Today I'm going back 15 years to Racing Club Warwick's away fixture in the 1st Qualifying round of the FA Vase against Graham Street Prims on the outskirts of Derby.
The unusually named Graham Street Prims were originally formed in 1904 by the members of a Primitive Methodist Church which was located, funnily enough, in Derby's Graham Street. The club has folded and been reformed more than once in the intervening 117 years with it's most recent reincarnation having taken place in 1995. This season the club plays in the United Counties League Division One having been transferred across from the East Midlands Counties League of which they were members last season. One wonders how many Primitive Methodists play for the club today? I suspect that the answer is a round number. In case you were wondering, the Primitive Methodists were the result of a splintering of the Methodist Church with it's founders anxious to return to the original methods of John Wesley including the holding of open air meetings and the use of female ministers. The splintering of the People's Popular Front of Judea from Monty Python's Life of Brian springs to mind!
Another interesting feature of the football club is the proximity of their home (the Fred Harding Ground) to that of near neighbours Borrowash Victoria. The two grounds are literally yards apart and I have subsequently been able to attend a derby (in Derby!) between the two where transport to the away game wasn't an issue!
Warwick's away tie in the Vase left me happy at having the chance to visit a new Ground. For once, the game was something of a mismatch in favour of Warwick and the Racers ran out comfortable 5-0 winners in a bit of a false dawn under the management duo of Jose Ascensao and Bernie Cope. This new duo had been appointed following the departure to Quorn of successful former manager Marcus Law whose decision to leave the club had led to the break up of the previous season's side. In fact only Michael Hayden remained from the previous season and the new look Warwick side were unfamiliar to the small band of travelling supporters. Sadly the new regime was not particularly successful and Racing Club were about to enter a number of years of struggle.
CRB Match No. 1517
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