Yearly Archives: 2013

Am I still watching?

26 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in O

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Wednesday 22nd May 2013 ko 18.45

South West Women’s Combination

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Allison 4 8 Caswell 76)

SWINDON TOWN 0

Att c100 at Oxford United Training Ground, Roman Way, Oxford

Entry FREE

No Programme

“For Pete’s sake!” I thought as I drove the two or so miles to the former Rover Cowley ground, “How on earth am I still watching Oxford United when it’s nearer to June than April?”

The answers of course were manifest. Apart from a tasty local derby, Oxford United’s women’s team are the success story of the club this season, and this was the last game of the season, and it transpires, the last ever time the ladies side will use the ground. However the best reason for being there was to celebrate the side having won the league.

With the club’s election to the Women’s Super League, ground-grading considerations mean games will played at Abingdon United’s Northcourt Road. That’s a shame for the Roman way ground as its a little gem of the Oxford footballing scene. Its a gem that needs to be visited too, as its future is, at best uncertain.

The entire facility, with its cricket, bowls, social club and multiple football pitches is owned by BMW, whose car plant is behind. The lease is owned by Oxford Sports and Social club but they intend to hand back the facility and cease trading when the lease expires in 2016, citing a falling membership and demographic changes. So far there’s been no indication from BMW as to their plans for the ground.

So from now on in, the only way to see a competitive game here will be to watch Oxford United’s youth team, or hope that the Oxford City FA, (themselves having problems with dwindling interest) use the ground for a cup final. All manner of teams both on Saturday and Sunday use the outside pitches.

But the job is hand was the final game, whoever the opposition. There were two surprises though, the first was the Swindon team not forming a guard of honour as the sides came out. The second was that the league didn’t see fit to present the trophy at the end. The players celebrated with gusto, but looking through my pictures it does seem that there’s something missing- the trophy.

Now as an Oxford United fan you will probably never hear me utter this phrase again, “I felt sorry for Swindon,” but I did. I’ll leave to one side the individually sponsored kit shirts, printed with red letters on a red background, but this was for them an exercise in completing the season. They only named 2 substitutes from a possible 5, and found themselves two down in less than 10 minutes.

That was down to Natasha Caswell’s eye for a through ball and Lauren Allison’s predatory instincts in front of goal. Goals 49 and 50 for the campaign is a exceptional return, and its a pity she’ll now be lost to the club, moving to the USA on a sports scholarship. After that, the game settled down to a pattern of complete Oxford domination, Swindon being reduced to two decent chances, Abby Picton and Niamh Rawlins both seeing shots hit the bar. But with time running down Natasha Caswell was on hand to bundle Dani Anderson’s cross home to give the score a more realistic feel, and then it was time to celebrate.


 

 

 

The Hub

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by in B

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Tuesday 21st May 2013 ko 18.30

Central Midlands League South Division

BILBOROUGH PELICAN 2 (Tarbotton 62 Andrews 90)

BELPER UNITED 3 (Wadsworth 23 Smith 29 Nicholls 85)

Att c40

played at Pitch 2 Ron Steel Sports Ground, Lenton Lane, Nottingham

Entry & Programme £3

Nottingham’s Lenton Lane on the face of it isn’t the most prepossessing place, a narrow road, on a tight bend just off the Clifton flyover. It’s a place of a faceless hotel, albeit one owned by former Hi De Hi actress Su Pollard, and dull industrial units, but for groundhoppers it’s a footballing heaven.

Three adult clubs play here, nearest the bridge is Greenwood Meadows, then there’s Dunkirk FC, and at the end is Bilborough Pelican’s Brian Wakefield Memorial Ground. There’s more too, as nearest the entrance is Lenton Youth FC, and there’s Grove Farm now under the umbrella of the University of Nottingham, but home to many local league clubs. There can’t be many Saturdays where NO football is played on Lenton Lane.

That wasn’t lost on the Central Midlands League who in 2004 used the 3 clubs as part of a 5-games-in-day groundhop. They were the meat in a sandwich between Spondon-based Graham Street Prims and Sandiacre Town. With the 5 clubs now spread across several leagues that event is unlikely to be repeated, and so far no groundhop organiser has attempted the 5-game-trick again. There aren’t many places where its possible!

