Chester Sunday League Football

Now here’s a topic I’ve been threatening to write about for some time. Chester Sunday League football. Let me make this very clear though first and foremost, I don’t know a great deal about today’s set up. But not to worry. In a post to follow this I’m going to be tapping into the knowledge of one of today’s local club officials. A real down to earth, true lover of football. I won’t go too much into this intended post now though. In this initial Chester Sunday League football post I’ll take a bit of a trip down Memory Lane. As many will agree – back to the good old days. I won’t go so far as to trip out old cliches like, “when men were men” etc, but if you are from a certain era you will be able to relate to what it was all about.

Anyway, let’s take a trip down Memory Lane and re-live some of my more youthful days enjoying Chester Sunday League football.

Chester Sunday League Football

Have a look at the league table above. As far as I am aware the “goals against” record of conceding a mere 12 goals in a whole season has never been bettered. Quite an achievement in a world of ‘regular’ scores of 7-5; or 6-4 and so on. And what a team we had at the Golden Eagle. Looking at that table we clearly had a very stingy defence who obviously didn’t like conceding goals. In fact I remember we actually went more than 1,000 minutes without conceding a goal. To be accurate I’m not sure if that was League only or League and Cup. But what I do remember was that we passed 1,000 in rather dramatic style.

I can’t remember who we were playing but we were at home in a League match. Home being the excellent pitch and OK facilities at Salisbury Avenue in Saltney. Nestled right between Saltney Library and Boundary Lane. A larger than average pitch, nice and flat and superbly maintained. An ideal surface for a ‘footballing’ side. Which we were, very much so.

Before the game we announced that we were a mere ten minutes away from completing a 1,000 minutes without conceding a goal. As I say, some achievement. And something our defence and our incredibly good goalkeeper, Dave “Gilly” Gilbert, were so very proud of. But 6 minutes into the game, a potential disaster. We conceded a penalty. Oh well we thought, 996 minutes without conceding a goal was a great effort nonetheless. But we came to that belief without considering the brilliance of Gilly. And, as you’ve probably already guessed, Gilly saved the penalty. And on the back of that went on to sail past 1,000 minutes without conceding.

Chester Sunday League Football Weekly Enjoyment

I’m not saying the 80’s was necessarily the best era, but it was certainly a good one. As you will see from the table above, we won Section B. The top flight of Section A contained some really, really good teams at that time and in earlier seasons. Teams like Lache BA (who went on to win the Cheshire Cup on more than one occasion), The Piper, Bear and Billet, The Liver, Lord Byron, Saughall, Kop 58 and The Peacock to name just a few. All good sides that were so well run off the pitch as well.

And what great players graced Chester Sunday League football. I’m not going to name any for fear of failing to mention someone who should be mentioned on the one hand. And on the other, the players may not want to be mentioned. But suffice it to say, there were some great players knocking about at so many of the clubs. And so many great characters as managers as well.

Chester Sunday League Football – A Brief Format

As can be seen, in the season ended 1987/88 we won Section B. Back then there were four divisions. Section A, B, C and D. With roughly the same number of teams in each division that would make somewhere in the region of between 40 and 50 teams in all.

And what about the venues? Even in our Division above we had our snooker table of a pitch in Saltney. Shell Swan played by the Shell Club in Whitby on the way into Ellesmere Port. Another great pitch with good facilities. Deva Social played on the grounds of the Countess of Chester hospital, while “Wessie Park” played behind the houses on Hough Green right by, no surprises, Westminster Park.

Hoole’s Canadian Avenue was another popular venue. As were the pitches in Blacon amongst others. But for so many wrong reasons the most iconic pitches were the pitches on the Roodee. How many were there? About eight I reckon. Eight games, so there would have been in the region of 200 to 250 players, referees and club officials all there at the same time. So, that would require some special changing facilities really wouldn’t it. An abundance of quality showers, lockers and tables for some much needed DIY physio patch up work would be the bare minimum you would expect.

Not so at the Roodee. All we had was an average sized communal, benched area to get changed and as for shower facilities, one sink with cold water only. Absolutely shocking conditions.

Watch Out For The Divots

Even though the facilities were so bad, at least the playing pitches were of a high standard? Wrong!! The pitches were probably the worst quality in the whole league. Because the Roodee was at river level, the pitches were so susceptible to waterlogging. And the grass was always so long. Throw in divots and bumps galore and you had some pretty awful pitches. And yet players flocked to play there every Sunday morning (and on a Saturday afternoon, but more so on a Sunday morning). I say every Sunday. That’s assuming the games weren’t called off due to waterlogged pitches.

The Good Old Days

But hey, ho. Chester Sunday League football, the good old days. So many of us went through what was a truly remarkable era. Or eras, plural. So many friendships made. So many strong bonds formed. I’m not the only one of my generation to look at so many lads of younger generations and comment on how much they have missed out on when you see the only exercise they enjoy is twiddling their thumbs on the latest electronic gadget.

What’s even more amazing is to hear these youngsters talking about football, tripping out all the pundit soundbites they’ve heard on TV no doubt, when effectively they have hardly, or if ever, kicked a ball in anger. However, each to their own and all that, so how youngsters choose to spend their time is entirely up to them. But in mine and many others opinion, they may be missing out on so much by not taking up a more physical, healthy pastime. The camaraderie by being a part of a sports team (footie, or rugby, or whatever) is immense. Taking part in itself is the reward. Winning is the bonus. And as for the social life that went with it all!!!!

What About Nowadays?

Anyway, my appreciation of “all things team sport” rant over, I think this article gives you a bit of a flavour of how Chester Sunday Football League was “back in the day” so to speak. But what about nowadays? It’s at this point I need to mention that I don’t know a great deal about the League set up etc. But, I know a man who does. And he not only knows about the general set up, he also helps to run one of Chester’s better known Sunday League outfits. In fact, they were about when I was donning my “John Barnes Specials.” So, I’ll end this article at this point.

To follow this, I’ll add a post about, not only about Chester Sunday League football generally, but I think I’ll go the extra mile and delve into the background and history etc of this well run, long established club. Watch this space as they say.

Chester Lifestyle Blog Posts

Thanks for reading my latest blog post – Chester Sunday League Football. I hope you found the article interesting? I certainly enjoyed writing it. I could have written loads more. If you can spread the word to others if you think it may be of interest. Maybe one day, we should have a big Chester Sunday League football get together (while we still can). To see all of my other blog posts on a variety of topics, then visit HERE.

And going off on a complete tangent and as this is Chester related website. Here’s the “help support a local small business” section.

As This Is A Chester Related Website

As this is a Chester related website, you may be looking for the ideal Chester related gift for your loved ones. If so, then have a look at my Chester section of my new Etsy store. You can find out more about my Etsy store HERE.

Plenty of originally created downloadable digital artwork for you to have a look at HERE. And, as I say, a variety of Chester related products to choose from. Go on….you know you want to!!

Please Note

I earn commissions from Amazon for any qualifying purchases made from my Chester Lifestyle website.

By clicking the image below, or the product links below that, you will be taken through to Amazon where you can search and shop safely and securely to your heart’s content. Many thanks.