Tuesday 1st September 2015 7.45pm
Teversal 1 Worsbrough Bridge Athletic 1 ht: 0-0 att: 68
NCEL One
from Teversal Grange Sports Ground
T
eversal’s ground is a reminder of the refreshing character and quirks of non league football, compared to its league counterpart. Amusingly, two stands behind one goal were Tesco Trolley bays; not just stands that looked like them, but actually were them. Brazenly, the appellation on the stand was still clearly Tesco Trolley Park. I can imagine the trolley guy at the local Tesco’s arriving to work one morning to find his stands gone and scratching his head. If I was the chairman of Teversal I would be tempted to get a red pen and scratch off the s,c and o and replace it with v,e,r,s,a,l, as they fortuitously share their first two letters. They could then scratch out the ‘trolley’ replacing it with Grange, to read Teversal Grange Park.
Teversal’s ground dates back to 1918 when Teversal Miners Welfare were founded. (Coincidentally Tesco was founded a year later). The modern Teversal FC started as MW Teversal in 1986, but the closure of the two mines at Teversal and Silverhill put the club and the ground in doubt. The local council came to the rescue in 1989, renaming the complex The Teversal Grange Sports and Social Club. The team followed suit by calling itself Teversal Grange. In 2000 they dropped the Grange.
Their visitors Worsbrough Bridge Athletic also have a mining history and are almost as old, dating back to 1923.
Teversal’s ground certainly has that lived in feel to it. At first you think the surround bar has bowed massively over the years, until you see that’s it’s actually steel rope that has sagged, as rope is wont to do. You can push down on it and create quite a curve, straightening out the neighbouring bars.
Their makeshift main stand goes three rows up halfway, then becomes a long bench and a row for the seond section. This stand sits next to the rusted skeleton of a former structure along the terrace.
None of these observations are criticisms, this is how I like my grounds; old, lived in, full of character, like the unadorned wrinkled face of an old person.
I met Dave in nearby Sutton-in-Ashfield in the Wetherspoons beforehand – the Picture House, a converted cinema. A pleasant pint of Lancer by Goffs, a nice cushioner for the evenings NCEL entertainment. A montage of coal trucks and wheels adorns the entrance to the ground as a testament to the town’s industrial past. As you come in a sign saying ‘We are the Tevie boys’ greats you.
The first half had few chances with both teams playing quite a defensive game and at a fiendish pace. At the break I was aware of my ‘since a 0-0 stat’. It had been 55 new grounds since a 0-0, which for me is a record. For a long time I was a 0-0 whisperer, picking them up in all kinds of unlikely leagues and grounds. This game was looking odds on to break my record.
Out of the blue on about 67 minutes, Fearon for the lesser known WBA, picked the ball up on 30 yards, lost his marker and smashed it low and hopeful. It went in under the keeper for 0-1. 56 and counting…get in. Trying hard to avoid a Teversal reversal, the home side put the pressure on, and six minutes from time a low cross was trapped by Atkins who fired in low under the keeper. 1-1 the final score and about right by my reckoning. Good evening’s entertainment and top marks for their Tesco trolley bay stand.
The Groundhog 
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