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Powys County Times
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Powys County Times
Horsham steward praises volunteers after club's title win
A steward at Horsham FC has hailed the club's dramatic title win last week as a fantastic moment for the club. Dave Ward, 50, has been volunteering in the role for three years and watched on in delight as Dominic Di Paola's side beat Hashtag United 5-1 to claim The Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division title for the first time in their history, pipping Billericay on goal difference by a solitary strike. The result means the Hornets will take their place in the National League South next season after Lucas Rodrigues' brace and goals from Ola Ogunwamide, Harvey Sparks and Jake Elliott were enough to top the division, despite Billericay's 4-2 win over Cheshunt. Ward said: 'It was one of those worthwhile moments where everything came together, it was a fantastic day for the club and it was great to be there. 'I do not think any of us actually thought we were going to do it because we all thought Billericay were going to win quite comfortably. 'There were murmurs in the crowd they were 2-0 down and then at the end of the game when we found out [Billericay had not scored enough], people began to cheer in the crowd and then everyone went absolutely mad. 'It was a complete joy for the club, and it was an unbelievable moment. Ward, who moved to Horsham five years ago and works in the club's carpark, also praised the incredible impact of the club's army of volunteers. He explained that since his time at the club, he has seen the number of volunteers working with him grow from two to five, while crowds have risen from approximately 600 to being routinely four figures. 'I think the people who give up their time to be here are incredible,' continued Ward, whose day job is as a driver. 'I did not realise when I first started how much people put in, week in, week out, it really is a labour of love. 'The club would not be able to afford to pay offsite people to do what we do. 'We all do it for the love of the club, the friendships and the family feel. It is fantastic what everyone does. 'I would not want to be paid to do what I do if I am being honest. The club brings the whole town together and the celebrations last Saturday showed that.'
New York Times
28-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The title race you didn't know about: Recapping a ‘crazy' final day in English football
Saturday April 26, was the final day of the Isthmian Premier League season, the seventh tier of English football. Going into it, three teams were tied at the top on 84 points. One goal separated the top two on goal difference. Only one team could win the title and earn automatic promotion, leaving the other two to run the gauntlet of the play-offs. Advertisement If you want a healthy slice of jeopardy with your football, this was the place for you. With title races across Europe's elite struggling for excitement this season, the 24-team Pitching In Isthmian Premier League stands apart. A place in the National League South is at stake and the English Football League suddenly does not feel too far away. Billericay Town, based in Essex, headed into Saturday's final day as league leaders on 84 points with a +39 goal difference. They were followed by West Sussex's Horsham FC, who had a +38 goal difference; just ahead of Kent's Dartford FC with +31. Saturday. New Lodge. 3pm. Our season comes down to one title-deciding game.#BTFC 🔹 — Billericay Town FC (@BTFC) April 25, 2025 Nick Robinson, the league's chair, told The Athletic: 'This season has been fantastic. It is the closest we've had in all the divisions for many years. We used to have one or two clubs that were out in front. But now, this year in particular, we are really pleased. We've got Billericay, Horsham and Dartford who could all win the championship. It is really exciting. 'It is very rare to have it this close. We (the league's board) normally use April to plan our title presentations and choose the Saturdays to do it!' According to Robinson, the tight title race has seen attendance at the three teams' stadiums average around 1,600 people in the month of April, and tickets were sold out across the board for Saturday's finale, with all games kicking off at 3pm. Robinson said league staff went to Billericay's New Lodge stadium and, if results changed proceedings, were prepared to drive down to Dartford's Princes Park stadium to hand the league trophy and winners' medals to the right side. Horsham, however, is 71 miles away from Billericay so they would have to wait for their silverware. Advertisement Freddie Humphry-Wakefield, a Horsham fan who also does live commentaries for the club, said before kick-off against Hashtag United: 'I feel very nervous. It's been a very intense season, and this final day just makes it all the more crazy. So the overall feeling is nervousness and excitement. I think it will be crazy today.' So did Horsham, who had not been leaders of the division at any point this season, come out on top? It doesn't take long for the action to begin… 3.11pm – Dartford 0-1 Carshalton — Billericay champions 3.13pm – Billericay 0-1 Cheshunt — Horsham champions 3.13pm – Horsham 0-1 Hashtag United — Billericay champions 3.15pm – Horsham 1-1 Hashtag United — Horsham champions 3.16pm – Billericay 0-2 Cheshunt 3.30pm – Horsham 2-1 Hashtag United 3.44pm – Billericay 1-2 Cheshunt 3:47pm – Dartford 0-2 Carshalton Half-time: Horsham are champions. 