A view across the cricket field at Sandygate towards the main stand at Hallam FC on Saturday afternoon.
Some watering of the football pitch was taking place ahead of Tuesday evening's friendly, against a Sheffield United XI, while Hallam will also be at home in the Extra Preliminary Round of the 2026/27 FA Cup following this week's draw.
Irlam FC will travel across the Pennines on the weekend of 8/9 August.
A beautiful spring day at Sandygate, home of Hallam FC, on Saturday as Bridlington Town were the visitors for a Northern Premier League (East) fixture.
The hosts took a first-half lead with a well-taken shot from just outside the area before Brid levelled after the break with a rocket. That left home goalkeeper Hugo Warhurst no chance but he preserved a point with a fabulous save shortly after.
Saturday afternoons at Sandygate have a nice feeling and it has been good to see the club grow so much over the years while still retaining that familiarity and hum of conversation.
Hallam have done well in leveraging their history, playing at the world's oldest ground, and their erstwhile rivals Sheffield FC have been much in the news, locally, nationally and even wider (I saw one piece on Reuters when searching online), over the past week after appointing Jon McClure, lead singer of Reverend and the Makers, as chairman.
The long-term aim remains to bring the world's oldest club back to Sheffield from their current home in Dronfield, just over the border into Derbyshire, but the work has started already in terms of engaging locally and getting more people through the turnstiles.
But full credit to everyone involved, the Hallam volunteers, the match officials and, of course, the players from both sides who ensured that 585 of us were thoroughly entertained by a 1-1 draw.
Blyth took an early lead that they were good value for, kept hold of it thanks to some great goalkeeping and last-ditch defending midway through the first-half but couldn't keep Hallam out completely as sustained pressure from the home side as they went down the slope after the break finally paid off.
The Countrymen continue on their upward journey after two promotions in recent seasons and good to see such a famous name as Blyth slowly rebuilding, thanks to the work of the Spartans Trust.
Some snippets from here in Sheffield where the world's oldest derby returns on 14 January after Hallam FC and Sheffield FC were drawn together in the next round of the quarter-finals of the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA Senior Cup.
Online tickets for the game at Sandygate will be available from Hallam FC shortly (the club have also produced physical tickets as a memento) priced at £6 and £4.
Sheffield FC have, meanwhile, partnered with the Tickets for Good platform to offer discounted tickets to NHS staff, charity workers, teachers and people affected by the Cost of Living crisis for the Boxing Day game against Belper Town.
It is great to see the continuing work of local charity Sheffield Home of Football and today (21 Dec) they honoured a man linked to both clubs, John Charles Shaw, with a blue plaque in the city centre.
Thank you and Merry Christmas to everyone who has taken the time to read the blog this year.
Enjoy the summer, keep up-to-date with friendlies and any other matches going on, over on X
After a dismal weekend for both United and Wednesday, supporters of Sheffield's two big clubs may be looking forward to taking refuge in the welcoming surroundings of Sandygate, home of Hallam FC of the Northern Counties East League.
The Countrymen have made great strides, on and off the pitch, over the past few years and another big crowd will be in attendance for their last sixteen game at home to Lincoln United.
Tickets have been on sale in recent weeks, to help with spectator flows, but on the gate admission will also be available at just £6 adults, £4 concessions.
This month marks 10 years since I first starting posting here on the blog and also over on twitter as @AffordableFooty and I'm really pleased that it's still going strong and hopefully still letting people know about upcoming matches they may fancy going to.
There's been some constants throughout the years, my local club Hallam FC being one of them.
I've seen The Countrymen go from strength to strength during that time, combining their history in the origins of the game with great use of social media to increase crowds at Sandygate and then keep them coming back with admission still only a fiver for adults and a warm, friendly welcome from their army of volunteers.
It was hard to imagine then (and even harder after relegation to League Two in 2017) that the club could be back on the brink of a Premier League return and much more firmly established back in the city.
Inevitably that means they probably feature slightly less on these pages than a few years ago like when 28,000 watched the League Two game against Accrington Stanley for which tickets were priced at a fiver.
By contrast I didn't write about the Highland League until August 2019 after my parents had moved permanently to the area and I went to a game at Mackessack Park, the home of Rothes FC.
