Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League
Premier Division
Saturday 31st October 2020
Kick Off 14.00 Actual 13.59
Wakefield A.F.C. 1 Hepworth United 0, attendance 295
24’ 1-0
@ Featherstone Rovers R.L.F.C.
Post Office Road
Featherstone
WF7 5EN
Admission : by online ticket only. Crowd limit 300. Cost free, with the option of up to £20 donation when booking.
£2 Programme, 32 pages.
I was originally heading for a double in the Cheltenham League today, but was put off by the dreadful weather forecast. Typically, both games took place, but I was very happy only doing the one match today, especially having been offered a lift up to Yorkshire, which swayed my decision. Not that I needed much persuading, as I knew what a cracking ground this was and with West Yorkshire heading for tighter Covid-19 restrictions from Monday, it was a case of getting here sooner rather than later, as you never know what is round the corner. I didn’t really want to tick off a floodlit ground on a Saturday, but this was certainly more preferable than risking missing out altogether!
This season Wakefield A.F.C. have moved to the former coal mining town of Featherstone, playing at the home of Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Club, who, considering the size of the town, have an illustrious history, winning the League Championship (what is Super League now) in 1977 as well as three Challenge Cups, the most recent win being in 1983. The ground was opened in 1904 and saw a record crowd of 17,531 attend a Challenge Cup match against St. Helens in 1959. Nowadays, the capacity is listed as just short of ten thousand, which is enough to accommodate the crowds Wakefield will attract as they make their (hoped for) rise up the pyramid from their current Step 7 status.
I had been here previously for Rugby League, seeing Rovers beat Oldham 52-14 in a Division 2 match on 7th February 1993 in front of 4,332 spectators. I liked the ground back then, but it has seen a number of improvements since. The seated stand behind the north goal end, along with the small seated stand at the northern corner of the east stand, were previously at the old Scarborough F.C. ground at Seamer Road, but were saved when that ground was demolished, before being reconstructed here.
Today’s match was 5th verses 3rd in the league table. They met in the reverse fixture last Saturday, which Hepworth had won 3-2, but this game never looked like producing much more than the single goal that won it for Wakefield midway through the first half. It had poured down with rain in the hour leading up to kick off, leaving the pitch looking heavy in places and It could certainly do with the grass being cut, but that is unlikely to happen as it is primarily used for rugby, or will be when it returns next year.
The game got heated at times, with the Benny Hill theme music twice played over the tannoy as the players pushed and shoved each other following a couple of fouls. Hepworth had a player red carded on 69 minutes, trudging off to ‘hit the road Jack’ blaring from the loud speakers. There was certainly a rare occurrence as far as the number of Referees on show today went. The first one seemed to pull a muscle in the first half. He swapped places with his senior Linesman and struggled on until halftime. At the start of the second half the Linesman returned to his original role and a different Referee altogether did the second half. The third Referee of the day was actually an Assessor, sat in the stands observing the original incumbent! I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen this before. Wakefield hung on for the three points which sees the two teams swap league positions.
On the way home we heard the news that England was heading into a second lockdown. Hopefully, it will only last for the four weeks that have been implemented and doesn’t get extended any further. It could be my last game for a while, but I’m glad I’ve got Post Office Road ticked off, just in case football doesn’t restart again this season.
