The Non - League thread

[Four Of Clubs]

...ahem - now now ladies - play nicely ?

In truth going back to the early 10's, crowds of 2-3k plus were relatively common down at STEP06 - especially up in the NE - Darlo were relegated that far for example and bust everyone's record attendance figs.
- much like Wimbledon and even Aldersh!t to an extent - a decade or so earlier .... both on the way back up after similar demotions.
That would have been pre-Pyramid days so records not as clearly defined by STEPS etc.

I'd concur that some crowds well in excess of that, could have been probable in the 60s/70s & even at Sunday league.
The 'Amateur' game was flourishing back then and only now is showing some signs of revival to similar levels at lower NL.

Much below that and it becomes difficult to verify/measure, unless records were kept by any individual club - that would be unlikely at 'County/Feeder Level' and especially before t'Interweb and FB/Insta/X etc.

Usually the crowd is only 'counted' if a gate is taken - though in recent times a few clubs have held 'open' free-entry games.
Windsor being one example - hence their bumper 'homecoming' attendance last season down in the TVPL (STEP07) which brought in just over 1k vs Burghfield. Having entry via a turnstile made it easier to count too...... not so easy in an open field?

I can vaguely recall a N.Baaarks game, up at Didcot Casuals, in the mid-80's. Was held at one of the Recs in the Town - maybe vs Shrivenham and must have been a title match.
That crowd might have been more than 1,000 - certainly 'high-hundreds'.
- it made 'running the line' that PM a particular delight/challenge/tormet for the poor officials. The NBFL had decided the game needed all three, rather than just rely on club linos.
There was excessive encroachment and quite a few drunken locals/kiddies took delight in tripping them up/body-checking if a flag was threatened at an inopportune moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...and while I'm here - Preview of this W/E NL games - weather permitting of course - will take a while for some places to dry out - Farnham already making gloomy noises re the coming w/e fixture - Chertsey had a flood too, which will take a while to subside?
Precious little survived the rain thru this midweek......

Sat 14th Feb 2026

FA Vase 5th Round (rescheduled ties)
Hallen v Gornal Athletic
Haywards Heath Town v AFC Stoneham

League
Eastleigh v Boreham Wood
FC Halifax Town v Truro City
17:30 Forest Green Rovers v Carlisle United
Gateshead v Brackley Town - 'Saints' drew 1-1 with Halifax on Wed - 7 league games unbeaten now
Hartlepool United v Sutton United
Tamworth v Aldershot Town
Wealdstone v York City
Woking v Altrincham - 'Cards' returned from deepest Cornwall with 3 pts after a 2-0 win at Truro - v.late goals too 86' & 91'
NAT-N
Merthyr Town v Bedford Town
Worksop Town v Oxford City
NAT-S
Chippenham Town v Maidstone United
Dorking Wanderers v Farnborough
Salisbury v Chesham United
Slough Town v Horsham - vital 3 pts for 'Rebels' on Tue -1-0 win at Arbour vs W-s-M
Torquay United v Maidenhead United

IL1-SC
Ascot United v AFC Portchester
Bedfont Sports v Harrow Borough
Bognor Regis Town v Southall
Egham Town v Hartley Wintney
Fareham Town v Binfield @ Moneyfields
Hanworth Villa v Leatherhead
Hayes & Yeading United v Westfield
Metropolitan Police v South Park (Reigate)
Raynes Park Vale v Moneyfields - moved to Carshalton

SLP-C
Banbury United v Bury Town
Harborough Town v Royston Town
Leiston v Bromsgrove Sporting
Needham Market v Halesowen Town
Quorn v Bishop's Stortford
Real Bedford v Stratford Town
St Ives Town v Kettering Town
Worcester City v AFC Sudbury
SLP-S
Basingstoke Town v Poole Town
Bracknell Town v Yate Town - 'Robins' drew 1-1 with Berko on Tue night
Chertsey Town v Gloucester City
Farnham Town v Uxbridge
Hungerford Town v Walton & Hersham
Wimborne Town v Hanwell Town
SL1-C
Aylesbury United v Beaconsfield Town
Marlow v Leighton Town
Thame United v Flackwell Heath
SL1-S
Bashley v Didcot Town
Melksham Town v Winchester City
Swindon Supermarine v Bishops Cleeve

