Category Archives: F

The Alternate

06 Thursday May 2021

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Monday 3rd May 2021 ko 18:00

Thames Valley Premier League: Premier Division

FINCHAMPSTEAD 4 (J Payne 15p Vallance 22 Hunt 73 Day 77)

MARLOW UNITED 1 (Goode 65)

Att c42 at Arborfield Recreation Ground

Free Entry

I still have some affinity for this part of the world even though its been well over twenty years since I lived in Henley-on-Thames. Back then the modus operandi was driving through Wargrave and Twyford to Winnersh, then via Sindlesham to Arborfield. I suppose I associated Sindlesham with the Nirvana Health Spa that the ex-wife seemed to love going to but objected every time the monthly membership payment left her account! Continue reading →

Portmanteau

27 Sunday Dec 2020

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Monday 14th December 2020 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One South

FRENFORD 2 (Forbes 4 Fairhead 88)

Heatley penalty saved 52

ATHLETIC NEWHAM 2 (Idemudia 9 Kone 90p)

Kone sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 87

Entry £4

Programme £1

Monday night football will always attract the groundhoppers, and a club new to Step 6 will do so still further. Here though there was the added thought of exactly which league I was watching. In 2018 the Eastern Senior was created as a Step 6 league to feed the Essex Senior as a joint venture between that league and the Eastern Counties. It seemed to me that the league became rapidly swallowed up by the Eastern Counties League, and has become their Division One South. Now I’m not that worried by the nomenclature, but does anyone have a definitive answer? Continue reading →

What Was Left

06 Wednesday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 18th November 2006 ko 15.00

FA Vase 2nd Round 

FLIXTON 4 (Mitten 44 Grandison 53 Wilkinson 75 Tobin 83)

PICKERING TOWN 0

Att 84

Entry £3

Programme £1.50

The sole reason I, and around 50 groundhoppers ended up here was the Salford City/FC United game at the Willows that kicked off at midday. There was roughly an hour to get the tram back to the car, and make a quick blast across western Manchester which did limit the opportunities to complete a Mancunian double. It boiled down to a choice between Trafford and Flixton, we chose the latter mainly to watch another Vase game. It proved to be both a good move, and an interesting one too! Continue reading →

Castle On The Hill

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

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Friday 27th December 2019 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One North

FRAMLINGHAM TOWN 8 (Berry 24 66 89 D Smith 30 57 75 Ling 47 Willett 51)

FELIXSTOWE & WALTON RESERVES 2 (Ingram 23 Norman 68)

Att 75

Entry £5

Programme £1

It is difficult to avoid reference to Ed Sheeran in Framlingham, and in any case, why try? The singer/songwriter is Framlingham’s most famous son, and while there doesn’t seem to be quite the same connection with the club that Olly Murs has with Coggeshall Town, the singer has tweeted his allegiance to the club after being spotted at, of all places, Stamford Bridge! Perhaps that’s why Framlingham Town market a replica shirt with Sheeran’s name on the back. Continue reading →

Southbound Again

23 Wednesday Jan 2019

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Tuesday 1st January 2019 ko 15.00

Isthmian League Premier Division

FOLKESTONE INVICTA 1 (ter Horst 9)

MARGATE 0

Att 629

Entry £11

Programme £1.50

Remember my assertion that every hopper has their own point of pain? Or putting it another way the ground that despite their best attempts remains stubbornly unticked? For years mine was the most northerly senior club in the UK, Wick Academy that took 3 cars, 2 hotels and 3 visits to see a game there. But another club, almost as far south as you can get from Wick took nearly as much pain to visit there. Here’s the story of Folkestone Invicta and I.  Continue reading →

The Last Resort

18 Monday Dec 2017

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Saturday 17th December 2017 ko 14.00

Oxford City FA League

FLORENCE PARK 2 (Simpson 20p Foley 79)

CHEQUERS 4 (Constant 13 Ventriglia 14 Sherman 33 Thomas 90)

Att c25

Entry FREE

I do like a game in an area’s league of last resort; a league that’s at the bottom of the pecking order in its footprint. In Oxford city that’s the single division OCFA League, nominally a feeder the Oxon Senior League. 4 years ago it was struggling, down to just 5 teams, but a new committee and a lot of hard work have seen something of a renaissance in its fortunes.  Continue reading →

Spectacular

28 Tuesday Nov 2017

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Saturday 18th November 2017 kop 13.30

Gwent Central League-Langdon Cup 2nd Round

FORGESIDE 1 (Tidball 4)

CLYDACH WASPS RESERVES 0 

Att 10

Entry FREE

I’d had a lousy week, and all of my plans for the weekend had crumbled into dust. I really couldn’t raise the enthusiam to head anywhere, and I’ve got Robyn to thank for this trip. She suggested I drop her at her Mum’s in Bristol then head off to “Something Welsh, you usually find something amazing there.” At that point, the penny dropped. Continue reading →

Athletic On The Road

24 Monday Apr 2017

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Saturday 8th April 2017 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division 3

TREHARRIS ATHLETIC WESTERN 1 (Mitchell 55) Mitchell missed penalty 86

TREFELIN B.G.C. 1 (Latham 23) Monks-Landeg sent off 65 (dangerous play)

Att c25 at Welfare Ground, Fochriw

Entry £3

Programme £1

In the lexicon of great South Wales non-league grounds three places stand out. There’s Blaenrhondda, Garw and until recently Treharris Athletic Western’s Athletic Ground home. Those in the know knew it was on borrowed time, if for no other reason than the pitch being too small for Welsh League requirements, but the club’s abrupt departure earlier this year took many by surprise. Continue reading →

An F Please Bob

05 Thursday Jan 2017

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Friday 30th December 2016 ko 19.46

Hellenic League Premier Division

FLACKWELL HEATH 7 (Rapley 3 37 71p Bayliss 33 Thompson-Wheeler 55 Blount 60 72)

HENLEY TOWN 1 (Gardner 12) Griffiths sent off 72 (2nd booking)

Att 98

Entry £6

Programme £1

It had been years since my last visit to Wilks Park, in fact I think the last visit was during a Hellenic Hop game vs Oxford City Nomads. The league had spent our entire stint on its patch telling everyone that the Nomads weren’t Oxford City’s reserves, but City manager Mike Ford was at the game so a hopper sidled over and asked him. “These guys?” he replied, “Well basically they’re our reserves!” You can fool some of the people… Continue reading →

Ghost Train

04 Wednesday Jan 2017

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Wednesday 28th December 2016 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Premier Division

FAKENHAM TOWN 3 (Glover 21 Cary 24 Jarvis 52)

KIRKLEY & PAKEFIELD 4 (Eagleton 42 King 51 Lopez 66p Stone 79)

Att 45

Entry £5

Programme £1

It has to be said that the Norfolk town does have an intriguing nickname, there can’t be many, if any places who answer to, “The Ghosts!” The name references a poem by Robert Bloomfield, “The Fakenham Ghost,” but this was no ordinary apparition, it was the ghost of a donkey! Talk about “Drop the dead donkey!” Continue reading →