No matter the level of football, derby matches always bring the best (and worst) out of supporters and players alike; rivalry boiling over in the strive to attain local bragging rights. Well, I’m in St. Helens today for beer, food and El Glassico – the town famous for glassmaking has two sides in the North West Counties League Division One North and they’re going head-to-head on the second weekend of the 2021-22 season. To make things even more intriguing, they both play at the same ground – a smart 3G facility a mile-or-so from the town centre. Let’s hope it’s only metaphorical glass that is smashed today!
Then there's the beer - what a selection! From Carling's and Fosters for the kids and newbie drinkers to the local real ales and foreign beers for us more refined beer ponces. This is as close to heaven as I can get right now. It’s like Valhalla, but with beer. And the prices! I get a pint of the magnificent Czech lager, Staropramen and expecting pennies change out of a fiver, imagine my delight when I learned it would only cost £3.60 - you'd be hard-pressed to find a pint of premium pilsner for that price these days! Maybe in Prague. To top it off, it came in a handled glass – it goes without saying that I’m toying with the idea of coming back after the game.
Speaking of glass, St Helens is notable for its industry in the creation of such material – with Pilkington, being one of the foremost companies to come from the town. Established in 1829 as the ‘St Helens Crown Glass Company’, it was originally founded as a partnership between members of the Pilkington and Greenall families – when the last Greenall departed the company in 1845, it was renamed ‘Pilkington’s’ and went on to establish itself as the industry leader over the next century. In fact, by the end of the First World War, they were only one of two glass manufacturers remaining in Britain – the others being Chance Brothers. Pilkington’s would buy shares in Chance and by 1951, had fully acquired it, becoming the undisputed glass manufacturer in the country. In 1959, Sir Alistar Pilkington (no relation, astonishingly), pioneered ‘float glass’; a new glass-making technique that made better-quality flat glass more efficiently and cost-effectively. Thanks to this innovation, the company had expanded their operations globally and by the 1970s, were on the stock market – today, they are owned by Japanese company NSG and are still one of the leading glass-making brands in the world.
The present Pilkington Football Club was founded in 1938 – but they were predated by several other teams that came from the works’ floor. One of these included an initial amalgamation, under the name of ‘Pilkington Amateurs AFC’ in 1933, however they’re regarded as a separate team to the eventual Pilkington FC, who were created five years later. Playing in various local leagues – from the Liverpool Business Homes League, St Helens Combination, Mid-Cheshire League and presently, the North West Counties, their home since the 1948-49 season has been Ruskin Drive; the very place they play at today. Although, it's very different these days – and is also now home to St Helens Town, their ‘rivals’.
In 2010, St Helens Council stepped in to take over the lease of Ruskin Drive, which (in addition to being the home of Pilkington’s) had been developed into a sporting area for local cricket and rugby league clubs. They quickly recognised that the site needed regeneration and by 2016, had put their backing behind a redevelopment plan that would see £3.6m spent on improvements, including the creation of state-of-the-art 3G artificial rugby and football pitches, a cricket and rounders field, bowling green and all-weather tennis courts. Aimed at providing better quality facilities for locals to enjoy, the expanded facilities also helped to bring another local sporting institution ‘home’ – St Helens Town.
Formed in 1946 (following the 1920s folding of another club by the same name), St Helens Town initially played at Hoghton Road, a former cricket ground in the Sutton area of the town. Two years later, they gave an opportunity to former German POW, Bernhard ‘Bert’ Trautmann, to keep goal for them in the Lancashire Combination. Despite initial indignation from crowds at a former Nazi solider playing football in England, Trautmann impressed enough that he earned a contract with Football League side Manchester City a year later – going on to make 500 league appearances in a 15-season career with City. His most famous moment occurred during the 1956 FA Cup final when City beat Birmingham City 3-1 at Wembley. Coming out of his goal to field a cross, Trautmann collided with Birmingham forward Peter Murphy and broke his neck. Although he didn’t realise at the time – after initial treatment, he carried on, playing out the rest of the match, making several saves.