I've been back plenty of times since, to Strathspey Thistle, Keith, Turriff United and Lossiemouth with more competitive football and cracking backdrops to come.
So, a massive thanks to everyone who has ever read these pages and/or followed or liked on twitter. here's to pre-season friendlies!
On the 3rd March 2020, I watched Hallam FC and North Ferriby play out a 1-1 draw at Sandygate, writing at the time 'there was a warm welcome at the world's oldest ground, £5 adult admission and a good atmosphere in the bar as supporters of both sides mixed.'
Just a week later, of course, and the 2019/20 season was stopped in its tracks, the result of the game included on the excellent NCEFL website for historical purposes only.
Both clubs continue to thrive as part of their local communities and now ply their trade a division higher, in the NCEFL Premier where North Ferriby currently sit at the top of the table.
They meet at Sandygate this coming Saturday (scheduled for 3pm but keep an eye for any changes with the England match and freezing temperatures forecast for Sheffield). The prices and the atmosphere will be the same as way back then!
Many congratulations to Hallam FC, not just for a fantastic season where they topped the Northern Counties East Football League Division One, scoring 160 goals and topping a century of points in the process, but also for the amazing crowds that they attracted to Sandygate.
An average of 614 spectators came through the gates for home games, attracted by football for a fiver, a warm welcome, a bit of history and the chance to chat, drink and mingle along the touchline and in the stand, a simple pleasure that had been badly missed by many over the preceeding couple of years.
I've been going to the ground at least a couple of times a season since starting the blog back in 2013 and the improvement in facilities that has taken place since is a testament to the hard work of all concerned and also means the club has become more firmly rooted in its local community, witness the people taking advantage of the club bar over the recent holiday weekend.
Although the club will be playing at a higher level next season, matchday prices have been kept at £5 for adults and £3 concessions with Under 12's free. Season ticket prices are also frozen.
Another positive development on the Sheffield sporting scene is the opening of the new Community Stadium at the Olympic Legacy Park, sited on the old Don Valley Stadium.
Sheffield Eagles Rugby League team will be the primary tenants but a Hallam FC Legends team is taking on a Sheffield Legends XI on Sunday 15th May, in aid of the Roundabout charity.
Two recent matches in the Sheffield area provided plenty of contrasts but, ultimately the same sense of enjoyment at being out and about at a game.
The first Tuesday in September it may have been but it felt like summer was in the air at Hallam FC as a perfect evening encouraged more than 600 spectators for the Northern Counties East League clash against Shirebrook Town.
Short sleeves and outdoor pints were the order of the day with the action on the pitch, where the visitors conceded two goals and a red card early on, a backdrop to the relaxed air of conversation on the touchline.
Everyone involved at Hallam has done a superb job over the past few years, harnessing the history of the club to modern methods of promotion to get more people through the gate and gradually improving the quality of the facilities available once they are there.
One week later and it was coats and warm drinks needed as Stocksbridge Park Steels hosted Tadcaster Albion. In Turriff in August one of the club officials had talked about a 'dreich day' and that uniquely Scottish word fitted the weather bill perfectly here.
Located around 10 miles from Sheffield, Steels' catchment area of potential supporters comes from mainly within the town itself and, following a recent managerial change, chairman Graham Furniss wrote in his programme notes that regularly getting 250 people into the Eco-Power Stadium (which I like a lot as it has plenty of different vantage points to sample throughout a 90 minutes) would be a real boost to the club.
154 was the attendance for the Tadcaster game but the quality and intensity of the game did reflect that it was two divisions higher in the pyramid than Hallam, Tadcaster's neat build-up not matched by their finishing and Steels eventually benefitting from a man advantage with two second-half goals.
It will be 'football for a fiver' as usual at Hallam with tickets for adults priced at £5 and concessions £3.
The club are hopeful of being able to operate at full capacity for the game although the constantly changing picture on restrictions may change that of course.
So in Sheffield this weekend, as expected, Sheffield United will host Leicester City on Sunday afternoon behind closed doors.
What has been a twist, given that the previous Tier 3 guidance allowed for supporters to attend games further down the pyramid, is that crowds are not now permitted below National League level.
