Going Green With Envy!

THE setting is one of the most tranquil in Non-League, the final few yards having to be completed on foot with the team coach unable to squeeze into a narrow driveway past the Church Road allotments.

That said, the home of North Ferriby United – now known as the Rapid Solicitors Stadium – does hold some disturbing personal memories.

The Villagers were always in the top four of the Northern Counties East League Premier and had played at Wembley in the 1997 FA Vase final when I used to go there with Arnold Town in the mid-to-late Nineties.

As a centre-half I’d have to try to to shackle the prolific Andy Flounders – and on my last visit I scored two own goals!
But at least I can say I’ve played a part in the “perpetual progression” chairman Les Hare says has made his 18-year reign so enjoyable. Hare describes the club he inherited as “rickety”, and the implementation of a youth development programme in 1996 has been its “lifeblood” ever since.

Not only do North Ferriby now have the highest proportion of participation for young people per capita of population of any FA Charter Standard Club, with 300 children from a village of just 4,000 people registered they have regularly     produced players for the English schools sides – three last season – while four of Billy Heath’s current first-team squad came through the ranks.

Astonishing

After winning the NCEL Premier title in 1999-2000, promotion from the Northern Premier League First Division followed in 2004-05 and they’ve been regulars at the top of Step 3 ever since, losing in the play-offs three times.

Heath, who replaced John Anderson a little over a year ago, has just picked up his second successive Evo-Stik NPL Premier manager of the month award after table-topping Ferriby’s four successive wins in November all came against top-six rivals.

Going into this weekend  they were 16 league games unbeaten, and Hare says: “Billy’s record, after taking over with us staring relegation in the face, is astonishing.

“Not only did we win the Northern Premier League Cup for the first time in 2011-12, we’ve not lost since the opening week of this season in the league and we’re playing some great football with it.”

Rightly proud of the fact that Hull City play all their reserve games at Church Road and that it hosted a UEFA women’s international last year, Hare says the ground is good enough to go up to Blue Square Bet North.

“It’s compact, but it’s a picture of a club and the driveway is still the same,” says Hare. “The land is under a charitable trust, so although we’ve developed our part, the area can never be built on.

Sustainable

“We’ve always said we’re ambitious to play at the highest level we can achieve while remaining sustainable. Five years ago we felt the Northern Premier was that, now we think it’s Conference North.

“One thing stays the same though, and that’s our hospitality. It pleases me most when people point out we’ve not changed the way we do things here since the Northern Counties East days.”

What will eventually be a six-figure donation from Hull owner Assem Allam has filled a hole left by £40,000 of lost sponsorship last year, but this is no nouveau riche story.

Hare says that money has helped complete a development centre for the youth and keep the club’s infrastructure steady.

Like the owners of those allotments, the Villagers concentrate on cultivating their own in the hope the future will be green and white!