Bath City v Bristol Rovers, Twerton Park. 12th July, 2016

Britain, mid July 2016. The country is in turmoil. Post Brexit vote, the prime minister has resigned, the population is divided and the Labour party is busy ripping itself apart. On the football pitch Roy Hodgson has fallen on his sword after England's humiliation at the hands of Iceland.

I'm on my way to my first game of the pre-season in need of some much needed familiarity. Turning on the radio there is yet more upheaval, TalkSPORT have been bought out by News Corp, broadcasting stalwarts Murray and Collymore have already gone along with who knows else to follow.

In a rapidly changing world, welcome relief was to be found at Twerton Park.
It's 20 years since Bristol Rovers left their rented accommodation after a decade as Bath City's tenants. It is safe to say, very little has changed in the intervening years. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Twerton Park is a thing of beauty.

Prior to the game I enjoyed a drink at the Locksbridge Inn, just across the river, supping on the locally brewed Electric Bear IPA. Nice drop.

After paying £8 to get in, I wondered over to the covered terraced stretching the length of the pitch. Looking around it is hard to believe that for three heady years in the early 90's, Twerton Park hosted second tier (championship in new money) football. As recently as 95/96 I can remember a raucous west country derby with Swindon and the visit of premiership West Ham, captained by Julian Dicks.

The ground has a capacity of almost 9,000 with approximately 1,000 seats, all of which are located opposite the covered terrace in the Main stand behind the dug outs along with the family stand which is the lasting legacy of Rovers tenure.

Family and Main Stands

Bath City are currently playing in the National League South. Although their ground may not have changed much, their have been exciting things happening, or at least threatening to happen, in recent times. Last summer the 'Big Bath City Bid' was launched. Endorsed by celebrity backers Ken Loach and Eric Cantona, it was an effort to raise funds through community shares enabling the club to be purchased from the current owners.

More details: https://thebristolcable.org/2015/09/fair-play-fan-ownership-at-bath-city/

Unfortunately the £400,000 odd raised fell short of the £750,000 deemed necessary to achieve lift off. They have not given up though, and hopefully Bath City becomes supporter owned before too long. There is no doubt that a city the size of Bath is capable of sustaining a professional football club at a much higher level. Those behind the bid are hopeful that with community ownership will come increased interest and a much needed boost to attendances. 


To the match. It was good to see ex Rovers keeper Steve Phillips in goal for Bath as well as former youth prospect Shaquelle Hunter on the bench. Rovers put out a strong starting XI though in truth the game was a little dull from start to finish. Rovers appear to be between kits, having recently changed their suppliers. This meant they took to the field in blue training t-shirts, with numbers hastily slapped on the back. This seemed to add to the one paced, training exercise feel of the game.

There were a couple of chances in the first half though if I'm honest I wasn't paying close attention and was busy looking out for familiar faces and chatting to old friends. I also left for the bar a few minutes before half time, emerging a few minutes after the restart, missing the 8 changes that Rovers had made.

View from the Bristol end.

The game would eventually be decided by defender James Clarkes headed goal with 20 minutes to go. This was his second goal in a week and also the second goal in his whole career. Hopefully this rich scoring vein continues.

Goal scorer Clarke receives treatment

A very enjoyable trip to a lovely traditional ground. Nice way to start the season. Best of luck Bath City for the coming season and to the supporters succeeding with the Big Bath City Bid.

Match Action