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According to our records, Leamington have played 12 times on this day in the past. The earliest record of us playing on this day was in 1949 in the opening game of the Birmingham Combination season. In a season where Lockheed would end up finishing second bottom, the first game set the tone for much of the rest of the season as they fell on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline against Wolverhampton Wanderers ‘A’. Bernard Jones got Lockheed’s only goal at the Windmill that day. Six years later though, it was a winning start to the season as Shrewsbury Town reserves came and were defeated 3-2. In front of a crowd of 1,571, a brace from Frank Grimwood in the first ten minutes and a second half Leslie Jakeman goal sent the home support away happy.

Another opening day win came in 1960 as Lockheed put 4 past Warwickshire rivals Stratford Town. Awde, Ward, Brown and Jepson were on the scoresheet that day. After world cup fever hit the country in 1966, it was back to earth for Lockheed as they lost 3-1 to Gainsborough Trinity on the opening day of the season. Former Barnsley and Mansfield full back Bill Poynton got Lockheed’s only goal in Lincolnshire. Another eight years went past before Lockheed, who would play the next game as AP Leamington with it being in 1974 - one year after the name change, could play on 20 August, but the wait was worth it as they beat Bromsgrove Rovers 2-1 at home. An 85th minute winner from Mick Keeley added on to his earlier goal was enough to make it four points from two games for AP.

AP made the journey to Witney in 1977 on the opening day of the season and drew 1-1 in front of 314 people thanks to an Adrian Stewart goal. In their first competitive game as Southern League Champions, AP hosted King’s Lynn on 20 August 1983. A goal from Cliff Campbell was enough for the champions in front of 353 at the Windmill Ground. The next fixture was 19 years later as Pershore visited the New Windmill Ground in 2002. Josh Blake and Paul Nicholls got the two goals, with the winner coming in the 90th minute.

Rocester visited Harbury Lane in 2005 and goals from Josh Blake, Steve Smith, Alex Rodman and Ryan Howell blew away the Romans and made it three wins from three games for Leamington. Brakes were in the Southern League by the time the next game was played and all 579 in the ground watched a Tommy Berwick hat trick, along with a Steph Morley goal, sink Weymouth 4-1. Continued progression meant the next game the club would play on this date was as a Conference North club. On the regular start of season Tuesday night slot which we haven’t had this season, Brakes travelled to Hednesford after a dream first game back as a Conference club on the Saturday as they won 2-0 against Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC and Brakes netted twice again on Tuesday 20 August with goals from Lee Chilton and Stefan Moore, but it wasn’t enough as Hednesford ran out 3-2 winners, despite being 2-0 behind.

The most recent game on this day was away at Chippenham Town in 2016. Chippenham ended Leamington’s winning streak of four games at the start of the season as 364 saw the Bluebirds take all three points with a 1-0 win in a season where the top spot would be occupied by either Leamington or Chippenham for most of the season, Chippenham eventually winning the league as champions whilst Leamington had to do it the hard way via the playoffs, but still got promoted with a 2-1 AET win against Hitchin.

Full Record:

P12 W7 D1 L4

1949: Lockheed 1-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers A
1955: Lockheed 3-2 Shrewsbury Town Reserves
1960: Stratford Town 0-4 Lockheed
1966: Gainsborough Trinity 3-1 Lockheed
1974: AP 2-1 Bromsgrove Rovers
1977: Witney Town 1-1 AP
1983: AP 1-0 King’s Lynn
2002: Leamington 2-0 Pershore Town
2005: Leamington 4-0 Rocester
2011: Leamington 4-1 Weymouth
2013: Hednesford Town 3-2 Leamington
2016: Chippenham Town 1-0 Leamington

Video credit: Hednesford Town FC

The National League are pleased to announce 32Red and Unibet as the Official Betting Partners of the Vanarama National League.
A two-year partnership has been agreed with parent company Kindred Group, covering both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons.

32Red and Unibet operate across Europe, including a wide variety of sponsorships within the domestic and international game. The brands will feature across the Competition’s digital channels, stadium advertising and in match day programmes.

Mark Ives, General Manager for the National League said, “The National League is thrilled to welcome the Kindred Group’s Unibet and 32Red brands as our official Betting Partner.

“We are excited to be working with an organisation who want to prioritise fan and community projects and gambling awareness, which is absolutely perfect timing, as we welcome back supporters in greater numbers than we have been able to over the last 18-or-so months.

“That period has been extremely challenging for us all and so we are very welcoming of this partnership for at least the next 2-years.”
Neil Banbury, UK General Manager, Kindred Group, added: “This is a hugely important day for everyone connected with the Kindred Group – we are excited and proud to be The National League’s official Betting Partner.

“Simply, non-league football is the lifeblood of our national sport. The elite level can only exist if the base of the pyramid thrives – and we hope that our investment will help to support that. At the heart of this are the supporters, of course, with their unwavering loyalty.

“The last year-and-a-half has shown us how vital they are to the clubs and to their communities. That is why we’ll be making sure that supporters see and feel a benefit from our sponsorship of their league. More broadly, Kindred remains committed to reinventing the sports sponsorship model – because we want a model that benefits the wider community.”

This community-first approach is in line with the Kindred’s sponsorship of Derby County, Rangers and Middlesbrough, for example. These clubs benefit from six-figure funding to run the Team Talk initiative – a platform that uses the club and its staff, including players and manager, as a mechanism to engage with men about their mental well-being.

More broadly, the Kindred Group broke new ground earlier in 2021 by becoming the first gambling operator to disclose the share of revenue derived from harmful gambling. Kindred has set an ambition to reach zero per cent of revenue from harmful gambling by the end of 2023 and report this on a quarterly basis.

The purpose is to be transparent with data and raise awareness on what needs to be done to prevent high-risk gambling in society. For the second quarter of 2021, the share of revenue from harmful gambling was 4.3%.

To celebrate the announcement, Kindred will be giving away tickets for National League matches on Saturday 4th September – which is an International Fixtures weekend – with fan competitions and giveaways set to be a feature throughout the partnership. Details will be confirmed very shortly.

Following on from the postponement of the Gateshead game, we can confirm that our trip to Alfreton Town on Saturday 21 August will not go ahead due to Covid-19 issues. With one Leamington player testing positive, and therefore more isolating, the National League have called the fixture off. 

We will confirm a rescheduled date for both Gateshead and Alfreton games as soon as they are agreed.