Sunday 30th July 2023 ko 15:00

United Counties League Division One

NEWARK TOWN 4 (Cotterill 16 Lloyd 23 King 70 Harrison 85og)

HOLWELL SPORTS 3 (York 32 Biggs 75 Faulkner 90)

Att 609

Entry £6

Programme £1

Like Southwell City earlier, we’d visited Newark Town on a Central Midlands Hop. This time it was on the 2008 Easter Hop where Newark beat Kinsley Boys 1-0. The occasion was unusual for two reasons, that both sides wore their change kits and since Kinsley wore blue kit I’m fairly certain that some groundhoppers have the score transposed! The other curiosity was that this was , I think, the only time a groundsharer has ever featured on a hop!

At the time Newark Town were groundsharing at Collingham Town’s Station Road, but since Collingham were only playing Sunday League, groundhopping mores deemed watching Newark Town there acceptable! I’m sure most will know how much I care for such rules…. Nowadays Collingham have returned to Saturday football and are in the Notts Senior League, and another Newark team, Newark & Sherwood, formerly Newark Flowserve share there.

What changed everything for Newark Town was their move to the Newark and Sherwood YMCA Activity Village at the start of the 2019/20 season. That allowed progression into Pyramid Football, and won the 2021-22 Central Midlands League North Division title, joining the United Counties League for last season.

I remember Chris Berezai phoning me up to advise on the line up for this year’s line-up. He mentioned Newark Town and the YMCA Sports Village and it is my mistake by I imagined the place to be typical 3G cage along the lines of say, Ilkley Town. Now Ilkley hosted beautifully but no one will place Ben Rydding Centre on their top 10 football grounds.

So I was more than pleasantly surprised to see just how well appointed the place is, how many 3G cages have cover on 3 sides and 2 seated stands. It was unfortunate that the club saw no benefit from the catering on offer, that is the part of the terms of the club’s tenure, but everywhere else I greatly enjoyed their hosting. Apart from the sheer competence, it allowed me to catch up with people and one half of a groundhopping couple I’d wanted to meet for a while.

Maybe you’ve read Emma’s Ground Guide; Max and Emma are an engaged couple based in Newark and have a sponsor’s board at Ollerton Town too. I do see something of myself in them, albeit a long time ago, and a couple that groundhops does come with its own dynamic, just ask Robyn. Unfortunately Emma was on a hen do, but it was a treat to chat to Max, and I’ll watch their hopping with interest. I reckon it would be fun for us to blog the same game!

We got easily the best game of the hop too. We got goals, mistakes and no little controversy too over Newark’s winner. Holwell Sports probably deserved a point, but deserved and actual are of course two different things.

It was an unusual hop in the sense that we went into it knowing we’d lost the Welsh Hop on August Bank Holiday and subsequently lost the Central Midlands Alliance that would have replaced it. The former was due to the FAW being incommunicado with regard to the Welsh Trophy that so many Gwent League clubs enter, and I’m pleased to say we’ve managed to re-establish the lines of communication. Hopefully it will mean that we can return to Treforest next season.

The Central Midlands Alliance’s issue was more structural, we couldn’t get away teams to play outside of the normal Saturday at 3pm slot. I think I’ll complete that league under my own steam!

With all that going on, you look to the league and its clubs where you are to make your collective lives as easy as possible. That’s why the UCL Hop works so well, we all know what’s required and those clubs execute it so well. Thanks to all who participated in any way you did.