Match Information
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Ilkley Town 1-0 Thackley
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When: Saturday 2nd July 2022
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Kick-off: 3pm
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Where: MPM Stadium, Ben Rhydding Sports Club, Leeds Road, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, LS29 8AW
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Competition: Pre-season friendly
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Attendance: 136
Ilkley Town have the totally unique nickname of The Baht’atters and this has some long-standing personal intrigue for me.
It dates back to a vivid memory from my first ever excursion to watch Non-League football in the lovely county of Yorkshire some 40 years ago. That was a trip to Farsley Celtic FC back in March 1982.
When a club official heard that I had travelled up from London that day, he started literally serenading me with a magnificent folk song called ‘On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at’. The lilting words of dialect include:
Wheear ’ast tha bin sin’ ah saw thee, ah saw thee?
On Ilkla Mooar baht ’at
Wheear ’ast tha bin sin’ ah saw thee, ah saw thee?
Wheear ’ast tha bin sin’ ah saw thee?
On Ilkla Mooar baht ’at
On Ilkla Mooar baht ’at
On Ilkla Mooar baht ’at
He told me that this was the recognised anthem of Yorkshire and it described a woman walking on blustery Ilkley Moor without a hat (baht ’at).
Then in 2021, this song popped right back into my head when Ilkley Town FC joined The National League System (that is, Steps 1 to 6 of the Non-League football pyramid) having won promotion from the West Yorkshire League to the North West Counties League First Division North. So I decided that I must visit the club at my earliest opportunity!
In March this year, Ilkley hosted a Sunday afternoon fixture as part of a NWCL groundhopper weekend. I got up really early and set off with great anticipation.
But 100 miles up the A1 near Grantham, my car started shuddering drastically and I had to pull over into a lay-by. It was a simple ignition coil problem which was repaired quite quickly under my breakdown cover.
However, this meant that it was too late to go to the match at Ilkley. Therefore I had no alternative but to turn around at the next junction and return home.
But I vowed to myself that I would make another attempt to visit Ilkley Town as soon as possible.
So when this pre-season friendly against Thackley cropped up – with the added attraction for me of a printed match programme on sale – I embarked on the 400 mile round trip.
Naturally I breathed a sigh of relief as I sailed passed that aforementioned A1 lay-by and eventually arrived at the MPM Stadium an hour before kick-off.
Ground Description
This is located next to the River Wharfe and is part of Ben Rhydding Sports Club, which is an expansive facility with 900-plus members.
It caters for bowls, cricket, croquet, football, hockey and lawn tennis. Ilkley Town’s ground has a 3G artificial pitch which was opened in 2018.
Spectator facilities consist of a covered standing enclosure on the halfway line and a newly-installed seated stand behind one goal.
Programme Details
Very commendable that Ilkley made the effort to produce a printed programme for this friendly.
It sold at £2 and contained plenty of interesting reading material. I particularly liked the thoughtful interviews which included a really good focus on the club’s recently appointed scholarship manager David Cope.
The Match
A tight affair between two clubs based just eight miles apart as the crow flies but who play in different leagues.
Thackley from the Northern Counties East League Premier Division started brightly and created a host of good chances in the first half.
However it was Ilkley who scored the only goal when Tom Fleming crisply slotted home on 59 minutes.
As if by magic for the benefit of my ears, a home supporter immediately started loudly singing the Ilkla Moor Baht ’at song as soon as the ball hit the net.
Apart from that, play was briefly held up at one point due to a dog invading the pitch!
The People
Ilkley Town’s matchday secretary Billy Hutchison afforded me a very warm welcome and spoke with real pride about his football club’s extensive community links.
Billy spent the whole game running around retrieving footballs that had been kicked out of the ground and that strenuous exercise means he is very fit looking indeed!
Ilkley also have two young and extremely enthusiastic press officers - Evan Seaman and Matthew Lambe. Both lads would eventually like to pursue a career in journalism.
I chatted at length with Evan and I was impressed by the work he does on Ilkley’s Twitter account. Matthew was away but Billy asked him to email me some questions about my life as a reporter which I happily answered.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 6th July 2022
