Monthly Archives: December 2011

Cantilevered Containers

31 Saturday Dec 2011

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Saturday 31st December 2011 ko 12.00pm

Hellenic League Division One West

NEW COLLEGE SWINDON 0

TYTHERINGTON ROCKS 3 (Chapman 25 Perry 42 Criddle 79)

Att 78

Entry & Programme £3

Tea 60p

Steak Pie £1.50

It has to be said that New College are a difficult side to get a grip on as to what they’re about. Formed in 1994 as a side playing friendlies on Wednesday afternoons (a day typical for student football), they graduated to academy status two years later with a tie up with Swindon Town. That lasted 2 years before the club linked up with Forest Green Rovers, but these days there appears to be no official link-up, but coaching is directed by Paul Bodin, youth team manager at the County Ground. There were a few Swindon Town bench coats in evidence. Continue reading →

Red Blue Cross

29 Thursday Dec 2011

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Monday 27th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

United Counties League Division One

POTTON UNITED 1 (Dunville 68p)

WOOTTON BLUE CROSS 1 (Simons 24)

Att 114

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Tea and Coffee by donation

So, another 30 mile trip, this time via Stevenage and on to the A1(M) to Potton, a village 10 miles east of Bedford. This was to complete my triple for the day and the first thing I noticed was how the journey from Spartan League to United Counties League meant how much more rural everything felt. Continue reading →

Maggie’s Farm

29 Thursday Dec 2011

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Monday 27th December 2011 ko 3.00pm

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

ST MARGARETSBURY 2 (Anstead 6 79)

STOTFOLD 2 (Aulsberry 51 Donnelly 89p)

Att 46

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

Tea £1

Bacon Roll £2

After the Kings Langley game it was straightforward to drive round a few exits of the M25 then onto the A10 through Cheshunt, towards Stanstead Abbotts. Or was I? The team used to be called Stanstead Abbotts, but changed names when they moved to the Recreation ground. I was told that despite the fact that the postal address is in Stanstead Abbotts, the ground itself is, in fact in adjacent St Margarets. The “Bury” bit refers to the fact that the ground lies in the former grounds of the Bury, or Manor House. The Manor house was the property of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, but reverted to the crown after her execution in 1536. Continue reading →

A sense of Dacorum

29 Thursday Dec 2011

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Tuesday 27th December 2011 ko 12.00pm

Spartan South Midlands League Division One

KINGS LANGLEY 4 (Noonan 24 90 Warrell 26 Armstrong 90)

LONDON COLNEY 0

Att 130 (record gate receipts of £340)

Entry & Programme £4

Tea-in-a-mug 70p

The village lies on the Southern Edge of the Chiltern Hills, and its western portion lies in Dacorum. The borough includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, and Tring. It was once the location of Kings Langley Palace, a royal palace of the Plantagenet kings of England. The village is perhaps best known for being the location of the Ovaltine factory, now long since closed and converted to flats.

If the film “Field of Dreams,” espoused the comment “Build it and they will come,” then this fixture suggested a comment of “Set and stick to an unusual kick off time and they will come.” Continue reading →

Chances

29 Thursday Dec 2011

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Monday 26th December 2011 ko 3.00pm

Isthmian League Division One North

SOHAM TOWN RANGERS 3 (Cotton 7p 21 Carter 53)

AFC SUDBURY 1 (Henshaw 64)

Att 221

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

Tea 70p

Cheeseburger £2.50

Chips £1.10

The small Cambridgeshire town of Soham seems to have been touched by tragedy more than most. As if the 2002 murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were not bad enough, in 1944 the town narrowly escaped destruction. A fire developed on the lead wagon of a heavy ammunition train travelling slowly through the town. The town was saved by the bravery of four  staff, Benjamin Gimbert (Driver), James Nightall (Fireman), Frank Bridges (Signalman) and Herbert Clarke (Guard), who uncoupled the rest of the train and drove the engine and lead wagon clear of the town, where it exploded, killing Jim Nightall and Frank Bridges but causing no further deaths. Ben Gimbert survived and spent seven weeks in hospital. Although small in comparison to what would have happened if the entire train had blown up, the explosion caused substantial property damage. Gimbert and Nightall were both awarded the George Cross (Nightall posthumously).

Despite all this Soham is a thriving market town and its club has done well to graduate from the Eastern Counties League. Julius Martin Lane now reflects that elevation, with covered terracing on the 3 accessible sides, the fourth a victim of the ground graders. It appears to be just too open! All this cover has slightly restricted the view from the main stand, a bench-seated affair, with doors at the side for access at the side. All very welcome on a cold, windy day.

