned with a Saturday side originally
competing in the Belfield Midlands Regional Alliance and a Sunday team in the
Mansfield League.
Season 2005-06 saw Selston Football Club move back into
their rightful home at the Parish Ground. At the entrance there’s the car
park and the main building which houses the changing rooms with a refreshment
bar at the side. The football ground is at the bottom end, which forms part of
the cricket field, hence the roped off side of the pitch. At the far end are
the dugouts and a standing shelter named after club secretary George Elliott.
The best viewpoint is behind the right hand goal which is a raised bank with
hard standing.
The first game of the day nearly got off to the perfect
start with a goal within the first 10 seconds. From the kick off Wollaton broke
down the left hand side and a shot from Cooper cannoned back off the crossbar.
However we didn’t have to wait long to see the ball hit the back of the net as Farnsworth
broke down the right wing and laid the ball on a plate to Barnes to tap in from
close range with only four minutes gone.
The home side looked comfortable with their single goal
advantage but the visitors turned the game on its head in the second half,
equalising just after the restart with a Rawson effort from the edge of the box,
and pressed for a winner as they dominated the second half. The points looked
in the bag with just under ten minutes remaining after good built up play concluded with Page firing in an accurate low drive past the keeper. Selston rallied in
the dying embers of the game and deep into stoppage time a corner kick resulted
in a goalmouth scramble and an unlikely equaliser. In the mad foray the ball
fell to Curran and with his back to goal had no option but the back-heel the
ball, which kindly evaded the rear guard defence before nestling in the back of
the net. That cheeky back heel turned out to be the very last kick of an
entertaining opening game of today’s groundhop, so as the players celebrated
the referee blew his whistle which indicates it’s time to head off to the next
match.
Matchday stats
SFC 2(Barnes 4 Curran 90+3) WFC 2(Rawson 47 Page 81)
Att.358
Admission £3
346.Bracken Park
Underwood Villa 2v2 West Bridgford
Precision Nottinghamshire Senior League Division One
12.45pm ko
Underwood is within the civil parish of Selston, so it was
just a short two mile journey for the second game of the day at Bracken Park. Underwood
Villa Football Club was officially formed around 1948, but changed their name
to Bracken FC for two decades until reverting to their original name in 2003. The
club played in a variety of local Sunday leagues until switching to Saturday’s
in 1999 when they joined the Notts Amateur League. The club were league
champions in their first season and continued to progress winning more honours
before joining the Nottinghamshire Senior League in 2006-07.
The club have played at Bracken Park on the Chaworth-Muster
estate for over 60 years. In 2006 the ground complex was expanded from 2 acres
to over 5 acres as the club increased its junior section. The development
resulted in three additional pitches, expanded car parking, spectator cover,
refreshment and public toilet facilities. The expansion gained Kimberley MW an
array of FA Charter awards at regional and national levels. Currently there’s
more expansion work taking place with a new pavilion nearing completion. The
football pitch is fully fenced off with a pair of brick dugouts at the
Mansfield Road side. The pitch has a slight slope which runs across towards the
woods at the far side. There is also another pitch behind the current surface
which Underwood are planning on using next season as ground improvements continue.
Underwood
Villa were up against West Bridgford who took an early lead with two tidy
finishes in the first ten minutes. With just five minutes on the clock Jamie
Prince produced a neat volley from the left edge of the box before Charlesworth
doubled their advantage with a well-placed half-volley loping the ‘keeper and finding
the roof of the net.
The visitors pressed to extend their early advantage but the
hosts improved as the game progressed. Just before half time Villa skipper Townsend
unleashed a cracking 30 yard drive which flew into the net, which was an early
contender for goal of the day. From the restart Villa regained possession and
the big number 4 nearly grabbed a brace on the stroke of half time, receiving the
ball wide on the left he rounded the keeper and fired towards goal, but Sam
Tring was on hand to steer the ball home. The second half failed to match the
opening period. Both teams battled to grab a winner but neither goalkeeper was
seriously tested and overall the draw was a fair result.
Similar to the first game at Selston, the host club were
very friendly and made us all very welcome. The announcer on the PA though must
be a frustrated DJ though, because he used any excuse to grab the mic and make
an announcement, which wouldn’t be too bad if we weren’t standing next to the
speaker with the amp turned up to 11.
Matchday stats
UVFC 2(Hayes 45,Tring 45+1) WBFC 2(Prince 5 Charlesworth 10)
att.341
Admission £3
Ground no.346 Bracken Park - Matchday Web album (16 pictures)
347. The Shilo
Awsworth Villa 3v0 Cotgrave
Precision Nottinghamshire Senior League Senior Division
3.30pm ko
The next
stop on the bus was 6 miles due south to the village of Awsworth, in the Broxtowe
district of Nottinghamshire. The football club formed in 1965 as Awsworth &
Cossall United originally as a youth team. They began playing competitively in
the Notts Amateur League before joining the Spartan League as Awsworth Villa in
1974.
Awsworth Villa played in the Notts Alliance from 1985, twice
winning promotion from Division One to the Senior Division in 1995-96 and
2001-02, before become one of the founder members of the Nottinghamshire Senior
League.
