Floodlit Pitch

All football clubs have supporters who are passionate about their team but the North East have cornered the media tag of the "hotbed of football". It's another example of lazy journalism, but, they're surely in contention for the tag of being the "hotbed of literature". In this blog I'll point out a few books which are recommended and add a few pics of Northern League grounds for good measure. Win a copy, see below. First up is former Northern League Chairman, Mike Amos, a prolific writer and former journalist for the Northern Echo, which, like the rest of the local newspaper industry, has seen it's best days some time back. I imagine it's similar to my local paper and relies too much on what someone said on their Facebook and twitter pages instead of employing someone to go and search out a story. Though Mike is now retired from journalism he still produces a blog almost every day of the week, you can catch it  here . Whilst Chairman of the Nort...

  1 st May 1996, Alfreton Town had just beaten Holbeach Utd in the final of the Evans Halshaw Floodlit Cup 4-0 at the home of arch rivals Eastwood Town. Minutes before the trophy was presented the Alfreton contingent, which made up most of the 230 crowd, started celebrating wildly, much to the confusion of the competition officials who still had possession of the trophy and medals.   Match report of the Cup Final The reason for the celebration lay in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, where Farsley Celtic ended Lincoln United’s promotion challenge, and aided the Reds, as they won 2-1 ensuring United couldn't overtake Alfreton in 2nd place. For Alfreton Town, getting promotion to the NPL Premier Division was a major achievement at that time under the stewardship of Chairman, and former player, Sean Egan. The appointment of Paul Mitchell and Danny Hague in February 1992 as the management duo was the catalyst for making Alfreton such a formidable side in the mid 1990’s culminating in...

Saturday 1st August saw pre-season friendlies played as clubs throughout the country prepare for a season they are not 100% certain will start. I was fortunate to be allowed in, as part of my official capacity, to take photographs at Eastwood Community of the East Midlands Counties League for their game against Burton Joyce of the Nottinghamshire Senior League. Eastwood (red) go close against Burton Joyce. Though it was a little later than we are used to for pre-season games it was a hot day as per most of these type of games. Friendlies are usually a chance to catch up with other members of the football fraternity and if the football isn't so great get distracted by talk of important matters such as will Liverpool dominate the season again, aren't Leeds looking active in the transfer market and the real issues affecting non-league football such as will the original Bury club be allowed in the National League. The Government regulations due to Coronavirus have to be adhered to ...

The town of Ashington said farewell to Jack Charlton, today (Tuesday 21 st July), as the townsfolk came out in their thousands to honour a local legend and international footballing icon, he was also a pretty good Angler.  The people of Ashington paid their respects to a bloke who never forgot where he came from as his funeral cortege passed by Beatrice Street, where Jack once lived, and carried on through the town on his farewell lap of honour before heading to Newcastle Crematorium. “Big Jack” was one of the few footballing folk to represent, as a manager, the rivals to whom he played for. He was also, perhaps, not given the credit he was due for his footballing career. Coming from the mining town of Ashington it was perhaps expected that he would follow his Dad and go down the pit after leaving school. He didn’t disappoint, though for Jack he spent just 1 day in the bowels of our earth, decided it wasn’t for him and enrolled as a Police cadet. A career in the force never ma...

On 7th September 2001 The Alfreton edition of the Mansfield Chad newspaper reported the signing of defender Chris Wilder by Alfreton Town FC. It was the start of a season long relationship with the former Football League player and saw him transform the fortunes of the club as it won 4 trophies and started the rise up the football pyramid for the Reds.  The Town Ground in 2001/02 Chad break the news of Chris Wilder signing. Early in season 2001/02 Alfreton Town were starting their 3rd season in the regional Northern Counties East League (NCEL). They were lucky to have an ambitious owner in Wayne Bradley who had funded 2 unsuccessful promotion challenges previously.  The season hadn't started very well for the Reds and manager Jason Maybury managed to get the experienced defender down to the Town Ground to help build the team for another promotion push.  Wilder had enjoyed a career in the Football League but his professional career ended due to injury, however, he was abl...

Season 2019/20 will go down in history as the season that never was for the majority of English non-league football due to the FA’s decision to null and void the season. Goals scored, points gained, best and worst ever positions all never happened in this season. Sporting merit went out of the proverbial window with the FA’s decision. When Covid19 first arrived as a real danger to us in the UK and football rather haphazardly stopped it wasn’t known how long the world would be affected. It is understandable that decisions couldn’t be made that quickly. Ramsbottom United (blue) are one of the losers with null & void in 2019/20 The Welsh FA bided their time and decided sporting merit should count for something and went with the Points Per Game (PPG) option. Football didn’t really matter while people were dying in their hundreds each day. It isn’t more important than life and death but it is important to millions of us and though fighting the virus and staying safe is the most ...