Monday, 7 March 2022

Barnoldswick Town FC - The Silentnight Stadium

Barnoldswick Town FC
The Silentnight Stadium
Greenberfield Lane
Barnoldswick
Lancashire
BB18 5LJ







Ground Number: 1045
Saturday 5th March 2022
Barnoldswick Town 0-2 Avro
North West Counties Premier







BARNOLDSWICK TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Though a Barnoldswick team existed in the Lancashire Combination and Yorkshire League from 1924 until 1936, the current side was established in 1972. They were originally known as Barnoldswick United (1972) and played in the Craven & District and East Lancashire Leagues. In 1997, they joined the West Lancashire League and were a good success. They were runners-up in Division 2 in their debut season before winning the renamed Division 1 the following year.  In 2003, the club absorbed Barnoldswick Park Rovers and Salterforth Juniors and was renamed Barnoldswick Town. The Premier Division was a different story and the club would remain there until 2009 when their application to join the North West Counties League was accepted. Barnoldswick Town were runners-up to Stone Dominoes in Division 1 in their debut season, winning promotion to the Premier Division where they remain to this day. They had their best-ever finish of 4th in 2012.

Barnoldswick Town has twice reached the FA Cup Qualifying Round. The latest occasion came this season when they beat Runcorn Town 6-1 and Ramsbottom United 5-4 before a 3-0 defeat to Pontefract Collieries. They reached the FA Vase 3rd Round in 2013, beating Maine Road and Armthorpe Welfare before losing to AFC Emley. In terms of local cups, they've won the Craven Cup four times and the Morrison Cup three times. Their record attendance of 691 came earlier this season in a league game against Macclesfield. The market town of Barnoldswick has a population of just under 11,000 and is located in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire. Up until 1974, the town was in Yorkshire and is located near the Yorkshire Dales national park. Big companies with a presence in the town include Silentnight beds and Rolls Royce.  Barnoldswick receives television from Leeds; ITV (Yorkshire Television) and BBC Yorkshire are both transmitted from the television mast at East Marton, three miles northeast of Barnoldswick. Television transmissions from the North West region BBC North West and ITV (Granada Television) are blocked by Weets Hill. Despite this, Granada Reports still covers news from Barnoldswick.


MY VISIT

It was a tight turnaround between games and so we arrived just ten minutes before the scheduled kick-off despite a decent journey. This was due more to the other game over running than anything but the start time was pretty quickly put back to 19:45. This soon presented a slight problem - I had to get Colin back to Huddersfield for 11 and I wanted to build in time for error. There was a good buzz about the place though and this game would produce the highest attendance of the hop and the only one to exceed 500. I noticed that the club was doing barnded glasses to take out and so I got myself a pint of Strongbow Dark Fruits for £3.10 Dan and Colin followed suit, but the latter's did not last long. A likeable but clumsy person, Colin tried to take a shortbut onto the ledge along one side. Rather than using the steps, he tried to climb up instead but only succeeded by tripping and spilling his drink over the wall. It meant that for a time the wall had a purple stain that I'd not seen the like of since Mikhail Gorbachev was on the TV when I was a nipper. Thankfully, he was OK with only minor bruising but I was slightly concerned for a bit.


Barnoldswick Town were in poor form and sat 19th in the table. They'd managed 2-2 draws against Congleton Town and AFC Liverpool but lost 2-1 at Vauxhall Motors, 3-0 at Skelmersdale United, 2-1 to Runcorn Town and 4-0 at Litherland REMYCA. Avro were going well in 5th, but their recent form had been poor. They'd lost 2-0 to Wythenshawe Town in their latest game and also 2-1 to Ashton United and 2-1 at Irlam. They'd drawn 2-2 with AFC Liverpool and 2-2 with Squires Gate with their only victory in the last six games coming as they beat Skelmersdale United 3-2. Avro dominated the game and were well backed by excellent and noisy travelling support. It took until the 53rd minute for Liam Ellis to open the scoring, converting a penalty awarded for a could. He grabbed his second on 62 minutes, a goal on the break and a shot in the bottom corner. The attendance totalled 517 and it had been an excellent end to a hard day hopping.

We had to leave around five minutes from time just to make sure I got Colin back on time. The roads were not the greatest and we made slow but steady progress down fairly minor roads. My passenger was fast asleep by the time we got back but I woke him up and he made his coach with ten minutes to spare. I dumped my car back at my room and made my way to town. I headed to the Rat & Ratchet and had myself a pint of Simon's Short Sterling Cider as I'd had all the others. It was a decent establishment, though not as good as the Sportsman that I'd been to last night. After that, I went to the Wetherspoons that I'd not done yesterday, The Lord Wilson. It had turned into a nightclub for the young crowd and had sold out of Black Dragon but I had a swift pint of Old Rosie before leaving as it wasn't my scene. I wasn't hugely hungry but I headed to a place called Centros for a Quarter Pounder Mexican Burger and fries. I was soon hungrier than when I started and wished I'd opted for the half-pounder. I was back at my room for 1 am and had a bottle of the cider I'd bought yesterday whilst watching YouTube. I eventually got to bed around 2 am.


THE GROUND

THE SILENTNIGHT STADIUM is a great venue for step 5. The main seated areas are behind one goal, around 150 seats split across two stands. There's also a covered terrace for around 100 and this is made out of some very nice local stone which is present at other places around the ground. The rest is open standing, with the far side having a raised area which gives an excellent view. Parking is best in West View Road as there is a cut-through. There's not a lot around the ground that I could make out but the food and drink facilities at the ground are pretty decent.
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