Eastwood Town

Eastwood Town was a non league football club formed in 1953 who were wound up in the during the 2013-14 season. The club played in the former coal mining town of Eastwood in Nottinghamshire. Eastwood were amateur in its early years, performing in the Notts Alliance as well as the Central Alliance and East Midlands Regional Leagues.

'The Badgers' turned semi professional in 1971 and have played in the Midlands Counties, Northern Counties East and Northern Premier Leagues before Robert Yong became Chairman in October 2007 with big ideas and ambitions. The club were promoted into the Conference North for 2008-09.

Progress continued on the pitch but the club were told that they could not compete in the end of season play offs if the team finished in such a position, owing to Coronation Park not being up to standard. That scenario did play itself out as the team finished in fourth position at the end of the 2010-11 season. Work on the stadium was top of the agenda going forward.

Paul Cox left the club to take the managers job at Mansfield Town and the team struggled as a consequence and were relegated.

A further relegation followed at the conclusion of the 2012-13 season as financial troubles were causing severe troubles at the club. Half way through the 2013-14 season the club were wound up and their playing record in the Northern Premier League Division One South was expunged.

My visit

As part of Nottinghamshire (and little bits of Derbyshire) groundhop on Wednesday 16th September 2009, I took the excellent regular bus service from nearby Kimberley. The bus went past Coronation Park which stands a little back from Nottingham Road behind some housing and the ambulance station. I walked through the pleasant park and soon found an open gate into the ground as the groundsman was busy killing the grass that adjoined the perimeter pitch boards.

The Nottingham Road side contains most of the facilities. It has some flat concrete between the pitch and the facilities with a couple of steps of terracing at the front. These consist of a Main Stand that straddles the half way line and then the Keith Smith Stand which is basically a raised area with executive facilities at the rear and a few seats in front to try and attract corporate fans. The clubhouse and changing rooms are just behind.

Each end, which has extra turf between the goal line and the fence, have identical covered standing areas. The far side is open standing, save for a small low seated stand on the half way line.

All in all the ground is a little bitty, but has room for the ambitious owner to develop the ground.