After the majesty of the F.A. Cup last week, I moved down to the bread and butter of the 11th tier of English football with a trip to Brodsworth.
Well, not exactly Brodsworth, which is to the West of the A1 but Adwick, which is to the East of the A1, north of Doncaster.
I initially pulled into Adwick Leisure Complex which turned out not where I needed to be. The complex provides swimming, a gym, Bowling, Sports Hall, Skate Park, Childrens Play Area, Football and more.
So I drove up the road and found a driveway through a gateway, to be met but a derelict Brodsworth Miners Welfare Hall, past which I drove and parked by the entrance to the football pitch and cricket ground.
The derelict Brodsworth Miners Welfare Hall is over 100 years old and has been saved by a community campaign to keep the building, one of the last links to the mining industry and its community in the area. It is hoped to transform it into a centre for all types of support and events.
The football ground too looks to have been supported by the welfare in the past. It has in the middle of one side one of those imposing seated stands that are found all around the coal areas, now fitted with bench seats, where other seats used to be. Behind one goal is a covered standing area with the rest of the ground perimeter flat hard standing. One thing that hits you is the very modern floodlights, one of which also acts as a mobile aerial tower. The lights were fitted by Abacus who have supported this league for some time. In one corner are player and official changing rooms and a separate small clubhouse that has a small bar serving food and drinks and a an area for meetings and social events.
There has been a Brodsworth Main FC since 1910, using slightly different names at times. They originally played in local leagues until 1921 when they joined the Yorkshire League where they remained for over 50 years, with some disruptions. As Brodsworth Miners Welfare they again played locally until 1988 when they joined the Northern Counties East League where apart from one brief Premier league promotion they struggled until resigning in 2011. During this period (2006) their name changed again, this time to Brodsworth Welfare AFC. They played in local leagues and the Central Midlands League until 2020 when the club was dissolved. However a merger with Hatfield Main saw the club rise again as Brodsworth Main FC to play in the Doncaster League in 2022 and back into the Central Midland League last season.
I have written about Glapwells’ history before and we await a hopeful announcement about a new permanent home ground.
The teams came out to blue skies but the northerly wind reduced the temperature down to below 10 degrees. The home team decided to play down the small end to end slope with the wind behind them. The pitch was an undulating grass surface.
Brodsworth Main FC 4 V Glapwell FC 0
Saturday 10th October 2026, Kick off 15.00
Central Midland League, Premier Division North
Brodsworth Main, Welfare Road, Woodlands, Doncaster, DN6 7PP
The Broddy v The Glappy, 11th v 15th, Attendance 25
Brodsworth, Faded light blue shirts with navy blue shorts, goalkeeper in all grey.
Glapwell, black and white vertical striped shirts with black shorts, goalkeeper in all pink.
Brodsworth imposed themselves on their opposition from the off, but Glapwell resisted strongly and did manage to mount some attacks. However on 23 minutes Brodsworth went ahead when a corner from the left was headed on to the back post where Callum Stockton nodded the ball into the net. Only 9 minutes later Callum Stockton took the ball down from a long through ball, beat two defenders and clinically placed the ball to the right of the goalkeeper.
Before half time Brodsworth hit the bar from a corner with the help of the wind and they were much the happier team to leave the field.
The pattern of play continued the same in the second half. and with 15 minutes played Brodsworth’s claim for a penalty was waived away by the referee. However the ball came out to just beyond the left edge of the penalty area where Clayton Cherowbrier drilled it just inside Glapwells left post to make it three nil.
Brodsworth continued to push on and with the game fading away Callum Stockton gained his hat-trick when just inside the away teams penalty area he swivelled with the ball and thumped it into the goal.
Brodsworth were very happy with their win and moved to mid table. Glapwell had competed well but on the day had no way of stopping their opponents.
I bought a portion of chips in the club house which were a good portion and very tasty but because they were only luke warm I didn’t finish them and meant I only scored them a 40.
The Brodsworth Main club had produced a program and you could see that they are working hard to develop their club at all levels from junior to senior women and mens teams both on and off the pitch . I hope to revisit Brodsworth in the future to see their progress.