That means Hallam FC will have to play Saturday’s FA Vase tie at home to AFC Blackpool with the front door to Sandygate firmly locked.
A strange situation in many ways as Hallam, along with hundreds of clubs around the country, had got their Covid-19 protocols firmly in place and were comfortably accommodating 300 spectators prior to the second lockdown.
Frustrating too, especially as those 300 people will be allowed to spend as much time as they like inside the Meadowhall shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.
The FA Vase itself risks becoming something of a farce as clubs are either coming straight into matches this weekend on the back of little or no training or having to make the difficult decision to pull out of the competition altogether, whether for safety reasons given the lack of competitive games or having to travel across tier boundaries or because playing behind closed doors simply isn’t feasible.
But all is not lost locally as matches below the National League System can take place in front of spectators so perhaps a bigger crowd than usual will be making their way here...
WE'RE BACK! And spectators are permitted!
— Kiveton Park FC (@KivetonParkFC) December 2, 2020
Fixtures for Saturday 5th December -
MEN'S 1st TEAM
⏰ 2pm
🏆 @CountySeniorFL Div 1
🆚 @JfcMain
📍 Tickhill Square, DN12 4AW
MEN'S RESERVE TEAM
⏰ 2pm
🏆 @CountySeniorFL Div 2
🆚 @DevelopmentSPS
📍 @WalesHigh, S26 5QQ
💵 FREE admission pic.twitter.com/Bd0UsJWo7n
Over the weekend I followed on social media as both Hallam FC and North Ferriby of the Northern Counties East League sold out of tickets in just 15 minutes for their respective home matches this midweek.
Both clubs are currently permitted 300 spectators inside their grounds and the demand to see live football, in a secure, friendly environment, is being replicated it seems across England at non-league levels.
Since then, however, Hallam have been forced to postpone the game due to a Covid-related issue, indicative of the new challenges being faced by clubs (in addition to Hallam now being in a Tier 3 area) but the reaction to it also reflects the generosity being shown by fans of clubs both big and small as many of those who had bought tickets then donated their refund to the Sheffield Children's Hospital.
That support for good causes is also being reflected up and down the country, from the campaigns that have made headlines, such as Marcus Rashford's or the pay-per-view boycott, to countless smaller examples like the money raised this week by Bradford City fans for their FA Cup opponents Tonbridge Angels as spectators have not been permitted to attend the match.
But while there are autumn evenings like the one at Hallam FC on Tuesday then it can seem for a moment as though everything is as per normal in life and football.
Sandygate, standing high above Sheffield in the Crosspool district, hosted a first league game of the season for The Countrymen with Retford the visitors to the world's oldest ground.
Adult admission remains a fiver but your money is no longer passed over to the gateman but transferred electronically online to secure a ticket before they go off sale.
With a maximum attendance of 300 and the extra regulations in place to allow games to go ahead, selling tickets online only allows Hallam to then be confident in the knowledge of how many are coming and who they are.
Apart from the initial changes, giving your name to the friendly volunteers and scanning a QR code for track and trace, the experience was familiar and welcoming with the bar open and small groups engaged in conversation about football and many other topics beside.
Interestingly I bumped into a handful of people who work in the same office, a mixed group of Owls and Blades, who were at Sandygate for the first time and enjoying the laid-back, beer-in-hand vibe.
Given the announcement earlier in the day about spectators at matches higher up, I'm sure they and others will be back as the season progresses.
Good news for Hallam but no club will be completely safe from the impending storm that is surely coming as the effects of a season played in front of empty stands (or not played at all as is a possibility in the National Leagues with the knock-on effects that will have lower down) become clearer.
On the pitch I thought the referee had a good game (despite what the players thought) and when both sides concentrated on the football after a niggly first-half, the second 45 kept the crowd of 281 entertained as the spoils were shared two-apiece.
I'm hopeful of being back at the ground this coming Tuesday for the opening game of the new season in the Northern Counties East Football League (NCEFL).
So much has changed since then, of course, but clubs up and down the country are working so hard to get games on in front of spectators.
For Hallam that means a cap on attendance numbers and online ticket sales - still just a fiver for adults - but I'm sure the warm welcome and friendly atmosphere will be the same.
