Denmead forced to play a Hampshire Premier League promotion waiting game

The mayor of Havant has been a regular in goal for the club since they made their Hampshire Premier League debut in August 2019.

Bains kept 13 clean sheets in 20 Division 1 games in 2019/20 as the team topped the table when the first national lockdown was announced.

He had also hit the headlines when saving three penalties in a Portsmouth Senior Cup shoot-out win at three divisions higher AFC Portchester.

Denied promotion last year due to the fact no teams came down from the HPL top flight due to its null and voiding, Denmead were again flying high in 2020/21 before the third national lockdown in early January.

Having last played on December 12, the best part of three months ago now, Denmead are lying second behind Moneyfields Reserves - the team that beat them to the title on a points-per-game basis last year.

HPL officials are currently weighing up whether to press the restart button on the league when lockdown restrictions on grassroots sport are lifted at the end of this month.

Nationwide, it’s a mixed picture - the Northern Football Alliance League (steps 7 and below, the same as the HPL) has curtailed its season, but the Essex and Suffolk Border League, at the same level, are planning for an April 3 restart.

Across the county border, the Mid-Sussex League are planning to play all their divisions to a conclusion, with promotion and relegation, but the larger top two divisions are being split into a top half and bottom half based on results so far, with teams in each half playing the others once more.

The FA have given the HPL permission to extend seasons into June, but that brings with it problems of some clubs having to vacate their pitches for cricket. And a much later finish to 2020/21 could mean next season’s start is pushed back from its usual early August date as well.

‘I just hope we can return to training after March 29, get the season finished and hopefully win promotion,’ said Bains.

‘Ourselves and Moneyfields Reserves have shown over the past two seasons we are good enough to be playing in the higher division.

‘We want to complete the season and hopefully finish in the top two and go up.

‘But if there’s no promotion and relegation with the division above you might as well do PPG and finish the season now.

‘I know it depends on the league above, but hopefully teams will go up in the division above to free up spaces.

‘It only seems fair and right that the best teams get promoted.’

Denmead have 19 of their 28 scheduled HPL fixtures to play, and an April 10 restart would leave them having to play those games in the space of 83 days. With a possible 12 Saturdays to be played on, it wouldn’t even be a two games a week scenario.

If the HPL Senior Division season is not completed, Denmead’s promotion hopes will rest on the FA implementing the restructuring of the pyramid initially planned for last summer.

At present, the HPL Senior Division can only take 16 teams - its current capacity under FA guidelines. It HAS held more clubs in the past, though - 18 in 2015/16 when Baffins Milton Rovers won the second of their two county titles.

Without extending the top flight, clubs could only be promoted from Division 1 if a) Senior Division clubs are invited by the FA into the Wessex League, b) any Senior club withdraws, or c) a Senior club asks to be relegated to Division 1.

The FA have said they will ‘revisit’ the proposed restructuring plan in the coming weeks, with Infinity, Fleetlands, Bush Hill and Stockbridge the four HPL Premier sides to have applied for promotion.

A social media campaign, Project Non-League, has called on the governing body to promote clubs via their points-per-game records over the past two seasons.

On the basis of two clubs going up, that would suit Denmead - they have the second best PPG rate (2.13) since the start of 2019/20, behind Moneyfields Reserves (2.8).

Bains played youth football for Travaux and Clanfield before joining Denmead, where his team-mates include former Cowplain School buddies Jacob Arend, Steve Field and Lewis Crook.

An all-round sportsman, Bains also represented Hampshire at basketball and has played Southern League cricket for Hambledon and Portsmouth.

Though he hasn’t played for Portsmouth since 2018, he remains interested in the sport and is organising a charity cricket match at Havant CC this year.

That match - plus a golf day, an outdoor cinema event and a classic car run - are all fundraising events for Hannah’s Holiday Homes, his chosen Mayor’s charity during his year in office.

It is obviously unusual for a serving Mayor to play grassroots football and Bains admits he is the subject of much dressing room banter.

‘Yeah, I get it all the time!’ he laughed.

‘A lot of the other teams seem to know (about the Mayor role) - the banter’s always there.

‘People think politics is boring, but everyone has an opinion.

‘Sometimes there’s questions - why does a pub have to shut at 10pm rather than midnight?

‘But the players regularly ask about the charities and the businesses I’ve been to, they’re really interested.

‘I went to a Barrett Homes site before Christmas and our captain (Steve Field) was working there, it was nice to see him in his day job.’