'Around the Grounds' Edition 3: Steeton
Mon 12th August 2024 | Steeton | By Ben Wilkinson
This week’s edition of ‘Around the Grounds’ takes us over to West Yorkshire, to the Marley Stadium in Keighley. Marley has been the home of First Division North club Steeton since 2020, and their divisional rivals Route One Rovers since their promotion to the NLS pyramid in 2023. Steeton’s historic home is at Summerhill Lane, where their youth teams still play to this day, and they arrived at Marley via a two-year stay at Cougar Park, the home of the local rugby league team Keighley Cougars. Route One played at the Zara Sports Centre in Bradford while they were in the Yorkshire Amateur League, and have plans to return to the city in the coming months.
The game I went to was the first ‘Marley Derby’ of the season, as Steeton ‘hosted’ Route One on Tuesday 5th August. The pitch at Marley is of the plastic variety, with two shipping containers gaining new lives as covered standing areas behind one goal and a small seated stand straddling the halfway line, opposite the dugouts. There’s a hut selling the usual football fayre and a clubhouse with a bar. Even though two sides of the ground don’t have any facilities, you are able to walk all the way around the pitch and the Steeton fans behind the goal did swap ends at half time. There was also a programme for sale for £2, with plenty of information inside.
Both sides had struggled in their opening fixtures and this one was no different as neither side managed to gain control of play in a poor first half. The first real chance went to Route One midway through the first half; the ball was lobbed over the onrushing Steeton keeper, but the ball was cleared away before crossing the line. This turned out to be a warning that Steeton didn’t heed, as just 4 minutes later R1 found themselves a goal to the good when Umar Ali Zahoor’s penalty crept underneath James Catlow in goal after Atta Rehman was hauled down inside the box. Rehman turned goalscorer on the stroke of half-time, as his penalty was confidently dispatched to give R1 a two-goal cushion. Steeton went into the break with plenty of work to do, after not having a single shot on target in the first half.
Ten minutes into the second period and it could easily have been three nil, as Muhammad Arshad’s long range effort clattered against the post before bouncing to safety. Steeton set up a grandstand finish as they grabbed a goal back with 20 minutes left, a cool tap-in from number 5 Jacob Smith after a cross wasn’t cleared. The Chevvies pushed hard for an equaliser but Route One were level to every attempt and it was the ‘away’ side who took their first win of the season.
After the game, we caught up with Steeton gaffer Roy Mason, who brought up 599 games in charge of the club with this game, later reaching the 600 mark on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say about the game: “It was a game of two halves [against Route One], in the first half I didn’t feel we competed at all. We certainly did in the second half and were a bit unlucky not to come away with a draw, but the age-old problem we have had for the last couple of seasons of scoring goals came back to haunt us.”
We also asked Roy about life at the Marley Stadium and his thoughts on bringing the 600 up: “I am looking forward to my 600th game on Saturday [against Droylsden]. When I started all those years ago I wondered whether I’d get to 6 games as manager, never mind 600! The club has progressed massively throughout that time and hopefully will continue to do so over the next few years. Living in Steeton, it makes me proud to be manager of my local club. It’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride over those games and it’s given me some fantastic memories and I’ve made some great friends over the years as well. Fortunately there hasn’t been one player that played in every 600 games for me and had to endure every one of my team talks!
The move to Marley has been fantastic for the club and we are lucky to play in such a modern facility in the heart of Keighley. Hopefully over the next few years we can see Marley continue to progress and grow alongside the club. I’ve always felt that Keighley has the potential to have a really good semi-professional team, and if the town really gets behind us then the club’s potential is unlimited. We are very lucky that we have some great sponsors, committee members and volunteers all pulling in the same direction to push the club forward. One of the proudest things for me over the course of my time as manager is seeing the support grow from literally one man and his dog to now crowds of well over 100 for our home fixtures, as well as taking a healthy following to away games.”
