Saturday 7th January 2023 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Division 3

KINGSTON COLTS 2 (G Bailey 57 Sam Bailey 83)

WANTAGE TOWN A 2 (Dance 69 71)

Att c30 at Abingdon Road, Kingston Bagpuize

Free Entry

You may remember Robyn and I visiting the Kingston Colts before. Back in 2019 we saw them at their temporary ground at Dalton Barracks, near Abingdon. That was 6 miles from home at Kingston Bagpuize, the exile due to their pavilion back home not being ready. The distance proved to be their undoing as they dropped out of league soon after, with the club retreating to exclusively youth football.

It was good to visit Kingston Bagpuize over and above the football. Fans of “Dowton Abbey” will recognise Kingston Bagpuize House, once owned the 2nd Baron Tweedsmuir, son of novelist John Buchan of “The 39 Steps” fame. I’m sure some will wonder where the “Bagpuize” suffix originates from? In Saxon times the village was known simply as “Kingston” but following the Norman Conquest the village was controlled by Ralph de Bachepuz, a Norman nobleman who was in turn from Bacquepuis, around 50 km south of Rouen.  There ought to be some sort of twinning arrangement shouldn’t there?

The clubhouse is now complete and looks well worth the wait, it’s not a given to be able to buy a drink at this level. Another returning club to the North Berks are Wantage Town “A” who use the pitch adjacent to Alfredian Park. Here the game took the first half to break into life once the deadlock was broken by George Bailey’s thunderbolt. It got feisty too, a fracas saw Colts’ Tom Larman jr dismissed with the distinction of him not actually being playing at the time. He had yet to be substituted on but ran on the pitch to get involved, for a sending off that was new for me!

The game proved to be an entertaining draw, with the added bonus of a rainbow as a coda. What more could you ask for?