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    Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

    This is a place to talk about clubs playing in what might be described as lower-level non-league football. It takes its cue not only from Third Rate Lezhno's North West Counties League thread but also the geographically wide-ranging County Cups thread which bubbled along during the latter half of the 2012/13 season. If you do no more than keep an eye on a particular local league or club, please be assured that you therefore meet this thread's requirements for participation.

    As for me, my patch is in and around OTF's least favourite North Bucks new town, where teams participate in either the United Counties League (UCL) or the Spartan South Midlands League (SSML). The UCL covers an area from Buckingham and Milton Keynes in the south west through Northants and up to the Wash and Boston; the SSML looks south from MK down through Hertfordshire to North London.

    In 2013/14 there will be 3 clubs from the wider MK area in the UCL, including the highest-level local side (Newport Pagnell Town, who play in the Step 5 UCL Premier Division). In the SSML there'll be no fewer than 9 teams, with two new additions coming into the Step 7 Second Division -- Willen FC have rather taken local observers by surprise by moving up from the MK Sunday League, while village team Grendon Rangers have long been among the big guns in the North Bucks & District League.

    #2
    Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

    Disappointingly Rayners Lane's application for the Spartan South Midlands failed for some reason, so they're stuck in the Hellenic again. And their promotion was turned down.

    Round here, we've got Oxhey Jets in the Spartan, Rayners Lane in the Hellenic and Wembley in the Combined Counties. They really should all be in the same league.

    Comment


      #3
      Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

      As mentioned elsewhere, we've lots of clubs around here at the Conf south level or lower. There's a mix of leagues to which the clubs belong, mainly the Combined Counties League (CCL), SSML, Isthmian League and Southern League.

      Bedfont FC, who folded a couple of years ago after 100+ years, have merged with Feltham, who have been homeless for 6 or so years and will be playing at Bedfont's ground (famous for photos of large planes flying over whilst games are in progress)

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        #4
        Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

        Excellent work Furtho, I'd been pondering a general "stuff below the Isthmian/Southern*/Northern Premier" thread and very glad to see someone of a like mind!

        The Eastern Counties ("Thurlow Nunn") League is the big league near me. Wisbech Town have been taken out and transferred to the UCL, and they finished second last time, behind Dereham Town, who took promotion to the Ryman D1N.

        Dereham with the Eastern Counties trophy

        Dereham's reserves take a spot in Eastern Counties Div.1, as seems to be the way of sides who make it to the Ryman. Brightlingsea and Newmarket are promoted into the Eastern Counties Premier from Div.1. A favourite of Janik's, Saffron Walden Town, are still in Div.1 despite their well above average gates.

        You can also find Norwich United in the ECL Premier and Ipswich Wanderers in ECL D1.

        Then there are the leagues below, such as the Ipswich and Suffolk, the Anglia Combination and the Cambridgeshire County. I don't keep a particularly close eye on these but I'll let you know if anything interesting happens.

        Comment


          #5
          Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

          * Oh, yes, the star in that post. I meant to say, no-one seems to care that much about the Southern. Is that because of the geographical distribution of OTFers?

          Comment


            #6
            Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

            Ibn Pickthall wrote:

            Bedfont FC, who folded a couple of years ago after 100+ years, have merged with Feltham, who have been homeless for 6 or so years and will be playing at Bedfont's ground (famous for photos of large planes flying over whilst games are in progress)
            Hang on, so Bedfont used to have (and will have again) three clubs playing in or around CCL level? Bedfont (& Feltham), Bedfont Sports and Bedfont Town?

            How big is the bloody place? I must live relatively close and it has left no impression on me.

            Comment


              #7
              Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

              Do you have a team Furtho? I follow (in a pretty loose sense; I've no reason to ever go back there now) my old home town side Buckingham Town, currently exiled in Milky Beans and ambling around UCL Div 1. A far cry from the glory days of the '80s and early '90s.

