How Covid helped establish North Ferriby FC as phase one of ground extension approved

"The future looks bright; it looks green and white." The ambitious words of North Ferriby FC chairman Les Hare, reflecting on five years as a reformed club. In that time, the Villagers, despite two Covid interrupted seasons, have enjoyed back-to-back promotions and are now competing at Step 4 on the non-league football pyramid.

Rising from the ashes, the backstory is well known. Football has been played in North Ferriby for over 100 years, and Hare, now 70 years old, wasn't going to let it stop. Re-forming in 2019, the phoenix club from the old North Ferriby United are now into their sixth season, currently placed in fifth spot on the Northern Premier League East table.

On the up again, a play-off finish is not beyond their reach, and while further success is craved by all, it's the growth and sustainability of the football club, a vibrant part of the local community, that is just as important, with the first phase for development plans for additional football pitches to be built adjacent to the Dransfield Stadium site now approved.

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"At the end of the day, I never stand still," Hare told Hull Live in an exclusive interview. "As far as this football club is concerned, we've got plans that are continuing to come to fruition all of the time. Just in this last week, we've had the nod for phase one of our ground extension to the east in order to provide two 9 v 9 football pitches.

"Within the next two years, some of this field to the east of us will be converted into two more football pitches; phase two, if we are successful with our plans, will be to actually add a new car park and additional football pitches onto the other side.

"My overall ambition is to create the club as a hub so that we can bring all of our youth teams together and be able to play within the village. At the moment, we're hiring facilities all over the county, so for me, the future of the football club is to bring everybody home and play in the same facility, which itself generates its own income and further develops the football club."

That community imprint is massive for Ferriby, who are focused on their club principles, ones that see the footfall continue to come through the turnstiles on home matchdays. For supporters, it's a sense of belonging, honesty, and integrity. That reflects throughout, with Covid, while initially halting promotion progress from the NCEL Divisions, having its benefits elsewhere.

Hare explained: "Covid didn't help in so many different ways, but remarkably, what it did do was create an acceleration in other areas of the football club that we wanted to develop, particularly with the youth structure.

"It's all flown by, really—but we've gone from zero to 24 football teams in that time. We've currently got 370 people playing football every weekend. We've drawn on the community from kids of the age of 5 and 6 to older guys into their 70s. The great thing is the club is now firmly in the centre of the heart of this community.

"I'm absolutely over the moon with what we've achieved so far. I'm so privileged to have two wonderful coaches, Robbo (Paul Robson) and Chris (Bolder), working here with us at the club. It's one of those situations where you have to have the right people at the helm, and that's what's worked so well for us."

Of course, Ferriby are cautious to walk before they can run. Rapidly climbing through the divisions in the United era, they soon fell back down before being wound up in the courts. For Hare, the challenge is to avoid a history repeat, carefully managing the squad and who they bring in, with the coaching team dong their research before signing a player.

"We're talking in terms of building bricks, really," he continued. "You start with your foundations, and this football club had an incredible part to play in this community. I think once it gets broken, people then tend to realise the full extent of what it is and what it's value is, so for me, it was a question of making sure that all of those principles were returned to the club so that we could start with a firm base and operate on a sustainable basis and hopefully develop the club, which looking back over the last five years, we've achieved a lot and done well.

"It's very difficult (to be sustainable), but at the same time it's very easy. It's like anything else; if you can't afford it, then don't buy it. The difference in non-league football now compared to what it was ten years ago, for instance, is that a number of clubs in our vicinity have got incredibly high budgets, and the net result of that is that a lot of players have high expectations in regards to wages and the like.

"That's resonated in the high volume of people we speak to before we actually make a signing. I don't have a problem with players trying to generate an income from their play—we just have our own principles here that we stick to. If it doesn't work, then the players move on and go somewhere else, but we're doing okay with our principles. They are set to make sure that the club doesn't overstretch on what it can afford."

Ferriby now host Garforth Town this Tuesday evening before another home game against Pontefract Collieries on Saturday, with the goal now to kick on and make a play-off challenge.

"The quality is increasing now, but with the experience of having gone through the leagues previously, to a certain extent, you know what's coming," Hare said on increased competition. "I've tried as best as I could to prepare for these things.

"You can't always prepare for success, but we were blessed with two really good back-to-back seasons, which was an achievement we hadn't done before. In 100 years of history, we've never had a back-to-back promotion like that, but that was down to the energy and the experience of the manager and the assistants, and the quality of the players that they bring in.

"These are all players that essentially want to be at the football club, first and foremost, and they're all here for the right reasons; they play as a team, and they've brought us along. Even now, at this higher level, they are adjusting. We've had to tweak the team, but we're doing equally well as anyone else in this league.

"It's been so important to keep a nucleus. You don't want a football club that's like a revolving door with people coming in and out. If you've got a core of players that are keen to keep developing, then you can build around that. You don't try to replace it; you work around it, and once again, the recruitment that we've brought in to add to that core of players has given us the opportunity to compete at the top end of this league."

And for Hare, there's no doubt where that opportunity arises from—the fans. The Ferriby supporter network is growing, with volunteers taking the club to new heights.

"It's been crucial," the chairman added. "People like Mark Leighton, for instance; he runs the club shop, and he's taken the Supporters Club membership from 30-40 to over 250. That speaks volumes for the energy he has put into it, but also for that core of supporters we have for the club.

"These are people who inheritly care what this club does. I think there's an awful lot of situations where you have a different size supporter base, but when you think of a supporters club, these are people who genuinely care about how the club operates.

"The fact how much they're paying on the turnstile, for instance, and on that front, we're still the cheapest in this league, but what quality do they have when they come in? We have so much pride for this stadium and the amount of work that our volunteers put in to make sure that it looks at its best all of the time. It gives people the opportunity to come and have a good experience.

"We've also got some of the best food and drink at extremely fair and competitive prices, so the overall experience here is good, and that is reflected in the increase in our supporters club membership. People do care, and they know we work this club on a non-profit basis so we can actually regenerate all of that income into the club. That, in a nutshell, is what it's all about."