Non league football and craft beer poncin' - The local guide to

[Cruyff]

Whilst I appreciate this isn't PNE specific, there didn't seem to be a more suitable place to post given the subheading of this group.

As a lifelong Nobber I still enjoy a few home and away games each season, but I think the days of a season ticket are long behind me now. I guess never say never, one day when I have kids maybe I'll want to gift (?) them the opportunity to grow up supporting their hometown club, and celebrating that Riis equaliser in the Town End last week with 10 men against Sheffield United was one of the best moments I've had at Deepdale in a fair old while. Maybe Ryan Lowe is the man to drag me back in after all. Anyway...

In the meantime when I haven't been on North End, I've been enjoying my football all the same but at the lower level in non league. I know this isn't everyone's taste and sometimes the football isn't all that, but I've seen many stinking games higher up the pyramid anyway and it stings less when you've only paid £10. Standing on the terrace or in a tiny club house takes me back to my younger days watching PNE in the 90s and visiting some of the old school crumbling grounds like Milmoor, Springfield Park or Bootham Crescent. I like the nostalgia.

So I thought why not film a bit of it and let others see what I see, maybe encourage some others to take in a game at a Bamber Bridge, a Charnock Richard or Lancaster City when North End are away or the price is a bit too steep for a league game? And I didn't want to just do another "football blogger", the football to be honest will many times be secondary to the day out, the people you meet, the sights to see and the pubs and bars to visit. Like a proper hipster dufus I enjoy a 9% schooner of vanilla and unicorn tail hair as much as a pint of guinness, so I want to show people the towns and the villages and their drinking scene as much as the football clubs themselves.

Being from Preston this is predominantly going to feature trips to non league clubs from around the North West, and hopefully might inspire a few people to visit a game or two when they can, and that this thread is ok within the remit of the forum.

The first game we've documented was this weekend:

22/01/2022
Shawbridge Street, Clitheroe FC.
Clitheroe FC 3-2 Mossley AFC
Northern Premier League - West.
Price £8
Attendance 901




As mentioned this is the first time doing a video so any feedback or comments are more than welcome and if you enjoyed it, feel free to like and subscribe. The next video will be coming in February and should be showcasing a match and town from the Lake District. Cheers!

 

[MBcha]

Whilst I appreciate this isn't PNE specific, there didn't seem to be a more suitable place to post given the subheading of this group.

As a lifelong Nobber I still enjoy a few home and away games each season, but I think the days of a season ticket are long behind me now. I guess never say never, one day when I have kids maybe I'll want to gift (?) them the opportunity to grow up supporting their hometown club, and celebrating that Riis equaliser in the Town End last week with 10 men against Sheffield United was one of the best moments I've had at Deepdale in a fair old while. Maybe Ryan Lowe is the man to drag me back in after all. Anyway...

In the meantime when I haven't been on North End, I've been enjoying my football all the same but at the lower level in non league. I know this isn't everyone's taste and sometimes the football isn't all that, but I've seen many stinking games higher up the pyramid anyway and it stings less when you've only paid £10. Standing on the terrace or in a tiny club house takes me back to my younger days watching PNE in the 90s and visiting some of the old school crumbling grounds like Milmoor, Springfield Park or Bootham Crescent. I like the nostalgia.

So I thought why not film a bit of it and let others see what I see, maybe encourage some others to take in a game at a Bamber Bridge, a Charnock Richard or Lancaster City when North End are away or the price is a bit too steep for a league game? And I didn't want to just do another "football blogger", the football to be honest will many times be secondary to the day out, the people you meet, the sights to see and the pubs and bars to visit. Like a proper hipster dufus I enjoy a 9% schooner of vanilla and unicorn tail hair as much as a pint of guinness, so I want to show people the towns and the villages and their drinking scene as much as the football clubs themselves.

Being from Preston this is predominantly going to feature trips to non league clubs from around the North West, and hopefully might inspire a few people to visit a game or two when they can, and that this thread is ok within the remit of the forum.

