Saturday 22nd February 2025 ko 15:00

Eastern Counties League Division One North

HOLLAND FC 2 (Blackwell 22 Sargent 26)

AFC SUDBURY RESERVES 0

Att c50

Entry £7

No Programme (“Editor on holiday”)

Now I know Robyn and I are known for our cavalier attitude towards geography and distance but this may have taken the biscuit! We’d left Oxford towards on a game on the England/Wales border but that got called off, thankfully early. So it was a good excuse to revive an old project, “Operation Eastern Counties League” Yes it does take a certain level of adaptability to aim for one side of the country but end up at another!

I’m not sure why we stopped visiting ECL clubs when we’ve nearly completed the league but there you go and Holland FC are intriguingly named aren’t they? They’re based in Holland-on-sea, part of the tryptych of Holland, Clacton and Jaywick. We were early, so visited the much maligned village of Jaywick. Yes it is as run-down as you might expect but I’d make the same observation as when we visited Athens in the midst of their refugee crisis. Travel is nothing without empathy.

We even had time to stop for Fish & Chips, and I do recommend Colin’s at the Lighthouse near the ground. Robyn used there as an excuse to try Rock (Huss) and chips, why is it you only see it in the east?

Holland in the great scheme of things are a relatively new club dating from 2006. They’ve always played at Dulwich Road, at one end of Eastcliff Recreation Ground. To gain promotion from the Essex & Suffolk Border League in 2016 the club groundshared at Clacton while their pitch was rotated, enclosed, and a clubhouse built. The club returned home in 2018

Now I’m sure groundhoppers will see more characterful places than this, but do give the place a chance- there’s a lot to like here. You’d expect a club named Holland to play in orange, but they’ve used the motif really well such as the seat covers in the bar, and the candy stripes on the staunchions on the standing cover. I’m not the type to tick boxes, or grade places I visit to the point of obsession (but plenty do) but if I lived here could I see myself coming here every other Saturday? Of course I would.

The kind of hopper who worries about arcane details probably wouldn’t have picked this game anyway. Reserve teams aren’t popular even if a more accurate description of AFC Sudbury’s second string would be to call them an academy side- they looked very young.

Holland won the game with a lot more experience and being a little sharper, particularly in front of goal. As for me I watched, and actually managed to relax for a couple of hours. Because do you know where Robyn and I spent Sunday evening? Cardiff… don’t ask!