Great start to the new league season.

I made my way to South Elmsall for what the announcer on the sound system called the earliest start to a league season he could remember.

The game I went to see was Frickley Athletic against Keighley Town. Just an ordinary Northern Counties East League opening match. Maybe not because this was the first competitive match for the new Keighley Town FC.

Keighley Town FC have come about through Ryan O’Neil and Kaue Garcia, the owners of Keighley Cougars rugby league club, taking over Eccleshill United FC last year and moving the club to Cougar Park, changing the name but maintaining Eccleshill’s standing in the non-league pyramid structure. Their next aim is to get local planning approval to install a 3G pitch for men’s and women’s Rugby League and football.

This is an interesting development because at the same level, Sheffield FC the oldest club in the world, we’re linked, under the same common ownership as Sheffield Eagles who are now sharing the football clubs stadium. Both clubs continue to look to relocate to a modern, joint, stadium in the city of Sheffield.

Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors share the same ground and ownership, there maybe more.

Is multi ownership of sports clubs a fast growing trend in the UK as per other countries. The multi use stadium benefit, especially 3G, and all its other junior football and rental opportunities looks compelling.

Back to my first league game of the season. The journey north on the motorways was quiet, considering it being the first weekend of the school holidays for many. Cooler at 24.5 degrees, the blue sky had some fluffy clouds.

The very small Frickley village is just south of South Elmsall where Frickley Athletic have played since 1910, having been founded in 1908. This has always been a multi use sports complex and you still drive past the cricket ground to get to the very huge car park for the football ground.

Inside the stadium you soon noticed the very large covered seated stand, dating back almost 100 years. The grounds development was majorly supported by the local miners welfare. The demise of the South Elmsall and Frickley colliery coming in November 1993. Frickley had already changed their name from Frickley Colliery to Frickley Athletic in 1974. Today as you drive into the town from the A1M you drive past the gigantic shed complex of a Next Distribution Centre which is now most probably the major employer in the area.

Either side of the large stand are a ‘Big Fellas’ tea bar, the entrance, and a bar for refreshments, with seating and a large television. Down the far side is a long tiered covered standing area, with both ends of the ground open but with hard standing. A modern building in one corner houses the changing rooms and a posh area for hospitality. The size of the ground and facilities reflect the fact that Frickley graced the old Alliance and Conference Leagues, equivalent today of the National League, once for seven seasons in the 1980’s, with a second place finish one year.

The pitch looked very dry with large patches of yellowing grass. The surface here sopes from one corner to the other and from end to end. What made this more pronounced was a strong wing blowing in the same direction as the slope.

The teams made their way onto the pitch with the backdrop of Frickley Country Park, fashioned out of the old flag heaps with a lone kite flyer taking advantage of the wind at the highest point.

Frickley Athletic FC 1 Keighley Town FC 1

Saturday 25th July 2026, 15.00 pm kick off

Northern Counties East League, Premier Division.

The Blues v TBA

Westfield Lane, South Elmsall, Pontefract, South Yorkshire, WF9 2EQ.

Frickley in all royal blue shirt and shorts, goalkeeper in pink jersey black shorts
Keighley all white shirts and shorts with two red and one black thin stripes down the side of shirts and shorts, goalkeeper in all orange.

Keighley took advantage of the slope and wind straight away with the ball hanging and swirling, making it difficult for defenders to clear.
Keighley kept on top with some skilful footwork, but some dour defence by home team kept them at bay. They couldn’t hold out though when after 27 minutes some tricky skills enabled him to coss along the ground for Zane Newman Richards to steer in.

Keighley kept up their pressure with Frickley only occasionally mounting attacks, but failing to get a shot on goal.

At Half Time you wandered of the conditions would change the fortunes of the home team and would Keighley rue the fact that they were only one ahead after dominating. The Keighley manager and some of his team had sat on the same row as me in the stand getting a good overview of his charges.

With in two minutes of the restart we had our answer to the conditions advantage when the Blues had a header on goal go just wide. Frickley levelled 7 minutes later when Sam Cable touched in a curling cross from the right.

It was now one way traffic as the ball bounced back off of the crossbar from a free kick.

The home team continued to press forward, however the strength of the away teams players kept pushing them back and they posed a threat to the end of the game which ended all square.

