Rusty Conwy

Chester Nomads v FC Oswestry Town

Chester Nomads III v Axis United

Conwy Borough v Atherton Colleries

Rhyl v West Bromwich Albion XI

Pre-season friendlies are back in full swing and a mixture of pitch availability, dual fixtures with Reserves, and players also involved in cricket, means a varied selection of kick off times and therefore a relatively easy task of getting a number of games in.

First off, was a very strange kick off of 1000 in Chester, apparently so the visiting players could then attend the races.  So it was the 0700 off Sowerby.

Into Victoria, with the damage from the terrorist attack still very visible on the overbridge into the arena.

Over to Piccadilly where a late minute change from a completely empty platform to one already occupied by a Bournemouth bound voyager, sees a number of tourists inadvertently get on the wrong train and are probably still on their way back from Dorset as you are reading this.

The correct train was right at the end of the platform and a double 150.

This was a mid-Cheshire line service.  These used to go the direct route out to Altrincham but when that was taken over by the tram, the previously goods only line via Northenden was used.  This is a rather circuitous route but does pass a few grounds.  The Rushford Park home of Manchester North End, which was a bit rushed and blurred and I thought would be the worst ground shot on this leg.

Until I got to Edgely Park, currently the biggest ground in Conference north, and somehow being less visible, despite taking the closest line to it.

Never mind, what about Ericstan Park, home of Wythenshawe Town?  Well it appears an urban woodland has grown up alongside the railway since my last visit, so this is the current view.

Well, there is always Wincham Park and Victoria Park, the homes of Witton Albion and, well, I've lost track of the Northwich Victoria saga.  But it appears that either they have moved three miles northwards, the railway has moved three miles southward, or else they are just further than I remember and there are a few more trees  Either way, here's a picture of some distant floodlights.

Through Lostock Gralam and some extremely tempting diversions, though with a consistently crap photo.

Into Chester and the strange shelter over the bay platforms.

It was a wander through the city, and down to the river.

Over the Dee and what appears to be the U3A rowing club, were strangely doing widths of the river.

It was southwards to the outskirts of the city, where this rather understated entrance was the gateway to my first game of the day. 

Chester Nomads moved in with Boughton Hall cricket club, in the east of the city very early on in its existence, and the first team have been there ever since.  Originally sharing part of the out field but have recently purchased part of the ground themselves, which they have levelled and turned into their own enclosed ground.  However, this game was being played at the Garrison Ground, where their reserve and youth teams play.

Chester Nomads 1 v FC Oswestry Town 2, Pre-Season Friendly

Chester Nomads were formed in 1902 by a group of teenagers, bored of waiting for the invention of mopeds so they could go around throwing acid at each other.  Playing on various grounds close to the Racecourse, they chose the Duke of Westminster's gold and black racing colours for their kit.  These days the club is a massive local set up, with the first team playing in the Mid-Cheshire, but also men's teams in the Chester and District, and a myriad of junior sides.

Oswestry is located a few miles south of Chester.  It's one of those that you assume is Welsh, but is insignifcant enough not to really bother you.  A bit like Hereford or Hal Robson-Kanu.  As to FC Oswestry Town, well, well, well.  There was of course Oswestry Town, who had a long history of moderate playing success and bankruptcy.  They had spells in the Southern league and then the Northern Premier.  However, just up the road in Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, a tiny village club were suddenly challenging for the league of Wales.  These plucky underdogs, going under the traditional name of Total Network Solutions, won the league but had neither the ground nor the support to progress.  So they moved in with Oswestry, then merged with them, under the acronym consistent The New Saints.    Since then they have dominated the League of Wales, winning it 11 times.  With this comes a Champions league place, and a massive cash award from UEFA, meaning their budget dwarfs any other team in the league and has perpetuated them winning the last six titles.  Now, what if the owner has got bored of Welsh football, and with the club located this side of the border, fancies a go in the English structure?  Well, they'd have to start way down the pyramid, and lose their lucrative champions league income, which put in perspective, is equal to the 'golden share' and TV revenue of a league 2 club.  So instead, a separate team has been set up, which has risen up from the depths of the Mercian league and is now in the North West Counties.  The suspicion is that they will get to a level where it is seemed viable for TNS to transfer across to.  This is hotly disputed by the chairman of TNS.  Oh, who is also chairman of FC Oswestry.  It is pointed out that there is a completely separate ownership structure, with FC Oswestry Limited going down the traditional route for start up step 13 clubs, by being owned by Finishing Touch Trading 559 (Pty), a South African holding company.  Anyway, watch this space.

