Monday 12th April 2021 18.15
Hope Valley Premier League
Tansley Juniors 3 Youlgrave United 1 HT: 0-1 Att: 40 (headcount)

from Fete Field

With the sun coming out again it was back to the Hope Valley League. With the three divisionsonly having 11, 9 and 8 teams in them, resuming their seasons has been possible and will still finish before the end of May. For the second time in three days I’d be watching Youlgrave United, this time as the away side. They were second bottom whereas Tansley were mid-table.

I’m still not sure what Tansley’s official name is. The corner flags show their club emblem that says Tansley Juniors, but the initials on the same crest just have TFC rather than TJFC. The Hope Valley League website calls them Juniors, but the FA Full Time webste just Tansley. Their Twitter account is just called Tansley too. If you type Tansley Juniors into Google you actually get junior football, as in the kid’s teams.

Tansley is a village just east of Matlock, just outside the boundary of the Peak District. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Taneslege and grew during the industrial revolution by quarrying millstone grit, used for making mill-stones, the emblem of the Peak District. The village is the site of the headquarters of the British Orienteering Federation.

The ground is north of Tansley Village in a place called Tansley Knoll, in a very rural setting. Arriving at the ground gives you a proper tangible feel of rural life, like you’re an honorary villager for the evening. The setting like all the Hope Valley League venues I’d been to has a completely pastoral setting; a panorama of trees and fields, rendering the blue twin and plastic stick pitch surround, acceptable as a football venue.

Unusually, matching the blue twine rope, the pitch markings were also in blue, which was a first.

I’d seen Youlgrave United at the weekend, and although they lost 2-6 at home they fought well and just lacked a bit in defence. Again this evening they put up a good fight and went in at the break 1-0 up thanks to a huge scramble in which the ball trickled over the line eventually.

However, Tansley fought back well in the second half with three well taken goals and again the Youlgrave defence was lacking, but it was a good spectacle in another scenic ground. A bench in the top corner of the ground gave Fete Field a seating capacity of three.