Friday 28th February 2025 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Premier Division

RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 2 (Whyte 48 Hoyle 56)

FC ST HELENS 3 (Barker 59 Spiers 74 90+1)

Att 551

Entry £9

Programme £2

So back on GroundhopUK duty and despite this being, I believe, the only hop game ever to have taken place in February I was comfortable with what we were doing, and although noone mentioned it, the weather forecast looked kind.

We’ve come a long way with the North West Counties League, from Atherton Colleries standing in for AFC Emley back in 2013 to the the highly successful hop we see today. The truth is that all parties know it works and so it has gradually evolved, and half the interest for me is watching it do just that.

This time we were visiting the league’s clubs in and around Manchester, with a base in Bolton. On a personal level that meant I’d only have 2 new grounds to visit, mainly due to me having a real blast at the area back in 2010 when I was trying to blot out the pain of just about everything else going wrong in my personal life.

That is how I came to watch Ramsbottom United vs Atherton Laburnam Rovers that year. The Riverside Ground lies adjacent to the East Lancashire Railway, with a wonderful backdrop of the West Pennine Moors. The Peel monument, a tribute to Sir Robert Peel is visible too. It was of some regret that neither view nor railway was available to us in 2025. Here’s my photos from 15 years ago.

We all knew we had a great ground to open the hop with and with Martin Fallon and Ben Wilkinson from the league at each game we knew that if there was an issue we could rely on it being dealt with effectively. The fact that we didn’t is testament to the clubs, them and a lot of preparation and planning.

In fact the only issue we had here was getting everyone fed. The club ran out of pie and peas well before kick-off, the issue apparently being a committee member at the club who baulked at doing either more pies, or even chips. It was a real shame, I ended up calling in at the local supermarket for sustainance afterwards. Let’s face it I’d have far preferred Rammy to have taken my money rather than add a few more points to my loyalty card! That said I’m sure the crowd of 551 will have more than swelled the coffers!

Since I saw Ramsbottom all those years ago, they’ve been promoted to the Northern Premier League and sadly relegated back to the North West Counties. You may remember me seeing them already down, but playing out their remaining games at Runcorn Linnets 2 years ago. Of course FC St Helens opened up last year’s hop and made all kinds of new friends in the process- and got promoted to boot!

That all added up to two strong sides for us to watch with Dave McNabb the manager of the third- league leaders Bury, present and very much interested. And a few minutes into the second half the visiting manager must have thought he was taking bad news back to Gigg Lane, as the hosts thundered into a 2-goal lead.

But this game was destined to be something of a classic, as St Helens dug deep, scored almost immediately and then Connor Spiers scored two superb goals, the winner in stoppage time. I was sat next to Ramsbottom’s sponsor and his reaction was touching. He realised his side might now have to rely on the play-offs to go up. But he also showed just how far his club have come since that mauling in Runcorn, and I suspect the Northern Premier League will have Ramsbottom back in membership before too long.

It did take time to clear the car park, a player’s car blocked the coach’s egress. Once we’d got back en route to Bolton I did allow myself a wry smile. Why is it always the one who stays in the shower the longest that parks in the worst possible place? Mind you, he’d left his window open so he returned to a cold motor!