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Published: July 24th 2017
A few minutes after the end of the first games in Qualifying Round 1 in this year’s Champions league, an email popped into my inbox. It simply said The New Saints v Rijeka. The champions of Croatia were coming to England. Are we going, I responded? In a seaport on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, the interested were busy no doubt scouring their maps to wonder why they had drawn a team from Wales but were trying to locate a small football ground in provincial Shropshire, England. Albeit only 8 miles from the Welsh border, but an important distinction nonetheless. A trip to Oswestry was subsequently planned.
I must admit I had to look at a map myself. I was actually more familiar with Rijeka, after our visit to the Kantrida a few years back. I’ve been to North Wales. I’ve been to South Wales. The hinterlands of the border country with Mid Wales were a mystery. The football League stopped at Shrewsbury. I checked a description that stated we were headed to a frontier town, which conjured up thoughts of a wide main street with tumbleweed rolling down it in the wind and saloon doors swinging. I
Oswestry
The Borderland Farmer Statue had originally thought a smaller version of Shrewsbury – pretty with half-timbered buildings at every turn. The journey was tiresome. Indeed, any journey which features the periphery of Birmingham is always likely to end up in delay. Highways England were busy keeping the traffic cone industry in work, but little obvious signs of actual road maintenance or construction were in evidence. We had ordered premium Silver tickets for the match the day after the draw. Tickets were to be collected from the “The Venue”, which transpired to be the leisure complex come club offices that stretched down one side of the ground. The game was now officially sold out, so it was a good plan to collect on arrival in town to save complications and delays later on. The goods in hand, we did our good deed for the day. Oswestry has no railway station and the 2 guys collecting their tickets before us had walked from the nearest halt at the village of Gobowen. The town of Oswestry itself was a further 30 minutes away and they were keen to have a few pre-match beers. This plan was under threat from the lack of taxi availability. They seemed keen
to identify us as groundhoppers, seemingly having never met such a species and explained that their plan to sit with the HNK Rijeka fans had been thwarted. We furnished them with some useful facts about the visitors and the intrepid band of Ultras called Armada Rijeka. They happily wandered off into town after we deposited them in Sainsburys car park in search of the Croatians.
Oswestry is the third largest town on Shropshire after Shrewsbury and Telford. It currently lies in England, but has been on the Welsh side of the border at various times in history. The Welsh culture was immediately evident. A group of school children wandered past on the other side of the road speaking in the Welsh language. The signs outside HSBC bank showed the opening hours in both English and Welsh, which didn’t make good reading for one in the party as they showed the increasing trend towards banks which seem to believe that Saturday afternoon is a time for working and not watching football. We retreated into the nearby Wetherspoons pub for some food. As with the Stanley Jefferson – “Stan Laurel” – in Bishop Auckland a few days
earlier, the title of the establishment takes the name of a famous local. The First World War poet, Wilfred Owen, hails from Oswestry, so it was a logical choice. His early years were spent in Weston Lane, before a nomadic existence following his father who worked on the railways. He became one of the more prominent poets of his generation, documenting the horrors of life in the trenches. After being injured and repatriated to England with shell shock, he returned to France in July 1918. Owen met his death a week before the final armistice in November 1918 - killed in action crossing the Sambre-Oise Canal. His mother received the telegraph on Armistice Day itself. I had limited time to have a wander round, so it is with regret that I never found the Wilfred Owen Memorial Bench. We left Wetherspoons, just as the local Constabulary arrived trying to track down a bunch of Croatian ultras.
I failed to locate the Wilfred Owen bench, but came across a statue by Ivor Roberts-Jones along Church Street. Ivor, also born in Oswestry, found fame for his sculptures of famous folk including that of Winston Churchill located in Parliament Square,
London. This example - a Borderland Farmer - goes largely unnoticed in a square in the town. A couple of local youth sniggered with amusement as I took a couple of photographs. The points of local interest often don't generate much enthusiasm among a native population. A few days before, I'd been the only person paying any attention to the statue in Stan Laurel in Bishop Auckland. On Willow Road, I found a plaque to mark the birthplace of Barbara Pym, author of a series of social comedies published in the 1950s. Her most famous work, Excellent Woman, is described as "one of the 20th century's most entertaining novels". There was also a bronze plate to mark the birth place of a Private Harold Whitfield - winner of a Victoria Cross in Egypt in 1918. Willow Road revealed a couple of examples of the desire to take the won in the direction of nearby Ludlow. Ludlow is known as a foodie heaven with a wide range of fine dining and accommodation options. On Willow Road, we had the classy looking Townhouse and nearby Sebastians - a Restaurant with Rooms. We walked back past the Wilfred Own, where a couple of
Rijeka fans waited patiently for a bus towards the football.The police van was still there, but there was still a recorded failure in his bid to find the Armada.
