The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Alvechurch on 1st March 2005.
Racing Club’s run of blank match days goes on. Our rearranged fixture against Stourbridge scheduled for the evening of Tuesday 22nd February bit the dust just half an hour before kick off due to the snowy conditions. According to a couple of the Racing Club players that I spoke to, the pitch was “fine” but I must say that it’s rare that a player who is pumped up and ready for action will tell you anything different! Whatever, the referee didn’t fancy it so that was that. Cold comfort though for the small band of volunteers who had worked hard on the pitch during the course of the day – grateful thanks gentlemen as always!
Yet another fixture fell by the wayside on Saturday 26th February when the away game in Sutton Coldfield against Romulus was called off due, I imagine, to a waterlogged pitch. Seasonal debates concerning the merits of a mid-winter break get dusted down and wheeled out every year when the weather turns nasty by old hacks (that’s not me you understand!) searching desperately for something controversial to discuss. Personally I have never been in favour of such a break. The whole of the summer without football is bad enough, but perhaps there is a need for players to recharge the batteries just after the New Year? Anyway I’ve never heard of anybody advocating that the mid-winter break should occur in February – this season, had we had a break, we could have had a couple of inactive weeks in January followed by more inactive weeks in February when the bad weather set in. Warwick’s fixture pile up will be bad enough this season anyway, without the extra pressure on mid-week dates that a mid-season break would bring, so my vote goes for leaving things the way they are, if that’s OK with you!
Now normally when a Racing Club match is postponed I try to find a match at a ground that I haven’t visited. This Saturday is different however as a fixture at a ground that I have been to before attracts me. Hinckley United’s Middlefield Lane home has obviously seen better days and the club has taken the decision to invest £4 Million in a brand new 4,000 capacity state-of-the-art stadium. The Marston Stadium (yes, it’s sponsored) will host Hinckley’s first home game against Stalybridge Celtic on 5th March but this week it was farewell to Middlefield Lane with a fixture against former football league side Bradford (Park Avenue).
Hinckley United are a relatively new club, having been formed via a merger between Athletic and Town as recently as 1997. The Middlefield Lane ground formerly belonged to Athletic having been purchased by a far-sighted Committee for just £500 shortly after World War Two. That was shrewd business indeed with developers paying £3.8 Million for the same site less than 60 years later. Middlefield Lane is truly dilapidated, but then why would anybody bother spending any money on its upkeep with a move in the offing? Anyway, despite the impoverished surroundings, the locals are both friendly and helpful. They will enjoy their new surroundings. One does wonder what the future holds for United though – going from undoubtedly the poorest facilities in the Nationwide Conference North to perhaps the best may make a trip to this part of Leicestershire slightly less forbidding for visiting sides.
In terms of value-for-money, Hinckley’s match with Bradford cannot be beaten. As a gesture to supporters, and in an attempt to attract one last big crowd to Middlefield, admission, much to my great delight, is free! Hinckley’s normal gate of less than 500 is therefore swelled to a more respectable 930. I spent my unwanted admission money in the programme shop instead as I gleefully captured a few old Racing Club items from our early 90’s Beazer Homes League Midland Division days. My predecessors in the Racing Club programme writing fraternity certainly had plenty to say – but where are they all now?
As for the match itself, after a bright start by Carl Shutt’s Bradford side, Hinckley were ahead after 12 minutes through ex-York City legend Paul Barnes, after which they never looked back. The match was played out in the most atrocious conditions with heavy driving rain accompanying a good deal of the action. The pitch, which looked very poor to say the least, certainly deserves the attention that it will get when the developers arrive! Hinckley though are well used to it and ended up as comfortable 4-0 winners with the excellent Barnes helping himself to a hat-trick. Bradford are rock-bottom, look doomed and, given that they are 14 points from safety, are probably looking out their “Guide to Unibond Premier Grounds” as I write. Bradford (Park Avenue), like Racing Club (Warwick), are one of the few sides who carry brackets in their official name so perhaps we should wish them good luck for the rest of the season as fellow brothers-in-brackets!
Keep the faith!
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