Roy Mason believes Steeton’s move to the Marley Stadium will regenerate Non League Football in Keighley.
Until Silsden’s entry into the North West Counties in 2004, Non League Football was non-existent within or around the Town. Steeton arrived on the Non League scene in 2018 after moving six miles from their Summerhill Lane to Cougar Park, the home of Rugby League’s Keighley Cougars, to meet the ground grading requirements.
Now after their three-year ground-sharing deal was cut short after two seasons, Steeton have relocated to Marley and Mason believes two Non League clubs within and around Keighley will create new opportunities for players.
“The move from Summerhill Lane has been a bit trying because we have had our issues with Cougar Park and ground-sharing wasn’t ideal,” Mason told Non League Yorkshire.
“If you’re going to ask me ‘how’s the move to Step 6 football gone’ then I’d say it is the best thing the club has ever done.
“The club is now on the football map. Last season was difficult for various reasons on and off-the-field, but the move to Marley gives us some long-term structure and we can put some roots down. Not just for Steeton, but the whole of Keighley.
“One of the difficult things we have as a club and Silsden will say the same, within Keighley there is not a lot of footballing talent around.
“There should be a lot more, but equally one of the reasons for that is there is no focal point within Keighley.
“There’s been nothing for the kids to aspire to. We’re hoping that now we can establish ourselves at Marley that we can give Keighley lads a focal point so they don’t need to be going to your Thackley’s, your Eccleshill’s and further afield to play a good level of football.
“To have the Keighley area having two teams competing at semi-professional level is fantastic.
“It is brilliant and it just give lads something to aspire to. When I played, I played for Keighley Phoenix in the County Amateur League and that’s the level what people then aspired to play at.
“Silsden and Steeton have taken that up a notch now by giving lads in this area Non League Football.”
The move to Marley Stadium is not quite complete as the club are waiting on the new 3G pitch to be installed. The North West Counties season is due to start on October 3rd and Mason is hopeful Steeton’s new home will be ready by mid-October.
“Funnily enough I have been down to Marley today to have a look,” he said.
“They’ve had a little bit of a setback as when they’ve had a look at the tarmac, it needs re-levelling as well. That will push them back a week, but the majority of the construction has been done.
“The tarmac is being done tomorrow so hopefully next week they’ll start laying the pitch. The first home game is scheduled for the second week in October so it is going to be touch and go, but fingers crossed we’ll be alright.”
Mason was speaking following his side’s 3-1 defeat to Harrogate Railway and the Steeton boss also confirmed plans to make additions to his squad.
“Ideally I’d like to strengthen the side and bring in a bit more experience over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
“We had no Jerry White again tonight and when Jerry White doesn’t play for us, we look defensively vulnerable.
“I’d like a bit of experience in there because we have a bunch of good young players, but sometimes you need a bit of experience who can get us to re-group when we concede a goal.”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. As we slowly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
Like most organisations, we have been affected financially by the Coronavirus and because of the cancelled Lucille Rollinson Memorial Tournament, we are down on projected income for the year and we have incurred losses in the last few months.
We have not been hit as badly as other organisations, but we do need raise £2000 to put us back at the level we were at in mid-March and enable us to make a difference once again to our players’ lives in the future, without having financial worries. Several of our players are suffering from effects of the lockdown and we are determined to be in the strongest position possible to provide services for them.
Any amount raised above £2000 will be put towards new projects (when the world returns to normal) designed to further benefit people with disabilities and learning difficulties. You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.