Post by Dave on Sept 8, 2013 8:03:24 GMT
Cricketfield Road, Home Of Upton Athletic
Sadly I can’t find any history on line about Upton Athletic and would love to know when the club was formed and when they played their first game at Cricketfield Road. I do know the site has been used for sport for a good number of years and could even have been in use in the late 1800’s, but I’m not 100% sure of that.
The ground is owned by Barton Cricket club and I learned yesterday that the house that forms part of the main building that has the club house and changing rooms etc in it, has been empty for over 20 years now. I had family members living in that house some 35 years ago, but I understand its now in poor condition and some damage was done to it when the whole building was re roofed.
The football pitch is in the far corner of the ground and some walk away from the changing rooms and club house. The pitch suffers from an uphill slope from the bottom of it to the top and this becomes an even steeper slope from the edge of the area to the goal mouth. It’s this steeper slope that makes the ground unsuitable for the Carlsberg Peninsula League.
I understand that Upton would love to acquire the lease of the ground and take over the old house and covert it into a club house for the football club, maybe the cricket club is unwilling to allow this to happen as currently the players use the facilities in the cricket club house. I’m sure if Upton were ever allowed to acquire the lease, then one job they would undertake is the levelling of the pitch so it could meet the standards required by the Carlsberg Peninsula League, as the club would never be able to move up the football ladder unless they moved to another ground.
The dressing rooms are clean and adequate and beside the entrance to the home dressing rooms is a set of stairs that take you up to a room where you can buy a drink and bite to eat. Something you might do before of after that match as its maybe too far to walk to at halftime.
Upton are a good well run club that has always produced good football teams, my own personal thoughts are that they really could be an even bigger force in local football if their pitch was more suitable for a team that likes to play good passing football.
I have seen the pitch under water on a number of occasions as when the heavy rains fall; water does collect at the bottom of the ground where the football pitch is located. Compared to some other pitches in Torbay its not that bad, but that final steep uphill part of the pitch does help teams attacking that end of the pitch. Long balls played out of their own half tend to hold up giving the chance for forward players to get to the ball before it is able to run out of play over the line.
I remember watching one game on the pitch where the keeper went on a walk about and a shot was fired from some thirty yards out towards the empty goal. Just as the ball got to the goal line it stopped and started running back down the slope. On any other pitch the ball would have simply hit the back of the net.
If you are looking for a game to watch on a Saturday afternoon, then you won’t be disappointed popping along to watch Upton play at Cricketfield Road.
