Route One Rovers vs Ilkley Town. 07.08.23
Joe Marshall- @joemarshall_
Every season, a host of teams from the country’s regional divisions apply to join step 6 of the non-league structure. Of course, only a handful of these bids come to fruition, many sides remain in their existing division due to on-pitch performance, ground grading issues or financial circumstances. However, one team that were successful in their quest to join step 6 ahead of this season was Route One Rovers. I headed to Keighley to check out a club with an eye-catching name and a large degree of hype, as they begin life in the NWCFL Division One North, the tenth tier of English football.
My sat-nav took me through the idyllic countryside of Lancashire and North Yorkshire before arriving in Keighley, a town around 8 miles north of Bradford city centre. The hour-long journey from north Manchester was spectacular, the sunset providing a gorgeous backdrop for this exciting groundhopping adventure.
Marley Stadium
The destination was the Marley Stadium, a ground that Route One Rovers share with Steeton AFC, also of the NWCFL Division One North. The car park on site provides adequate space, but nearby street parking is also available. Public transport wise, Keighley train station is less than one mile away, giving good access to the ground regardless of how you travel.
The miserable weather of recent weeks had put pay to several games the previous weekend, not something you ever expect to write in August. But the Marley Stadium is resilient to any adverse conditions, thanks to its 4G playing surface. As it happened though, the unrelenting rain of the past few weeks had a night off, which meant the game went ahead without a hitch under a pleasant summer evening’s sky.
The Marley Stadium has three covered stands, the first of which you will see directly ahead of you as you enter through the turnstile. This stand sits on the half way line, and can house around 100 fans. It provides the only seated viewing in the stadium. The other two stands are located either side of the goal on the north side of the ground. Both appeared to be hollowed out shipping containers, which sounds a little derogatory as I type it, but they are actually extremely practical for the purpose they serve!
The remainder of the Marley Stadium is uncovered standing room, a healthy crowd of over 200 meant that each corner of the ground was populated, which gave the impression of the ground being busy. One of the charms of the Marley Stadium are the pleasant views behind the north side of the ground, with the houses built on the hills fading into merely intermittent light bulbs as the evening grew darker.
Marley Stadium Experience
I obviously cannot speak for the fan experience of a Steeton AFC game, but I found my experience at Marley Stadium for this Route One Rovers match to be positive. Since my visit, I have read a few negative reviews online from people who seem to show a significant lack of understanding of the challenges that clubs face when moving up into the pyramid. To my slight disappointment, there was no printed programme, but there was a free digital version which could be downloaded with ease. Being a fan of an old-fashioned physical copy, it wasn’t ideal, but I was not about to let it ruin my experience, as a couple of people online seemed to do.
Another complaint that I have subsequently read online is about the lack of hot food, which baffled me, as I enjoyed beautiful chicken biryani with a helping of succulent yoghurt. It must be said that the hot food options started and finished with the biryani, but it was certainly one of the most unique dishes I’ve ever had at a football game! The Bradford district has a large south Asian community, and this is something that is intrinsically linked with the history of Route One Rovers. Serving a typically Asian dish at Rovers’ games is a wonderful touch, and a great way to embrace the community that the team serves. Another thing worth noting is the kindness of everyone I met. My food was served with a smile and an interest in where I had come from, as well as a parting message of “enjoy your game”, a phrase that stuck with me. Route One Rovers is evidently a project with the community at the very forefront of its existence. After all, the game is for everyone.
Route One Rovers History
Route One Rovers are one of the newest sides at step 6, taking their place in the NWCFL Division One North at the start of the 2023/24 season. They are a club truly reflective of their local community with a strong core of Asian players, coaches and volunteers. I recently travelled to a Sporting Bengal United game, a club which was massively similar in terms of their links to London’s south Asian community. The demographic inside the Marley Stadium was drastically different to most non-league games, in terms of age, gender and ethnicity of supporters. It was genuinely refreshing to see how well Route One have marketed themselves to attract the support of their local community.
Founded in 2013, the club have had a rapid rise through the Yorkshire amateur ranks to find themselves in step 6 after just 10 years. After a number of players playing in a variety of teams came together to form Route One Rovers, they began their journey in the Spen Valley League. The club’s name is obviously something which catches the eye, and in a recent interview on the NWCFL website, chairman Sameel Mahmood stated that he wanted a name that sounds fun, and figured it would be ironic given the style of football they actually wanted to play. The name certainly stands out and has drawn attention from all corners.
After two seasons in the Spen Valley League, they moved into the West Riding Amateur League in 2015. Those first two seasons yielded the club’s first pieces of silverware, in the form of the league title in 2013/14 and the league cup in 2014/15.
