Monday 28th August 1995
Newhall United v Barlestone St Giles
Midland Football Combination Division 1
Programme Price: Not Stated
The programme that I have chosen for today’s review is another that I have selected at random from my collection. This issue does contain a lot of adverts so instead of me going through the pages one by one in my usual way, I will today just pick out the football-related information on offer to read in the programme.
The first piece of football information informs the reader of who was who at the club back in 1995. At the time of writing the chairman was named as Alan Lewis and the First Team Manager was John Wain. Interestingly, the secretary of the club was David Wain, so one would presume there was a family connection with the first team manager.
The aforementioned David Wain then pens a piece and starts by welcoming the players, officials and supporters of Barlestone St Giles to The Hawfields Ground. The secretary then looks back at Newhall United’s recent 5-1 defeat at Hams Hall. Lets just say he didn’t have many complimentary words for the referee in charge of that game! The same page also provides previous results and forthcoming fixtures for Newhall United. The club started their 1995/1996 season with a 1-1 draw at home against Dudley Sports. At the foot of the page there is information provided about the referee for the game against Barlestone St Giles. The man in the middle was named as Tim Steer from Burton on Trent and at the time of writing had been a referee for eight seasons. This would be his first visit to The Hawfields Ground for approximately six years.
Next we have the team line up’s which is followed by a match report from Newall’s 5-1 defeat at Hams Hall. A sports themed crossword appears on the next page with plenty of cryptic clues for the reader to have a go at.
And that my friends is really all there is to report on from this programme. Not the most in depth issue but I have always said that I will never criticise any programme that a club produces, especially at this level of non league football. After all, it is all done by volunteers and they in my opinion are the lifeblood of the game at this level.
Further Reading
Newhall United Football Club are based in the suburban settlement of Newhall in Swandlicote, South Derbyshire.
Although I have not been able to ascertain a definitive date as to when the club was founded, I have been able to find out that they were certainly in existence by 1929. Records show that they were in the Leicestershire Senior League for the 1929/1930 season. The Leicestershire Senior League closed down at the end of that season and then little is known about the club until the early 1950’s.
The 1950/1951 season saw the club entering the FA Cup for the first time in their history. They entered that season’s competition in the Preliminary Round stage and were knocked out by Hinkley Athletic, 2-1 in a replay after the first game ended 2-2. The furthest the club reached in the world’s oldest knockout cup competition was when the reached the third qualifying round in the 1951/1952 season.
With regards to the FA Trophy, Newhall United first entered that particular competition in the 1970/1971 season when they were beaten 3-1 by Mexborough in the first qualifying round. The only other time they competed in the FA Trophy was the following season when they were again eliminated in the first qualifying round, 3-2 by Heanor Town in what was a second replay. Meanwhile in the FA Vase, Newhall first entered that competition in the 1981/1982 season when they reached the second qualifying round which turned out to be the club’s best ever performance in the FA Vase. They entered the competition on a further four occasions, the last time being in the 1985/1986 season.
Newhall United became founder members of the Central Midlands League in 1983 and finished the 1983/1984 season in 11th position in a 18 team Central Midlands League Premier Division. By the 1995/1996 season, the club were in the Midlands Football Combination Division One and finished that season in 9th position.
The 2002/2003 campaign saw the club in the Midlands Football Combination League Division Three with them earning promotion to Division Two. A second successive promotion followed and they remained in Division One until the end of the 2009/2010 season. After that season they competed in the Leicestershire League up until 2012.
Today, Newhall United Football Club play their football in the Midlands Regional Alliance League.
