Well, what a season that was! Eighty five matches spread between forty three women’s games and forty two men’s matches, across ten different counties, seeing matches in over twenty different leagues and that’s without the FA competitions thrown in! From Ashridge Park Women in pre-season to Wembley for the Lionesses match with Portugal, I’ve been lucky enough to visit some fantastic new clubs and grounds while also keeping in touch with many friendships I’ve built up at clubs over the past three years of this project. For that you have my utmost gratitude. One of the best things about doing this is meeting so many people who volunteer their valuable time to help out their local clubs and communities. Chapeau to all of you, you are all awesome!
In this review I’ll be highlighting some of the fantastic places I’ve visited for the first time this season, games where I’ve enjoyed catching up with some old favourites, list my top three printed programmes of 24/25, and, regular readers won’t be surprised to hear, my favourite food I’ve tested on my travels. You’ll have to bear with me on this as I have a feeling this is going to be a helluva lot longer than my usual blog posts!
Season 24/25 started early for me with ten pre-season matches which included first visits to two wonderful clubs in Uxbridge and Yateley United and having the chance to catch up with many old friends mainly from the women’s game, at Maidenhead, Ashridge Park, Farnborough, Wycombe Wanderers and Woodley United.
Special Days Out
Here I’ll highlight some of the new clubs visited who really made an impression with their friendliness and hospitality. The first of these came in the early rounds of the FA Cup. Back in 22/23 I’d met some Hassocks fans at a Cup tie in Chessington and always promised I’d visit; this year I made it. Despite some heavy downpours the game went ahead and I was welcomed in by the chairman (and car park attendant), had a great chat with their social media guru Owen and was served a pint by a lovely friendly lady behind the bar. The game was a good one and was just the start of things to come for this great club as they swept to a league and cup double! If you get a chance, head down there, they are a club on the up and doing things the right way.
Next up AFC Whyteleafe. Another wonderful friendly club on their way to greater things. I caught their FA Vase first round proper match with Saltdean on their way to a date in the final at Wembley, and was again welcomed in with open arms. They have a great club shop selling programmes and many other items of memorabilia. They are another team who will be plying their trade in a higher league as they went on to complete a league title win, albeit one they didn’t know about until three weeks after the season finished! A great set-up and definitely one to visit if you’ve never been.
Worcester Park were another club I’d had on my list to visit for a long time but never quite managed to fit a game in. This changed in October after my scheduled game was postponed. Fantastic food at a more than reasonable price (likewise a great bar), free entry, great welcome and a cracking old school game of football!
My annual trip to Whitstable came next, this time for their FA Vase Third Round clash with Jersey Bulls. The Oysters were again on the way to an historic run in the Vase, eventually winning the final at Wembley against the aforementioned AFC Whyteleafe. Whitstable is one of the friendliest places you’ll get to visit and the food…well, Sam and her team do a fantastic job there (more on that later!). My fifth visit to the Belmont Ground and each one just keeps getting better. Also being able to catch up with radio commentator supreme Chris Walker there was also an unexpected bonus! A club going places.
The next stand-out trip was a first visit to Bemerton Heath Harlequins, a club I’d never heard of until Peter, a friend on Twitter, mentioned his visits there. A long trip but one worth it in every way. Lovely people and atmosphere, great food and a bar to die for if you’re a cider buff like me! This is a ground I have down to do over a weekend next time so I have more time before and after the game. This time felt a little rushed but that was on me and my distrust of rail services!
A visit to Fetcham Grove to watch Leatherhead had also been on my radar for a while and, after a change in circumstances, I was finally able to make the trip in March to this club with a wonderful history in non-league football. Yes, I’m old enough to remember Chris Kelly, the Leatherhead Lip, and their legendary FA Cup run back in the 75/76 season. Another wonderful club who couldn’t be more friendly, the ladies in the food cabin, the Fanzone bar ladies and all the volunteers I spoke to on the day were absolutely superb. I was also lucky enough to choose a game David Warren was sponsoring and it was great to get to chat with him. Next time I visit it hopefully won’t be on a day with a freezing wind whistling across you, especially when you’re sitting in their Fanzone bar trying to drink your pint and eat your burger & chips while they’re trying to launch off the table!