              Buckingham's other team, Athletic, remain in the town and are currently in the SSML div 1.

              Comment


                #8
                Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                Harry Truscott wrote:
                Originally posted by Ibn Pickthall

                Bedfont FC, who folded a couple of years ago after 100+ years, have merged with Feltham, who have been homeless for 6 or so years and will be playing at Bedfont's ground (famous for photos of large planes flying over whilst games are in progress)
                Hang on, so Bedfont used to have (and will have again) three clubs playing in or around CCL level? Bedfont (& Feltham), Bedfont Sports and Bedfont Town?

                How big is the bloody place? I must live relatively close and it has left no impression on me.
                Yep.
                I don't get it either, Bedfont's pretty small. The only thing I can think of of note (other than the 3 football clubs) is the country park, which is very nice. There's an commercial industry "park" next door, and a watersports centre which I think has closed down after a fatal accident.

                Bedfont & Feltham will play right next door to Bedfont Sports, I mean, less than 250 metres separating entrances to the grounds.
                Bedfont Town play in Ashford, closer to the town centre and station than Ashford Town FC.

                Whereabouts are you Harry?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                  delicatemoth wrote: Do you have a team Furtho? I follow (in a pretty loose sense; I've no reason to ever go back there now) my old home town side Buckingham Town, currently exiled in Milky Beans and ambling around UCL Div 1. A far cry from the glory days of the '80s and early '90s.

                  Buckingham's other team, Athletic, remain in the town and are currently in the SSML div 1.
                  There's a bit of optimism surrounding Buckingham Town at the moment, delicatemoth. The coach they brought in around January time did a decent job when they were heading for a truly awful year. He's since stayed on and they've evidently being looking good in pre-season. As regards the stadium they're currently playing at the Irish Centre in Bletchley, but there's some talk of the university buying Ford Meadow and the football club doing a deal with them to move back in. That's got to be a priority, as there's surely no serious way to take Buckingham Town forward if they're not actually playing in the town.

                  Buckingham Athletic on the other hand have developed a distinctly tasty rivalry with SSML First Division neighbours Winslow United, in that a year ago the coach and a big proportion of the first team squad moved as a job lot from Winslow to Ath shortly before the season was due to start. If I remember correctly the derby game between the two at Christmas pulled in a gate of about 300.

                  As for my own favourites, overall I'd like to see a strong non-league team develop around Milton Keynes. The place is obviously big enough to support a club playing say Blue Square South-level football -- but given that Newport Pagnell are the highest local club in the pyramid and they average about 85 for a home game, we're a hell of a long way from that happening.

                  Working with what we've got, Winslow are a great example of a small town non-league club, Wolverton Town are trying hard to develop after reforming a few years ago and their near neighbours Old Bradwell United and New Bradwell St Peter continue to eke out an existence on overgrown municipal fields unnoticed by the traffic on the nearby grid roads. All seem to me worthy of support.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                    I'm in East Molesey, so Bedfont is actually a bit further away from me than I thought (though still less than 10 miles). As I said, it's left next to no impression on me.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                      My local club Bracknell Town finished fourth in the Hellenic League Division 1 East last season but were awarded promotion after the Hellenic Premier found itself short on teams (the three teams who finished above them remain in HLD1E as their grounds weren't up to scratch).

                      It gives the club a chance to re-acquaint themselves with old local rivals Binfield and Ascot United. It's also a twenty team league so there will be a lot more floodlit midweek ties.

                      I'll be getting my first season ticket with the club this year so I'll be down there even more this season than last. It'll be a tough year as other clubs in the division appear to be able to chuck players a few quid now and again.