CCL-PN
Fri 13th 19:45 Reading City v Abingdon United
Ardley United v Ashford Town (Middx)
Burnham v Windsor & Eton
Edgware & Kingsbury v Amersham Town
Holyport v British Airways
North Greenford United v Wallingford & Crowmarsh
North Leigh v Harefield United
Wokingham Town v Kidlington
CCL-PS
Alton v Knaphill
Badshot Lea v Redhill
Cobham v Chipstead
Corinthian-Casuals v Sutton Common Rovers
Epsom & Ewell v Tadley Calleva - @ Chess 'n 'ook
Eversley & California v Balham
Fleet Town v Camberley Town
Guildford City v Abbey Rangers
Sheerwater v Horley Town
CCL-1
Bedfont v Langley
Brook House v Hillingdon Borough
Colliers Wood United v Penn & Tylers Green
Oxhey Jets v Molesey
PFC Victoria London v Sandhurst Town @ Ashford T
Sport London e Benfica v Holmer Green @ Amersham
Staines & Lammas (Middlesex) v Woodley United - @ Spelthorne
Wembley v Spartans Youth

HELL-P
Royal Wootton Bassett Town v Westfields
HELL-1
Cheltenham Saracens v Thame United Reserves
Wantage Town v Brimscombe & Thrupp

SCE-1
Croydon v Chessington & Hook United
SE Dons v Welling Town

SSM-P
Kings Langley v Winslow United
Risborough Rangers v Harlow Town
Sawbridgeworth Town v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos

WESS-P
Petersfield Town v Sherborne Town
Portland United v Andover New Street
WESS-1
Ash United v Hamworthy United
Colden Common v Yateley United - @ Winchester
Cove v Alresford Town
Fleetlands v Frimley Green
Lymington Town v Kintbury Rangers
Newport (IoW) v Whitchurch United
Totton & Eling v AFC Aldermaston

TVPL-P 14:00
AFC Winkfield v Newbury Town (VIRGINIA WATER)
Finchampstead v Wargrave FINCHAMPSTEAD
Reading YMCA v Maidenhead Town Padworth

B&B Trophy (Charles Twelftree) S-Fs 13:30
Burghfield (TVPL-P) v Old Bradwell United (South Mids-2)
Marcham (N.Berks-1) v Westwood Wanderers (TVPL-P)

[AthleticoSpizz]

Sorry DD, you’ve lost me, I was not talking about records or anything (nor trying to out-do your beloved SE Dons) but just putting out a little bit of non-league trivia about bygone local Saturday local league park football (which was not “bs” as you called it).
Not sure why FoC has been involved with his rolling eyes, a bit surprised really, given the content of my original post.

Anyway, here’s a post from a few years back (to try and validate my claim a little bit) taken from the hna Reading Town FC thread of the time, with Ark Royal having the final words………..




by Ark Royal » 14 Mar 2010 03:06


ankeny
I wonder what would be the biggest crowd would there have been for a local non league match.I went to Prospect Park in the mid seventies to see Rabsons Rovers v West Reading and the crowd were several deep around the pitch,must have been three hundred there.I saw my then, local team Peppard(What happened to them )play at Wokinghams old ground about the same time and they must have had the same.

Athleticospizz
“I have a book somewhere all about local footy since from the turn of last century.
I recall a chapter where Rabson Rovers (just this season made defunct...records expunged etc etc) played West Reading at Rabsons Rec in the late 60's or early 70's in front of a crowd of over 2k
I can certainly remember big crowds there in the mid seventies for Rabsons games”


Ark Royal
Same here. Included a photo of a game in the 60s with a crowd of 2000 present.

[Double C]

Sorry DD, you’ve lost me, I was not talking about records or anything (nor trying to out-do your beloved SE Dons) but just putting out a little bit of non-league trivia about bygone local Saturday local league park football (which was not “bs” as you called it).
Not sure why FoC has been involved with his rolling eyes, a bit surprised really, given the content of my original post.