Tooting & Mitcham United are the final one for this section, another club I visited on the recommendation of a fan while travelling to another game. I mentioned I was going to the game on social media and swapped messages with Stephen who said to ask for him at the ground and he’d take me into the boardroom. Another cracking day out, great people, great food (next time I’ll try The Shak) and it was here we experienced Joel Ormsby who undoubtedly wins my best PA announcer of the season for his witty takes on almost everything! A real pleasure to visit and I’ll hopefully be seeing you again.
A Manic Easter Weekend
My Easter break started with planning a four day break in Eastbourne where I’d get the chance to visit Borough, Town and United in one visit. The fixtures had been kind, Borough were at home on Good Friday, Town on the Saturday and United on Easter Monday morning. A couple of weeks before Easter I’d spotted Saltdean United Women were at home to Fulham Women on Easter Sunday, a short bus ride away, so added that in and then at the last minute added the WSL match at the Amex between Brighton & Hove Albion Women and Liverpool lunchtime kick-off (thanks for the tip-off Tim!) as I could just make it back in time for the 3pm Town kick-off.
It certainly did turn into a manic weekend of travel and new grounds, but also the pleasant opportunity to catch up with Sussex non-league legend Trevor Knell and stat king Chris Prior. To say I needed a rest when I returned home would be an understatement but this was one weekend that will live with me for a long time!
Local Football
This season also gave me plenty of chances to catch up with the incredible people I’ve met over the past couple of years, the real lifeblood of the Berkshire non-league game in both the men’s and women’s football. It’s always a pleasure to cover and catch up with friends at (get ready for a long list here!), Woodley United Ladies who are still my most seen team in the Wandering Tractor years, Ashridge Park Women, Caversham United (men & women this year), Wokingham Town, Ascot United (men & women), Bracknell Town, Wycombe Wanderers Women, Virginia Water, Maidenhead United Women, Farnborough Women and also Berks County, who I’ve managed to catch at men’s, women’s and under 18’s women’s level this season to give them the title of my most seen club in 24/25.
I’ve also had the privilege of meeting and covering some new local sides this season, AFC Reading Ladies, Langley, Bracknell Aces and FC Bracknell in the EBFL and the not so local AFC Varsity. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know and being able to follow the astonishing journeys of two brand new sides this season, Windsor & Eton Women and Farnham Town Women throughout the season. What a successful time it was for both with Windsor taking the TVCWFL Division Three South title and Farnham sweeping everyone aside in the Surrey Premier League. Both having a certain symmetry as their clubs’ men’s teams both took their respective league titles too. What a season for both! Thank you to all of the above for making me feel so welcome.
One special mention has to go to Reading YMCA. Until Tom Canning from Football in Berkshire contacted me to say they were planning a showcase match at The Cauldron, I’d never really thought about going there. I had seen them in a cup semi final in 22/23 but they had slipped from my thoughts. The FiB team did a great job, producing a fantastic printed programme and smashing it with coverage on social media. I had a great day there, the people there are outstanding and the food is superb. They are another club doing things the right way and on the rise. I look forward to catching up with Mark, Stuart and everyone at YM again in 25/26.
Best Printed Programme
This was always going to be a tough category to judge, I’ve found so many non-league clubs have really upped their game and produced some excellent programmes this season. The one-off programme put together by FiB for the Reading YMCA game mentioned above was quality, Leatherhead, Sheerwater, Redhill, Hassocks and Whitstable were all excellent. If pushed my two runners up would be Bemerton Heath Harlequins and Tooting & Mitcham both put together superbly with glossy pages, plenty of info and not too many adverts. Excellent from both clubs and congratulations to the programme editors behind these.
In 2022, one of the first places I wanted to go was Fisher, home of probably one of non-league football’s finest and much photographed backdrops in Canary Wharf. On that occasion I met Ian Murphy who produces the programme for Fisher. Each year since I’ve made a pilgrimage back to the St Paul’s Sports Ground, strangely always in November, and the quality of Ian’s programmes just seems to get better every year. He is a top fella to boot and I’ve seen on social media he is already planning next year’s, so this is my top printed programme for 24/25 but Ian, no resting on your laurels as the others are closing in!
