And so to the Stafflex Arena at Storthes Hall to visit another of the North West Counties new boys, Shelley Community FC. Today’s visitors in Division One North are the returning Ashton Town AFC. So 'where is Shelley ?' is the question I've been asked all week, and the answer is 3 miles north east of Upperthong and Netherthong. Still none the wiser ? OK 3 miles north east of Holmfirth, home of Last of The Summer Wine, and 6 miles south east of Huddersfield.
Shelley Football Club was established in 1903 and was
originally located on Back Lane, opposite the village hall in Shelley, with the
club competing in the Huddersfield & District League – their best
performance winning Division 2 twice.
In the late 1950s the club relocated to Westerly Lane, and this heralded a period of success including a double of winning the Division 3 title and the Groom Cup. Sadly the success didn’t last and the club folded in 1972.
The team was reformed in 1980 and in 2000 moved to Skelmanthorpe Rec. Having slipped to Division 5 of the Huddersfield & District League, the club slowly grew taking consecutive championships in Divisions 4 and 3 and winning the Groom Cup in both years.
In 2011 Shelley moved to Storthes Hall and up to the West Yorkshire League Division Two for the 2011/12 campaign. As title winners in their first season the side ascended to Division One finishing runners up in 2012/13 – their best finish.
The Storthes Hall facility was formally opened by Sarah, Duchess of York, in June 2015 with the emphasis being placed on the community. This provided the infrastructure for a successful application to join the North West Counties League Division One North in the close season, notwithstanding a 10th place finish (out of 16) in the West Yorkshire League.
The original Ashton Town joined the Lancashire
Combination in 1903, but withdrew towards the end of the 1910/11 season and
their fixtures were taken over by Tyldesley Albion. The current club was
established in 1953 by employee Derek 'Mick' Mycock as Makerfield Mill FC - a
works football team for Makerfield Mill, one of Lancashire's leading textile
mills in the 1950s, and known locally as the 'Weaving Shed'. The first two
seasons in the Wigan Sunday School League can only be described as disastrous,
with the club winning just two games, and earning the unenviable name of 'The
Chopping Blocks'.....
Mick decided to move the club to a higher standard of football, the St Helens Combination, for 1955/56 and successfully gained permission from the Mill's management to play four non-employees. After a season of consolidation, the restriction on the use of outside players was totally lifted and Division 2 was won in 1958.
Makerfield Mill FC joined the Warrington & District Amateur League the following season, and were champions five times in their first six seasons. This was also a period which saw the club renamed Ashton Town in 1962 and they acquired their Edge Green Street ground, which was previously used by Stubshaw Cross Rovers, in 1964.
After a sixth title in 1970, the Town joined the Lancashire Combination and then the Cheshire County League in 1978. Thereafter the club became founder members of the North West Counties Football League in 1982 where they have remained ever since, aside from one season in the Manchester League and last term in the Cheshire League having previously finished bottom of the pile in 2016/17 - slightly at odds with their motto 'Onwards & Upwards'. Despite only finishing 6th in a league of 15 the Town were successful in gaining re-election to the North West Counties Division One North in the summer.
So on a glorious sunny afternoon it's a familiar trail to
the M60, past iBlaze and ELCTRICAL. TOILETORIES. and Dogs and Divas Doggy
Daycare. There's even a car with registration plate M60 OOH en route but
personally I can't get that excited about a motorway.... Other plates today are
SP11NES (wonder what's behind the back of that one!) and SK11NG P with all its
winter sport paraphernalia - just goes to show some people have more money than
sense....
Anyway beyond the Co-op pyramid and its crystal Methodist, The Light Sociable
Cinema - whatever that is - at Red Rock, and off at Denton Rock for the M67 at
the end of which is the Big Baps Butty Van.
Traffic chaos, as ever, at Mottram and Hollingsworth, then into the pretty
village of Tintwistle with Arnfield Fly Fishery on the left. To Crowden and
Woodhead, with the reservoirs still depleted, and a helicopter hovering low
above the water.
Some beautiful countryside views in the sunshine as I circumnavigate Penistone
- views eclipsed by the return journey via a packed Holmfirth (yes I picked the
weekend of the Holmfirth Food & Drink Festival !!) and Holme Moor radio
mast.
Onto the A629 and Nether Mill Coarse Fishery and Barnsley Trout Farm, then the
floral welcome to Ingbirchworth, Salt Pie Farm at High Flatts, Birdsedge,
Thunder Bridge and finally Shelley where I turn at The Foxglove.
Storthes Hall Student Village, formerly a mental hospital, is well signposted
and I travel beyond the student accommodation and take a single track potholed
road to Storthes Hall Park aka The Stafflex Arena. The Big Kid Circus has also
taken residence further on in the complex as I find when the match finishes.
Plenty of parking again for today's crowd of 31.
The stadium is something else, almost engulfed in woodland and hacked out of a
forest, with three sides tree lined and the fourth with astonishing views of
the valley and moors, with Emley Moor transmission tower prominent.
Four pounds at the turnstile brings me to the clubhouse and bar and a patio
area, with steps leading to a flat tarmacked viewing area. The quirky 'stand'
is completed by nine concrete steps to the touchline with wooden planks acting
as seats. Both ends are partially covered, the stand starting in the corner and
finishing at the half way line. The top end and opposite touchline both feature
warm up areas and are fenced off; there is a walkway behind the goal to my
left.
Shelley are in red and black stripes, Ashton in change all yellow and this week we have an Asian referee, a young linesman and an even younger lineswoman. The game starts with a minute's silence in honour of Ashton Athletic's grassroots legend Taffy Roberts who died this week.
The first half is lively enough with Ashton starting the
better. Dylan Glass forces a fine diving save from Shelley's keeper Paul Day
then wastes another opportunity. Brad Smart scores for Town but the lineswoman
flags for offside - not so smart !!
Shelley come back into the game and leading goalscorer Craig Billington's flick
volley lands just the wrong side of the post. His header shortly after goes
close, before the miss of the first period goes to Ashton's Jason Carey.
Seemingly offside he bears down one on one with Day and comfortably sidefoots
wide.
The second half sees Town take a stranglehold on the match, with Smart forcing
a, ahem, smart save from Day when he should have scored. Shelley's shooting is
high, wide and not very handsome.
Glass has two great chances to win the game, the second of which he
inexplicably screws into the side netting in a one on one with Day. Then déjà
vu from last week: Glass is played through, Day hesitates outside his box then
commits to the challenge and appears to bring the Ashton man down. Play on says
the referee with no red card for the Shelley stopper or yellow for simulation
by Glass.
Valiant Shelley defending keeps the game scoreless with the considered opinion
of an elderly home fan at the death being 'Both sides squandered their
opportunities - but mainly them !' A point gained for Shelley….
