Hengrove Athletic v Shirehampton

“THE GROVE”

Official matchday programme of Hengrove Athletic F.C

Toolstation Western League’s

“Best Programme - Division One” 2022/23

Welcome to the AVB Stadium!

Toolstation Western League Division 1

Hengrove Athletic v Shirehampton

Saturday 20th April 2024 3.00pm

Hengrove Athletic Football Club

Founded 1948 - celebrating our 75th anniversary this season

Main club sponsor for season 2023-24 - AVB Commercial Vehicle Repairs

Club Officials Club Honours

Chairman

Treasurer

Secretary/Media

Groundsman

First Team Manager

Coach

Coach

Coach

Physiotherapist

Kit Manager

Reserve Manager

Asst. Manager

U18’s Managers

Club Committee

Alan Burton

Sean Day

Jamie Hillman

Giorgio Mancini

Pete Stenner

Mike Greatbanks Alf Bosley Cup winners

Mike Greatbanks 1958/59, 1963/64

Martin McConachie Somerset Junior Cup winners

Jamie Hirons 1964/65

Jamie Hillman Somerset League Cup winners

Jack Richardson 1979/80

Ian Jones Somerset Senior Cup winners

Mike Stone 1979/80

Matt Taylor Promoted to Som. County Prem.

Pete Stenner 1995/96

Somerset Senior Cup runners-up

Sean Day 2003/04, 2004/05

Nilton Crane Som. County Premier winners

Rich Griffiths 2005/06

Damian Chilcott

Western League Div 1 runners-up

Jon Berry 2012/13, 2016/17

Nilton Crane Les Phillips Cup winners

Mike Greatbanks 2015/16

Ian Jones

Bristol u18 Comb Div 1 winners

Martin McConachie 2021/22

Mike Stone

Bristol u18 Comb. Plate winners

Alex Sully 2021/22

SECRETARY WANTED

This position is voluntary and is vacant due to the current secretary standing down at the end of this season in April after seven years in the role.

The role involves dealing with the main administration of the football side of the club meaning that the successful applicant should be a good communicator at all levels, conscientious and able to work to deadlines

(Duties include, but are not restricted to...)

Dealing with opposition clubs & match officials regarding forthcoming fixtures

Completing post match administration in a timely manner

Corresponding with league officials on league matters

Dealing with the County FA (Somerset) on disciplinary matters

Attending various league meetings across the season (maybe 5-6 per year)

Attending club committee meetings on a monthly basis

Using Full Time & Club Portal, the FA's IT system to register players & acknowledge fines

In the first instance, please apply to Mike Greatbanks, chairman, by emailing him at michael.greatbanks@btconnect.com

This season’s “Man of the Match” sponsor.....

Today’s Fixtures

Toolstation Western League Premier Division

Bridgwater United v St Blazey

Brixham v Barnstaple Town

Clevedon Town v Torpoint Athletic

Helston Athletic v Buckland Athletic

Ilfracombe Town v Nailsea & Tickenham

Oldland Abbotonians v Wellington

Saltash United v Street

Shepton Mallet v Falmouth Town

Welton Rovers v Millbrook

Toolstation Western League Division One

AEK Boco v Brislington

Bishop Sutton v Cadbury Heath

Bristol Telephones v Warminster Town

Cribbs Reserves v Bitton

Gillingham Town v Portishead Town

Hengrove Athletic v Shirehampton

Longwell Green Sports v Hallen

Middlezoy Rovers v Radstock Town

Odd Down v Bradford Town

Wells City v Keynsham Town

Wincanton Town v Cheddar

Top Scorers Season 2023/24

Toolstation Western League Premier Division

Jared Lewington (Buckland Athletic) - 34

Jack Thorne (Bridgwater United) - 29

Ryan Richards (Torpoint Athletic) - 25

Oscar Massey (Falmouth Town) - 25

Rikki Shepherd (Helston Athletic) - 23

Rubin Wilson (Falmouth Town) - 21

Sam Beresford (Clevedon Town) - 21

Phil Ormrod (Street) - 20

Jack Taylor (Bridgwater United) - 19

Toolstation Western League Division One

Ethan Feltham (Portishead Town) - 50

Matt Garner (Wincanton Town) - 33

Harry Warwick (Wells City) - 32

Louis Snailham (Shirehampton) - 26

Liam Winter (Middlezoy Rovers) - 26

Liam Clayton (Cribbs Reserves) - 24

Joe Beardwell (Bitton) - 24

Jack Witcombe (Bradford Town) - 22

Joe Davis (Keynsham Town) - 20

Jacob Reader (Radstock Town) - 19

PLAYER SPONSORS 2023/24 SEASON

Jack Cousins

Lewis Bond-Kendall

Regan Sollars

Rohan Hartrey

Dylan Powell

Louie Davies

PLAYER SPONSORS 2023/24 SEASON

Aidan Jones

Ben Britton

Jacob Wylde

Jacob Grinnell

Oscar Sullivan

If you would like to sponsor a first team player, please email secretary@hengroveathletic.com with your logo and which player you’d like to sponsor.

