AFC Bentley - The Avenue

AFC Bentley

The Avenue

Bentley

Doncaster

South Yorkshire

DN5 0PN

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Ground Number: 1065
Tuesday 12th April 2022
AFC Bentley 2-0 AFC Phoenix
Central Midlands North

AFC BENTLEY - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club has a complicated history. There was an original club in the village, Bentley Colliery that was established in 1912. This club got its name from the fact that it was a works team for a mining village. They spent their early years playing in local leagues before joining the Yorkshire League, a forerunner to the current Northern Counties East League in 1923. They had three mid-table finishes before returning to local football for a number of years. They rejoined an expanded league in 1949, starting in Division 2 but finishing as runners to Farsley Celtic in 1952 to earn promotion to Division 1. A credible 6th place finish was achieved in their first two seasons but in 1956 they finished bottom and were relegated back to Division 2. They bounced back at the first attempt but in 1961 they suffered a bad season and finished bottom. After this, the club was dissolved. The original club played for a number of years in the FA Cup, reaching the 3rd Qualifying Round.

A new club was formed called Bentley Victoria. They spent time in the Doncaster Senior League before joining the Yorkshire League. They changed their name to Bentley Victoria Welfare in 1975. Their best finish of 5th in the Yorkshire League came in 1982 as they finished 5th. The league was absorbed into the newly formed Northern Counties East League in 1982. The club would stay in the Premier Division, finishing around the bottom places until leaving and disbanding in 1987. The club reached the FA Vase 4th Round during the 1978/79 season, beating Birkenshaw Rovers, Normanby Park Works, Frecheville Community and Boldon Community Association before losing to Winterton Rangers.

This left a new incarnation of Bentley Colliery, established in the mid-'70s as the most senior team in the village. They were initially a Sunday League side but switched to Saturday football and the Doncaster Senior League during the 1990s. They won the league in 2001, earning a promotion to the Central Midlands League in the process. They were placed in the second-tier Premier Divison but in 2007 3rd place finish behind Hatfield Main and Grimsby Borough saw them promoted to the Supreme Division. However, despite a credible 9th place finish in their debut season, they were demoted due to a lack of floodlights. In 2011, they finished as runners-up to Yorkshire Main in the Premier Division's last ever season. The following year, the league switched to North & South Divisions. Bentley Colliery finished amongst the bottom sides before resigning from the league in 2016 without completing the season. 

A new club, AFC Bentley was established for the 2016/17 season. Some sources suggest a link with Brodsworth Welfare but the club badge says 2016 and for this blog, I'm concentrating on teams that played in the village. They've played in the Central Midlands North for the entirety of their history and had two credible 3rd place finishes in their first two seasons.

 

Bentley is a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England two miles north of the town of Doncaster. The population is listed as either 14,000 or 27,000 depending on what places you consider to be part of the district. A former mining village, it lies on the River Don. Bentley Colliery, which is now Bentley Community Woodland, closed in December 1993. Bentley and the nearby hamlet of Toll Bar were badly affected by floods in June 2007. In June 2010, a gas explosion caused substantial damage to local properties in Epworth Court with a couple of elderly residents suffering serious injuries. You can read more about the village's mining history on this comprehensive blog.

MY VISIT

When we did our game at Wyberton last Wednesday, Chris informed me that he'd be available this Tuesday, which was quite a rarity. We'd just about exhausted all the Wednesday night options, at least down to step 6. What with the step 7 and below leagues taking advantage of the clocks going forward, there were a few more options but Tuesday was far better for me with it being my day off. In fact, there was a healthy number of options for us to do on this day. I thought the best was AFC Bentley v AFC Phoenix. With me able to pick Chris up from work at 3, the early kickoff at 6.30 would mean that we could get an early start heading home by almost an hour. It was a decent ground too and I was happy when Chris agreed with my choice. 

