‘We hide our advertising boards if the Queen is here’
Life is not always simple for sports clubs in the shadow of the racecourse, as Alan Tyers discovers
Royal Ascot: the name is synonymous with excellence, the elite, the sport of kings. But if you thought that was the extent of Ascot’s athletic prowess, think again: scratch beneath the surface, and there are some surprising secrets to be revealed.
Ascot United Football Club’s touchline runs along the side of the racetrack. The club competes in the Hellenic League Premier Division, the ninth tier of English football. In the strictest terms, the level of football might be more Novice Stakes at Chelmsford than Ascot Gold Cup, but the passion, the commitment, and the sense of community are absolutely Group 1 standard.
Neil Richards is the club’s director of football, sometime first-team manager, and a director, as well as the role about which he is most passionate: development.
“The setting definitely inspires the players, the aesthetics of it,” he said. “Some of the other places we go are obviously not as nice, so a lot of clubs love coming here and playing. And our food is excellent, although you’d have to ask my wife about that, as she’s the head of catering.”
Are there any opportunities to catch a bit of the racing if the football action is less than gripping?
“We don’t have matches if there is a Flat race day because, well, some of our strikers… You wouldn’t want a ball on the race track. But we do have matches when there is a National Hunt meeting, because the jumps course is further away. When the Queen processes up the straight mile we have to hide the sponsors’ boards and whatever.”
Richards first got involved with the club 18 years ago as a parent-volunteer when his daughter played.
“I got the coaching bug,” he said. “I moved through the badges quite quickly, up to Uefa B level.”
“It is very rewarding coaching men in the first team who I had coached as five- or six-year-olds at soccer school. You see them grow as men: they grow up and develop social skills and character and personality. It is not just about the football.”
The racecourse has been a good neighbour, Richards said, helping out with a new pitch and clubhouse, not to mention coveted Royal Meeting tickets… although only for a select few.
“Mike, our chairman, has got an invite into the Royal Enclosure this year,” said Richards. “Although he’s kept that to himself. The invite didn’t seem to reach as far as the rest of the directors for some reason!”
Over at Royal Ascot Cricket Club, they agree that the racecourse have been steadfast friends to their sport, helping with planning applications and designs for improvements. The cricket ground, situated literally within the actual racetrack, is as pretty as they come.
“We’ve got a very good backdrop, haven’t we?” said Mark Wiggett, the chairman. “And it’s safe, no passing cars or anything like that. Quick draining, because it is a heath, so we were getting games on early this season when other teams couldn’t even prepare their square.
“We are 3-400 yards from the nearest bit of racetrack so there’s no problem with playing when the racing is on, although they do use our ground as a carpark during Royal Ascot.”
Relations off the pitch are perfectly cordial, but the cricket ground has been the scene of some duels between the cricket and racing fraternities.
“We used to have a fixture in the 1970s and 1980s with the National Hunt Jockeys Club that was the highlight of our season. Josh Gifford, Terry Biddlecombe, would play.
“That died away a bit when the
‘After Royal Ascot week we would find champagne bottles and underwear on the golf course’
jumps season got extended so much, but we had a charity day with them for the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday v MCC. Kim Bailey was the man of the match. I do sometimes worry that our setting inspires the visitors more than our teams, because we take it for granted.”
Brian Grant is on the board at the golf club, where he has been a member for 25 years. It used to be in the centre of the racetrack but has reopened nearby. He agreed that the proximity to a sporting cathedral gives competition there a unique flavour.
“It is very inspiring to play in the shadow of such a famous sporting institution. We probably underestimate it, but visitors are often in awe,” he said.
The golfers, too, used to enjoy some battles with the racing crowd.
“We had an annual competition with the jockeys back in the day. Before the era of them helicoptering in to ride the Sheik’s horses and then out again, they’d stay for a few days.”
But it is another side of Royal Ascot that sticks most in the mind.
“When we’d get the course back after the Royal Ascot week there would be a lot of sandcastles in the bunkers, lots of champagne bottles in the bushes and a surprising amount of discarded underwear.”
Be it football, cricket, racing or frolicking in a sand-trap, there is no more sporting place in the country.