Non league Football

[Richard]

Does anyone go to watch the minor leagues, I go to watch Folkestone (Ryman South) play a bit and getting up to Tonbridge (Conference South) to watch them play a bit this season.
I used to go to Ashford a lot but they had the usual Management muck ups and now in the Kent League, I will watch them sometime this year though.

I enjoy grass roots, none of this mamby pamby overpaid images of Celeb Footballers, you get tackled, use as many expletives as you possibly can and get on with it!!

I remember going to watch Tonbridge back in the 1950's, crowds of 3,000 plus, now these Clubs are lucky to get 6 - 700, Folkestone who are top of the league got less than 200 this week.

They definitely need more support, but thereagain £6 upwards to £10 is a big ask I guess.

Richard

[Kernow]

Yes I went to support Ashford Town quite a lot in fact one year a group of us had a box at the Homelands But things went sour with, I believe, financial problems involving Inland Revenue but I could be wrong, however this has happened more than once in the club's history.

Over here there is "soccer" but I'm afraid I have become very interested in GAA Gaelic football. Very fast and very end to end. Every parish seems to have a team.




Edited for grammar

[saint-spoon]

I must confess that I haven’t been to a non-league game for ages, I used to go with my Dad to watch Fareham town in my youth (before they moved to Cams Alders for those in the know) and I have been across to see Gosport Borough a few times; when I was an apprentice we used to go to the games because the club house had a cheap bar so it was a win win situation. I will say however that having been brought up with Southampton FC and being a season ticket holder for many years watching the grass roots games does lack the skill factor if not the commitment. My favourite league at the moment is the Championship, you have much of the skill evident in the top flight (stand fast the uber-rich clubs) and there is much more commitment from the players, they seem more interested in the game of football than the pay cheque from image rights.

[Richard]

Interesting.

Kernow - probably saw you there without knowing it. I went to almost every home game for about 4 years. Saw the infamous Fulham game plus went up to Watford for the Cup game.
Then it all started to go horribly wrong; Cugley went to manage Folkestone (still there) Rodney Marsh and Paul Parker came in but vanished quite quickly, then loads of mis-management which just sent them tumbling.
They brought a stand from Crawley Town about 10 years ago which is still piled up somewhere!
I expect you know but they're now called Ashford United, so no more is there a possibility of an FA Cup Final Ashford Town v Ashford Town!

Spoony - I've seen Fareham play against Ashford, also Havant and Waterlooville.
I thought you might pay the occasional visit to Eastleigh, top minor league club with good attendances.
Not sure but I think Le Tiss played for them on and off after Saints?

The thing for me is that yes, much of it isn't near the skill levels of top clubs, but at least 3 or 4 times every game something really good comes up.
But it's the swearing that makes me laugh, usually from the Managers !!

Richard

[Oheckitseck]

Never watched any non-league football but used to enjoy going to watch the local Junior football team when I lived in Glasgow ( Pollok Juniors) and they regularly had crowds of 2,000 +. It was a hard league with lots of crunching tackles but not short of effort and commitment from the players.
Spoony I am not a fan of Scottish football but I have always said that the First Division up here (Scotlands version of the Championship) was a far better ,more competative league than the premier league.

Eck

[Richard]

Similar with the Championship here I think Eck, far more to play for, you are fighting to go up to the very top and fighting not to go down to non glamour leagues.

I was looking around the Kent Football Clubs websites yesterday and noticed that Maidstone United who enjoyed a couple of seasons in the Football League before going bankrupt a few years ago have now moved into their new Stadium.
They play in Ryman South and are getting crowds averaging 1,500 people, amazing for that division.

Richard

[Oheckitseck]

Similar with the Championship here I think Eck, far more to play for, you are fighting to go up to the very top and fighting not to go down to non glamour leagues.

I was looking around the Kent Football Clubs websites yesterday and noticed that Maidstone United who enjoyed a couple of seasons in the Football League before going bankrupt a few years ago have now moved into their new Stadium.
They play in Ryman South and are getting crowds averaging 1,500 people, amazing for that division.

Richard

Hi Richard
Always good to hear of a football club rising again out of the ashes and attracting crowds of that number.

Eck

[saint-spoon]

You are right Dickie, the mighty LeTis did play for Eastliegh for a bit after retiring from the professional game. Regarding Maidstone United F.C., I did read a while back that they were the first league club to actually become bankrupt; the current club being built on the youth squad of the original team.
For Eck I think the biggest successes of Scottish football are the biggest problem for the Scottish leagues; On the one hand you have the two big clubs and then there is everyone else… ok so Rangers are down and out for the time being but realistically the Scottish league will be won nine times out of ten by either them or Celtic (one must assume that it’ll be Celtic for at least two years). The Scottish FA cup usually throws up some good runs for smaller clubs though, which is what it is all about.

[Benny&Co]

I've never been to a non-league game, but agree that it must sometimes be nicer than watching the spoilt mamby-pamby brats in the bigger leagues.

There's a park next to where we live and they have Saturday/Sunday league I think.