When he collected his winner’s medal from the Queen, the accompanying Prince Philip even commented on the state of Trautman’s ‘crooked’ neck. A few days later, Trautmann was diagnosed with breaking five of his vertebrae – apparently, the third vertebrae had wedged itself against the others, preventing further damage and thus, probably saving his life. Nevertheless, his story – from a child who was swept up by the Hitler Youth, to Nazi soldier, POW and finally a free man who went from a hate figure to an inspiration due to his professionalism and bravery, is a story that struck a chord with many people over the years – it was even made into a film, in the shape of 2018’s The Keeper. I also heartily recommended his biography, written by Catherine Clay, as great reading if you wish to learn more about his life.
St Helens Town meanwhile did have a brief flurry after Trautmann’s departure, earning a promotion to the First Division of the Lancashire Combination. But it was to be their nadir – aside from winning the FA Vase at Wembley in 1987 (3-2 against local rivals, Warrington Town) – it’s largely been a struggle for football in the town ever since. With rugby league being the dominant sport here – and not to mention, the town’s population being expanded post-war by the relocation of people from Liverpool, thus having their football allegiances already set – it’s been an uphill battle to establish a presence for a substantial football club here. All this came to a head in 2002.
With their home at Hoghton Road becoming increasingly unsuitable, Town entered into discussions with St Helens ‘Saints’ RLFC about arranging a long-term lease to use the rugby side’s Knowsley Road home. In exchange, Town gave their ground to Saints – who later sold the land to Barratt Homes for £575,000. For this, Town got an agreement that they could play at Saints’ ‘current playing facility’ for 80 years, and they would support the football club ‘financially and practically’ in its push to climb the non-league pyramid. Although this arrangement initially worked harmoniously enough, Saints began to demand payments – and despite selling off Knowsley Road and moving to a new stadium with the promise of a ‘Sporting Club St Helens’ in 2011, Town did not go with them, leaving the football club homeless.
There’s obviously more to this affair that could be delved into – but what it makes clear, is the importance of a football club to have at least some degree of ownership over a facility. With a population of around 130,000, St Helens is a sizeable town – bigger than many of those who already have a Football League side (its bigger than Wigan, in fact). There’s potential here to grow a top-level non-league side at least, but poor decisions and unclear intentions have stunted that growth. Essentially, they were sold a dream by the town’s biggest sporting institution and instead, they found themselves without a home and their status has dropped. From playing at Knowsley Road in front of crowds of a couple of hundred with hopes of pushing towards the top level of semi-professionalism, they instead found themselves groundsharing at Ashton Town and Ashton Athletic, just hoping to survive – and now, although they’re back in St Helens, they’re playing in front of a hundred-or-so supporters at a 3G pitch, shared with Pilkington.
I arrive at the Ruskin Park ‘Sports Village’ easily enough – but the pitches aren’t well signposted. I had to wander about for a bit before finding the main 3G pitch, which was past the cricket ground and at the side of the rugby pitch. I had purchased a digital ticket before the match, and it took an age to scan – leaving me thinking if this is indeed the ‘future’ of football ticketing, when paying with cash would have taken a quarter of the time! Nevertheless, I get in and the ground is, okay. There’s a single seated stand by the side of the pitch, with standing areas behind each of the goals. The other side of the pitch is reserved for the teams to sit/stand and is backed by a fence. It’s still raining so I head for the stand and notice there are seats missing, presumably due to previous COVID restrictions – not sure why removing them was the best option? Why not just tape them off? There’s a decent enough crowd here, with both sides having a visible representation with flags scattered across the fences that surround the pitch. I was left thinking – does this count as a ‘double groundhop’? Obviously, this is a ‘home’ game for Town, but it’s also home to Pilkington too, so all their supporters will be here too – it's not like there are ticket allocations! I’ll pencil this off as two groundhops, then!
Town enter the pitch in their blue home kit, while Pilkington wear green – the colours of the company. There’s a weird juxtaposition between both sides’ kits too – the shirt numbers are completely different sizes! Town have MASSIVE numbers on the back of their shirts, while Pilkington’s are a bit on the small side! Surely, even the North West Counties should insist on some consistency when it comes to issues like this? They’re quick enough to tell them to have NWCFL patches on the sleeves!