Following a good day out on Saturday, it was the usual test to my sanity dealing with the general public at work on Sunday. But I got through it just about. The day had not gotten off to the greatest start when I left early to get petrol only to find the place closed, possibly thanks to those grubby 'Just Stop Oil' protesters. It was back open after work but I didn't fancy joining the long queues. The next cheapest station after that was closed and the next cheapest after that was very busy. In the end, I went to a smaller self-service one. It was 4p a litre (or £1.30 a tank) more expensive but I didn't fancy the aggro of waiting or the risk of being left without. I did my research into the club after another arduous day at work on Monday. It was quite a complicated history and being one of the bits I enjoy about blogging, I tried to make as much sense of it as I could. I like to try and get a feeling for the club and place to put my visit into perspective.

The day of the game came and I'd had a decent night's sleep for once, around 9 hours in all. I woke up, had a bath and walked to town and back, eight miles in all. I picked up a few things I needed and got some much-needed exercise, considering the amount of junk food that I eat. I had a decent Tex-Mex pizza for lunch and had around an hour to kill before I needed to leave at 2. I killed time by cracking on with this blog and starting to plan my Easter Monday. It'll hopefully be a nice day out in London with a couple of games at Battersea Ironsides v Worcester Park and AFC Wimbledon v Wycombe Wanderers. It was generally a good journey with me getting to Chris just after 3. He was out fairly quickly and then it was a decent journey up to Doncaster, with us only hitting traffic once we got off the motorway. We headed to Lucky 6 Takeaway where I had Honey Chilli Chicken and Salt and Chilli Chips. The chips were great and full of flavour and the chicken was good too, although it was more like sweet and sour chicken. We'd eaten up and were at the ground at 6, well in time for kick-off. It was good to see Chesterfield fan Ryan who had made the journey over from Sheffield for this game, one of many hoppers in attendance.
 AFC Bentley were sitting in 11th. They were in poor form, winless in seven league games, their last win coming against Dearne & District on 8th January where they won 2-0. This was their only win in 14 league games. They'd lost 2-0 to Clay Cross Town on Saturday and had also been beaten 1-0 at Crowle Colts, 6-1 by Retford United, 1-0 at Glapwell and 2-0 by Newark Town this year. They'd drawn 2-2 at Sutton Rovers and 0-0 at Dinnington Town. The visitors AFC Phoenix were rock-bottom of the table. They were in poor form but had ended a run of 11 straight defeats with a 2-0 win against Askern Rovers on Saturday. In amongst those defeats were some real hammerings including 5-1 at Dearne & District, 7-1 at Clay Cross Town, 8-0 against Retford United and 8-2 against Staveley Miners Welfare Reserves.  The hosts came out of the blocks quickly and were ahead after a couple of minutes. A cross was put in from the right and a finish at the back post by Zack King made it 1-0. Phoenix did have a good spell but Bentley were generally on top. On the half-hour, they doubled their lead, King getting his second when he headed home from a corner. It was a short halftime, with the second half kicking off at 7.22. It was a duller game in the second period and it matched the sky as it was pretty gloomy by the time the game finished. There were a couple of notable incidents within the space of a couple of minutes. Firstly the Bentley #8 made an obvious dive and then had the cheek to moan at the linesman when the decision went against him. Then the hosts should have had a third, only for it to be cleared off the line by their own player. Bentley would get the win they deserved though as the game petered out.

 

The attendance was announced as 35. I gave Ryan a lift back to the station as time was tight for his hourly train back to Sheffield. We said our goodbyes and got on our way. There had been drizzle on and off during the game but it started to bucket it down once we reached the M1. It was an OK journey, with a fair few lane closures but the only real delay was 15 minutes of queuing around Northampton. I dropped Chris off at 10.30 and just as with last week, had to take an obscure back route. I was back at 11.30 but couldn't get to sleep for a few hours. This is typical after a good night before, but I felt OK the following morning. 

THE GROUND 

THE AVENUE is a decent setup for step 7. It's very well kept and pleasant. The pitch is fully railed and there is a standing area, capable of holding around 150. I'd imagine with the addition of seats and lights, it would be good enough for a couple of levels above. There are limited food and drink options at the ground, though a wider selection is available in the village less than a mile away. There's plenty of street parking and rail and bus routes run close by.