4:12pm – Billericay 2-2 Cheshunt 4.18pm – Billericay 3-2 Cheshunt — Billericay champions 4:19pm – Horsham 3-1 Hashtag — Horsham and Billericay level on goal difference 4.30pm – Horsham 4-1 Hashtag — Horsham champions 4.32pm – Dartford 1-2 Carshalton 4.33pm – Horsham 5-1 Hashtag 4.47pm – Dartford 1- 3 Carshalton 4.58pm – Billericay 4-2 Cheshunt 5.03pm – Dartford 1-4 Carshalton Horsham's game finishes first. There are 12 minutes of stoppage time at Billericay and then… Horsham are champions! THE GREATEST DAY OF OUR LIVES!#HorshamFC #WeAreNationalLeague 💛💚 — Horsham F(C) (@HorshamFC) April 26, 2025 Billericay lose the title by just a single goal. They have to settle for second place, with Dartford in third. Both sides now having to quickly turn their attention to preparing for the play-offs next week, against Dover Athletic and Cray Valley Paper Mills as they look to secure their pathway to the National League next season. 'It is incredible, what a way to do it (win the league),' Horsham manager Dominic Di Paola said after the game.'On the final day with a shootout really. It was a great way to win the league. 'We knew that we would have to score at least four or five goals. We knew there was not really a margin for error today and we would have to keep attacking. The boys were magnificent today like they have been all season.' 'It has just proved not to be enough,' Billericay manager Gary McCann said after the full-time whistle. 'We have to tip our hats to Horsham. We didn't want to but you have to be gracious in defeat.' Fancy reliving the action of yesterday's manic game to confirm us as champions? Of course you do 😉 — Horsham F(C) (@HorshamFC) April 27, 2025 Humphry-Wakefield said that Horsham's title celebrations went late into the night. Players, coaching staff and fans all celebrated together on the pitch and in the club's bar after the game, singing, dancing and revelling in title glory. 'The celebrations were brilliant,' he said on Sunday morning. 'I think the coaching staff, players, and fans are still out! Incredible scenes. 'The game was an unbelievable six-goal thriller. Horsham could have scored 10 to be honest with you. A crazy, crazy game and almost as good as it gets for a title decider.'
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Welcome to the future of football, where the ability to entertain is king
The first ever goal in the UK version of the Baller League is scored by the influencer PK Humble, just in case you ever find yourself taking part in a pub quiz in 2045. Humble – a midfielder for Hashtag United and star of the recent YouTube series Inside – takes the ball out of defence, advances it at a frankly embarrassingly leaden pace and side-foots it past a goalkeeper who should really do better. Welcome to the future of football. It's faster, better and more exciting than the real thing. Albeit not faster in a strictly physical sense, or better in a strictly technical sense, or more exciting in the sense that you actually need to care about who wins. But it is, nonetheless, all of these things. Why? Because we said so. And don't just take our word for it. Maya Jama says so too. Slow, lingering camera shot of Maya Jama. Now, what was the question again? Look, I'm going to take a wild swing here: you're probably not the target audience for Baller League. I'm basing this entirely on the fact that you're reading the legacy liberal media in 2025. You probably don't even care that a new influencer-driven football league was launched in London last week with celebrity managers and a player roster including Henri Lansbury, Marvin Sordell, Adrian Mariappa and Jordon Ibe. You probably have recycling to sort or something. Nevertheless, something important is happening here, even if you have to peer between the lines a little to see it. The Baller League – taking place over 11 consecutive Mondays at the Copper Box Arena in London – is a spiritual cousin of the Kings League, the Gerard Piqué-backed vehicle that launched in Spain in 2023. In May a new seven-a-side women's football tournament, World Sevens Football (W7F), will begin in Estoril with a prize fund of $5m (£3.9m). Together, these constitute perhaps the most concerted effort yet to challenge the traditional model of football: 11-a-side, playing outdoors on grass, affiliated to a club, tied to a locality. For 150 years, this is the vision of football that has prevailed, from Sunday League to World Cup final. But what if, in fact, this is not the only way of playing football? Instinctively, we already know this. Whether in the playground or the park, all of us grew up playing football in its loosest form: small sides, small pitches, dribbling and shooting, football as a vehicle for individual expression. Wembley singles. Three and in. The rabona that would be described in hushed tones long after the final score had been forgotten. Baller League is, in effect, an attempt to capture and monetise this essence. Teams comprise six players and matches consist of two 15-minute halves. At certain intervals random new rules will be introduced, such as goalkeepers not being allowed to use their hands. 