HTFC PROGRAMME 2113-14 DESIGN 11th Jan 2014 | Page 17

MY FOOTBALL - MY LIFE

MY FOOTBALL

MY LIFE
This week, Lee Kempson tells us his Pitmen story

My Pitmen story started in 1995 when I was 15-years
-old. Before that I was a follower of Manchester
United, but when I got to the age of 15 I realised that I
wanted to support a local football club where I could
go to the games and watch the team play. I was living
in Pelsall at the time, but I didn't consider Pelsall Villa
or Rushall Olympic because they both played in the
Midland Football Alliance back then and I didn't want
to watch football at that level. My choice was
between Walsall FC, 5.1, miles south of home, or
Hednesford Town FC, 6.3 miles the other way. When
my Dad told me that Hednesford Town had just been
promoted to the Conference and had built a new
stadium to play in, the decision was easy. I chose
Hednesford Town.
My first Hednesford match was a 4-0 win against
Telford United on a Monday night in September 1995.
For the first few years I only managed to get to a
couple of matches a season, as when I was 16-yearsold I worked on a Saturday afternoon. I remember the
day we played Middlesbrough in the FA Cup; I
managed to take my break at 4:40pm so I could listen
to the last few minutes of the game on my Walkman.
After running Middlesbrough so close I expected the
Pitmen to win the league, but as we all know, football
doesn't work like that!
During 1998/99 I managed to change my working
hours so I could finish at 2:00pm and get to Keys
Park for 3:00pm so I could go to all home games. I
passed my driving test in November 1998 and 54
days later I drove to my first away game at Kettering
Town on Boxing Day. The following season I went to
University and changed my working hours again so
that I didn't have to work on a Saturday. My first
away match with the Travel Club was for a 4-1 defeat
to Dover Athletic in October 1999. I was welcomed so
much by the organisers and the other fans and I had
such a laugh that I started to go to every home and
away game in both league and cup, something I
managed to do for eight successive seasons. I would

estimate that I went to almost 400 games in a row
from 1999-2007. I've met some great friends and
have some great memories of our away days along
the way. Dover Athletic would be one of our longest
journeys, I've been there four times for a 4-0 defeat, a
4-1 defeat, a 1-0 defeat on a Monday night, and even
on a Sunday when the game was postponed by the
time we got there. Most of my friends away from
Hednesford would wonder why I bother, but I was
just pleased to be there whatever the result and
seeing the bad times makes the good times even
better. We've certainly had some of them with two
play-off final wins and five cups. I also spent a season
and a half in 2004/05 contributing five or six articles
in every Hednesford match day programme and this
season I've been asked to contribute an article on
each away team.
I am 33 years old now with two daughters aged six
and two, so my attendance at games is generally
limited to home games and local away games. I've
never wanted to watch live Premier League games
anyway but I love Non-League football because when
I watch a game I know those players have already
worked all week in their day jobs. They are REAL
people like you and me,