Trafford FC - Shawe View

It was a case of the morning after the day before. Well, actually it was a case of the day after the day before. The day after (Sunday 27^th) the mighty Colls big pre-season trip to Whitley Bay (which was on Saturday 26^th) I decided to make the short journey down to Shawe View to visit and tick off the home of Northern Premier League outfit Trafford FC.

Now, all football fans know that football is normally played on a Saturday – well for Non-League Clubs anyway, football league clubs have to constantly change their schedule for the benefit of money grabbers Sky. So you can imagine when I heard that Trafford would be playing NWCFL Division One club Atherton Laburnum Rovers on a Sunday, yes a Sunday, I thought that Sky had finally got to the beautiful Non-League game and was kicking off by covering a laid back and free flowing pre-season at Trafford. Disaster!

Of course, I’m only joking, Sky are not taking over Non-League football… yet.

However, I was indeed pleasantly surprised because the game on the Sunday provided me with a very good chance of having a weekend full of football, increasing my games count for the season, which I am desperate to increase day by day.

Also, as I mentioned in my opening paragraph it would give me a chance to tick another ground off my ever-growing list to visit. That means, along with Whitley Bay on Saturday 26^th July it’ll be two grounds in two days.

Instantly after hearing about the fixture I informed Rob who is a very good friend of mine, also a regular in these Blogs if mine. It turned out that he also hadn’t ticked Trafford yet so he also was well up for the Sunday afternoon football. Good news. Trafford was given the green light by the both of us.

Despite insisting that I haven’t, I have visited Trafford before but this was a very long time ago when I was only seven or eight so I don’t really class it as ticked and anyway, I only vaguely remember what it looks like – I bet and hopped there were some changes since my last visit around ten years ago. So since I started this Ground Hopping malarkey around three years ago Trafford has always been up there on the top of my list so it was a relief to finally get it off.

Earlier, you would’ve noticed that I said myself and Rob were at Whitley Bay the day before so this meant that during the day we had no real planning time. However, on the way back we did discuss, sensibly, our plan for Trafford. In the end we gave up because a) the National Rail app refused to work no matter what and b) the drinking games were starting. In the end we decided we would plan it on the morning of the game, despite the earlier than normal 1:00pm kick off.

So, I awoke on the Sunday not really knowing what the plan was. Checking my phone, I noticed Rob had sent m two texts telling him to ring him at 11:00am. Fair enough. Checking the train times for myself I noticed I only had an hour to get my stuff together and get on my to Bromley Cross train station.

After showering and successfully getting out on time I stolled down to Bromley Cross to get the 10:28 service to Oxford Road. It might sound a tad early, it is, but I had to endure a 45 minute wait at Oxford Road and also it was a 1:00pm kick off and I like to get in the grounds I visit a good hour earlier than kick off.

Manchester Oxford Road was my first stop and as I said earlier I had a 45 minute at what is the craziest and well, most hipster Train Station in the North West. Yes, I did just describe a train station as hipster. To pass the time I wandered towards the Café at Oxford Road and made use of the free WIFI.

This was when Rob text me saying he was going to be a bit later than planned, this wasn’t a problem as it was only twenty minutes, I’ll just have a mooch around Urmston.

At 11:42 I jumped on the Northern Rail service to Liverpool Lime Street, getting off at Urmston where I had around twenty minutes to burn. Burning time in Urmston isn’t a problem at all; as soon as I left the Train Station I found myself a Poundland, Aldi and Home Bargains. Heaven!

My first port of call was Home Bargains, a fantastic shop for bargain seekers such as myself. Preventing myself from buying half the stock, I opted for a big pack of ‘Misshapen biscuits’ for £0.71 and two bottles of water for £0.29 each. Like I said, a shop for bargain seekers. Looking for something for dinner I had a quick look in Aldi hoping that they’d sell sandwiches or something like that, unfortunately no such thing was found. Sainsburys appeared to be my only option, I expected to see prices such as £4.50 for a ham sandwich and £5.00 for a Yorkie – however, I was pleasantly surprised when I found a Sausage Roll for £0.85. Perfect!

Rob soon joined me and we began the short walk towards Shawe View for the day’s football showing. From what I saw on my walk from the train station, Urmston looks to be a very nice and modern suburb of Manchester. It also appears to be a very green place, I recall seeing a number of parks and playing fields as we strolled towards our destination. The town centre is clearly very newly built but is very nice, with a wide array of shops to choose from.

