No.25 - Sat. 20th December 2008; Essex & Suffolk Border League Division 1                      2.00pm at the Foxash Playing Fields, Harwich Road, Lawford, Colchester, Essex. (Att: 8; Admn/Prog: N/A)

 

Matchday images (13)  >view>

Foxash Social (0) 1 Great Bradfords (1) 1 

 There's no place like Foxash

Whilst looking for some new ground ‘hoppertunities for the coming weekend I logged on to the Essex and Suffolk Border League’s informative website and scrolled down the fixture list. As this is a fairly local competition many of the clubs are easy to reach, being about an hour's drive from racing HQ. In recent years I have ‘done’ most of the clubs in the top two divisions, usually early evening games at the end of the season. One intriguing team that caught my eye was a club called Foxash Social - what a terrific name isn’t it?! According to the E&BL listings they were playing Great Bradfords in a First Division league encounter. Although I had come across the club before, no doubt when looking through the tables in one of the Non League papers, I didn’t really know very much about them. In fact I hadn’t even a clue as to where the place was. Hmmm. I felt that a bit of detective work was needed here!

 

No doubt like many other travellers, I share a great passion for map reading. I can sit with a map for hours totally engrossed in all that information laid out before me. When it comes to a choice between a good novel and a map book, give me a gazetteer of Britain any day! How sad is that? And so with the AA Road Atlas at hand, I quickly opened it towards the back and found the Index, thumbing to the letter 'F'. Running down the list I then came to the bit beginning with Fox but couldn’t find anything. There was no reference made to a place called Foxash anywhere…it should have come alphabetically above Foxbar…but unfortunately there was no entry at all. Surely there must be a place somewhere in East Anglia bearing this wonderful name. Not to be outdone and being a persistent so-and-so I decided to enter cyber space for some inspiration.

 

Plan B. To find out information in a hurry you can always try the reliable Google search engine. Well daughter Steph swears by it (and sometimes at it!). The map service on here is simply out of this world (if you know what I mean). I typed in the word 'Foxash' and lo and behold within the time it takes to say Football Grounds In Focus, several suggestions and a map appeared on the computer screen. This was more like it: the red pointer highlighted an area on the map roughly between Lawford and Ardleigh, situated to the north of Colchester and fairly close to the Essex/Suffolk border (surprise, surprise!). Although I couldn’t see a village with that name, using the zoom facility brought into view both a Foxash Estate and a Foxash House. This surely was the reference that I had been looking for.

 

But the best bit was yet to come: advances in modern technology meant that by pressing the right button I could superimpose an aerial satellite picture over my map to give me some more detailed information. I quickly toggled (if that’s the correct term) until the Foxash Playing Fields on Harwich Road came into shot. To my delight I could see the outline of a tidy, self-contained football ground with railed off pitch and clubhouse facilities. The resolution was simply superb. Wow! My heart was now racing. I soon decided that a trip to Foxash Social FC was definitely on the cards and couldn't wait for the weekend so that I could visit another new ground!

 

Saturday arrived and a quick check call to the helpful club secretary, Mr Waring, confirmed that the game was definitely on. Within seventy minutes and after a hassle-free cross-country journey we arrived in time for the 2pm start. And what a cracking little ground this is. Set in open countryside the ground is bordered on one side by the parallel Harwich Road and by open fields on the others. Foxash Growers, a large packaging plant and major landmark in the area, is next door. The large refrigerated container lorries (based at Turners in Soham funnily enough) are constantly transporting goods in and out of the site during the game. Appropriately for the time of year a large snowflake design is emblazoned on the side of their vehicles! You can also hear local trains passing by but they are completely out of view as the line drops down into the nearby valley.

 

A narrow driveway leading from the entrance on Harwich Road takes the traveller behind the goal around to a grass car park and the main facilities on the far side of the playing field. A club pavilion situated near to the half way line offers a modern bar area and function room in cosy surroundings. A veranda provides some cover and is close enough to the pitch so that you can easily watch the game from here. Around the back there are some more buildings and these are used for changing purposes. The undulating (and I mean undulating) pitch is fully enclosed on all sides by a neat post and rail fence. Two separate, permanent, brick built dug outs are positioned on the far side. It’s a tight squeeze here with only a few feet between the pitch and ditch behind! There is a small floodlit training pitch behind the goal to the right (if you're facing the road).

 

But what sets this particular ground apart from some of the others in this league are the quirky touches and attention paid to detail. Just take the interesting entrance sign with its modern eye-catching fox logo; the wrought iron gates complete with individual letters spelling out the club name attached thereon; the fading old club sign (again depicting a fox) now forlornly hidden behind some bracken as it lies abandoned on the driveway; the splash of blue (representing the club colours) painted on the main gate, perimeter fence, dug outs, pavilion and even the goal netting…and you'll find that taken together such idiosyncrasies help to create the impression of a lovingly maintained venue. If you’re that way inclined, as I know some of you are, then you’re in hopping heaven here!  

 

The game was a relatively poor one, played on a well grassed though bumpy, sloping pitch in front of only eight spectators. For the record, honours were shared with the match endng in a 1-1 draw. Visitors Great Bradfords FC, dressed in red and black halves, took the lead using the tried and trusted route one approach. Bensley (30) allowed his keeper’s long kick to bounce once before volleying the ball brilliantly into the far corner of the net. He almost scored a second on the stroke of half time but his clever chip was made after receiving the ball in an offside position. Just when it looked as if the points were going back down the A120 to Braintree, the men from Foxash got back into the game. But it wasn't without controversy. Sultan Ijuda (82), a lumbering frontrunner, managed to find space and latching on to a long through ball, somehow defied logic to beat his marker and the offside trap, before cheekily lobbing the advancing keeper from distance. Seeing that the ball was about to cross the goal line and finish in the net, the visiting club linesman decided simultaneously to raise his flag, signalling very belatedly for offside. What a sly old fox. You can imagine the uproar and utter pandemonium that ensued. Everybody present piled in. You wouldn’t want to be a referee in this situation I can tell you. To save a lengthy explanation I can confirm that the goal quite rightly stood, the club linesman was no longer (following a red card) and Foxash earned themselves a valuable point. Phew! !

 

The club, like others in this division, don’t do programmes. Apparently they used to twenty years ago but not now. Refreshments in the form of hot drinks and cold snacks (sweets, crisps, that sort of thing) are cheerfully dispensed in the bar at half time. I washed a bag of Mini Cheddars down with my cuppa (after opening them first of course!).

 

Club secretary Frank Waring, a staunch Wolves fan, was on hand to give us the low down about the club. Founded in the 1920’s, Foxash Social is a club established by a group of itinerant workers who had come down from the north during the Great Depression to find employment. They earned enough money from farming and growing crops to build their own houses on the neighbouring land eventually forming an estate known as the Foxash Estate. The wealthy landowner lived in the adjoining accomodation which became Foxash House. That hopefully adds a bit of meat onto the bones.

 

So how do you get there? Travellers by car can reach the ground from Manningtree by following signs for Lawford and then towards Ardleigh using the A137. As you come along Harwich Road look out for the Foxash Growers packaging plant on your right. The ground is immediately next to/beyond this on the same side of the road. If you cross over the railway bridge you have gone too far. Incidentally for travellers relying on public transport, Manningtree railway station is several miles away and this would necessitate a connecting bus ride to complete the journey.

 

A visit to Foxash Social Football Club comes highly recommended. You will definitely receive a warm welcome at what is a charming club. It is a most interesting venue and one that is certain to appeal to the grounds’ connoisseur. Have fun!!     

 

FGIF Match Rating: 2

 

edited 28/01/09