Sharpness - Hamfields

Sharpness AFC 

Hamfields Leisure Centre

Hamfields

Berkeley

Gloucestershire

GL13 9TN

01453 810413

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1555

Saturday 16th May 2026
Frampton United 3-2 Quedgeley Wanderers

Les James GCFL Cup Final

SHARPNESS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Sharpness AFC was established in 1900 and joined the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League, winning it three times early on after joining as founder members in 1922. They stayed here with titles in 1963 and 1966 up until they joined the Gloucestershire County League in 1968. Their first spell lasted up until 1984 when they won the title, but they had finished as runners-up to serial winners Cadbury Heath as early as 1971. A six-season spell in the Hellenic Premier lasted from 1984 until 1990, and Sharpness won the title in 1986 and finished as runners-up to Yate Town in 1989. However, the lack of floodlights held them back and prevented promotion.  They never finished below 7th but resigned from the league in 1990 to return to the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League. They won the Division 2 title in 1992 to be promoted to Division 1. Back here, they won titles in 2001, 2010, 2016 & 2019, making it twelve league wins in total. After the latter of those, it was back to the Gloucestershire County League. The first two seasons were abandoned due to COVID, and the highest finish was 3rd in 2022. That was until the club were champions this season, earning promotion to the Hellenic League for the first time in 35 years.

Sharpness have played four seasons in the FA Cup, reaching the 2nd Qualifying Round twice in the latter half of the 1980s. During the 1984/85 season, the club beat Tiverton Town, Abingdon Town, Pirelli General, Supermarine and Cheshunt before losing to AFC Sudbury in an FA Vase 5th Round replay. Up until 1988, Sharpness played at The Port, but the ground was developed upon by British Waterways. Previously, they had been paying just £1 a year rent. A three-season groundshare at Forest Green Rovers proved prohibitively expensive, leading to them dropping down a level. They played at Berkeley School for a while before moving to their current home at Hamfields Leisure Centre in Berkeley. The club's name, Sharpness, takes its name from a local port. There is a small community of approximately 100 residents directly adjacent to the port, in addition to the subvillage of Newtown, approximately 0.5 miles to the south-east.

Four miles to the south lies the small town of Berkeley. This is where they are now based. The town has a population of around 2,250.  It lies in the Vale of Berkeley between the east bank of the River Severn and the M5 motorway. The town is noted for Berkeley Castle, where the imprisoned King Edward II is believed to have been murdered, as well as the birthplace of the physician Edward Jenner, pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. Berkeley lies midway between Bristol and Gloucester, on a small hill in the Vale of Berkeley. The town is on the Little Avon River, which flows into the Severn at Berkeley Pill. The Little Avon was tidal, and so navigable for some distance inland (as far as Berkeley itself and the Sea Mills at Ham) until a 'tidal reservoir' was implemented at Berkeley Pill in the late 1960s. From 1876 to 1964, the town had a railway station, originally on a branch from a junction at Berkeley Road on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway. From 1879, the branch became a through-route to Lydney when the Severn Railway Bridge was opened. In 1960, the bridge was damaged beyond repair by a ship collision. Some of the rail line is still used by the Power Station to transport low-level nuclear waste by rail, and a railway preservation society is working to extend the line to Sharpness.

MY VISIT

Usually on Saturday, I don't like driving unless it is a part of a double. This was to be the case on this Saturday, but when I looked at the five choices I'd selected, they looked to be rubbish days out on the train. Mainly small places in Essex where the stops were through unremarkable towns with no decent pubs. As it was significantly more expensive by train, I decided that using the car was in order. I whittled it down to a choice of three - either Chalgrove Cavaliers v Halse United (cheapest), Corinthians v Hashtag United Reserves (went past Colin and ticked Basildon Wetherspoons) or Frampton United v Quedgeley Wanderers (played at Sharpness, which will be step 6 next season). In the end, it was the latter that we chose, only deciding at 9 PM on Thursday.

It was a convoluted journey back from Leominster, taking a long time. I got petrol at Witney, filling up one tank whilst emptying another at the same time. Who says men can't multitask!. Finally, I dropped Colin off at 11.15 and was home 15 minutes later. I had tons to do, getting a wash on, uploading that day's blog and starting this one. I also had a couple of pints of cider to help me relax. 1 am was my projected bedtime, but I was wide awake, so it ended up being more like 2.30. I was quite deep into the booze at this point, but my search for a farm shop near the ground selling local cider and cakes proved fruitless. I woke up at 8.30 after six hours of sleep and had a bath and breakfast. Plans for a walk were shelved as I wanted to do my research for today's game. PuffPuff was attention-seeking on Twitter again, trying to dupe people into what game he was attending. Colin had told me last night that he had secured a ticket for Celtic v Hearts, but her maintained he was going to Pollok despite hanging around Celtic Park and taking pictures of the teams arriving. In the end, he did go to the game at Celtic Park.

 

I was concerned about Colin turning up as he hadn't checked his WhatsApp since last night. But he was as good as gold and was there at 11.15 at the end of my road. It was a decent journey down to the Emersons Green in Bristol for Wetherspoons 518 for me. Fish and Chips came quickly for me, before my drink in fact, and I'd almost finished my meal before Colin got his. This led to yet another display of rudeness and entitlement, which led to the manager coming over to tell him to be nicer to staff. He was rude to the manager as well, despite working in retail and getting a full-time wage for a 12-hour week, thanks to PIP for his epilepsy. Working in retail myself, I know that it's better to be nice to poorly paid staff. Something that was a real problem during the pandemic, but thankfully has improved. My fish and chips were more expensive than usual, but there was a huge bit of fish. It was half an hour to the ground from there, with brilliant organisation to get us parked. It was a £3 cash entry, and a pint of Thatchers Gold in the bar was also fairly priced. Celtic got the luck of the devil to win the title with VAR poking its nose in. For such a Reform supporting, stop the boats, punch down on the disabled and foreigners, politically, I was surprised that PuffPuff went in the Celtic end, with his views very much at odds with their values.

 

The Les James GCFA Cup Final was being hosted at the ground of champions Sharpness. Frampton had finished in 4th place and were the cup holders. League-wise, they had won 17, drawn 6 and lost 9. To reach this final, they had won 2-0 at Henbury and Rockleaze, beaten Wick 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw and thumped Ruardean Rangers 5-1. Quedegeley Wanderers were one of the few clubs that had lights, from what I recall. To get to the final, they had beaten Chalford 1-0, Sharpness 4-2 and Tytherington Rocks 1-0. League-wise, they had finished 6th, winning 15, drawing 6th and losing 11. The weather was drab and drizzly. Quedgeley had the better chances early on, but Frampton took the lead with a deflected shot on 18 minutes. Quedgeley forced a good save out of the Frampton keeper as he blocked with his foot. On 31 minutes, it was 2-0, a, low shot into the bottom left from 25 yards. Some feisty tackles were going in, and some yellow cards were handed out. On 63 minutes, Quedgeley Wanderers pulled a goal back, a good shot into the bottom right-hand corner. A minute later, it was all square, a cross headed home. It was deserved, but around five minutes from the end, Frampton United retook the lead with a floating shot from a wide angle. A tad hard on Quedgeley, but it had been a good game.

THE GROUND

HAMFIELDS is a smart setup but a work in progress. The pitch is fully railed, and there is a small area of standing cover with the inevitable metal seated stand on the way. There is a smart bar, but an interesting looking pub with real ales and cider is the Salutation, a half hour walk away. At the ground, the cider choices are Thatchers Gold and Stowford Press, plus more in bottles. I didn't see any hot food. The huge car park is excellent, but I'm not sure about public transport.