For February 23rd I'm going back 2 years to 2019 and the game between Colne and Kendal Town in the Northern Premier League Division 1 West.
This was one of those days where I was able to attend two games on the same day. My primary reason for being in the area was to see Spurs play at Burnley in the Premier League at 12:30. This ended in disappointment for me as Spurs lost 2-1 thanks to a late Ashley Barnes goal. The final whistle gave me around half an hour to do the 8 mile trip to get to my second game of the day at Holt House, Colne and a 3 o'clock kick-off. I made it with minutes to spare.
For those with some knowledge of the Non-League scene, it is important to understand the Colne FC are not Colne Dynamos. Dynamos were a club bankrolled by a millionaire chairman / manager who rose rapidly through the leagues in the late 1980s and indeed won the Northern Premier League in 1989/90. The previous summer they had moved from being part-timers to full-time professionals with several players understood to be earning more than some of their Football League counterparts. However, things were about to go dramatically wrong. Having won the Northern Premier League they were expecting to take their place in the Conference (National League) the following season, just one promotion away from the Football League. However, they were denied promotion because their Holt House ground did not meet the required ground grading. In itself this was ironic as the Conference had been frustrated on several occasions by having promotions refused due to the Football League's own ground grading rules and now they were doing exactly the same thing to Dynamos. Money-bags Chairman, Graham White, was not used to not having his own way and initially proposed a groundshare with Burnley followed by publication of plans for a new stadium. Irrespective, Dynamos were not going to be promoted and, within weeks, the Chairman informed the players that he was going to fold the club. The toys had truly come flying out of the pram! Colne FC were formed some 6 years later and became tenants of Dynamos old ground but, other than this, there is no connection between the two clubs.
This visit to Holt House remains my only one but I recommend taking a look if you're ever in the area as there are great views of the surrounding hills and valleys from within the ground. Colne comfortably beat Kendal 3-1 and went on to finish fourth in the league before losing to Leek Town at the Play-Off Semi-Final stage. Kendal finished in a lowly 19th place (out of 20) and were only reprieved from relegation by Colwyn Bay's (remember them?) decision to transfer into Cymru North, part of the Welsh football pyramid structure.
CRB Match No. 2290
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