Non-League Diversity Football Tournament, Elite Venue [The Steve Cook Stadium and Pitch Two]
Yesterday I had the honour of attending the inaugural "Non-League Diversity Football Tournament" in Gravesend- and whilst I hope they give it a more catchy name for future editions, the point of the football festival could not be clearer. Having supported events hosted by CONIFA over the years, as well as supporting Sporting Khalsa on their incredible journey, I am so pleased that diversity in non-league is not only recognised, but celebrated and supported by people from all over the country. Football is a global sport played everywhere from Greenland to Gibraltar, from Texas to Tuvalu and although the game was created here in England, the real beauty of it is that it can be played by anybody- regardless of race, religion or background. Punjab United, Leicester Nirvana, Sporting Bengal United and Sporting Khalsa would be proudly exhibiting all of the above in a round-robin tournament down in Kent where the teams lined-up with players who truly represented diversity within our great sport.
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| The Three P's |
Those who followed my limited adventures of the interrupted and eventually cancelled 2020/21 season will know that I focussed my support on Khalsa of Willenhall, a club that I have been watching since 2016. It has been a pleasure to see the 1991 formed club go from strength to strength off the field and recently their efforts were finally rewarded with promotion during the restructure of the non-league pyramid. Sporting have huge plans for the future and whilst the short-term goal is to establish themselves as a Step Four non-league club, the eventual aim is surely for them to become the first ever "British Asian" club to join the football league. But in the meantime it was time for preparations for the 2021/22 campaign to begin with a long drive down to Kent to face their good friends Punjab United, as well as Essex side Sporting Bengal United and fellow Midlanders, Leicester Nirvana. Punjab and Khalsa have hosted annual friendlies between each other for a few years by now, so to add two new great clubs into the mix meant that it was a footballing phenomenon that I just could not miss.
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| Out of the house by 7am, ready to cheer on the lads |
I'd had a message from the Khalsa gaffer a couple of weeks ago saying that I could have a seat on the coach down to Gravesend and the generous offer meant that I could continue my support of the club by travelling much further than I had for an away day in years. Last season I went as far and wide as Malvern and Selston but in terms of travelling the length of the country for the game the last time I'd got on a coach to a game was back in 2015 when I watched Macclesfield Town take on Portsmouth on the South coast. As a Silkmen fan, I have been all over the place by car and train, but there's just something extra special about getting on the team bus and experiencing the day with fellow fans, coaches, volunteers and players. Of course, there wasn't too much to experience at 8am when I arrived as one of the first people there. By 8:41 (only 11 minutes late) we were on the road and after one pitstop to pick up some of the lads, the bus was soon heading down the M6 towards the M25 in search of a full day of football. As mentioned earlier, we were due to watch a round robin tourney which would see each club play three one-hour long matches, with the winners being decided by an end of day league table. The Willenhall side may well have taken on the longest journey, but as the highest placed club in the pyramid with the largest tournament squad they would be considered favourites by many. To quote Khalsa Manager Ian Rowe, "if we're going all the way down there we wanna come back as winners", and it is this passion and spirit- even for a pre-season tournament- that has helped the club stay on the straight and narrow in its pursuit to rise up the leagues. The "marathon not a sprint" approach is something that I'm a huge admirer of with this club.
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| Quick break on the M25... next stop, Kent! |
We arrived at the Elite Venue with a fair amount of time to spare before the first game, meaning that I had plenty of opportunity to have a nosy around the grounds being used for the tournament, as well as chatting with some friendly faces. Some of the Khalsa entourage had travelled by car, whilst a couple had stayed the previous night in London, meaning that there was a respectable amount of support for the team and of course the occasion. Punjab United members were constantly walking around the facility greeting people and you genuinely couldn't have felt more welcomed. The Punjabi music was blasting on the speakers, the kitchen was dishing out samosas and beer, so all that was missing was a ball...
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| My kind of lunchtime treat |
Khalsa's first two games were on "Pitch Two", which I believe is usually used by Punjab United Reserves, so I actually had the bonus treat of being able to tick off not one but two new grounds- taking my tally to 202. Their final game would be against the hosts inside the main ground, aka "The Steve Cook Stadium", but before then there would be a Midlands derby on Pitch Two, followed by the battle of the Sporting's.
