Non-League Day was set up by James Doe in 2010 as a social media experiment and has grown from strength to strength ever since and this year marked the 10 year milestone of the charity, Prostrate Cancer UK working alongside the annual day to raise awareness and vital funds for the most common cancers to affect men.
As always Non-League Day is scheduled to coincide with an international break to provide a platform for clubs to promote the importance of affordable volunteer-led community football while giving fans across the country who usually go to a Premier League or EFL match the chance to show support for their local non-league side.
One of the hardest decisions on Non-League Day (NLD) is to pick which game to go to! so the very handy local match finder on the NLD webpage came to the rescue and we decided upon Tooting & Mitcham United, a ground we hadn't visited before, for their game against Sandhurst Town.
One of the special things we have found with Non-League football in the main is how all the clubs we have visited welcome you with open arms and treat you like a fan and part of their community and this was highlighted just minutes after we posted on X (Twitter) that we was going to watch TMUFC when the club sent a message informing us if we need anything, just message us when you get to the ground, how good is that!
I arrived in good time to take a look around Tooting & Mitcham's ground but as I got out of my car and walked across the road the sunny spring day transformed into what looked and felt like a tornado! after retrieving my hat and being pelted with hailstones I quickly retreated back to the safety of my motor which gave me an opportunity to read up on on the form of both teams in action today.
TMUFC and Sandhurst Town (who for some reason I kept calling Sandford🤦♂️) both sit in mid table 1 point apart, safe from relegation and to far away from the playoffs.
The monsoon finally cleared and I made my way to the ground.
I met some mates in the sports bar/club house which is situated outside the ground and was pleasantly surprised by the very reasonable price of a pint, we settled down and watched the early kick off game on the big screen whilst placing our losing bets for the day 😂 and then made our way to the turnstiles where you was allowed to take your drinks in with you!
After making our way into the ground and only paying £5 I realised the singing turnstile operator must have thought I was an OAP and possibly heard me call the away side a completely different name, it was then time to buy another beer from the bottle bar next to the club shop and then buy a Golden Goal ticket from the friendly fella in the aptly named hut!
I've got to say TMUFC's Imperial Fields Stadium blew me away! 3 sides of the ground include large terraces at both ends and an impressive seated stand behind the dugouts which holds 612 with the total capacity of 3,500, the record attendance was against AFC Wimbledon back in 2005 when 2,637 fans packed out the ground, also hats off to the ground staff who have done a great job with the grass pitch considering all the rain of late.
The sun was shinning again as we took our place up behind the goal on the terrace that the home team was attacking against, with beers and programmes placed on the barriers it was time for kick off!
It was a close fought first half with both teams getting stuck in which was good to see considering their wasn't much at stake with both teams being in mid table obscurity but after reading the home managers article in the programme it was clear he was looking for a reaction with Tooting losing their last 3 games with the last 2 games against teams near the bottom who they would expect to beat, but the deadlock was broken on 36 minutes with the youthful looking away side scoring a penalty.
Its half time and time to sample the food and the Jerk chicken I've heard good things about from The Shak which is situated in the ground but is open 7 days a week.
We was gutted that they had ran out of boneless Jerk Chicken but that was soon overcome when we served up with Brown stew Jerk Chicken with rice which tasted amazing!
With the Jerk chicken demolished and washed down with a cider from the bottle bar to cool my mouth down we had to rapidly take cover under the roof of one of the terrace stands as another tornado hit Tooting!
It was their I found myself chatting to another groundhopper who was also taking shelter from the sideways hailstones, he was a Redhill fan and a lovely fella called Darren who was visiting a new ground like myself, that's one of the great things about non-league football, you can go on your own but you can bet you end up chatting away to someone for ages!
With the second half looming and the monsoon having gone I just had enough time for a trip to the toilet where Its always great to see the stickers from the away sides fans plastered all over the toilet cistern, its not normal practice to start taking photos in the men's lavatory but the coast was clear 😂 so here's a few pics including the Peckham Town one which was my favourite.
Into the second half and its still nip and tuck with both teams still going for it and some last ditch defending by the home side with some goal line clearances clearly with the managers programme notes fresh in the players minds and then Tooting equalise on the hour mark to make it all square and in traditional fashion I didn't get it on camera!
As always at non-league football the fans swap ends at half time so the Tooting faithful moved round to the opposite end but we stayed where we was and when their was a break in play we had the added bonus of watching another game on the pitch behind!
The game is getting into the later stages now and anyone can win it but in the 74th minute Sandhurst win a corner and they retake the lead!
Fair play to Tooting as they are doing all they can to get the equaliser and with a few minutes left the pressure pays off and they win a penalty to potentially make it all square!
Meanwhile I'm getting abuse from my mates for using my phone! 😂
That's it, the referee blows the full time whistle and it finishes 2-1 to Sandhurst Town who in reflection deserved the 3 points, fair play to Tooting who definitely put in the effort but they come up short against a youthful energetic side who were deserved winners.
Summary of the day...
So glad I chose to come to Tooting & Mitcham United for Non-League Day, the experience from start to finish epitomises what non league football is all about, from the message on X from the club to the singing turnstile operator encompasses all that's great about football at this level!
One thing I said to my mate on the day is that all the volunteers who worked on the turnstiles, club shop and at the bottle bar and else were all clearly passionate supporters of the team BUT they end up missing parts of the game through their shear dedication to the club!
We know Non-league Day is over for another year but that shouldn't stop you from getting down to your local club and experiencing all that's great about non league football!