Return Trips.
My groundhopping trips are not all far flung foreign adventures. I also spend my time trying to keep up with the game at home.
Returning to visit clubs who have moved to new stadiums allows me to see again some significant rivals of old. Two successive days last month not only followed this pattern, but also gave me the satisfaction of once again having completed the visits to all grounds in the top four levels of non-League football in England.
The first club of the trip was Chelmsford City. The old ground in New Writtle Street was in the centre of town. It was especially well known for the atmosphere at night games, which then, as well as now traditionally took place on a Monday night. Cheltenham and Chelmsford had a long rivalry, with Chelmsford joining the Southern League in 1938, just a couple of seasons after us. They were Champions of the Southern League in their second season, and repeated the feat in the first post war season, then again in 1968 and 1972. They have, however always had a reputation for more ambition than their finances permitted. The 1970s was a period when non-League football on the whole lost was finding support hard to come by, with a drastic reduction in gates compared to a decade before. Chelmsfords directors remained ambitious in this period, but ambition with dropping crowds, and a council set against other means of improving income (they rejected an ambitious bid to add office accommodation to the ground in the early seventies, and also the idea of using the ground for greyhound racing later in the decade) led to inevitable financial problems.
A drop in form through the seventies led to the club being relegated from the Southern Leagues Premier Division in 1977, just two years before the formation of the Conference. Hence they were not among those applying for the new national league, and have been playing catch-up ever since. The club returned to the Southern Premier when it was reformed in 1982, and almost made it to the Conference (then Alliance Premier League) when finishing second to Welling in 1986. This was a flash in the pan, though and Chelmsford were struggling more than successful over the following years, (and relegated for a singular season, 1988-9). The story almost ended in 1993, when a supporters club buyout saved the club from liquidation. Somehow the club limped along in the Premier Division for another four seasons before relegation. But worse was to befall them in that season. When the club went through administration, the ground was one of the few saleable assets, and with it sold by the official receiver; they finally found themselves without a home at the start of 1997-8 season.
The club found solace ten miles away as tenants of Billericay Town, (they later also shared at Maldon Town), and they should have won promotion within a single season. However their promotion bid fell foul of the Southern League. In what is seen by many people as a political decision as part of long running arguments between the Southern and Isthmian Leagues, the Southern League refused the accept the ground as suitable for Southern League Premier Division, even though it was graded to allow host club Billericay to be promoted that summer. In 1998, the Southern and Isthmian Leagues set their own standards for promotion, but the inconsistencies between leagues was still showing last season when the Southern League graders failed the facilities for Evesham United, despite the fact they now share at Worcester City, playing at a higher level. Chelmsford had to wait another three seasons before promotion was again available.
Those here that remember the Southern League will remember a league with a footprint covering most of the Southern part of the country, but with practically no clubs in the London area that being the domain of the Isthmian League. By the start of this decade, most of Chelmsfords near neighbours were Isthmian League sides, rather than Southern. Chelmsford were therefore one of the winners when the FA finally managed to bring about a reformation of pyramid. The Southern League Premier area covers much of what we remember, but no longer includes any clubs in London, Sussex, Kent and Essex the Isthmian League now had all of these, but has lost those clubs to the West and North of London, (some of whom have suffered since, as their travel bills have shot up). So Chelmsford are now one of the former Southern League sides that have moved leagues, and they are again on the up.
Two Views of Chelmsford’s new Ground
Last season, they returned to playing in their home town, (despite the name, Chelmsford has never been a city). The situation is not ideal, playing on an athletics stadium in a residential area some two miles from the centre of town. The ground consists of a main stand, with around a thousand seats, and raised well above ground level to allow reasonable viewing despite the track. A disabled section to the front of the stand is also raised, which made my viewing better as my friend Chris, who is confined to a wheelchair joined me for this one. Opposite this are a few more rows of seats, covered by a roof hung from an adjoining building but this would be much poorer to watch from, lacking the height above ground. While most of the pitch surrounds are just level tarmac outside the track, behind both goals there about four steps of metal framed terracing built up on the curve of grass inside the track with walkways across the track defined by temporary fencing removed after every game. Apparently the ground has received a grading sufficient to allow it to be promoted to the Conference South, but the ambitions of the club must reach higher, and it is difficult to see how this can be achieved within the current surrounds.
