7:00am Saturday 17th October 2009
By Neil Perrett
BLINK, and you could miss it. A quaint village, set on the edge of the New Forest, Bashley is currently home to a revitalised football club.
Formed in 1947, their rise to the summit of the Southern League a week ago saw them match their highest placing in their 62-year history, give or take a couple of restructures.
It came courtesy of a thumping 5-0 win at Tiverton and saw the village people leapfrog big-town Farnborough by virtue of a superior goal difference.
Traditionally, glasses would be raised to toast this feat in the village pub but Bashley does not have one. Just a post office, a garage and a garden centre.
The new leaders have put to shame clubs with far greater resources, their modest Bashley Road headquarters (the Rec to locals) being anything but hospitable to opposing teams.
Many a team bus will have stopped at the Rising Sun in nearby Wootton as beaten visitors drown their sorrows before heading back along the winding B3085.
Home to almost as many ponies as people, Bashley put its name on the national footballing map by gaining promotion to the Southern League in 1989 following three successive Wessex League titles.
Having also hit the headlines by reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase in 1988, Bashley’s position atop the Southern League now is even more remarkable considering the financial constraints on the club and on non-league football in general.
In the summer, Richard Gillespie, the club’s all-time record goalscorer, was sold for £5,000 to Conference South neighbours Eastleigh. Budget cuts also impacted on the playing staff, while the youth and reserve teams were scrapped.
Due to its location, Bashley has always struggled to entice big crowds, average league attendances of 283 dwarfed by those of rivals Farnborough (916), Nuneaton (842), Leamington (685) and Truro (684).
The club is run by a four-strong executive committee, with Gary Parsons, who owns a local haulage company, its chairman. The manager, Steve Riley, was appointed in October 2005 having previously played for the club.
Parsons said: “We take off our hat to Steve and the players, they are doing a terrific job.
“Bearing in mind we’ve got no reserve or youth teams, it’s solely down to the first team. We’ve got a small squad, which is all down to finances, and it’s hard for everybody.”
Parsons put much of Bashley’s success down to long-time supporter Ray Pinney when he said: “If it hadn’t been for Ray, we wouldn’t be where we are today. A lot of this is down to him.”
Should Bashley avoid defeat in their next two home league games, they will have gone for more than a year unbeaten in front of their own supporters. Hednesford, once of the Conference, and Cambridge City stand between them.
Had it not been for bogey side Merthyr Tydfil, Bashley would also be undefeated this season, a 2-1 reverse in South Wales on the opening day their only league blot of the campaign.
Coincidentally, Merthyr were also the last team to lower Bashley’s colours at home in the league, way back on November 15 last year.
So if Riley’s boys could keep their home record intact for another few months, they may be dancing in the streets of Bashley come May.
• In 2004, a restructuring of non-league football saw the introduction of a Conference South division between the Conference and the Southern League. Prior to this, Bashley spent four seasons in the top flight of the Southern League, leading the Premier Division in 1991-92 before eventually finishing fourth.
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