The cost is £50 for the season and your name will appear alongside the player’s name in the online matchday programme.

With the under-18’s ...

WESTERN COUNTIES FLOODLIGHT YOUTH LEAGUE NORTH DIVISION

With the Reserves ...

BRISTOL & SUBURBAN LEAGUE SENIOR DIVISION

With the Reserves ...

BRISTOL & SUBURBAN LEAGUE

SENIOR DIVISION

* - AFC Mangotsfield withdrew November 2023.

TODAY’S

Hengrove Athletic FC

Green shirts, Green shorts & White socks

Jordan ANSTEY

Ben BRITTON

Ashton BURTON

Regan BURTON

Louie FARROW

Ethan HARDY

James HORROCKS

Harvey IMPEY

Jack JONES

Marcus KELLY

Connor KINGDON

Giorgio MANCINI

Pervez NEDAIE

Sonny PARKER

Dylan POWELL

Pete SHEPPARD

Bradley SKIDMORE

Manager - Jamie HILLMAN

Coach - Jack RICHARDSON

Coach - Ian JONES

Coach - Mike STONE

Physio - Matt TAYLOR

Drew THOMAS Referee Jack

SQUADS

Shirehampton

Red & Black shirts, Red shorts, Red & Black socks

Sam BLYTHIN

Ben FORD

Eddie POLAINE

Richard BRIGHTWELL

Tristan BAKER

Luke MARSHALL

Joe COX

Steve FITZPATRICK

Dan MORNE

Thomas DUFFIN

Will GALLAGHER

Will BALDWIN

Ryan SHARPE

Ryan RADFORD

Scott BAMFORD

Louis SNAILHAM

Manager - Liam GREENING

Assistant Manager - Dave GREAVES

Coach - Tony THORNE

Physio - Sarah LONG

Assistants

Jonathan COOPER

Steve FEARNLEY

Shirehampton FC began life as Kingsweston Star playing friendlies where ever and when-ever games could be arranged. Then in 1952 the name was changed to Penpole United and the club was elected to play in the Church of England league, their ‘home’ pitch on the downs.

In 1953 the team moved closer to their home of Shirehampton and started playing at the Lamplighters Playing Field on the banks of the Avon in Shirehampton. Highlights of these times were bruising local Derby clashes against St George Easton and Gordano where the opposition and large amounts of Supporters would arrive on the near-by Pill Shirehampton ferry.

In 1954 the team moved to its present pitch at Penpole Lane and the team became Shirehampton Sports. By this time the team were competing in the Bristol and District League and later in the early 70’s dropping the Sports from their title.

In the early 70’s Shirehampton FC were prevented from progressing into the County League football by bureaucracy and inter club politics. So to achieve their senior football ambitions they applied to the Somerset Senior league and were accepted into Division 1. Under the guidance of John Watkins they achieved promotion to the premier division. Subsequent seasons saw a precession of managers, resulting in a very unsettled period.

Stability came in the 90’s in the shape of Pete McCall who had been a player with the club in the 70’s. During his 10 year reign he achieved League cup winners and then at that time probably the greatest achievement in the clubs history the Somerset Senior Premier Division winners in 19992000 season. This was followed up in the 2000 – 2001 season where we finished as Somerset Senior runners up, building his successful team with local talent and youngsters brought through from youth football.

At one time Pete’s side boasted no fewer than 4 pairs of brothers during the 1997-1998 season! Unfortunately during this successful period, Shirehampton FC’s progression was prevented by League ground grading, and the Penpole Lane facilities were deemed not to be at the standard to support Western (Screwfix) League status.

Relegation from the Somerset County Premier Division for the first team and relegation from the Bristol Premier Combination for the Reserves in the 2001-2002 season capped a miserable year.

Early 2003 Pete McCall was to return to the club again and take on the Chairman’s role completing a remarkable player / manager/ chairman treble.

Once again success came back in the 2005-2006 season where the first team won the Somerset County Division 1 title beating Frome Town Reserves on the final game of the season at Frome to pip the hosts to the title and the Third team beating Hallen B in the GFA minor cup and finishing runners up in Division 4 of the Bristol & District league.