The first game we've documented was this weekend:

22/01/2022
Shawbridge Street, Clitheroe FC.
Clitheroe FC 3-2 Mossley AFC
Northern Premier League - West.
Price £8
Attendance 901




As mentioned this is the first time doing a video so any feedback or comments are more than welcome and if you enjoyed it, feel free to like and subscribe. The next video will be coming in February and should be showcasing a match and town from the Lake District. Cheers!

Enjoyed that, even the beer talk and I don't drink! Difficult to critique something that has clearly had a lot of work put into it, only thing I'll say is when I clicked play and saw it was a 25 minute video I thought it was way too long, but have to admit it worked and passed by quickly. Keep it up, I'll keep an eye out for Kendal.

 

[Cruyff]

Enjoyed that, even the beer talk and I don't drink! Difficult to critique something that has clearly had a lot of work put into it, only thing I'll say is when I clicked play and saw it was a 25 minute video I thought it was way too long, but have to admit it worked and passed by quickly. Keep it up, I'll keep an eye out for Kendal.

Cheers mate, appreciate you taking the time to watch and reply.

You’re definitely right on the time side of things, the amount we filmed and had to cut even to get it down to 25 minutes was ridiculous and we’d still like it to have been shorter to be an easier and quicker watch. But that is something hopefully we will learn the more we do.

 

[MBcha]

Cheers mate, appreciate you taking the time to watch and reply.

You’re definitely right on the time side of things, the amount we filmed and had to cut even to get it down to 25 minutes was ridiculous and we’d still like it to have been shorter to be an easier and quicker watch. But that is something hopefully we will learn the more we do.

I suppose in this first edition you did a little bit of background, who you lads are, what you do, intentions for the vlog etc that you won't necessarily need to include every time so that'll cut a little bit of time out.

Good work.

 

[Oh Hughie Costello]

This sounds a great idea and something I really would be interested in watching but I'm sorry I've just watched the opening two minutes and had to switch off. I'll try it again another time, and I might be able to settle in and watch the full thing. I used to do a bit of video making in the past so I'm being snobbish here but the intro at the train station needs to be bish/bash/bosh and get to the good stuff.

 

[raefil]

Could I suggest you do more filming of the actual grounds. Hope you take this as constructive rather than negative criticism. Non League grounds are fascinating, each one has its own unique characteristics.

 

[Henrys Cat]

Too Long for me. I gave it as long as i could but to be honest I lost interest afte 10 minutes, as much as anything because i couldn't really tell what you wwre saying with my naff laptop speakers. No offence intended, as non league and the beer is also my favourite kind of football. I'll try and watch the rest of it later.

 

[Cruyff]

This sounds a great idea and something I really would be interested in watching but I'm sorry I've just watched the opening two minutes and had to switch off. I'll try it again another time, and I might be able to settle in and watch the full thing. I used to do a bit of video making in the past so I'm being snobbish here but the intro at the train station needs to be bish/bash/bosh and get to the good stuff.

Could I suggest you do more filming of the actual grounds. Hope you take this as constructive rather than negative criticism. Non League grounds are fascinating, each one has its own unique characteristics.

Too Long for me. I gave it as long as i could but to be honest I lost interest afte 10 minutes, as much as anything because i couldn't really tell what you wwre saying with my naff laptop speakers. No offence intended, as non league and the beer is also my favourite kind of football. I'll try and watch the rest of it later.

Cheers for taking a look and feeding back gents, all much appreciated.

I think as it was the first one we were overly focused on introducing ourselves and what we were doing. In future we need to get the video going quicker and agree re the ground, much more we could and should have been shown.

 

[4NT5]

I enjoyed it, I live in Clitheroe so it held my attention. There was no need to go in the White Lion though, should have stayed in Corto quaffing Fog.
Agree about showing more of the grounds in future though, and maybe speak to some of the characters that will no doubt be there! You might find another Wealdstone Raider!

 

[Oh Hughie Costello]

Cheers for taking a look and feeding back gents, all much appreciated.

I think as it was the first one we were overly focused on introducing ourselves and what we were doing. In future we need to get the video going quicker and agree re the ground, much more we could and should have been shown.

