Redhill v Cobham
Combined Counties Premier South play-off semi-final
Kiln Brow, Three Arch Road, Earlswood, Surrey
There are nine places called Redhill in England. My parents live close to the one in Somerset. Today was my first-ever visit to the one nestled on the southern slopes of the North Downs in Surrey.
Nowadays the chief purpose of this Redhill is as part of the Greater London commuter belt. Halfway between Croydon and Gatwick , ever since the arrival of the railway in 1841, its raison d'être has been as a town on the main transport route between London to Brighton.
With a population of around 18,000, it's had a few famous residents. Ronnie Biggs was living in Redhill when he was arrested for his part in the Great Train Robbery. Occultist Aleister Crowley spent three years here. Another Redhillian was Carry-On actor Bernard Bresslaw. Football writer Nick Hornby was born here, as was TV journalist Sophie Raworth.
There was also a guy called Richard Carrington. An amateur astronomer, he moved to Redhill in 1852, and built a house and observatory from where he is credited as being the first to corroborate the existence of solar flares and their electrical influence upon the Earth and its aurorae. The Weatherspoons pub in the High Street is named The Sun in his honour.
Redhill FC was formed in 1894. In 1925/26, the club reaching the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup, losing to Northern Nomads at Arsenal's Highbury stadium in front of 17,000 people. In 1957 Redhill reached the FA Cup 1st Round for the first and only time, travelling to Norwich City, only to lose 6-1.
For 88 years their home was the Memorial Park stadium. With its lovely main stand, the ground was right in the centre of the town. It's still a public park but after the council evicted them, the club moved two miles south to the Earlswood area.
Kiln Brow? I have no idea what it means, but what a great name for a football ground. Hopefully it will never become the AXA Breakdown Stadium or have its name stolen in the name of sponsorship by any of the other faceless firms that are based in the town.
It's a pretty basic ground, typical for this level. The prefabricated, seated Alan Thurlbeck Stand bisecting the halfway line looks like it can hold 150 or so. The floodlight pole is right in the middle though! There is a small covered terrace oddly tucked away behind one of the corner flags. The rest is open-standing behind the barrier.
The tea hut is in a Portacabin to the right as you enter through the red turnstile. To the left was a food truck doing a brisk trade in fish and chips. Behind the seated stand lies The Galloping Lobster, a large, square bar-space serving the usual keg beers.
Being nowhere near fresh sea water, I was curious as to why Redhill are nicknamed The Lobsters. Apparently the origins go back to the club's early days. The production of their red-and-white striped shirts was a little less high-tech than today. Basically, the colours ran in the wash, forming a pinkish lobster-red colour. Who'd have guessed that!
Just a short drive to the west, is the village of Cobham. It's had a football team ever since a day in 1886 when the local vicar provided a football to some young men in a the local coffee tavern who wanted to form a team. Based at the wonderfully-titled Leg O'Mutton Field, The Hammers have been in the Combined Counties League since 1979. They've never been higher, and never been past the first qualifying round of the FA Cup. Today was their chance to make history.
As for the game; it failed to muster any of the excitement that this league had generated in the season-proper. Redhill had finished in third but a massive 20 points ahead of Cobham. They have only lost once at home all season. However The Hammers had taken four points off of The Lobsters in their two league meetings. It should have been a tense encounter.
Sadly it was all a bit flat and soulless. Until the home drummer finally found his drum stick in the closing half hour, the crowd was silent. Cobham dominated the first half. They hit the post and had another chance headed off the line.
The second 45 minutes dragged-by in a terminal case of hoof-ball-stalemate. Redhill never found their stride. The first save the visiting keeper had to make was a superb stretch to block the opening strike in the penalty shoot-out. He saved Redhill's second attempt too. He looked happy to finally have something to do!
The Lobsters clawed their way back, as their keeper also made two saves. But when Redhill's final penalty went soaring over the bar, it was left to the captain Charles Nicholas Alexiou to strike the final kick into the net and send the Cobham faithful looking for flights to the Channel Islands next week.
Jersey might find the impressive Cobham defence a tough nut to crack. A few days to practive those penalties?
If I heard the distant tannoy correctly, the attendance was 667; roughly triple the usual crowd at Kiln Brow. Programmes at £2 were available. Due to the late announcement of the game volunteers only had enough time to hand-staple 100 copies. The manic line of groundhoppers buying multiple copies from the one box, meant they had sold out by 2.15. The guy standing next to me did find a team sheet from somewhere.
After all of the uncertainly that spoilt the end of season in this league, the club's volunteers did amazingly well to put on this game at three days notice. There is a large car park at the ground but by 2pm the overflow facility was forwarding vehicles into a neighbouring field. Signs warned everyone to be wary of rabbit holes!
The rutted, sand-covered pitch was telling everyone it was in need of a summer break. At one stage the match had to be halted as they had run out of balls. Apparently the children had taken them as souvenirs on the 'last day' of the season. When the last available match-ball was headed into the undergrowth, we had to wait for a steward to brave the thistles and retrieve it so that play could continue!
Admittance was £9. You can get the train to Redhill but the ground is two miles to the south. Either grab the 100 bus from the bus station opposite. This drops you in Three Arch Road, right outside the stadium. Or you can take a train to Earlswood station which is a 10-minute walk away.
There are plenty of pubs in the town centre. Real ale fans might want to track down the charming community-run Garibaldi on Mill Street, roughly midway between the town centre and the ground.