Pelican’s Brian Wakefield Ground is shared with cricket, and with that sport taking precedence there at this time of year, the club’s final fixture of the season was moved one ground down Lenton Lane, or as the crow flies, through the line of trees! The problem was that Dunkirk had a reserve game to complete, so they took the main pitch, relegating the nomadic first eleven game to the reserves pitch. It broke every ground-grading league rule, there wasn’t even a rail round the pitch, but the game got played.

The Belper substitutes commandeered the one dug-out, and chairs from the bar provided the home bench with somewhere to sit on a cold, wet and windy evening.

And to be honest it wasn’t the easiest game to watch, Belper clearly had a little too much for their hosts and 0-2 at half time was a fair reflection on what was a niggly, scrappy game. The second half saw Pelican claw a goal back but Belper soon re-established their two goal lead, and although Pelican scored in stoppage time an equaliser never looked on the cards.

Tithings

19 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in B

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 18th May 2013 ko 15.00

Gloucestershire County League

BERKELEY TOWN 1 (Mackie 45)

THORNBURY TOWN 3 (D Thompson 23 Derosa 31 N Irwin 63)

Att 102

Entry by donation

Programme £1

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

On occasion I get asked how I pick my games. Normally its fairly random, with the major determinant being what time I want to get home. This one broke the mould somewhat as I actually bothered to see if anything was riding on the result first. More on that later.

For a county associated with Rugby Union, Gloucestershire really is a footballing hotbed, with two strong, well organised leagues, the Northern Senior League feeding into the County League.

The surprise for me was just how much there is to visit and enjoy about Berkeley, and I have fellow groundhopper and subscriber Bob Mewse to thank for pointing me in the right direction. For a start there’s the castle, sadly closed on my visit. Its a motte-and-bailey affair, built around 1067 by William FitzOsbern, and is most famous for being where Edward II was murdered on September 21, 1327.

He’d been desposed by his wife Isabella of France and her lover and ally Roger Mortimer, and imprisoned. The difficulty was that Edward had to die, so their easily manipulated son (Edward III) could be installed as king. Execution would require the King to be tried and convicted of treason. Most authorities agreed that Edward was a poor king, the loss of the Battle of Bannockburn against the Scots in 1314 was the country’s worst defeat since the Battle of Hastings, but several argued that, since appointed by God, the King could not be legally deposed or executed as God would punish the country in retribution.

The solution was grisly, if legend is to be believed. A clean body was necessary for public display, so Edward was reputedly murdered on September 21st 1327 with a red hot poker, and I’ll leave it to your imagination as to where it was applied. The cell where he is supposed to have been imprisoned and murdered can still be seen and apparently you can still hear the screams each September 21st…

There’s more treats than just the castle. Edward Jenner was born here, and his house is open to the public. He is the father of immunology after discovering that milk-maids seldom got smallpox. Jenner concluded that the pus in the blisters that milkmaids received from cowpox (a disease similar to smallpox, but much less virulent) protected them from smallpox. On 14th May 1796, Jenner tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy who was the son of Jenner’s gardener. He scraped pus from cowpox blisters on the hands of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom. The boy was then brought into contact with smallpox but didn’t catch the disease.

Next door to the Jenner House is the Church of St Mary, where Jenner is buried. Its an unusual place, the tower is separate from the main body of the church. It was used as a Royalist defence during the civil war, and the North Door still shows the scars, musket ball holes are evident. In the graveyard lies Dicky Pearce, famous as the last court jester. He was the Earl of Suffolk’s fool, born in 1665, but in 1728 during a performance he overbalanced from the minstrel gallery and fell to his death. The question has been raised; did he fall or was he pushed? He’d apparently made fun of one of Lord Berkeley’s guests who had taken offence, but the truth will never be known.

Berkeley’s football season has been one of struggle. It didn’t help when the roof blew off the stand during a storm, but the club’s principle problems have been on the pitch. With two to be relegated the club found themselves third from bottom, one point ahead of DRG Frenchay with Forest Green-based Taverners already relegated.

With this being the last fixture of the season, Berkeley needed to better Frenchay’s result, with the Bristolians at home to Rockleaze Rangers. I had the added bonus of Lee West being at Frenchay. I kept the home bench aware of the score, they opted not to tell the players, taking the view that if the game was won, results elsewhere were irrelevant.