The ground is very basic, just two open pitches without any railings or dug outs.

The changing rooms have cunningly avoided the perennial problem of vandalised windows, by not having any.  The teams emerged from their darkness.

Except there was now some confusion as the home team got into place at one end of the near pitch.

Whilst the opposition were at the other end of the other pitch.  This could be fun.

But eventually both sides managed to agree on a pitch and the game got underway.

The pitch appeared to be located in someones back garden.

The dwelling precariously positioned on the touch line.

The owners had afforded themselves some protection with very long grass, which seemed to be a magnet for over-hit cross field passes, and it was permanently occupied by a bib clad sub searching for a lost ball. 

The early play was mostly Chester, though they never looked remotely line scoring.

The Chester management kit was all black, so their bench looked like a group of whatever the collective noun for referees assessors is.

The Oswestry bench was a more relaxed affair.

By now the sub was almost lost in the undergrowth.

The access road was a tree lined track along one goal line, and was a pleasant place to shelter from some light drizzle.

It also gave a good vantage point to see Oswestry score with their first attack.

  
On the other side of the track were some abandoned pitches.

These belong to the adjacent school, which in keeping with modern day establishments, had called itself an academy and taken on the appearance of a remand centre.

There was an extremely disappointing lack of sixty foot skied clearances, this being the highest I saw.

Oswestry added a second.

But then Chester pulled one back.

It was a surprise to see Ivan Brackenbury running the line.

The game then evened out a bit.

Unusualy, the Oswestry goalkeeper was wearing number 7.  I take it this was because his normal shirt was yeallow and this was a borrowed away shirt. 

However, there was then movement on the other pitch, as the handful of players who I'd assumed to be subs, were steadily joined by a full contingent of team mates.

And then another team appeared from seemingly nowhere.

Most intriguingly, with a very 'robust' goth clad keeper, looking like the love child of Lev Yashin and Rick Waller.

Chester Nomads III 5 v Axis United 4, Pre-season Friendly

The third team play in the premier division of the Chester and Wirral Football League, although they did finish second from bottom last season.

Axis United are formed of workers at Axis Recruitment a local staffing agency.  The club's website gives a detailed history of the company rather then the club, so lots of talk about 'specialist Commercial recruitment consultancy', 'exponential growth' and 'an impressive client base' rather than any exploits in the Chester Sunday League Football.

I was keen to watch the first keeper I'd seen play in a Sepultura hooded top, so switched my allegiances over to this game.  I was immediately rewarded by a flood of goals.

As well as some heroic feats of athleticism.

And some more goals.

I then found a lovely position where I could perfunctorily watch both games as well as partaking in one of my favourite activities of 'guess the purpose of the mystery agricultural contraption'.

Well, I did until this complete prick parked right in front of me.  Who would have thought a BMW driver would display such inconsideration?

Soon it was time to head off, with the first team game finishing 1-2 to Oswestry and the thirds continuing the goal fest with a 5-4 victory. 

It was back across my favourite Dee after Jack, C Thompson, and Heavy and the Boys.

Back to the station which was rammed full of scousers in suits.  Back in the day, this would have signified a gangland court case, but even that doesn't garner sartorial grace these days, and therefore it was the sole remaining source of Liverpudlian formal dress; Chester races. 

I battled my way through the Prosecco ridden masses and made my way a coast bound service.

I always check that my intended game is still on.  For my next one, it seemed that the away fans were on their way.

Leaving Chester and passing the race track with its seething mass of fake Jasper Conran.

How were my compatriots getting on?

Passing the oddly located ground of League of Wales team Airbus Broughton.

More drama for the away contingent.

The desolate Duke of Lancaster seems to have gained a coat of black paint, giving it an even more sinister look.

But good news, the away fans had made it.

I headed on along the coast, with some sun starting to appear.

Although my train carried onto my destination of Conwy, I alighted at Llandudno Junction as I had an hour or so to spare and it is a pleasant wander along the coast.

The main A55 disappears in a tunnel under the bay.

Leaving a pleasant wander to the ancient town of Conwy.

Yeah, but what has the EU ever done for us, apart from funding the sea defences that has stopped us drowning.  Needless to say the area voted leave.

Conwy is an extremely historic town, with a 12th century castle, city walls, Telford suspension bridge and Britain's smallest house.  So it is full of tourists.  Or drinkers.  Or tourists drinking.  Any one of these is challenging, all three of them is hellish.  So I carried on through the town to here, or specifically the bit in the bottom left corner.

