KEEP OFF THE PITCH

Having ventured south to the Leicester/Derbyshire border last night to watch the Blues Brothers movie in the open air grounds of Calke Abbey, along with a neat picnic constructed from my local Brindon Addy's farm shop, I decided to take in the North-east Counties league match between locals Penistone Church and Shirebrook Town. The visitors come from near Mansfield which is why I mentioned Calke Abbey-well they are close-ish and it gives me an excuse to do this.

It is the first weekend of the new season. Penistone have had a few friendlies and the excitement was brewing midst a decent crowd if 185 (see later). The pitch was dry and bumpy and the grass a bit hay like, but the sun shone and the lagers flowed.

Shirebrook used to be a Sunday side until about 1985 when they decided to play proper football. They moved to a new ground as they progressed through the pyramid and got sponsorship for the pitch at Langwith Road, installing floodlights.

They played Mansfield Town (The Stags) in 1991 and drew a crowd of over 2,000 to open the new facilities and later in 2001, when they had to upgrade the ground and surroundings even further to ensure a place in the new league, 1966 World Cup legend Ray Wilson did the honours and cut the ribbon for the dressing rooms!

Having been called Shirebrook Colliery, they decided to change the name to “Town” when the coal mine closed in 1993.

Pensitone Church has done much the same, with a nice white painted metal barrier round the pitch (which is too close for safety), a “tunnel” for the players to emerge from and disappear to the dressing rooms in safety, and a walk way for the officials to enter and leave the pitch with security at hand- well a couple of committee members in high viz jackets.

The standard of football was good and the 1-2 defeat not really deserved by the home side, though I thought the visitors had the best player on the pitch-at least for the first half when their number 11, a nippy forward (winger) ran riot. On the home side, Penistone's Ash Ellis is such a good player but a bit Le Tissier like.

With all the fabulous additions to the Memorial Ground, I cannot understand why there is allowed a bunch of youngsters (sons of the players? and ball boys?) to have a casual kick around on the pitch and in the goalmouths before the game, at half time and after the game? It's village!!

The subs were shooting in at the bar end of the field for much of half time also, causing havoc amongst the punters between the pitch and the bar, with their plastic glasses of Carlsberg and chip butties. What does the groundsman think, seeing his goalmouths being worn to a shred so early in the season?

Hey ho! There was a local gent with the player lists in his filofax, keeping detailed notes of the game and timings, which reassured me that I am not a real anorak; I am just flirting with groundhopping and I never got a programme.