The following 2 seasons we successfully consolidated our Premier division status with mid table finishes.

Success returned to the club in Season 2008-2009 coinciding with the return of player Micky Tanner who was assisted by Ex Bristol City team mate Wayne Bray ending the season as Premier Division runners up to Bridgewater Town Reserves and winning the League cup final against Taunton Blackbrook 5-3.

The following season 2009/2010 didn’t live up to the previous one, however the 2010-2011 went one better and completed the double with Premier Division Championship and League Cup winners beating Ashton and Backwell in the final (1-0) The league season was all the more remarkable with the team scoring an amazing 118 goals with significant goal contributions from Nick Alexander (17), Scott Bamford (18), Jack Barnes (16), Tony Beecham (20), Danny Copland (18) and Dan Griffiths (10) ending one of the finest seasons in our history up to that date.

2011-2013 saw top 10 finishes in the premier division but success returned in 2014-2015

Season 2014-2015 was up there in terms of success with ex player Tony Beecham returning as Manager with Rob Sage as his assistant, steering the First team to the brink of an incredible treble by winning the Premier Division Championship, runners up in the League cup to Bridgewater Town Res (narrowly missing out losing 4-2 on pens) and also reaching the final of the GFA Challenge Trophy, narrowly missing out 2-0 to Bristol Manor Farm who were 2 steps higher in the football pyramid at that time. Quite a season!!

Following Tony Beecham’s decision to seek higher managerial positions elsewhere, Chairman Pete McCall stepped back in to the Managers role in 2015-2016 who was assisted by Ex Bristol City Player Lee Rogers leading the First team to a top 4 finish and the following season 2016-2017 finishing Runners up to Watchet Town pipping Nailsea and Tickenham to 2nd spot on the final game of the season. This season was also successful for the Reserve Team managed by Kyle Davies (Dennz) and Jack Harding, finishing runners up in the B&D senior Division to Stapleton and gaining promotion and a return to the Bristol Premier Combination league after an absence of 15 years.

Yet another Somerset County League cup win came our way in 2017-2018 where we were winners V Timsbury Athletic winning 5-2 with Scott Bamford scoring a Hat-trick.

With Pete McCall stepping down in 2019, Assistant Lee Rogers took charge and sat comfortably top of the Somerset Premier League table in March 2020, when due to the Covid-19 pandemic the season was curtailed. Could this have been our 4th league title? Some at the club think so and will be remembered as our ghost title! Due to the FA having a major re-shuffle within the football pyramid, lateral movement at step 7 for season 2020-2021 saw us move from the Somerset County league our home since 1975 to the Gloucestershire County league. In the 45 years competing in the Somerset league we spent only a hand full of years playing outside of the Premier Division mostly finishing top 10 or better.

The move to the Gloucestershire County league gave everyone at the club a lift and after two disrupted seasons, a decision was made to ground share with our neighbours Bristol Manor Farm at the Creek (while our long protracted application for facility upgrades at Penpole Lane rumble on) with a view to finally obtaining Step 6 Western league football (our aim since our first Somerset title back in 2000). Liam Greening was appointed the First Team Manager in the summer of 2021 bringing lots of Western League experience to the club.

After being top of the Gloucester County League for most of the 2021/2022 season we missed out on the title on the final game of the season seeing us finish runners up to Wick. With news coming in June 2022 that the facilities at Wick did not meet step 6 requirements, we were informed that we were to be promoted to step 6 football in the Toolstation Western League with the ground share at Bristol Manor Farm looking a shrewd decision by Pete McCall, we had finally achieved Pete’s vision.

2022 saw the club celebrate their 70 year anniversary in style when we played our first ever step 6 game on 30th July 2022 in the Toolstation Western League verses Longwell Green Sports a narrow defeat on the day could not dampen a celebration on our achievement and 70 years in existence as a Football club. The 2022/23 season very nearly saw back to back promotions for the first team after beating Wells City in the semi final playoff only to agonisingly and narrowly miss out with a 21 defeat to Longwell Green Sports in the final. The reserves under the leadership of Joe Wheeler also narrowly missed out on promotion finishing 1 point off a promotion place. However there was success for the A team under leadership of Kyle Davies and Ben Purdy with a double promotion to the B&D div 3.

HENGROVE ATHLETIC STATS

THANK YOU TO OUR BOARD SPONSORS

If you would like to join our board sponsors, please call Martin McConachie on 07432 614494 or email secretary@hengroveathletic.com for further details.