Sporting Khalsa 2-1 Leicester Nirvana, Elite Venue, Pitch Two [Match One of Three]
At 1:30pm we were treated to a pre-match drumming parade which was cheered on by all in attendance, before a quick group photo on the main pitch. By 1:45pm, it was game-on between Sporting Khalsa and Leicester Nirvana in this all Midlands encounter. Nirvana, based in the Hamilton area of Leicester, are a club who pride themselves on their excellent youth setup and play in the United Counties League. Last season, they were 17th out of 20 teams in the Premier Division before the season was curtailed, but for the new campaign they will be in the Premier Division North alongside teams such as Gresley Rovers, Heanor Town and Long Eaton United, who I saw beat Khalsa last season in the Midland Prem. The 30-minute halves meant that overall we'd see the teams put through their paces with a whopping 3 hours of football in an action packed afternoon and it took Khalsa only about 20 minutes to get the ball rolling with the first goal of the tournament. Josh McKenzie (Macca) set the tone after a fairly fractured opening to the game by timing a great strike to perfection to blast home inside the box and finish off a delightful Sporting attack. Khalsa 1-0 Nirvana. On the stroke of half-time the side in yellow and blue would double their lead somewhat against the run of play, thanks to Gaz Singh. The striker twizzled his way through the dazed defence before slotting home to ensure that Khalsa went into the five minute turnaround with a substantial lead. Khalsa 2-0 Nirvana. Both teams would probably argue they hadn't stretched their legs properly after the bus ride town by this point but thankfully there was still a lot more football to come and the standard, certainly for Khalsa, improved game-upon-game. This first match could have seen Nirvana score a few of their own had they been in the right frame of mind, whilst Sporting's set piece specialist- Jake Gosling- wasn't in the squad today and it definitely showed as I reckon the Gibraltar international would have popped at least one of those close-range free-kicks into Leicester's goal.
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| Still a long way to go, but a great start all things considered |
Nirvana's manager had told his team to "chill out a bit" during the quick pep talk and it certainly seemed as though they listened when they began to play some good stuff in the second-half. I'm assuming that as it was a "friendly" pre-season tournament the officials didn't bring their cards with them, but it's safe to say that had this been an official game that there would have been a few yellows appearing throughout. Not that I'm complaining, it was great to see the teams taking it seriously and wanting to get their hands on that cup. In terms of action, it wasn't all fouls and there was to be another fancy finish too. Nirvana's comeback seemed possible when they scored halfway through the second-half thanks to a lofted touch over the keeper and they had a massive chance to equalise with ten minutes left. Khalsa 2-1 Nirvana. A penalty was given to Leicester for a handball, despite it seeming harsh, but Khalsa's goalkeeper was equal to his opponents strike and made a great save to ensure that the yellow and blue shirted side started things off with a slender win. I managed to find a perfect standing point during the second-half which allowed me to see the other game going on too and I just about saw a penalty go in for Punjab United meaning that they would snatch a 1-0 win over Sporting Bengal in front of the main pitch crowd.
Sporting Khalsa 1-0 Sporting Bengal United, Elite Venue, Pitch Two [Match Two of Three]
Match Two, which kicked-off at around 3:20pm and just half an hour after the first ended, would see Sporting Bengal approach Pitch Two with the aim of knocking Khalsa off their early perch at the top of the table. The battle of the two Sporting's was well and truly on. Bengal United, for those who don't know, are 25 years old in terms of being a football club and they are based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. They play in the Essex Senior League and in their last complete season they got their best ever finish- 8th place. During the cancelled 2020/21 ESL they were 12th at the time of the league ending, but having played all of their games behind closed doors I suspect that like with many clubs they will do their best to comeback this season with a fresh and positive attitude to try and break back into the top-half this time around. To be honest, much like in the opening game, they more than held their own and although Khalsa took an early lead they weren't deterred at all. The favourites went ahead around the 8th minute after Ethan Jones powered his way through the Bengal wall of defenders. Khalsa 1-0 Bengal. Aside from the goal, there weren't many clear-cut chances in a cagey middle game and for me the highlight (if that's the word) was watching the rotund linesman make some staggering offside calls on the far side of the dugouts. Most of the game he stood with his arms folded looking like a spectator, but towards the end of the game I did actually work out that he genuinely was operating by a "one on, one off" system in which 50% of the time he gave an offside during an attack and the other half of the time he let play go on. I suppose nobody could argue he was biased, at least?
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| What a guy! |
Over on the other pitch Nirvana beat Punjab 3-1 despite playing for the last 15 minutes with an outfielder in goal, meaning that with two games down Khalsa had 6 points, Nirvana and Punjab had 3, whilst Bengal sat on 0 despite only losing 0-1 both times. A point for Khalsa would secure the trophy heads back to Noose Lane.
