Shawbury United Community Sports and Recreational Centre
Carradine Road
Shawbury
Shropshire
SY4 4PB
07739 915089
Ground Number: 1594
Saturday 24th October 2026
Shawbury United 1-1 Stafford Town
NWCFL South
NWCFL South
SHAWBURY UNITED FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
Shawbury United is one of the newer clubs in the West Midlands region, having been formed in 1992. They started out playing in the Shrewsbury and Shropshire Alliance Division 2. After progressing through the divisions, they joined the West Midlands (Regional) League in 1999. The Division 1 North title was won in their first season, earning promotion to the Premier Division. They stayed for over fifteen years with mixed fortunes; a runner-up finish behind Bridgnorth Town in 2008 was a highlight before they won the title in 2016. They spent two years in the Midland Premier before they were relegated back. Since then, they have remained at step 6, playing in the WMRL Premier, the Midland Division 1 and the North West Counties South. They've always finished in the lower reaches of the table, and two 10th place finishes are as good as it has got for them.
In the FA Cup, Shawbury United have reached the Preliminary Round in three out of nine campaigns. They had a good FA Vase run during the 2007/08 season. That season, they beat Westfields, Bridgnorth Town, Stratford Town and Cogenhoe United before losing at Concord Rangers in the 4th Round. Shawbury have won a large number of local trophies, including the Shropshire County Challenge Cup, Shropshire Junior Cup, Commander Ethelston Cup, Powell Cup, John Davies Cup and Tim Stokes Cup. Shawbury have appeared in the Shropshire Premier Cup Final under its various guises, most notably winning the trophy in 2014. They also reached the final in 2017, losing out 1–0 in the final to Market Drayton Town. The biggest win was during pre-season 2017–18, when Shawbury beat Shrewsbury Town and TNS on their way to winning the Shropshire Senior Cup for the first time in their history.
MY VISIT
Originally, on this Saturday, I was expecting to visit Rhyl, as I was expecting to be based up near Caernarfon. However, Colin's delayed response saw all the well-priced hotels gobbled up, and so we had to settle for a room in Ruthin. That altered the geographical situation a bit. I started to look for options on the way home, and Ludlow came up trumps. Initially, I thought this was a must-visit on the train, thanks to a huge range of cider pubs, at least according to the CAMRA website. However, a deeper dive revealed that these places had very little substance in terms of cider range. So a drive was ideal. The only fly in the ointment was a late check on the weather. No surprise to see lots of rain; it was the standard modus operandi despite the dry summer. I'd just have to keep an eye on things and try to have some 3G backups on hand. There turned out to be a bigger problem when I was finalising my blog on Friday morning. Having written about Ludlow's history, I thought their Twitter was a bit sparse, so I checked out Facebook. They were advertising as being away to Swindon Supermarine Reserves. When I checked out the Hellenic League fixtures, it turned out that was true. The home game against Lydney Town was in March/ It was annoying, having spent time looking into the history of the club that Futbology was wrong, but at least it was better than discovering on the day.
The replacement was decided upon on Friday afternoon when we were in our hotel in Ruthin. We both wanted to do a step 1-6, and so Shawbury United won out, being on one of the possible routes home. The only possible thing that could ruin it was the weather, with torrential rain forecast. That was typical of the British weather with its obsession with precipitation, so I had some 3Gs on hand as backups. We got back to our hotel just after 11 on Friday, sadly just too late for me to get some chicken wings. I did have a bottle of Old Crow cider though, maintaining my record of all Welsh cider on this trip. I also carried that on when I got up to the room with the two bottles of Black Dragon that I'd brought with me. I got my blog up and watched some YouTube before going to sleep at 1 am. I woke up around 7, watched more videos and got up properly around 8. After having a shower and getting ready, I waited for Colin to do his thing and we went down for breakfast just after 9. It was the usual breakfast: muffin, black pudding and energy drink for me. As there was not far to travel, we made full use of the generous checkout time of 11 and I got some research for this and future blogs done on my laptop.
We left and walked down to Ruthin Town FC for some pictures and exercise. It looked like a great place, and I'll be back for sure. Elsewhere, poor Mick had suffered a busted tyre, just as fellow hopper Richard had a year ago. The connection was old PuffPuff, who uses every trick in the book to swerve driving duty and using his own car. If I were those two, I'd refuse lifts until he started contributing. I am sick of driving all the time, but it's not Colin's fault he has epilepsy. It was a slow old drive to Wrexham, thanks to roadworks and daft 20 limits. We got to Asda in Wrexham at 12.10 and walked to Spoons. The Elihu Yale had no tables available, so I just had a pint of Stowford Press for £1.99. News from Shawbury was that the game was on, though there was a lot of rain forecast later. After going to ASDA for a drink, we got petrol and headed to the ground. It was with much trepidation that I made the journey, as I was unable to keep an eye on Twitter. Asking Colin to do it would be akin to asking him to do brain surgery, as he's not technically minded. Thankfully, there were lots of cars in the car park, and it was game on. It was £6 in, plus £10.20 for a cheese and ham toastie, chips and a pint of Stowford Press. It was all very decent and tasted far better knowing that the money was going to the club.
Shawbury United were in 15th with 13 points from 12 games. A 2-1 home defeat to Cheadle Heath Nomads last week ended their run of three successive wins. Stafford Town were in 3rd with 25 points from 13. They had been on a five-game unbeaten run prior to a heavy 4-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Casuals in the Staffordshire Senior Cup on Tuesday. The game kicked off two minutes early for once. The hosts were the better side early on and forced a couple of good saves out of the Stafford keeper. The second half saw Stafford stronger, they took the lead on 59 minutes when a good through ball found Brendan Parker who finished well from just outside the area. Right at the death, Shawbury equalised with a rocket of a shot by Conor Hughes. The weather was pretty rotten, and the club deserved more than the 78 fans that attended after getting the game on in tricky conditions. We left before 4.50 and journeyed home in torrential rain. I dropped Colinoff at 7.40 and was back home by 8. It had been a good weekend, but I'd driven for eleven hours and forty minutes and covered 487 miles, and I was looking forward to a few drinks and a rest.
THE GROUND
Shawbury United Community Sports and Recreational Centre is a smart and functional setup. It won't win any awards for character, but it is set in a pleasant location and has everything the club needs. In terms of cover, there are two 50-seater metal stands, plus an area for that many to stand in front of the bar. In addition, there is what looks like a converted bike shed behind one goal, which acts as cover for 20 standing fans. The rest of the ground is open and well kept. The bar was well-sized and had a good range of food and drink, as well as lots of TVs showing sport. A range of merch is also available here. I am not sure about public transport, but the car park is large, with it only being a bit full on my visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.