You've got a lot of potential with this and perhaps by six videos in you'll have found your focus on what you want to document each day. If you go down the route of commenting too much on the games you watch, like that Big Fat Boo guy does at Deepdale then it'll lose impact because hardly anyone will know anything about the players on the pitch but they'll be interested in the clubs history etc.

One thing I would say, and certainly at the start, is "less is more". You might end up the three hours worth of "decent footage" but I'd say that 10 minutes max would be ideal at the start and then perhaps you can expand to focus on other aspects once you know which sections work.

 

[Cruyff]

I enjoyed it, I live in Clitheroe so it held my attention. There was no need to go in the White Lion though, should have stayed in Corto quaffing Fog.
Agree about showing more of the grounds in future though, and maybe speak to some of the characters that will no doubt be there! You might find another Wealdstone Raider!

White Lion was a bit of a last minute rogue choice, we fancied a game of pool and tbf they did have a couple of ales on as well as Guinness so enough to tide us over.

Chatting to a few locals would be good and we did naturally to do this but not sure yet how/if we want to do this on camera. I don’t really want to interrupt someone’s afternoon who is enjoying the game by sticking a camera in their face, however we have lined up a couple of games where we know people who we can probably have a chat with on camera to get an insight into the club/how the season is going etc. I actually saw Joe Garner there at Clitheroe on Saturday and was chatting to some old boy who told me he goes quite regularly now and lives locally in Whalley.

You've got a lot of potential with this and perhaps by six videos in you'll have found your focus on what you want to document each day. If you go down the route of commenting too much on the games you watch, like that Big Fat Boo guy does at Deepdale then it'll lose impact because hardly anyone will know anything about the players on the pitch but they'll be interested in the clubs history etc.

One thing I would say, and certainly at the start, is "less is more". You might end up the three hours worth of "decent footage" but I'd say that 10 minutes max would be ideal at the start and then perhaps you can expand to focus on other aspects once you know which sections work.

We definitely want the right balance of football and other stuff, it’s certainly not intended to be a football vlog or one of those accounts where we have it on selfie mode all game talking about the action or filming our reactions.

The feedback here has been really useful and we have already made the decision we need to show more of the ground and the uniqueness of each one. Given we are also looking at where to drink in each town I think really each video should include a look in the clubhouse and a pint of whatever the best on offer is, be it dark fruits or a local mild ale.

Thanks again all.

 

[Cruyff]

Back again with EPISODE 2 - THE TRIP TO AFC FYLDE.

Unfortunately this trip was supposed to be at Kendal Town but due to Storm Eunice, the game was off and getting to Kendal was a non starter as well with Preston train station closed. It was a real shame because we had a full day out planned to show Kendal at it's finest and even been in contact with the club to meet the club secretary and have him show us around to do the place justice for anyone planning a trip in future.

So we had a last minute decision to make the short Tuesday evening trip to AFC Fylde (mainly because a German Bierhaus has just opened up in Kirkham and we wanted to try it out) but also because they were playing Darlington who will also have a place in my heart as a club that were done over by a rich businessman (remember the 27,000 seater George Reynolds Arena?) and had to start all over again at the bottom of the ladder, which they have done and are now fan owned. Oh and they were the club who gave us Sean Gregan.

Anyway, having taken on some feedback from this thread and other places, this video is less than half as long as the first and we've tried to show more of the ground and talk about the backstory of the club a bit more - so in this case you can expect to see Nigel Farage pop up...

 

[Cruyff]

Forgot to add to the above, it’s non league day this weekend so there is a few of us from Preston going up to Lancaster by train to watch the Dollies. They are at home to Nantwich.

They’ve got an offer on so it’s only £5 if you’ve got a season ticket at a league club and only £1 for students. If anyone wants to jump on our train (we are getting there about midday to do a few pubs first) and wants to meet up then drop me a DM, the more the merrier. And we aren’t doing any filming, it’s all about the football. 👍

 

[Oh Hughie Costello]

Back again with EPISODE 2 - THE TRIP TO AFC FYLDE.

Unfortunately this trip was supposed to be at Kendal Town but due to Storm Eunice, the game was off and getting to Kendal was a non starter as well with Preston train station closed. It was a real shame because we had a full day out planned to show Kendal at it's finest and even been in contact with the club to meet the club secretary and have him show us around to do the place justice for anyone planning a trip in future.

