Community focus, fantastic facilities and a cheap day out - why football fans should pay a visit to Staveley Miners Welfare FC in 2024

As a season ticket holder at a Premier League club, I’m all too aware that football at the highest levels in this country is becoming increasingly expensive and inaccessible for many.

I’ve visited most of the non-league teams across Derbyshire, from Mickleover and Matlock to New Mills and Heanor, searching for a more authentic and less financially-motivated footballing fix.

This has often led me to take in matches at Staveley Miners Welfare FC, where I have always been impressed by the facilities on offer and the value for money fans get.

Admission, food and drink are certainly among the cheapest and best I have sampled at this level of football - and on my last visit I spoke to Terry Damms, the chairman of the club, to find out more about the club and their efforts to engage with the Staveley community.

Terry has been in charge at the club for 17 years - when the committee at the time had decided to resign from their roles. Since then, the club has been completely transformed - with £1m being invested to overhaul the ground and install a state of the art 3G pitch.

“I took over in 2007, when the Staveley MWFC committee were ageing and wanted to pack up. We ended up with a NCEL side and an under-19 side, so we only had two teams, and we then formed a junior section in 2011.

“We’ve arranged grants for the 3G pitch, the floodlights and the car park - we raised about £750,000 through grants and we had to arrange loans for £250,000 - it cost a million pounds to do what you see here today.

“That’s allowed us to have 300-400 children playing and training here every week, we’ve got 24 junior teams, ladies teams and three senior teams. They don’t have to travel to Shirebrook, Meadowhead or Derby - they can do it here and that’s a massive plus for me.”

For many football clubs, ambition often comes at the expense of sustainability - and there are countless examples of sides that have been forced to fold at different levels of the non-league pyramid.

At Staveley, however, a key part of the plans for the future of the club is making sure that it can eventually stand on its own two feet, and survive on the funds it generates itself.

Terry said: “The whole club is very much community driven - so much so that I made a decision two years ago to take voluntary relegation, so that we could try and get rid of these loans (the £250,000 funding for the redevelopment of the ground).

“I don’t hide it - I would hope in four to five years, this football club is in a position where it has no debt. That’s the plan really, to make this club sustainable - there’s too many clubs that spend 10 or 20 times more than their gate receipts.

“Eventually, if the person backing them financially gets bored, the club is knackered - it can’t go anywhere. I’m trying to make it so the club, in time, doesn’t rely on my pocket and can survive on its own.”

At Staveley, the focus is very much on affordability and the atmosphere on a matchday - with the club working to create a place where local football fans and their families can enjoy a game of football without breaking the bank.

Terry said: “For me, it’s all about the facilities. The disabled stand is getting finished, it’ll be heated - I think that typifies what this football club is trying to do - it’s about looking after people.

“This is a very difficult area, we all know it’s had its issues over the years and there’s not a lot of money about. We have to cater for cheap prices, letting kids in for nothing - I think we started that initiative and I think there’s loads of clubs in our league that have followed suit.

“The clubhouse as a business is run by two sterling lasses, Ellie and Cathy, who do all the organisation - it’s seven days a week. I don’t do it for profit - I’d rather put it all back into facilities and make sure that we’re right here.

“It’s a good place to be. That’s what I like about it - there’s a nice family environment and that’s massive to us.”

One thing that you might notice at Staveley is the youthfulness of their team - and Terry said there was a conscious effort to bring through young players who were invested in the club and give them opportunities to progress.

“We’ve got a young squad, we want to bring the local youths through and get them playing for the badge, not for the money.

“It does have its problems - our first team today, 12 of them could play for the U21s. So our U21 side is devoid of our best U21 players. It's 16 and 17-year-olds that are doing the business for the U21s. They’ll learn - it’s not about results - we’re trying to get local players coming up through the system who want to play for the badge.

“The manager is 28 - he’s buying into it. If you look at our crowds, there’s a consistent level. That’s where we are as a club - consistency from the top right the way down. All the volunteers get transported to the away games for nothing - that’s my way of giving back to them.

“We had an FA 50-year award for Dave Tromans, who’s done 61 years for football in Staveley. People like that, the volunteers we’ve got here, are pivotal to helping us do what we want to do.

“There’s too many in non-league football that come in for the short-term gain.

We can build over the next four or five years, to get the team stronger - we have to believe in our long-term plan.”

The club has also benefited from the Staveley Town Deal, which saw the Government award £25.2m for regeneration projects across the town back in 2021.

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Terry said: “We got £150,000 to put drainage into our junior grass pitches - and they are the best pitches around for miles.

“We got £150,000 to do the car park opposite, and £500,000 to build the education facility above, which will allow us to have BTEC courses - things like sports therapy - for boys and girls in the local community.

“We’ve got planning permission - we’re hoping to have done and be ready for an intake of students in August 2024. We’re always trying to engage with the local community, and the education facility is the final piece of the puzzle with that.”

Terry added that he hoped that crowds would grow in the future, and that fans would be able to see continued improvements both on and off the pitch.

“My ambition is to get the education facility built, get the crowds up to around 300 and get a family, community football club - because that’s what the Staveley community desires, and I’ll deliver what they desire.

“It’s not all about results at non-league - it’s about the clubhouse, the food, the price.

I’ve been here nearly 20 years, so I’m doing something right. It won’t stop, I want it to go on and on, and I want it to be the best non-league ground in the north of England, at whatever level it’s at.

“Over the next two or three years, I think people will see even bigger and better improvements - and then we’ll see what happens on the pitch.”