Manager Matt Griffin has hailed his Ecclesfield Red Rose 1915 players for helping to strengthen the finances of the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League club during the recent lockdown.
The Premier Division outfit have to pay to hire the 3G pitch at Hillsborough College to play their home fixtures – in addition to match officials costs.
It is a costly business, but the Ecclesfield players rallied to the cause and Griffin admits his club are eternally grateful.
“What the boys did by doing the fundraising off their own backs was fantastic,” Griffin told Non League Yorkshire.
“Ecclesfield is a tough sell (to players) because if you were to compare us to someone like your Dodworth’s, the setups are chalk and cheese. We’re working towards that type of setup one day.
“During the lockdown the lads just kept putting the football cards on the WhatsApp groups and they were doing it a tenner a go so they were raising a couple of £100 every week. They raised almost £1000 which almost pays two thirds of our football pitch fees and I think it is great example of the lads doing a great job for us to help us keep going.
“Our costs for pitch hire went up when we had to move ground this year. They pay £6 subs each week anyway and by doing it, it shows great love for the club and how much they appreciate grassroots football. It is something that won’t be forgotten.
“They are all around 22-year-old and they made a great point of saying ‘we need to think about the club’s long-term future’. We are self-sufficient and the finances are well-balanced. But as most clubs are; it is always going to be on a knife-edge. If pitch hire fees go up, subs have to go up.
“Hand-to-mouth is probably a little extreme, but we’re definitely one of the sides who rely on raffle tickets, football cards, all that type of stuff. We can’t go to the lads and say ‘we’re going to cut your subs this year’ or give £20 a game to someone. We’re a million miles from that.”
The gesture has already been remembered. With the Toolstation NCEL season on a hiatus until at least January, County Senior League sides have a mouth-watering opportunity to dual-register higher league players for one or two fixtures.
However, Griffin – an ex Non League defender who served clubs such as Stocksbridge Park Steels, Parkgate, Hallam and Parkgate during his playing career – and his coaching staff have chosen not to go down that road.
“Myself, (the Wragg brothers) Matt, Jon and Ryan McDonald had this conversation and it was very tempting to get the old contacts out and think ‘shall we try and sell it to people by saying come and play a few games for us to keep fit’,” he said.
“The reality is at the minute we have worked really hard to get this squad of 18 and 19 lads and they have been very loyal to us, especially during the recent lockdown. A lot of them have grown closer even though they haven’t been seeing each other.
“They’ve raised the money through the football cards so because of the level of loyalty they have shown to this club and the bond they have got we decided it would be wrong to try and pull those (NCEL) players. Whether they would come or not is a different matter.
“I wouldn’t knock anyone for doing it, but we’re not going to do that.”
Ecclesfield are seventh after playing seven Premier Division fixtures so far this season, winning two, drawing two and losing three.
The wins were over Jubilee Sports and bottom side Davy’s, while the draws were impressive as they were against heavyweight sides in Dodworth Miners Welfare and North Gawber and Griffin is pleased with the start.
“We played really bad once against Oughtilbridge,” he said.
“I’m not taking anything away from Oughtilbridge they were miles better than us and they’re in the top three at the minute. We didn’t play particularly well against High Green Villa on the first day of the season and deservedly got beat.
“Every other game, especially your Dodworth’s and Gawber’s, we have been excellent. We have a new young team and we have six or seven lads who are playing most weeks and who are in their first year with us.
“We’re trying to get young lads who will work hard, they’ll train and go for a beer when we can. So they’re mates off-the-pitch and we’re starting to get that good bond now. We’ve seen it in the games against Dodworth and North Gawber because they are good teams and they give you a hard day’s work.
“To be sat mid-table after seven games in, I’d have taken that definitely. But now how I can see them clicking, I do think we ought to be looking more top five or six.
“That may be one season too soon, but it is going pretty well and we’re on track.”
The Sheffield-based side return to action on Saturday with a battle with old foes Jubilee and Griffin is excited over the prospect of football again after a six-week lay-off.
“We’ve glad to be back,” he said.
“We were going to be back last Saturday against Stocksbridge reserves, but between them and us we both agreed that we would be better off having a training session. I know the lads want to play, but it is hard to tell what state people are in. We managed to train on Saturday and we’ll train again tonight.
“In terms of getting the game going ahead on Saturday is fantastic and to get it against Jubilee, a bit of a local derby is obviously great. It needs a bit of a spark to get the league going again and it is going to brilliant to get back into it.
“I know their gaffers Lee and Simmo (Lee Hill and Steven Simmons) quite well and we’re old mates from playing together so we all want to get one over on each other.
“We signed one of their players (Liam Childes) before lockdown so the reason I think there’ll be a bit of a spark is because maybe they’ll want to get one over us to prove he’s gone to the wrong side.
“We’ve beat them once this season, but they’re a good side and they don’t give you a minute. They play for the shirt and they work hard. They also have a bit of quality as they have Jordan Turner signed. He’s at least Northern Counties standard, probably higher.
“They have the quality and they also have Charlie Hobson, a kid who can play higher.”
This weekend is the first week of fixtures since October for most sides apart from Houghton Main, North Gawber, Oughtilbridge and Penistone Church who played on Saturday,
With how many matches still have to be played heading into 2021, questions linger as to whether the campaign will reach a natural conclusion. Griffin is hopeful it will.
“It is hard to tell whether the season will finish,” he said.
“The junior coaching we do, they’ve got a break until January. They’re on and off and I think it is going to be tough to finish the season. I’d like to think that there will be a massive level of flexibility from the FA and local FA.
“As Ecclesfield we’re in a beneficial position where we’re on 3G at Hillsborough Colleges so we can get our home games on when the weather would normally cause postponements.
“I know Covid may stop us, but in years gone by we would have lost some home games in December and January to the weather.
“Whether the season will finish, I’d like to think some common sense will prevail and people start realising that with outdoor sports people have minimal contact and everyone is abiding by the rules.
“It means a lot more than a game of football to people because there is a lot of other health and mental health aspects that are important to these young men coming out to play football.
“I’m quite confident it will finish, but anything could happen this year as we have found out.”
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. When we properly 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.
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.