Hartley Wintney FC - The Memorial Playing Fields

Hartley Wintney FC

The Memorial Playing Fields
Green Lane
Hartley Wintney
Hampshire
RG27 8DL

01252 843586
Official Website
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Ground Number: 308
Saturday 19th October 2013
Hartley Wintney 4-2 Petersfield Town
FA Vase 1st Round




HARTLEY WINTNEY FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1897. They played in the Basingstoke & District League before transferring to the Aldershot & District League, where the club won three consecutive league titles in the mid-1970s. In 1978 Hartley Wintney were founder members of the Home Counties League, which was renamed the Combined Counties League in 1979. In 1981, Hartley Wintney finished as runners-up to Malden Town before winning the title in 1983. The league expanded to two divisions in 2003 and the club were initially in the Premier Division. However, they were relegated in 2005 and would spend six of the next seven seasons in Division 1. Promoted back up in 2012, they won the league for the second and third time in 2015 & 2016. They now had the facilities in place to make the step up and were promoted to the Southern League D1 East. They were an immediate success, finishing 4th and beating AFC Dunstable and Cambridge City in the playoffs to earn promotion to the Premier Division South. An 8th-place finish in 2019 was the best in the club's history. In 2023, Hartley Wintney were relegated to the Isthmian D1 South Central where they remain to this day.

Hartley Wintney's best FA Cup run came in 2013 whilst they were still members of the Combined Counties Premier  They had to battle through the rounds right from the start, at the extra preliminary round in mid-August. A 1-1 draw at Hellenic League Kidlington was followed up by winning the replay 5-2 at home. Next up in the Preliminary Round, they defeated fellow league side Badshot Lea on their own patch, this time 3-2 without needing a replay. It was another opponent from their own league that stood in their way and after drawing 0-0 at home, won 2-0 at Camberley. In the next round, their most incredible result yet. They travelled to Ryman Division 1 South side Eastbourne Town and trounced them 5-1, despite being a division lower. Then last of all they hosted Clevedon Town, again from a higher league, drawing 1-1 before winning the replay. Their run came to an end in the 4th Qualifying Round when they lost 6-1 at home to in-form Daventry Town. They matched the progression again in 2020, losing 1-0 at Dagenham & Redbridge.

In 2021, Hartley Wintney progressed to the FA Trophy 2nd Round, beating Melksham Town and Willand Rovers before a 2-0 loss to Folkestone Invicta, During the 2015/16, the club enjoyed its record run in the FA Vase. They beat Longlevens, Milton United, Wokingham & Emmbrook, Windsor, Colliers Wood United and Bradford Town before a 4-1 loss to Hereford in the 5th Round. Local cup wins include the Combined Counties League Challenge Trophy in 1988 and 1990. Their record attendance of 1,392 came against AFC Wimbledon in the  Combined Counties League Premier Division on  25th January 2003. Well-known players to play for the side include former Spurs midfielder David Howells, Football League striker Rowan Vine and former Reading striker Martin Williams.

Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire. It lies about 3 miles northwest of Fleet and 8 miles east of Basingstoke. The population is around 5,000. The parish includes large wooded areas such as Yateley Heath Wood and part of Hazeley Heath. The River Hart flows through the parish northeast of the town. The River Whitewater forms the western parish boundary. The southern boundary now follows the M3 motorway. The village has a typical wide Hampshire main street, lined with local businesses, shops, an osteopath, public houses and a Baptist church. It also has numerous antique shops. The cricket green, home of the oldest cricket club in Hampshire, is behind the shops, with a duckpond and Dutch-gabled farmhouse, In 2020 the Hartley Wintney Cricket Club celebrated its 250th anniversary. The village is twinned with Saint-Savin near Poitiers, France and with Malle in Belgium.

MY FIRST VISIT

I had originally been planning to go to Bristol Rovers today, along with a nice cider tour of Bristol. But I'd had a few last night, partly in celebration that my video of the Harrogate Railway announcer had got on national TV, on the excellent Baker and Kelly VSPO show on BT Sport. They have all sorts of weird and wonderful football-related things on there, I thought that would be right up their street and it turned out I was right. I woke up the following morning and really didn't feel like going to a ground that I had been to several times before. Especially as I had been spending a fair bit lately and was also really enjoying my groundhopping. So I started to look around for fixtures. The FA Trophy games were considered, games at Kettering and Coalville. But that would defeat the object of saving money, as it was still a fair old trek. So I looked in the FA Vase, and the 2 nearest - Oxhey Jets and Reading Town held limited appeal. For 10 or so miles further, I could go to Hartley Wintney which had far more appeal.