With the clock ticking closer towards the 1:00pm kick off for today’s game me and Rob strolled down the forestry type path that brings you straight to the Turnstiles of Shawe View. From the outside, Shawe View is a lovely, picturesque ground with your traditional Non-league turnstiles surrounded by trees and greenery.

Paying my £2.00 entry fee, Shawe View opened out in front of me. More on the ground in a moment.

For now, it’s that time of the Blog again, who are Trafford FC? Well, under the name Trafford North they were established in 1990, joining the Mind-Cheshire League finishing runners-up in their debut season. In 1993-94 Trafford played their first season in the NWCFL finishing second, being promote to Division One (from the old Division Two), it was at this time they changed their name to Trafford FC. Recently, about a season ago, Trafford were promoted from the Northern Premier League Division One North, to the Northern Premier League via they play off system, beating Cammel Laird in the final.

As for the ground, it’s a nice little ground with lovely surroundings and my favourite thing at a football ground, two grass banking’s.

As you enter through the turnstiles you are on the side of the Main Stand, this is only a little stand that only runs about 1/5 of the pitch (located in the centre of the pitch) and only about four or five rows deep. All the clubs facilities can be found on this side of the ground also.

To your right you will find what I am going to call the Embankment End, simply because it is one big grass embankment which provides an excellent viewing point when sitting on it. Unfortunately, on a league match day, you’re unable to sit on it but because this was only a friendly me and Rob decided to take full advantage of the relaxed rules and sat on it, aren’t we the dare devils?

On the right of the Embankment End is another stand that probably was and is the old Main Stand, definitely one of the oldest stand in the ground. This compromises of seating on the lower part of the stand, and standing on the top, almost as if it has got two tiers.

Opposite the Embankment End is a hard standing but this end offers a cover from rainy weather, clearly one of the new(ish) parts of the ground but it makes it look nice all the same.

After a few biscuits and a lap of the ground me and Rob took our seats on the Embankment and watched the first half unfold in front of us.

You could tell from the off that this was a pre-season friendly, both teams playing a relaxed style of play which resulted in a very dull and uneventful first half, the only entertainment coming from the kids who decided to have a wrestling match next to us, why not, I suppose?

LR’s goalkeeper was impressive during the first half making some good solid stops, some people might say they were routine saves but I have seen a good number of keepers make silly mistakes from parrying it into the net and failing to cleanly catch the ball etc.

Both teams went in at half time having had a good workout at least: 0-0.

During half time me and Rob ventured into the Club House to have a rest from the sun. The Club House at Trafford is nice full of old memorabilia from the clubs past, including old squad photos. Rob bought a Coke, I stuck to my Home Bargains water due to myself being on the economy run at the moment – times are hard! ;-)

It was a case of more of the same in the second half. Trafford were the better side however, producing the better of the chances and not enabling LR to win possession for the majority of the half. Again, LR’s keeper made some good saves preventing the increasingly frustrated Trafford strikers from getting a goal.

However, on the eighty minute mark Mark Derbyshire of Trafford opened and scored the only goal of the game. I can’t remember the goal myself but what I do remember is that it was a deserved goal from a strong Trafford forward line who really should of scored a lot more and earlier during the whole duration of the game.

Full Time – 1-0

After the game myself and Rob strolled back to Umston Train Station, stopping back off at Home Bargains, I bought some notepads for my match reporting at Colls this season where as Rob purchased some biscuits.

We both got the 15:17 service back to Oxford Road having a little look around Manchester when we eventually got there, I love that part of Manchester it’s so different from the rest and as I mentioned before, it’s hipster. A very hipster part of Manchester.

I caught my train to back towards Bromley Cross but this time getting off at Entwistle as I was staying at my Grandma’s house for the night. I was welcomed by a barbeque to round off what had been a chilled out, typical pre-season day out.

Trafford are a lovely club and I would strongly recommend to anyone thinking about visiting Trafford to go for it. Not only do they have a lovely ground, they have friendly people running the place. 

A very enjoyable day in the Urmston sun. 

Sunday 27th July 2014 – Trafford FC 1-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers – Pre-season Friendly – Shawe View – Game #8 – Ground #37

Ground: - 9/10 – A Very nice ground, well worth the visit.

Programme: - N/A

Food: - N/A

Match: - 5/10 – Typical Pre-season friendly, at least it wasn’t 0-0.

Miles Travelled TO Ground: - 15.6miles

Money Spent: - £8.42