Sadly for this notably friendly side that didn’t happen. Thornbury started the brighter and soon worked out there was a real weakness in their hosts- their defence had shipped 89 goals in 35 games, and there was a real gap between left back and left centre half. Thornbury took full advantage with Brad Andrews in midfield pulling the strings, and a scoreline of 0-2 after half an hour was a fair reflection on play.

But then the unexpected happened, Berkeley worked out that their only means of defence was to attack. Karl Nash missed a sitter, then hit the crossbar, a certain penalty was denied by referee Alan Overthrow, and on the stroke of halftime James Mackie fired home to give Berkeley hope.

With the half time whistle having already sounded at Frenchay, and the score 0-0 it meant that Berkeley needed just the one goal for survival. That didn’t look likely as Thornbury soon re-established their superiority. Nathan Irwin scored the third, as the Berkeley players’ heads dropped, but salvation was at hand to the south. Rockleaze scored twice to make the game I was at irrelevant, but it was obvious that the players has no idea.

As the final whistle went, the home players sank to their knees clearly thinking that they’d been relegated. The Berkeley chairman quietly found the league delegate present, confirmed the Frenchay result and told his players. Other than one pumped fist their was no obvious relief, or celebration the players gathered up the two dugouts and trudged back to the clubhouse, no doubt reflecting on their lucky escape.

Wild West End

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by in W

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday 12th May 2013

“Stepping out to Angelucci’s for my coffee beans
Checking out the movies and the magazines
Waitress she watches me crossing from the Barocco Bar
I get a pickup for my steel guitar
I saw you walking out Shaftesbury Avenue
Excuse me talking I wanna marry you
This is the seventh heaven street to me
Don’t you seem so proud
You’re just another angel in the crowd

My conductress on the number nineteen, She was a honey,
Pink toenails and hands all, dirty with the money,
Greasy Greasy hair, easy smile.
Made me feel nineteen for a while,
And I went down, down Chinatown,
In the backroom it’s a man’s world
All the money go down
Duck inside the doorway, duck to eat
There just ain’t no way,
You and me, we can beat

Walking in the wild west end
Walking in the wild west end
Walking with your wild best friend.”

excerpt of  “Wild West End” written by Mark Knopfler 1978 from the album “Dire Straits”

Here’s a little tip if you’re visiting the West End of London. Don’t take the underground to Covent Garden, go to Leicester Square instead. The two stations are only a fifth of a mile apart and the walk is interesting. You take in the edges of Theatreland, Chinatown and of course Covent Garden.

All three areas are Meccas for the art of people-watching and it was a pleasure showing someone new around one of my old haunts. From the market stalls and street entertainers of Covent Garden, to the discount ticket booth underground at Leicester Square station, and the multiplicity of restaurants in Chinatown, there’s never a dull moment!

We finished off the day with a visit to another of my old haunts, Wonk Kei’s restaurant. To use its colloquial name Wonky’s serves the most exquisite Cantonese cuisine at bargain prices, with free green tea thrown in. There is a catch, the décor is tired, the plates plastic and the service such as it is, is designed to move you on quickly. When busy the staff can be positively rude, I remember asking for a beer many years ago and having the can thrown at me! Romantic it isn’t, but its worth a visit just to experience the place and I noted the best possible recommendation, Chinese people still eat there.

It seemed completely appropriate a place given the characters outside, a bog-standard restaurant wouldn’t fit in would it? I felt genuine regret as we caught the Piccadilly Line train back to Hillingdon.

The Pirton Hundred

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in W

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday 15th May 2013 ko 18.30

Oxon Senior League Division One

WATLINGTON TOWN 1 (Pitts 74)

OAKLEY UNITED 6 (Woodfine 11 17 A Rogers 16 P Brown 73 78p Keeble 75)

80 minute game

Att 20

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

As a groundhopper I hanker after visiting grounds that I’ve driven past a lot. When I lived in Banbury trips to my former parents-in-law involved driving along the Shirburn Road. Its a just off Junction 5 of the M40, past the Model Farm (used for not-so-secret GM crop trials) and past the hamlet of Shirburn.

