The 2024/25 season will see three teams play out of Holloways Park, the home of Beaconsfield Town.
The Rams themselves, current tenants Windsor and now Combined Counties League side Hilltop who were previously sharing with Hillingdon Borough.
That makes things rather cosy at Holloways Park – a ground that boasts an artificial surface, but the three-team share is not a new thing, even in the Berkshire and Buckinghamshire area.
In 2020, Langley moved in with Chalvey Sports and Slough Town at the Slough Borough Council-operated Arbour Park facility, with games spread across the week and regularly held on Friday nights. Vanarama National League South Slough had first refusal it would seem on Saturday 3pm kick-offs at home.
You might think a fixture headache awaits, but as a wise person with knowledge of fixture scheduling in non-league football told Football in Berkshire: “A three-way ground share on an artificial pitch is easier than a two-way share on grass in many respects.”
Kevin Stott, the Windsor chairman confirmed as much, saying the Jacks moving to Friday night football was something he was keen on: “We’ll be playing our home games on a Friday evening next year which I’ve wanted to do for a while, that’s what makes it possible really.
“There’s reasonable evidence to suggest that gates are bigger on a Friday evening and there’s the chance to pick up ‘floating’ supporters who just want to take in a game at a time that still allows them to watch their favourite team (professional or otherwise) or do other things on a Saturday.”
Certainly when teams in recent seasons have moved games to Friday night – particularly FA Cup or Vase fixtures – there is usually an attendance boost for the home side as Binfield have found on a number of occasions in recent years.
The ‘Friday Night Factor’ may well be a novelty, an occasion for supporters to get out and about. It will be interesting to see whether ‘permanent’ Friday evening games are a benefit and indeed catch on.
For Windsor certainly, Stott feels there is little risk and plenty to gain from the trial: “I think it’s a relatively low-risk choice and we can always change back if it doesn’t work. It also gives us more player options as well in terms of how best to use the Beaconsfield and Windsor FC partnership ‘player pool.’”
