Droitwich Spa - King George V Playing Fields

Droitwich Spa FC

The Pavilion

King George V Playing Fields

Briar Mill,

Droitwich

Worcestershire

WR9 0RZ

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1200
Tuesday 11th July 2023
Droitwich Spa 1-2 Kidderminster Harriers

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DROITWICH SPA FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1985 as a Sunday league club, later moving into Saturday football and winning the Worcestershire League in 1995 & 1996.  In 1999, they joined the Midland Combination. Originally known as Droitwich St Peters, they changed their name to Droitwich Spa in 2000. They played in Division 2 for many years, this sat at step 8 of the non-league pyramid and is the equivalent to the modern-day Midland D3. In 2007, a third-place finish behind Wernley Athletic and Coton Green was good enough for promotion. This earned them a promotion to Division 1 where they had a series of unremarkable finishes. In 2014, this league was merged with the Midland Alliance into the Midland League D2 and things improved vastly for Droitwich Spa. Finishes were much higher and in 2017 they were even Midland D2 champions. This was justice as a year earlier they had topped the table only to be denied the title due to a points deduction for playing an ineligible player. They were not promoted to Division 1 due to a lack of facilities and moved to the West Midlands (Regional) League in 2018. They won Division 1 in 2022 and this time were promoted due to a groundshare agreement at Stourport Swifts. An excellent first season at step 6 last season saw them finish 4th. Droitwich narrowly missed out on promotion, losing 2-1 in the playoff finals to Ashby Ivanhoe.

Droitwich Spa enjoyed their best run in the FA Vase during the 2019/20 season. They won 2-0 at Wednesfield and 2-1 at Tividale before a 2-0 home win over Whitchurch Alport. Their run came to an end in the 2nd Round as they lost 2-1 at Lye Town. Local clubs include the Midland League Presidents Cup in 2016, the Bayliss Cup twice, the Worcester Nursing Junior Cup four times and the Worcestershire Junior Cup three times. Their record attendance of 972 came for a Worcestershire Senior Cup game against Worcester City last season. Droitwich Spa won 3-0 in this game. There is also a women's team that plays in the West Midlands Regional Women's Football League.

The historic Spa town of Droitwich Spa is located seven miles from Worcester and has a population of just over 25,000. The River Salwarpe running through Droitwich is likely derived from sal meaning "salt" and weorp which means "to throw up" - i.e. "the river which throws up salt" - which overflows from the salt brines. Famous past and present residents include former footballer Dean Holdsworth and comedian Rik Mayall.

MY VISIT

Unusually, this game was decided over a month in advance when various hoppers took a look at the early pre-season fixture releases. Droitwich Spa was one of the few grounds within a reasonable distance that I could offer to both of my regular hopping pals. It was only weather that had stopped us doing it before so it was about time that we got it done. The attractive opponent of Kidderminster Harriers pushed it even further up the list. I had first heard about the club when they were still at step 7. They were partly owned by former Wycombe keeper David Stockdale and since discovering them, they had been elevated to step 6 after getting a refurbished ground in place. I would probably have a full car for this game as Martin had agreed to come. However, he was pretty unreliable due to favouring work over play and so I had plans in place should he drop out.

It had been a fairly sensible weekend, booze wise but it was still the standard difficult Sunday. I amused myself by searching certain terms on Twitter and retweeting those who shared my sentiment. In the end, it was head down and get on with it though. Monday was a more reasonable shift but it was a pricey 24 hours with me booking a Eurostar for next March, buying a new tablet and having a dentist appointment. Tuesday was my usual day off work and as well as the dentist, I had my usual walk. Towards the end, I received the rather predictable news, that Martin, for the third trip in a week, had gone back on his word. The afternoon saw multiple parcel deliveries and I set up my new tablet before leaving at 4. It was a good journey over to Colin, less than 15 minutes. It was a bad journey over to Aylesbury, thanks to the invisible HS2 workers and their Christmas cracker traffic lights. We got to Anwar at 4.55 and after that we had a good journey with us getting to outside the ground at 6.40. I parked on the road outside and ordered dinner on my phone. Droitwich Tandoori supplied me with a stuffed pepper, Mannkhush curry and chill rice for £15. It was there a few minutes after I arrived and was absolutely delicious. Anwar and Colin ordered theirs once they got there and I eat mine whilst theirs was being cooked. It was all a bit of a rush as we arrived at the ground around ten minutes before kickoff. I saw a few familiar faces including the local hopper I'd seen at Newquay last season.

It had been quite a walk from the front of the complex to the ground, but everything was very well organised. We were in within a few minutes, paying £5 to get in.  The visitors Kidderminster Harriers had celebrated promotion to the National Premier at the end of last season. They had a lively start and were ahead within three minutes, a shot into the roof of the net by Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain. Droitwich equalised on nine minutes, a penalty converted by Connor Collins. Kidderminster then had a series of good chances but Droitwich hit the post with a lob by Roland Krul. The hosts then had a good spell but couldn't get another goal. Kidderminster took the lead on 42 minutes, a superb curling shot from 25 yards by Ashley Hemmings. It was a complete change of team for the visitors at halftime and that made the second half a more muted affair. Droitwich Spa more than held their own and some goalmouth scrambles and some great saves from their keeper ensured there were no more goals.

The attendance had been 644 and it had been a friendly and positive atmosphere. It was just over 10 minutes walk back to the car and we left at 9.50. It was an OK journey home, a closure to the entry on the M40 southbound meant a six-mile detour. I dropped Anwar off at 11.45 but then had to get some petrol as I didn't have enough to get home. I then dropped Colin off at 12.15, getting home 20 minutes later. I stayed up for around an hour but was a bit tired the next morning. An energy drink helped get me through a fairly easy six-hour shift before I came home and typed this blog. It was just a nine-hour long day after that before I had five days off work and a welcome break.

THE GROUND

King George V Playing Fields is a tidy setup. It is a grass pitch although it is in a cage like a 3G pitch. The footprint is quite tight but I think you can walk around the pitch. In here is a basic club shop which also sells soft drinks although alcohol is usually also available. There's also a bar outside as well as a good stall but I tried neither. There is plenty of parking and the town centre and train station is around 15 minutes away. Droitwich Tandoori is well worth a visit if you go for an evening game.