That’s where the interest starts, as the signpost is for a “Historical Church” not what lies at the end of the lane. In fact its the walls of Shirburn Castle, the seat of the Earls of Macclesfield, and its where in 1761 the astronomer Thomas Hornsby first observed the transit of Venus.

The present owner of the castle is the Beechwood Estates Company, the Macclesfield family estate management company. Following a long-running and acrimonious court battle, the 9th Earl of Macclesfield, Richard Timothy George Mansfield Parker, was evicted from the family seat at the end of 2004.

According to Sir James Dixon Mackenzie’s The Castles of England: their Story and Structure, “The castle is rectangular in plan, having a central open courtyard, and at each of the four exterior angles a massive round tower rising straight out of the wide and deep moat, which, supplied with running water from springs, encircles the whole fabric. Access to the castle is gained by crossing three drawbridges, and the summit of the walls is battlemented throughout; the main entrance is guarded by a portcullis.”

Its a real shame the castle doesn’t appear to be open to the public, as the history is fascinating. In in letter from Brunetto Latini, the tutor and friend of Dante, of Inferno fame dated 1802 he commented rather pointedly that,

“We passed through many woods, considered here as dangerous places, as they are infested with robbers, which, indeed, is the case with most of the roads in England. This is a circumstance connived at by the neighbouring barons, from the consideration of sharing in the booty, and these robbers serving their protectors on all occasions, personally, and with the .whole strength of their band. However, as our company was numerous, we had nothing to fear. Accordingly we arrived the first night at Shirburn Castle, in the neighbourhood of Wallington, under the chain of hills over which we passed at Stocquinchurque (Stokenchurch). This castle was built by the Earl of Tanqueville, one of the followers of William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy … It is now in the possession of a descendant of the said earl.”

I reflected as a drove the half a mile or so to the Recreation Ground on how I could miss something like that for such a long time.

You don’t actually see Watlington if all you do is visit the Recreation Ground. That’s a real shame, as its a fine market town, and there’s an interesting folly to find too! The Watlington White Mark was designed by local squire Edward Horne, who felt that the parish church of St. Leonard, when viewed from his home, would be more impressive if it appeared to have a spire. He had the unusual folly cut into the chalk escarpment of Watlington Hill in 1764. It is 36 feet wide at its base and 270 feet long. When you drive along the M40 through the chalk canyon near Junction 5 just glance towards Watlington and the mock spire is the other side of the chalk cutting.

It all puts the football ground rather in the shade to be honest. The club played in the Hellenic League from 1964 to 1977 and had one game in the FA Vase in 1976 a 4-0 defeat at home to Barton Rovers. These days there’s a pavilion and a permanently roped off pitch and really not much else. The vista is pleasant enough, but the neither of the town’s quirks are on show, but the players put on a decent show even if the game was trifle one-sided.

Its fair to say that Oakley are the form team in this division. Normally games this late in the season consist of teams whose grounds have drainage problems, but this one is because Oakley have been rather too successful! Their league record shows one blemish, a draw, against 19 wins. On top of that the Buckinghamshire club has made the finals of the Berks & Bucks Junior Cup,  and the Oxon Presidents Cup, losing both.

With the league title won on Saturday they were clearly focused on making sure the unbeaten league record stayed that way though this and the other 2 games left. And at no point did that statistic look like being shattered. They ran in 6 goals in batches of three and played champagne football in between. At the end of it all I suspect Watlington were happy to have got the game played and not been completely humiliated while Oakley march on to the Premier Division.

 

In The Gallery

14 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in L

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Sunday 12th May 2013

Roy Lichtenstein; A Retrospective

At the Tate Modern, London.

Entry £14

This might come as something as a surprise to you, but I really like art galleries. Yes, there are the obvious artistic qualities to the work of one of the great American exponents of Pop Art, but there’s far more to a trip to an art gallery than just the exhibits.

The Tate Modern has the advantage of a stroll over the Millenium Bridge from St Paul’s Cathedral if you take the tube to either Mansion House or St Pauls stations. But the interest starts as soon as you enter the gallery.

In my normal trips round the world’s football grounds I see, well football types. I know them, I understand them, and in many cases I like them, but artistic types are a whole new breed, and I find them fascinating! It was a shame that the gallery didn’t like me taking pictures, understandable if I were looking for pictures of the actual Lichtenstein works themselves, but if you want reproductions of those, there are no end of books available, or better still come to the exhibition, it really is excellent.

