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Old Windsor Recreation Ground
Saint Luke's Road
Old Windsor
Berkshire
SL4 2QX
Ground Number: 1432
Saturday 31st May 2025
Old Windsor 2-2 Britwell
East Berks FL Premier
OLD WINDSOR FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was established in 1898 and represents the village of Old Windsor. It would play only friendlies first, joining the Slough & District League sometime in the 1910s. They won the Division 1 title shortly after the end of the Second World War. Between the ’50s and ’80s, the club ran a first and reserve team in the Slough and District League. In 1988, they amalgamated with the local Working Men’s Club and switched to the East Berks League. The start of the 90s was especially successful, with them winning Division 4 in 1990 and Division 3 in 1991 whilst remaining unbeaten throughout those two years. In 1993, Old Windsor were promoted to the top tier, which at the time was Division 1. They remained there until 2009, by which time it had been renamed the Premier Division. They were then relegated from Division 1 the following year, but would bounce back with the Division 2 title in 2012. By 2015, they were back in the Premier Division after finishing as runners-up to Barley Mow in Division 1. Old Windsor won the title in the curtailed 2019/20 season, winning all ten of their games. They were then runners-up to Britwell in 2022 and had two 3rd place finishes before winning the title again last season.
MY VISIT
This game was decided upon a few weeks beforehand when I realised that this game would be a title decider. Visitors Britwell has a two-point lead, so they would be favourites, although Old Windsor had the home advantage and were also defending their title from last season. Britwell, meanwhile, had enjoyed a good first season in the EBFL following their transfer from the Hellenic D2 East. I had seen them last season at their home ground, and they seemed like a decent community club. It was also a decent venue with signage and its own bar. As ever, it was all about the day out for me, and so I had been eyeing up visiting Windsor Wetherspoons for a while. Old Windsor was always going to be the favourite as I'd been to Windsor & Eton a number of times. It just so happened that the perfect game at the perfect time came up, and the event was also well publicised by the league.
It was a noisy bus home from Reading, but I was in a good mood. When I got back to Wycombe, I was bursting for a piss but the bus station bogs were closed. I legged it to a bit of wasteland to empty my bladder before heading back to the bus station. Colin had left Reading an hour early to get home, so I was surprised to see him at the station. A symptom of the limited service, which drops to hourly after 6.30 in the evening. I delayed ten minutes so we could get the same bus home together. At least he had a good sleep on the way home. I was home at 8, having walked 13 miles. I had a chicken wrap and a couple of cans before bed. Early research revealed that Windsor would be a great day out, pub-wise, and I was looking forward to it.
It was a quiet week for me personally, with no midweek football. The world was mad elsewhere, though. On Sunday, a Women's Cup Final between Clapton and Dulwich Hamlet at Maidstone United was abandoned after 20 minutes. The reason was due to a Maidstone United official objecting to flags in support of Palestine and condemning the genocide by the Israeli Government. After a demand to take the flags down or play the game behind closed doors was rejected, the referee abandoned the game. On Monday they were outdone by a driver in Liverpool who was smashed off his tits on drugs. For whatever reason, he decided to drive into an innocent group of fans celebrating Liverpool's title win, seriously injuring multiple people. The biggest upset for many though was that he wasn't a brown skinned terrorist and some of the same people tried to make excuses for the nutter's actions.
I was glad to get to Friday and a few drinks before my day off. I had spent the week doing all the research for next weekend's trip to Oslo and was a week ahead of myself for once. I had a fairly early night and as a consequence, woke up around 4.30. I watched YouTube for a few hours before getting up for breakfast. I left at 8.30, getting to the bus station with ten minutes to spare. The Windsor bus was not on the departure board but thankfully, it was present and correct in Bay 2. I'd walked 4.5 miles at that point and was glad that my journey was still on. It was a nice quiet bus this week and it was good to put my headphones on and watch the world go by. I watched an entertaining video about visiting Lviv in Ukraine, arriving in Windsor just as it finished. The bus had to stop short due to a function at Windsor Castle, so I was ten minutes behind. It was a pleasant sunny morning and even though I am not a Royalist, the castle looked great and it was a nice town.
