Blog number eighteen in the #Doingthe92 challenge is a visit to Nethermoor, home of non-league Guiseley. Now, I know what you’re all thinking. You’re thinking, “Dan, Guiseley aren’t in the 92! Why are you talking about a non-league club?” Well I figured I’d talk about some non-league clubs as well as clubs I visit in the 92 as non-league teams need love too. Here’s some background on Guiseley. Based in West Yorkshire, just outside Bradford, and nicknamed “The Lions”, Guiseley will be playing in the Conference Premier this season after securing promotion via the play-offs for the first time in the club’s history. They have won a total of 13 trophies; 1 Northern Premier League Premier Division, 1 Northern Premier League Division One, 1 Northern Premier League Challenge Cup 1 Northern Premier League President’s Cup & 9 West Riding County Cups.
Before heading to the ground, I asked the club if I could do some pitch side photos to build up my skills, something I have done in the past with Rochdale, Crewe Alexandra & Birmingham City. After accepting my offer, I packed by bag and headed to Guiseley.
The town itself is really small and there isn’t a lot to do except for shopping in Morrisons. The ground is a five minute walk from the train station and buses stop right outside the ground. When I arrived at the ground, the first thing I noticed was that there is a cricket ground next to it. Another thing I noticed was that the car park for staff and players is really small. This did lead me to ask the question, “Where do the team coaches go?” Well it turns out that coaches can’t fit down the roads/car parks so players have to park in the Morrisons car park and walk to the ground.
It felt really weird seeing players arrive like that. The next thing I noticed was that Huddersfield Town’s new signing, Jason Davidson, has a really cool sleeve tattoo. Unlike most players, his sleeve is a homage to Muhammad Ali with portraits, quotes and newspaper articles. Also, you can tell the which clubs have lots of money and which clubs don’t when the home team all look like they have just got off a plane from Benidorm while all the Huddersfield Town players are in their training gear.
I should note that Guiseley’s ground, Nethermoor, is really tiny. It only holds 3000 with 500 of those fans seated. Their club shop is a cabin in the ground and the balcony for the cameras that film the ground is made out of scaffolding. That and you have to climb a ladder to get to the balcony. As I wandered around the ground, I met with Huddersfield Town’s photographer, Jon and got talking to him as it has been a while since I saw him.
The game started and the first thing I need to talk about is Huddersfield Town’s new away kit! Good God it’s hideous! It’s the same colour as a high visibility jacket. The only positive about the kit is that it made it easy for me to focus on them with my camera. The first half saw Huddersfield Town dominate Guiseley many times. Especially Sean Scannell who would run right past the defence and create many chances but no one succeeded.
It took 30 minutes before Huddersfield Town finally scored after Nakhi Wells went on a run after a Guiseley corner. Huddersfield second goal came after 41 minutes when Jacob Butterfield scored from a corner. However, fans weren’t cheering as they were confused why the announcer at the game called Jacob “Jason”. Guiseley’s only goal came just before the first half ended from a penalty scored by Nicky Boshell.
Before the second half started, one of the Guiseley players decided to rub Vicks on his… penis! I’m not entirely sure why but he did admit a few minutes later that he was in pain to the point where he had to pour a bottle of water down his shorts. Huddersfield’s final goal came when Jason Davidson crossed the ball from Huddersfield’s box all the way to Joe Lolley who was in Guiseley’s box. Lolley would go on to score a screamer from 18 yards to end the game at 3-1.
Overall, I had fun at Guiseley. My only complaint would be that there isn’t a lot to go in the town. As of writing this, I just landed a job working with Opta so I don’t know where and when I will be visiting a ground. As it stands, I have no future visits planned until I know my work schedule but I hope to cross off the recommendations people made last season. I hope you have enjoyed this. If you want to see my photos from the game, visit https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.969360539781765.1073741850.124480710936423&type=3
Here are the full stats about the game
Team Visited – Guiseley
Taking on – Huddersfield Town
Venue – Nethermoor
Date Visited – July 11th 2015
Overall Attendance – 1036
Score – Guiseley 1-3 Huddersfield Town
Goal Scorers – Guiseley – Nicky Boshell (44 pen)
Goal Scorer – Huddersfield Town – Nakhi Wells (30), Jacob Butterfield (41), Joe Lolley (89)
