Category Archives: H

Gentlemen No Swearing Please

10 Tuesday Apr 2012

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Saturday 7th April 2012 ko 4.45pm

Northern Counties East Division One

HALLAM 1 (Getliff 88)

TEVERSAL 0

Att 212

Entry & Programme Hop Ticket

150 year brochure FREE

When we put this hop together there was one ground that loomed large, Hallam’s Sandygate, as it’s the oldest football ground in the world, and the club the second oldest behind Dronfield based Sheffield FC. On the coach we were a little nervous about how long we would need to cross Sheffield, but the traffic was kind and we reached S10 in plenty of time.

The first ever challenge match at Sandygate took place against Sheffield FC, on Boxing Day 1860. This is still believed to be the first ever inter-club game. The club also holds the Youdan Cup named after a local football enthusiast Thomas Youdan. This is believed to have been the first cup competition and the oldest football trophy in the world which remains the property of the club as it was won outright by Hallam in 1871. Although lost for a number years it was bought back from a Scottish antique dealer in 1997.

The club understandably trades on its “Oldest Ground status,” but the visit of the hop was also the start of something new for the club. Having been left a sizable bequest from a fan, the club have built an impressive new clubhouse, complete with some impressive signed shirts! This game was to be its opening bow. Although this was my second visit to the ground, the thing I’d forgotten was just how steep the slope is! So steep is it that our conversation soon turned to comparisons with the infamous slope at Chard. That slope for those who haven’t been, is far more acute than here, and is frankly jaw-dropping.

I’d got the impression from NCEL officials that the club might struggle with the hop crowd. I had to sort out getting a team sheet pinned up somewhere prominent, and the club were surprised that Chris and I would do the crowd count. Both were in the notes to clubs, but were easily sorted out. I was disappointed that the club quickly ran out of badges, but the 150 years brochure was a nice touch and made up for a poor programme. All in all, the club coped reasonably well with the crowd, and our coach driver Godfrey was pleased at the excellent hospitality he received.

I spoke to the Hallam officials prior to kick off and they didn’t seem at all confident at their team’s chances. Right from kick off in became obvious why. Hallam played with absolutely no confidence, and unfortunately for the neutrals, Teversal soon became sucked into the malaise. The game was the quintessential nil-nil bore draw until, with the hoppers beginning to move towards the exit, Craig Getliff rifled in from just outside the box. A stunning strike utterly out of step with the rest of the game, but a goal’s and goal and we continue.

Estuary English

02 Friday Mar 2012

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Wednesday 29th February 2012 ko 7.45pm

Western League Premier Division

HALLEN 3 (Andrews 11 Bright 69 King 86)

RADSTOCK TOWN 0

Att 62

Entry & Programme £6

Badge £3

Pie £1.50

Tea £1

So, how did you spend your “extra” day? I finally got round to visiting a team I’d seen about 10 years ago away at Bideford, and found their story interesting. They’d had a long stint in the Hellenic League and had fought tooth and nail to be transfered to the Western League, eventually taking their case to the FA to get their way.

Hallen is on the southernmost edge of Gloucestershire, close to the Severn estuary. You can see the red lights atop the Avonmouth and Second Severn Bridges from the ground. The village has a rural feel to it, with its pub and war memorial but is marooned, trapped between the M49, M5 and the M4 to the north. Despite the M5 being clearly visible from the village, it takes a good 10 minutes to drive from the Cribbs Causeway turn on the M5 to reach the ground.

Co-incidentally the Hallen Centre ground was built at least in part from monies secured from the sale of the land that allowed the huge Cribbs Causeway shopping complex to be built. The Asda Store in its former guise of Carrefour was once the largest supermarket in the UK.

The money has allowed the club to build an excellent ground, with the undoubted centrepiece being the Frank Fairman stand, which wouldn’t look out of place at a ground of a far higher status. That said the club haven’t rested on their laurels, as the new turnstile block was put to work for the first time. It’s a converted bus shelter, with the turnstiles themselves being procured for a cut-down price, second hand from a firm near Henley-on-Thames! As ever it was the people involved with the club that made the place, as I learned more about the club, and their hopes for the future.

On the pitch I felt the score was a little rough on Radstock who looked a competant side. It was they who made the better start with neat clipped passing catching the home defence cold, but other than a snap shot that shaved the outside of the post it all came to nothing. Hallen took the lead after ten minutes when Billy George crossed to the far side of the penalty area. Radstock keeper Austin Byfield blocked Tom Collett’s shot only for Greg Andrews to follow up to pass into the empty net.

Radstock always looked dangerous, but Hallen’s second goal on 69 minutes killed the game. Neat passing play between George, Collett and Jaz Bright resulted with the full-back overlapping, completely missed by the defence, and firing home.

I was having a chat with the one of the substitutes, Ryan King at this point. He thought as I did that Radstock were worth at least a goal but it wasn’t to be, as it was to be to be him who had the final say, coming on to side-foot home from the edge of the box.

So, two “H’s” in two days, and in both cases excellent visits. I’ll look on both with considerable fondness.

