Lifting the Lydd- a journey along the road to nowhere

[townsendaround]

http://www.townsendaround.co.uk/lit...-lydd-a-journey-along-the-road-to-nowhere-20/

Lifting the Lydd- a journey along the road to nowhere. Featuring Lydd Town, Rusthall, Kentish football, 27 fans and a nuclear reactor.

 

[Raymondo316]

I remember when Maidstone used to regularly play Lydd and Rusthall in League games. Back then if someone told me id ever see this team play teams like Tranmere, York, Lincoln, Wrexham or Torquay i would of thought they were crazy.

 

[townsendaround]

I remember when Maidstone used to regularly play Lydd and Rusthall in League games. Back then if someone told me id ever see this team play teams like Tranmere, York, Lincoln, Wrexham or Torquay i would of thought they were crazy.

I remember watching Crawley Town in the Dr Martens League. I ended up as the Chair of the Supporters Trust when we got to Old Trafford in the cup, and then two years later we were beating Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. It's gone a bit wrong since, but if you'd ever said to me that we'd be in the Conference, never mind the rest of it, I'd have laughed!

Maidstone is one of my favourite grounds, the club seems to be well run, and the fans are a fabulous bunch. I was delighted when you went up.

 

[Lamby]

I didn't even know Elmstead had a football team and I live 15mins walk away from it!

 

[townsendaround]

I didn't even know Elmstead had a football team and I live 15mins walk away from it!

And that's part of the problem. Non League sides, particularly at step 5 & 6, tend to have little finance and few volunteers. The websites are often awful, the social media badly used or badly managed, and they have little or no marketing- to the extent that people don't know they exist.

The FA are looking to start an initiative bringing clubs and volunteers together, tapping into resources like sports media students at local Uni's and colleges etc, and it can't come soon enough. Mind you, given the money in football, the amount making its way to the bottom levels remains scandalous.