The part of the ground the club are probably most proud of is the clubhouse. Both large and comfortable, it easily coped with a bumper Boxing Day crowd. I found it handy to buy my food from the burger bar nearby and quietly sit and read my programme.

The club was established in 1947 by a merger of Soham Town and Soham Rangers.Town were formed in 1920, won the Cambridgeshire Junior Cup in 1932–33, and played in the Cambridgeshire League during the 1930s, earning promotion to the Premier Division in 1938. Rangers were formed in 1919 and reached the top division of the Cambridgeshire League in 1926, the same year in which they won the Junior Cup. The merged club entered the Eastern Counties League in 1963,  won the 2007-2008 title and were promoted to the Southern League, Midland Division. For this season they were switched sideways to the Isthmian part of the pyramid.

As befits a local derby the action was fairly frantic. Soham took the lead from the penalty spot, after Andy Furnell ran strongly into the Sudbury penalty area. He seemed bound to score but Sudbury keeper Danny Gay managed to block his shot, but  a further block by defender Steve Adams was adjudged to have been handball. He was booked and Daniel Cotton stepped forward to fire the spot-kick low into the bottom left hand corner.

Soham doubled their lead on 21 minutes, and again Cotton’s hard work paid off. His neat one-two put him clean through and he beat former Southend keeper Gay easily. All quite surprising given the relative League positions of the clubs. You expected the visitors to make a better fist of things in the second half, but on 51 minutes the game was put out of reach when Gay spilled a Cotton free-kick and Scott Carter was on hand to force the ball home through a melee of players.

Sudbury gained some consolation when Michael Shinn’s 64th minute free-kick defeated the Soham Town Rangers defence and Ryan Henshaw was on hand to reduce the deficit. However despite all Sudbury’s huffing and puffing the final score was a fair reflection on the game.

Downham out

29 Thursday Dec 2011

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Monday 26th December 2011 ko 11.00am

Eastern Counties League Divsion One

MARCH TOWN UNITED 2 (Franks 19og Odain 62)

DOWNHAM TOWN 0

Att 129

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £2.50

Tea 50p

All Chocolate 50p

March’s football are team called the Hares, and to an outsider you’d think that’s just about all you can say about the place. It’s a far more interesting place than that, the town is actually an island on the now drained marshes that surround it, and the unusual name is in fact a corruption of the names of the two settlements that made up the town, Merche and Mercheford. Dart player Kevin “The Artist” Painter hails from the town.

March Town United play at the GER, or Great Eastern Railway Sports Ground, which is the other reason for the town’s existance. March was a major junction on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Railways, in fact the floodights at the ground are from the Great Eastern’s shunting yard in the town. One of the fences behind a goal is held up by sleepers, seemingly from the same source.

None of which you notice when you pull into Robingoodfellows Lane. Its the wooden pitched roof stand that dominates, built in 1929. Its been lovingly maintained, a Stradivarius of football architecture.  Not surprisingly smoking is banned anywhere near it! Its set a little back from the pitch, a relic of its past use for a greyhounds and occasionally speedway. The turnstile operater’s booth has been turned into a toilet, and the referee’s booth to the right is now used for hospitility.

The club made, in my opinion, an error in not providing hot food on a cold, blustery morning, perhaps they thought everyone would be still full from Christmas day! The club and its supporters were notably friendly, most of the information here is from them!

Sadly the game failed to live up to the surroundings, not the fault of the Hares, Downham were utterly lacking in attacking threat. So it rapidly became a case of how and when March were going to put the visitors away, and with the wind that wasn’t as as straightforward as you’d think. The opener came in bizarre circumstances, Matthew Franks’ shot was beautifully placed, past his own keeper!

The second half carried on in much the same vein, the highlight being the second goal. Ondre Odain collected the ball from a throw-in , executed a sharp one-two and eased past two defenders to the 18 yard line, and fired a left-foot shot into bottom right hand corner.

Downham subsituted, and altered formation to improve things, but it all added up to nothing more than two corners for the entire game. Disappointing, but the ground more than made up for it.

Oh what a lovely war!

25 Sunday Dec 2011

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Saturday 24th December 2011 ko 1.30pm

Sussex County League Division 2

DORKING WANDERERS 3 (Matty Evans 59 75 D Evans 76)

STORRINGTON 2 (Grantham 39 O’Regan 54)

Att 184

Entry £5

Programme SOLD OUT (content to be emailed), old copy FREE

Soup & Roll £1.50

Chips £1

It would have been easy to have said that every hopper known to man was at my morning game at Roffey, the afternoon proved they weren’t. Some had travelled here as a one-off, some had watched Pease Pottage in the morning. Some watched Roffey and went elsewhere. It all added up to 2 extra on the gate when compared to Roffey, and as before, they’d completely underestimated the interest in the fixture. What was lost on some visitors is that if a club’s attendance in normally 30, why would you risk the expense of printing 5 times you normal run of programmes, especially with the weather being so uncertain.

