Sunday 30th July 2023 ko 12:00

United Counties League Division One

SOUTHWELL CITY 3 (Law 5 Peace-McDonald 42 Bowles 81)

LEICESTER ST ANDREWS 0

Att 477

Entry £5

Programme £1

As is so often the case, the whole timbre of the event changed for the Sunday games. We left suburban Nottingham and headed north to Southwell and got caught in the middle of a bicycle race, and don’t let football club’s name mislead you, Southwell’s minster refers to the Newark diocese rather than the town itself. On a groundhopping basis though, our visit was a little unusual.

It was this, we were visiting Southwell City twice, which is unusual enough but we were also visiting as part of a completely different event, the Central Midlands League Hop paid a visit to the Memorial Grounds back in February 2009.

As you can see there was a real issue with the place, in that it was little more than a roped off pitch with floodlights, albeit one with some fairly spectacular views of the church. It was of little surprise that the club moved to the nearby village of Brinkley last season, their non-first eleven teams already played there, and there was plenty of scope to improve what was there with the aim of Step 6 football, something that was impossible back at the Memorial Grounds. In essence the two sides of the club swapped places, and the move worked, the club made its debut in the United Counties League last season.

Cycle races notwithstanding what I’ll take from our visit was just how good their staging was, to the point that I genuinely can find no fault with it. In fact after the difficulties we had the previous day with catering I made a point of showing League officials what Southwell were doing- giving plenty of room to both servers and customers. I hope the club’s excellence can be used as a positive example.

Much I’m sure will be made of the inflatable dart board, I loved it, and it had the impact of drawing people in to everything else the club were doing. It all added up to a lovely sense of welcoming which I know all too well you can’t teach. That extended to the game itself where they dispatched a curiously out-of-sorts Leicester St Andrews side. But the afternoon unquestionably belonged to Southwell City; there’s was unquestionably the best hosted game of the hop.