The game ending rain! Only a light drizzle but something we have not seen for weeks. It had been coming with the strengthening wind blowing grey clouds in from the east.

A good workout and start for both teams in the conditions, very hard pitch, wind and slope. Keighley to me looked the strongest with a long season ahead.

I had a portion of chips and a coffee for just £4. Not a bad start to the season. The chips were golden and crispy but not hot and a bit story inside. A score of 55 to set a benchmark for my chip league this season. Ths food in general looked good with the meat pie chips and gravy of the person in front of me looking delicious.

No program but a team sheet for 50P. With their X account having been recently hacked and a new one started I wonder in years to come if there will be any way to view the social history of a football club the way it was possible through local papers, programs and fanzines. That sounds like a blog for the future.

2024/2025 Chip League

43 matches this season 24 of which had chips.

Of those that didn’t have chips, the National Award Winning ‘Great Northern Pie Company’s’ pie with mash and mushy peas at Stockport Town was outstanding. Having watched my grandson play at Everton’s training ground in the morning, I needed some food, and I could have eaten two of them. Really well served in a large comfortable area, Stockport Town should be congratulated. Gretna’s Scotch pie with gravy changed my mind on Scotch pies,’ I suppose in Scotland they know just how to cook them.

Retford FC’s pie and peas were good, but Appleby Frodinghams’ Cheese Burger with bacon was better. Thank you to the ladies who persuaded me to buy one. I think their reprieve from relegation was due to the food!

Sandiacre impressed me in that they had returnable and reusable plates.

The chips as usual were a mixed bag, both at TNS and St Albans, they were good but the seasoning ruined them, and with real potatoes at Gainsborough Trinity, I thought they had cracked it but they were only warm. I had chips three times at Hallam during the season, and twice they were up there near the top, but one time, they were close to the bottom, which shows they can be variable and subjective on the day.

The chips at Clay Cross were good and enhanced by the very thick Bovril, which you could almost stand your spoon up in. Second during the season was Coleshill under the Gazebo in the rain, but the winners by a fair margin were at Hednesford where not only was the game one of the most entertaining I have ever seen but the chips were hot, crispy. golden, but most of all, tasty.

I wasn’t sure that I would carry on with my chip league, but I’m ready to sacrifice my body again for another season.

payonthegate 2024/25 chip league

Club Score Comments
Hednesford 82 Really good taste.
Coleshill 74 Tasty under the gazebo.
Hillsborough Stadium 73 Tasty, golden, soft inside, if they had been hot would be higher
Hallam 72 Hot and Tasty
South Leeds 72 Freshly cooked, good Friday night out.
Clay Cross 72 Good taste. Very thick Bovril.
Matlock 70 Big portion
Hallam 69 Hot Crispy and Tasty
Clifton All Whites 67 Enjoyable
Sheffield FC 67 Good texture
St Albans City 65 Good Chips but seasoning ruined the taste
Gainsborough Trinity 62 Real Potatoes but dry and only warm
Basford 62 Greasy background taste, good food hut.
Worksop 60 Gone backwards since last times improvement
Pinxton 59 Chips were limp and over cooked
Mansfield 58 Only ate half, greasy, why chips in away end not main stand?
Knaresborough 56 Warm , little taste
Sandiacre 56 Lingering, greasy taste, served on a reuseable plate
TNS 55 Chips were great but the seasoning ruined them.
Hallam 55 Warm and soggy, not up to usual standard
Albion Sports 55 Lasting greasy taste
Brigg 54 Too greasy, friendly club house.
Wombwell 52 Taste of burnt fat.
Wembley 40 Cold, limp, dry, + Burger was horrible, the FA should be ashamed
Fakenham Town 0 No Chips
Club Thorne Colliery 0 No Chips
Wolves 0 No Chips
Kiveton Park 0 No Chips
Gretna 0 No Chips but the Scotch pie was great.
SJR Worksop 0 No chips, packet of Quavers instead.
Sheffield Union 0 No Chips, didn’t go to the club house.
Keswick 0 No Chips
Retford FC 0 No Chips but pie and peas were delicious
Appleby Frodingham 0 No Chips, very good Cheeseburger with bacon
Wakefield FC 0 No Chips, good beef pie and gravy
Ansty Nomads 0 No Chips and the burger was tasteless
Bradfordn City 0 No Chips, enormous food queues, atmosphere electric
Stockport Town 0 No Chips, Award winning, Great Northern Pie Company, WOW
Loughborough Stnts 0 No Chips, sausage roll dry.
Ilkley 0 No Chips, but had my favourite crisps ‘Seabrooks’
Chesterfield 0 No Chips
Aston Villa 0 Couldn’t get to the food kiosks, too busy
Shrewsbury/TNS 0 No Chips

Knaresborough upset Thackley’s flow.

