Bristol Manor Farm FC - Proper Football Away Day

The venue for our latest Proper Football awayday was Bristol Manor Farm FC.

The club who are based in North West Bristol on the banks of the River Avon and play at step 4 of non-league in the Southern League - Division One South came to our attention after a mindless act of vandalism just before the start of the season caused thousands of pounds worth of damage after a car was driven into the goal mouth and set on fire which meant The Portwaymen couldn't play at home for the first few weeks of the new campaign losing much needed revenue.

It was great to see the football community come together and help raise valuable funds for the club, a club who had enough on its plate already after seeing the departure of their long time manager and all of its playing staff, so with a new chairman in place along with a new manager and players we thought we would travel down and check out how things were going at the club.

The home of The Farm is called The Creek, and it is set on the banks of the River Avon in what must be said is a stunning setting for the ground, which has a capacity of 1,700 and has been their home since 1965.

After paying the £10 at the turnstile and receiving a very friendly welcome, we entered the ground with 2 covered seated stands on one side of the pitch and a covered terrace on the opposite side behind the dugouts.

There was an excellent printed match day programme and the obligatory 50/50 lottery tickets on sale as well.

We just had enough time to buy a can of Natch Cider 😵‍💫 from one of the volunteers running the refreshment stall outside the clubhouse and took our place on the raised terrace ready for the game.

Stood next to us was a man with straw poking out of his shirt and his trouser legs, wearing a straw hat with a drum at his feet and a stick in one hand and a can of Thatchers cider in the other, This man was Tony 'The Scarecrow', who was without doubt the life and soul of the football club and the Farmy Army!

We knew at this point we were in for a great day of non-league football.

First-half

Considering Bristol Manor has a whole new squad with some players even making their debuts on the day, they started off brightly, creating chances and testing the Shaftesbury keeper and looked the much better side, but it was the away side who took the lead against the run of play in the 34th minute.

Half-time

The half-time whistle blew, which was the signal to grab a tasty cheeseburger, which was well worth the £4:50 from the kiosk outside the clubhouse. This was soon followed by a Clarke's pie 😂 that came highly recommended and didn't disappoint! Which were on sale behind the well-stocked bar in the very spacious social club that had a huge TV screen and a club merchandise stall in the corner.

The bar staff were super friendly and there was a really nice buzz about the place.

Second-half

The second 45 was a mirror image of the first, with Bristol Manor pushing for the equaliser, egged on by The Farmy Army and Tony 'The Scarecrow', who was kind enough to tell me a little bit about the club.

Full-time

Sadly for the home team, despite all their efforts, they just weren't clinical enough and Shaftesbury scored their second goal in the last minute to seal the tie and go through to the next round of the FA Trophy.

On the day, there was a good attendance of 232, which included a few scouts who were running the rule over a few players. (Terrible dad joke 🙈)

Those of you who follow non-league football will know that volunteers are at the epicentre of the club, the heartbeat and a vital cog in the wheel, who without, clubs would struggle to survive.

Rex, who has been volunteering at The Creek for a couple of years was kind enough to give us his time for a quick interview to tell us how he got involved with the club and the benefits he gets from it as well.

After the match, I got chatting to John Harvey and discovered he has been a volunteer for the club for 25 years! John told me what his roles have entailed over the years.

One of the most poignant things I found on the day was how friendly and approachable everyone was at the club, especially to a complete outsider, this was epitomised by one of the fans I'd got chatting to throughout the game called Lee who also turned out to be a fellow Palace fan, he introduced me to the new chairman, who also gave up his time to tell me about his new role who then introduced me to the new manager, Will Justin, who was more than happy to give me his thoughts on the match.

Summary

For a football club who have had to overcome some big challenges and major setbacks before the season had even started, the sense of optimism and togetherness was wonderful to see, the club are clearly in a period of transition on and off the pitch, but with the likes of the volunteers I met and the supporters I spoke to on the day, the club clearly have a solid platform to build on, and on the pitch the youthful side led by a young manager playing attractive football bodes well for the future.

And finally a special mention to 'The Scarecrow', Tony Parsons, I can't find enough superlatives for him and what he brings to the club, he was absolutely everywhere on the day, from leading the songs on the side of the pitch to organising the auction in the bar afterwards, he didn't stop! he went out of his way to speak with me and introduce me to other people at the club, he embodies everything great about non-league football and is a credit to the club!

The long journey from South London down to Bristol Manor Farm was thoroughly worth it!

We wish Bristol Manor Farm all the best going forward and urge anyone who hasn't been to The Creek before to get themselves down their and become part of a special community football club.