The cost is £250 for the first year (including a one-off manufacture cost of £100) then £100 per year thereafter. This includes adverts on our website and in the programme.

AVPI

Apollo Cleaning Solutions

Proud producers of “The Grove” - Winner of “Best Div 1 programmeToolstation Western League 2022/2023”

Freelance Writing

Website Management Football Administration

Social Media Management Programme Production

New book out in 2025 - “Team Of My Life”

tel: 07432 614494

email: martin@hamdonmedia.co.uk

twitter: @HamdonMart

web: www.hamdonmedia.co.uk

* - season declared null & void

** - season curtailed *** - current Bold type - promoted Italic type - relegated

Supporting the club...

There are several more ways of getting your company name out there that we can help you with. Perimeter banners, perimeter boards, programme advertising, website advertising.. they are all available within the club.

Perimeter Boards are one option that many companies have chosen recently. Match action pictures often appear online either on websites or social media so your company board could be seen regularly as well as those who attend the match.

Perimeter boards cost £250 for the first year (including a one-off manufacturing charge of £100) then cost £100 a year thereafter.

Perimeter Banners are a similar option but made from a hard wearing fabric. The same size as a board (2.4m x 915mm or 8’ x 3’), they cost £200 (including a one off manufacturing charge of £75) then cost £100 a year thereafter.

Programme Advertising has also proven popular in recent seasons. After having “gone online” in recent seasons, the club have decided to go back to printing a copy for its supporters, a popular move with many non-league fans too.

Advertising costs just £100 for a full page (A5) or £50 for a half page; this is for a full season of matchday programmes so this season, at least 21 programmes. You can change the actual composition of the programme each week to keep it topical and/or time sensitive!

Website Advertising is the cheapest form of advertising and is just £25. For this, your link/logo will sit on a carousel on the front page and when visitors click the link, it will take them to your website. Our club website is one of the most popular ones in the league with more than 2,000 unique visits each week during the season.

If you are interested in any of these deals, please email the club secretary, Martin McConachie, on secretary@hengroveathletic.com or ring 07432 614494.

Hengrove Athletic Club History

Hengrove Athletic F.C was formed in 1948 from players demobbed from National Service. As a footnote, there is also wartime history to the club colours of green and white. With rationing and many shortages, football shirts were virtually unobtainable, so all of the members of Hengrove Athletic F.C donated an ordinary white shirt and a mother of one of the players kindly dyed them green in the bath at her Knowle home. The colour green had no symbolic meaning. It was the only colour available at the time! The founding fathers of Hengrove Athletic F.C then agreed to retain these colours for the new club.

A successful application was made to join the Bristol and Suburban League and they were placed in Division 3 for the start of 1948/49 season. A Reserve XI was established in 1950 and in the same year Hengrove Hall was rented for club meetings and social gatherings. The club continued to expand and the ‘A’ XI started in 1953, followed by the 30-plus XI in 1959. These four football teams made Hengrove Athletic F.C the largest club in the Bristol and Suburban League at the time – after just eleven years. A ‘B’ XI replaced the 30 plus in 1962. The long search for a ground came to fruition on Sunday 7 June 1964 when Norton Lane was officially opened and Hengrove Athletic F.C took up residence.

The first XI was accepted by the Somerset Senior League for the 1974/75 season, where they remained until 2005/06 when they were runaway, unbeaten, Premier Division Champions and joined the Western League for the start of the 2006/07 season. Our Floodlights and Stand were installed at the ground in 2007/08 to achieve the necessary ground grading of the Western League. The EWW Stand was installed at the ground in 2012/13 to achieve the necessary ground grading of entry into the FA Cup and future possible promotions.

The first XI finished runners-up in Western League Division One in 2012/13, achieving a promotion to the Premier Division. They also lifted the Les Phillips League Cup (Western League) in 2015/16 before winning promotion to the Premier Division again the following season. In 2017/18 under new manager John Durbin, the club finished ninth in the Premier Division, their highest ever position and were also the highest placed Bristol side in the division. However, this was followed by relegation back to Division One in 2018/19.

Jamie Hillman returned for a third spell as manager in the summer of 2019 but the next two seasons failed to play to a finish due to the COVID pandemic. Last season, 2021/22, did get completed and for the fourth year running, the Grove ended in mid table. This year sees the club celebrate its 75th anniversary.

A guide to away games this season in Toolstation Western League Division 1 (mileages shown via www.theaa.com)

Fixtures & Results 2023/24

Fixtures & Results 2023/24