Pantomime season

18 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by laurencereade in F

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Chatsworth Buccaneers, Football, Forest Hill, groundhopping, Upper Thames Valley

Sunday 18th December 2011. ko 10.30am (scheduled) 12.00pm (actual!)

Upper Thames Valley League Division 3A

FOREST HILL 1 (Gonzalez 50) Matthews missed pen 17

CHATSWORTH BUCCANEERS 1 (Davies 45)

Att 15 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

The small Oxfordshire village of Forest Hill lies about 5 miles east of Oxford. If you’ve ever driven from Oxford to London then you’ve probably passed the place. The poet John Milton, courted his future wife Mary Powell at the now demolished Manor house. The architect George Gilbert Scott ( Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station, the Albert Memorial ) redesigned the local church’s nave. It’s possible to see both the Beckley TV transmitter and Brill windmill.

The Forest Hill Recreation ground is to be found on the north-western tip of the village, on the B4027 Stanton Road. This bit was completely lost on referee Trevor Pitson, who as a late replacement for the injured Andrew Cotter got the wrong postcode and ended up in Great Milton, 8 miles away. He tried to contact the club, but the UTVL website had the wrong phone number. He’d returned back home to Faringdon by the time the club managed to contact him!

The advantage of this is that it gave a frosty pitch a chance to thaw. With the clubhouse having been destroyed in an arson attack in 2005, there was nowhere for the players to keep warm other than their cars, and I used the time to learn a little more. Forest Hill had a top flight UTVL side but the fire forced them off the ground, to Oxford’s Cutteslowe Park. The high fees charged by Oxford City Council proved to be too much, and the club folded after one season in exile.

This is the current club’s first season in existence and despite the name division 3A is as much the bottom division as 3B! Garsington based Chatsworth are having a dreadful season with just the one point so far.

The game turned out to be well worth the match-long wait as both sides used graft to make up what they lacked in skill. The memory I will have is the brilliance of the two goalkeepers Iain Locke for Forest Hill and Mike Webber for Chatsworth. Between them they produced 4 saves that a professional would be proud of. Webber’s reaction save to tip away a flicked header made up for a freezing conditions.

As much as anything else I enjoyed the company of two friendly clubs and some tremendous banter, particularly before the referee arrived.

“Well this ref can’t book us for a late challenge”

“The ref’s fee’s £30 lets go down the pub and drink it!”

You don’t get that in the professional game.

: Trevor Pitson arrives

: What’s left of the changing rooms

That Petrol Emotion

06 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by laurencereade in F

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Blaxall, Day, Emotion, Esso, Fareham, Fawley, Football, Glo, Goal, Hayling, Mockeridge, Petrol, Splodge, That, Wessex

Wednesday 5th October 2011 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

FAWLEY AFC 3 (Blaxall 11 52 Mockeridge 52)

HAYLING UNITED 1 (Burney 74p)

Att 47 (h/c)

Entry £5

Programme FREE (“Because its not very good tonight”)

Coffee £1

The Waterside Sports and Social Club is easy enough to find, but it isn’t easy to actually get to the football ground (you have to go via the reception), the ground is barely up to Step 5 regulations, with much of it being a mish mash of scaffolding poles and portacabins, the programme frankly was poor, and there was no hot food on sale on a rainy blustery night. Yes, you’ve worked it out, I loved the place.

Because its not the just the physical architecture that makes a ground, the people are just as important. And its here that Fawley wins out by a mile.

A friendly club with nothing much beats a miserable lot with facilties every time, and whilst Waterside will win no design awards, the stand kept us dry and gave us a decent view of a decent game.

Fawley started life as the works team for Esso, and the fuel refinery still provides quite a backdrop, somewhat reminiscent of Port Talbot. These days the club has nothing to do with the oil company, but has still worked its way up to the highest level of its existance, and for this game the attendance was augmented by 3 other hoppers, including Andy Norbury from Crewe and Shaun Ellis from Reading.

Also present was Splodge, keeping a low profile, as the away team are playing Fareham on Saturday.

But what will I remember Hayling for? That kit! Day-glo yellow! I don’t think it needs much more comment than that, other than it made photography difficult!

The potential advantage of being able to see your team mates from the next county didn’t seem to help them, particularly after Blaxall’s cross-cum-shot whistled past Patilla in the Hayling goal after 11 minutes. It wasn’t so much that Hayling had no answers, John Page the Fawley keeper had a fine game, it was just that Fawley had more and better ideas. A goalkeeping howler allowed Mockeridge to loft the ball into an empty net, and Blaxall collected his second moments later. Lenny Burney’s penalty really was scant consolation for a game long since lost.

Still a good game, with good company and at a really friendly club. Do pay them a visit.

Splodge!

17 Saturday Sep 2011

Posted by laurencereade in F

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Alders, Alresford, Bentley, Cams, Fareham, foot, Football, Paul Proctor, Rob, Splodge, Tambling, wessex league

Saturday 17th September 2011 ko 3.00pm

Wessex League Premier Division

FAREHAM TOWN 2 (Tambling 5 30)

ALRESFORD TOWN 1 (Bentley 77p)

Att 117

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

Tea £1

Chips (with sweet chilli sauce!) £1

Cheeseburger £2.20

There was one reason for me to visit Cam’s Alders today…Splodge, or to use the name on his passport, Paul Proctor. Splodge does a fine job doing Fareham’s programme and website, and although he’ll hate me for saying it, he’s one of those footballing heroes, you never hear about.

Not that the ground isn’t worthy of note, its spick and span, and the club are rather proud of their brand new floodlights. For the hopper its the stand that attracts, the elevation counteracting the remnants of a long removed running track. Its also boasts not a bar, but a nightclub, Club V, resplendent in mid-70’s Italian bad taste decor! Mind you, the faciltities are excellent.

Splodge also pointed out the man to watch, striker Robbie Tambling. He should be playing at a higher level, but he has an annoying habit, blacking out during the game.

No such dramas this afternoon, and Tambling scored two goals in 30 minutes, the second due to a horrendous goalkeeping error. I settled down to enjoy an easy home win, but Fareham stopped asking the correct questions.

I began to question my loyalties, the hopper in me hoped that Alresford would take advantage of Fareham’s defensive frailties, the mate of Splodge’s hoped otherwise. We both got our wish, of a fashion. Alresford converted a slightly dubious penalty, but that was the extent of the threat, and in the end the victory was easier than the scoreline suggests.

And this will be the shape of things to come for this season. I’d like to visit more of the clubs frequented by my mates. Any suggestion of where I should go next?