Monday 25th August 2025 ko 14:00

West Lancashire League Premier Division

TEMPEST UNITED 3 (Firth 19secs Pendlebury 29 Monson 86)

ROSSENDALE 2 (Wylie 9 Foster 21)

Att 470

Entry £3

Programme £2

From CMB it was both unusual and gratifying to see so many people walk the quarter-of-a-mile through Lostock to Tempest United. The is named after the road the ground is in but with there being little or no parking at The Famous Shed, it solved what could have been an logistical nightmare. That said we did walk past a pub on the way; it was closed and would undoubtedly done a roaring trade if they’d have known who was walking past. Still, their loss was the football club’s gain…

We walked into a beautifully hosted event, but I know what you’re thinking, why is the ground called “The Famous Shed?” The shed is now the changing rooms and is a repurposed Chicken Shed dating from 1980 from a farm on the Pennine Moors. What you see now has been both extended and remodelled but as I sat in the clubhouse enjoying my chicken curry I did try not to think about the former residents.

The ground is tiny, normally there’s just one side open for spectators, but for the frankly massive crowd the club found space behind one goal and along part of one side to squeeze more people in. The buzz around the place was quite something and that was on an a event where all 9 hosts had been exceptional.

I should mention Rossendale. I remember their precedents Rossendale United, and their now lost home at Dark Lane. It was good to see a club bearing the Rossendale name, and I for one am looking forward to visiting them in a subsequent event. They and their fans certainly added to the day’s atmosphere!

The match was one that lived up to the large attendance too. A goal after just 10 seconds and both sides led in the first half-an-hour. But the game was set up for a grandstand finish, and the roar when Nathan Monson scored Tempest’s winner is could have doubled up as an appreciation for the West Lancs Hop as a whole.

I’m used to a cohort of groundhoppers swerving any new event, it would seem that they want to see how it goes before committing. That’s understandable, but there can be no question that anyone who thought that way missed out on something special. Every club, every official and every volunteer was a wonderful advert for both the league and Lancashire in general.

There are so many people who we need to thank for this hop. Top of the list is, as always, the legions of volunteers who manned car parks, gates and sold all manner of food and drink. Then there’s the league and everyone who paid their hard earned cash and supported these wonderful clubs, but special mention must go to Martin Benson, the man with a foot in both camps- groundhopper and committeeman.

He was, and is the glue that held this event together, and I for one am greatly looking forward to the next installment…..