On a cold day that is sunny you can see long shadows as the sun sets. Watching Molesey V Ramsgate today in a scrappy though enjoyable 1-1 draw a few photos that show that ghosts can and do watch Bostik league football. My favourite is the Ramsgate player with a ghostly hand on his shorts.
In a month when the cost of football has been high on the agenda of fans with Liverpool fans voting to walk out of a game in protest against a potential £77 ticket cost for next season, and some championship clubs such as Sheffield Wednesday charging away fans £36, it is good to see a non league initiative to pay what you want. Building a fan base takes time but one has to start somewhere and Didcot Town are starting this saturday.
Empty Grounds. Walton and Hersham
Football is an exciting sport generally and live matches bear no comparison with sanitised TV games. Many fans would consider going to games weekly but there is little incentive or collaboration between teams to make this happen. A few non league teams in recent years have given discounted entry to season ticket holders of league clubs, Hampton and Richmond are one example.
Looking at some of the crowds in the lower echelons of the Ryman league for example. On March 8th at a midweek game Haringey Borough attracted a crowd of 22 which was lower than their crowd of 35 last saturday, and last saturday in Ryman North 6 of the 8 games with reported crowds had under 100 spectators. In Ryman South a few crowds were also fairly dire with Chipstead attracting 48 spectators and a similar number at Molesey.
There is clearly room to increase the fan base at many of these clubs. Didcot v Bashley deserves a decent crowd.
The costs of football have been spiralling out of control in some clubs, the recent debacle of Liverpool trying to recoup a few extra pounds on a few extra seats and in that process pushing prices up to £77 have been well reported. As have the fans response, by walking out of a game and the subsequent result was a retraction of that ridiculous pricing.
The Championship side Huddersfield Town have however followed other clubs like Bradford City in making their season ticket prices so cheap that it remains to be seen the numbers that will take up this offer. For next season 2016-17, adult season tickets are priced at £179 for the first 10,000 season tickets sold. The rationale is mathematically simple. Championship clubs have an extra 2 million pounds TV revenue next season, and Huddersfield are diverting 1 million of that to fund this season ticket pricing reduction. This equates to a per match cost of £7.90 which is often less than I might spend in the tea bar at half time at Brentford on a burger and tea.
This is affordable and in fact brings the cost of league football to be cheaper than non-league. Many of the lower tier ” proper” non league clubs ( by which I really mean have a few stands and maybe terraces,and do not play in essentially roped off fields, trying to be descriptive not rude here!) who live at the Ryman league standard or above , charge £8-10 entrance, Molesey 8£ if I recall correctly and Carshalton 10£ ( both recommended by the way).
An interesting scenario and one we should watch avidly to ascertain the take up in Huddersfield of this exceptional offer. Other clubs should take note. Watching the Cardiff V Brighton game on TV last week one might be excused for thinking that the ground was empty as the cameras focused on the lower tiers only. Would it not be better to fill the ground? Numerous aspects are possible. Reduced prices for televised games? Buy one get one free? Free food, drink and a programme?
Bradford city are a class example. A club in League 1 not looking like an immediate return to the Championship is likely. For 2015-16 season their season tickets cost £149 for 23 home games. This is £6.50 per game, again little more than lower non league entrance costs. And this was actually £50 cheaper than the 2014-15 season ticket cost. Perhaps the only surprise was that junior season tickets were priced at £99, when a lower cost might seem a logical way to enhance the younger fan base. Especially with the curious meanderings at nearby Leeds United, for those not local these two cities share an airport, Leeds-Bradford airport. And anyone who might be cynical that this is a short term option consider that Bradford City have been running this cheap season ticket scheme since 2007 when the adult season ticket cost was £138.
Whitstable are currently very much bottom of the Ryman South as of February 2016 and before their away game at Molesey had won 4 of their 33 games and had conceded 89 goals in the process. Despite this misery there wasa decent contingent of Whitstable fans in the crowd of 63.
The Whitstable away support was in fact more noisy than the Molesey support most of the games with some curious chants, the most perplexing for me was the chant ” We know who we are”. However it takes a lot of effort not to mention money to come and support your team when they are expected to lose , and lose badly. I have no doubt that the pints of alcohol helped enormously dull the pain of this new loss. a number of banners adorned the away end all game and even when losing were still happy to sing and support their team. This is real support and they get my admiration this weekend.
The son of Ray Lewington and a midfielder at Molesey FC in Ryman South. A few photos from a recent game versus Whitstable won 2-0 by Molesey FC. When I photograph a game there are always players who stand out, either visually, or by taking a combative role in the game, or sometimes facial expressions. It was not difficult to pick out Craig Lewington as one of those players. Not a natural goalscorer having scored a single goal in 133 games for Molesey.
Craig Lewington
Craig Lewington
Craig Lewington
Craig Lewington Training Ground Routine
For anyone not familiar with this non league territory, a Ryman South game between a team on the edge of the play offs and a team bottom of the table. Whitstable sit bottom of the table with 14 points and a negative goal difference of 53 having conceded 89 goals in 33 games of which they have won a mere 4. Maybe the result then was predictable with a 2-0 win for molasses but for large portions of the game the result could have been in favour of Whitstable.
The Whitstable away support was in fact more noisy than the Molesey support most of the games with some curious chants, the most perplexing for me was the chant ” We know who we are”. However it takes a lot of effort not to mention money to come and support your team when they are expected to lose , and lose badly. I have no doubt that the pints of alcohol helped enormously dull the pain of this new loss.
The game though was end to end, and both goals were scored by the strong Stafforde Palmer, the first a powerful header from a corner minutes after half-time and the second a solo run where he kept composure and slotted home nicely. Before this game the player statistics in the programme informed us that in 27 games he had scored 22 goals this season, and in his complete Molesey career 62 goals came from 66 games. At this level impressive. The other player to observe was Craig Lewington the son of Ray Lewington. A tough tackling midfielder previously with Walton Casuals.
Having watched a dire performance from Brentford on the previous evening it was refreshing that in front of a crowd of 63 both teams were able to show 90 minutes of hard work and commitment in blustery conditions. The food is also somewhat better and cheaper than that served at league grounds, and served too with a friendly face. the cost of getting in is only £8 and for me thats too cheap even at this level.
I dont know much of the real history of molesey but the ground looks in need of a makeover and if I understand things is due for some sort of redevelopment, however it is surrounded by new looking houses, some of which overlook the pitch alongside the terracing.
chris1957
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