Long Lane Park Teams
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Date: 15.01.2019 Ground: 80 Match: 21 (2018/2019 season) Venue: Long Lane Park Teams: Sikh Hunters V Wyrley United Competition: West Midlands Regional League Division 1 League Cup Admission: £3 Final Score: 3-0 (H/T 1-0) Referee: Harry Warner Attendance: 105 (Head Count) Mileage to venue and return: 75.2 Miles Introduction This match was the 80th different ground visit that I have ticked, 20 more to the big 100! As is the normal practice when I go to a Midweek match, I travelled directly to the ground from my place of work in Atcham. Atcham is situated in between the Shropshire towns of, Telford and Shrewsbury. My route took me along the B5061 road before joining the M54 motorway and exiting at Junction 1. Third exit off the roundabout and onto the A460, Cannock Road, from here it was approximately a ten-minute drive driving down some wonderfully named roads, such as – Bognop Road, Hobnock Road and Bursnips Road as well as passing a sign for the Walsall FC training ground, before finding Long Lane Park. In truth I missed the entrance to Long Lane Park and ended up at the home of the visitors for this evenings game, Wyrley United. Wyrley United play at Long Lane which I would say is no more than a ¼ mile drive from Long Lane Park, making this game one of the most local of local derby games that you could ask for. I asked a gentleman who was walking his dog in the Car Park at Long Lane if I was in the right place for Sikh Hunters Football Club and he kindly pointed me in the right direction. I arrived at Long Lane Park at 5:50pm. The address and postcode for Sikh Hunters FC is Long Lane Park, Long Lane, Walsall, WV11 2AA. Having visited the ground for the first time on 15th January I noted that the ground was actually situated approximately two miles outside the village of Essington and just before entering the smaller village of Newtown. The next part of this report looks at Essington and Newtown respectively. Essington Essington is both a village and civil parish situated in South Staffordshire, England. The Office for National Statistics consider Essington to part of the Wolverhampton Urban Subdivision and within the West Midlands Conurbation. Whilst the village is rather small and of a relatively recent build, there are still the remains of a number of moated farmsteads. These are most likely to originate from the iron-age and are positioned on the land adjacent to the current boundaries of the village. The parish of Essington is on the large side and as well as encompassing a village it is also home too several recreational, industrial and farming sites. The parish also encompasses several Hamlets and borders the West Midlands, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Services to the parish are considered to be rather confusing, the Post Office has given the area a Wolverhampton Post-Code for mail to be delivered, the British Telephone have given it a Walsall 01922 telephone area code. The local Health Authority is South Staffordshire, the Ambulance Service is provided from the West Midlands whilst the Social Services come from Codsall in South Staffordshire. Yes – I will agree with the notion that services to this part of the world are on the confusing side. Ralph Bond Sweet-Escott was born in Essington on 11th January 1869 and was an International Rugby Union player in the half back position. Sweet-Escott played his club rugby for Cardiff and won three international caps for Wales. As well as being a Rugby Union International, Sweet-Escott also played cricket for Glamorgan and represented this, one of thirteen historic counties of South Wales in the Minor Counties Championship. Ralph’s brother, Edward was also a player of note for the Glamorgan cricket team. Ralph Bond Sweet-Escott died in Germiston, South Africa aged only 38 years on 10th November 1907. Another person of note with connections to Essington is Meera Syal CBE (born Fezoza Syal on 27th June 1961). Meera Syal is a comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to fame as one member of the team that created the BBC Sketch-comedy, Goodness Gracious Me and was soon to become well known by playing Sanjeev’s grandmother, Ummi in the television show – The Kumars at No.42. Syal was born in nearby Wolverhampton and grew up in Essington. Newtown Newtown is a small village in South Staffordshire and is within the parish of Essington. The village is situated in between, Great Wyrley and Bloxwich forming part of the Staffordshire/West Midlands