But look out for the people too. There’s the culture vultures, studying every brush stroke, and there’s the gaggle of sixth form art students, who feel they ought to be there. There’s people like me, the tourists eager to learn something, and look out also for the pensioners on their Sunday out. Then there’s the parents to whom it hasn’t occurred that for a 5 year old the art gallery is nothing more than an adventure playground.

But the people I found the most interesting were the poor souls who were employed to mind every room. In today’s digital age it’s impossible to enforce a no photography rule, short of banning every mobile device. It was almost written on their faces, “Be involved at the cutting edge of art they said…Britain’s best gallery for Modern Art they said… Now look at me- stopping a tourist taking a picture….” I felt for them even if I was part of their problem.

I smiled as I exited via the gift shop (isn’t that the way these days?) but I did enjoy the genius that is a Lichtenstein colouring-in book, and the great advantage of having a coffee in the Tate Café is that the people watching needn’t finish!

 

The Game That Could Have Been

13 Monday May 2013

Posted by in B

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Monday 13th May 2013 ko 18.45

North Berkshire League Division One

BERINSFIELD 1 (D Murphy 53)

SAXTON ROVERS 2 (Belcher 31 Whitehead 67)

Att 51

Entry FREE

No Programme

Let’s get one little known fact out there; no club reads like Berinsfield. If you find this surprising consider this. In the 18 months or so I’ve been writing these reports the most read article was the one for Irvine Meadow with 368 hits. I turned up last week at the Oxon Intermediate Cup to watch Berinsfield and so far the resulting article has been read a quite unbelievable 541 times! Thanks Berinsfield, and as I said no-one reads like Berinsfield!

Few clubs locally at this level attract the same level of support either. The entire village seems to levitate towards Lay Avenue when there’s a game on, this wasn’t a massive attendance for the club, after all it was a cold and wet evening and there was nothing riding on the game, but if the circumstances had been just a little different just think what it could have been.

On Saturday if Berinsfield won, and Saxton lost, then this game would have become close to a shoot-out for the title. However Saxton crushed Kintbury 7-1 to take the title leaving Berinsfield to mop up 4 more games to finish off a highly successful first season in the NBFL’s top flight.

And for all of that the village turned out to watch their sons (It really is like that) play, and the tea bar did its normal roaring trade keeping them all fed and watered. If you’ve been here by the way, you will have no doubt noticed that the pitch has been rotated though 90 degrees for this season. They’re rather particular about a good pitch here, and the club will be using their best pitch, the one the other side of the clubhouse for their groundhop game in September. With the sort of attendances Berinsfield get, I’m hoping they’ll beat the NBFL hop record attendance of 190. I wouldn’t bet against them!

Sadly the game will be remembered only for the broken ankle suffered by Berinsfield’s Brian Rawlings after 26 minutes. As is so often the case it was an innocuous challenge too. He tackled Louis Bloomfield but landed awkwardly causing the injury, and the game looked like being abandoned in the hail and rain while he laid there on the far side of the pitch. Eventually the paramedic arrived followed by the ambulance, and as the stretcher was loaded on to the ambulance he managed a grin, as both sets of players and spectators gave him a sporting round of applause. I trust he makes a full and speedy recovery.

After that 40 minute delay the game seemed rather irrelevant. I and everyone there would have understood if the game had been abandoned, it must have be almost impossible for the Berinsfield players to concentrate on the game after watching their teammate leave the ground in an ambulance.

The fixture was reduced to a total of 30 minutes for the first half and 40 for the second. Gary Belcher opened the scoring for Saxton, and David Murphy equalised for Berinsfield. But once former Oxford City and now Saxton player manager Matty Whitehead thumped home the visitors’ second, the travails of a long season finally told on the hosts. The minds were willing, but the limbs weak.

Berinsfield don’t lose at home often but teams like Saxton don’t turn up at Lay Avenue very often, even if on this occasion they only had the basic eleven men. Still in a week’s time, the season for Berinsfield will be over and they’ll just be the small matter of the end of season party at the local pub to negotiate. Knowing them as I do, that will be quite a party. That’s the Berinsfield way.

