In 1955 Main progressed to the Yorkshire League, where they finished runners up at the end the 1965-66 season. The team fluctuated between the top two divisions, before becoming founder members of the Northern Counties East League in 1982.
The competition was reorganised for the 1984-85 campaign, with Main being placed in Division One Central, from where they were promoted to the Premier Division in 1986-87, and
finishing runners up in 1988-89.
However, once again the club suffered another relegation in 1989-90, before winning back their status in 1994-95 as Division One champions. Main were crowned NCEL Premier Division champions in 1995-96, but were denied promotion to the Northern Premier League owing to ground grading issues, which prompted their manager and most of the players to leave.
In 1997-98 the team was relegated and in 2003 they withdrew from the league to rejoin the Doncaster & District Senior League. In 2005 they were accepted into the Central Midlands League, before reverting to local competition in 2010.
My visits
August 1986
I was in a car driven by Chris Bemrose, a Hull City fan from Bridlington with another couple of fans on the way back from a pre season friendly at Doncaster Rovers. We called in at nearby Armthorpe Welfare before heading to Dunscroft, where Main's Welfare Ground was located.
The ground was pretty basic as I remember, with two small covers flanking the changing rooms and clubhouse block. The rest of the ground was flat open standing around the railed off pitch.
We got back into the car and went on to Thorne for a mini pub crawl before the journey home.
Wednesday 10th October 2012
I had stayed in Sheffield overnight and was heading to Barton-upon-Humber to see Scarborough Athletic in action. Earlier I had visited a few clubs, with Hatfield the last on my list before continuing by bus to Thorne where I was to catch a train to Hessle and to meet up with Fred Firman.
Even more agonies were to come as we veered off within sight of the grounds floodlights. I now had no time to kill to keep to schedule. I managed to cut across the playing fields of Sheep Dip Lane to the ground, which was locked up.
This was no worries as the perimeter fences were low enough to take adequate photos. The ground hadn't changed much from what I remembered, save for a stand behind the near goal with bench like seating, or what remained of them. There was now a hard standing path all around the playing area behind the fence.
I went on my way, with more bus dramas still to come. The timings seemed to be incorrect once again on the lists I'd copied from the website. However, I was still in good time to get to Thorne, but the ambitious preliminary plans to visit Thorne Colliery FC were definitely on hold.
It had been a long time since I'd last stopped there, so I didn't realise I was in the town centre. So many shops and pubs had gone so it just didn't look the same. A sad reflection on the state of towns decimated by the closing down of the mining industry. Eventually I realised I'd missed my stop when I was the only passenger left and we entered into the grounds of Trinity Academy.
I made a hasty retreat back into town and along Fieldside in time to catch my train to round off an excellent days groundhopping before the main event of the evening.
I made a hasty retreat back into town and along Fieldside in time to catch my train to round off an excellent days groundhopping before the main event of the evening.
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