FOOTBALL
I have seen a marked
improvement in the quality of the pitch. I would say the pitch has been the best it’s ever been
more intensive aeration programme together. Also, a tractor-mounted sprayer would be nice. I’m grateful that the club invested in the pedestrian sprayer, but it can be a nightmare pushing it up and down the pitch but, at the same time, I don’t mind too much as it’s helped greatly.”
Jason has a real problem with worm casts now that carbendazim has been withdrawn. “We used to
spray all the time for worms. In summer, it’s not as big a problem as they dry up and are easily spread about with the brush or when cutting. The wet months of winter is when you really notice them the most. They stick to the rollers, making the job twice as long. So, before I cut or roll, it is now a case of drag-matting or brushing, and I also have a switch; it works, but it takes a lot out of you.”
History
The origins of senior football in Maidenhead - the fourth largest town in the Royal County of Berkshire - can be traced back to October 1870 with the formation of Maidenhead Football Club, who subsequently played their first-ever fixture in December 1870 against Windsor Home Park. The York Road site is now officially acknowledged as the oldest continually used football ground in the world, eclipsing Northwich Victoria’s previous claim by several years. The club was one of the original fifteen entrants for the first-ever FA Cup competition in 1871-72. Maidenhead Norfolkians, meanwhile, was founded in 1884 and amalgamated with their neighbours after the Great War. The “United” suffix was adopted two years later.
Maidenhead moved to York Road in 1871, after playing their early matches at Kidwell’s Park, which later became home to the Norfolkians until the merger. As Kerry Miller (co-author of the Non-league Football Year Book) recalls, at that time the site was much larger, with the pitch at ninety degrees to its current position. One goal was close to the railway line, which today runs parallel to the far touchline. A thatched pavilion was provided in one corner.
As one would expect for such an old ground, York Road has experienced more than its fair share of ups and downs during its long history, including fire and an abandoned clubhouse project that almost ruined the club in the 1990s.
In 1922, a 500-seat wooden stand was erected on the north side of the ground, along the near touchline. Banked terracing on all four sides utilised old railway sleepers which gradually made way to concrete. The far side of the ground was the first to benefit, including the creation of a tea bar, which now serves as the club shop.
In 1935, the Supporters’ Club raised enough funds for the building of a further covered enclosure along the railway touchline. Sadly, the wooden stand, which featured a beautiful gabled roof, was gutted by fire in 1986 and demolished, leaving a tell-tell gap in the concrete terracing on either side. Following the fire, 100 seats were added to the enclosure on the railway side, with more acquired from Millwall’s old ground at The Den. Looking closely from behind and the sides at what now serves as the main stand, one can clearly see how the original enclosure has been adapted for its
52 PC April/May 2020
new purpose. Sadly, however, the view is very much a low-level one and obscured by numerous supporting pillars.
In 1974, there were grandiose plans to develop a new clubhouse on the north-east side of the ground, necessitating levelling of the terracing in that corner of the ground. However, the building was never completed, and the shell of the structure remains as a testament to a project that almost crippled the club. These days the area is used for contract car parking in the town centre, from which the club derives valuable income. Instead, more modest facilities are now in place on the site of the old stand.
Both ends of the ground are terraced. The original terracing is still in place behind the west goal (the Bell Road End), where there are two large covered areas providing the requisite shelter. The current tea bar stands at the near corner, but of particular interest at this end of the ground, is a mural painted onto the wall at the opposite corner, depicting various stages in the club’s history. In recent years, the eastern end of the ground has been updated, with the addition of shallow terracing and a covered area behind the goal.
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