Ceueslaue

12 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in C

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 11th May 2013 ko 15.00

North Berkshire League Division 5

CHALLOW FC 1 (McGowan 74)

BENSON LIONS RESERVES 2 (Swales 21 46)

Att 8

With an invite received from Long Wittenham FC to attend their end-of-season barbecue and watch the FA Cup final I needed to be somewhere nearby. I then realised there’s a club in the NBFL I’ve mentioned a few times, but knew nothing about, and that’s Challow.

There are only 3 first XI’s in the NBFL’s bottom division, so when on the last NBFL groundhop we featured Uffington United, I had a choice of either Challow or Appleton as the opposition. I plumped for Appleton, as I know them well, and have a soft spot for the gallant battlers that lose almost every week. The trouble is they were losing really heavily at the time, and there was concerns that the team wouldn’t be up for a beating in front of a large crowd. So Challow were on standby just in case, but as it transpired Appleton were happy to play, and made a lot of friends despite losing 12-0 on the night, as they didn’t ever give up. They will feature on a future hop, as will Challow, if for no other reason than just look at these pictures!

East Challow is a small village a mile or so west of Wantage. It’s cricket ground dominates, to the extent that its used for some Oxfordshire Minor Counties fixtures. There’s also the parish church of St. Nicolas to visit. It  was a Norman building of the 12th century, but the font and some masonry of the nave are now the only features surviving from this time. In the 13th century the chancel was rebuilt and the bell-cot and three-bay north aisle added. The Decorated Gothic south chapel was added early in the 14th century.

East Challow Rec’ is tucked away down a track off Hedge Hill Road, behind the local school. I parked up, started to walk down and stopped. I simply had to fire up the camera and record the simply stunning view. I reflected that I’d been a bit worried about the fixture actually taking place; Benson Lions are the team from the RAF base so if too many players are called away, the first team takes precedence so reserve games do have a tendency to get called off. You can’t really argue with a postponement due to the team being in Afghanistan!

I did have a bit of a steer on this one! With Benson Lions hosting the first game on this years NBFL hop I’d had a chat with club chairman Jon Radcliffe the previous evening. We talked about the arrangements for getting 150-200 hoppers through security at the base, it will definitely pay to have pre-booked ticket and be on the coach for this one, and he also confirmed that there would be enough players available for the reserves to fulfil their last game of the season.

That fact pleased Challow no end, as the two sides they’ve enjoyed the company of most this season has been Berinsfield Reserves, and the Lions. They’d decided to lay on some hospitality for the Lions at the manager’s pub, as “For all those lads do for our country its the least we can do…” A classy touch by a classy club.

Challow FC or Challow United, go back a long way, over a hundred years in fact. They folded a couple of years ago, over unpaid league fines and general apathy, but returned this season with a new team. There isn’t much to the ground, just a small changing room block and a fallen tree shaped so as to provide a seat. But what a view there is, with the Vale of the White Horse stretching out towards Faringdon and beyond. The club have tried to improve their lot. Some houses are being built on the edge of the village so the club lobbied for a new clubhouse as part of the planning gain. That gambit failed but there will be a new kit for the team for next season!

Challow started the season brightly and were top in September. Since then, results have rather tailed off, and going into this one they were seventh from twelve. And in all honesty they never looked like winning this one. The Lions were just that little bit stronger and smarter from the moment they scored their first, direct from a free kick from an acute angle. In fact it soon transpired that Challow’s best chance lay with the visitors lack of numbers, they had just the one substitute, he was used at half time, and throughout the second half players went down and were forced to carry on but as passengers.

It was fortunate that the Lions scored the second half early on in the second half, a penalty following one of those challenges that gives managers sleepless nights. It proved to be sufficient for the win, despite Challow’s Eammon McGowan wriggling through to reduce the deficit.

The standard wasn’t high, but what do you expect at this level? NBFL chairman Leroy Paddock popped over to see young referee Thomas Kelly who he mentors. Young Thomas had a fine game, Leroy’s obviously taught him well, and it was good to catch up with Leroy, who’s a thoroughly decent chap.