Anyway, here’s a post from a few years back (to try and validate my claim a little bit) taken from the hna Reading Town FC thread of the time, with Ark Royal having the final words………..




by Ark Royal » 14 Mar 2010 03:06


ankeny
I wonder what would be the biggest crowd would there have been for a local non league match.I went to Prospect Park in the mid seventies to see Rabsons Rovers v West Reading and the crowd were several deep around the pitch,must have been three hundred there.I saw my then, local team Peppard(What happened to them )play at Wokinghams old ground about the same time and they must have had the same.

Athleticospizz
“I have a book somewhere all about local footy since from the turn of last century.
I recall a chapter where Rabson Rovers (just this season made defunct...records expunged etc etc) played West Reading at Rabsons Rec in the late 60's or early 70's in front of a crowd of over 2k
I can certainly remember big crowds there in the mid seventies for Rabsons games”


Ark Royal
Same here. Included a photo of a game in the 60s with a crowd of 2000 present.

Ok

I was just saying how 700 people for a team establishing this year was good

[AthleticoSpizz]

Sorry DD, you’ve lost me, I was not talking about records or anything (nor trying to out-do your beloved SE Dons) but just putting out a little bit of non-league trivia about bygone local Saturday local league park football (which was not “bs” as you called it).
Not sure why FoC has been involved with his rolling eyes, a bit surprised really, given the content of my original post.

Anyway, here’s a post from a few years back (to try and validate my claim a little bit) taken from the hna Reading Town FC thread of the time, with Ark Royal having the final words………..




by Ark Royal » 14 Mar 2010 03:06


ankeny
I wonder what would be the biggest crowd would there have been for a local non league match.I went to Prospect Park in the mid seventies to see Rabsons Rovers v West Reading and the crowd were several deep around the pitch,must have been three hundred there.I saw my then, local team Peppard(What happened to them )play at Wokinghams old ground about the same time and they must have had the same.

Athleticospizz
“I have a book somewhere all about local footy since from the turn of last century.
I recall a chapter where Rabson Rovers (just this season made defunct...records expunged etc etc) played West Reading at Rabsons Rec in the late 60's or early 70's in front of a crowd of over 2k
I can certainly remember big crowds there in the mid seventies for Rabsons games”


Ark Royal
Same here. Included a photo of a game in the 60s with a crowd of 2000 present.

Ok

I was just saying how 700 people for a team establishing this year was good

and afaic, that was never questioned

[Double C]

Sorry DD, you’ve lost me, I was not talking about records or anything (nor trying to out-do your beloved SE Dons) but just putting out a little bit of non-league trivia about bygone local Saturday local league park football (which was not “bs” as you called it).
Not sure why FoC has been involved with his rolling eyes, a bit surprised really, given the content of my original post.

Anyway, here’s a post from a few years back (to try and validate my claim a little bit) taken from the hna Reading Town FC thread of the time, with Ark Royal having the final words………..




by Ark Royal » 14 Mar 2010 03:06


ankeny
I wonder what would be the biggest crowd would there have been for a local non league match.I went to Prospect Park in the mid seventies to see Rabsons Rovers v West Reading and the crowd were several deep around the pitch,must have been three hundred there.I saw my then, local team Peppard(What happened to them )play at Wokinghams old ground about the same time and they must have had the same.

Athleticospizz
“I have a book somewhere all about local footy since from the turn of last century.
I recall a chapter where Rabson Rovers (just this season made defunct...records expunged etc etc) played West Reading at Rabsons Rec in the late 60's or early 70's in front of a crowd of over 2k
I can certainly remember big crowds there in the mid seventies for Rabsons games”


Ark Royal
Same here. Included a photo of a game in the 60s with a crowd of 2000 present.

Ok

I was just saying how 700 people for a team establishing this year was good

and afaic, that was never questioned

You started bleating on about records for some reason like I claimed it was

[AthleticoSpizz]

Sorry, you’ve lost me again, there is nothing in my posts that question nor even mentions records.

Do PM me if you want to discuss this further (I don’t wish to spam what is one of hna’s few decent threads).

[Four Of Clubs]

Sorry, you’ve lost me again, there is nothing in my posts that question nor even mentions records.

Do PM me if you want to discuss this further (I don’t wish to spam what is one of hna’s few decent threads).

