Tag Archives: North West Counties League

Dark Times

02 Monday Mar 2015

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Tuesday 12th February 2008 ko 19.45

Northern Premier League Division One North

ROSSENDALE UNITED 0

BAMBER BRIDGE 1 (Salmon 36)

Att 146

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

A week or two I told the sad story of Mile Oak Rovers & Youth and how gut-wrenching it was to be at their final ever game. This tale also ends with the club’s extinction but the reason for the club’s demise proved to be more complicated.

Rossendale is a borough in Lancashire, consisting of a clutch of mill villages in the Blackburn and Burnley area. In this quitessentially footballing hotbed the club played in Dark Lane, Newchurch, near Rawtenstall. They were formed in 1898 and worked their way through the Lancashire Combination, the Cheshire League, and into the North-West Counties League. Continue reading →

Which

17 Sunday Aug 2014

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Saturday 16th August 2014 ko 15.10

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

WINSFORD UNITED 0

ATHERSLEY RECREATION 1 (Bennett 56)

Att 107

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

 

There are two great motorways heading north in England, the M1 and M6 but it does pay to have a series of back-up plans if you decide to take either of them on! For that the best modus operandi is the The Football Traveller, in fact I’m sure there’s been many a hopper stuck in a tail-back on the M6 that, frustrated at it all, grabs the little magazine for somewhere to go.

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The Letter G

05 Sunday Jan 2014

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Saturday 4th January 2013 ko 15.00

North-West Counties League Division One

WIDNES VIKINGS 3 (Tollitt 49 McEvatt 85 87)

IRLAM 1 (Mooney 11)

Att 71

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

When the rain is this bad it’s no bad thing to have a guarantee that the game will be on! That said, it was notable that as soon as I reached Stoke, the rain stopped and the North-West Counties League was one of very few leagues that saw the majority of its scheduled games take place. However the fact that Halton Stadium has a 3G artificial pitch took the worry out of travelling. In any case I do have a soft spot for the NWCL, not least after Atherton Colleries helped us at GroundhopUK by coping with over 100 hoppers at short notice when we had a postponement on a hop we were organising. Continue reading →

Scene Shifting

31 Sunday Mar 2013

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Thursday 28th March 2013 ko 19.45

North West Counties League Division One

ATHERTON COLLIERIES 0

ROCHDALE TOWN 0

Att 133

Entry £5

Programme £1

The burgundy jacket hung inertly from its hook at the back of the car, so yes it was groundhop time again. I don’t think I’ve ever explained exactly what Chris Berezai and I actually do with regard to organising football tours, or groundhops as they get called.

We liaise with a particular league to get kickoffs staggered over one or more days. That attracts the groundhoppers, so from there we organise advance tickets, to allow clubs some idea of numbers attending, programme production, merchandise, catering, transport and accommodation. We’ve been doing a long time, and its a fairly well oiled machine, but just occasionally you do get a glitch!

This Easter’s hop was on behalf of the Northern Counties East League, and with an excellent base at the Cedar Court Hotel, just off the M1 near Wakefield, and Stringers Coaches providing the transport we were good to go, but then the weather intervened! The area saw significant snow during the week, and by Tuesday it looked increasingly unlikely our scheduled game at AFC Emley could go ahead. I called Atherton Collieries’ secretary Emil Anderson that night, and I will always be grateful to him and his club for more than Continue reading →