The Cheshire Juve: Fino Alla Fine at Barnton FC

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Tom Reed

Cover image: Barnton AFC.

There’s a little corner of Cheshire that will always be Turin.

Barnton AFC aka the Cheshire Juve.

They play in black and white like the Old Lady of Italian football and are quickly building connections with Bianconeri.

There’s something different going on at Townfield, the home of Barnton AFC, where matches aren’t soundtracked to fans rustling in their seats but mod, soul, punk and ska music instead.

This is a club that nurtures football fan culture and is reconnecting the link between the good-looking game and beautiful music.

Football and music have always gone hand in hand with most subcultures from teddy boy and modernist, to skinhead and casual, being carried by people who trod the terraces as well as the dancefloor.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. Barnton AFC.

Juventus fans have bought into the music vibe as much as the black and white uniforms that both teams have in common.

Paul Bazley and his brother Mark have produced the award winning Barnton AFC match-day printed programmes in the style of singles and albums from “The Jam”. They have proved popular, both at home and in the North of the country shaped like a boot.

Barnton’s latest home kit, made by Macron, is a tribute to classic Juventus strips and the photoshoot launch came on the back of Vespas.

The club have produced a retro scarf which reads “Forza Bianconeri” and the Townfield ground has the Italian tricolour flag plus another from the Juve fan group Arditi.

A match versus 1874 Northwich (with which they share a ground) was always going to be a popular friendly and the turnout of 423 was just a hundred or so below the record crowd for the club.

Where else can you go to a game and revving Scooters greet you through the turnstiles along with Northern Soul classics, local beer and properly nice burgers?

Barnton have distilled down all the things that make going to the match something to look forward to and with the tunes and the beers you find faces and characters that have gone away from the game, start to come back, which is what subculture is all about.

There’s some quality threads on display with rare Adidas, Fred Perry and Chevignon and all the clothes that make football an occasion for the dressers as well as the old guys with their flat caps and plastic bags with god knows what in.

Barnton of the North West Counties Division One South, take on fan-owned 1874 Northwich, who play a couple of leagues higher and both teams keep the ball nicely and compete well.

Yet, watching football here reminds you of terrace times when the football wasn’t everything. It was part of the scene which included a chat with your mates, a view of the away fans, pints and something more than sitting down and shutting up in an overpriced plastic chair for 90 minutes.

There’s plenty of non-league dogs like Jamtown Jeffers who is barking at the scooters and there’s mums and there’s kids kicking balls about and everything that makes a club feel like it is a good place to be.

At half-time there’s a charity match between guys representing the Mind Body and Sole, mental health initiative and Tiny Steps, which is a sensory play area and social cafe for children with additional needs and their families.

It’s only a matter of time before more exiled Juventus fans catch on and start coming down and that club record attendance of 534 looks sure to be broken this season.

Barnton are no strangers to a bit of European elan, having competed in the UEFA Regions League in 2014.

The weather is a mix of Italian and English, starting off in warm sunshine before the clouds turned suitably white to black, producing big rain which tested the holes in the roof of the temporary cover above the bar.

But it didn’t stop the bar takings from being good, Jamtown Jeffers being rewarded with a cheeseburger and people swaying to ska after the final whistle.

Why would you go watch football anywhere else?

Fina Alla Fino (to the end) and till the beer runs dry.