...thanks AS (for the 'decent' comment')
.....the scrolling eyes was of course for the brewing squabblefest above (there isn't a 'facepalm' emoji readily available and I cba to post an image) and NOT a spike at the 'factual' content from either of you.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news:
Unsurprisingly CCL-PN Reading City v Ab Utd is OFF tonight
...as is the IL1-SC game at Hayes & Yeading v Westfield tomorrow

Will try and post further updates as best I can tmrw AM but obvs leaving earlier than usual.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Sorry, you’ve lost me again, there is nothing in my posts that question nor even mentions records.

Do PM me if you want to discuss this further (I don’t wish to spam what is one of hna’s few decent threads).

...thanks AS (for the 'decent' comment')
.....the scrolling eyes was of course for the brewing squabblefest above (there isn't a 'facepalm' emoji readily available and I cba to post an image) and NOT a spike at the 'factual' content from either of you.....when fact is called “bs” there can never be a “squabble” on one side at least

cheers and keep up your good work FoC

[Double C]

Sorry, you’ve lost me again, there is nothing in my posts that question nor even mentions records.

Do PM me if you want to discuss this further (I don’t wish to spam what is one of hna’s few decent threads).

...thanks AS (for the 'decent' comment')
.....the scrolling eyes was of course for the brewing squabblefest above (there isn't a 'facepalm' emoji readily available and I cba to post an image) and NOT a spike at the 'factual' content from either of you.....when fact is called “bs” there can never be a “squabble” on one side at least

cheers and keep up your good work FoC

Yes I agree I apologise

[Four Of Clubs]

Ta...back on an even keel .... (appropriate with all the rain we've had)
...games OFF so far this AM at some usually damper 'suspects' :

CCL- PN North Leigh v Harefield
NGU v Wallingford
CCL-P1 Colliers Wood v Penn & T

...is warmer/drier locally so hopefully a fuller program in prospect e.g Chertsey have posted they are good to go vs Gloucester.

[Double C]

Fa sunday cup 1/4s today

Hartlepool AFC Supporters 0 - 0 Sunderland Southwick FC Hartlepool AFC Supporters won 4-3 on penalties

Home Bargains FC 5 - 0 Long Whatton FC

East London Ballers FC 2 -0 Shire United FC

Squirrel Tavern FC 0 - 2 Tidworth Town FC

Toss up between home bargains and ELB for me, but apparently that Tidworth are very good, although not sure where they are based or what sort of players they have

HB have been pretty much permanent semi and 1/4 finals for years, very good team, like all those liverpool teams arent always the most skillful but have a load of bottle and heart and determination

ELB are basically full of £££, and use pretty much the best unsigned step 3-6 players in East london/Essex (alot are soul tower hamlets fc) and half of them were in baiteze fc team who won this cup few years back

Not sure about the Hartlepool team but they've been around the 1/4s last few years so they must be good

[Four Of Clubs]

Fa sunday cup 1/4s today
Hartlepool AFC Supporters 0 - 0 Sunderland Southwick FC .. 4-3 on penalties @ FC Hartlepool
Home Bargains FC 5 - 0 Long Whatton FC - - late switch to S.Liverpool FC's 3G
East London Ballers FC 2 -0 Shire United FC @ Athletic Newham
Squirrel Tavern FC 0 - 2 Tidworth Town FC - @ Bedford Town

...Thanks - in recent past the S-Fs have often been held at neutral venues approx. half-way between the opponents
BUT (according to NLM) there doesn't seem to be any readily available guidance from by the FA Sunday Cup commitee or whomsoever controls it... however someone on NLM has now quoted a sub-para from the T's & C's on the FA Site that reportedly covers it - not that I could find the relevant ruling within the 'FA-speak'.....

- Northampton's (Sixfields) and/or Solihull/Kidderminster, seem to have been regular venues in the 20's

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...and here's the Review of yesterday's NL games - I've left out most of those that were P-P

Sat 14th Feb 2026

FA Vase 5th Round (rescheduled ties)
Hallen 3-0 Gornal Athletic
Haywards Heath Town 1-1 AFC Stoneham – away win pens 3-4
...not sure who that leaves as favourites to win the thing now
– in spite of DC/DD’s customary & rather laudable confidence in his own 'local' sides, I was quite surprised the ‘Purples’ (AFC Stoneham) were at such long odds for the competition in this round and fully expected them to get past the side from the Southern Comb.

