The power of the Non League Football Facebook group lead to an invite from Lutterworth Athletic co-owner Lee English to vlog their UCL division 1 home match last Saturday, vs Radford.
I have to say quickly, that, when Lee contacted me last Sunday, I asked if he was a fan or had connections with the club.
Accompanied by a couple of mates, Thunder & Fieldy, we arrived just after 1.30pm and what struck me initially was, it was quite a large premises, with building work to improve facilities also going on.
We were met by Lee, who then introduced us to co-owner, chairman… and dad Mike!
Mike took the time from his clearly busy schedule to show us around, talk about the building work going on, aspirations for the club and how vital for the community it was for youth age footy to be played on the site.
I then did some filming and got a quick pre match interview with manager Ash Brown.
Now, before the interview and off camera, one of my mates, who really likes his food, commented that his name sounded like Hash Brown!
Ash sighed, he had heard it before, but, this was a problem for me, as the seed was planted, I was really going to have to try hard not to call him Hash in the interview… I think I succeeded!
Just before game time, Mike gave us permission to film the match from the balcony, which was in the middle of being built to extend it, so, up we went.
Game starts, and it turned out to be a really good half, lots of action, too much actually to make the vlog. two good footballing sides made it easy on the eye.
Half time comes, more filming, then, down to the main entrance where Lutterworth were providing plenty of free food… not just for us, but for everyone. A real class gesture. I know some of the Radford fans I spoke too were delighted with this.
Second half starts then, with belly’s full!!
Now, I had been desperate to get Mike on film for an interview, but he was super busy on the day , however the opportunity came, on the balcony as the 2nd half was about to start.
I asked Thunder to film it and to film bits of the building work as Mike was talking.
As we wrapped up the very quick interview, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Radford had a really promising attack.
You will be able to see me pointing for Thunder to film the pitch, but… too late… GOAL!!
He only had one job!
The second half wasn’t as exciting as the 1st, but it was still a decent watch.
Full time comes, down from the balcony, offers of more free food, and I managed to track down Radford manager David for a quick post match interview.
It was soon time to go, where I had to find Lee and Mike to thank them for their amazing hospitality and generosity… they also happened to to be a couple of really decent fella’s too.
Lee was working hard behind a heaving bar, and Mike was quite difficult to locate, until I found him settled with half a beer in his hand, I told him I hoped the finished vlog will show off the club in the light it really deserves, and we would love to return.
So, that was that then, Thunder, Fieldy and I made our way separately home… if you can imagine the map at the start of dads army, that was basically us!!
If any ground hoppers haven't been to Lutterworth Athletic, it’s hugely recommended to do and, it won’t do any harm to contact the club to let them know your intention.
Quickly, a big thumbs up too, to the very vocal away following, they really were in fine voice.
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the VLOG below!
Once again a big thank you to Darren Ashley for sharing his VLOG with us, make sure to give Darren's YouTube channel a follow and please subscribe!