It summed a convivial afternoon’s entertainment, and it wasn’t long before I was at Bodkins field, for Long Wittenham’s barbecue. What better to watch the FA Cup final than at a grass roots clubhouse with a grilled burger, a £2 pint of real ale, and the North Berks Cup. Well done lads, and to everyone else, you’ll love the place come September!

 

The Case at Minster Lovell

10 Friday May 2013

Posted by in M

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Friday 10th May 2013 ko 18.15

Witney & District League Division One

MINSTER LOVELL 7 (Ryan 13 Harris 22 51 86 90 Wright 48 Sallis 87) Hewar missed penalty 66

STANTON HARCOURT 3 (Jackson 46 Cornish 71 Smith 74) Jackson sent off 89 (dangerous play)

Att 44

Entry FREE

No Programme, although the club do any information leaflet which may keep the ardent paper chaser happy.

 

 

The village of Minster Lovell lies on the River Windrush around 2 miles west of Witney, in Oxfordshire. It has three parts: Old Minster, Little Minster and New Minster. Old Minster includes St. Kenelm’s Parish Church, Minster Lovell Hall and the Old Swan Inn and Minster Mill Hotel. A large part of New Minster is the Charterville Allotments, which were founded by the Chartists in 1846-50.

The suffix “Lovell”, from the main landowning family, was added to the name from the 13th century, and in 1197 a William Lovel  held land here, probably granted in 1124 to his father William by Henry I.

Minster Lovell Hall and Dovecote are extensive ruins of a 15th century manor house, once belonging to William Lovel’s descendant, Lord Lovell. There is a medieval dovecote nearby.

But its the Lovell family that hold the key to two legends about the village, although I suspect they’re derived from the same tale.

William, Baron of Lovell and Holland, was one of England’s richest men. His son John was a prominent Lancastrian and a courtier of Henry VI. But family fortunes took a nose dive when Francis Lovell, John’s son and the ninth baron, sided with the Yorkists in the disputes between the houses of York and Lancaster that became known as the Wars of the Roses. He was made a Viscount by Richard III, but within two years, Richard and the Yorkists were defeated at the Battle of Bosworth.

Briefly exiled, Francis returned from France only to take up the losing side once again, in an abortive Yorkist rebellion. According to local legend, he hid in a vault at Minster Lovell Hall giving a servant the only key. The servant died shortly after and, so the story goes, his skeleton, surrounded by mouldy books and the skeleton of his little dog at his feet, was found by workmen in 1708.

Or if you’d prefer, in this story, one William Lovell’s bride disappeared during a game of hide and seek in the hall on her wedding night. Many years later, a servant found the body of a girl dressed in a bridal gown, well preserved in a leaden cool chest used for food storage. Legend again suggests that she hid in the chest during the wedding party and the lid fell shut, trapping her inside.

Either way, its reckoned that William Lovell’s ghost haunts the hall, wailing either for help, or for his lost bride on quiet nights. Its fair to say though there was little chance of hearing anything haunted on my visit to the village this evening.

Minster Lovell FC play at the positively bucolic Wash Meadow in Old Minster. The Windrush bubbles along pleasingly along one edge, St. Kenelm’s Parish Church is clearly visible, and nearby is the Old Swan and Minster Mill hotel  which was apparently frequented by Winston Churchill. It is by any standards a stunning setting, and there was the bonus of a Friday evening fixture, presumably as by now cricket will have precedence over the ground on a Saturday.

The game had something riding on it too. Whilst Lovell had won the league Stanton Harcourt had win, and better Aston’s result with that club being at home to Brize Norton simultaneously. Then and only then could they leap-frog Chadlington to the second promotion place. Very quietly, the Chadlington captain watched proceedings…

I had a chat to referee Rob Huxford. Interestingly he’s the chairman of Kingham All Blacks FC, also of this division, and wore a KAB shirt underneath his black shirt. He expected a physical game, and he had one major decision to get correct which he did.

Early on, 10 goals looked a pipe dream. Neither side looked capable of forcing a mistake from the other, and it continued to be a tight game even after Mike Ryan opened the scoring for Lovell. Ultimately the difference between the two sides was Nathan Harris. He scored his first after 22 minutes and when the Stanton Harcourt defence imploded in the final 10 minutes he took full advantage, collecting a stunning four-goal haul.