Revised Q-F draw – ties due 28th Feb
Punjab United (SEC-P) v Downton (WESS-P)
A.F.C. Stoneham (WESS-P) v Coventry United (UCL-P)
Hallen (HELL-P) v West Didsbury & Chorlton (NWC-P)
Droylsden (NWC-1N) [STEP06] v Cockfosters (SSM-P)

League
Eastleigh 2-2 Boreham Wood
FC Halifax Town 1-0 Truro City
Forest Green Rovers 1-3 Carlisle United
Gateshead 1-2 Brackley Town - 'Saints' win at bottom club
Tamworth 1-1 Aldershot Town - both sides reduced to 10 men by H/T – Sh!ts grabbed a point on 92’
Wealdstone 0-3 York City
Woking P-P Altrincham – very late call off – reportedly c. 14:00
NAT-N
Merthyr Town {SEVEN} 7-1 Bedford Town – ‘Eagles’ one up on 5’
Worksop Town 1-2 Oxford City – City still 2 points adrift in the bottom 4
NAT-S
Chippenham Town 1-0 Maidstone United – Chipp’num finally off the bottom after 2 successive wins
Dorking Wanderers 5-3 Farnborough – Wanderers go top
Salisbury 1-2 Chesham United
Slough Town 0-0 Horsham
Torquay United 1-1 Maidenhead United

IL1-SC
Ascot United 1-2 AFC Portchester
Bedfont Sports 1-1 Harrow Borough
Bognor Regis Town 1-0 Southall
Egham Town 5-2 Hartley Wintney
Fareham Town 1-3 Binfield
Hanworth Villa 3-3 Leatherhead –att 417 - 2nd v 1st see shared spoils – Villa get 2 in the last 15’ plus stoppage incl one from Liam Ferdinand
Metropolitan Police 1-1 South Park (Reigate)
Raynes Park Vale 1-0 Moneyfields

SLP-C
Banbury United 1-0 Bury Town
Harborough Town 2-1 Royston Town
Leiston 1-1 Bromsgrove Sporting
Needham Market 3-0 Halesowen Town
Quorn 1-0 Bishop's Stortford
Real Bedford 1-0 Stratford Town
Spalding 3-0 Alvechurch
St Ives Town 1-3 Kettering Town
Worcester City 0-0 AFC Sudbury
SLP-S
Basingstoke Town 1-2 Poole Town – 2nd placed ‘Dolphins’ pinch it on 90’
Bracknell Town 3-0 Yate Town - 'Robins' drew 1-1 with Berko on Tue night
Chertsey Town 2-2 Gloucester City
Farnham Town 4-1 Uxbridge
Hungerford Town 1-0 Walton & Hersham – ‘Crusaders’ hand out another defeat to the faltering leaders – winner on 98’
- ‘Swans’ now lost 3 of the last 5 – their lead has been cut to 6 pts but they do have games in hand

Wimborne Town 3-0 Hanwell Town
SL1-C
Aylesbury United 1-3 Beaconsfield Town
Marlow 1-5 Leighton Town – ‘Blues’ thumped by league leaders
Thame United 4-3 Flackwell Heath
SL1-S
Bashley 0-2 Didcot Town
Melksham Town 1-0 Winchester City

CCL-PN
Ardley United P-P Ashford Town (Middx) – very late postponement by match referee on arrival
Burnham 1-1 Windsor & Eton - att 190
Edgware & Kingsbury A-A Amersham Town – long break in play in the 1st half for a collision between E&K GK and visiting no 9
– the striker came off worse (serious lower limb injury – player could not be moved etc) - ambulance called & arr. within 30 mins
– Ref called the game off after close to an hours delay, by which time the player had been eventually removed from the pitch and taken to Hospital

Holyport 1-3 British Airways
Wokingham Town 0-1 Kidlington
CCL-PS
Alton 0-2 Knaphill
Badshot Lea 2-2 Redhill
Cobham {TWELVE !!} 12-1 Chipstead ‘Hammers’ now 27 pts clear and have a GD of +89
– my simple math reckons they only need 6 more points to be crowned Champions
- less if results involving 2nd (T&M) & 3rd (Knaphill) go their way on Tue evening
- meaning they could get possibly the title with a win next w/e at Tadley