Dorking, or course lies in Surrey, not that you’re far from the Sussex border. Its best known as the birthplace of Laurence Olivier, not that at any point did I feel actually in the bustling market town. The West Humble Playing Fields lie in the shadow of the National Trust owned Box Hill, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Box Hill, incidentally, will be used for the cycling road race in next summer’s Olympics.

Perhaps that’s why the ground has wood very much to the fore. Cabins for changing rooms, with the pitch-side rail being in fact a fence. Nothing is prefabricated, nothing is standard issue, which makes it excellent for a one-off vistor, but you do wonder how on earth the club could progress to a floodit league with these facilities.

There was little Christmas cheer on show in this game. As early as 3rd minute Storrington forward Craig Grantham was guilty of a horrible studs-up challenge on defender Craig Vernon. He then seemed to grab Vernon by the neck, and Vernon retaliated by attempting a punch. Both players could, perhaps should have should have been sent off, but referee Dawson chose only to book Grantham.

It proved to be significant as Grantham opened the scoring, and throughout the rest of the game the tackles were notably late, and high. Wanderers took a 2-goal lead when keeper Williams fumbled O’Regan’s shot, and the visitors looked home and dry at that point. Clearly they hadn’t considered Matty Evans, who firstly headed home direct from a corner, then his shot from the left was the culmination of a fine passing move. I was glad to be watching from the the left touchline as left-back Dan Evans overlapping run saw him fire home from 20 yards. Pantomime villain Grantham finally did get his marching orders, collecting his 2nd booking for a challenge that ironically looked more clumsy than malicious. Any sense of injustice he he was feeling did not excuse the abusive language he shouted out as most of the Storrington bench were called into action to encort him from the field of play.

So as not to be left out of the fun, Wanderers manager Marc White was sent from the dugout for contesting a foul that wasn’t penalised, or for that matter even claimed!

Not exactly Christmassy on the pitch but all was well with the world off of it. Cards were exchanged and pleasantries of the season very much to the fore. And that is a good a time as any to wish both of my readers a very merry Christmas, see you somewhere daft!

Circus

24 Saturday Dec 2011

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Saturday 24th December 2011 ko 11am

Sussex County League Divsion Three

ROFFEY 0

BARNHAM 1 (Hancock 27)

Att 182 (ground record)

Entry FREE

Programme/Tea/Mince Pie £2

Bacon Roll £1.50

After 6 days out it was good to be back on the road, albeit rather slowly! If this game proved anything, its that when there’s nothing much else on, and there’s a programme groundhoppers will turn up in large numbers. Roffey hadn’t seen anything like it, and other than on organised hops I haven’t seen a crowd with a higher percentage of neutrals.

Roffey is a small village just outside of Horsham and is best known for its Parish Church, designed by Arthur Blomfield the architect for The Royal College of Music. The Chennells Brook ground is within Horsham itself, in Bartholomew Way, at the back of a new housing development.

This is Roffey’s first season in the County League and on current form (6 points all season) it may well be their last.

The club worked hard at their day, despite being completely unaware of the sheer task asked of them. With a normal attendance of 15 to 20 they produced 60 programmes. When they sold out within minutes, the secretary went home and printed off another 60. They too sold out rapidly, and eventually 4 print runs satisfied the masses. Even notorious hopper Barry the Tw@t had nothing to complain about.

The game failed to ignite, other than for the goal. The Barnham players had clearly understood the league table and believed that if they just waited the goals would soon arrive. One did, in bizarre circumstances. Harper’s shot hit the crossbar and rebounded out. Keeper Mitchell-Harris assumed the ball had already gone in and remonstrated with his defence, only to watch horrified a second later as Hancock had the easiest of tap-ins to open the scoring. Things like this happen when you’re bottom! Mind you, with opposition called Barnham and a player called Hancock perhaps comedy is invitable!

The second half drifted along pleasantly enough without any great incident. You hoped Roffey would find a moment of inspiration from somewhere, but it never looked likely and didn’t happen. I expect to see Roffey back in the Mid-Sussex League, next season, but hopefully today will have given the club a good financial boost.

These mist covered mountains………….

23 Friday Dec 2011

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Monday 18th July 2011

at Big Lake Soccer Complex, Moriyama-Shi,  Shiga Prefecture.