Sporting Khalsa 3-1 Punjab United, The Steve Cook Stadium [Match Three of Three]
It seems weird to be so far into this Blog entry without actually talking about the ground, but as the first two games were over on the ressies pitch I thought I'd keep you all waiting. The Steve Cook Stadium is of course the main ground used by the tournament hosts and the best way I could describe the facility in one sentence is "well-loved, proudly run and full of character". Is it a fancy, newly developed ground? No. Does it have a great selection of seating or classic old concrete terracing? No. However, what it lacks in traditional non-league ground features that often leave us groundhoppers' mouths watering, it more than makes up for with its rustic charm and delightfully warm welcome. Everyone I spoke to from the club was wearing official club gear. All of the staff and volunteers were super easy to speak to. There was a distinct whiff of professionalism from the tannoy announcements throughout, and an even tastier whiff of the food on display at the red tin can style clubhouse. "Pride, Passion, Punjab" is the very bold mission statement of the club and whether it is the montage of pictures on the clubhouse wall, or the prominent club branding throughout the ground, you definitely know you are at Punjab United Football Club wherever you look around. The main stand on the right as you walk in to the stadium is "The Willy Miller Stand" and either side of that are a couple of other covered areas which thankfully didn't need to be used too much as the weather just about held off.
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| Reminds be a bit of Hullbridge Sports with its two side-by-side stands... |
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| ...100% does the job it needs to do! |
I decided to try out the middle stand, which was a seated area of sorts. It had some large plastic rectangular panels tiering upwards to create an all-weather and easy to clean stand. The pictures I got don't particularly show it off very well, but it was absolutely fine to sit on and gave a decent view of the final game. Khalsa and Punjab got things underway at 5pm on the dot, knowing that the England vs Ukraine encounter was looming... and also celebratory pizza and beer!
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| Not that I need an excuse to celebrate... or have beer |
For anybody not familiar with Punjab United, they are a Southern Counties East Premier Division side who finished 14th last season, albeit in a season that wasn't completed due to COVID-19. The Southern Counties is one of the few non-league divisions I don't know much about, and astonishingly this is only my second ground ticked off from this division. Fisher in the CONIFA World Cup in 2018 was my other. I suppose that as most of my trips to the South-East are to see family in Leigh-on-Sea, I don't get too many opportunities to cross the Dartford toll.
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| Note to self: Must do more Southern Counties grounds |
Anyway the final game began and as with the second game, Khalsa didn't take long to take the lead and before even ten minutes had passed a strong Sporting side took the lead through James McGrady. Khalsa 1-0 Punjab. And with the Willenhall lads getting the "it's coming home" feeling they soon found themselves 2-0 up. Macca, who missed the second game, scored to keep up his 100% record in the tournament meaning that it would be almost impossible for Punjab to make a comeback and steal the title away. Khalsa 2-0 Punjab. By half-time it could have been double the score line that it was and the hosts were starting to seem very very tired. With the title seemingly in the bag, Khalsa rotated their players to try and keep things fresh and after a decent tournament it was one of the new lads, Cameron, who ran in from the right-wing, shrugged off a defender and then tucked home a great third goal. A great end for Khalsa, who managed six goals in their three hours of play. Khalsa 3-0 Punjab. Punjab didn't want to give up without a goal of their own though and they grabbed a consolation goal in the last ten minutes. In truth, they played their best stuff after this and could have even brought it back to within a goal. Khalsa 3-1 Punjab. On 'Pitch Two' the game ended all-square meaning that Leicester Nirvana would finish in second place, whilst Punjab United sat in third and Sporting Bengal fourth. Of course, with nine points from nine, Khalsa ended the game as champions and the scenes that followed were those that we all love in football. A trophy presentation, followed by lots of food and drink, then celebrations all the way back to the Midlands whilst watching England beat Ukraine 4-0 in the EURO semis.... all in a day's work for the mighty Sporting Khalsa Football Club.
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| Football really is coming home... to Willenhall! |
As the trophy was presented, the Punjab United man on the mic rounded things off nicely by thanking all of the teams involved and the trophy seems destined to be contested again next year. All credit must go to the Punjab United people who ran the event flawlessly and I for one will be itching to get back over to Gravesend and see if Khalsa can retain their trophy in 2022. Well done to all clubs involved and best of luck to you all in your respective 2021/22 seasons. The real winner here was Non-League diversity.
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