Corinthian-Casuals 0-0 Sutton Common Rovers
Eversley & California 1-2 Balham
Fleet Town 3-3 Camberley Town
Guildford City 1-2 Abbey Rangers
Sheerwater 0-3 Horley Town
CCL-1
Bedfont 4-1 Langley
Brook House 6-3 Hillingdon Borough
Oxhey Jets 0-1 Molesey
PFC Victoria London 0-1 Sandhurst Town – shock win for lowly ‘Fizzers’ at 4th placed PFC
Sport London e Benfica 2-3 Holmer Green
Staines & Lammas (Middlesex) 4-3 Woodley United
Wembley 2-3 Spartans Youth

HELL-P
Royal Wootton Bassett Town 3-0 Westfields
HELL-1
Cheltenham Saracens 2-2 Thame United Reserves
Wantage Town 2-1 Brimscombe & Thrupp

SCE-1
Croydon {ELEVEN} 11-0 Chessington & Hook United
SE Dons 3-2 Welling Town att 189

SSM-P
Kings Langley 0-1 Winslow United
Sawbridgeworth Town 3-0 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos

WESS-P
Petersfield Town 1-4 Sherborne Town
Portland United 2-0 Andover New Street
WESS-1
Ash United 1-5 Hamworthy United
Colden Common 2-1 Yateley United
Cove 4-0 Alresford Town
Lymington Town 3-2 Kintbury Rangers
Newport (IoW) 4-1 Whitchurch United
Totton & Eling 1-2 AFC Aldermaston

TVPL-P 14:00
Finchampstead 0-4 Wargrave
Reading YMCA 0-1 Maidenhead Town

[Double C]

Haywards Heath Town 1-1 AFC Stoneham – away win pens 3-4
...not sure who that leaves as favourites to win the thing now
– in spite of DC/DD’s customary & rather laudable confidence in his own 'local' sides, I was quite surprised the ‘Purples’ (AFC Stoneham) were at such long odds for the competition in this round and fully expected them to get past the side from the Southern Comb.

More tongue in cheek then anything but also kind of wishing they get to the final so I can go to Wembley as their ground is a 15 min drive from my house (I think that counts as local enough )... also BurgessHill are 5 minutes from me and I go watch them sometimes

Also on the local fb groups of the area its been quite a growing thing with how good theyve been doing well and unbeaten for ages

Which tbf after supporting reading for 30+ years we are allowed to glory hunt a bit right

[Four Of Clubs]

More tongue in cheek then anything but also kind of wishing they get to the final so I can go to Wembley as their ground is a 15 min drive from my house (I think that counts as local enough )... also BurgessHill are 5 minutes from me and I go watch them sometimes

Also on the local fb groups of the area its been quite a growing thing with how good theyve been doing well and unbeaten for ages

Which tbf after supporting reading for 30+ years we are allowed to glory hunt a bit right

...no problem with that - tbf you may not have known Stoneham had a similar opening to their campaign in the Wessex Premier -
- I think HH went to mid Dec before they even dropped a point and are still 100% in the league at home - one of a very select group across the Pyramid.

The Eastleigh based 'Purples' had a similar 'purple-patch' to start their campaign: have still only dropped 10 points to date.

According to NLM the only side (STEP01-06 and RFLs - Regional Feeder League) with a perfect 100% record, are our very own Westwood Wanderers. They are 12 from 12 in the Thames Valley League-Premier [STEP07].
They still have 16 league games to fulfill though, a consequence of the Thames Valley being more 'Thames' than 'Valley' this season!

They've reached the Final of the B&B Trophy, where they will be up against Old Bradwell United (from MK)
- not sure where that'll be played is still 'tbc' on the County website
- like the National FA Sunday S-Fs mentioned above, probably at a venue (in Berks/Bucks) roughly half-way between the 2 clubs (so at a guess: Beaconsfield or Chesham - if available).
Expect it could even be at down at a STEP05 or 06 ground - haven't checked the regs