A SADDLEWORTH football club is looking forward to its biggest home match in years – its first in the non-league pyramid.
Uppermill FC began life in the North West Counties League by scoring a goal inside the first minute of its debut at Ashville FC on Saturday, August 4.
Three days later, a reminder of what it has entered was given as the side lost 3-0 at Ashton Athletic.
Now it will step out at Mossley AFC’s Seel Park ground for its home debut as its new level, an Edward Case Cup preliminary round meeting with Daisy Hill.
And it is fair to say emotions will be high as Mark Howard’s men take to the pitch – it will be the realisation of years of hard work and giant strides.
Uppermill FC chairman Simon Tait said: “The excitement of our first team moving into semi-professional football is testament to the hard work of a small but rapidly growing number of local people who are dedicated to their community.
“We are very ambitious, but the last decade has presented some real challenges and it will serve us well to remember where we have come from.
“With our first team, reserves and development squads overflowing with talent, many of whom are home grown, we need to remember that were it not for a gentleman named Rob Leah, we might not have any senior teams at all.
“He kept things going at senior level when things were falling apart. Likewise, during Covid, our club could have ceased to exist were it not for the unselfish, largely unnoticed, efforts of people like Ian Evans, Matt Poulter and Michelle Simpson.
“As we grow, we need to remember our very recent past and continue to learn.”
Uppermill FC now boasts 35 boys, girls and men’s teams, with about 500 players signed on to as it touches the lives of families in the locality.
And chief executive Steve Southern added: “People might grow tired of me saying it, but if Uppermill FC – and all of our football, rugby, cricket and netball neighbours – didn’t exist, we would have thousands of young people having to fill their own time, and not all of them might fill it positively.
“What we do is an incredible contribution to our community. We help create good young people, and good young people become good adults.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Uppermill FC, Saddleworth Rangers ARLFC, Diggle FC or our wonderful cricket clubs or any number of other volunteer clubs, the work we do is priceless and needs to be valued.”
While aiming to make the non-league pyramid after playing in the Manchester League, Uppermill FC has been equally ambitious off the field.
An away shirt sponsorship with the band Inspiral Carpets has been followed by one with China Crisis for the pivotal season.
And it has created the Uppermill FC Ambassadors, a group of more than 10 club grandees who have bonded together to promote it and to support the first team’s home game activities.
Ambassador Adam Wilson commented: “I joined the club in the mid-1990s and feel like this is my spiritual football home.
“Over the last 30 years, I’ve fulfilled so many roles as a player, a coach and now an ambassador and over the last few years, it has gone from strength to strength on and off the field.
“Uppermill FC is now the place to be for football – not just in Saddleworth but right across Oldham. As an ambassador, my job is to spread the word far and wide that ‘Little Uppermill’ are marching up the football pyramid.”
First team matches may take place at Mossley, but Uppermill FC remains active in Saddleworth with its Uppermill In The Community (UITC) initiative.
The club has donated thousands of pounds of clothes, gifts and other forms of support to local schools and, most notably, to Our Community Wardrobe Oldham (OCWO).
This season, it will partner with locally-formed national charity Maggie’s, whose logo will feature on players’ sleeves at the historic home match.
And do not think Uppermill FC’ first team is abandoning Saddleworth forever as Mr Southern added: “We genuinely appreciate our relationship with the great folk at Mossley, but isn’t it about time Saddleworth had its own community football ground capable of supporting semi-professional football?
“Not just that, but a facility that’s there for the whole community. The ambition is there – we just need the support.”
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