Curzon Ashton Ladies V Mossley Hill Ladies – 4 sleeps

There are a few things that the GKA would like to discuss today, but they all sound like whinges! 

In a previous job, when I hated my life, I had a line ‘Manger’ who would often say, ‘Don’t give me problems, I want solutions.’ At the time I used to think, ‘Surely your higher wage packet suggests that you should be the one coming up with the solutions.’ However, I am going to use my ‘Manager’s’ ‘words of wisdom’ in today’s blog.

In the last post, we talked about Bury FC and Bolton FC – it now appears that Bury FC’s fate has been decided and they have been expelled from the Football League, due to insurmountable financial challenges.  The same fate will happen to Bolton Wanderers unless they can either find a buyer or prove their financial viability - they have been given 14 days. 

A financial football expert, on the BBC news this morning, estimated that about 20% of clubs in the Football League are in a similar position – Bury and Bolton are just the tip of the iceberg! Underneath this lettuce is a potential floppy, soggy mess that should be thrown in the bin, before it contaminates that rest of the salad. 

Why do I make this terrible Iceberg joke?  Well, because the analogy fits – everybody has heard of Iceberg lettuce – as everyone has heard of big clubs such as Liverpool and Manchester City.  However, there are plenty of other salad leaves that just don’t get the publicity. Leaf, Romaine, Boston and Bibb may not be as crisp and hearty, but they can be just as flavoursome.

In a nutshell the problem is this – in order to compete, in order to get promotion – many clubs think that they must spend big money on transfers and big money on wages.  It’s a gamble, it’s a risk and if it doesn’t pay off, House Wins and BetVictor runs off with all the proceeds. This is happening, despite the fact the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations were established to prevent it from happening.  

This isn’t just a football problem, it is a societal problem. We live in an age of consumerism, with a thirst for instant success and instant results.  Many people are living beyond their means, getting into further debt and taking increasingly bigger gambles to get out. 

And just like in society, about 2% of the football clubs own all the money, power and resources. On reflection, there is an abundance of money, resources and talent within the world – it just needs to be spread out more equally – the reason is greed.

I’m not talking about communism, I’m not talking about a socialist revolution, because they have been tried and did not work – but neither does the survival of fittest model of the free market economy (I knew my A levels in History, Accountancy and Economics would come in useful one day).  

One great thing about American Sports is that they always try to equal out the playing field. In the NFL for example, it is unique for a team to dominate and be on top for successive years. If a team wins the Superbowl they are given a harder schedule the year after, and they have the last pick of the top players that are coming out of college.  All teams have a salary cap, so one team can’t keep all the best talent.

This works to an extent – would it work in football?

The answer is no.

In America the NFL is the best League in the world – the players know this, and they have nowhere else to go.  If the English tried a salary cap, the players would play in Italy and Spain to earn more money – the reason is greed (does anyone really need to be earning £400,000 a week instead of a measly £100,000) and a salary cap would have to be global. This would then make it difficult for other leagues outside England, Spain and Italy to grow. It is not an easy solution.

There must be other ways to spread the wealth? For example, this week the GKA signed a petition to impose a 5% levy on the Premier League’s broadcasting rights to be put back into grassroots football:- 

Petition to impose 5% levy on Premier League Broadcasting  

More regulation may be the key?  Why should a person be allowed to buy a football club for £1?  Why should a person like Owen Oyston, for example, be allowed to own a club like Blackpool and then basically (allegedly) run it into the ground with no investment?  I don’t believe in too much regulation or too much red tape, but if the free market is left to its own devises further clubs will die in the stampede for the fight for survival.

Maybe more clubs should be owned by the fans such as FC United of Manchester or even Barcelona FC.  In the NFL, the Green Bay Packers is a fan owned club, is one of the most successful teams and the City only has a population the size of Preston.  If football is about community, then maybe communities should unite and do more about it. 

More help is needed from the press as their coverage of lower League football is minimal.  The press will be all over the 3^rd Round Proper of the FA Cup, like a rat up a drainpipe.  However, the draw for the 1^st Qualifying Round had token coverage. I had to go to the ‘Mirror’s’ website to discover the fate of GKA Preliminary Round winners Sheffield FC. It was like watching Ceefax combined with Noah’s Ark as minute by minute the games were revealed in threes.

This leads me onto the women’s game…

If the women’s game is to grow, everybody needs to investigate previous mistakes and work out more collaborative sustainable ways to survive. A good thing, as the pathway of what not to do, is clearly marked out.

Clubs improving their own press coverage is the first step.  On the Curzon Ashton Website it does not state that the women don’t play at the Tameside Stadium.  This is where I was heading on Sunday, 1^st September to watch their tie against Mossley Hill Ladies.  Until, by chance, I fell upon this Tweet.

Meaning that my previous information about the fixture was incorrect and the Mossley Hill Ladies will be travelling 40.9 miles…

To Failsworth Sports Centre…

Let’s make this a great game and a great statement for the sustainability and growth of women’s football. 

