Eastleigh FC – A Role Model

            Less than twenty years ago Eastleigh FC played at their quaint Ten Acres ground situated in the crook of a winding service road that led to the busy motorway linking Southampton, Portsmouth and beyond. One of the founder members of the Wessex League, in the fifth tier of the non-league pyramid, they played out a relatively anonymous existence in front of a small band of supporters and volunteers.

An anonymous life was, and still is the lot of Wessex League clubs: existing for small communities, and surviving only through these communities’ love for their local team.

It seems unthinkable that thirteen years on from their one and only Wessex League title, Eastleigh now find themselves one of the best non-league teams in the country, competing against former Football League mainstays to break into the promised land of ‘the 92’.

            Ten acres has gone, mostly, replaced through steady regeneration into the impressive Silverlake Stadium that greets supporters today.

Only the old clubhouse that also used to be home to the players’ changing rooms, and the line of tall poplar trees at the far end of the ground hold testament to the days of matches being played out to a handful of supporters.

Today, the large stand behind one goal, the framework of a second in construction behind the other are not follies of an overzealous owner – but a necessity to keep up with demand flowing through turnstiles.

To players of long since forgotten reserve teams matches from twenty years ago the home of Eastleigh FC is almost unrecognisable. But the club, to those from the days of a few men and their dogs in the ‘crowd’ – their club is still their club – it’s just everyone else who has finally cottoned on to their good thing.

            The evolution of a football club can be a contentious one if it is seen to happen ‘too fast’. The norm is often decades of mid-table obscurity, punctuated by the odd season of hope at something better.

When an individual, a group, dare to dream bigger than the status quo the calls of foul play from those without that vision are often loud and persistent with claims of buying titles.

It is true – before Eastleigh’s rise to the top of the non-league pile in the summer of 2014, there had been many that had rocketed up through the leagues on the backs of wealthy benefactors, or on a sea of momentum as the promotions kept coming.

A season or two in the sun, playing ex-football league clubs almost inevitably gave way to relegations back down to where they came from; benefactors now bored of the ride, or the momentum of promotion given way to far less enjoyable years of struggle in order to maintain what they had gained, bearing down heavily on players, supporters and board members alike.

Just as quickly as the ride had started, the likes of Lewes, Histon, and Droylsden found themselves jettisoned out the back, quickly forgotten as also rans a long time ago.

To me, from the outside looking in, Eastleigh seem different.

            As their rise through the leagues began, as much emphasis off the field as on enabled Eastleigh’s relatively plain sailing into the higher echelons of the non-league game. Sponsorship deals, marketing, community initiatives aimed at attracting and including the people of Eastleigh meant that as the ground, the quality of players and opposition on the pitch improved, so too did numbers through the turnstiles.

Owner Stewart Donald, and those that went before him built foundations on firm ground; investment on and around the pitch kept in line with the growing income and demand from the turnstiles and sponsorship. This would be no folly of a club.

It had, however, seemed just that when grand plans were announced of a project to reach the Football League. At the time Southampton, whose St Mary’s Stadium stood only a mile or two as the crow flies from the Silverlake, were resurgent – storming back up the leagues after relegation to the third tier. Portsmouth, 17 miles down the road had yet to begin their terminal decline into financial ruin and League Two, and were still plying their trade in the Premier League.

Visions of crowds in the thousands, and a team fighting for promotion into the Football League seemed fanciful. After all, there had never been great numbers at home matches in the past, in the Wessex and Ryman League days. And even in the Conference South, the league beneath the Conference National, attendances had been half the current trends.

But despite all that, Eastleigh set about to achieve their owners vision.

Promotion was followed by a season of serious consolidation in a first year in the Conference National. Year two ended with defeat in the play-offs after a campaign in and around the promotion places. Year three looks set up for another promotion push.

In-between that, FA Cup runs and victories over established Football League teams suggest that the playing side of the club is more than ready for the step up. And off it, average crowds in-excess of 2,000, and growing every season suggests that Stewart Donald’s vision of a club to rival its neighbours wasn’t quite so pie in the sky after all.

He had said that the crowds would come, despite two established icons of the footballing map flanking Eastleigh. He had said that Eastleigh’s community based ethos could rival that of their neighbours.

After three years at the top of the National League, Eastleigh can no longer be considered a potential flash in the pan, and a cold, damp, gloomy afternoon in November seemed as good an opportunity as any to try to witness why.

            After only a short time inside the Silverlake Stadium it is clear that Eastleigh’s fan base is built on something far more sturdy than inquisitive souls interested in a new standard of football, or hipsters searching out whatever it is hipsters are searching for.

Lots of children, boys and girls, many of whom wore Eastleigh tracksuits from their Junior sides, wove excitedly between slower adults, dodging their way to the front of the tea huts to buy a polystyrene punnet of chips; their enthusiasm and excitement at being part of the club hopefully translating years down the line into life-long fans.

Elsewhere those older adults crammed into the bar for a pre-match pint, or took up their usual spot on the terrace, necks craning to see if they could see their mates, waving when they did.

What was it that had made this sea of faces, mostly consisting of men in their late 40’s, 50’s and way beyond let Eastleigh take them under their wing, turn them into season ticket die-hards? After all, they couldn’t all claim to have been there back in the Wessex League days?

But what Eastleigh have done, either by design, or organically, that seems to have attracted thousands to their cause, that magical x-factor that has enabled them to become National League mainstays rather than the flash in the pan’s that have gone before them, is something so simple that it beggars belief.

To the outsider it maybe appears screamingly obvious, hitting you as it does as soon as you pass through the turnstile, the feeling of old school tradition mixed with all the best of modern football.

A relaxed atmosphere that enables parents to let their children go off and play, forage for chips, while adults lean against crush barriers on the terrace and chat and laugh with mates feels an awful lot like the atmosphere that first enchanted me at the now long lost The Dell, former home of Southampton.

It may be too simplistic, and there could well be other factors in play like affordable ticket prices, but it can’t be coincidence that the vast-majority in the sea of Eastleigh faces were older than me, and therefore no doubt experienced that first thrill walking up the steps of The Dell, or possibly Fratton Park, as children back in the day; meeting up with school-friends and sneaking to the very front of the Milton Road end for the best view of their heroes.

That is what it felt like, the Silverlake Stadium, the best of the past meeting the best of the present, all combining to inspire those little players of the future with their chips.

It felt like a genuine experience – one that young and old can relate to, maybe even if it is for different reasons – it felt like how football ought to be: fun, welcoming, exciting.

            Out on the pitch was no different. The National League is non-league in name only, with so many former Football League sides making up the numbers, and with the quality of football on show comparable with that of Leagues One and Two above them, it is arguably the most under-rated league in Europe.

Eastleigh’s visitors this damp, dark November day were York City – a former Football League side with a rich history of FA Cup giant killings and life at a higher level.

A one all draw felt a fair reflection on a game played out by two skilful, passing sides that made light work of a heavy pitch; Mikael Mandron’s glancing header cancelled out mid-way through the second half by a well worked Simon Heslop goal for York.

As advertisements for the National league goes, this match was a worthy addition. And for the atmosphere that has captivated 2,000 supporters and counting to turn up every match day, well it is one that the two men and their dog that used to watch back in the Ten Acre’s days would recognise, would make them smile.

Because their little club has become something much more important, to so many more people; hopefully the future of modern football

 

You can read more about Eastleigh FC in Another Bloody Saturday: A Journey to the Heart and Soul of Football – second edition out soon