Pic: Neil Hood
By Jon Couch
HARTLEY WINTNEY chairman Luke Mullen has hailed a “huge community effort” after the club were given the green light to play Step 4 football next season for the first time in their history.
Last week's goalless draw at Chertsey Town was sufficient to land them the Combined Counties Premier championship for a second year running.
And that prompted double celebrations when the Hampshire village club were told that recent ground improvements have earned them the necessary E grade for promotion to the Southern League.
Hartley were denied promotion 12 months ago after their Green Lane ground fell foul to ground grading regulations, promoting joint bosses Anthony Millerick and Dan Brownlie to start afresh in the summer.
But after persuading the vast majority of the squad to stay, the Row have gone from strength to strength, racking up a massive 125 goals and 104 points.
Still, however, the club faced a race against time to get ground improvements complete and ratified before the March 31 deadline, but after an inspection attended by Southern League officials last week, the club were finally given the promotion go-ahead.
“It was a huge community effort from everyone, both on and off the pitch,” beamed chairman Mullen. “We knew what we had to do from the outset and everyone did their bit.
“We even had two supporters, Toni and Colin Charlton, walk the 50 kilometres from Hartley Wintney to Chertsey for our last match to raise money for the improvements. The raised £2,500 so that's a fantastic achievement.
“There's no room for standing still, however, in football at this level and now we've moved our thoughts to making pitch improvements in the summer ready for Step 4 football.
“This is a village club which has risen from the depths of district football – it's a magnificent achievement.”
Hartley, who will be presented to them at their home game against Sutton Common Rovers on Saturday, will have to wait in the summer to hear whether they will play in Southern League Central, South & West, or even the Ryman League, next year, given the village is located, geographically, on the border of all three.
For now though, joint-boss Dan Brownlie is simply enjoying the moment.
He added: “There is an overwhelming sense of accomplishment this year because it's been a complete club effort.
“The heartache of not being promoted last year could have broken many but the whole club, both on and off the field, rallied and everyone stepped up their game.
“It's a great place to be. This year's win doesn't happen without last year though, that's for sure.”