                      The promotion means that I don't think Bracknell will play in the same Berks & Bucks Cup as the aforementioned (by Furtho) Grendon Rangers or Aston Clinton.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                        Ibn Pickthall wrote: Bedfont FC, who folded a couple of years ago after 100+ years, have merged with Feltham, who have been homeless for 6 or so years and will be playing at Bedfont's ground (famous for photos of large planes flying over whilst games are in progress)

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                          mirko bolesan wrote: My local club Bracknell Town finished fourth in the Hellenic League Division 1 East last season but were awarded promotion after the Hellenic Premier found itself short on teams (the three teams who finished above them remain in HLD1E as their grounds weren't up to scratch).
                          See my post up there. Harrumph.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                            kevchenko wrote: Excellent work Furtho, I'd been pondering a general "stuff below the Isthmian/Southern*/Northern Premier" thread and very glad to see someone of a like mind!

                            The Eastern Counties ("Thurlow Nunn") League is the big league near me. Wisbech Town have been taken out and transferred to the UCL, and they finished second last time, behind Dereham Town, who took promotion to the Ryman D1N.

                            Dereham with the Eastern Counties trophy

                            Dereham's reserves take a spot in Eastern Counties Div.1, as seems to be the way of sides who make it to the Ryman. Brightlingsea and Newmarket are promoted into the Eastern Counties Premier from Div.1. A favourite of Janik's, Saffron Walden Town, are still in Div.1 despite their well above average gates.

                            You can also find Norwich United in the ECL Premier and Ipswich Wanderers in ECL D1.

                            Then there are the leagues below, such as the Ipswich and Suffolk, the Anglia Combination and the Cambridgeshire County. I don't keep a particularly close eye on these but I'll let you know if anything interesting happens.
                            How are Great Yarmouth and Gorleston doing these days? I used to pop down every now and again when I lived there in 2005/6. Excellent chips from the Yarmouth market on Saturdays.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                              The Bloaters sit in Division 1, and as such are well and truly in the shadow of Lowestoft in the Ryman Premier. They had been in some financial trouble but seem to have stabilised this. Most recent news is the death of the vice chairman, whom the article says has laid strong foundations with the youth setup.

                              Gorleston are a well-established Premier side, and finished the season with an 8-1 win over my local side, lower/mid-table Ely City.

                              The Eastern Counties set-up does seem to have had a bit of trouble over the summer. With Dereham taking promotion out of the league, Wisbech crossing to the UCL and the works team of Cambridge University Press dropping down
                              (who won D1) to the Cambs League, Thetford ended up with a reprieve from relegation and three reserve teams (Dereham, Sudbury and Needham Market) were added to Div 1. Lowestoft were also asked if they wanted a reserve team but didn't promise not to play any contracted players in the League, so were not accepted. The League also includes Braintree reserves and Team Bury and Cambridge Regional College - feeder/reserve teams of Bury Town and Cambridge United.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                The Cambridge University Press issue is that they can no longer play at Histon's ground as the groundshare agreement has run out. They'll be back at the Press in Cambridge where they don't have floodlights. Shame, as they'd earned promotion to the Premier on the pitch.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                  Harry Truscott wrote: I'm in East Molesey, so Bedfont is actually a bit further away from me than I thought (though still less than 10 miles). As I said, it's left next to no impression on me.
                                  I'm out of touch with who's in which league these days, but you've got quite a few clubs around there; Molesey (CCL?), Met Police (?), the two Walton sides, Epsom & Ewell (CCL?). I don't recall Esher ever having a senior mens side, but lots of junior teams.

                                  Anyone know how you add a radius & circle to googlemaps? Trying to work out how many clubs are within a 5 and 10km radius of here.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                    There used to be a website that shows you all the clubs within a certain radius of you, we had thread about it on here.

                                    When I am not travelling further afield being a butterfly collecter, I get my local football fix from Molesey (CCL), Walton Casuals (just relegated from Ryman D1 to the CCL) and Met Police (Ryman Premier now so they don't even really qualify for this thread) , all are within walking distance of my house.

                                    Esher is totally rugby, I'd be surprised if you're even allowed to play football in the street there.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                      There used to be the Tony Kempster site, but he died.

