Notes On A Season - Hallam FC

The above picture was taken the evening before England's World Cup semi-final against Croatia as Hallam FC welcomed a Sheffield Wednesday XI to Sandygate.

I've been to this pre-season fixture regularly over the past few years and it's invariably been played on a beautiful summer's evening which makes the oldest football ground in the world even more of an attraction than usual.

Although they ended the campaign falling just short of promotion from the Northern Counties East League Division One, Hallam enjoyed a good season, scoring plenty of goals, playing attractive football and claiming a couple of good scalps in the FA Vase (I was at Sandygate on the afternoon when the downward slope inspired a second-half comeback against Charnock Richard).

The club have made great strides over the years to make Sandygate a welcoming place to visit, embracing the history of the place without simply relying on that alone to attract people along and using social media well to spread the message.

It has been football for a fiver all season with some special offers along the way when either Sheffield Wednesday or Sheffield United have not been in action.

A word on the big two in the city and many congratulations to the Blades and especially manager Chris Wilder, an impressive figure who has earned his managerial spurs the hard way and who I have seen on the touchlines at Hallam on a couple of occasions over the past two seasons just taking in the game and spending time with friends.

Wednesday also look to be on the up under Steve Bruce. The team they send to Hallam generally contains some of the club's Under-18 side and they can end the season with some silverware when they take on Cardiff City in a National play-off final at Hillsborough this coming Friday, 3 May, at 7pm.

Admission to the game for non season-ticket holders is priced at £3 Adults, £2 Concessions.

Football For A Fiver At Boundary Park

It's been a season where managers have brought Oldham Athletic to national attention, one of them unknown and one being one of the most famous English footballers of his generation.

Lifelong supporter Pete Wild had been the interim academy manager at Boundary Park when he was made caretaker boss following the sacking of Frankie Bunn in late December and celebrated with the Latics fans at Craven Cottage after knocking Fulham out of the FA Cup a short time later.

The next permanent manager was another Oldham fan albeit a more celebrated one as Paul Scholes took what was assumed to be the first step of his managerial career.

31 days later he had resigned and Wild was given the reins again until the end of the season.

The BBC story announcing that news ends by saying the Latics are '15th and heading for a mid-table finish' but four wins and two draws since then mean a play-off spot remains a possibility at the time of writing.

Looking at the bigger picture and there is seemingly a constant struggle for survival for the likes of Oldham, and neighbours Bury (currently experiencing a financial crisis), as they try and square the circle of competing in the professional game with two major powers just along the road and a crowded Non-League scene below them but they remain proud members of the Football League and with good people behind the scenes trying constantly to keep the club as a focal point of the community.

A 'Football for a Fiver' offer against Mansfield on Easter Monday drew in over 6,000 through the gates and the club are repeating the deal for the final home match of the season against Northampton on Saturday 4 May with prices as follows, Adults £5, Concessions £3 and Under 18's just £1.

Joy Or Pain At The Pleasure Grounds?

The Victoria Pleasure Grounds will see some pain this coming Saturday as the Northern Counties East League (NCEL) match between Goole AFC and Hall Road Rangers is almost the ultimate relegation battle with at least one and possibly both of the sides slipping through the trapdoor come the final whistle.

With two teams dropping into Division One, Goole are currently just above Hall Road and just outside the bottom two by virtue of a slightly better goal difference, albeit both sides have conceded over 100 goals during the campaign.

Harrogate Railway Athletic occupy bottom spot but are just one point worse off so it could be that both teams at the Pleasure Grounds experience little of that particular emotion.

Goole are asking for the support of the town for such a big game and have made it 'Pay What You Want' admission on the gate.

Cup Final Update

An update on a few of the competitions that have featured on these pages over the course of the season.

Following last Sunday's semi-finals we know now that the 2019 SSE Women's FA Cup Final will be contested at Wembley on Saturday 4 May, kick-off 5.30pm, between Manchester City and West Ham United.

City will be strong favourites to lift the trophy in front of what is set to be another big crowd with tickets once again priced at £15 Adults and free for kids.

Manchester City will also host this season's FA Youth Cup Final with their Academy Stadium the venue for the game against Liverpool on Thursday 25 April 

Tickets are on sale, priced at £3 Adults and £1 Under 18's, and it should be a good occasion but I'm disappointed both by the decision to make the final a single game (to ease fixture congestion is the reason given) and that it isn't being played at the main Etihad Stadium given that it is the showpiece event at this level of the game and that for many of the players involved it could represent one of the great memories of their footballing career.

Non-League Finals Day at Wembley this year takes place on Sunday 19 May with the FA Vase Final followed by the climax of the FA Trophy.

Chertsey Town and Cray Valley (PM) go first in the Vase before National League promotion hopefuls AFC Fylde and Leyton Orient contest the Trophy final.

A section of the stadium is reserved for neutrals with a ticket for the whole day priced at £25 Adults, £10 Concessions and £1 for Under 16's.