'Around the Grounds' Edition 3: Steeton
Mon 12th August 2024 | Steeton
By Ben Wilkinson
This week’s edition of ‘Around the Grounds’ takes us over to West Yorkshire, to the Marley Stadium in Keighley. Marley has been the home of First Division North club Steeton since 2020, and their divisional rivals Route One Rovers since their promotion to the NLS pyramid in 2023. Steeton’s historic home is at Summerhill Lane, where their youth teams still play to this day, and they arrived at Marley via a two-year stay at Cougar Park, the home of the local rugby league team Keighley Cougars. Route One played at the Zara Sports Centre in Bradford while they were in the Yorkshire Amateur League, and have plans to return to the city in the coming months.
The game I went to was the first ‘Marley Derby’ of the season, as Steeton ‘hosted’ Route One on Tuesday 5th August. The pitch at Marley is of the plastic variety, with two shipping containers gaining new lives as covered standing areas behind one goal and a small seated stand straddling the halfway line, opposite the dugouts. There’s a hut selling the usual football fayre and a clubhouse with a bar. Even though two sides of the ground don’t have any facilities, you are able to walk all the way around the pitch and the Steeton fans behind the goal did swap ends at half time. There was also a programme for sale for £2, with plenty of information inside.
Both sides had struggled in their opening fixtures and this one was no different as neither side managed to gain control of play in a poor first half. The first real chance went to Route One midway through the first half; the ball was lobbed over the onrushing Steeton keeper, but the ball was cleared away before crossing the line. This turned out to be a warning that Steeton didn’t heed, as just 4 minutes later R1 found themselves a goal to the good when Umar Ali Zahoor’s penalty crept underneath James Catlow in goal after Atta Rehman was hauled down inside the box. Rehman turned goalscorer on the stroke of half-time, as his penalty was confidently dispatched to give R1 a two-goal cushion. Steeton went into the break with plenty of work to do, after not having a single shot on target in the first half.
Ten minutes into the second period and it could easily have been three nil, as Muhammad Arshad’s long range effort clattered against the post before bouncing to safety. Steeton set up a grandstand finish as they grabbed a goal back with 20 minutes left, a cool tap-in from number 5 Jacob Smith after a cross wasn’t cleared. The Chevvies pushed hard for an equaliser but Route One were level to every attempt and it was the ‘away’ side who took their first win of the season.
After the game, we caught up with Steeton gaffer Roy Mason, who brought up 599 games in charge of the club with this game, later reaching the 600 mark on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say about the game: “It was a game of two halves [against Route One], in the first half I didn’t feel we competed at all. We certainly did in the second half and were a bit unlucky not to come away with a draw, but the age-old problem we have had for the last couple of seasons of scoring goals came back to haunt us.”
We also asked Roy about life at the Marley Stadium and his thoughts on bringing the 600 up: “I am looking forward to my 600th game on Saturday [against Droylsden]. When I started all those years ago I wondered whether I’d get to 6 games as manager, never mind 600! The club has progressed massively throughout that time and hopefully will continue to do so over the next few years. Living in Steeton, it makes me proud to be manager of my local club. It’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride over those games and it’s given me some fantastic memories and I’ve made some great friends over the years as well. Fortunately there hasn’t been one player that played in every 600 games for me and had to endure every one of my team talks!
The move to Marley has been fantastic for the club and we are lucky to play in such a modern facility in the heart of Keighley. Hopefully over the next few years we can see Marley continue to progress and grow alongside the club. I’ve always felt that Keighley has the potential to have a really good semi-professional team, and if the town really gets behind us then the club’s potential is unlimited. We are very lucky that we have some great sponsors, committee members and volunteers all pulling in the same direction to push the club forward. One of the proudest things for me over the course of my time as manager is seeing the support grow from literally one man and his dog to now crowds of well over 100 for our home fixtures, as well as taking a healthy following to away games.”
