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Teversal is a small village seated on a
lofty eminence on the western border of the county. One of the most
unspoilt villages in Nottinghamshire, it should be noted that Old Teversal
was the setting of D.H.Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'.
As residents of one of Nottinghamshire's oldest existing football
grounds, Teversal's history of disbandment, reformation & name changes
could have come straight out of one of Mr Lawrence's novels.
There is a long history of
football being played at Carnarvon
Street dating back to the 1920's. The Club were initially set up as by the
local mining community under the banner of Teversal Colliery
Football Club. A desire for local football at the nearby nearby Silverhill
Colliery led to another name change by the 1940's to Teversal &
Silverhill Colliery Welfare. This short lived partnership's most notable
achievement was an extra preliminary round F.A.Cup win over Parliament
Street Methodists in 1949. With Silverhill going their own way, the Club
was again renamed to Teversal Miners Welfare.
Whilst the Welfare club itself continued to thrive, the football side of
the complex became run down and the senior football team was
disbanded.
For many years, the Club
continued to survive under the guise of youth team football. By 1986, the
senior football club was reformed again under the name of
M.W.Teversal. However, the 1980's and early 90's proved to be a
devastating period for the local community. The closure of Teversal
Colliery in 1980, the Miners Welfare in 1989, followed by the
closure of Silverhill Colliery in 1992 saw a steady decline in the will to
contribute towards the redevelopment of M.W.Teversal. A period of
uncertainty privailed at Carnarvon Street. The colliery's had always been
the heart and soul of Teversal, and fortunately Ashfield District Council
recognised a need to resurrect some sense of pride back into the
community.
In 1989, the Council took over
the Trusteeship of the Teversal Grange complex, which contained the
football ground As a result, the Club's new links with the Teversal Grange
Sports and Social Centre, resulted in a name change to
Teversal Grange Football Club. By 1993, the Council had invested heavily
in building a lasting tribute to the village's mining past in the form of
the Teversal visitors centre and the Teversal Trails besides the football ground,
which have transformed the trackbeds of former colliery railways to create
a network of enchanting trails.
The name change game was not
quite over for the Club. Finding themselves being mistakenly associated
with the Teversal Grange Country Inn on the other side of the car
park, the start of the 2000-2001 season heralded a change to current
name of Teversal Football Club.
From the
uncertain times, which saw the Club running just one senior team and
Carnarvon Street in a severe state of disrepair, the Club have shown a
determination to offer quality football in a quality stadium played for
the locals by the locals. Having finished life as Teversal Grange in 2000
second from bottom of the Central Midlands Premier League, 2005 saw the
Club promoted to the Northern East Counties Division One. The
Tevie Boys Extra-Preliminary Round F.A.Cup tie at neighboring Shirebrook
Town heralded their first match in the world's most famous competition for
over half-a-century, whilst their following round clash with Pegasus
Juniors was the first FA Cup tie at Carnarvon Street in living memory for
most people associated with the Club.
Progress was not just being
rapidly achieved on the pitch. Off the pitch, the Club worked tirelessly
to ensure that the Ground was up to NCEL standards. In
the summer of 2003 the Ground was completely fenced in,
concrete hard standing laid all around the pitch, floodlights erected and a new gatehouse
built. Prior to entering thorugh the gatehouse, one may wish to have a
wander around the Teversal Vistiors Centre adjacent to the Ground. The
centre is run by volunteers and is normally open seven days a week
providing hot snacks and drinks. The staff are extremely friendly and
always willing to answer your questions, though the location of Tevie's
1949 cup opponents Parliament Street Methodists might prove to be a tricky
one. The prices of the food and drinks are embarrassingly cheap with
seating available both inside and outside. You could also venture over to
the Grange Country Inn for a
pre-match tipple.
Alternatively, neither may
appeal, and you may want to go straight into the Ground for a beverage,
and you will not be disappointed. Within
the new gatehouse you are immediately greeted by the welcoming site of The
Tevie Bar. This porter cabin clubhouse offers hot and cold snacks and
drinks for visitors. Passing by The Tevie Bar you arrive at the
Town End, straight forward hard standing area. To the right of this on the
car park side is the club's large, modern, brick built changing facilities.
The rest of this side also offers level hard standing for
spectators.
It is behind The
Railway End where
things really begin to get interesting. Teversal were featured in a 2004 addition
of football grounds magazine, Groundtastic ,for it's ingenious use of two ex-supermarket
shopping trolley shelters as stands. Each of these Tesco's shelters stands
on either side of the Railway End goal. Located behind the goal itself is
a high wire-meshing fence, built to prevent the loss of too many balls to striker's
wayward shots. Behind The Railway End runs
the old colliery rail track upon which ran the Teversal to Pleasley
line up until the late 1970�s. The tracks have been all removed and
there are now a number of different routes providing tranquil walks
through beautiful countryside, a lot of which has been designated as local
nature reserves.
The
entire pitch is surrounded by a four inch thick, white painted steel rope
held aloft by dozens of steel posts.
In the summer of 2003, six modern steel pole floodlights were erected,
three on wither side of the pitch. The middle pylons offering three
high-powered clusters and the outer two housing two clusters, in line with
NCEL regulations.
On the Pleasley Road side are located
the Club's only seated stand. Built in the summer of 2002, this cantilevered
stand holds four rows of 100 blue seats. Next to this stand is a revamped
hard standing covered stand, painted in red and held aloft by three steel
posts. The roof to this stand raises towards the front, and the fascia
holds a hoarding bearing the Club's name. In front of
this stand, the Club have added two ultra-modern European-style perplex
dugouts. It should be noted that whilst
neither stand has wind shields on the sides, the fact that the pitch is completely
enclosed by a sturdy breeze-block wall does ease the effects of a bracing
wind. To the right of this stand is the rusting framework of an old
covered standing area. Another point of interest behind the two stands on the Pleasley Road
side is Silverhill Wood, location of the highest point in Nottinghamshire.
Upon the top of this man-made hill, a five-foot high
bronze statue stands of a crouching miner checking for gas has been
erected in honour of the area's rich mining heritage.
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From M1 Jnc.29 - Take the A6175
exit towards Heath and Holmewood. Travel through Holmewood, and at the
roundabout after 1.8 miles take the B6039 towards Hardstoft and
Tibshelf. Continue for 3.1 miles and at the
T-junction in Tibshelf (with The White Hart pub on your left) turn left
onto the B6014. Continue on for 2.2 miles, passing over the motorway, The Carnarvon
Arms pub and under the old railway
bridge. Take first left up Carnarvon Street, the ground is at the top of the
Street with ample parking available.
TrentBarton No.241 (Mansfield Bus Station-Clay Cross) passes by
Carnarvon Street.
Mansfield
- 4.2 miles. From here catch the above bus service from Mansfield Bus
Station.