Commit No Nuisance - St Albans City vs Enfield Town - National League South - 01.01.25

In an attempt to be more mature I made a decision not to go to mad seeing out 2024 and made plans for the first day of 2025 that would need me to be on my toes. That became a little harder when guests arrived with a bottle of  Shanky’s Whip, our latest booze discovery that goes down very easily. Like a coke float, but boozy. Think original recipe Sailor Jerry’s rum before they fucked it and changed the spirit completely. We drank until 1:00am, I was asleep by 2:00am. I was picking Fras up in a taxi at 10:45am, I'd even managed to force some toast and a tea down me first.

As much as I love it, the railway in this country is unreliable at the best of times, but on New Year's Day the country practically comes to a standstill. The almost storm weather does my confidence no favours. I can't remember the last time I left the house on New Year's Day with any real purpose. When I told people what I had planned for the day I was met with skepticism in the belief that we would be successful. Trains from Wolverton weren't an option due to engineering works but thankfully a short taxi in the absence of local buses to Milton Keynes Central saw us on the 11:17 Avanti service to Watford Junction.

We arrived in Watford to see our connection disappear from afar. With an hour to kill before the next train and not wanting to stand on the wet platform in the cold with only the suspiciously loud buzzing of the overhead cables the logical thing to do was find a pub. But that proved hard before mid-day the morning after the night before. Three out of the four pubs we had time to get to and from were closed, but we were the first and only patrons having an early drink in the Estcourt Tavern just twelve hours after the locals would have rung the new year in as the clock struck midnight.

Upon return to platform 11, the Abbey Line train was already on the platform waiting for us and we were one pint happier than we would have been in the cold. Though an hour behind schedule the journey along the single tracked branch line is a treat. The Abbey Line is similar to the Marston Vale Line, a lot of enthusiastic love goes into running it. Bricket Wood station a real highlight, decked out in vintage railway style, one to explore further in future for sure. Alighting the train at the end of the line I'm happy to have bashed some new track, but less happy about the sodden walk up hill in search of Clarence Park. Inevitably we fell into a pub for another drink. The Cock and it's Tudor beams looked inviting as it was, but the roaring fire, friendly bar girl, as well as foamy pints in the dry was welcome respite as the rain began to soak through my parka.

With my parka moderately dried in front of the fire we continued on our quest. We'd made it to the top of the hill, and we surmised we only had to go in a straight line. What didn't help us was the fact we went in the wrong straight line and ended up completely overshooting the ground and just as wet as we were before we'd dried off in the boozer.

We got our first sight of Clarence Park as we crossed the railway, not the railway we arrived on, we're not that daft. I think it's safe to say we were both instantly enamoured with the ground. The turnstiles are housed in ornamental green wooden huts that reminded me of the buildings in Munich's Englisher Garten and we entered at the York Road end of the ground so the beautiful wooden main stand was immediately in front of us. 

Clarence Park has been home to some iteration of a St Albans football club since 1881, and it's probably most well known for the Oak Tree that stood in the middle of one of the terraces until 1998. But it's not just the former oak tree it's famous for, or at least it wasn't to me.

I've heard word of Chicken George for a few years now, and word on the Mundial magazine discord I'm a member of assured me that the fried chicken outlet was still a presence at the ground after most of their shops ceased trading. Not only that, but Mad Squirrel Brewery also had a significant presence in the ground. These facts as well as the possibility of meeting another Mundial discord member sealed the deal and were the reasons for the visit. So sure enough Chicken George was the first thing on our minds and it surpassed expectations. Both of us feasted on a warm fried chicken meal drenched in garlic Parmesan dressing, washed down with a Mad Squirrel I.P.A beneath the dry wooden canopy of the main stand. Football doesn't get much better than that and the football was still half an hour away from commencing. 

The game starts really well, slightly distracted looking to meet new pal Rich having missed him before the game, I eventually received a message from him that we'd meet at the brewery at half-time so I relaxed into the game. In the absence of a New Years game for my club Newport Pagnell, it was Rich that flagged St Albans' bottom of the National League South table clash against Enfield as one to watch. After 10 minutes and having one effort already hit the post, David Longe-King put the hosts ahead, smashing a ball into the roof of the net, much to the joy of the nearly 2000 fans in the crowd who didn't show any signs of wear and tear from New Years Eve revelry the night before.

Half-time brings a meeting with Rich, and his young lad, and a concussion for Fras. As I dashed off to flag our new pal down I completely missed Fraser hitting his head on one of the low wooden beams in the main stand, so severely that by the time I'm handing him his beer he has a cartoon sized bump on his head. Nothing the beer doesn't cure.

Now a group of four we spent the second half in with the ultras on the terrace at the York Road end and got to know each other better. As much as I loved the main stand and it's wooden charm, being in with the loudest fans was the perfect winter warmer on this cold wet new years day. It's the 86th minute when St Albans extend their lead to 2-0, Jack James capped a player of the match performance with a goal and the end we're in erupted, Rich, his boy in arms, surged forward and celebrated with the players as an important 3 points look a distinct possibility. Extra time seems to drag, especially as all the talk throughout the match has been how good St Albans are at blowing a lead. They gave the crowd a scare in the 98th minute conceding from a corner to make it 2-1, but the whistle soon followed. We stayed to drink in the celebrations for 5 to 10 minutes but had been tipped off about The Mermaid, another good pub just around the corner. Sadly upon arrival it's the 4th pub of the day we found closed so dropped into a pretty generic bar, Alban's Well for our post game pint, before grabbing a can for the train on route back down the hill.

This is when another little hiccup in New Years Day travel occurred. Were the skeptics about to be proven right? Trains from St Albans Abbey back to Watford Junction were all cancelled. No sooner had we booked a cab, than a rail replacement minibus appeared and whisked us the 6 and a half miles back to Watford, where we made a connection and made it home without having to fork out for a cab or calling in a lift to rescue us. Take that doubters! 

I think we'll be hard pressed to find a better ground, or club in all of 2025 and we did it on our first day of the year. St Albans are a club with a conscience, with their own identity, run for the fans. Down to the match day music informed by shirt sponsor band Enter Shikari the club has an identity, and the food and beer play off of that identity and culminate in one of the best match day experiences I've ever had. Clarence Park was my 105th ground and it's easily into the top 5, if not top 3. The wooden stand, the concrete steeped bowl terracing that lines the perimeter, the fence posts with the city crest on that mirrors the park it's part of, it's got it all. I don't think this will be my last visit.

Summary 

Match - St Albans City 2 - 1 Enfield Town

Competition -  National League South

Venue - Clarence Park

Attendance -  1,955

Price - £18.00

Programmes - Yes

Refreshments - £10.00 Chicken George, £5.40 Mad Squirrel

Grounds visited total - 105 (New Ground)

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