Written by Max
Ground #40
Welfare Ground – Blidworth Welfare FC
Tuesday 2nd August 2022 – UCL Div.1 (Step 6)
Blidworth Welfare 0-2 Radford FC
Attendance: 78
Entry: £4
Blidworth Welfare Football Club were formed back in 1926 as ‘Folk House Old boys’ with the aim to give local miners a chance to play competitive football in the local village. In 1986 the club changed to their now current name of Blidworth Welfare and were founding members of the NCEL. They have spent the majority of their existence switching between leagues in the 7th step of non league and recently settled in the Central Midlands League in which they stayed from 2011 until last season. This was when they won promotion into step 6 and now find themselves in the United Counties League Division 1. We thought we would pay them a visit to see how they get on in one of their first games at the new level!
Tonight’s game saw them come up against one of the early favourites for the title this year, Radford FC, who narrowly missed out on promotion last season. The game started quite evenly with both sides struggling to create any meaningful chances. It was a feisty affair though with a few late tackles going in from both sides. In the 25th minute the first real chance was created by the visitors but the first shot on target was hit straight at the keeper. Almost immediately after was another big chance for Radford but an acrobatic effort was once again straight at the Blidworth keeper.
It was all Radford now and on the half hour mark the visitors would get the goal they deserved. The 20 or so ‘Radford Ultras’ went wild ringing bells and playing their vuvuzelas! The players obviously responded to this as just 2 minutes later a mazy run saw the winger beat 3 Blidworth defenders before pulling it back for an easy tap in for the striker. 2-0!
The Radford fans were loving it now as the visitors were starting to play some brilliant football. A speedy counter attack looked like it would bring a third but a good save kept it at 2. I’m not sure if the Blidworth goalkeeper is related to Gordon Banks, but just a couple of minutes later he pulled of an unbelievable save tipping a header over the bar from low to his right. He probably wont make another save like it for the rest of his career!
As we went into the second half we were hoping to see more of the same from Radford who had really grown into the game and had been playing some wonderful stuff, but to be fair to Blidworth they were defending well and stopped too many more chances being created. On the hour mark they had a free kick of their own which after a bit of pin ball in the box was cleared off the line! That was their big chance to get back into the game and after that didn’t hit the back of the net the game really petered out.
That’s 2 wins in 2 to start the season for Radford and we hope to catch them and their rowdy supporters again this season as they look to gain the promotion they came so close to last season. For Blidworth this was a big early test for them at this new level and to be fair to them they coped well. Radford could and probably should have scored more if truth be told, but the home team defended well especially in the second half and kept the score to just 2.
Now to rate our evening at the Welfare Ground:
Location: 4/10
Blidworth is a small Village near Mansfield with a population of around 4,500 people. The Welfare Ground is on the North side of the Village and shares some facilities with the cricket and bowls clubs on the same complex. Due to so many sporting venues being in the same area parking is very limited and we had to park on a nearby street even over an hour before kick off due to the car park being full of bowlers!
The ground is just a 2 minute drive from another side we have visited, Rainworth Miners Welfare. After Blidworth’s promotion the 2 clubs will now face off in a very local derby this season to see who is ‘Worth’ more. That’s possible the worst joke in the world but I am leaving it in there and there’s nothing you can do about it!
Kit: 5/10
This years Blidworth kit is mainly red with black details and socks. The sponsor was large on the front and could be easily seen. I’m not sure what it was about it but I just wasn’t the biggest fan of this kit? Sorry Blidworth!
Facilities: 6/10
In the ground itself there is a small portacabin with a hatch. From this you can buy cans of beer and food. This is very basic but luckily a volunteer noticed an unhappy Emma and let us know that we were allowed to leave the ground and go into the Welfare bar which was next to the cricket pitch. I wont ruin the suspense but Emma was certainly cheered up once we go to the bar!
The Welfare bar is huge and has a pool table as well as a large stage with adverts for live bands on throughout the month. There were plenty of locals enjoying the bar which seems very needed as from a quick look on google maps there doesn’t seem to be any other pubs in the village. We really liked the bar and it had a wonderful beer garden which had great views over the cricket pitch. It’s just a shame for this blog that it isn’t slightly closer to the football.
Look: 6/10
The football ground at Blidworth Welfare isn’t actually that easy to find if you haven’t been before! You arrive in the car park and the large Welfare club is in front of you. You walk past this through a gate and are met with the cricket ground. You then have to walk around this to the left before you see the back of the changing rooms for the football. You then walk through a small gap in the buildings and into the ground. You are then met straight away with a fantastic view as you are stood at the top of the hill looking down onto the pitch below.
This is a wonderful vantage point and from here we watched the first half. It’s great to see the whole pitch at once and you can see the game in a totally different way to any other ground we have been to. In terms of the ground itself, there is hard standing round 2 sides with a small covered terrace along one side with a decaying wooden bench at the back of it.
The main attraction of the ground though, is the seated stand behind the goal. It is built into the hill which gives it an elevated view behind the goal and is a really unique stand. A groundhoppers dream! The other 2 sides of the ground are surrounded by huge trees giving the ground a real enclosed feel which we really liked. In a way I wish we had visited the ground last season as it’s one of the best ‘step 7’ grounds we have come across. At this new level though perhaps a little bit of work could be done to get it up to the level. Some work is already underway to improve the ground with an extension to the viewing platform. Great to see.
Food and Drink: 5.5/10
We aren’t sure where it was coming from, but for the entire game a smell of Chinese food was wafting over the ground. We walked into the ground craving some sweet and sour chicken and a chow mein but sadly that was not on offer!!!
I was hungry though after the smell of food so I decided to go all out and went for steak pies chips and peas. The chips were great, and the pie was pretty standard but it more than did the job for me. Sadly for Emma who isn’t a fan of steak pies the menu was slightly limited. With only these or sausage rolls available she went for just chips. Again the chips were nice but we felt the options were pretty limited with no burgers for example. We also got food around 45 minutes before kick off and I bought the last pie and there were a few disappointed fans behind us in the queue! We understand that the club is new at this level and are possibly getting used to bigger, more consistent crowds so don’t want to be too harsh!
At half time we left the ground to get a drink in the Welfare bar, and Emma’s eyes lit up as we walked in and there were DARK FRUITS!!! bonus half a point has been added!
TOTAL: 26.5/50
We really enjoyed our visit to another Mansfield based side, and it’s great to see a local team on the way up. We look forward to seeing how Blidworth get on at their new level and I’m sure we will return soon to see how the new ground improvements look once completed.
If you’d like to see where this places Blidworth on our Leaderboad of non league clubs click here: NON-LEAGUE
If you’d like to see our Football League grounds visited click here: THE 92
Emma’s Ground Guide 