Damage In The Box!: HONITON TOWN (Mountbatten Park)

SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION EAST, HONITON TOWN 2-2 TORRIDGESIDE, ATTENDANCE: 96

It's funny how things work out...

Along with many other like minded football fans, I headed to the South West of England for the South West Peninsula League 'groundhop' which was returning after a six year hiatus. Seven games were scheduled over three days, starting in Honiton on Maundy Thursday but, as I arrived in the town and parked up, which was just 35 minutes before kick off, I recieved a message off a mate to say the game had just been called off. I can't repeat what I shouted out!

Despite the herculean effort of the groundstaff and volunteers, the referee deemed a small patch of the pitch in front of the stand unplayable. The managers and players of both teams were happy to give it a go, the club were obviously desperate for the game to go ahead, as it would have been a huge payday for them, but the officials were unmoved. Incredibly sad for everyone concerned.

The rain continued to fall over the weekend and it was lucky that all the other scheduled 'hop' games went ahead, some on pitches in a similar condition to Honiton, but moving onto Easter Monday the rain was still falling and still playing havoc with matches. Once again there were lots of postponements but one club tweeted that it was definitely 'game on' and that was Honiton Town, joking that it was all systems go after the pitch had had a "nice rest on Thursday". So off I headed back down the A30 to Mountbatten Park. As I said, it's funny how things work out.

Honiton Town were founded in 1950 and were members of the Devon and Exeter League until 2017 when they joined the South West Peninsula League. Last season (2022/23) was their highest ever league finish, 13th in the East Division.

Mountbatten Park is on the edge of the town and is shared with the cricket club, so there is hard standing down two sides of the pitch along with a small covered stand and a larger seated stand.

The football club are nicknamed 'The Hippos'. Why the Hippos I hear you cry? Well, about 100,000 years ago, a wide range of species lived in South Devon and the water-rich, boggy area around Honiton was particularly attractive to hippos, who migrated from Southern Europe towards England. When the construction of the A30 road began, fossils of hippo bones were discovered and are on display in the local museum.

On the subject of water-rich, boggy areas, the playing pitch was no different to Thursday, with that troublesome patch in front of the stand still very soft. This time though the game kicked off and was played to a finish. Hooray!

In an entertaining game, Jordan Harris gave Honiton the lead in the 20th minute before Torridgeside equalised in the 39th minute George King firing home a free kick. The visitors took the lead in the 57th minute through Shaun Copp and looked set for the three points until Lewis Couch bagged an equaliser for Honiton, deep into stoppage time. That sent the Hippo Ultras into delirium - cue the pyro!

That concluded a wonderful, if wet, weekend in the South West. Looking forward to Easter 2025 already.