Carville Hall Park North
Lionel Rd North
Brentford
Middlesex
TW8 9QT
Ground Number: 1447
Saturday 12th July 2025
Spartans Youth 1-2 Spartans Youth XI
Friendly
Friendly
SPARTANS YOUTH FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was established in 2006, but little could be found online about their early years, presumably because they are primarily a youth team. They entered the Middlesex County League in 2015, where they finished second-bottom of Division 1 West. The following season, they finished as runners-up to Lampton Park in the same division. In 2017, they joined the Surrey Elite Intermediate League, where they were runners-up to AFC Cubo in 2019. The league became the Surrey County Premier League in 2021, and the following year, Spartans Youth finished 5th. This was good enough for promotion to the Combined Counties League D1. They've been there for three seasons, finishing in a safe position without pulling up any trees.
MY VISIT
This weekend was always going to be the Ciderdog Festival at The Miller near London Bridge for me. I had been there the previous year, and it had been well worth it, with a choice of 100 ciders at £4 a pint. Free entry too. Everything was made nice and easy with tokens and with smaller measures available, so I was able to sample a fair few new offerings. I think this was the 3rd or 4th time I had been to the festival, and I was looking forward to returning. It was a week earlier than expected, but that worked better for me. I, of course, needed a game. My first choice would be to get a Step 7 tick done, but they had not started playing yet due to the later start date of the leagues. Therefore, Spartans Youth were a decent option with them playing a Barnet side at their original ground. As they shared at Northwood, I was never going to be able to do a blog on them, having used that ground to talk about Northwood. When the Football Traveller came on Wednesday, some other options came up but I decided to stick with my original choice.
After Uttoxeter, it was a decent trip home. I'd been in amazing company and was in a great mood as I'd secured a great deal to visit Everton for the opening game at their new stadium. Not even the roadworks on the M1, which delayed me for 15 minutes, only to see ten blokes in hi viz scratching their arses and doing nothing could get me down. I was back at Colin's by 12.15 and home 15 minutes later and full of energy. I got my blog up and caught up on admin but was still wise awake. The planned 2 am bedtime came and went, so it'd be less than six hours of sleep. In the end, it was sometime between 2.30 and 3 that I went to bed. I woke up at 6.15 for the toilet feeling as fresh as a daisy and went back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 8, I felt a bit groggy. I freshened up, had breakfast and left at 8.50. The buses were all up the spout thanks to long running roadworks at the local crossroads. Personally, I dont agree with the utility companies having free, unfettered access to the roads for weeks on end. I'd charge them a grand an hour, plus fines for missing deadlines and plough the money back into the local area, benefitting the people that have been inconvenienced.
The bus was ten minutes behind schedule, but I was still making my train. In my haze last night, I had sent MK Chris a list of FA Cup games that I fancied doing on August 2nd. He counter-offered with the suggestion of dropping him at Crook Town and going to Bishop Auckland. It was far from perfect, but on a weekend of very distant games, it was the best offer on the table at the moment. It was a busy platform and a rammed train with several noisy children, standing room only. Marylebone was calmer and it was the Bakerloo and Victoria lines to Brixton for my first Wetherspoons of the day. The Beehive in Brixton was number 419 for me and was a decent place for a pint of Sandford Orchards Cherry and a breakfast muffin. Not my favourite type of cider, but pleasant and a new tick. With shopping well established here by the early 19th century, Brixton has long been famous for its shops and markets. In 1824, there were also seven pubs and six boot and shoemakers. In 1909, a shoe shop opened in these premises. Truform’s eventually closed in 1993 and became The Beehive. The pub takes its name from Beehive Place, at the rear, which was originally known as Back Lane and was built to serve those properties fronting onto Brixton Road.
The breakfast muffin was epic with sweet chilli sauce and trounces any other high street breakfast offering in my opinion. From there, it was a convenient hop on the bus to Clapham Junction with me whacking on 'Up The Junction' by Squeeze, a great song by a great band. Brixton had been a bustling, busy place with lots of people handing out religious flyers but it was quite nice. It got me to opposite Wetherspoons 420, The London and South Western in Clapham Junction. A very elegant building and although no cider festival leftovers, a good place for a couple of pints and fish and chips. Opening c1935 as Hastings Ltd’s flagship store (furniture dealers), this property occupied a row of shops on the Queens Parade site. The railway’s arrival changed the area, with the parade built after that. The first line opened in 1838, run by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). Others later extended lines across the area. The first station did not open until 1863, though, after LSWR had joined forces with rival companies to build one at Falcon Bridge, later named Clapham Junction. The meal filled me up and was way better than most chippies, other than the one opposite the away end at Rochdale.
It was just over five minutes to platform 5 at Clapham Junction. The train to Kew Bridge was a minute late but it didn't matter as it had a khazi so I could do a Donald Trump on the Harry Kane. I was at Kew Bridge just before 1.30 and it was a ten minute walk to the ground. When I got there, Sunderland fan and hopper Peter told me that Barnet had not turned up without notification. Spartans Youth and the referee were brilliant though, still playing an inter club game, much to the relief of the small number of hoppers that had turned up. It was a much delayed kickoff as players had to be drafted in after being given the day off. We got going at 14:33, much to my relief. In boiling conditions, it was the greens that were the better side, with the navy side having chances on the break. It took 31 minutes for the greens to take the lead, a low shot on the turn from just inside the area. The players then went off for a break. In the second period, it was more equal and the navy side equalised from the spot after a man was brought down in the area. A few minutes later, it was 2-1 to the Navy, the keeper parried the shot but it was followed up by the same player. Ten minutes later, the truncated match ended. Understandably, no one could reasonably expect players to play 90 minutes in this heat. I was just grateful to see a game and will be sure to go and watch Spartans Youth at Bedfont this season.
THE GROUND
CARVILLE HALL PARK is an excellent step 7 venue, being situated next to the M4 and a short walk from Kew Bridge station. There is a nice clubhouse, although this is just facilities for the players. The pitch is railed and has coloured goal nets, plus dugouts. It's in a nice part of the world, despite the road noise.
CARVILLE HALL PARK is an excellent step 7 venue, being situated next to the M4 and a short walk from Kew Bridge station. There is a nice clubhouse, although this is just facilities for the players. The pitch is railed and has coloured goal nets, plus dugouts. It's in a nice part of the world, despite the road noise.