The first stop was the King and Castle Wet, number 405 for me. It was a great pub, though with limited cider range and food options. After using the toilet, I secured what I thought was a nice quiet table and put my order in. Everything was a quid more expensive but even so, breakfast muffin, large spicy chips, a pint of Stowford Press and an energy drink to take away was only £11.36. The service for drinks was excellent but it was annoying when a large family turned up right next to me. Thankfully, they weren't too noisy though as you do get some right horrors in Spoons and I wasn't even a pint deep. I left at 12.15 and walked to the Windsor Trooper. I was only intending on staying for a pint but it was a great place and they had a couple I'd not tried. First up was Rich's Somerset Farmhouse Still, which was excellent with caramel notes. The second pint was Sandford Reserve, not quite as nice as the first but a strong one at 7.2%. Both were £5.20 a pint, a fair price I thought. I was ten minutes behind and rather sluggish by the time I left, but was on schedule for kickoff. I'd met two Wycombe fans in Windsor who recognised my shirt that I'd bought in the sale just this week. Another four miles in the tank and I was at the ground in time for kickoff. I missed out on a programme and a look at the clubhouse however. Tons of hoppers had swelled what already was a decent attendance of 283. I did eventually get a programme during the first half.
Old Windsor were in 2nd place and had won seventeen and lost two games. Aside from their loss to today's opponents, they'd also lost 5-3 at Frontline on 1st December. Britwell sat top of the league on 53 points and had won seventeen and drawn two of their games. Their two draws came at FC Baylis United and Langley Reserves. When the two sides met on 8th February, Britwell won the game 2-1. The game kicked off at 14:11 which gave me a chance to rest and say hello to a few people. A bench was kindly provided for me to sit on. On ten minutes, Old Windsor took the lead, a header from the corner. Britwell had a free in an advantageous position, but it was blasted into the wall. The Old Windsor keeper produced a couple of cracking saves to keep his side ahead. It was all square on 38, #15 beating the keeper from an acute angle. The hosts came close from a free kick on 40 minutes. Britwell started the second half brightly and looked to have scored but for a miracle save. A couple of corners later, they led 2-1, amidst much jubilation for their players. One hand on the title now. On the hour, it was all square, a header from a corner. Britwell prevented any further chances and even had a few themselves to win the East Berks Premier title. There were handshakes at the end, but the reign of Old Windsor was over.
A deserved win for Britwell then, but getting photographs after a delayed kickoff set me behind. Come what may. I walked back, only for an SUV to pull over halfway. I was expecting hoppers but it was some random Asian chap who offered the two-mile lift back to town. A Hoppy Place was pub 3 of the day, a great Micro Pub where I got a couple of bottles to take away. Also a pint to drink there, namely Green Shed Ellis Bitter. This was sensationally good, dry and perfect just like I want. Rather than go to another place, I had a second pint, two-thirds of Green Shed I Like The Way This Is Going which was pleasant. I'd have liked a soft drink and so to Co Op it was for some Traditional Lemonade. Then back to the bus stop for the delayed bus back to Wycombe. It was disappointing not to be able to change in Beaconsfield, at least according to the Carousel App and Google Maps. With the bus filling up rapidly, I was glad I had a single seat with a table so I could crack on with my blog. Once I got to Beaconsfield, Googlr Maps recalibrated itself. i was however, one minute late for the bus home so had a stop in Beaconsfield. Not the end of the world, no time lost but no time gained either with a predicted ETA of 19:50. Just as I went to publish, the 31 turned up, a whole bus to myself for the journey home.
THE GROUND
A decent venue to watch a game, although the pitch is just that roped off on the sides with no dugouts. A clubhouse is available and this has some trophies to look at. Soft drinks are available, as are Cruzampo beer and Inch's cider. Upon my visit, a programme was also available for £2. The town of Windsor is 45 minutes walk away and has food and drink options to suit most tastes.
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