WHO PUT THE LIGHTS OUT?

Maltby Main FC is a club named after the local colliery. If you drive from the gritstone hills of west Yorkshire, it takes about half an hour to get onto the "concealed" coalfield near Rotherham. The football club was founded in 1916 to entertain the miners and it was called Maltby Miners Welfare originally.

The ground is at Muglet Lane alongside the cricket club. Why am I getting all geographical? Well, I was driven there last night by chauffeur David to watch the final of the Sheffield and Hallamshire League Divison Two North play off. The winner goes to Division One! Hepworth United Adults 1sts were playing Stocksbridge Reserves, a team they have met before during the season.

In 1989 the club had floodlights erected to help the club rise up through the pyramid, In 1996 the club adopted the "Maltby Main" name, dropping the Welfare though the Welfare Club still exists nearby!

The game kicked off at 7pm and the first half went well with Hepworth eventually taking the lead 1-0. The light was fading and the floodlights came on. This was encouraging, HUFC were in the ascendency and then BOINK, the lights went out. The young referee and his assistants did what all neutrals should do, that is think about the safety of players and possibly the welfare of the crowd of a hundred or so.

Lights on at MMFC! or is it a star in the sky?

They (we) waited for a repair, a new fuse, more coal but none came and as the night fell, the referee abandoned the match. Not sure what happens next but Hepworth must be confident that they can do this successfully again.

For more on the History of Floodlights:
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/let-there-be-light.html

and here are some cracking "abandoned" matches if you have time to spare:
http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/Articles/DidYouKnow01.htm