I stayed for a few overs, but listened to England lose more wickets than I got to see here.

On to the ground, and some very subtle signage.  When your sign is 10% the sign of that for local animal herders, you know you perhaps don't have the popularity you might want. 

The ground was found at the far end of a housing estate.

Although a housing estate that the residents didn't want to get any bigger.

Needless to say, the proximity of the ground was marked by a car proclaiming allegiances to Carlshalton Athletic.  What is it about a club that struggles to attract three figure crowds, that at least half of all non league fixtures seem to have one of their supporters present at it?  They seem to be a splinter group of the momentum movement.

Talking of organisations taking over non-league, it was the first Slimming World venue of the season.

We've put up some A4 sized frames to display club notices, now what would be best to go in them?  How about A5 leaflets at a jaunty angle? 

A bargain £3 entry got us in.

Conwy Borough 0 v Atherton Colleries 5, , Pre-Season Friendly

Football in Conwy dates back as far as the 1870s.  The most successful club were Borough United, who were Welsh Cup winners in the 1960s but then lost their ground to the the Irish Oblates of Mary Immaculate order no less.  Only local league sides then existed, until in the late seventies, two of them, Conwy Town and Royal British Legion, combined to form Welsh Alliance side Conwy United, who progressed to the Cymru alliance, and then became founder members of the League of Wales in 1992.  With the bigger Welsh teams still clinging onto the English pyramid, Conwy had some decent finishes, including qualification for the Intertoto cup.  By 2000, the reserve of the bigger clubs made the League of Wales less viable for the likes of Conwy, and the financial pressures of competing meant they dropped out of the league, right down to the Welsh Alliance.  In recent times they have risen back up to the Cymru Alliance, the second level of Welsh football.

Atherton is located between Manchester and Wigan, and was a former mining area.  Indeed, Atherton Colleries FC were formed in 1916 by local miners to raise money for the war effort.  With the end of hostilities, they joined the Bolton Combination, and then dotted around the Manchester league, West Lancs, Lancashire Combination and then the Cheshire league until that became the North West Counties in the early eighties, where they have been since.

The Y Morfa ground was originally home to Llandudno Junction, which is a bit odd as that is located on the other side of Conwy.  However, when they merged with Conwy Borough in the 1950s to become Borough United, they moved over to the Junction area, and the ground was taken over by Llandudno Rugby Club.  However, a fire destroyed the facilities and they moved out.  When Borough became homeless in the 1960s, they chose to go out of business rather than returning to Y Morfa as by then it was just an open field.  However, it was suitable for the newly formed Conwy Borough in the 1970s as their lower level meant requirements were less, and the then remote nature of the site made it ideal for building up. 

What was previously the main stand sits amid an open terrace on the far touchline.

However, for the league of Wales and European jaunt, additional seating was required and a cover was built at one end.  Previously this was completely open, as seen by this picture of Stan Boardman dressed as a Nazi.

Adorning the back wall is some of the greatest football artwork I have seen in a long time. 

Complete with a depiction of local scenes.  If I ever become a ground grader, this is the sort of thing I would enforce.

The ground seemed very focused on its environmental credentials.

Possibly more than spectator facilities.  The end cover in fact being closed with the seating in various states of disrepair.

The other touchline was open.

At one end a narrow cover.

And very substantial raised dugouts in the centre.  These prohibit spectator access around the pitch.

The near end was open, with a collection of semi-permanent portakabins forming a tidy social club.

In the corner was what appeared to be a mobile home on legs, and was the club hospitality suite.

A very welcome emerging trend is towards having very expressive warm up @keepers_towels 

Health and safety gone mad etc etc etc

The Atherton coach dwellers arrived.

The pitch looked to be in quite a concerning state, with a number of barren areas.  Whether this was deliberate treatment or as a result of the dry weather. 

The visitors emerged.

Followed shortly by the home side.

Both teams then assumed that it was the usual pointless handshakes, only to be sent away by the ref.

So to the game.  Well, Atherton were the higher level team and after a while it showed, as they opened the scoring.

And another.

There were a fair number of visiting fans, and they had mostly congregated on the open terrace.

Apart from the odd loner who was basking in the shared luxury of the couple in the hospitality lounge.

The towel had made its way to the game itself.

It was also an ideal location for @nonleague_train.  The unit I'd had earlier passes the warm up on its return journey forming 1H89 1333 Bangor (Gwynedd) to Warrington Bank Quay.

The game itself had started as 1D13 1110 Birmingham International to Holyhead passes, having deposit a load of West Brom supporters at Rhyl, for their pre-season friendly.  But more of that later.