Let’s make Nettie Honeyball proud…

“My, my Mr Bond.  Put it away, as I’m here to watch the football.”

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1st Qualifying Round – Meet Rushall Olympic FC…

Clubs from the 7^th tier of the English Football Pyramid join the fun at this stage of the competition.  232 teams will fight-it-out in this round.

As Sheffield FC beat Litherland Remyca FC 2 -1, we are travelling with Sheffield to their next game against Rushall Olympic FC, which means that…   

The GKA will be travelling 67.7 miles from ‘The Home of Football Stadium’ to Dales Lane.

Rushall Olympic Football Club (nick named 'The Pics) are members of the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division Central – the 7^th Tier, and this is their first game in the 2019/20 FA Cup. They are currently at the top of their League with 13 points from 5 games. 

According to the team's official Website, they play in the Evo-Stick League, but other websites refer to it as the BetVictor League. 

Rushall Olympic Football Club has been around in some format since the early 1890s.

Olympics’ finest season came in 1964-65 when they clinched the Staffordshire County League (South) First Division Championship for the fourth time in five years and won 3 cups - the Lichfield Charity Cup, the Sporting Star Cup and the Walsall Senior Cup. 

Their Best FA Cup performance has been the 4^th Qualifying Round (2008, 2012, and 2014).  2011-12 saw Rushall’s debut campaign in the Evo-Stik League Premier Division (BetVictor League).  

The Dales Lane ground was officially opened on Sunday 14th August 1977.

Rushall is based in the West Midlands and the village has been around since at least 1086. 

Above is the Rushall Parish Church. 

Sheffield FC play in the Northern Premier South East Division and they are currently 14^th with 3 points from 3 games. 

Let’s see how these two teams perform against each other in the GKA on the weekend of the 6^th to 8^th September.

Blast from the past…

In 1976 Brian James’s journeys followed his Preliminary Round winners Tividale to a 1^st Qualifying round game against Oldbury United. A 42.1-mile trip…

We’ll be bringing you details of that game soon (for comparisons) … oh, and don’t forget the women’s FA cup this weekend. 

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The game on the 24th August…

We live in an era were market forces determine the fate of everything.  Many Universities are facing financial hardship, with the real possibility that they will go bankrupt and close.  Chorley Hospital has been informed that they can no longer have an A&E Unit because it is ‘not clinically valid.’ What they mean by that is, that it is not economically valid! During this period, it is no wonder that Football clubs are also experiencing financial difficulties as both Bury FC and Bolton FC are fighting for their very existence.     

If a club, or University or a A&E Unit can’t sustain itself then why should they exist? Well, some things have a value that is far more important than money, as all these organisations provide communities with jobs, volunteering opportunities, a place to go, a sense of belonging and a sense of pride and value – take these away and for many local people there is not much left. Women’s football isn’t financially valid at the moment either, so should women just not bother trying?     

  

Sheffield FC are recognised as the oldest football club in the world – let’s hope that their history and tradition continues. There is a heap of football history in Sheffield, as between 1857 and 1889 the city boasted 95 football clubs.  Sheffield is the Home of Football as it contributed to the rules of the modern game, and perhaps helped the transition of the sport from an upper-class game, played in boarding schools, to a sport of the working classes.  Sheffield City Council developed an App so that people can walk for 4.7 miles and visit 10 places of historical significance to football.    

However, my Sheffield friend, James, tells me that hardly anybody knows this and hardly anyone downloads the App.  I did not know this, and before writing this blog I hadn’t heard of Sheffield FC – neither had today’s blog guest Alex Smith, who grew up less than 20 miles from Sheffield FC’s home ground.

On Saturday 24^th, the weather was a sharp contrast to the Extra-Preliminary Round game on 10^th August. Instead of wind and driving rain, we had blue skies, 27 Degrees and what I would describe as Cricket weather. We arrived at The Home of Football Stadium and parked up.

We realised that we had parked in the pub car park of the Coach & Horses.

However, it was directly next to the football stadium.

We walked to the side of the pub and found the turnstiles and paid £9 to enter (it was £5 at Avro FC in the previous round).  The program cost £2.

Through the entrance was the club shop, dressing rooms and food stall – we were surprised that there wasn’t a bar in the ground, so we went on a search for a pint.

This took us to the back of the Coach & Horses pub, and we discovered an empty shed!  As we were walking and talking, we were surrounded by a soundtrack of Sheffield based music – Pulp was playing when we walked in,  followed by Reverend and the Makers, the Artic Monkeys and then a blast for my University past – The Long Pigs with Lost Myself (1996).  Where was the Human League, and more importantly where was Def Leopard?

During this search for a pint, I bumped into this most excellent dog…

And took my customary GKA corner flag photo.

Then noticed the excellent old-school scoreboard! 

We found a side exit guarded by security and he informed us that you had to go back to the Coach & Horses to get a pint, which could be brought back through, provided it was in a plastic wobbly festival cup.

