Wakefield AFC 0 v Jubilee Sports 2 - Sheff & Hallam County Senior League Prem

Saturday 19th September 2020

Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League

at the Millennium Stadium, Featherstone Rovers RLFC

Wakefield AFC (0) 0

Jubilee Sports (0) 2

Joel Magill 73

Jordan Turner 79

Attendance: 224

Admission: Free (via pre-booked online ticket)

Point and hope photo gallery links:

Page 1 Click HERE

Page 2 Ckick HERE

Wakefield AFC

Crescenzio Arvanitis, Samuel Amissah, Jack Budge, Jack Burton, Gervas Chipasha, Jake Dickinson, Patrick Hoyle, Greg Hunter, Bryce Orsini, Dan Palmer, Tom Raithby

Subs - Bruno Bagi, James Beningo, Tom Davies

Jubilee Sports

Richard Spink, Girey Alidu, Daniel Bingley, Liam Childes, Joel Evans, Liam Hill-Simmons, Charlie Hobson, Joel Magill, Jordan Stacey, Rhys Stacey, Jordan Turner

Subs - Scott Bingley, Lee Grocock, Nana Yaw Asave Nyavko

I'd originally intended to head up to 'Fev' for the Wakefield AFC v Rossington Main pre-season friendly at the the end of August, but when I went online the afternoon before the game, all of the tickets (there was a capacity cap of 150) had been snaffled up already.

All ticket restrictions and non accessible games in the County Senior League!? 

Blimey! 'Just what the hell kind of Armageddon must we all be currently living through?' I pondered, as I slowed down and gave some wriggle room to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as I carefully passed by them near Ackworth Moor Top on the way up towards 'Fev' this afternoon.

The captain's fist each other prior to kick-off

Historically, the West Yorkshire conurbation of Wakefield and the sporting pastime of Association Football have been uncomfortable bedfellows, who have combined on several occasions to respectively give the concept of love and marriage a really bad name as they unsuccessfully navigated a series of ugly public divorces and indiscreet spats, that have been covered in great detail elsewhere. Briefly, on the rebound, the township's football club took to living over the brush, in a shared domestic living arrangement and naming rights coupling with Emley FC, but that amalgamation also turned sour and the two entities went their own separate ways, with both laying claims to the custody of the kids... and the combined list of club honours, past endeavours and even the family silver. 

A chronological timeline history of the clubs who've used the town names of either Wakefield or Emley in them (or even both) would fill up more column inches than I'm prepared to dedicate to the subject... but the truth is still out their somewhere. And if you should wish to unravel it all and muck rake for yourselves, then go seek. 

But for the purposes of brevity: there is a club in the NCEL first division called Emley AFC who were formed in 2005... and today's host club: Wakefield AFC are a relatively new concern, that came into being in 2019 and have no links whatsoever to any of the above.

In keeping with the traditional colours of Wakefield Trinity RLFC, the new(ish) football club have also adopted juxtapositions of a blue, white and red theme for their home and away kits, both of which also have an uncanny resemblance to the strips that Crystal Palace have been wearing of late. 

Last season Wakefield AFC played their home games at the Dorothy Hyman Stadium in Cudworth, which stands 10 miles to the south of 'Wakey'.

But prior to this current term, just when everybody was anticipating that they would groundshare at Belle Vue, the home of the aforementioned Trinity; they upped sticks from Cudworth and relocated to the Millennium Stadium (no not that one) to share with Featherstone Rovers RLFC instead.

'Fev' is five miles closer to Wakefield than Cudworth, so that that end it's a big step in the right direction... and provides them with a cracking arena to host County Senior League games at.

I chuckled no end (in a little things please little minds kind of way) that upon arriving at the ground, the PA was belting out REM's 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)', which seemed to fit the times that we're living in perfectly and was also apt given the general outlook of a Fev Rovers fan I have the dubious pleasure of working with, a bloke is so dedicated to his Rugby League heroes that the last three letters on his (blue) car registration plate are FEV.

I dare say that given half the chance, he'd much rather own one of the local buses I saw winding through the nearby villages. looking resplendent all dolled up in Featherstone Rovers colours and sprayed with king sized club livery.

The ground on Post Office Road, has two stands that were originally dismantled at the McCain Stadium, the former home of ex-Football League club: Scarborough FC (in 2011) and subsequently transported 75 miles to Featherstone and reassembled at the Railway End and the smaller stand stood at right angles to it, that runs for a length of three blocks of seats along the touchline.

By way of a coincidence, these were the only two stands that were inaccessible to spectators this afternoon. 

So, is there enough of an appetite for the round ball game, to sustain another football club in what is effectively a stronghold Rugby League heartland?