A few moments later and it's another refurbed ATB class 158, this time on 1G50 1328 Holyhead to Birmingham International.

A home goal kick is accompanied by a double Voyager set on Virgin's 1A50, the 1358 Holyhead to London Euston.

The North Wales coast line used to be the core route for travel to and from Ireland, connecting in to the Dublin-Holyhead ferry.  These days, almost all the anglo-IRish passenger traffic has gone over to Ryan Air, with services such as this, which connects in with the morning sailing, being little more than a token offering.  I still choose to travel this way, but there are only ever a handful of others doing so, and the train never waits for the ferry if it is late.

The ground is dominated by Mynydd Y Dref, or Conwy Mountain for you Brits.  This was an important source of millstones, back when millstones were important.

Into the second half and Atherton continued their scoring. 

As well as some decent height on clearances.

More goals, though these were probably first half ones.

Unfortunately, the hosts couldn't muster a consolation.

So a last look at a lovely ground and an enjoyable game.

It was a walk back to the town, with its understated entarnce.

Back to the station.  Notice the woman on the right, hiding behind a gate post whilst shouting down the phone to a mate as apparently they had just done a runner from a restaurant.  The joys of afternoon drinking.

I was down to the platforms, for an incoming Holyhead-Cardiff service.

The railway was built through the castle grounds and passes through the walls.

Back along the coast.

It was off at Rhyl, as they had a later kick off so I could get in the second half.  Or so I thought.

A short walk takes you to the football ground, though they were being shy about who they were playing.

Still no clue.

It was whilst taking this in, and the rather eclectic mix of opponents, that I noticed that actually kick off today was 1500 not 1600 as I thought.

So it was a rush into the game.

Rhyl 0 v West Bromwich Albion 4, , Pre-Season Friendly

Rhyl were formed in 1879 and had an eventful start, going under Athletic, Town and United suffixes, whilst sitching amongst the Welsh league, North Wales Coast, Combination, and Welsh National, before a mid 1920s bid for election to the Football League.  They lost out to York so instead joined the Birmingham and District League, that's on hell of a district.  They carried on in the English structure with the Cheshire County league, which then became the North West Counties, from which the Northern Premier followed.  Rhyl were one of the clubs that didn't fancy the original League of Wales, but legal threats saw them eventually agree to join, but the league decreed it was too late and as they had already resigned from the NPL, they were forced to play in the Cymru Alliance, where they were promoted after the first season.  Since then they have had a couple of league win, a Welsh cup win, and various European adventures.

West Brom.  Well, let's face it, they're just a slightly friendlier version of Wolves.  Jeff Astle, Rainbow Stand, Bobby Gould, Not knowing what a throstle or a baggy is, Rons and Ronnies, Adrian Chiles, No smoking sponsors, Smethwick Rolfe Street.

I got in to take in the last five seconds of the game, as the final whistle blew immediately.

So it was a quick look around the ground.  Belle Vue has been home to Rhyl since 1892.  In recent years it has gone through a lot of rebuilding in order to gain enough seating capacity to host European games, and I barely recognised it from my last visit which was only fifteen or so years ago.

On the opposite touchline, the obligatory League of Wales TV gantry megastructure.

Seats have even been crammed into the one open terrace, which was where the West Brom fans had gathered.

The desire to get seats in, and the rather cramped nature of the stadium, means it is not a great stadium for the casual supporter, as it is very low vantage points with roof supports.  The opposite end is also like this.  The teams trudged off with the Premier League side having apparently strolled to a 0-4 victory.

So it was a very swift return to the station.

Onto an English bound Hippo.

Their was engineering work to do with the new Ordsal Curve, so what would normally be a Manchester service, instead terminated at Warrington Bank Quay.

There was a replacement bus service into Manchester but a quicker option was a stroll across town to Central.  This passed by the main bus station where there was an unexpected tribute to Viola Beach, the local band who were killed when they drove off a half finished Swedish bridge.

My move was to be on a TransPennine service and then via Huddersfield and Halifax, however I'd made it in time for the Northern semi-fast service. 

Past Old Trafford, and my final blurred ground photo of the day. 

It was off at Deansgate.

Then a tram move across the city.

Which took me back to Victoria.

For an all shacks back to Sowerby.

Getting home, I was delighted to find that the Axis goalies hooded top wasn't the most unusual keeper's attire of the day, as a colleague had submitted a picture of Eaton Socon's wearing sunglasses in their game.  I feel a new Twitter account is on it's way.