Oswestry has some fine sounding street names. Who needs a Street or a Road, when you have Welsh Walls? A series of courtyards were hidden behind the main frontages. Hanging baskets obscured the view into some. I noted that they like their flowers in Oswestry. I wandered along Church Street. The Wynnstay looked like the finest hotel in town. A grand Georgian building facing across to Oswestry Parish Church and the Memorial Gates marking the town's fallen in conflicts. A peaceful garden lay beyond. The flower beds and lawns were immaculate in their presentation. The buildings beyond Wynnstay fell into the pretty category I had envisaged. The Bell and Oak Inn both looked like the sort of place that were worthy of a pint or two. The Memorial Hall guarded the Borderland Farmer statue. We headed back to the car and to the football.
The large car park by the Park Hall had been closed off on our re-arrival. Players, the chosen few and UEFA
VIPs only allowed. We parked in the adjacent field, as directed by the attendant members of Oswestry Rotary Club keen to sell their half time raffle tickets. A small souvenir tent had been established by The Venue. We attired ourselves with our Silver corporate hospitality wrist bands and headed inside. The Venue was split into two sections - restaurant on one side where a 2 course hot meal was included for the Gold people and a large bar / function room, where us Silver folk would be treated to our pre-match cold buffet. A mini amusement arcade lay beyond with a small bowling alley. They had closed at 3 pm today to allow preparations for the match to commence. The Welsh League trophy nestled in the corner by the bar. A sign on the bar stated UEFA rules meant they would need to close at 6.45 pm. I have attended a series number of football match in my life, but this was only my 2nd corporate hospitality experience. The actual buffet was plentiful and first class. The New Saints could not be faulted for their organisation and catering and certainly put the efforts of Lyngby in Denmark to shame a
couple of weeks earlier.
The New Saints are a curious club. They were originally based across the border in Llansantffraid, Wales. The actual title of the football club is The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club. A tricky little number to get your chant going. They merged with the financially troubled Oswestry Town and moved across the border to take up residence at their Park Hall Stadium. At one point, the club was the known as Total Network Solutions after the name of their main sponsor. Park Hall was a work in progress with a small stand stretching down one side of the pitch with further seats behind one goal. We ate our buffet and secured a seat down the side next to a number of seats with HNK Rijeka stickers upon them. They appeared reserved for the great and the good of Rijeka society including the WAGs. I sat next to the Victoria Beckham of Rijeka. She cheered the goals, sung the songs and seemed highly pleased to be there. I couldn't see Posh enjoying an evening in Oswestry so much. Gary Taylor-Fletcher - he of Bangor City last spotted in Denmark 2
weeks ago - sat behind us to scout future League of Wales opposition. Armada Rijeka surfaced with their banners, including a cross of St Andrew. The New Saints played their game plan to perfection, hoping to sneak a goal to half the aggregate deficit and then incite panic in their superior opposition. The New Saints Manager had hoped the 4G artificial surface and complete lack of atmosphere would be unfamiliar to Rijeka. The game plan was over at half time, once a costly mistake had been punished by the Croations. The Armada let of a solitary smoke grenade and filled the stand with a haze. A serious sin in UEFA terms (and against the law in the UK). A full range of flares and pyrotechnics was seemingly too much of an ask on route from Manchester Airport. A UEFA observer was no doubt making notes. A ridiculous fine of 25 Swiss Francs will presumably follow for failing to control the crowd. I assumed that HNK Rijeka would sit back with their 3-0 overall lead in the tie as the 2nd half got underway. However they sniffed a weakness down the opposition left flank and with some clinical finishing ran out
5-1 winners on the night. The New Saints always have next year to look forward to. The WAGS of Rijeka could look forward to better shopping options in Salzburg in the next round.
Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
The New Saints (Wales) 1 HNK Rijeka (Croatia) 5
(Aggregate 1 - 7)
Date: Tuesday 18th July 2017 @ 1900 Hours
Venue: Park Hall Stadium, Burma Road, Oswestry, Shropshire. England
Attendance: 1,150
Goals: 0-1 ( Matei 41 Mins), 0-2 (Gavranovic 54 Mins), 0-3 (Gorgon 61 Mins), 0-4 (Ristovski 64 Minutes), 0-5 Gavranovic (79 Minutes),
1-5 (Cieslewiczat 69 Mins)
The New Saints: Harrison, Saunders, Spender, Routledge, Brobbel, Flecther (Cieslewiczat 57 Mins), Rawlinson, Mullan, Pryce, Edwards (Holland 65 Mins), Quigley (Draper 62 Mins)
HNK Rijeka: Sluga, Zhuta, Zuparic, Ristovski, Matei, Vesovic (Gavranovicat 52 Mins),Gorgon (Crnicat 68 Mins), Elez, Araujo dos Santos (Djokovicat 62 Mins) Bradaric, Misic
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