Top Non-League Nosh
From my experience watching non-league football over the last three years the non-league has definitely upped its food game, probably helped along by the likes of Footy Scran on social media with the views and coverage that brings the clubs featured, now seemingly every club is getting more inventive.
I’ve had some great food this season, tasty and filling chilli & chips at Wokingham Town, a ridiculously sized burger at Uxbridge you’d need to be able to distend your jaw like a snake to eat, the now famous Chinese box at Reading City, a good old fashioned pie & chips at Bracknell Town, a chilli hot dog at Reading YMCA, lasagne at Berks County/Ascot United, glorious nuggets & chips at Staines & Lammas, a wonderful double cheeseburger with bacon at Bemerton Heath Harlequins, a tasty quarter pounder & cheesy chips at Worcester Park, and the whole range of excellent food Burnham’s 1878 stadium produces. You should never go hungry at a non-league ground these days!
The last two years my top burger award has gone to Abbey Rangers, but without attending one of their games at Addlestone Moor this season I have to look for a new winner in 24/25. As regular followers will know, I am partial to a burger or two, and two of my top three are burgers.
Sam at Whitstable caught me unawares when she used me as a guinea pig for a new burger she was trying out. Two quarter pound burgers, bacon rashers and a chicken breast fillet served with cheese, fried onions and salad and it was stunning! Even I struggled but I do have an excuse, it was a lunchtime kick-off and I’d already had a breakfast that morning, but there was never any danger of me not finishing!
Next, we return to Fisher for their Sharpie Burger. Here you get three-layer burger and you can choose whichever ratio you fancy, three burgers, three chicken breasts or a mixture of both, it’s up to you. This is served with cheese, fried onions and topped off with three onion rings on the top. As you can probably imagine, I needed to walk around the ground a few times after consuming that!
Top prize this year though goes to Ascot United. The choice you get there is simply stunning, burgers, hot dogs, falafel burgers & veggie options, nuggets, breakfast rolls, jacket potatoes, toasties and chips however you like them, dirty, cheesy or normal. They also do a variation on the big box meal and a range of specials throughout the season, I’ve already mentioned the lasagne but my favourite food at a match this season was a chicken curry. All food is cooked to order so it’s piping hot, perfectly cooked and very, very tasty! Well done to all involved, you have a tremendous range of matchday food and your staff all do a top job!
What’s Next?
To be honest with you, I don’t know. The Wandering Tractor project was only supposed to be for a couple of years so this summer will give me a bit of time to decide what happens next. Next season I’ve already decided to not to do any pre-season games and plan to attend fewer games in 25/26. But that’s me talking now, a month away from football and I’ll probably develop a non-league itch I’ll have to scratch again! I’m looking at taking a few longer trips next season with weekend stays similar to my Easter break (but a little less stressful!), which will hopefully negate the need to rush around chasing after trains all the time. One thing I’ve avoided doing this year is totting up how much I’ve spent on travel this season, that would be shocking and is one of the reason’s I’m thinking of changing it up next season. I should think I’ll still catch up with many of the wonderful local people and clubs I’ve been fortunate to meet over the past three years, so there’s every chance you’ll see me on the sidelines at some point in 25/26.
I am thinking of going back to my roots on the women’s football side, concentrating on three or four of my favourite local teams while still providing some extra coverage for teams that rarely receive any, both local and possibly a few further afield. Trying to help promote women’s football in the lower tiers has been my number one objective since falling in love with it three years ago and that is something that won’t be changing.
I’m unsure how many reports etc I’ll do next year or which direction to go with the website. With attending fewer games I might be available to spend some of my free time helping out any clubs that would like any, and it’s also likely I’ll be doing more writing/reports for other outlets next year. There are plenty of options open and I guess all that will become much clearer after a long summer break!
So that’s 24/25 season done and it certainly has been a memorable one with many, many highlights and only the occasional disappointment. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank every single person I’ve had the honour of getting to know over the last three years, clubs I’ve reported on, volunteers who keep the clubs going, meeting and getting to know several groundhoppers and several incredibly talented photographers, and a huge thank you to all the coaches and managers for their help with team sheets and for taking the time to talk to me. You are all part of what makes up the grassroots football family so remarkable, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
Hopefully be seeing you soon.
Dave
