Liss Athletic - Newman Collard Park

Liss Athletic FC

Newman Collard Park

Hill Brow Road

Liss

Hampshire

GU33 7LE

Official Website

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Ground Number: 1453

Tuesday 5th August 2025
Liss Athletic 1-1 Denmead
Hampshire Premier Senior

LISS ATHLETIC FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1962 and played in various local leagues before joining Division 4 of the Hampshire League in 1975. They finished 3rd in their first season here, winning promotion to Division 3. A further promotion to Division 2 came in 1980 when the top two divisions expanded. Liss Athletic took a four-year hiatus from the league between 1983 and 1987, returning where they left off. Finishes were disappointing at first, but in 1995, Liss were champions and won promotion to Division 1. Another reorganisation in 2000 saw them placed in the Premier Division. In 2004, Liss joined the second tier of the Wessex League, finishing 5th in 2006, the best finish in their history, as it was at step 6 of the pyramid. They dropped down to the Hampshire Premier League in 2008. Despite a fair few relegation scraps and reprieves, the club remain there to this day and last season finished as runners-up to Colden Common.

Local cup wins include the George Mason Memorial Shield in 2025 and the Hampshire Premier League Combination Cup in 2016 & 2025. Their record win of 11-0 has happened twice - in a 2024 Aldershot Intermediate Cup game against Whitehill & Bordon Development and in a May 2025 league game against Sway. In May 2024, they had a record 444 attendance against Portsmouth Legends. Liss is located on the A3 in Hampshire and is near Petersfield. It has a population of around 6,000. It has its own railway station served by trains between London & Portsmouth. The village comprises an old village at West Liss and a modern village round the 19th-century station. They are divided by the River Rother. Suburbs later spread towards Liss Forest.

MY VISIT

Originally, on this day, I was going to Cricklade Town in the Wilshire League. The league was good at getting fixtures on early, and the standard of grounds and football was good. However, some competition from the Hampshire League soon emerged. This was slightly closer to home and was not so much of a diversion on the way back. It was good to see leagues starting early, as leagues such as the Bedfordshire and Thames Valley had not even uploaded the new season onto the FA Full Time system yet. However, I learned that those leagues start the season later, meaning that I'd benefit from some early evening kickoffs in April & May. The club also had a decent Twitter and confirmed that the game was going ahead the day before.

From my game at Bishop Auckland, I headed north to Crook to pick up Chris. We had both had a good day, but it had been a long old day. Thankfully, the trip home was slightly better, as we went straight down the M1. Wycombe had lost 2-1 at Bradford City, playing badly in the first half and recovering in the second.  For me, though, too much of the magic that makes the club special has been discarded, and I'll be attending less this season. Three Counties Radio entertained us for the first hour before Absolute 80s covered the rest of the journey. I dropped Chris off at 8.40 and put an Audiobook on. I was home an hour later, delayed by a tractor. The day out had cost me £75, even with Chris's contribution, so although I wasn't looking forward to the early start, work was essential. A couple of drinks were enjoyed, although my intended bedtime of 11 PM came and went as I wasn't tired. I eventually climbed in at 11.30 and was happily fine the next morning. The day at work was also fine, although there was disappointment when I looked at the FA Cup draw and saw that there were not many options if I fancy a new ground in the next round.

Monday was uneventful, but I spent the evening researching for this blog. It was the standard day off on Tuesday, with the walk to Wycombe and back, ten miles in all. I got some decent chicken for half price from Lidl and also learned details of next year's North West Counties Hop. Knowing how horrendous accommodation costs can get, I booked rooms for the two nights with free cancellation. With Colin, that should work out at £44 each for the two nights, and we have paid well over that for one night before. I left at 4.15 to meet Colin at the bus stop, and we were on our way. It was a cross-country route and took us until 6 to get there. It was a nice setup and a programme was available for £1, which I purchased. We got chatting to a nice club official who told us that plans were afoot to move to a new ground at the former cricket club, pending planning permission. Some stuff had already been moved up, but it was still an excellent setup.

 

Both teams had enjoyed victories on the opening day. Last season's runners-up, Liss Athletic, beat last season's Division 1 champions Broughton, 4-1. Denmead, who finished 12th last season, led the way after they thumped Stockbridge 7-3. Liss started well and they took the lead on 8 minutes, a ball from the left was bundled home on the line by Theo Glazier. Denmead had some chances on the break and they equalised on 36 minutes. It was a fairly tame shot that was parried, but the rebound was thumped in from 15 yards by Same Rutherford. In the second half, both sides had chances which were wasted, the dry pitch not helping. It was not the best game, but not the worst, overall, though I'd enjoyed my visit.

THE GROUND 

NEWMAN COLLARD PARK is an excellent venue for the level. There is a clubhouse and this has a bar and snacks as well as programmes for a quid. The pitch is partially railed and has a grass bank behind one goal, which has some seating. A car park provides some parking, and the village has a railway station. Plans are in place to move to a new ground, but this one is well worth a visit.