On the way down the A1 I popped into Knaresborough to see them play Thackley in the Northern Counties East League. Thackley from the northern outkirts of Bradford were on a run of five wins in a row and sat third in the table whilst the home team, Knaresborough Town were eighteenth , only one place above the relegation zone.

The ground is on the edge of town, not far off the A59, and easy to reach. I was dropped off and walked into the ground on what was a cold day, Google saying it was just above freezing, with patchy grey and blue sky, but with no wind. There was a small covered seated stand in the middle of one side, open behind one goal, a small covered standing area offset from the goal at the other end and down the other side the changing rooms, clubhouse, a food kiosk, a small area to stand and a wall from a neighbouring building. The pitch was grass that sloped slightly from end to end with undulating areas and mud showing through the grass after our wet winter. There is less than 20 miles between the two clubs so it was almost a local derby.

Knaresborough have been established since 1898, then known as Trinity, playing local football, before being elevated to the Northern League in 1909 for only 2 years, before going back into local York leagues. After World War Two they reformed in the Harrogate League and returned to it after another spell in the York League. By the end of the 1960’s they joined the West Yorkshire League where they played mainly, except for one excursion back in the Harrogate League again. It was in 2012, that after investment in the ground they were elected to the Northern Counties East League and six years later won promotion to the Premier Division where they play today.

Thackley were not founded until 1930 when members of the Thackley Wesleyan Methodist Church set up a Sunday League Team. They stayed in the West Riding County Amateur League for 25 years from 1939, After a brief stay in the West Yorkshire League they joined the strong Yorkshire League and became founder members of the Northern Counties East League in 1982 where they still remain.

Knaresborough Town AFC 3 Thackley 2

Saturday 18th January 2025, 15,00 pm kick off, Northern Counties East League, Premier Division.

Knaresborough Town AFC, Manse Lane, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, HG5 8LF,

18th v 3rd, Knaresborough have no nick name but Thackley are known as the Denny boys.

Knaresborough; Red shirts with white horizontal line on the backs with the sponsors name, black shorts, goalkeeper in lime green top and black shorts: Thackley; All royal blue kit and goalkeeper in all orange.

The first 15 minutes play was even with Thackley looking the most positive. Thackley forwards put one ball just wide and a header over the bar from a corner but neither side scored and they left the field for half time with little indication of anyone scoring.

The floodlights came on for the second half, which showed how quickly the days have lengthened since December 21st, winter is slowly seeping away!

The light must have sparked the player as with 4 minutes gone Knaresborough’s Ben Parkes curled a ball, from outside the goal area, with his right foot, into the top right hand corner for the lead. Four minutes later Ben Parkes was pushed down in the penalty area and Jack Lazenby stepped forward to make it two nil.

There looked no way back for Thackley but they kept pressing and with 19 minutes gone Slater Barnes reduced the deficit after a fast break that meant the ball was whipped across the goalmouth for him to tap in. Thackley now pressed forward and despite having their Manager sent off equalised in the 86th minute when a corner from the right was headed back at the far post for Muhammet Tektas to steer into the net to equalise. Play became frantic with Harry Parsons for Thackley sent off a minute after their equaliser. Thackley pushed on despite their reduced numbers, hoping to retain their winning streak but despair hit them when with time up a freekick was headed back across goal, which Phil Milson stroked home.

The 186 spectators had been warmed by the pulsating second half, with the home side ecstatic but Thackley annoyed at not taking at least a point. Thackley though didn’t deserve the spoils with very little cutting edge up front.

A coffee and a portion of thin cut chips cost only £3.70, but the chips were disappointing being only warm with little taste although they were not greasy, a score of 56.

I didn’t win the meat raffle either.