Today I'm going back 18 years to 2004 and Racing Club Warwick's league game against Ludlow Town in the Midland Football Alliance. The game was played in front of a rather disappointing attendance of just 80 at a time when Warwick were showing distinct signs of improvement under young manager Marcus Law after having been relegated from the Southern League the previous season.
Racing Club's Townsend Meadow, situated next to Warwick Racecourse along Hampton Road has been improved almost beyond recognition in recent years and the current hierarchy have much to be proud of, both with the infrastructure and the numerous age group teams that use the facilities. At the time the featured game was played, the ground was in something of a sorry state with facilities for players and officials in particular being quite rudimentary. The pitch at the time was notorious for being a mud bath and the club had problems every season when the bad weather came and the postponements began. Every year Warwick had to play catch up with the teams around them as they had lost so many games to postponements and, indeed, there were several occasions where Warwick were obliged to play on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and, occasionally on both Saturday and Sunday! Such problems are now a thing of the past because the club has invested in a smart new 3G playing surface in partnership with the local council, a local charitable trust and the Football Foundation. The investment in the playing surface has been accompanied by investment in the spectator facilities and the old changing rooms have even been turned into a coffee shop! The club now have a stadium to be proud of. It's surely one of the better ones in the Midland Football Alliance Premier Division and wouldn't look out of place back in the Southern League (although Racing Club might well be put into the Northern Premier League Division One South if they were to be promoted).
The game finished goalless and didn't linger too long in the memory but the Racing Club side contained a few faces who will bring a smile to the faces of Warwick supporters at the time. The side contained Mick Payne, Scott Lower, Casey Gaggini, Lee Everitt, Josh skidmore, Richard Wade, Andy Lovelock, Darren Bennett, Jermaine Gordon, Paul White and Alan Ward with Ross Holton, Kirk Miller and Olaolu (Ollie) Olanepekin coming off the bench to play their part.
Warwick finished the season in 12th place and would improve to 9th the following season and sixth the season after that before Marcus Law went on to bigger and better things, taking the coaching staff and some of the squad with him. At least Racing Club were finishing in the top half of an end of season table for the first time since 1995! For their own part, Ludlow finished in 20th spot (out of 24), one place above Grosvenor Park who resigned from the league. Pelsall Villa and Stafford Town were relegated whilst Rocester and Willenhall Town were both promoted into the Northern Premier League Division One. The Midland Football Alliance has since been merged with the Midland Combination into what is now known as the Midland Football League, one of sixteen leagues at the 9th and 10th levels of English football's pyramid.
CRB Match No. 1371
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