WAKEFIELD AFC 2 ECCLESFIELD RED ROSE 1915 0

I HAVE a tasty double planned today. Rotherham United are playing at home at Parkgate’s ground in Rawmarsh and for the afternoon, I have Wakefield AFC pencilled in.

Saturday dawns frosty and foggy so I set off with The Fox, more in optimism than in hope of seeing a morning match.

As I suspected, Parkgate is deserted in the gloom so after a walk round a local nature reserve instead, I drive up to Featherstone, which is where Wakefield play. It is still extremely gloomy but at least the frost seems to have thawed a bit.

I have seen Wakefield sides at a couple of rugby grounds over the years before they were wound up in 2014. A phoenix club was established in 2019 and announced they would be playing in the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior League (Step 7) at Featherstone Rovers’ rugby stadium. And this is where my Groundhopping radar kicks in...

Now, I am not a fan of rugby in any way, shape or form but I do, however, like some of the old grounds and Featherstone’s Millennium Stadium on Old Post Office Road is a beauty by all accounts.

That’s how I find myself pulling into the large car park and sticking my be-masked bonce round the entrance to see if the game is still on. A nice, smiley lady carrying a baby confirms that it is!

The stadium’s usual turnstiles aren’t open; spectators enter through the reception arch, passing by the trophy cabinets. Amazingly, Wakefield allow spectators to pay what they like at each game. The Fox and I chuck in a couple of quid each and also buy one of the photocopied programmes for another £1.

Fans enter the ground behind one stand. I am faced with a large burger van. Getting served proves a tad tricky. Two guys push in front of me in the queue and order a pile of food and drink. There are two ladies serving but one is too busy chatting away. When the two guys’ food arrives, it looks like it’s served in a plastic dog bowl.

I climb the steep steps up to the stand, and then head right to walk round the wonderful terrace behind one goal. The rugby posts are still in place behind the proper, netted goals. I walk round to the seated stand along the touchline. There’s another large seated stand behind the other goal, complete with an electronic scoreboard.

The game has its moments but can never be described as a classic. Both sides put in a great effort, though. A goal in each half sees a hard-fought win for the whites of Wakefield. I look forward to them moving to yet another rugby ground so I can tick it off without watching a dull sport.

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