I saw my Mum and Dad off who were off to see Wycombe play at Bristol Rovers on the independent supporters club coach. I then had myself a bath, got dressed and wrote out my blog for one of my latest groundhops at Farsley on Wednesday. After watching a bit of TV and chatting online I got myself a bit of lunch and left the house at 12.50. I stopped at ASDA on the way to get some Irn Bru for the game amongst other things, and was away from there by 1.25. It was a fairly short drive to Hartley Wintney and I parked up nearby to the ground at around 2.05. I had done my research on my CAMRA app and found that there was a pub serving real cider in the town, called the Waggon and Horses. I always like to support these type of places and shun the places with no imagination, because as I see it, when I go out, if I am paying a premium I want something new that I have not had before that I can't usually get at home. They did Westons' Wyld Wood which I had tried before, but I thought I may as well have a pint while I was there, as it's not that common. The pub was a strange one, really small and everyone seemed to know each other. I felt like a bit of a stranger really, with everyone keeping themselves to themselves. I find you get that less up north, where people are more outgoing. Anyway, I enjoyed and finished my pint, and made my way to the ground, getting there about 2.35.



I paid my entry fee and also got an excellent value programme, well presented and full of interesting things to read about for just £1. I will be reading that later as it contains some stuff about their FA Cup run which interests me. For a fairly small audience, it's pretty impressive, clubs higher up the pyramid charge twice that for a lot less content. For the 20 minutes before the game, I took some pictures and checked my phone, though not very quick as the signal was a bit iffy for the internet. Today's visitors were Petersfield Town, who were having a very good season in the Wessex League, a fact that I learned from their matchday programme. This is another decent production and is available for free download on their site. They play at the delightfully named Love Lane, another ground that I have been to for pictures on the way to a game elsewhere. Their interest in the FA Cup this season had ended at local rivals Horndean, their only defeat so far this term. Yet they were still only mid-table in their league, thanks to the fact that they had only played around half the amount of games that their rivals had. They'd already beaten Welton Rovers and Fawley to get this far in the Vase, entering earlier than the home side since they played a level lower at step 6.



The game started at a huge tempo and within the first couple of minutes, the home side were 1-0 up thanks to a long-range shot deceiving the Petersfield keeper. I thought it looked like it could be a long afternoon for the visitors, not knowing their record this season at the time of the game. I soon changed my mind anyway, as they were back on level terms within 5 minutes when their number 7 Mike Asare dribbled through the area before finishing well. He was the best player on the park and could easily play a couple of levels higher I reckon. And the game was turned on its head a few minutes later when their number 4 drilled a shot into the bottom right-hand corner to give them a lead. Keeper Matt Short was perhaps lucky to escape without being carded on a couple of occasions. Around the 20-minute mark, he charged out of his area and bought down at Hartley Wintney forward, but despite protests from the home side, no other action than awarding a free kick was taken. From then on though, Petersfield were the better side and as they went in for the halftime break I was left thinking that Hartley Wintney would have to up their game if they wanted to progress in the FA Cup. Maybe it was the workload of that run that was getting to them, as the second half started in much the same fashion. That was until the 55th minute when Sam Argent tapped in from close range to equalise, From then on it was mainly Petersfield on the back foot as the home side seriously improved their game. They were ahead 2 minutes later when Stevens got another, this time a lovely lob over the onrushing keeper. They got their 4th around 10 minutes from time when from a cross Shane Hollamby wrapped things up. There was only going to be one winner from then on, and only the bar prevented the home side from adding to their tally.



It had been a decent game, with two very good sides battling it out for progression to the next round. In the end, being a league higher and the extra class won the day for Hartley Wintney, but I fancy Petersfield to be joining them at this level next season, especially if they can keep hold of some of their better players like Asare. After the game it was a short walk back to my car, then an easy drive home with me getting in just before 6. It was to be the last late night of my week off and I looked forward to watching Match Of The Day without worrying about being up at 4am the next morning. I was also very pleased to see that Wycombe had won 1-0 in their game at Bristol Rovers, a place that has not always proved a happy hunting ground for us.



THE GROUND - 2013

THE MEMORIAL PLAYING FIELDS is a pretty basic ground, even for this level and I think they would have to make improvements if they were to step up a level. When I visited in 2006 with the team a step lower, there was little more than a railed-off pitch. Since then they have added a metal stand, holding around 150, but this remains the only bit of cover in the ground unless you wish to stand a bit back from the pitch near the clubhouse

Talking of the clubhouse, this is the main hub of the stadium. It has big screens and Sky and a very good selection of drinks (cider at least) for a clubhouse. Food is also served from here, and although I didn't have anything, there looked to be a good choice. Club shop wise, they sell badges and polo shirts, but not much else.