'Slow games are dead games,' says Baller League's chief executive, Felix Starck, who sees the league as football's equivalent of the Ultimate Fighting Championship: an explosion of crossover content under one roof, where the ability to entertain and tell a story vastly outweighs anything you can do with a ball at your feet. Starck is stark on the ways traditional football has failed its audience. Interminable VAR delays. The triumph of sanitised possession football that discourages teams from taking risks on the ball. A hidebound fixation on teams and communities at the expense of heroes and personalities, which is increasingly how young people want to consume the game. 'People don't give a shit where they're born,' Starck insisted in a recent appearance on the Business of Sport podcast. 'They're following heroes. We are hero-driven.' The real question, of course, is how you define a hero. And one of the most notable elements of the first season of Baller League is how little of the star talent is actually on the pitch. The real celebrities – Gary Lineker, John Terry, Luís Figo, Mark Goldbridge, KSI, Angryginge – are either in the dugout or behind the scenes. Jama, the presenter and DJ, has been appointed the coach of MVPs United. Was there a recruitment process? Was there a PowerPoint presentation? I bet she doesn't even have the Uefa Pro Licence. This is, in effect, an entirely new kind of footballing economy, run not on pure sporting merit but on the infinitely transferable skills of branding and projection. Set aside the format gimmicks for a second, and the common theme of these new tournaments is the idea that team sport is basically a vehicle for individual expression, a platform for viral moments, a way to build your personal brand. If you're a League One player with a mean stepover but who doesn't really fancy training or tracking back, which vision of the sport makes more sense to you? And of course underlying all this is a far bleaker assumption: that you are on your own out there. There is no structure, no safety net, no common responsibility one to another. All you have at this unsettling juncture in history is yourself, your talent, your brand, your content. You possess no intrinsic value beyond the worth you can provide to the content platforms and tech giants of the world. The match fee for Baller League players is about £400 a game. But the spectacle itself has already been carved up and divvied out. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Naturally, for those of a certain demographic, the instinct here is to deride, to disdain, to ignore. But of course the Baller League and W7F and the Kings League are a genuine solution to a problem football has ignored for too long. What happens when a sport prices out its core audience through spiralling ticket prices and ruinous broadcast subscriptions? What happens when a sport gets lost in its own self-importance? What happens when a sport builds its foundations on a broadcasting rights model that largely ignores the fact that everyone has a mobile phone? Why does it have to be 11 on a team? Why does it have to be 90 minutes? Why does the pitch have to be the size of a small park? You may not love the answers. But in their brazen interference, the new disruptors of football are at least asking a lot of the right questions. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Forest beat Hashtag to reach FA WNL cup final
Nottingham Forest reached the FA Women's National League Cup final for the second time in three seasons as they beat holders Hashtag United 1-0. Charlie Wellings scored a late winner from the penalty spot after Nat Johnson had been fouled in the box. And Forest will now face Stoke City in the final at Walsall in March after they saw off Plymouth Argyle 3-0. The match at Hashtag's ground in Aveley in Essex pitted the leaders before kick-off of the Women's National League Southern and Northern Premier divisions against each other - although Wolves' win in the league at the same time on Sunday saw them move ahead of Forest. And it proved to be a tight semi-final in windy conditions, with few clear-cut chances after Sammy Rowland shot just wide of the far post for the home side in the 10th minute. Amy Sims played in Melissa Johnson as 2023 winners Forest pressed after the break, but she was denied by keeper Frankie Angel. Johnson also saw a shot deflected just over the bar before a Freda Ayisi free-kick for Hashtag - who included Derby County and Ipswich Town among their victims in reaching the semi-finals - was well saved by Forest's Emily Batty low to her left. The penalty followed two minutes later and and Hashtag, who beat Newcastle United in last year's final, could not an equaliser in the closing moments. "We competed very well. They're a full-time professional outfit, but this game, if you were to say which was the full-time team, you wouldn't put a lot between us," Hashtag boss Jason Stephens told BBC Essex Sport. "The one negative thing for us was when we were in possession of the ball, our final pass - whether that was affected by the wind - probably could have been a little bit better." The competition features teams in the third and fourth tiers of the English women's game. Forest women set to go full-time professional Hashtag United stun Newcastle to win cup final Get the latest WSL news on our dedicated page
