I have visited this ground before and the ground staff had won my chip league in the past.

My last visit 2 years ago was to see Sheffield Town F.C. play their first game as a ground share at the home of Kiveton Miners Welfare F.C. who played at the Miners Welfare ground which is also home to the cricket club next door.

Then in June 2023 it was announced that Kiveton Miners Welfare F.C. had been taken over and would partner with Sheffield Town F.C. An end of season visit in May 2024 I noticed that The Miners Welfare Team seemed to have a smattering of ex Sheffield Town players, which had seemed to have disappeared.

This season, no Sheffield Town playing in  the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League and  Kiveton Miners Welfare ( traditionally a Rotherham team) are playing at the Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield.

Now however Kiveton Park F.C. have taken up residence at Hard Lane. They are the oldest football club in the borough of Rotherham, formed in 1881. They are returning some of their teams after 7 years away. The club will be using three pitches which had previously been their home for over a century. Kiveton Park have been based at Wales High School, where they have developed a  partnership with the school, creating new facilities to include a new 3G pitch at the Chapman Fields site. This has meant there are now over 500, men’s, Womens, girls and boys affiliated to the club, some of which will stay playing at Chapman Fields.

So returning to Hard Lane to see the third resident in three years it was great to find that everywhere has been tidied up, mended and painted. The plastic seating in the large seated stand had been rigorously cleaned and mended. The sloping pitch, from end to end, was yellowing and a slight breeze was keeping the temperature at 14 degrees with a light drizzle.

Kiveton Park F.C. 1 Hepworth United Development F.C. 3

Saturday 7th September 2024;  14.00 pm kick off. Hard Lane, Kiveton, Rotherham.

Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football League Division 1.

Kiveton; Red shirts with black sleeves and front and back with faint black stripes down front and back, black shorts.
Hepworth; Deep navy blue shirt and shorts with colour graduation on front from white to blue.

Hepworth United started the game on top but it was Kiveton who had the best chance in the first 15 minutes. As the game progressed with Hepworth playing up the slope they took the lead after 25 minutes when their number 4 saw the keeper off his line and his shot  from the edge of the box took a slight deflection and  looped over the goalkeeper for the away team to take the lead.
10 minutes later and it was 2 nil as Hepworth number 3 took the ball to by line on left and with a beautiful left foot cross to the far post found a tall forward, with no number on back, who headed it down into the net. Kiveton had the most chances of the half but didn’t put any away.

With less than 5 minutes gone of the second half Joseph Holmes, in middle of goal, hit it with his left foot into top left hand corner of the goal to get Kiveton back in the game.
As the mist came down, Kiveton pressed for an equaliser and hit the bar with 78 minutes gone. But within a few minutes a corner for Hepworth from the right was headed by the home number 5, not clear, but over everyone into the far corner of the net. There was no way back from this and the 50 odd people watching were surprised that Kiveton had not managed to fashion at least a draw from the match.

The referee had a good game, keeping everything going and it was noticeable that there was a lot of talking but no swearing from the players.

The old iconic wood food wagon had gone and a new portacabin had replaced it to serve just hot drinks and snacks. Hopefully this will develop in the future.

I’m sure that Kiveton Park F.C. will develop their new home and look forward to chart their progress.