Eastwood Town (England)

Eastwood Town come from the small Nottinghamshire town of the same name, just to the north west of Nottingham itself. They haver a long history of playing in black and white, although appear to be only recent converts to the stripes themselves, so we'll have to keep an eye on the progress of their kit over the coming seasons. They were formed in 1953, although there was a team of the same name knocking about in the early 1920s who only lasted for a couple of seasons, and who have no connection to the current club.

Like many fellow stripes, Eastwood hail from a former coal- mining town, and is perhaps most famous as being the birthplace of the writer DH Lawrence, with many of its houses and hostelries cropping up frequently in his stories. It's also one fo the few places where the rare dialect East Midlands English is still spoken. So don't be surprised if you have only half an idea of what anyone is saying to you if ever you pay a visit up that way.

The Badgers, as the club like to be known, have recently worked their way up from the Northern Premier League currently play in the Conference North, the sixth tier of English football, and the first to be regionalised. They play at the 2500 capacity Coronation Park, just off the main Nottingham Road. Famous old boys include Arsenal and Forest star Tony Woodcock, who was born in the town, the much travelled Alan Buckley and former Bradford and Middlesbrough defender Richard Liburd. Their traditional rivals haver always been the nearby Ilkestone Town, although as The Robins have recently been wound up, they may have to go further afield for their derbies.

However, perhaps their biggest moment came in the 2008/09 FA Cup, where they reached the third round, taking the scalps of Wrexham and Wycome Wanderers along the way, before being deprived of a major payday when they were drawn to Kettering, who rather impolitely beat them 2-1 in a tense match.

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