Blackfield & Langley

Blackfield & Langley FC is a non-league football club from the village of Blackfield; just to the south of Southampton and close to the Solent estuary, that was formed in 1935.

The club initially started life as members of the Hythe & District League before joining the Southampton Junior League following World War Two. The Division One title was collected in 1945-46, leading to a move to the West Division of the Southampton League.

‘The Watersiders’ picked up the West Division title to progress to Division Three East of the Hampshire League. The side won the divisional title in 1951-52 and finished runners-up on a couple of occasions to be placed in Division Three following league restructuring in 1956.

Promotion to Division Two was achieved in 1955-56 but the team were relegated back to Division Three in 1959-60. A couple of further league reorganisations led to the club being placed in Division Three West and then Division Four for the 1971-72 season.

A promotion to Division Three of the Hampshire League was won in 1974-75 before suffering relegation back to Division Four in 1978-79. The following year Backfield & Langley moved to Division Three following another change to the league format.

A runners-up berth in 1981-82 saw promotion to Division Two; from where the team won the title in 1984-85 to move up to Division One. Three Hampshire League runners-up spots were achieved before being crowned as champions in 1997-98.

A further promotion to the Wessex League was denied owing to the Gang Warily Recreation Ground not meeting ground requirements. The highest level of the Hampshire League was renamed the Premier Division, with Backfield finishing third in 1999-00. Ground improvements meant that they could take up a position in the Wessex League.

The competition was extended with the club were relegated to the new Division Two for 2004-05. That division was retitled as Division One in the summer of 2006 from where promotion was won to the Premier Division as runners-up in 2008-09.

Blackfield & Langley were crowned as Wessex League champions in 2012-13 but did not apply for promotion to the Southern League on account of the prohibitive costs of further upgrades to the Gang Warily Rec. Former Poole Town midfielder Glenn Howes became club manager in 2015.

Promotions in non-league football later became compulsory, so when the club won a second Wessex League title in 2017-18, they went up to Division One South of the Southern League. A further title followed in 2018-19 saw Blackfield promoted to Premier Division South.

Blackfield & Langley FC will play in the Southern League Premier Division South in the 2019-20 season.

My visit

Blackfield & Langley 2 Hendon 2 (Saturday 30^th November 2019) Southern League Premier Division South (att: 86)

Talk about extremes and journeys to a match. I’d set off from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 8.30pm local time on Friday evening, changing planes in Abu Dhabi before landing at 7am at Heathrow. The rain was lashing down. A real welcome home!

After depositing my luggage, a brief nap on top of the electric blanket and grabbing a bite to eat I was heading to meet Bob and our driver Lee at Harrow-on-the-Hill for a ride down the M3 to the south coast.

It was a good journey, even if the final few miles seemed a little remote and an unlikely destination for a Step 3 non-league football club. It was certainly pleasant surroundings, even in the howling wind. At least it was dry.

Lee went looking for some petrol while we joined other visiting fans who would make up at least half the crowd in a small but homely and welcoming clubhouse. The East Coast IPA hit the spot as I chatted with Tom Stockman about our break.

Tom had gone with us and had an absolute ball. He fitted in perfectly among previous strangers and had proved the ideal tourist. Plenty of our pals seemed keen to hear about our adventures.

It was time to brave the conditions outside. The ground had obviously had a fair bit of cash spent on it to meet stipulations, but still need further upgrades to satisfy the FA. It seemed bonkers. Blackfield were a small community club doing well on the pitch, with generous backers but no fans. They didn’t need any further stands.

It brought the whole ground grading shenanigans into question once again with its over the top requirements and inconsistencies. This was a neat and tidy and above all safe venue. It was certainly safer than some larger venues with crumbling steps and rubbish strewn about.

Gang Warily had a couple of covered seated stands, a covered standing area and hard standing all around the pitch. It had a smashing refreshment hut, where the Bovril was most welcome on a bitterly cold afternoon with a strong crosswind.

The towers of the Fawley Oil Refinery offered a contrasting backdrop behind the attractive trees. It was a venue I’d have preferred to have visited on a mild autumn afternoon; but I guess that football is a game for all conditions.

The changes had continued in playing personnel at Hendon while I’d been away. It was like virtually a new team taking the field. The Twitter feed with the team line up was most welcome as we tried to match the names up with seven men making their debuts.

New full backs Joe Howe and Lucas Perry appeared keen to get involved in attacking play. The visitors went into the lead early in proceedings when a cross found its way across to Isaac Galliford who fired home from a narrow angle.

Giant loan keeper Rihards Matrevics from Barnet cut an imposing figure and he got off to a promising start with a couple of early stops. I’d seen the hosts in action at Harrow earlier in the season and I’d been impressed by their forward play in a game that they could easily had drawn instead of losing 3-1.

Devane Bongou looked dangerous leading the line in an open game. Shaun Lucien had a shot from range tipped over by Bradley Snelling who then denied the hard working forward Liam Brooks from close in when he should have scored. Another effort was somehow blocked when a second goal looked like coming.

It’s amazing how games can change if a side don’t take their opportunities, and this would prove to be another occasion. Dons defender Tom Hamblin was badly exposed for pace with Hisham Kasimu going through to go around Matrevics and score.

Seven minutes from the interval Hamblin was shown a straight red card for dragging back Kasimu who was about to speed clear once again. It was sad to see an accomplished defender and decent bloke being found out. Could it have been his final Hendon appearance?

Another of the new boys, Solomon Sambou was adjudged to have brought down a home player in the area as things went from bad to worse for the Dons. Fatah Makhloufi slotted away the spot kick.

The visiting bench were unhappy with the officials at the break as were one or two fans who were over the top. The ref didn’t really stand out one way or the other to me. I think the annoyance was brought through frustration of Hendon causing their own misery.

We returned after a warm in the bar to grab another hot drink and take shelter with the wind at our backs down the far side. Hendon had come out in determined fashion and matched their start to the first half with some pressure despite being a man down.

Keeper Snelling was having an inspired afternoon with a fair bit of luck thrown in for good measure. Manager Allinson made three substitutions to try to find a goal. Blackfield were still dangerous on the break as the game hung in the balance.

With eight minutes remaining Hendon scored an equaliser. Sub, Kingsley Eshun chased a through ball and collided with keeper Snelling, who in return smashed into one of his defenders. The ball ran loose for Brooks to tap into an empty net.

If the referee had aided the hosts at all, he certainly repaid the visitors. It could have easily been called a foul. Not that any of the team, management or Dons fans were bothered. The home bench was particularly put out. Again, a sign of frustration?

Blackfield could well have gathered all three points in the remaining time. A cross seemed to land perfectly on a forwards’ head, but the chance was spurned. Matrevics pulled off a stunning save from a free kick before the game came to an end.

It had been a good hard old fashioned game of football in difficult conditions. Everyone shook hands and went away relatively happy. It was certainly good to get back into the warm car. I didn’t need much rocking before I got to sleep when back home after my take away.