So we had a last minute decision to make the short Tuesday evening trip to AFC Fylde (mainly because a German Bierhaus has just opened up in Kirkham and we wanted to try it out) but also because they were playing Darlington who will also have a place in my heart as a club that were done over by a rich businessman (remember the 27,000 seater George Reynolds Arena?) and had to start all over again at the bottom of the ladder, which they have done and are now fan owned. Oh and they were the club who gave us Sean Gregan.

Anyway, having taken on some feedback from this thread and other places, this video is less than half as long as the first and we've tried to show more of the ground and talk about the backstory of the club a bit more - so in this case you can expect to see Nigel Farage pop up...

Well done for getting to episode two, many people don't even make it that far. I liked the intro much better (if I was being picky I'd cut 15 seconds of the footage showing the A585 because nothing happened in it) but I liked the use of Google Maps because when it comes to non-league grounds very few people will know where the grounds actually are.

This might be just me but you need focus on when you start talking, (think True Geordie on some of his videos five years ago) you need a hook that tells people in 30 seconds what the video is about - almost think of it as if it's just audio and no footage so people haven't got a clue that you're in a car and are driving to a football ground. I feel a bit harsh saying this but I've switched off for both videos when you've both started talking. One, because I can hardly hear what you're saying, and two because I know the "hook" is missing so I can't be bothered waiting however long it takes to work out what's happening.

 

[Cruyff]

Well done for getting to episode two, many people don't even make it that far. I liked the intro much better (if I was being picky I'd cut 15 seconds of the footage showing the A585 because nothing happened in it) but I liked the use of Google Maps because when it comes to non-league grounds very few people will know where the grounds actually are.

This might be just me but you need focus on when you start talking, (think True Geordie on some of his videos five years ago) you need a hook that tells people in 30 seconds what the video is about - almost think of it as if it's just audio and no footage so people haven't got a clue that you're in a car and are driving to a football ground. I feel a bit harsh saying this but I've switched off for both videos when you've both started talking. One, because I can hardly hear what you're saying, and two because I know the "hook" is missing so I can't be bothered waiting however long it takes to work out what's happening.

Thanks for the feedback mate, as always it’s a learning process. In hindsight haven’t not filmed in the car we should have done something like stick AirPods in to get a mic picking up the sound better.

Agree on the intro too, the road footage is too long and we’d have been better getting straight into what was the plan for the day.

 

[MBcha]

Any more of these?

 

[Oh Hughie Costello]

Any more of these?

Nothings popped up on my YouTube alerts and the OP not been online for a while. Shame as they were a great idea. Some good days out in non-league and you get to visit places off the beaten track you'd not normally consider.H oping to go to Matlock in a few weeks time.

 

[Henrys Cat]

Nothings popped up on my YouTube alerts and the OP not been online for a while. Shame as they were a great idea. Some good days out in non-league and you get to visit places off the beaten track you'd not normally consider.H oping to go to Matlock in a few weeks time.

Matlock is always one of the best Brig away days of the season. Ground is also bang in the town centre, and it's a lovely town. I’m looking forward to the visit on April 15th, never seen Brig get anything there though, lost in my last 3 visits. So, Belper Town wins Away match of the season so far this season. That was a superb day, great ground, great pub in the town centre and a 2-0 win

 

[Jack Daniels]

Lancaster City (Giant Axe) is the one I want to visit.

12 minutes on the train from Preston.
Ground about 5 minutes from the station.
Plenty of decent pubs.
Another ground to tick off.

 

[Oh Hughie Costello]

Lancaster City (Giant Axe) is the one I want to visit.

12 minutes on the train from Preston.
Ground about 5 minutes from the station.
Plenty of decent pubs.
Another ground to tick off.

They're at home Easter Saturday to Gainsborough - would be a good one to go to. Gainsborough in the play-off mix and have one of the best away records in the league. Lancaster mid table but on a decent run of form and beat Hyde, who were 2nd for a long time, at home on Saturday.