Saturday 16 July 2016

Racing Club Warwick - Townsend Meadow




Racing Club Warwick FC
Townsend Meadow
Hampton Road
Warwick
Warwickshire
CV34 6JP


01926 495786
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Ground Number: 595
Saturday 16th July 2016
Racing Club Warwick 0-1 Daventry Town
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10 FACTS ABOUT RACING CLUB WARWICK FC

1:  The club were established in 1919 under the name of Satisford Rovers. They played in local Warwickshire Leagues for much of their early years. They changed their name to Racing Club Warwick in 1970, owing to their location next door to Warwick Racecourse. 

2:  Then known as Warwick Satisford Rovers, they joined the West Midlands Regional League in 1967. They had their best ever finish of 3rd in 1969, changing their name to Racing Club Warwick a couple of years later. They stayed here until 1972.

3:  From 1989 until 2003 they were in the Southern League Western Division. Their time there was generally a struggle -  though they did have a best ever finish of 10th in the 1994/95 season.

4:  For the rest of their history, they have been in the Midland Alliance & Midland Combination which recently merged to became the Midland League.  They were champions in 1988 and runners up in 1989 with the latter finish allowing them to take their promotion to the Southern League. They were relegated to step 6 in 2009 after a period of struggle and even finished bottom the following season. Gradually things have improved and last season they finished 10th - their best finish since being relegated.

5:  Between 1976 and 2008, Racing Club Warwick competed in the FA Cup. The furthest they reached was the Third Qualifying Round - losing to Halesowen Town in 1997 and Burton Albion in 2005.

6:  The club's best season in the FA Vase came during the 1977/78 season. That year they reached the 4th Round, losing to Irthlingborough Diamonds after a replay. They saw little success in the FA Trophy - winning just 1 game out of 12 as they defeated Warrington Town 1-0 in 1995.

7:  Racing Club Warwick won the delightfully named Warwick Cinderella Cup from 1935-1939 inclusive and then again in 1947.

8:  Other local honours include various local cups. The most recent first-team honour came in 2005 when they lifted the Midland Alliance League Cup.

9:  The most famous player to appear for the club was current West Brom keeper Ben Foster. He started his career at Racing Club Warwick in 2000 before being picked up by Stoke City. 

10: Away from football, Warwick is most famous for its castle, which remains a popular tourist attraction.



MY VISIT


Racing Club Warwick was a club that myself and Anwar had wanted to visit for a while, however for one reason or another they didn't come up on our list of options very often. They were on a list for this Saturday though and although Anwar initially preferred Salford City v Fleetwood Town, that was ruled out because of cost. I tweeted the club to confirm that it would be played at their own ground and they confirmed that it would be, and better still it was only £3 entry to get in.
On the day of the game I woke at 7am. After some breakfast and a bath I went down the shops and got a paper before leaving to meet Anwar at 11.15. I picked him and his son Hicham up at 11.50 and after making our way up the M40 we were parked up opposite the ground by 1. We walked into town, with the priority for me being to visit the town's Wetherspoons, The Thomas Lloyd. I'd been down to Wycombe again yesterday in an attempt to complete the Cider Festival and was disappointed when I only had one new try despite us having 2 Wetherspoons in the town. Today was even worse, with only one on offer and 3 empty boxes in the fridge. I had a pint of Monkey Mango with my Rarebit Burger while Anwar & Hicham looked round the town. From there we walked back to the ground, arriving at 2.30 and paying £3 to get in.




I got some pictures while I waited for the game to start, sitting in the old stand on the far side of the ground. The first half was a dull affair with visitors Daventry shading it, but no one seriously testing the keeper. The second half was little better but Daventry took the lead just after the hour when slack defending allowed them a close range finish. That was it in a pretty dull game, though Warwick did rally towards the end without really creating anything. It was a decent drive home with me dropping Anwar & Hicham off at 6PM. It will most probably be late August until our next groundhop - owing to us both having firm commitments over the next month. I stopped at Spar on the way home to get some drinks for the night. I'll be having a rest over the next couple of days with my next groundhop being at Lancaster City on Tuesday.



THE GROUND

TOWNSEND MEADOW was a ground I initially visited on Tuesday 22nd February 2005, on the way to Wycombe's game up at Mansfield Town. It was a pretty decent ground even then, situated just under a mile from the town centre which includes a Wetherspoons amongst its various food & drink options. However, Wikipedia indicated that it had been recently refurbished and I was looking forward to seeing what changed they had made when I went for a proper visit.



Upon my return, they had replaced the old seated stand with a more modern metal structure. Both stands were now seated with an overall seating capacity  of around 200 and a total capacity of around 1500. There was a bar at the ground with plenty of memorabilia and a reasonable range of drinks including a real ale.


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