As for the game, visiting Carshalton Athletic are struggling in the lower reaches of the league, and never looked like a challenging opponent for league leaders Chelmsford, who won 3-0. The crowd was just over 1000, following 1190 two days earlier for the visit of Horsham. Since I visited, Chelmsford have consolidated their position at the top of the league, and the big result, a 3-2 win over AFC Wimbledon last Saturday (attendance 3201) means they are 11 points clear of their rivals with just seven games to play.
Another day, another game. After heading East on the Monday, Tuesday was North to Wakefield. Now you may remember at the start of the article that I was visiting old rivals of Cheltenham but you may also say that Cheltenham have never played Wakefield. This is because of another tale of ground moves and obscure ground grading regulations. While Cheltenham have not played in Wakefield, they have been up on the moors above the town, where they played Emley in the quarter-final of the FA Trophy. Cheltenham won that afternoon, (a fraction short of 9 years ago) with a single goal from Neil Howarth, in front of 1239.
Emley started to make their name in the 1960s, when as a member of the Huddersfield League, they reached the last 16 of the old FA Amateur Cup and squeezed over 5000 into the Welfare ground when losing to Barking. They joined the Yorkshire League the season after that victory and won the title four times before the league became part of the Northern Counties (East) League which was founded in 1982. It took a couple of seasons before Emley found their feet, but by the middle of the decade they were one of the leading lights of the new league. Emley reached the semi-final of the FA Vase in 1987 and then the Wembley final a year later losing to the well financed Colne Dynamoes by a single extra time goal. Also in 1988, Emley were league champions, but promotion was denied as the ground was considered not up to standard. Retaining the title a year later, they were now promoted to the Northern Premier Leagues lower division. Two seasons later they reached the Premier, and also went on a run to the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy, losing to Kidderminster. More success followed, with a run to the third round of the FA Cup in 1998, beating Lincoln City in round 2. When they finished runners-up in the Northern Premier League to Stalybridge in 2001, 3708 people turned up for the final home game, when Stalybridge won 3-2 and ended up taking the title by just one point. Still, knowing that whatever happened, promotion to the Conference would be denied to Emley at the Welfare ground, the following season they moved in to share the Rugby League ground of Wakefield Wildcats. After a year the renamed themselves Wakefield & Emley (and later tried Wakefield-Emley), but this did nothing to help the club out of decline, and crowds have dropped season by season since the move. The clubs reserve team never moved away from the Welfare ground, and in 2005 they divorced themselves from the old club and joined the West Yorkshire League as AFC Emley, gaining election to the Northern Counties (East) a year later. Wakefield-Emley reacted to the change by dropping the Emley part of the name and moving again, from the rather oversized Rugby League ground, to the smaller confines of the what was a Rugby Union ground, until the club had gone bankrupt. They also suffered relegation at the same time. What they have gained is a neat ground, with seating for around 300 and some terracing each side of the stand. The badge on the stand is that of the old Rugby club, and in fact the name Wakefield Football Club is displayed. A small piece of cover has been erected, for no apparent purpose behind the goal furthest from the entrance. This consists of scaffold poles covered by thin plastic above three steps of terrace.
Wakefield in action on their new ground
Having narrowly avoided relegation last season, Wakefield have done a little better this time, and are currently in mid-table. I saw them lose a disappointing game to promotion challengers Curzon Ashton by 1-0. The crowd was just 98, close on the average for the season of 102 (the lowest in the division). Meanwhile, two divisions lower, AFC Emley are also in mid-table but have average crowds of 121.