Hampden Send-Off For Scotland Women

A Hampden Park send-off for a World Cup-bound Scotland team may not bring back the greatest of memories for football fans north of the border, Ally's Tartan Army and all that, but there is sure to be a great atmosphere at the famous old ground on Tuesday 28 May when Scotland's Women take on Jamaica in their final match before France 2019.

It is inevitable that Shelley Kerr's team will be contrasted to the current woes of Scotland's Men but they deserve to be praised on their own merits for a first ever World Cup qualification and England manager Phil Neville will know that his side face a tough test in the opening game in Group D, in Nice on 9 June.

Scotland recently notched a landmark friendly win against Brazil and one early preview I have seen of this summer's tournament has them down as dark horses given the quality of players at Kerr's disposal.

Tickets for the Hampden game, which kicks-off at 7.35pm, are priced at just £5 Adults and £2 Concessions.

One other international line on the Women's game in Scotland is that the UEFA Women's Under-19 European Championship will be held north of the border between 16-28 July with matches taking place at McDiarmid Park (Perth) Forthbank Stadium (Stirling), Firhill (Glasgow), with the final taking place at St Mirren Park (Paisley).

Start The Week With Free Football

The looming end of the season and the better weather means a host of Under 23 matches are due to be played at club's main stadiums in the coming weeks and a trio of games on Monday 15th April are all free entry for supporters.

Goodison Park hosts Everton against Brighton & Hove Albion (a ticket is required for admission to this one) while it is Derby County against West Ham United at Pride Park and Blackburn Rovers versus Manchester City at Ewood Park.

All three fixtures kick-off at 7pm. There are also games scheduled at St James' Park, Molineux, Stamford Bridge and the Liberty Stadium on the same evening.

We Are The Champions!

Congratulations to Sholing FC who celebrated their Sydenhams Wessex League Premier Division title on Saturday afternoon by offering free admission to all spectators for the home game against Brockenhurst.

The Southampton-based club always offer Football for a Fiver and consistently work hard both to keep people informed of what’s happening at the ground and to try and attract new supporters along.

Their 6-2 victory against Brockenhurst took them to 90 points and 99 goals for the season and there is a similar tale of dominance one level below in the pyramid where Harefield United have already brought up their century of goals in the Spartan South Midlands League Division One and should soon have a points tally to match.

Another club who work hard to be a part of their local community, Harefield are offering ‘Pay What You Want’ admission to the home game against Hatfield Town on Saturday 27th April when the league trophy will be presented.

Amex Stage For Brighton Women

With a couple of huge crowds in Europe recently for Women's club matches, England manager Phil Neville said this week that he hoped to see more of the major stadiums in this country used for WSL and Championship fixtures.

And Brighton & Hove Albion Women will play their final home WSL match of the season, against Arsenal on Sunday 28th April at 12.15pm, at The Amex.

Free tickets are available for season ticket holders of both Mens and Womens' teams with general admission priced at £3/£1 before the day of the game.

Albion's Falmer home will also host Neville and his squad in their final World Cup warm-up fixture against New Zealand at 1pm on Saturday 1st June (tickets are priced at Adults £10, Concessions £1).

The England manager was also right to point that there is a solid base of attendances in the top two levels of the domestic game and there are lots of interesting matches to come between now and the big finish to the season on Saturday 11th May.

A good guide to fixtures can be found here while Aston Villa will be offering 'Pay What You Want' admission to their season finale against Crystal Palace.

Well Worth A Read

The following sites have been invaluable to me in writing this blog and are well worth a visit.

The London Football Guide - James Doe is the man behind Non-League Day and set up TLFG to provide a comprehensive guide to football (at all levels) in the capital and its suburbs. On a weekly basis he runs through all of the fixtures of note and is also happy to answer queries from anyone coming to London and looking to catch a match.

With its focus on a similar patch geographically, The Cold End combines news and match previews with reports, highlights and some great photographs of Non-League football in London, Hertfordshire and beyond.

Football in Bracknell is an excellent not for profit site that doesn't leave a stone unturned when reporting on football at all levels in the Berkshire town.

Women’s football features regularly on these pages and the excellent She Kicks website has features, stats and regular fixture updates covering all levels of the game in the UK with Scottish Women's Football performing a similar function in its area.

The official FA WSL site also has an easy-to-navigate fixture list with ticket info and links.

Non-League Matters is a good resource for fixtures, tables and stats from all levels of the game below the Football League and the Forum part of the site has a section where special ticket offers, free and reduced admission and ‘Pay What You Want’ fixtures can be publicised.

The Northern Counties East Football League is my local Step 5 league and the home of Hallam FC who have featured regularly on the site. The NCEFL website is an excellent resource for results and fixtures while many of the clubs in the league feature on the Non League Yorkshire website which has a wealth of news, match reports and opinion from across the county.

North of the border, Scottish Football Fixtures does exactly what it says in the title with day-by-day fixtures from all levels of the Scottish game and regular Twitter updates.

I've always enjoyed Neil Jensen's writings in the Non-League Paper (the print edition of which is a great source for upcoming fixtures) but they are just the tip of the iceberg of his wonderful Game of the People website which has features and views on football in all corners of the globe.