                                      Non-League Matters has maps, but shows the clubs league by league.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                        I wrote a long post about CUP last night, but then lost it before clicking send (f'king iPads).

                                        Anyway, the jist was about the recent demise of CUP Squash Club, who were one of the top clubs in Cambridgeshire (their 1st team bounced between Div.1 and Div.2 and were County Cup winners as recently as 2008) but folded last summer after their courts on the site were demolished. I was wondering if this was indicative of a general downgrade of facilities on the CUP sports ground site, which might have prompted CUP FC to move to Histon in the first place.

                                        Also, from a comment on CUP's website and inference about them dropping from 4 to 3 teams this summer, it appears their squad from last season has broken up.

                                        My local club, Royston Town, must be one of the favourites for promotion from the Southern League Division One Central. As a freshly promoted side they missed the play-offs by two points last season, conceding a late equaliser in their final game. Earlier this summer they signed a number of players out of Cambridge City's 1st team squad, players who had just finished 8th in the Southern Premier. I'm sure they are optimistic. There are a handful of biggish non-league names in this division, though; Kettering Town, Slough Town, Aylesbury United.
                                        Aylesbury is an intriguing one, as The Ducks are currently playing in Leighton Buzzard (indeed ground-sharing with another Cenrtal Division club, Leighton Town), whilst a another club from the town has risen out of junior football to be at this level and changed their name to Aylesbury a few years back. In the town tradition of being nicknamed after decidedly non-ferocious animals, Aylesbury appear to be The Moles.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                          The idea of a Winslow vs Athletic encounter drawing 300 had my jaw dropping to the floor. Great stuff. I assume this was in Winslow, as Athletic still play at Stratford Field, part of a wide open public space (unless they've recently walled off the pitch and surrounds).

                                          Pleased to hear there's some optimism for the Robins. I'm not greedy, I'd just like to see them competing in the top half of the UCL Prem and entering the FA Cup again.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread



                                            This is one of the Bedfont shots I was thinking of.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                              If you copy and paste the following link into the search bar of google maps it gives a 5mile radius from a specific point. You'll have to adjust for the longitude and latitude. The following is by me, well, close enough.

                                              http://www.nearby.org.uk/google/circle.kml.php?radius=8km&lat=51.485877&long=-0.375448&geomColor=ffffffff

                                              Lots of clubs at CCL level and +/- 1 division in here.
                                              North Greenford Utd (SL D1c)
                                              Uxbridge (SL D1c)
                                              AFC Hayes (SL D1c)
                                              London Tigers (SSML Prem)
                                              Southall (SSML D1)
                                              3 aforementioned Bedfont clubs
                                              Hanworth Villa (CCL Prem)

                                              [Edit: added teams]

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                                Harry, you'll continue to see Ryman League football at Walton Casuals as they were reprieved from relegation - again. What's more, you'll see two of Walton & Hersham's most important players of recent seasons, who have crossed town for the extra shilling.

                                                Do you have an insight on why W&H seem to be unpopular in the local non-League scene? We have a very dedicated and decent Chairman (he sacked the manager last season for being too sweary) and we've had a pretty honourable history.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Local Football, aka the Other Non-Leagues Thread

                                                  Oh, I'm not deeply immersed enough to know why that might be but I know what you mean, they don't seem that popular. That said, I'd imagine Met Police were less well-liked than anyone locally.

                                                  I watch Casuals because they're really convenient for me, my children's swimming lessons are next door, though W&H being known as The Swans put me off slightly when things like that used to matter.

                                                  Are they seen as a slightly posh club? I have nothing to base that on except that Casuals and Molesley certainly aren't (a friend of mine recently summed up the root of Molesey's constant shambolic state as because "they're a drinking club where the football is a sideline"). I'm amazed Casuals have any money to tempt your players with as well, given the cash-strapped air around the club.

                                                  .

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