Shanklin

Shanklin FC is an amateur football club representing the town of the same name on the Isle of Wight. The club was formed in 1988 and play their home matches at the County Ground on Green Lane.

Club history is hard to come about, but it is known that Shanklin have gone without honours in recent years. The side finished sixth in the Isle of Wight Saturday League in the 2013-14 season, which was improved upon by one place a season later.

Shanklin ended as league runners-up in the 2015-16 campaign, before dropping down to fourth in 2016-17. Fifth spot was followed by third in 2018-19 with the following season being abandoned owing to the Coronavirs pandemic.

The team was vying for the league title when the 2020-21 season reached its climax under manager, Paul Haward.

Shanklin FC will play in the Isle of Wight Saturday League Division One in the 2021-22 season.

My visit

Shanklin 2 Vectis 0 (Tuesday 27^th April 2021) Isle of Wight Saturday League Division One (att: c70)

On a week annual leave from work, I was determined not to waste my time sat at home without any adventuring. The numbers regarding C-19 were dropping everywhere. Pubs were open with outdoors drinking.

However, an unfathomable rule was in force regarding attending football. Crowds were allowed at grounds with public access, but not on private venues where numbers and details could be regulated. It baffled and annoyed non-league fans country wide.

There was nothing else for it. I’d worked through the pandemic and needed a reward and to get away from London. I decided to book a room through Air B&B which seemed to circumnavigate the rules about staying away. In my interpretation.

Ideally, I’d have made it a day return, but a reduced hovercraft service was in operation, meaning the last crossing from Ryde was at 8.30pm. No use. Instead, I treated myself to a night stay on the island, which was somewhere I’d grown to like from my previous two visits.

Arriving in Portsmouth I had time to kill, so I enjoyed a nice walk on a glorious day, even getting snaps of the US grounds on Burnaby Road which staged Wessex League football before heading down to the hoverport at Southsea.

The return cost me an outrageous £32. Previously I’d bought it as part of my rail fare. I later found out how to save money if I decided to head across. Simply buy a return from Fratton, the next stop up, to Ryde and save £20 with a railcard. Lesson learned.

Not to worry. Nothing was going to stop me having fun. Bag dropped at my accommodation, I headed round on the coastal path, taking in some beautiful views round to Seaview. I clambered up the hills to the Seagrove Pavilion home of Seaview FC.

All was going to plan as the number 8 bus arrived slightly late. The rather roundabout route took me through Bembridge and again offered some fantastic vista before I jumped out in Sandown, which was busy enough on my visit the previous July.

The Specials song, Ghost Town could have been written about what I experienced on this occasion. It was terribly sad to see. Aside from a few shops and takeaways, nothing was open. I’d hoped to find a bar to sit outside but saw nothing.

Instead, I took the opportunity of further walking, stopping off at Lake Fish Bar for a large tea, and walking the further ten minutes to the County Ground where the teams were going through their stretches out on the pitch ahead of the 6pm kick-off.

It was a lovely if basic venue, with banking down the far side and in the corner by the entrance. The pitch was fully railed. The only building was the changing rooms and clubhouse block along with dug outs, which had suffered from vandalism a few days earlier, which I read about in the local paper.

Setting down on top of the bank I got stuck into some fantastic hot food, while folk walked their dogs while a few spectators began to turn up. Three experienced viewers arrived with their own fold up seats.

Shanklin, in second place and chasing leaders Whitecroft & Barton, took on second from bottom Vectis, who fielded a young side who played out of the Cowes Enterprise College. It looked an easy home win on paper, but it turned out to be far from it.

A disciplined first half performance from the visitors, with Chris Turner and bespectacled fellow stopper Callum Pye-Poulter having outstanding matches at the back in frustrating the home side, whose well built experienced skipper at the back tried to control play.

Shanklin keeper Dan Ward had to make an early save despite his side having the majority of possession. Eventually, the hosts found a way through as Ryan Hill chested the ball home from a corner two minutes from the interval.

A decent sized crowd had gathered to enjoy a fine early evening. I wandered about taking photos throughout and brought a chuckle out of a local when I fell up the bank trying to retrieve a stray shot.

The goal seemed to spur on Vectis after the restart, as they carved out a couple of good opportunities and were well in the game for twenty-five minutes. Their football was most pleasing on the eye.

Vectis’ came closest to an equaliser when Dan Verstraaten saw his powerful shot saved and then Aaron Shephard headed over from the resulting corner. Vectis manager Reece Biedler had reason to be very proud of his side.

The game was decided on sixty-six minutes through a quality goal from Pete Wilson, who turned his man thirty yards out before advancing and putting an unstoppable low shot from the edge of the box past keeper Jordan Wicks.

Shanklin comfortably saw out the win, in a match I thought was well refereed by the man in black who sin binned a player from either side for ten minutes and gave the Vectis skipper every chance to stay on the pitch. A sub or official from either side ran the lines.

At full time I crossed the railway, which was closed owing to engineering works, by the footbridge and ended up walking back to Lake before the arrival of the number 3 bus to take me back to Ryde.

I must have been tired because as we approached, I noticed the floodlights were on at Brading Town, with them kicking off at 7pm. I couldn’t find the energy to try and get in for the final thirty minutes of their game with Ryde Saints.

The weather had turned chilly after the sun had dropped. I saw no attraction of sitting outside the Crown or Blacksheep Bar. The rest of the town was dead. I grabbed a can of coke and returned home to watch Chelsea in the Champions League.

The following morning, I returned across the channel and caught a train towards the capital just as the weather began to turn. Immaculate timing!

I thoroughly enjoyed my third visit to the Isle of Wight. It somehow feels like visiting a small republic country with its own football league and identity. In another life I think I could easily settle there in retirement, unlikely as it is now.

Further photos can be found here on my Flickr page.