Trowbridge took the cup therefore as they won 1-0 at Bath in the first leg…which was played four years earlier in 1988!
I doubt if Richard Evans, who was managing Southern League Division One Midlands outfit Romulus at the time in 2007, would get away with his comments about the lack of support for his team nowadays!
Evans believed the men in Sutton Coldfield were being banned from attending matches by their wives and partners.
Although doing well at the time – both in league and FA Trophy – Evans believed his side`s efforts should be rewarded by an increase in crowds coming through the turnstiles.
He said: “Coventry has not got a Southern League club, yet a little place like Sutton Coldfield has got two. That is something to be proud of. But we are not getting the numbers through that this club deserves.
“We should get around 200 and Sutton Coldfield Town should be getting towards 250 people.
“The problem is there are too many men who are not allowed out to come and have a few beers and watch the game.
“It`s like the fans go and watch Aston Villa or Birmingham City one week, but they are not allowed out two weeks in a row to catch a match.
“Women rule this world, and the men of Sutton are too scared to come out and watch a game of football. All the men in Sutton seem interested in is their gardens, which look lovely, and going shopping on a Saturday with the wife.”
Romulus` lack of support is made to look worse when compared to other local sides, Evans admits.
“We played a game in Kingshurst a few years ago when we were at a lower level and there were over 400 people there. I was only a friendly as well.
“I am not asking for thousands of people to come down as I am a realist, but at the moment we get just over 120 here on average each game, and that is not enough.
“The standard of football is decent and it`s a good chance for people to come down and have a few beers together and enjoy a good game of football”.
The summer of 1993 seemed to be a particularly profitable time for Southern League clubs.
One of the most significant moves of the close season saw striker David Leworthy, (pictured) the 1992/93 season`s leading goalscorer in the Conference, leave relegated Farnborough Town on the eve of the new campaign for the club that replaced them, Dover Athletic.
The sum involved was £25,000, with a similar amount payable over the remainder of the season.
Another club with money to spend at the time were Halesowen Town, although they will be disappointed at losing striker Evran Wright to Walsall for an undisclosed fee plus appearance bonuses.
Wright only joined the Yeltz from Stourbridge in the summer and left the club after the Saddlers had made a second approach for him without kicking a ball in competitive football for them.
It will be of some consolation that Halesowen will receive a further £2,500 from the transfer deal which took Frankie Bennett (above) to Southampton during the 1992/93 season after the player appeared as a substitute for the Saints in their opening game of the season against Everton.
Another little windfall would be on the way to Halesowen from Coventry City, meanwhile, following Sean Flynn`s third consecutive appearance for the Sky Blues in the Premier League.
Two other Southern League clubs who profited from sales to Football League clubs in the summer of 1993 were Cambridge City and Cheltenham Town.
Cambridge sold central defender James Saddington to Millwall for £10,000, while the Robins` goalkeeper Alan Nicholls joined Plymouth Argyle for £5,000.
In the Southern Midland Division, one club were spending money galore!
Title favourites Rushden & Diamonds spent a total of £13,000 on three new players to bolster their promotion hopes which, of course, they achieved in 1993/94.
The club paid £3,000 to Dagenham & Redbridge for former Barnet and Kettering Town midfielder Paul Richardson, who played in each of the previous three England semi-professional internationals, plus £5,000 for team-mate Micky Nuttell, and £5,000 for full-back Alan Kurila from Burton Albion.
In the FA Trophy competition of 1988/89, Thanet United, members of the Southern League South Division, entertained Isthmian League side Leatherhead at Hartsdown Park for a Second Qualifying Round tie.
Thanet lost 3-0 after having four players sent-off in the second half – there were also six bookings which must have meant the referee had an extremely late night writing up his reports!
Thanet`s player-manager Norman Fusco was the second of the players to be dismissed, getting his marching orders for foul and abusive language after an earlier booking, also for dissent.
And the game turned out to be Fusco`s last as he resigned a few days later. He had been with the club as player and manager since 1972/73 and had made 493 appearances.
One of the strangest matches of 1990/91 in the Southern League Premier Division took place at Worcester City`s St George`s Lane.
Wealdstone were the visitors and City scored all five goals in what turned out to be a narrow and nervy 3-2 win.
A brace from Ian Cottrill and one from former West Bromwich Albion defender Martyn Bennett gave Worcester a comfortable 3-0 lead.
But then Jimmy Skelding and goalkeeper Mark Gayle both netted second half own goals to make it a nail-biting finale for the City fans!
In 1911/12 in the Southern League Division Two, Welsh side Ton Pentre entertained Portsmouth on Good Friday and their home gate amounted to £26.
The players hadn`t been paid for some weeks and were told the gate money could be used for wages or for the Easter Monday return match at Fratton Park.
The players decided to use the money to get to Portsmouth. However, they had to approach Pompey after the match for a handout, so they were able to get home!
Portsmouth gave them the princely sum of £5!
Further afield – in France, Lille were fined £500 in 1994 after a bag of French fries were thrown at a visiting player!
It`s not recorded whether the player asked for salt or vinegar!
That same year, the chairman of Spanish First Division side Sporting Gijon received his military call-up papers. The only trouble was he was 70 at the time!
The army had his date of birth down wrongly as 1977. However, he presented himself at the appointment time to avoid any problems!
In 1992, the Israeli FA called in private investigators to dig into the goings-on at a Third Division match which somewhat altered the promotion prospects of Kiryat Gat FC.
With Ashkelon and Kiryat level on points, Ashkelon were favourites for promotion because their goal difference was 15 better.
Then Kiryat moved ahead – by defeating Hapoel Shtulim 25-0!
Not surprisingly, the Israeli FA ordered an investigation, but that`s not all. The National Referee`s Association took match official Avraham Tsarfati to task for failing to note anything unusual about the game in his report.
The reason given by Tsarfati was that after naming all the goalscorers, there was no room left on the page!
And something that definitely wouldn`t happen these days occurred in May 1988 in Germany regarding a handball incident – quite apt given the furore over handball decisions currently and VAR!
During a Bundesliga match against FC Cologne, Frank Ordenewitz of Werder Bremen committed a handling offence in his own penalty area.
The referee, who was unsighted, gave a corner, but the Cologne players protested.
When the referee asked Ordenewitz what had happened, he admitted that he had handled the ball.
A penalty was awarded, which Cologne converted, to win 2-0, although Werder Bremen still won the championship.
As a result of Ordenewitz`s sportsmanship, FIFA made him the first winner of their Fair Play award.
The prize was a £4,000 trophy and £20,000, which he gave to children`s charities in Bremen.
I doubt such honesty exists nowadays!!
And finally, the lowest recorded official gate anywhere in 1998/99 was for the Hellenic League`s Anagram Record Reserve Division Cup tie between Cheltenham Saracens and Wootton Bassett Town on November 21st, 1998 – just THREE!
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