That’s not to say that Stanton didn’t give them a real run for their money. They did after all pull the score back to 3-3 and their management must have regretted not shouting louder to stop goalkeeper taking (and missing) a penalty when the score was 3-1. They clearly wanted their regular taker to step up but player pressure won out, incorrectly it transpired.

In the end it didn’t matter, Harris ran riot, and an obviously unfit Craig Sallis came on and scored within 2 minutes! Soon after Stanton Harcourt’s Andy Jackson collected a straight red for a quite horrible challenge, but as Rob Huxtable admitted later he could have easily sent him off for his antics afterwards, and the language he used!

The final whistle saw the Lovell celebrations start, and I managed to catch up with League fixtures secretary Ralph Davies, and former chairman Fred Bellinger. They are part of a well-run league, and I congratulated them in particular on their excellent website. I stopped for the presentation, and I do wonder what a champagne shower will do for my receding hairline! I also spotted a grinning Chadlington captain, this result and Aston’s defeat meant his team took the runners-up spot and with it promotion.

 

 

Murphy’s Law

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in B

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Wednesday 8th May 2013 ko 19.45

Oxon Intermediate Cup Final

NORTH LEIGH RESERVES 1 (Sheppard 69)

BERINSFIELD 2 (C Murphy 29 D Murphy 80)

Att 70 at Meadow View Park, Thame (Thame United FC)

Entry £3

Programme 50p

I normally avoid anything “Organised” by the Oxfordshire Football Association, the presentation is usually lousy, but it would be remiss of me not to watch Berinsfield FC at least once this season!

In truth it was an interesting fixture with once of the strongest sides in the North Berkshire League taking on a side, nominally at least, a notch higher in the footballing pyramid, two thirds of the way down the Hellenic League Division One West.

The OFA didn’t let me down, they charged £1 more than the advertised entry cost, and the programme was laughably bad even for 50p. They somehow contrived to lose the Berinsfield pen pics, and like in the Senior Cup Final issue eschewed the idea of putting a history of the competition in. I would have thought that would be the FIRST thing to include, but what would I know?

As ever the NBFL committee was notable by their presence with media officer Phil Annets regaling us with tales of comedian Duncan Norvelle. Meanwhile Berinsfield secretary Jackie Cullen was typically nervous, although for this game she at least decided not to commence her usual long-distance power-walking stint around the pitch! Later on she did pick me up on one of my little quirks, and I do feel it may have helped Berinsfield along the way.

This game had been postponed due to a fixture backlog, and it was obvious that the Thame United pitch was not ideal for the passing game. There was also a contrast in ages too, Berinsfield were far the more experienced, only Josh Dutton-Black for North Leigh having any significant first team experience. And early on it told, before Berinsfield made the pressure tell as Chris Murphy’s lob opened the scoring from Mason Curtis cross.

The second half was North Leigh take a much stronger hold on the game. They equalised when Declan Sheppard managed to wriggle free to fire past Toby Coffey in the Berinsfield goal. It was at that point that Jackie spotted my quirk. As a photographer I always seem to be stood behind the wrong goal when a side scores so I was despatched forthwith!

So there I stood, in splendid isolation, behind Toby Coffey’s goal, and the ruse worked, as David Murphy intercepted a poor pass, and blasted a stunning 25 yard shot past Kane Lewis in the North Leigh goal. It was a goal to grace any of the world’s great stadia, and one I will never forget.

My new vantage point was handy for the last few minutes as North Leigh pushed forward, and with just seconds left came the second piece of sublime skill, this time linked with total commitment. The ball fell kindly to North Leigh’s Jacob Hughes, and his scuffed shot was enough to beat Toby Coffey, but as the ball trickled towards the line, about 6 inches out, there was Mark Ingram chasing back. He slid in desperately, but despite his momentum being towards the goal, he managed to get a toe underneath the ball and hook it clear. It was an amazing moment, in many ways as exceptional as David Murphy’s goal, and afterwards his manager Stephen Masterson summed it up.

“That’s what these lads have been like for the last 3 years, commitment mate….. They’d die for me and the shirt.”

The final whistle saw the celebrations that are very much Berinsfield’s forte, I took a few more photos then headed for home. I know the kind of club they are, and the groundhopping fraternity will get to know them too, come September.