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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Daily Archives: September 5, 2012

Glaw

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in D

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Tags

AAFC, Andrew Thomas, Carno, Chris Berezai, Dolgellau, Glaw, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Rain, Sion Williams, Y Marian

Monday 27th August 2012 ko 3.00pm

Mid-Wales League Division One

DOLGELLAU AAFC 2 (Williams 62 70p)

CARNO 1 (Thomas 82)

Att 206

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Sticker £2

From Welshpool we headed out due west, giving the folks at Dyffryn Banw, our third game a wave as we passed by. From there is was into the wilds of Snowdonia, and across the border from Powys to Gwynedd, and the county town of the long since abolished county of Merionethshire. There is very much the feeling of being off the beaten track here, as even the main A458 snakes its way around the mountains before dropping into Dolgellau like an asphalt waterfall.

The name of the town is pronounced “Doll geth Lee” but the spelling has only been definitively decided on recently, in 1958. In fact, the local railway station until its closure under the Beeching axe, used signs saying variously Dolgelly, Dolgelley and Dolgellau! The town has been in the past a centre for Quakerism, and in the 19th century was the centre of a minor gold rush, and to this day the Clogau St Davids mine in Bontddu, and the Gwynfynydd mine in Ganllwyd have supplied gold for many royal weddings. Rally driver Gwyndaf Evans who won the 1996 British Rally Championship hails from here which seems somehow appropriate!

Other than the appalling weather, consistent and heavy rain, I was struck by how keen the club were to make people welcome. The club have no clubhouse of their own, so the rugby club’s facilities were co-opted, and despite the local council declaring the site “open land” the area was secured with temporary fencing so as to allow a gate to be taken. When the coaches arrived, a queue quickly formed, not good in the rain, but the club quickly took the initiative and shepherded ticket holders though another entrance. An excellent bit of quick thinking, and much appreciated by all concerned.

As organiser you love it when a club reads its briefing notes, and acts on them. Here they had no board for the line-ups so copied the line-ups out and left them in the bar for people to write down. During that time Chris, the two coach drivers and I were being given packed lunches by the club as ” I bet you haven’t had time to eat.” Space was also found for Derek Coupe to sit quietly, as although his health issues seem to have been resolved, he hasn’t got all of his strength back. Small things that cost nothing, but made a fantastic impression on us all.

We were glad of the stand at the half way line, although it’s a shame it incorporates the dugouts. Without it there would have been few places to avoid a soaking, a fact that may well have affected food sales as you had to queue outside for service. That would have been fantastic on a dry day, as you could watch the game while you waited, but on a day like this queueing was a trial. As organiser there are of course two things you can’t influence, the weather and the quality of the game.

And to be honest, the entertainment wasn’t quite of the quality we’d be used to. Perhaps we’d been thoroughly spoiled previously, but for a high percentage of the game this one looked like it had “Nil-Nil written all over it. It wasn’t that either side didn’t create chances, it’s just that they found a variety of ways to spurn them. Carno will no doubt have driven back to Powys wondering how they lost this, they had far more possession, but once Sion Williams fired home to collective a sigh of relief, that lead was quickly doubled, via the penalty spot. It speaks volumes for the game that on a hop where goals positively flowed, when Carno reduced the arrears with 8 minutes left, no one expected a come-back.

For all of that, I won’t remember Dolgellau AAFC (Amateur Athletic Football Club) for the game, the ground, or even the first completely bi-lingual programme I’ve seen on a hop. No, I’ll remember Dolgellau for its wonderful hard-working band of volunteers. And for a small club there is no better advert.

A stone circle means the town has hosted a National Eisteddfod of Wales, which it did in 1949, and the youth Eisteddfod in 1960 and 1994.


Celebrating the first Dolgellau goal!!


The Boost

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in W

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Tags

Chris Berezai, Chris Kamara, free kick, George Mitten, Ian Jones, Iwan Matthews, James Longford, Llansantffraid Village FC, Maesydre, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Olver Clarke, Town, Wayne Austin, welsh premier league, Welshpool

Monday 22nd August 2012 ko 11.00am

Mid-Wales League Division One

WELSHPOOL TOWN 3 (Longford 9 I Jones 31 Mitten 39)

LLANSANTFFRAID VILLAGE 5 (Austin 11secs 25 72 Clarke 2 Matthews 40)

Att 211

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

So, the final day of the Welsh hop, and the club whose game was the most difficult to schedule. With Welshpool having played in the Welsh Premier League comparatively recently, a lot of hoppers would have already visited. As organisers we knew that if the game was scheduled either at 3pm on any day, or as the last fixture many hoppers would either go elsewhere or head for home. Revisits aren’t popular, but Welshpool are members of the league, and as such deserve a decent turnout as much as anyone else.

Those who saw Welshpool struggle to take a point off Llansantffraid in the reversed fixture on last year’s hop, saw just how badly they’ve fallen from grace. Ten days before that season they’d had no players and were close to folding. It was hardly surprising that they finished rock bottom of Division One and were spared relegation only because of there was no relegation from the Cymru Alliance, the league above. That season also saw Sky TV’s Chris Kamara guesting for the club when his tv commitments allowed. It provided some much needed publicity, and Chris and I were told by the club that Kamara was “..a joy to deal with.”

Of course a town the size of Welshpool should be able to sustain a club in a far higher league. The town is situated on the River Severn, and its propensity to flood gives it its the Welsh language name Y Trallwng, meaning ‘the marshy or sinking land.’ In fact until 1835 the English name was simply “Pool,” the “Welsh-” prefix being added to avoid confusion with Poole in Dorset.

Whilst Maes Y Dre was never really up to Welsh Premier ground standards, the ground being shared with cricket, there’s a lot to like here. The most obvious is the large pitched-roof stand, although you do have to be careful how you pick your seat, some are broken, others have little leg-room, it offered plenty of cover on a wet day. The cricket pavilion balcony on an opposite corner also served useful purpose. Behind and to the left The Long Mountain (Cefn Digoll) provided a spectacular backdrop.

The club worked hard at their morning. There were bacon rolls, together with Barra Brith and Welsh cakes (The Mid Wales League took Chris’ comment that he loves Welsh cakes totally at face value – barely a club failed to have them on sale!). I enjoyed a cup of tea, before helping out with the line-ups board. Unusually I was able to grab a seat just before kick-off.

That proved to be no bad thing as Llansantffraid scored after a mere 11 seconds, Wayne Austin gliding through a space where a right back should have been to open the scoring. He set up Oliver Clarke a minute later for the second, but after that a shell-shocked Welshpool began to find their feet. James Longford reduced the arrears before Austin restored the 2 goal lead. Clearly defending was not a priority as Ian Jones scored following a corner, then George Mitten’s superb strike almost unbelievably saw Welshpool draw level. It didn’t last, as the sieve-like home defence opened up once again a minute later,  to allow Iwan Matthews a free shot to make it 3-4 at half-time.

Much as the travellers would have liked it to have been the case, a 7-goal half was never likely to be repeated, and the teams noticeably tightened things up, as the rain fell. There remained the formality of Wayne Austin completing his hat-trick which he did without a fuss, to make it clear what those present had long since known. That is had Welshpool concentrated for the first 10 minutes they may well have got something from this game. Still, unlike the evidence of their hop fixture last year, this time they do at least have something to work with. I wish them well.

Fred Flood



Welshpool’s equaliser


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