There’s nothing better than seeing young players coming through the ranks and appearing in the club first team, and by all accounts today’s club have developed somewhat of a reputation for doing just that.
Coventry Sphinx FC, the City’s highest ranked non-league club formed in 1946 as Armstrong Whitworth FC, competing in various works leagues in the area, before changing their name to Sphinx FC in the 1960’s. Then the 90’s hit, due to many factories etc closing, the club decided to leave the works leagues and instead join the football league pyramid, first entering into what was the known as the Midland Combination Football League.
Despite the clubs continued growth, just from looking at social media and the clubs website it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the lads and lasses from down at Sphinx Drive. They have lost important figures to the club along the way as we all have, but you can tell that the club goes about things the right way, honouring this that have helped them to where they are. Something that should be celebrated.
To the present day, The Sphinx sit 8th in the United Counties League Premier Division South and at the weekend compete in one of the biggest games in the clubs history, playing against London Lions for a place in the last 16 of the FA Vase.
Best of luck from us all here at Climbing The Ladder.
NEXT FIXTURE: It's a big game up next with a place in the last 16 of the FA Vase at stake. London Lions will be the visitors to Sphinx Drive on Saturday and your support will be vital. Make sure you're there to back the team! #UTSpic.twitter.com/DdgL2Of8gJ
If you follow the lads over at Newcastle Benfield on social media, there’s a massive chance you’ve seen this regularly this year.
At age 44, the clubs top scorer for the season Paul Brayson and former England C International is still ticking over, scoring goals across the country and i’m sure setting up a few aswell. The lad from Newcastle has had a long career that has seen him venture into the football league appearing at clubs such as Swansea, Reading and Cardiff, scoring goals wherever he’s been.
‘Brassy’ will be looking to lead the Lions into the first round proper of the FA Vase at the weekend, for what will be the clubs 11th season in a row reaching the stage of the competition.
Founded in 1988 as Brunswick Village, the club has undergone a number of name changes, as subtle as some of them are, before officially becoming Newcastle Benfield FC as late as 2007. The club originally competed in the Northern Alliance, before merging with North Shields Saint Colombus and joining the Northern League, staying in Division Two for one season to Division One where they remain till this day.
At the time of writing they sit mid-table in Division One and at the weekend are set to compete in Round One of the FA Vase, playing host to Golcar United down at Sam Smith’s Park, so from everyone here at Climbing The Ladder, best of luck to the lions.
Lots of claims are made across the football world, normally those usually refer to clubs being bigger, more successful or having better players than their rivals.
The club we have chosen to cover today however, caught our attention because of the absolutely huge claim they have made on Twitter, “Officially the sunniest club in Scotland”and they are Dunbar United.
Founded in 1924 and competing for the vast majority of their history as a Junior football club, The Seasiders have a long and storied history that has seen them pick up many pieces of silverware, including the Scottish Junior Cup in 1960/61.
In recent years though the club withdrew from Junior football and took the step into the Scottish Football League Pyramid, joining the East of Scotland Conference A, a quick promotion followed the year after but season interruptions has seen the club remain in the East Of Scotland Premier Division until the present.
Everyone we have spoken too, regarding the people and the club itself at Dunbar speaks very highly of the club. Even from a quick look at there social media including visits from recent groundhoppers, tells you that the club is well run and definitely worth a visit.
We look forward to travelling over to Fife on Saturday to face @Primrose1926
🗓 Saturday 2nd October 📍 Humburg Park 🏆 East of Scotland Premier League 🕞 2.30pm ko 💷 Adults: £6 Concessions: £3 🎟 Available now on Fanbase Apphttps://t.co/Di5F7oGvVJ
Finally, we aren’t going to argue that they aren’t the sunniest club in Scotland or even who made it official, we will leave that to other teams, but we will definitely be travelling up to a game this year if possible, the shorts, sunnies and sandals already packed.
Two hours north of Manchester, sits one of the most northern outposts in England, Carlisle.
Most people will know Carlisle United, Football League club for many years, currently sat in League Two. Slightly fewer people however will know about Carlisle City, most recently plying their trade in the Northern League Division Two.
Formed in 1975, The Sky Blues for most of their history competed in the Northern Football Alliance Premier Division before the club was promoted to the North West Counties Division One, this was only for brief time however as somewhat controversially and despite appeals, the club was moved sideways to the Northern League Division Two, due to the FA restructuring Non-League football.
— Carlisle City FC Official (@CarlisleCityFC) July 30, 2021
It’s an exciting time down at Gilford Park, as City are attempting to go through what (correct me if i’m wrong!) would be there first hopefully uninterrupted season of Northern League football. This will see new faces and new teams make the journey to Carlisle.
With the addition of Carlisle to the Northern League, this means that both divisions now feature a Cumbrian team, a nice away day for all involved!
We enjoyed our first visit to @redcartownfc last night and we thank them for their hospitality. It is a fine set-up there with an excellent playing surface. We would recommend neutrals to give them a visit.
Being a Cumbrian lad myself, hopefully I will get down to Gilford Park for a game or two this season, and we’d just like to wish everyone at the Sky Blues all the best for this season.
Flamingos, pink smoke and a dairy cow named Lionela Bessi…
The history behind Forward Madison Football Club isn’t a very long one with the club only founded in 2018, however, in such a short period the club has packed in so much they have a story that rivals some clubs born centuries before them.
Holy cow! We've got dairy big news to share… 🐮
Please welcome the newest member of Forward Madison: As voted by the fans, it's ROSE COWBELLE! 🌹🐄🔔 pic.twitter.com/25KQ8VlCeP
Based out of Breese Stevens Field in Madison, we stumbled across Forward Madison on Twitter and fell into a community unlike no other. Fan interactivity is, and from the sounds of it always will be, a massive part of the club and is a giant reason why they have crushed the average attendance figures in there current league.
This desire to show just what their city and their club are about stems from the very roots of the club, so we got in contact supporters group ‘The Flock’ to find out how they do it and where they want to achieve in the future.
Marketing and Social Committee lead for ‘The Flock’ Jeffery Anderson was the man to respond to us and we couldn’t think of anyone else who was more qualified to answer our series of questions.
We set off trying to find out how the club is so creative across social media and what is the secret formula for going viral across the globe on multiple occasions…
“Their Digital Content Manager, Jason Klein, is amazing at making posts that resonate with a lot of people, whether it’s because those posts are funny or because they find ways to engage with people in meaningful ways. “
As open and informative as the interviewee was about his home city and his football club, no secret formula was forthcoming when we asked about going viral and plans for the future…
“We have a lot of projects brewing at the moment. We’re looking for more ways to connect with people online as well as amplify the voices of local charitable organizations doing great things in our community.”
“Last year, we held a charity stream for various LGBTQIA+ Organizations on Twitch and we’re going to be utilizing that platform a lot more in 2021. We want to use it to highlight local artists by doing some art streams and bring supporters together with other content as well.”
Few clubs outside the MLS in America can claim to have committed fans from across the globe like the wonderful people at Forward Madison FC, and from our small amount of interactions with them, we can completely understand why. They have fan groups sprouting up in all corners of the world, known as ‘flock chapters’ and as the club continues to grow, this shows no signs of slowing down.
We will be keeping an eye out on the social media channels of Forward Madison FC and the subsequent global fan groups in the future and we cant wait to see just what they have in store for the future. We will finish this feature, with a few parting words from our very helpful interviewee Jeffery,
“These are just a few things I can speak on right now, but we have more that will be announced as the year progresses. For now, the best way to stay up-to-date is by following us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @fwdflock. We’d love to connect with other supporters of the game we all love.”
Climbing The Ladder 