Storm Babet had stopped me from being in Scarborough to see them play but despite the deluge that had engulfed many parts of the North I was still able to see a local football match.
I went to Handsworth in Sheffield to see them play top of the table Campion from Bradford. When I visited this ground before they had only recently completed their synthetic pitch and were building the rest of the facilities so it was good to see them finished. Along with the spirit level pitch with great hard standing and some covered seating is a clubhouse one end of the ground that houses the changing rooms and bar and food area. The finished ground is now impressive and is used along with the other pitches in this Oliver’s Mount complex for the many teams of all ages that now count this as their home. On the day of my visit there were officials from Northern Counties East who will surely have been impressed.
With flooding nearby it is incredible that games were being played locally for example on the artificial pitches at Worksop and Staveley. The green carpet looked even more authentic with a sparce covering of leaves from the surrounding trees and what looked like water being thrown up when the ball or foot glided on the surface. The splash effect was the black crumb that is layered onto the green carpet.
It was a cool 13 degrees with a grey cloudy sky that had small blue patches trying to sneak through. The loud speaker system was very audible, often not the case, a really great 32 page programme, team sheet or both were available on entry allowing you to be very informed. Despite all this effort and with Rotherham United cancelled the night before, Sheffield Wednesday away at Watford and Sheffield United kicking off at 20.00 pm there were only 162 there.
Although there had been a team at Handsworth for some years they take the start of the current club to be the 2013 merger between Handsworth and Worksop Parramore who took up Worksop Parramore’s higher league standing as Handsworth Paramore F.C. and played at Sandy Lane, Worksop. A Women’s team joined Sheffield and Hallamshire Women’s County League under the Handsworth banner in 2018 and the whole club was renamed Handsworth FC in 2019. The next year they returned home to Oliver’s Mount in Sheffield and a new all weather pitch.
Campion were formed in 1963, using their current name around 1975 when they entered the Bradford Sunday League moving to Saturdays soon after. They soon progressed to the West Riding League steadily moving up to the Premier League by 1993. Continued steady progress on the pitch and the facilities enabled them to be successful in joining the Northern Counties East League in 2016. Covid and the FA’s League reorganisation left them playing in the North West in 2021 but a successful appeal meant they were back in the NCEL in 2022 winning Division One. Now they are top of the Premier League and are looking to progress further.
Handsworth v Campion
Saturday 21st October 2023
Northern Counties East League Premier Division; 6th v 1st.
Express Worktops Stadium, Oliver Mount, Sheffield, S9 4PA
Handsworth: Gold shirts, Black shorts Campion: Royal Blue Shirts and shorts
Within 3 minutes Campion were ahead when a free kick by Luke Rhodes out on the left was missed by everyone and sailed into the net.
Campion looked strong, assured and focussed but on 11 minutes the home team were level when a cross from the right to the far post was headed back to Aaron Moxam who manged to control it and score.
Although the flow of the game was now equal Handsworth had the most chances and they converted one of them when just before half time Mason Barlow shot from the edge of box to top right hand corner.
Campion looked more pumped to start the second half as the temperature dropped to a cold 8 degrees and they equalised within 5 minutes as Stephen Crawford smashed the ball into the net after continued pressure.
This game had more twists in store as Handsworth regained the lead when a freekick from Ambers goalkeeper into area was headed up by a defender and after some scrappy play it fell to Aaron Moxam, again, who swivelled and kicked the ball into right hand corner along ground. The lead lasted only 6 minutes when on 74 minutes Sam Bradley headed home, when unmarked, from another freekick.
With time drifting on, the away team took the lead when Michael Trench turned the ball into his own net trying to stop it from reaching a Camion forward. This was after a string run down the left by Marcus Harper whose wicked whipped in ball caused all the trouble.
Unfortunately it was all over on 90 minutes when with Handsworth sending men forward for the equaliser they were caught out by a ball past their high line defence which Joseph Colley ran on to and lobbed the ball over Dylan Parkin who was off his goal line.
Handsworth 3 Campion 5
Heartbreak for Handsworth who had played well and perhaps deserved more. The league leaders showed their strength and determination to maintain their table topping position.
Unfortunately there were no chips for the third game running.
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