There's only one thing that will ease fixture congestion next season and it must be done
A midweek look across the Berkshire footballing landscape.
In this newsletter
Fixture congestion
Berkshire Football Awards update
A football malaise
Reading FC Women
Why I Love - Neal Jeffs
The only thing that can be done to counter end of season fixture congestion MUST be done
Why I feel sorry for the Hellenic League is a headline I went straight in to read. Running any football competition is one of the most thankless tasks in football (comments open below on that) - from the EFL right down to the Hellenic, but Severn Sport’s Ryan Butler wrote a piece this week that beggers belief in why it needed writing in the first place.
Firstly, I feel sorry for the Hellenic League. In fact, not just the Hellenic, but all of the leagues operating at steps 5 and 6.
The competition has been receiving criticism for front-loading its fixtures creating a heavy schedule at the start of the season.
In fact, as covered recently, the Hellenic League is the Step 5 and 6 competition that is on target for the number of games that should have been played at this time of the year.
The FA are insisting on play-offs at Steps 5 and 6 which aren’t going to move from the middle of April, the FA are insisting on 20 team divisions at Step 6 and the Great British weather is showing no signs of turning away from being the wettest it possibly can be over the winter - in fact February 2024 was one of the wettest February’s on record.
The only thing that can be done is to front-load fixtures with the Hellenic Lasoo that is any game postponed or cancelled, must be rearranged by both clubs within 40 days.
The Berkshire Football Awards are returning for 2024
We will shortly be opening up our form for nominations for the Berkshire Football Awards 2024 - you know the drill, Tom White, Double-Barrelled Brewery and the feel-good football night of the year.
But before we do that we need a few more partners for each individual award - we’ve already signed up Fox & Hounds Caversham, Lens Digital, Rural Pie Co and more and have filled 50% of the 19 awards available this year. If you’d like your brand to reach thousands a month for the next few months up to the awards night in June - then take a look at the form here and let us know. It’s incredibly inexpensive AND your business logo will be on the website and the award itself.
Here’s a reminder of 2023 when Tom White spoke to Kai Walters about scoring the winning goal at Wembley Stadium:
Malaise
Is anyone else really struggling to keep track of the 2023/24 season? The sheer mountain of games that haven’t happened, or have yet to happen (glass half full/half empty?) means I feel like I’ve completely lost the thread of the season.
At one point I knew exactly how many points Binfield needed to stay up, I knew who Maidenhead United Women were playing week in week out, but right now I find myself a bit lost and really struggling to focus.
Not great when you run a website called ‘Football in Berkshire’, but I wondered if it spoke to a wider malaise, when you are out of the thick of games week in, week out you almost lose that match fitness.
Whether teams and their management will have similar problems motivating their sides for the run in, or given how many games most of them have to play maybe they’re just trying not to think about it.
I often feel a bit like this at this stage of the season. And when there’s been a gap between games that feels much bigger than anything (outside of Covid) we’ve had in recent years - it makes it harder to pick up those threads, those stories and news lines that have us all coming back for more.
Thankfully in the last week I’ve managed to take in two games, a tremendous County Cup Final between Maidenhead Town and Burghfield that showed the depth in quality possessed by the Thames Valley Premier League and Woodley United vs Westfield where Mark Rozzier was kind enough to tip me off to a brilliant little story involving QPR.
What Reading FC Women means to me
We’ve gone a little form crazy this week but as part of an effort to shine a light on Reading FC Women amid frenzied takeover talk and speculation - we’d like to publish a piece on what having a professional women’s football club (and this season a semi pro one) in Berkshire has meant to people.
Whether you are a current or ex player, manager or supporter we’d love to hear from you and there is an option to talk to us anonymously. The form to fill out is here.
The Camaraderie of Non-League football
For me, it’s about the development and it’s about the people. Without the former there is no pathway for progression and without the latter there is no enjoyment – that sense of camaraderie, the matchday release, the gathering of friends, the focal point where players and fans come together and have a beer – the non-league community facilitates all of that.
Development isn’t just about the youngsters. Yes, it’s the place where they hone their skills mentally and physically, but it’s also about the more mature players. The youngsters can only really learn when they have the presence, support and involvement of those who might have been there and done all that; and they too are still learning. They are role models; they are learning how to be a mentor, how to coach, how to support, how to be a manager. It takes many cogs of different sizes to make an engine purr.
But the people are what makes it more special. From the goalies who join in the banter to the die-hard fans who travel far and wide to support their heroes, the groundhoppers who salivate over a printed programme and a decent burger, and just the neutral who is interested in his local team because his wife kicked him out on a Saturday afternoon.
It’s a community. It’s who we are. We’re all welcome, and we are equally welcoming. God bless non-league football.
Neal Jeffs is the match reporter, programme editor and supporter of Ascot United Football Club.
If you'd like to be featured here, please email tom.canning@footballinberkshire.co.uk to enquire.
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Good piece Tom.
I don't have a problem with a perfect pyramid scenario, nor the play-offs. Too many clubs can just up their budget, walk away with the league and leave everyone else with nothing to play for, it creates the right excitement.
Front loading has been a disaster in the sense hardly any league bothered with it and clubs are paying the price now. Like you, it HAS to happen next season, it's hardly rocket science.