border. Sikh Hunters FC Sikh Hunters Football Club was founded in 1964-1965 and has been established for over fifty years. Sikh Hunters FC was the brainchild of its three founder members Bagicha Singh, Kernail Singh and Mohinder Singh. Three lads who had previously had the honour of playing for ‘Punjab Select’ back in India, who were eager to put their expertise and knowledge to the local soccer scene in here in England. The club marked their arrival at the commencement of the 1964-1965 season, with an exhibition match versus Walsall FC Supporters Club. Through the late sixties till the late seventy’s most of their football was played in the Sunday morning leagues, where they enjoyed many successful years before switching to the Saturday scene. In the early eighties, Sikh Hunters became members of the Bloxwich Combination League, winning Division 1 in the 1984/1985 season. This progressed the club to the Staffordshire County League and in the 1989/1990 season they were winners of Division 1. The 1990/91 season saw the team promoted into the Premier Division of the Staffordshire County League where they finished runners up. The 1995/96 season saw Sikh Hunters become members of the West Midlands Regional League and entry into Division 1 North. The team switched to Division 1 South in the 1999/00 season where they finished 4th. This was to be their highest position as the team left the WMRL at the end of 2003/04 season. In 2004/05 they entered the Wolverhampton & District Football Combination League. Steady progress and success followed with a victory at Walsall’s Bank’s Stadium in the Wernwick Cup in 2004/05 season and in the W’ton Combination Premier Cup in 2009/10. This allowed promotion back into West Midlands Regional League Division 2 in the 2011/12 season. The 2016/17 season marked the arrival of current first team manager Matty Lovatt and under his leadership the team finished a respectable 7th in Division 2 of the West Midlands Regional League. 2017/2018 saw the club crowned WMRL Division 2 champions and allowed promotion into WMRL Division One. Thank you to Harjinder Padda, secretary of Sikh Hunters FC for providing me with the above history of the club. Current Season The club is having a successful League campaign following their promotion to the West Midlands Regional League Division 1. Their current league statistics are shown as follows, information obtained from www.nonleaguematters.co.uk League Position: 4th out of 17 teams. Played: 22, Won: 14, Drawn: 1, Lost: 7 Scored: 70 (top scorers in the league) Against: 38 Points Total: 43 Long Lane Park The ground is a tidy venue which includes not only the ground itself but a very nice and large on-site club house. Visitors to Long Lane Park are welcomed to the ground with the sign shown in the picture below. As you can see the sign shows the name of one of the previous occupants of the ground, Wyrley Rangers. Sikh Hunters currently rent Long Lane Park off a Gentleman by the name of Nadir, I was lucky enough to meet Nadir on Tuesday evening before the game started. On passing past the sign and through the gates I entered a decently sized car park and parked my car with ease. The club house I mentioned earlier is positioned directly in front of the car park. Also, within this building are the toilets and positioned to the left of the picture are the changing rooms. Entrance to the changing rooms. To gain entry too the ground you walk past the side of the building, changing rooms side and to the pay hut, where I was met by Harj who had sent me the history of Sikh Hunters Football Club earlier on in the week. I duly paid my £3 entrance fee and entered the ground. As you can see from the picture, behind the pay hut is a nicely appointment covered stand which I estimate to have 100 seats. At the back of the stand is a superb Sikh Hunters supporters flag. The next picture I share is of the goal to the left of the stand. Further pictures of the ground are shown as follows: I liked Long Lane Park and the facilities that it has on the site. It is Definitely well worth a visit. Match Statistics and Team Line Ups Sikh Hunters Wyrley United 1. Liam Haynes 1. Joe Williams 2. Ashley Smith ( c ) 2. Reis Nadat 3. Ben Lawley 3. Keiron Shaw 4. Daniel Jones 4. Lee Howell 5. Thomas Oldaker 5. Jack Grice 6. Joshua Macgregor 6. Nick Lee 7. Tyrone Atkinson 7. Matty Rhodes 8. Justin Nesbitt 8. Jack Braid 9. Todd Perry 9. Tom Green 10. Hinesh Patel 10. Martin Wheeler 11. Connor Archer 11. Ben Squire 12. Mandeep Garewal 12. Scott Gill 14. Jay Hewitt 14. Josh Tolley 15.