LAST weekend, AFC Porchester returned to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Bedfont Sports and heralded their return to the Onsite Group Stadium after months of renovation.
Back in June, the Royals announced that work to improve the pitch and stadium, specifically a new 3G pitch, had begun with a scheduled finish date at the beginning of the 2026/27 season.
It meant the stadium wouldn’t be able to host the first few games of the season, the club travelled seven miles to play at the AEI Stadium, the home of Gosport Borough, who had agreed to a ground share.
The wait to return home finally ended on the 24th October in the game against Bedfont, and it wasn’t just the action on the pitch and the subsequent result that showed how seriously the grand reopening was being taken.
AFC Porchester played their first game on their new 3G pitch last weekend. (Credit: Ashley Whiteway)
In attendance was a friend of the club, who happens to be an FA Cup winning manager, Harry Redknapp, who officially reopened the pitch by cutting the rope, and had no hesitations when asked to do so:
“What this club has done really has been amazing, what a story.
“When I was invited along, the chairman asked me to come along, I said I’d be only too pleased. I love supporting grassroots football.”
Harry Redknapp was in attendance to officially open the new pitch. (Credit: Ashley Whiteway)
There is an element of surprise that Redknapp was so willing to do the honours, as having had a playing career from 1965 to 1982, he openly admitted his love for 3G pitches isn’t massive:
“If you ask me, I’m not a lover of playing on 3G pitches. I wouldn’t have been.”
However, at the same time, he could see the need for them at non-league level, and in this case, AFC Portchester specifically:
“For non-league teams, they’re needed because you can get so much use out of them.
“It’s a fantastic thing for this club now, to raise more finances, to build it and make it bigger and bigger.”
