Brodsworth Welfare

Brodsworth Welfare FC is a non-league football club whose home, the Welfare Ground is in the Woodlands area of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. The club was formed in 1912, joining the Yorkshire League for the 1921-22 season.

Brodsworth became Yorkshire League champions in 1924-25, then leaving the competition on a couple of occasions before re-joining before being relegated to the second tier in 1950-51. The club took another league sabbatical between 1957 and 1961.

In 1963, the club changed their title to Brodsworth Miners Welfare FC. The change obviously worked as the team won promotion in Division One in 1963-64. However, relegation back to Division Two followed in 1964-65.

A further demotion to Division Three came in 1971-72 before the club left the Yorkshire League once again in 1976 before joining Division Two of the Northern Counties East League for the 1988-89 campaign.

Division Two was absorbed into Division One for the 1991-92 season. Brodsworth finished as runners-up in 1998-99 and were promoted to the Premier Division. A further change of club name to Brodsworth Welfare came in 2006.

The team was relegated to Division One in 2009-10 before a split occurred at the club. In 2011 there was a split at the club which saw Adwick Park Rangers FC playing at The Welfare Ground in the Doncaster & District Senior League with the other side remaining in the NCEL and playing elsewhere.

Broddy only retained their NCEL position after surviving a vote at the AGM. However, more was to come as a new home ground was required for the senior side. A deal looked to have been sealed to play home matches at Post Office Road, Featherstone Rovers RLFC venue but this fell through meaning resignation from the NCEL and the club folding.

Adwick Park Rangers changed their name to Brodsworth Welfare and joined the Central Midlands League for the 2012-13 season, moving to the North Division in 2014-15. The club changed their title to AFC Bentley in 2016 and decamped across town.

Another new Brodsworth Welfare was set up playing in the Central Midlands League in 2017-18 before dropping down to the Doncaster & District Senior League after just one season and changing title to Brodsworth Main FC, finishing top of Division One in 2018-19 before the club was dissolved at the end of the 2019-20 season.

It was resurrected for the 2022-23 campaign as Brodsworth Welfare, playing in the Premier Division of the Doncaster Saturday League, where the team finished eighth in their debut season.

Brodsworth Welfare FC will play in the Doncaster Saturday League Premier Division in the 2023-24 season.

My visit

Brodsworth Welfare 0 Scarborough Athletic 1 (Saturday 3 October 2009) NCEL Premier Division (att: 208)

I was visiting family and friends over the weekend on a break away from the strains of the capital in North Yorkshire so I arranged a lift to this match. I had stayed in York with Nick and his family overnight and Jamie had kindly agreed to pick me up at the Designer Outlet on the A64. 

I had reasoned that this was a good place to shelter and get something to eat while I waited. It was an error, but we learn! It was a long walk from the slip road where I was to be collected and the design and queues inside were ridiculous.

Carl gave out a laugh as I emerged from the long grass where I was sheltering from the high winds as he saw karma for his many days of taking a battering from the elements waiting on the Malton by pass in the days before mobile phones as he waited for the mini bus.

I got a text as we approached Doncaster from Butch advising us to use the pub at the top of the road before the ground as the clubhouse facilities were basic. We got out of the car and my mates observed how quiet it seemed. The pub was locked up! I'm not sure if we had been "had".

The clubhouse was indeed basic. It was a large sloping wooden hut. Some of the comments by a Seadog mate of mine would not have been submitted for Judith Chalmers on "Wish You Were Here", but he wasn't too far off the truth. There was only bottled beer and none could be taken outside. 

That would have been fine but owing to the large numbers of thirsty Seadogs, the room was pretty packed. To add to the ambiance the big friendly rosy cheeked ladies sizzled hell out of the burgers on their George Foreman grills. It was not ideal.

Outside, the wind was howling. The venue itself was pretty decent for the level the club plays in. Down the Cricket Ground side there was a sloping bank with a decent seated stand built into it. The far end had a shallow covered terrace in the centre. The other two sides had flat open grass standing. The near end had quite an expanse of turf with the clubhouse, changing rooms and facilities in the corner towards the entrances.

Boro fans had looked forward to this fixture since it had been scheduled with relish, as Welfare were bottom of the league and leaking goals rapidly. On the day they performed excellently. They had a bit of luck and this along with a bit of complacency and poor play from Boro led to the score being blank at half time, despite Craig Hogg missing at least five guilt edged chances.

During the first forty five minutes the Boro fans had given the referee plenty of stick, some of it deserved. However the home keeper was about to take a free kick for offside and they were shouting that it was a moving ball. The ref blew and ordered it to be retaken, at which point some of the away fans shouted abuse at him. I sometimes wonder!

Boro scored soon after the break through skipper Graham Botham but continued putting in a very disappointing performance. The wind was a massive spoiler but the visitors didn't help matters by hitting aimless long passes. Boro keeper Dave Bramley made a couple of good saves at the end to secure the points and save plenty of blushes.

Brodsworth were generally a very friendly club apart from one old official who I found completely over the top. The club had been victims of local chavs causing vandalism in the months previous to our visit. I felt really sorry for the club. 

During the second half of our game a game had breaken out between youngsters from both clubs on the large area behind the goal. All were getting on together and it was a pleasing sight. The old official then approached the kids. 

I knew something was amiss as I heard one of the kids say something along the lines of "here comes old misery guts" which upset him. The lad obviously had previous experiences as the official stopped them playing and told them to go and play on the field behind the ground. 

As a mate alongside me said, "Yeah that's right, send em out to break some windows or cause havoc instead of encouraging them to play football." Absolutely right my friend.