Nanpean Rovers - Victoria Bottoms

Nanpean Rovers FC

Victoria Bottoms

Fore Street

Nanpean

Saint Austell 

Cornwall

PL26 7YE

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Ground Number: 
Saturday 19th April 2025
Nanpean Rovers 6-0 Roche
St Piran D1 East

NANPEAN ROVERS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Nanpean Rovers FC were established in 1901. After playing in local football, they became founder members of the Cornwall Combination in 1959, finishing as runners-up in their debut season behind Portleven before winning the title the following season, This promoted them to join the South Western League where they played for twelve seasons, finishing 6th in their first season but struggling thereafter. They returned to local football before making the step up to the East Cornwall League in 1990. A series of good finishes were achieved including titles in 1995 and 1997. A rough patch was encountered from 2002 onwards with poor finishes and an eventual resignation during the 2017/18 season. After a break in local football, they rejoined the East Cornwall League in 2022. This was merged into the St Piran League for the 2023/24 season and the club remains there to this day, playing in Division 1 East.

Two seasons have been played in the FA Cup, the first being the most successful. In 1968, they beat St Blazey at the third attempt, winning 2-0 in a second replay st St Austell. Although they managed a 1-1 draw at Wadebridge Town in the 2nd Qualifying Round, they were thumped 7-0 in the home replay. In the 2020 book British Football's Greatest Grounds, Victoria Bottoms was voted one of the top grounds to visit in the country. Since 1936 Nanpean Rovers have played their home games at Victoria Bottoms Playing Field, a reclaimed china clay pit. Created during the Great Depression, unemployed men spent two years creating a huge, terraced arena with a football pitch, cricket ground and tennis courts. At the time, perhaps optimistically, it was claimed the ground could hold 20,000 spectators. The village of Nanpean has a population of around 1,000 and has a history in clay mining and Cornish wrestling.

MY VISIT

From the game at Wadebridge, I drove Colin and me back to the hotel in St Austell. I was hoping for a supermarket en route, but no such luck. We did at least find a small Co-Op, and this allowed me to get a few drinks. The ten minutes from there to the hotel were horrendous, though. The fog was so thick you could barely see a foot in front of us and I was glad to follow other cars. I had never seen it so bad and was glad to get to the room. The hotel staff said others had the same problem, and I was hoping it would be clear for the morning. I regretted not bringing my proper laptop charger but I was able to spend a couple of hours getting my blog up. Lesson learned, I'll bring my Chromebook next time. I did get all three blogs up, though and the cider helped me to relax. The dire weather prevented a walk to Wetherspoons, though, which I really fancied doing.

I must have gone to bed around 1 and had a decent night's sleep before waking around 7. There was good news about the game being on with Nanpean tweeting positive news. We rested and got ready for a couple of hours before leaving at 9.15. As the rain had kyboshed our trip to Wetherspoons last night, we headed there for breakfast. I was glad I'd brought a spare pair of shoes as the awful weather had soaked the pair I wore yesterday. We were at the Rann Wartha Wetherspoons by 9.45, having paid a quid for parking. A breakfast muffin with a Monster Peachy Keen was great value for £2.79. I'd have been having a cider had I not been driving. The muffin was excellent as ever and the pub a great example of a good Wetherspoons. It was then 15 minutes to the ground with another five minutes walk from the parking spot. It was a fantastic ground and I got some excellent pictures. I headed to the bar and, despite not being a fan of sweet cider, had a bottle of Cornish Orchards cherry and blackberry which was fairly pleasant.

 

This game was at step 8 of the non-league pyramid. Nanpean Rovers were 2nd in the St Piran D1 West and had a great chance of promotion. They'd won seventeen, drawn three and lost five of their games so far. Recent form was mixed; in their last game, they lost 1-0 to Pensilva. Roche were bottom of the table and had lost 21 of their 23 games so far. They'd lost five in a row, including the last game where they lost 11-1 to St Stephen. Positive results this season had been a 3-1 win over Liskeard Athletic Reserves and a 1-1 draw against St Breward. Nanpean dominated as expected. They took the lead on 5 minutes with a great shot by Callum Oldham from 25 yards that found the top corner of the net. A series of great saves and excellent defending kept the score at 1-0 for a while. On 35 minutes, it was 2-0 thanks to an excellent overhead kick by Scott Brown from around 15 yards out wide. A curling shot from Oldham made it 3-0 on 37 minutes. There were no further goals until 83 minutes, a tame low shot that the keeper should have done better on. A minute later, it was 4-0, another low shot following sloppy defending, this one a bit harder. It was 6-0 with a long-range effort a few minutes from time.

 

THE GROUND

VICTORIA BOTTOMS is an excellent venue set inside a natural grass bowl with lots of greenery around. The high banks make for a good view and there is a covered area at each end. There is a social club with a decent range of drinks. There was also a BBQ on my visit. Parking is limited at the ground and is supplemented by street parking and more at the local school.