Saturday 15th April 2023 ko 15:00

Northern Premier League – Division One West

RUNCORN LINNETS 5 (Birchall 2 Brooke 36p Doyle 37 78 Rooney 89)

RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 0

Att 580

Entry £10

Programme £2

I’d argue there are 4 strands to my footballing life, and I spend a lot of my time trying to keep each of them happy. Firstly there’s Oxford United, I’m a season ticket holder there, then I’m still Chris Berezai’s deputy at GroundhopUK, then there’s my committee work for the North Berkshire League. Then there’s my groundhopping, and this weekend for the first time saw all four strands clash.

Oxford United were at home to Bolton Wanderers, the North Berks had a final they wanted me to MC for, GroundhopUK were due to run an event in the Central Midlands League, and Robyn had managed to secure a ticket for Everton vs Fulham and so would need a lift there.

In the end the Central Midlands Hop didn’t happen, the North Berks found someone else to man the mic’ for the AG Kingham Cup Final, and I opted to miss the Oxford United game. In the case of the two latter, I did get messages from folks there wondering where on earth I was? The truth was that I was utterly exhausted in Merseyside, a mixture of those four strands, and work commitments. I dropped Robyn off at Goodison Park, then headed for Runcorn.

Being pulled in all those directions meant I’d probably made a mistake. We’d opted to stay overnight in Liverpool afterwards, but initially I couldn’t work out for why I was being asked to pay triple the going rate for the most basic of accommodation. The reason was the Grand National at Aintree, and that event made us plan a little more closely how to get in and out of the city, and just as importantly, when!

Runcorn Linnets are the phoenix club for the defunct Runcorn FC, latterly Runcorn FC Halton, who had reached a high point by winning the 1981/2 Alliance Premier League (now the National League Premier) but were bankrupted in 2006. The new club was formed by The Linnets Independent Supporters Trust in that year, and initially groundshared at Witton Albion and played in the lower division of the North West Counties League.

In 2010, the club managed to build its own stadium in Murdishaw Avenue, and with my GroundhopUK hat on we wanted to visit on the inaugural North West Counties Hop in 2017. They turned us down, we went with a three game day, and were promoted the next season making it more or less impossible for them to change their mind! So if you ever wanted to know why that day, we visited two Ashtons but only one Runcorn that’s why!

I parked up and bought a programme, and again wondered whether I’d made an error. It was nothing to do with the Linnets, it was due to the opposition, Ramsbottom United. They were rock-bottom of the league, mathematically relegated and Runcorn needed a win to maintain their push for the play-offs. It certainly didn’t look like a particularly competitive fixture.

I had a walk around and found what I sometimes call the groundhoppers’s dilemma. It’s this, I don’t think anyone likes the ugly, squat “Arena” stands with their poor sightlines, but as ever there is a bigger picture. Don’t let their preponderance here put you off, think of what Runcorn Linnets and their fans have achieved here. There aren’t many phoenix clubs who’ve managed to build their own grounds, and what Murdishaw Avenue represents is both a massive achievement, but also with the potential to expand the facility further.

I was through right about the game, with Linnets easily beating a Ramsbottom side that although doomed, did play with both spirit and pride. I flopped back to the car, and made back to Liverpool, only to get caught up in a massive traffic jam, not caused directly by the Grand National, but by the protestors that had delayed the race’s start. I slept well in that overpriced hotel room that night.