The club originally played at the Recreation Ground before
The Shilo opened in 1982. The ground has a picturesque setting with views of
the Erewash Valley and has a perfect playing surface, looking more like a pitch
prior to a pre-season friendly, not the end of a long winter. There’s two entrances
to the ground with the main entrance at the top of the hill, the car park and
changing rooms are on this road behind the east side goal. The best feature of
the ground is the banking on one side which is the pathway between the entrance
and the children’s park behind the far goal. Along the top of the banking are
seven bench seats. Opposite are a pair of brick dugouts which have been mark H
and A to avoid any confusion for team management and subs.
After witnessing two closely fought contests the third game
of the day was a routine win for the home side. The Villa broke the deadlock in
the 20th minute when Saxton fired in a low shot from the edge of the
box after some good wing play by Cooke. Due to the sporadic hot weather on the
day, the game was played at a relaxed pace with the hosts doubling their lead
when Board fired home from inside the box on 56 minutes. The gloss was put an easy Villa victory when
Saxton grabbed his second with a minute left, his shot from the edge of the box
taking a slight deflection off the defender to give the ’keeper no chance.
Out of the four grounds visited today this was my favourite
and I’ll remember Awsworth as the place where my face was sun kissed for the
first time this year. If I lived in this exquisite village it would be a
pleasure to take a walk along to The Shilo on a Saturday afternoon, have some
stew & dumplings and cheer on the Villa, even though they wear that awful
combination of red and white striped vertical shirts!!!
Matchday stats
AVFC 3(Saxton 20,89 Board 56) CFC 0
Att.266
Admission £3
Ground no.347 The Shilo - Matchday Web album (20 pictures)
348.Digby Street
Kimberley Miners Welfare 7v0 Keyworth United
Nottinghamshire Senior League Senior Division
6.15pm ko
For today’s final game we took a short five minute drive to
the other side of the A610 to the former mining town of Kimberley. The town was
the former home of The Hardys & Hansons Kimberley Brewery, which was sold
along with their chain of pubs to Greene King in 2006.
Kimberley MWFC was formed in 1926, following the opening of
the Miners Welfare the previous year. The club have played at Digby Street in
all but one of the last 81 years. The ground is adjacent to where the Digby
Colliery once stood and the players used various facilities as changing rooms
close to the ground until purchasing a building from Calverton Cricket Club in 1995.
The new changing rooms were transported and rebuilt with the aid of a National
Lottery grant and a donation from club chairman Neil Johnson.
The ground is found along a lane off Digby Street, where
there’s a small car park, the changing room pavilion and between the nearside corner
flag and 18 yard box; a cabin selling refreshments with a small lounge area.
The stone team dugouts are on the nearside, painted gleaming white at the front
with the rest of the ground open apart from behind one of the goals where there’s
no access. Also noticeable was the slope from corner-to-corner across the
pitch. Furthermore for this special occasion there was a gazebo with a barbecue
on the go, for all us hungry hoppers.
The club’s recent history saw them join the Notts Alliance
Division Two in 1995-96, winning promotion via the league title the following
season. Promotion to the Senior Division was achieved in 1999-00 as Division
One Champions, before become another of the founder members of the NSL.
And so to our last ground of the day and another type of game, this one classified as a “good hiding” as Kimberley gubbed Keyworth United by seven goals without reply and if they had their shooting boots on they could have easily doubled the tally. The onslaught began in the 14 minute with Danny Chaplin firing home from close range before Jake Fisher took over proceedings. The number nine scored with two opportunist efforts in a five minute period mid-way through the first half and completed his hat-trick with a header four minutes after the restart.
From a corner-kick Liam Baker was left unmarked to nod home on 54 minutes, before the best goal of the game on the hour mark – Karl Beecham picked up the ball and curled a lovely 20 yard shot inside the ‘keepers’ right hand post. Surprisingly there was a lull in the goal scoring until Wilmott got in on the act, completing the rout in the last minute.
This could well be the last season at Digby Street for the
first team following the club’s recent arrangement of a 15 year tenure on The
Stag Ground, the former home of the recently defunct Kimberley Town. The new
ground is part of ambitious plans to progress to the East Midland Counties
League. According to the Secretary’s notes in the match programme they believe
they have the infrastructure in place to achieve this within the next 3 years. Kimberley MW seem a smashing little club so I wish them all the best with their future plans.
Matchday stats
KMWFC 7(Chaplin 14 Fisher 21,26,49 Baker 54 Beecham 61 Wilmott 90) KUFC 0
Att.369
Admission £3
Ground no.348 Digby Street - Matchday Web album (20 pictures)
I arrived back at Nottingham Station 4 matches, 18 goals and
exactly 12 hours since I arrived earlier in the day. I caught the 2051 Boston
train, as I was spending the night in Grantham, staying at Auntie Ann and
Uncle Malc’s. When I arrived at the best guesthouse in Lincolnshire, I had a quick
bite to eat before heading to the pub. It was nearly 1am before I finally hit the
sack so I had been up and on the go for almost 21 hours (Jack Bauer would be
proud of you…Eddy)
The whole day was well organised, hosted by very friendly
club’s that made us most welcome. I spent the day socialising with lots of likeminded
football fanatics - from the 100FgC Dan Gooch and Sam (with baby Katie) plus
Graeme Holmes, as well as familiar acquaintances from the 100FgC Facebook Group
who I met in person for the first time, namely Rob Waite, John McClure, Laurence
Reade, Peter Miles and of course the main man - Rob Hornby, who made the whole
day possible, so many thanks Rob for organising should a great day, a big well
done on picking the hottest day so far this year and hopefully I’ll be back
again next year. Cheers!
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