Category Archives: B

Joyous

10 Monday Jun 2013

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Sunday 2nd June 2013 ko 17.00

Division 3 Östra Svealand

BELE BARKARBY 3 (Tollerup 47 Samosky 50 Heneidy 66)

TÄBY IS 1 (Higgs 90)

Att 82

Entry, 3 monthly magazines, information sheet, badge and pennant included in hop

Plenty of sunburn and that horrible feeling of “Is this really the last game?” was in evidence, as Thomas drove the coach into Veddestavallen in Järfälla, to the north-east of central Stockholm. The Swedish hop visited another club in the area, Järfälla IF, on the second hop in 2008, and visited Täby’s ground Tibblevallen on the very first hop but watched IFK Täby, a lower level side.

The area can trace its history to the Stone Age and has some ruins from that time. After conversion to Christianity in the 11th century, Järfälla continued to be of importance in the Middle Ages as several important roads went through it, on a route from Uppsala to Stockholm used by pilgrims.

Its coat of arms, rather reminiscent of Preston North End’s badge, which depicts a golden lamb carrying an archbishop’s cross, can be traced from 1568, but was created in 1955. They may symbolize that Järfälla is situated on the road from the capital Stockholm to the seat of the archbishop in the nearby city of Uppsala.

The district of Barkarby lies within Järfälla, and is best known as being where the equestrian events were staged during the 1912 Olympics. The Bele football team was formed in 1929, but no one seems to know what the Bele actually means or even if it’s an acronym! They merged with Barkarby SK in 2001, and the club features Ice hockey and Innebandy, a version of ice hockey played indoors with a ball on wooden flooring.

For a small club, who have never played higher than the Swedish third tier, the club has a history of producing good players. Coach Putte Ramberg represented Sweden 27 times at football and once at Bandy (imagine 11-a-side ice hockey on a rink the size of a football pitch). Current Malmö FF head coach Rickard Norling started at Bele, as did Johan Mjällby whose career has included stints at AIK, Levante and Celtic. It made me remember a feature of Swedish football you don’t see in the UK.

Every player has a “Moderklub” or “Mother Club,” where he or she first started playing football. Many programmes, or football magazines will carry this information alongside statistics such as height, weight and position. For the Mother Club, there’s a practical benefit, as every time the player moves the Mother Club is paid a small fee, thereby rewarding their investment in the player, and encouraging investment in youth. I’ll leave you to work out whether the Premier League would allow such a system in England!

That investment in youth was there for all to see as we arrived. On a smallish gravel pitch a huge children’s tournament was just finishing off its group phase, and the finals took place as the first XI kicked off. It meant the queue for food and drink was a little longer than expected, but it did demonstrate the club’s clear aims of investment in youth, and later on investment in Veddestavallen.

At the moment, the ground consists of a rather bumpy grass pitch with the inevitable set of bleachers, an artificial pitch, and the gravel pitch. What sets the place apart from the vast majority of Swedish football grounds is that it isn’t under local authority control, a fact that the club are rather proud of. They see the future is being in Division 2 with all that entails, and there was none of the reticence we encountered at Hille, the day before. It was all rather refreshing, and it put what at first looked like a dull ground on the outskirts of town right into context. I for one will keep an eye on their progress! Mind you, I think many of the British contingent will remember the place for the multiplicity of cranes in the background, including one sporting a rather unseasonal Christmas tree!

Maybe it was my own tiredness, or perhaps the heat, but the first half wasn’t easy to watch. Neither side seemed capable of imposing themselves on the game, and it really was one of those game where you could have turned up at half time, and have missed nothing! Thankfully the second half was a vast improvement as Bele finally took control of matters and rattled in three goals to cement their position comfortably in mid-table with the visitors in real relegation trouble second-from-bottom.

From there it was a simple drop-off for the others back at Arlanda. On the way we dealt with all the little things at the end of a hop. One of those was the traditional collection for the driver, people never cease to amaze me with their generosity, but Thomas is a much valued part of the team, ever-present for the 7 years of this hop. He dropped us off back in Solna; Kim and I dumped our bags back at his flat then walked into Solna Centrum to grab a sandwich. We flopped down on a bench near the fountain there, ate and reviewed the madness of the last 3 days. As ever, we’ve learned, and we’ve got some great ideas for next year. We’ll have to work hard, this was a joyous hop, perhaps the best yet, due in no small part to all those who attended. We’ll announce the 2014 hop next March; don’t you dare miss it!

 

The Hub

24 Friday May 2013

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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

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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.

The Game That Could Have Been

13 Monday May 2013

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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.

Murphy’s Law

09 Thursday May 2013

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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.

 

 

Viewpoint

09 Thursday May 2013

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Monday 6th May 2013 ko 15.00

Barrow Wake, Gloucestershire, near Birdlip

then,

Gloucestershire County League

LONGLEVENS 2 (Martin 54 70)

TUFFLEY ROVERS 4 (Mann 8 Colling 11 21 64)

Att 220

Entry & Programme £2

I dread to think how many times I’ve passed the viewpoint of Barrow Wake on the A417 between Gloucester and Cirencester without stopping for a look over the Vale of Gloucester. I’ve been in the nearby Hot Air Balloon pub more often.