By this time, it was too late as ABC’s ‘Came all out of my Heart’ blasted through the PA and the players walked onto the pitch – the pint would have to wait.

The game was a different spectacle to the 3-4 thriller at Avro. It was hot out there, so Alex and I spent the 1^st half hiding in the shade of the stands – even then it felt like I was melting.  Sheffield FC had the best of the first half and scored an excellent volleyed goal.  During the half the Litherland keeper pulled off a fantastic ‘Gordan Banks’ save, but there were few chances at either end and Sheffield FC went in 1 nil up.

We headed to the pub and I bought a larger shady and a pint of leading brand cola for £6.50. I was served quickly, and Blog guest Alex Smith can be seen above enjoying his drink.

Back in the Stadium, I moved over to the food area and I bought pie and peas – I didn’t seem to get any option of pie flavour – it was just pie and peas!

After digging in, I discovered it was a steak pie, and… it was a fantastic steak pie. I don’t know what was more world class? Was it Sheffield’s first goal, Litherland’s save, or this pie!  It was a triple hit of excellence in Dronfield.

The second half continued, and Alex (a qualified FA Coach) explained to me the three phases of football – In possession, out of possession and transition. As he moved onto overloads and underloads, Litherland equalised and a fan next to me shouted ‘Come on Sheffield, the usual 2^nd half rubbish.’   

The crowd were quieter and less sweary than the previous game at Avro.  There seemed a lot less banter, and a lot less drinking – perhaps the extra walk to the pub was putting people off, or maybe because the ground is difficult to get to without driving. 

Sheffield FC scored a second. There was a drinks break.  A fan shouted, ‘Come on, get on with it.’ Another fan shouted back, ‘It’s a drinks break you muppet – you get out there and play for 90 minutes in this heat, you moron.’  

It was too hot for football and the game finished 2-1 to Sheffield FC. 

I enjoyed my brief journey with Litherland Remyca FC as they supported our blog with various re-tweets.  I wish them luck throughout the season.  

Sheffield FC win £2890 in prize money.

184 attendance.

3 Yellow Cards. 

320 Teams did battle in the Preliminary Round.

Excellent Geeky Stats time

Route Men’s: -

Avro FC            3 – 4 Litherland Remyca

Sheffield FC     2 – 1 Litherland Remyca

Route Women's :-

Mossley Hill Ladies V Burnley Belvedere Ladies (no show) 

RIP Team and Stadium

Avro FC                                Vestacare Stadium

Burenly Belvedere Ladies    Belverder & Calder Vale Sports Club 

Litherland Remyca FC         Litherland Sports Park 

Number of fans

Sheffield FC      184

Avro FC             150

Winning Prize Money Leaders

Sheffield FC                  £2,890

Litherland Remyca         £2,250

Mossley Hill Ladies            £325 (2018-19 amounts)

GKA League Table

Team	Won	Drawn	Goals For	Goals Against	GD	Points
Sheffield FC	1	0	2	1	1	3
Litherland Remyca	1	0	5	5	0	3
Mossley Hill Ladies	1	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	3
Avro FC	0	0	3	4	-1	0
Burnley Belvedere Ladies	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Penalties (Men V Women)

Men 1 – 0 Women

Yellow Cards (Men V Women)

Men 11 – 0 Women

FYI – The women haven’t played yet as the GKA tie with Mossley Hill Ladies and Burnley Belvedere Ladies was called off (Burnley couldn’t put out a team), and the Women’s Preliminary Round isn’t until next weekend. 

1976…

Let’s quickly contrast the above with the FA cup in 1976 as Hinckley Athletic played Tividale in the preliminary Round.  The first thing to note is that only 96 teams did battle, so there are far more entries now in the competition.

Secondly, it cost 25p to get on Hinckley Athletic and an inflation calculator informs me that this is equivalent to £1.78 in 2019.  It does not sound a lot, but it is a high increase when you think that £100 would now be worth £700.  So, according to this, football ground prices have gone up much higher than inflation, but perhaps grounds, facilities and costs have gone up to.

For example, this was the ground at Hinkley in 1976 as supporters had to share the terraces with cabbages!  

191 fans turned up for Hinckley Athletic v Trividale, there was 1 yellow card, 1 penalty and the score was 0 -1 to Trividale.

According to Brain James’s book, ‘A Journey to Wembley’ – after the game, the Trividale team coach stopped off for pints of Lager’n’Lime and Bitter, before a healthy post-match meal of Fish’n’Chips!  I wonder if the Sheffield FC players celebrated their 2019 victory in the same style?

Next up in GKA we’ll discover who Sheffield FC face in the 1^st Qualifying Round and then we’re off to the see the Women’s Preliminary Round game between Curzon Ashton Ladies and Mossley Hill Ladies on Sunday 1^st September at 14:00. 196 teams will be playing next weekend, so women’s football has more entries at this stage than the men did in 1976 – a good sign. 

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