Entry FREE

Programme for 2nd Game FREE (produced by the fans)

Drinks machines a plenty

12.30pm

Shiga Syakaijin League Divsion One

FC ZE ZE 5 (14 52 54 56 75)

FC KOGA 0

Att 2 (h/c)

@ Pitch A

2.30pm

Kansai League Divsion One

TOJITSU SHIGA 0

BANDITONCE KAKOGAWA 1 (14)

Att 66 (h/c)

@ Pitch B

So my last day in Japan, and the second with pouring rain! The first was the first. Now, this was possibly the first games I’ve ever done where I didn’t don’t quite know where exactly I was! Shiga prefecture, that’s easy, and the complex name was easy…. Well Peter drove on the freeway past Kyoto and north, but other than a Big Lake and mountains I was drawing a blank! Eventually with a lot of searching I found it, just copy this into Google Earth 滋賀県守山市服部町2439番地.  That’s the address in Japanese, and that should show you as to be near the small town of Sazukawacho

What was unusual was the shrine in one corner, but other than that a fairly standard complex, no cover but a main astro pitch with a terrace strangely called Pitch B, another astro pitch with a tiny viewing area, Pitch A, and a grass pitch that was regrowing. What was noticable was the clouds drifting on and off the mountains.

I started at pitch A and watched a Shiga Prefectoral game, which was easily the worst of the holiday. While its bad enough that FC Koga turned up with just the 9 players, but FC Ze Ze (named after a railway station in Otsu, the capital of Shiga) were far more to blame for simply thinking the goals would be scored by default. By the time they worked that one out the spectacle had been ruined. In the game’s favour was the high level of adminstration, as an obviously experienced referee took time to coach his trainee assistants.

Far more watchable was the second game on the main pitch and the bonus of a A4 sheet programme. Tojitsu have ambitions of the J-League, but the ground isn’t up to JFL standards, as there’s only one viewable side, but more pressing is the team. They’re honest, and hard working, but Banditonce had far too much and should have won by more. The ageing but still potent midfielder scored a fine goal before departing on the hour, and that was all that was needed.

So I departed my last ground tired sunburned, but utterly elated. 11 good ticks, and 12 games, and plenty of stories to bore you all with! A massive thanks once again to Peter, a life altering experience and one I’ll never be able to repay.

One final point, Peter found something on the FC Koga website, Its the last picture…

Moving Mountains

22 Thursday Dec 2011

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Sunday 17th July 2011

At the Sakai Soccer National Training Centre, Osaka

9.30am

Osaka Syakaijin League Division 1

HIGASHI OSAKA 3 (8 33 59)

HOKOKU 2 (18 67)     

Att 15 (h/c)

On Pitch S12

League Brochure FREE  

  

11.30am

Osaka Syakaijin League Division 2B

BAGGINA OSAKA 0

HERMANO OSAKA 1 (31)

70 minute game

Att 16 (h/c)

on Pitch S13  

                         

3.15 pm

Kansai Joshi (Ladies) League

TAZKARAZUKO EL BAILE 1 (80)

KYOTO SHIKO 1 (57)

80 minute game

Att 34 (h/c)

On Pitch S10  

  

No programmes at any game

Drinks from a multitude of vending machines

Food available from the clubhouse 

  

So, you live in a city where building land is at a premium, so what do you do? That’s right you blow up a mountain, create some space, and dump the rubble in the sea. That dumped rubble island you call Sakai, build a bridge to it, and build a football complex.

And that dear reader is the Sakai Soccer National Training Centre in Osaka. The bald statistics do take some fathoming. 14 full size football pitches (5 grass, 9 4G), with a 3,032 seater mini stadium for pitch S1. 8 Futsal fields with 3 under cover with air conditioning. A cycling course, walking course, Sport square, 4 locker room buildings, and a Clubhouse. Oh, and its free to get in and the whole lot is powered by solar panels! Its little wonder that the mission statement is “Where no dream is too big!”

So it was genuinely a case of turn up and pick a game you fancied.

In Osaka once you drop down beneath J1, J2 and the JFL you get two divisions of the Kansai League, and below that you’re watching the Osaka Prefectoral, or Syakaijin Leagues. This league has a top division and below that several Division 2s as the league regionalises still further.

It was watching these games I became aware of the Japanese levels of administrative efficiency. Not only did all games have 3 officials, but a designated scorer too. Before the game she would ensure team sheets were handed in and all relevant statistics were properly recorded. Afterwards the paperwork was handed to a runner for despatch to the offices in the middle, and presumably then on on the internet!

The Kansai Ladies League was a nice league to watch with that side of the game doing so well in Japan. And with the whole safety issue being, well not an issue, the Ladies game will go from strength to strength.

So the games; typical of the genre. With the pitches superb, what you got was good passing play, but with very little “Nous” for want of a better word. Its clear that the coaching is excellent, with facilities to match, and you wonder just how far the Japanese game can go when experience can be added into the melting pot.

A word about the shortened games. When its 90% humidity and 35 degrees Celsius, who can blame them?