Saturday 16th May 2026 ko 18:30

North Berkshire Cup Final

BERINSFIELD 3 (Holdsworth 33p Palmer 49 Hinkin 64)

COMPTON 0

Att 215 at Abingdon United FC

Entry & Programme £5

I can’t pretend I couldn’t see the demise of the North Berkshire League coming. When I left the league’s committee 2 years ago the league was down to 2 divisions from 5 when the league was at its peak. Like just about everyone involved in football in the Shire, I’d heard the rumours about a mass exodus to the Oxon Senior League, but hoped that it was either an exaggeration or that the league might find replacement clubs.

I sat amongst friends in this final, who could forget either Berinsfield or Compton‘s hop games, but both hinted at that their futures lay elsewhere. Berinsfield won their 4th trophy of the season emphasising their status as a big fish because so many other clubs of similar stature had already left. I watched the celebrations and wondered….

Eventually the Oxon Senior League had their AGM and 10 clubs made the jump including both clubs in that final final. One that must have hurt the NBFL most was Steventon leaving, the league rule was that all teams had to have their ground within 20 miles from their ground at Steventon Green.

The North Berks held their AGM a day or two later and I calculated that there were only 4 clubs left. But Stanford-in-the-Vale had already switched to the OSL, but had neglected to withdraw their entry. That left just Benson Lions and Burghclere once Didcot Town Youth had confirmed their switch to the Hellenic Alliance.

The league is now in abeyance for a year in the hope that some of the clubs might return, which does seem a rather forlorn wish. Benson Lions managed to find a home in the OSL, and Burghclere opted to fold their first XI and entered their development side in the Aldershot & District League. The North Berkshire League hope to run some of their cups as open competitions; I’d hope to see the North Berkshire Cup continue if only for the fact that it’s over a century old. But since the AGM, the league has said nothing publically which does speak volumes.

The why it’s come to this is more complicated that some folks would like to admit. All grassroots football has the issue of getting youth football to dovetail into the adult game. Players get lost to the game when work, dating and other interests complete for a teenager’s attention. With a rural league like this, the decline of village football is alarming, with the likes of Warborough & Shillingford, Benson AFC the wonderful Appleton Stars and plenty more no longer existing. How many young men of footballing age now live in villages where every house is worth half a million or more?

Those factors saw the North Berks eroded from the bottom end, but the league’s unwillingness to retain its Step 7 status around 15 years ago was the equivalent of introducting woodworm to the foundations. It cost then chairman Les Addison his position, and from that moment any club wanting pyramid football could be cherry-picked by the Hellenic, Wiltshire, or the OSL at will.

At AGM’s I got used to the perverse Dutch auction that took place when it came to the constitution as clubs tried to avoid promotion so they could win their division all over again. I remember one reserve side who’d won their division with a 100% record folding rather than be promoted: who could forget their chairman flouncing out of the meeting?

That also led to what got called “The Berinsfield Factor” where clubs would fail to raise a side against a top team knowing that the match would be awarded 3-0 with a small fine; that apparently was better than a heavy defeat. Clearly not in the long term as bigger clubs left, with nothing coming down to replace them. It didn’t take a genius to see what what might happen, the bigger clubs were being pushed to other leagues by simply not getting football. It is a cautionary tale for any off-pyramid league.

But let’s remember the good times, so I’ll share with you something quite wonderful. Back in 2017, the day before the 100th North Berkshire Cup Final I was at Abingdon United to act as M.C. for the AG Kingham Cup Final between Coleshill United Reserves and Grove Rangers Reserves. These aren’t the type of games that I blog, and so I took a minimum of photos. I remember Coleshill winning unexpectedly as Grove had won the league unbeaten. But it was the young lad who scored a penalty in his final game for the club who went on to have quite a career, even if at the time he made no impression on me.

The lad was 17 year old Antoine Semenyo who had trials with Arsenal, Tottenham and Millwall, but was more or less playing for fun in Division 5 at that point. Under the wing of Dave Hockaday’s Academy he played a few games for Highworth Town the next season before being picked up by Bristol City who really developed his talent, From there he moved to AFC Bournemouth and the Premier League for £10 million before moving to Manchester City for £64 million. I wonder what that makes my AG Kingham Cup Final programme worth now?

It was odd seeing Semenyo playing for Ghana in the World Cup against England a few weeks ago. On one had it was lovely seeing a former North Berkshire League reach the pinnacle of the professional game but the great irony and sadness is seeing the league that helped him stay in love with football disappear…. for now. I really hope this isn’t the end.

Dedicated to everyone at the North Berkshire League past and present.