It's increasingly seeming like I’m moaning about my day, but I’m having a good time, really – and the match being an entertaining one helps! Pilkington open the scoring when the Town goalkeeper goes out wide to boot a loose ball back upfield, but he completely misses it! An onrushing attacker appears, collects the ball and plays it across the area where a teammate is on hand to shrug off a defender to tap in. The errors continue for Town, as they present several opportunities to their opponents to extend their lead – but they don’t take them.
A decent crowd has built up as the rain has stopped; everyone now ducking out from cover to stand beside the pitch. Town do seem to have a loud and animated supporter base at least – judging by the bloke sat near me, bemoaning his sides’ poor defending. As we’re all enjoying the game, a sudden THUD on the top of the stand makes us all jump – turns out it was a rugby ball that was kicked over from the other pitch and landed on the metal roof above us. In fairness, a football was booted over from this pitch to theirs earlier, so I guess it’s some sort of payback!
Town collect themselves and have a great chance with a snapshot that the Pilkington keeper does well to get down to and save – but on the stroke of half-time, the ‘home’ side do equalise. It’s an error by Pilkington this time as they give away the ball on the edge of the area, allowing an attacker to nip in and fire past the keeper. Despite being up against it for most of the half, St Helens get to half-time with the score all square.
I linger around the
ground at half-time – I believe there’s a refreshment area of some sort
somewhere because I see people with cups of tea, but I can’t see one. It’s
raining again, anyway, so I just take a look around the rest of the ground.
Aside from the aforementioned flags – one of which pays tribute to Bert
Trautman – another way the club have tried to create a ‘home’ feeling here, is
the inclusion of plaques that have been attached to the fence, describing
various historical moments from the club’s history. It’s a nice little nod to
their heritage,but that's all it is - it doesn't feel like this is their home. Maybe it's the fence being green that doesn't help? Although I suppose Pilkington won't have an issue with that!
Town start the second half strong, having most of the ball and creating a couple of half-chances – but it’s all in vain. In a role reversal (of sorts), it’s Pilkington who score against the run of play – a ball into the area isn’t cleared, it bounces around before an attacker volleys it into the back of the net. The task of getting back into the game is made harder for Town not long later when they have a man sent off for a high challenge.
Despite this, they rally and create a few more half-chances on the break – the closet being a shot hit into the side netting. Naturally, gaps are evident as they push forward for an equaliser with one fewer man, and Pilkington take full advantage to seal the win. An attack down the left sees the ball played across the area and it’s a simple tap-in for 3-1. Then – just as a shout of ‘Where the hell is the keeper going?’ from the bloke at the side of me goes up – another attack from the left sees the Town custodian out of position and it’s yet another simple pass across the area and a tap-in into an open net.
It finishes 4-1 and as we snake past the fences displaying the signs informing us of the club’s history on the way out, I’m left wondering if any more of them will be added in years to come? Despite securing a home back in the town, it’s a tough time for St Helens Town who I think will struggle for any sort of growth here – it just shows how easy it is for clubs at this level to lose their momentum.
I decamp back to The Cricketers after the match and unsurprisingly, it’s rammed with the early evening crowd – so I nip to another nearby real ale pub, Talbot Ale House. I don’t know what I was expecting but a massive pub painted in blue wasn’t it! It seems most of these real/craft ale venues that I go to are in repurposed shops or are purpose-built, so I always expect small, tight places. The Talbot is a proper pub though, very roomy inside – absolutely no issue in finding a seat in here! I plump for a pint of Triple Choc by Saltaire, a chocolate stout that slips down a treat!
I have a few more
beers around various pubs on the route back to the station and all-in-all, it’s
been an enjoyable trip (despite my earlier complaints!) St Helens is a cracking
place for a couple of beers, it’s just a shame their football clubs are so low
down in the pyramid because there’s plenty of untapped potential here.
St Helens Town 1
Pilkington 4
Attendance: 195
