Tuesday 8th September 2026 ko 19:45

Midland League Division One

ANSTEY TOWN 1 (Donnerstag 38)

F.C.V. GRACE DIEU 1 (Ezeja 11)

Att 47

Entry £6

Programme £1

If I ever got round to completing English football down to Step 6, or the top 10 levels if you like, then I imagine my footballing life would consist of a steady succession of visiting all the grounds new to the level. But Anstey Town and Beaumont Park did seem to catch a few of us groundhoppers out!

Anstey Town have been at Beaumont Park for a while, but have only graduated to the Midand League for this season after finishing second in the Leicestershire Senior League. The ground is owned by Leicester Council, but let to De Montfort University, you’ll see the DMU logo all over the place, and there’s also at 3G cage with a stand that I do wonder could be used in inclement weather?

The intriguing news is that Anstey Nomads are negotiating to take on the site, with the university maintaining a presence here. What that means for everyone else, is anyone’s guess. My advice is to pay Anstey Nomads’ current home at Cropston Road a visit pronto!

What there isn’t at Beaumont Park is parking and the club put great effort into encouraging folks to use the Speedway car park next door- there’s a convenient footpath between the two sites, and it is only a 5 minute walk. There is an irony in that, I’ve been to Leicester Speedway a number of times, and they encourage you not to use their car park, in favour of the nearby shopping centre! It is, of course a matter of scale….

I’m not certain why Beaumont Park slipped under so many radars? I can only think it’s because they have played cup games at Anstey Nomads, while ground improvements have taken place. But Beaumont Park is very much a work in progress, technically there is only one viewable side at present, and a pay booth but no turnstiles. Certainly there will have to be a lot of additional work done here if Anstey Nomads are going to play Northern Premier League games here.

But for now it’s Town that are anchor tenants here, and what’s here works just fine. We saw a good game featuring another side with an interesting background- Grace Dieu are not your average non league club after all. The result was a fair draw, but as I strolled back to the car something reminded me on my own student days. Back when I played (badly) as a full-back for the PNL 5th XI our post-match habit was always fish and chips before an evening in the SU bar. Seeing the bags of chips for the players post-game did bring back happy memories…