Like thousands of other football fans on Saturday 25th March, we decided to take in a game at grassroots level on what was the annual Non-League Day.
Our destination was Carlton Town FC a wonderful community club based in Nottingham, Carlton Town play in the NPL First Division East which is step 4 of the National League pyramid, the visitors were high-flying Stockton Town.
We were honoured to be invited to the game by Mick Garton the chairman and Gary ‘Boatsy Clarke' the commercial and marketing manager of Carlton Town who made Proper Footballs' very own resident ex-pro Nigel ‘Cally' Callaghan a guest of honour and he held a Q & A with the supporters.
[Cally and Mick Garton]
We were lucky enough to speak to Forest legend Ian Storey-Moore, scorer of 105 league goals for the Reds through the 60s and early 70s who was at the game supporting Non-League Day.
We also spoke to Jonny Owen from Talksport who was in attendance and got the views of the match from both managers and players.
[Cally with Jonny Owen]
According to one source, it's estimated that there was a cumulative attendance of 141,619 in Steps 1-4 on Saturday which is fantastic news when compared to previous weekends over the last month meaning there was an increase of 20-30%!
The game itself finished 0-2 to the visitors and on reflection was a fair result and keeps Stockton Town on course for a playoff spot, but unfortunately put an end to a recent great run of form for the relegation-threatened Millers who had won their last four games on the road.
We also see Non-League Day as a day to celebrate all the hard work the clubs, fans and volunteers put in all year round all over the country to keep these vital community hubs going and applaud every single one of them.
[Boatsy and Proper Football's Gary Harris]
If you haven't been to a Non-League game then don't wait for the next annual event, give it a go now! and you'll be pleasantly surprised.
You can watch our Vlog of the day here;
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