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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Northwich Victoria

What Was Left

06 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by laurencereade in F

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

AFC Flixton, FA Vase, Flixton, Football, Manchester, Non League, North West Counties League, Northwich Flixton Villa, Northwich Victoria, NWCL, Valley Road

With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 18th November 2006 ko 15.00

FA Vase 2nd Round 

FLIXTON 4 (Mitten 44 Grandison 53 Wilkinson 75 Tobin 83)

PICKERING TOWN 0

Att 84

Entry £3

Programme £1.50

The sole reason I, and around 50 groundhoppers ended up here was the Salford City/FC United game at the Willows that kicked off at midday. There was roughly an hour to get the tram back to the car, and make a quick blast across western Manchester which did limit the opportunities to complete a Mancunian double. It boiled down to a choice between Trafford and Flixton, we chose the latter mainly to watch another Vase game. It proved to be both a good move, and an interesting one too! Continue reading →

53.454491 -2.397070

The Friendly Bear

02 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bears, Booth Street, Congleton Town, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Non League, North West Counties League, Northwich Victoria, NWCL

Sunday 8th March 2020 ko 11.30

North West Counties League Premier Division

CONGLETON TOWN 2 (Jones 7 79)

NORTHWICH VICTORIA 4 (Barski 11 22 Lynch 52 65)

Att 495

Entry £5

Programme £2

It was all change at Crewe on the last day of the hop, and although we weren’t to know, the last day of organised groundhops this season. We’d spent the previous 5 games watching the North West Counties League Division One South and the previous 4 in Greater Manchester. Sat at the hotel in Crewe it was time to step up a division and aim for south of Manchester, and at least at our first destination, the foothills of the Peak District. Continue reading →

53.163418 -2.219399

Wish Me Luck

09 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by laurencereade in R

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Casteton Gabriels, Cyril Smith, Gracie Fields, James Marshall, Jason Hill, Kwame Barnett, LIsa Stansfield, Mayfield Sports Centre, Northwich Victoria, Northwich Villa, Ricardo Brandao, Rochdale, Town, Wale Kwik-Ajet

Sunday 5th August 2012 ko 3pm

North-West Counties League Division One

ROCHDALE TOWN 2 (Barnard 3 Adams 77)

NORTHWICH VILLA 3 (Barnett 3 28 Marshall 55)

Att 103

Entry £5

Programme £1

Tea 80p

The reason for this game being on a Sunday is rather convoluted. Originally slated to be at Northwich on the Saturday, Villa’s new pitch at the former Flixton ground was not ready so the fixture was reversed. However the Mayfield Sports Centre is first and foremost the home of Mayfield Rugby League Club, and they had a home game on the 4th. Handy for me, and judging by the attendance handy for a lot of hoppers.

Rochdale, is probably best known as the birthplace of of the Co-operative movement. The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society, founded in 1844, was the first modern co-operative; the Rochdale Principles are a set of ideals that current co-operatives are based on. For two decades the local MP was Liberal Sir Cyril Smith, reckoned to have been the heaviest British MP ever, having had a peak reported weight of 29 stone 12 pounds. Other famous people to hail from the town are singers Gracie Fields, and more latterly Lisa Stansfield. Actress Anna Friel was born here too.

The club used to be known as Castleton Gabriels and until the 1960s, the club’s players had to be Catholic and regularly attend both church and Sunday school. Once these restrictions were lifted, the club began to progress. The name was changed as a means of attracting more support and sponsorship from the wider Rochdale area, rather than just the Castleton area of the town. Judging by the club’s average attendance of around 30, that gambit hasn’t exactly paid off!

The larger than normal attendance completely threw the Gabriels. The 15 programmes produced had long since sold out when Lee and I had arrived at 2pm, so I suggested they take down names and addresses and do a re-print after the game. In fact they went one better and dashed off to do the re-print there and then. When I finally bought my copy I was even more impressed. The programme wasn’t photocopied, this was professionally done. It made an excellent impression, as did the NWCFL committee who took time to come over for a chat. They couldn’t do much about the fact that the food ran out before half-time, but full marks to this friendly club’s honest endeavour.

The game was fascinating, if only for the opposition. Northwich Villa, in essence are Northwich Victoria’s reserves. Of course, these days things aren’t as simple as that. With Victoria now homeless they are now playing at Stafford Rangers, whilst Villa at Flixton are 55 miles away, and playing under a seperate registration. There’s a new manager, Wale Kwik-Ajet described as “Former Pro'” on the Villa website, he seems to be most famous for missing an absolute sitter for Hamilton Academical against Queens Park, and never being seen again afterwards! This is his first managerial position, and he seems to have put together a decent team.

That said, he was shocked as Ricardo Brandao fired Rochdale into a early lead only for Kwame Barnett to equalise a few seconds later. Barnett was to be the key to the tie, and I suspect the season for Villa. Obviously talented, but suspect of both fitness and attitude, he did enough to win the game for his team but you wonder where he’ll be when the going gets tough. When James Marshall made it 3-1 and Gabriels lost Jason Hill to a suspected broken wrist, the thunderclouds gathering over the centre of Rochdale seemed somehow indicative of the home team’s chances. Nathan Adams’ goal with 13 minutes to go it made the finale interesting but unlike the previous day’s game there was to be no comeback.





 

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