The area derives its name from the discovery in 1879, of a late Iron Age burial (c. 50 AD) site. Three skeletons were discovered and associated with the central figure, that of a woman aged about thirty years, a rich array of grave goods including the world-famous Birdlip Mirror. The finds represent some of the finest surviving examples of British Celtic metal work, are displayed in Gloucester City Museum.

I suspect that if you know where to look, you can see Longlevens new ground in the Barnwood districts of Gloucester. Tucked away behind the Ibis hotel, the club moved here for this season after their former home at Longford Lane was deemed unsuitable for County League football. That ground is now used by Gloucestershire Northern Senior League outfit Minsterworth, but the new ground is exactly what the Longlevens needs. There’s plenty of parking, a good-sized changing room block and the pitch is fully railed. There are floodlights, currently only suitable for training, but upgrade these, and add a small stand and they’d have a ground suitable for a tilt at either the Hellenic or Western Leagues.

The latter is where Tuffley Rovers, also Gloucester-based see their future. They used to play in the Hellenic, but dropped down due to travelling costs. They feel the Western League, with a glut of journeys down the M5 is a realistic option, and with the club second in the table, and Glevum Park easily fulfilling ground grading necessities, elevation looks possible.

What made this fixture so attractive was that Longlevens were top. Add to that a glorious sunny day and a local derby, and the bumper crowd was only to be expected. A shed served as a highly efficient tea bar, and the club coped well with the influx of people.

Unfortunately the team didn’t fare anywhere near as well, as within 21 minutes they found themselves 3-0 down. The difference was Tuffley striker Dorian Colling, whose movement completely perplexed the home defence; he collected a brace and completed his hat trick just after the hour. The hosts didn’t compete at all until Brad Martin’s late brace gave their performance a veneer of respectability, but even with this set-back Longlevens still have the whip-hand.

Tuffley are 3 points clear with a game left, but Longlevens have 3 games left. You wouldn’t bet against both sides getting what they want, Longlevens the title, and Tuffley the promotion. Its definitely one to watch!

 

The Vulture Job

28 Sunday Apr 2013

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Saturday 27th April 2013 ko 15.00

Southern League Premier Division

BASHLEY 2 (Gamble 49 90p)

BANBURY UNITED 0

Att 196

Entry £10

Programme £1.50

In groundhopper parlance the Vulture Job is visiting a ground purely because it’s about to disappear. And which ever way you look at it that’s the case with Bashley’s Recreation Ground or is it? The waters seem a little muddy.

The club play in the grounds behind the village hall (no cats?!!!). The hall was built in 1946 and 1948 an additional 3.5 acres were purchased “to enhance the life of the inhabitants of Bashley.” A lease was granted to the football club to use the grounds and it would appear that the relationship between the two is the root of the club’s move two and a half miles to Wessex League outfit New Milton Town’s Fawcett’s Field. That in turn creates two issues, firstly the FA has banned mergers that would allow a club to improve their standing by artificial means, and secondly Wessex League rules forbid ground sharing.

The result as it stands is a merger by default, with the new club provisionally named Bashley New Milton, with New Milton resigning from the Wessex League. The trouble with this is that the Southern League have vetoed the name change so the club are awaiting a decision from the FA as to whether to overturn the Southern League’s decision.

In the meantime planning permission has been gained for a stand at Fawcett’s Field so as to fulfil Southern League ground gradings, and the move does look set to go ahead, but you wonder if the Recreation hasn’t had its last hurrah, a charity game this Thursday excepted.

And to be honest I don’t really need much of an excuse to visit the beautiful New Forest in any case. The village lies in the centre of the medieval forest, and you do have to watch your speed, in case you encounter the famous ponies, cattle, or in my case a donkey waiting for a bus, on my way out in Burley! Burley Fire Station, incidentally, is thought to be the only fire station in the country with a cattle grid at the entrance.

Another reason to be there was the opposition, I used to live in Banbury, and the Puritans are a wonderful example of a small club who season after season defy the odds to maintain their Southern League Premier status. They do the little things well too, for example their programme is always exceptional.

With all the build-up and conjecture, and the fact that I absolutely HAD to be back in Oxford at 6.30pm without fail, perhaps it was inevitable that the game wouldn’t be a classic. Banbury claimed to have 7 out for various reasons, and although they named two substitutes there seemed scant evidence of them being present, let along actually used. If the team was lacking, then the support certainly wasn’t. They made up over half the crowd, and many wore flat caps in honour of manager Edwin Stein.

Stein is the former manager and player at Barnet, and on the day when they agonisingly lost their Football League status, his current charges ran out of steam in the second half to lose 2-0. The difference ultimately, was forward Mark Gamble. His drag back and shot followed Rob Gradwell’s through ball to open the scoring just after half time.

