Sunday 2nd January 2022
Staveley Miners Welfare FC 4-0 Thackley AFC
Admission: £3
Competition: Northern Counties East Premier Division
Attendance: 417
Two new grounds in two days, and today a drive up to Derbyshire for a dreamy January day at Inkersall Road, the home of Staveley Miners Welfare. This was my first game in the Northern Counties East League, but funnily enough not my first time seeing the home side, as I was at their FA Vase tie with Wolverhampton Sporting Community back in 2017 at Pride Park. I have had a soft spot for Staveley ever since, as they actually got in touch with me at the time and asked if they could publish my blog in their match day programme.
Now I’ve visited them, the soft spot is even softer as what an absolutely fantastic set up they have, and probably the best non league ground for value for money that I’ve visited so far. They have the self-acclaimed cheapest admission price at Step 5 in the country, which at £3 is generally at least half what you usually pay at that level. The food and drink was also really well priced but we will get on to that in a moment.
The Trojans were founded in 1962 as a Sunday team, initially under the name Nags Head. They played in the Mansfield and Chesterfield Sunday leagues, until in 1989 they became a Saturday team in the Chesterfield and District Amateur League. They played in various leagues until they were accepted into the Northern Counties East League, where they flitted between Division One and the Premier Division which is where they have been since 2011. They club had a great run in the FA Vase in 2011-12, losing 3-2 on aggregate in the semi finals to eventual winners, Dunston UTS.
Inkersall Road is another really impressive stadium, and my experience was a good one from start to finish. When we arrived the car park was full, but there was plenty of parking available over the road on an industrial estate. The ground is very tidy and clearly really looked after which is always a positive. There is also plenty of space for expansion if the club did start to climb the ladder with a capacity of 5000 (220 seats).
The picture above is the first stand you come to, with the turnstile being in between it and the clubhouse. It offers covered, terraced standing and was a welcome refuge from the first half wind and rain. The players changing rooms are located through this stand.
Moving round (we will come back to the clubhouse), you arrive at the Tower Bar structure. The shutter remained down all game so I’m not sure if this is for food or drink or both but an original structure which had a good platform for the match highlights to be recorded from. Also a nice feature to have a scoreboard at Step 5 as this is not a standard feature. The rest of this side of the ground is just hard standing.
Behind the far goal is a smaller stand with covered standing and terracing. This is quite far away from the pitch, but as I said earlier means the club has plenty of space for expansion if needed. Also on this side of the ground is another feature that you don’t see everywhere, a small room which is specifically designed for ‘Trojans elderly and disabled seating’. A nice touch although it was empty today.
Now, on the final side of the ground is the only seating available at the ground. It is a decent sized stand with 220 seats. It has terraced standing on either side too.
Moving on now to the clubhouse and club shop. Both of these were really impressive, especially for a Step 5 club. The clubhouse had a bar with a good selection of drinks. The food available was the usual non-league food apart from they did a chicken curry and chips, unfortunately I missed out on the last portion of this but it did look really good. I had to settle for a cheeseburger and chips but this was a good replacement.
The club shop was maybe the best one I have seen at this level, admittedly not too much competition. There was hundreds of old programmes, plenty of Staveley kit and merchandise and the walls were adorned with the shirts of old footballing heroes. Despite all these programmes, there was none available on the day for this game.
The game had potential to be a really close-knit affair with both teams starting the day on 31 points sitting in 11th and 13th, but with Staveley having far superior goal difference. Three points for either side could see them jump to as high as 5th in the league table so we were hoping for a good game.
That didn’t really go to plan and the away sides visit started in the worst possible fashion, conceding after just 12 seconds. It became quickly apparent that the home side were intending to force their advantage who doubled their lead just 20 minutes later. Thackley had plenty of the ball but never really seemed to threaten the Trojans.
The second half was a similar story with the hosts scoring in the 52nd and 61st minute to secure the points. The visitors did hit the bar and had a couple of balls flash across the box but the Trojans defence stood strong and kept a well deserved clean sheet. I was particularly impressed with the Staveley right back who was terrific. This victory pushed Staveley up to 6th in the table so a good afternoon for the club.
As I’m sure you can tell from the above, a truly cracking non-league set up and a good example of how a club should be run at this level. If you haven’t visited, please make sure you do.
ground bounce 