Route One Rovers won the West Riding Amateur League Division Cup in 2016/17 and 2018/19. After this, they were placed in the Yorkshire Amateur League, and won a cup treble in 2021/22. As well as lifting the Bradford District Cup and Yorkshire Amateur League Cup, they defeated Prestwich Marauders in the final of the Star Tissue UK Football Championships, a competition which gives a platform for Asian teams from across the north west. Their success was also noticed by then Manchester United star Paul Pogba, who sent the team a congratulatory video message. Rovers then followed up this success with an unbeaten league campaign in 2022/23, a season which culmunated in a Keighley District Cup win on top of their impressive league title success.
At the end of 2022, they submitted their application along with around 90 other clubs to join step 6 for the upcoming season, and on May 1st, it was announced that due to their ground share with Steeton and their league position, they were granted a place in the non-league system and would officially become semi-professional for the first time.
Credit: Route One Rovers / Facebook
The Game
Onto the game, and it was a true classic. The final few moments provided the most thrilling finale to a match I’ve seen for a very long time.
The first half started off in a bright manner. Route One are a very fun team to watch. With an excellent blend of physicality in the tackle and attacking flair, you’re never too far away from seeing a mazy run or a crunching tackle. Watching Route One attack was a throwback to the joy of playing football as a child, when tactics, routine and structure didn’t matter, and it was all about having as much fun with the ball as possible. This statement probably does disservice to the obviously organised tactics employed by managers Sohail Rehman and Mohammed Patel, but Route One’s players, particularly Mohamed Wassa and Zakariya Khan were constantly direct and positive with the ball at their feet.
Wassa was involved in the first goal of the game to give Route One Rovers the lead in the 21st minute. He played a perfectly weighted ball through which Anees Younis struck beautifully on the run, beating the keeper with a low shot into the corner.
It remained 1-0 at the break, but Ilkley grew into the game as the half wore on. The visitors, from just 10 miles up the road began to get to grips with the physicality of the match; captain James Nightingale pulling the strings particularly well.
The game sparked into life after the interval, and Ilkley found an equaliser which was still slightly against the general run of play. A cross was played into a dangerous area in the six yard box, and Takuo Jitsukawa’s towering header made the scoreline 1-1.
The parity was short lived thanks to brilliant work by Musa Jallow on the right hand side. His cross found Callan Parker-Wells, who provided an unorthodox finish with his chest to restore the home side’s lead. Two became three shortly after. Zakariya Khan won the ball back inside the Ilkley box, cut inside and drilled a right footed shot into the near post. This sent a section of home fans, (who seemed to find a drum somewhere between half time and the third Rovers goal going in) into raptures.
The atmosphere amongst the home supporters was now jubilant, with both the drum and Ilkley goalkeeper Jordan Moorhouse taking a bit of a battering from the fans.
Little did they know, but Moorhouse would have the last laugh, and after a period in which Route One had chances to add to their lead, Ilkley mounted the most unlikely of comebacks with five minutes of normal time remaining.
It was very much game on when Nicholas Hewitt was teed up to emphatically place his shot into the top right corner, and even more so when Ilkley began to pile on the pressure almost immediately from the resulting kick off. Ilkley found their equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time, thanks to a thunderbolt by Nathan Hunt. The substitute let fly from just outside the box, and the ball flew over Sulaiman Sajjad in the Rovers net. The earlier confident cries of “we want four!” from the home fans now felt a distant memory, but very soon the chant was to become uncomfortably apt from the home side’s perspective. George Pearson raced onto a ball down the left hand side and played a teasing ball into the centre. Although it was missed by the first group of players arriving at the front post, it fell perfectly to Hunt who was unmarked to put the ball into the unguarded net. In the most unlikely circumstances, Ilkley had turned it around with three goals in the last 10 minutes of play! Needless to say, Moorhouse had the last laugh in his verbal battle with the Route One supporters!
Even putting the remarkable result aside, I found my visit to Route One Rovers extremely pleasant. Everyone club should be proud of what they have achieved both on and off the pitch in the past decade. They are an ambitious club that are competent, positive and exciting (if not a little naive on this occasion) on the pitch, and friendly, welcoming and driven for progression off it. I’m sure the future is bright for Route One Rovers, they have done a brilliant job of harnessing the incredible diversity and culture of the region. Seeing so many young Asian people involved in non-league football is refreshing, and providing opportunities for the community to play, support and volunteer is a huge positive. Being new to the semi-professional system, there will be things to tweak and improve, but they certainly have the foundations to become one of the most popular clubs in the non-league system.
Final score: Route One Rovers 3-4 Ilkley Town
Attendance: 205
Admission: £5
Programme: Free (digital)