Well, though it might come as a surprise to a lot of people, given that there are already several decent-sized and well established non-league clubs in the area (as well as the choice of Football League clubs in West Yorkshire and a certain well supported and newly promoted Premier League team who ply their trade just up t'road), although the presence of a couple of dozen groundhoppers, football travellers and neutrals of my acquaintance, helped to nudge the attendance over the 200 mark, along with the handful of supporters who were following Jubilee Sports today, there were actually a lot of very obviously committed home supporters present too, going by the amount of partisan vocal encouragement Wakefield were getting, and the large number of people who were wearing replica shirts, that were flying off the racks in the well stocked club shop, along a decent range of other club branded memorabilia.

Two groups in particular, a younger element behind the goal and a beer swilling older lot just around the corner from them, weren't shy about barracking the visiting players and 'noising up' the opposition. Banter and a smattering of crude language was about the full extent of all that it amounted to, to be fair... and I personally believe that is acceptable within the confines of any football ground, especially when none of it (in my opinion) was actually hostile, intimidating or threatening in any way and they were definitely a cut above the: "F***ing Leeds fans without bus fair!" jibe that I heard muttered in their general direction.

I can well imagine that there could be times that this kind of boisterous chanting could get on ones bleedin' nerves.

But I do feel compelled to ask: just how many times do you hear supporters elsewhere getting on their own players backs and having a detrimental effect on their confidence? When proper fans, to my way of thinking anyway, are supposed to give their own team a lift... and try to rattle the opposition too, within reason of course.

And besides, in a cavernous arena such as the Millennium Stadium, if you don't want to venture anywhere near the noisy element, there is plenty of scope to either stand or sit elsewhere.

Initially Adam Lockwood's side appeared to be on course for an opening day of the season win, with the powerhouse presence of striker Samuel Amissah giving the visiting defence plenty to be think about as he went close to breaking the deadlock twice, while the regular mesmerising runs made by Bryce Orsini into the heart of the final third were stretching the Jubilee defence to their limit. However, it obviously didn't go unnoticed within the Sheffield based clubs ranks that Wakefield's keeper Crescenzio Arvanitis has a tendency to move out to the fringes of his area and act almost as if he's a sweeper and this was very nearly the home sides undoing early in the game, when Greg Hunter had to get back into his six yard box a bit sharpish to make a last ditch clearance, with Avantis stranded out of position and leaving his goal completely exposed.

That said, Arvantis was well placed to tip a shot over his bar around the thirty minute mark and the lads behind the goal gave Jordan Turner the bird when he spurned a great opportunity from the resulting corner. 

Hmm, winding Turner up while he's up against a goalie that strays from his line (perhaps Arvantis' been coached and instructed to join in with the back three) was the catalyst for what was to come later, but we'll get to that particular punchline in due course.

As the second-half got under way, Richard Spink had to be on his toes in the Jubilee goal, as he tipped over Orsini's dipping free-kick at full stretch.

A bit of a stand off flared up under the shadows of the stand, that quickly evaporated into nothing while the crowd were treated to an amusing interlude as 'Razzle Dazzle' AKA that music used for 'chase' scenes in the Benny Hill Show, back in days of yore when scantily clad young ladies running away from a suitor with pervy intentions was still considered to be funny and the PC brigade hadn't stamped their intolerant militancy all over everything that you're allowed to watch on the telly, blared from the Millenium Stadium tannoy. 

I assume this is a regular occurrence at 'Fev' games and it does actually help to calm potentially volatile situations down, but I'd wager that Mary Whitehouse would've been fashioning a letter of complaint in response to such goings on before the watershed. "Where's that Barbara Woodhouse when you need her?" boomed a jovial spectator, laughing out loud at his own joke, while everybody else chuckled at his slight faux-pas. Walkies pal! And take your misplaced humour with you.

In a completely unscripted moment, that deviated away sharply from the anticipated plot of the afternoon and the eager expectations of the home crowd, Jubilee Sports, resplendent in an understated but very stylish all maroon kit, took the lead in the seventy third minute, when Joel Magill reacted quickest to a rebound inside the hosts goal area and stabbed the ball into the back of the net.

Six minutes later, on the halfway line, right in front of the dug outs, Turner latched onto a loose ball from a Wakefield throw in, spotted that Arvantis was surveying the scene from outside his area and spanked a long range effort that flew over the keepers head and bounced into the unguarded goal. 

Cue another chase scene, as the 'Jubileent' goal-scorer raced towards his tormentors behind the opposite to 'celebrate' with them with his teammates it hot pursuit.

The home side dusted themselves down and tried their level best to claw their way back into the game, but by and large, the Jubilee players restricted their ambitious hosts to a string of long range and rather speculative efforts and took all three points back to South Yorkshire with them.

Me thinks that we might already have a contender for THE66POW goal of the season this afternoon.

FT: Wakefield AFC 0 v Jubilee Sports 2

Wakefield AFC certainly have the infrastructure, organisation and a touch of professionalism about them, that will stand the club in good stead as they look to climb up through the football ranks... and they have obviously assembled a quality group of players towards fulfilling their ambitions too. They won't be to everyone's liking, but I reckon that I've seen enough personally to tempt me back from time to time to see how they're progressing. And I'm really looking forward to visiting Jubilee Sports in the near future too.