Saturday 17th August 2024 – EFL League Two – Hayes Lane, Bromley

Fifteen years ago this month I visited Hayes Lane for the first time. Despite living almost on the doorstep for over a decade I’d never had a compelling reason to visit. Back then, Non-League football was something people went to watch not through choice but desperation. I thought I was a happy Premier League fan, but deep down I knew something was wrong. Within a year of discovering Non-League football I was saved.

My first visit was to watch Lewes take on Bromley what was then the Blue Square Conference South in 2009. The club had been promoted to step two in 2007 when Hayes Lane was still a very basic ground, with covered terraces at both end and a small, main stand.

Today, it was a bright and shiny 5,000 capacity stadium and ready to host its first match in the professional game against a club who had followed a similar path to the EFL as Bromley.