Fab Wickersley football veterans in a league of their own
A TEAM of football veterans are still winning league titles when others have long ago hung up their boots.
Wickersley Over-35s have won the Wragg League five years on the trot, dating back to pre-Covid days.
They won the competition in 2017/18 and 2018/19 and, after two aborted seasons due to the pandemic in which they were also well placed to finish top, they’ve come back and topped the pile in each of the last three years.
It’s a credit to the players and to manager Chris Grieve, who has overseen the run of success including and Wragg League and Cup double in his first three seasons.
In his prime he turned out for Parkgate, captained Mexborough Main Street and played in strong Rotherham Sunday League sides like Brinsworth, Colin Campbell and Reresby Arms.
"In my playing days I played alongside and against very good footballers,” said Chris. “When I took over at Wickersley all I did was pull in all my mates I have always played football with plus all the best lads I used to play against and formed a team that has dominated everything.”
Wickersley’s glory run has seen them win 85 out of 96 league matches, losing only eight.
They’ve scored 361 goals, an average of nearly four per game, and conceded 104.
Wickersley might even have got their hands on the open age Sheffield Junior Cup in the 2020/21 only to be scuppered once again by Covid.
They also beat the odds to reach that final again last season only to be pipped by a good Worksop Town Reserves side.
Chris explained: "The average age of our team is 41 to 42. We’ve also got one of the guys who taught me how to play in the middle of the park when I was a teenager. He is called Adam Fretwell.
"A couple of years ago, when Scott Mason first took over at Parkgate and they were short of players, we helped them out before our season started.
"Adam played in their first fixture against Selby and he was Man of the Match. That was at the age of 45 in the Northern Counties East League.”
Despite so many good years, there’s no chance of Wickersley resting on their laurels.
"We keep refreshing the players and, rest assured, we’re carrying on next season,” added Chris.
"We’re still hungry. We want league title number six.”