Bashley lost midfielder Matt Finlay to a red card to two poor challenges, but try as they might, Banbury couldn’t find the energy from tired legs to a find an equaliser. Deep into injury time, a tired challenge brought down Gradwell and Gamble stepped up to score from the penalty spot. It was a fitting final word on Bashley’s tenure on the ground…..probably!

 

 

Sweet Tooth

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

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Monday 1st April 2013 ko 18.15

Bedfordshire League Premier Division

BEDFORD HATTERS 2 (Grant 7 Simons 66)

CALDECOTE 3 (Boyd 6 45 70)

Att 30

80 minute game

Entry FREE

Programme NO

In groundhopping terms the last few weeks of the football season, when the clocks have gone forward are referred to as “Silly Season.” Its when there are a multiplicity of evening fixtures at clubs without floodlights, as the evenings are just about light enough to fit a game in providing the participants aren’t too fussy about fripperies such as 15 minute half time breaks!

It was a quirk that the Bedfordshire League was the only league to hold its Bank Holiday programme in the evening. The reason apparently was to attract hoppers, itself odd as the league has a groundhop each October to do precisely that! It takes all sorts I suppose!

The Meltis Sports and Social Club is tucked away in suburban Bedford, so with the both Bedford Town and Bedford FC playing out-of-town towards Sandy, it became my first game within town boundaries. Meltis were the manufacturer of Newberry Fruits, a fruit jelly sweet manufactured at a factory in Bedford. The firm were bust in 1996 and the name was bought by Hostas, and production was moved to Germany. Meltis Albion also play in the Bedfordshire League and use Pitch 1, nearest the clubhouse.

The use of Pitch 2 meant one thing to me, it was too darned cold and windy! Amongst the hoppers there, the number of grounds visited ran into the thousands, but not even the combined experience of all those miles could find a way of escaping the wind. That was a real shame, as the game was worthy of being remembered for reasons other than the cold.

The difference between the two sides was Caldecote’s Jack Boyd, who’s hat trick was a justified reward for a man-of-the-match performance. The Hatters worked hard, and managed to equalise twice through Ryan Grant and Jason Simons, but never looked liked getting more than a point. To be honest though, at the end of it all I was glad to get back to the car and put the heater on!

Prime Rib

08 Monday Apr 2013

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Monday 1st April 2013 ko 15.00

Hertfordshire County Senior League Division One

BUNTINGFORD TOWN 1 (Gilbert 58)

ASLAN 2 (Carvalho 64 Florence 85)

Att 28

Entry & Programme FREE

The town of Buntingford sits on both the River Rib, and on the Roman Ermine Street. It has a large number of Georgian and mediaeval buildings and was a stop-over on what was the main route between London and Cambridge, now the A10,

Buntingford was home to supermarket chain Sainsbury’s Anglia Distribution Centre, however this is now vacant and awaiting lease. The site was previously used as a Royal Army Ordnance Corps munitions factory, known locally as “The Dump.”

The Bury Sports Field lies adjacent to it, at the outskirts of town. And what a wonderful place to watch a game it is. The topography helps, the clubhouse is raised well above pitch level, and the balcony is easily the best place to view the action.

The opposition intrigued me, I overheard their officials speaking a language I didn’t understand, so I asked. It transpires they’re a Turkish Cypriot club, Aslan is Turkish for Lion, and they’re based in Enfield. A quick chat with referee Chris Flack revealed an expectation for a tough assignment, but he was easily up to the job, no cards and the game flowed.

The game was eminently watchable, on a cold afternoon when the balcony was welcome, providing shelter from the wind. Fellow hopper Chris Garner was celebrating a minor milestone, ground number 321, so the Ted Rogers gag was marked, a picture with a “Dusty Bin.”

With Aslan second, but with multiple games in hand an away win looked likely, and did come to pass, but it look a fright to get them motivated. Louis Gilbert lobbing Kemal Osyasa opening the scoring for the hosts. It was only then that Aslan made their territorial advantage count with a goal that Tijan Carvalho scrambled over the line with a sensitive part of his anatomy! The winner showed all present why they may well win the title as a flicked back-heel was latched on to by substitute Daniel Florence who hit the ball first time into the top corner.

 

The Hair of the Widow

05 Friday Apr 2013

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Saturday 30th March 2013 ko 11.30

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

BRIDLINGTON TOWN 3 (Phillips 20 Cook 35 Greening 56) Fleming sent off 82 (2nd booking)

SCARBOROUGH ATHLETIC 3 (Miller 19 Beadle 45 Blott 48)

Attendance 1,569

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than a trip to the seaside? Winding our way from Wakefield, near Driffield, and Wetwang, the weather was bright and sunny, completely removed from the freezing conditions of the previous day. Bridlington is a seaside resort and minor fishing port on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea. It is an area which is said to have the highest coastal erosion rate in Europe, and the fine sand is kept in place by thick groynes, which I remember clambering over as a small child during a summer holiday here.

I had a little trepidation over this fixture. Queensgate is a wonderful place to watch a game, full of the quirks I love in a ground, but the opposition would give the tie a completely different Continue reading →