Bodmin Town | The Itinerant Football Watcher

Visiting Cornwall for a week in the latter stages of a football season throws up a plethora of possible matches to attend. The senior league in the region is of course the South Western Peninsula League where the likes of St.Blazey and Bodmin Town do battle. Further down mid and west Cornwall are covered by the Cornwall Combination while the Eastern reaches are catered for by the East Cornwall Premier League. The Duchy League feeds in to the latter while the relatively new Trelawny League (a 2011 merger of the historic Cornish Mining League and the Falmouth and Helston League) feeds the Combination.

On this occasion I managed to take in four matches which are reviewed first. Following this is a reminder of some of the magical grounds to found in this corner of the country.

St.Buryan 9 Carharrack 2 (Trelawny League)

Lying just 6 miles from Land’s End the small village of St.Buryan has a modest home called somewhat anonymously Community House. In a foggy early evening the visitors had the temerity to take a third minute lead before six goals from Wade Brown and three from Josh Findlay, the two best players on view, saw the visitors well and truly put to the sword.

Goonhavern Athletic 0 St.Agnes 1 (Cornwall Combination)

With these two clubs barely five miles apart this was something of a local derby. However the remote location of Reen Manor Parc meant only 24 people witnessed this fiercely contested battle, won by an opportunist goal from Sam Connolly. The ground has a homely clubhouse that separates the football pitch from the Perranporth CC cricket pitch. There is seating under the overhang which includes “Fred’s Corner” set aside for a deceased regular.

Bude Town 3 Launceston Reserves 1 (East Cornwall Premier League)

Broadclose is a lovely little venue on the edge of this seaside town. A smart turnstile block asks for £2 entry for this local derby and immediately to the left is a small but photogenic stand built at a raffish angle to the pitch. The clubhouse has a big overhanging cover and is set off with nice touches of club badges and memorial plaques. A decent crowd of 86 gathered to see the home side come from behind to win 3-1 with some well taken goals.

Mawnan 2 Gwinear Churchtown 1 (Trelawny League)

Mawnan play at the Carwinion Road Playing Field which lies off a narrow road out of the village of Mawnan Smith, behind the Red Lion inn which itself dates from 1500. A flower strewn entrance leads to a modest pavilion, with the pitch set up the other side of the cricket square. However, this game took place at Falmouth Town’s Bickland Park as the cricket club take priority in the closing weeks of the season. Two second half goals won it for Mawnan after falling behind just before the break.