Wales is famous for it's grounds with stunning views and Corris' home regularly appears in books, pictorials, articles, or high up in polls, as one of the best, most scenic, grounds in the country. Today the stars finally aligned and I finally headed down to into Mid-Wales to see for myself. It certainly didn't disappoint!
Corris itself is a former slate mining village in the county of Gwynedd and is around 5 miles north of Machynlleth. It is now more famous for the Corris Railway, a preserved narrow gauge railway, with steam trains, that runs on the border between Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire. It was originally built to carry slate from quarries in the Corris area and it first opened in 1859. This was my first port of call pre-match and was an enjoyable way to spend an hour or so.
Corris United are the local football team and they reformed in 2019, after eight years in abeyance. Given the history of the village they are nicknamed The Quarrymen. They play in the Cambrian Tyres Aberystwyth and District League, which is the 5th tier of Welsh football. There are just 10 teams in the division so, despite this being the second weekend of September, this was actually the opening day of the league season.
As the village is in the Dyfi Valley and the pitch can been seen from the A487, and also from the Corris railway, which both overlook the ground. It all makes a stunning location and an amazing vista. It looked even better in the glorious sunshine that beat down.
Admission was by donation and included a 4 page programme, which was a very pleasant surprise. As for the football, it was a good game to watch as The Quarrymen beat current Aberystwyth League champions Penparcau Reserves 5-3. Credit to both teams for producing such a watchable game in the blistering heat.
It was the visitors who opened the scoring through Lee Jones (32) before a Dion Kohler double (35 & 41) put the homesters in front. A penalty from Liam Lewis in first half stoppage time ensured it was all square at the break.
Charlie Jellet (62) fired Corris into the lead before an incident in the 77th minute saw both teams reduced to 10-men with Ryan Jones and Liam Lewis shown straight red cards.
Jake Hinge (82) extended Corris' lead before Jones grabbed his second for Arky deep into stoppage time. Any thoughts of a dramatic comeback were quashed moments later when Kohler scored once again to complete his hat-trick. Excellent stuff indeed.
It was a wonderful afternoon in mid-Wales and, if you haven't been here before, I would certainly recommend you putting a visit to Corris United on your groundhopping "bucket list".
EDIT: On 30th September 2023 Penparcau folded their reserve team due to "lack of commitment and attitude shown to managers in recent weeks". Therefore this was one of the games that was declared null and void and expunged from the records. Revisit required then?
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