The Long and the Short of it

01 Thursday Mar 2012

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Tuesday 28th February 2012 ko 7.45pm

Spartan South Midlands League Division One

HARPENDEN TOWN 2 (Burns 52 B Warren 77) B Warren sent off 90 (2nd booking)

LANGFORD 2 (Forsythe 34 Garrett 45) Forsythe missed penalty 86

Att 32

Entry £4

Programme £1

Tea-in-a mug 50p

It has to be said that the Hertfordshire town of Harpenden is extremely well-to-do. You drive past wine bars and exclusive restaurants, en route to Rothampsted Park. The local supermarket is a Waitrose. Amongst the famous living there have been Eric Morecambe, John Motson, and Ellen Terry. There is however, nothing snooty about the welcome at the town’s football club. Continue reading →

Daddy’s Scored!!!

19 Sunday Feb 2012

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Saturday 18th February 2012 ko 3.00pm

FA Vase 5th Round

HERNE BAY 1 (Campbell 86)

LARKHALL ATHLETIC 0

Att 612

Entry £7

Programme (reissue from last week’s postponement) £2

Badge £2

I have a soft spot for this competition, for sides 5 or more promotions from the Football League. There’s a Wembley Final, and unlike its bigger brothers, the Cup and Trophy, all the participants take it totally seriously, to the point that some refuse promotion so they can continue to enter!

The Kent town of Herne Bay lies close to Whitstable, on the south bank of the Thames Estuary. TV game show host Bob Holness hailed from the town, but the place is most famous for Sir Barnes Neville Wallis whose invention, the bouncing bomb, was developed and tested at nearby Reculver. The bomb was most famously used in World War II to destroy the Möhne Dam, as immortalised in the film “The Dambusters.”

Winch’s Field is set in a residential area, well away from the coast. It really is an Isthmian League ground in waiting with cover on all 4 sides, a club shop, and a spacious bar, There’s even a community radio station! The clubhouse sees service during the week as “Kiddies Corner” kindergarten, which probably explains the little garden along one perimeter fence! The real oddity though is the block containing the changing rooms, executive seating and the dugouts, I’ve never seen something like that before. However I’m not quite sure what the plastic deer on the grass back opposite are there to achieve!

The game was a high quality passing affair that at times was incredibly frustrating as neither side could find the killer pass to create a gilt-edged chance. Bay were clearly the better side but they made life difficult for themselves on 29 minutes when they had Tom Parker sent off. Herne Bay’s Michael Turner’s studs up challenge on Ross Beazer saw him lucky to stay on the pitch. A 20 man melee ensued and Parker received his marching orders for a punch on Larkhall’s Gary Thorne.

For the second half I decided to place myself behind the near goal, and a few minutes in, a young lady and her children arrived. She asked what the score was, and pointed out “Daddy,” James Campbell to her children.

The game looked like it was heading towards extra-time then a replay, when Michael Jenner drove a free-kick from the left into the penalty area. The ball evaded Larkhall keeper Chris Snoddy, and Campbell ghosted in at the far post to tap into an empty net. Amid wild celebrations “Mrs Campbell” turned to her young son, ” Daddy’s scored!” The reply was “Oh, can we go home then?”

Larkhall threw everything they had into the few minutes left. Substitute Tom Welch’s  35-yard free kick forced Eason to dive full-length to his left, but the ball bounced off the top of the crossbar and clear. With seconds left Welch again was on target, this time Eason dived low at the bottom corner to paw the ball round the post.

The final whistle sparked wild celebrations, but there was a nasty moment which the referee failed to spot. Amid the celebrations Tom Parker had made his way back on to the pitch and started to bait Gary Thorne, who had pensively squatted down. Fortunately Thorne showed restraint, and Parker was removed from the scene by a fellow player.

When I’d walked through the turnstiles around 2 hours earlier I’d looked at this fixture as being for the right to lose to Whitley Bay at some point. With the other Bay now knocked out, the competition looks wide open.

Dog of Five Head

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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Tuesday 10th January 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

HORNDEAN 0

WINCHESTER CITY 1 (Mills 89p) White missed penalty 56

Att 70

Entry £5

Programme FREE

Tea £1

Bacon Cheeseburger £2

Horndean is a small village around 8 miles north of Portsmouth. Its claim to fame is it’s where Gales Ales used to be produced, before the brewery was bought by Fullers and closed.

5 Heads Park is to be found the north of the village, a nearby pub, The Colonial, is the site of the village’s long since closed workhouse. On entering the ground I immediately felt a sense of Oxford United’s former home, The Manor Ground, the pitch slopes in exactly the same way, from bottom left to top right! I was given a programme, or rather a shell, for free as the match inserts hadn’t turned up. A few days later, I’m now in possession of the missing insert, Continue reading →

School’s Out!

22 Thursday Dec 2011

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Saturday 16th July 2011 ko 2.30pm

Junior High School Friendly

HANNAN 3 (6 8 12)

SHIRASAGI 0

Att 3 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No programme

Drinks via vending machines

@Tsurumi Ryokuchi Stadium, Tsurumi Ward, Osaka

Very much a case of get what you can. The park, Ryokuchi means Green Plaza by the way, is in the east of Osaka, and features swimming pools, cycling and jogging trails, and peaceful seating areas, although it is the flowers that have become the main attraction here. A massive attraction in Japan in early spring is gazing at the blossom, and Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park is a popular place to indulge the hobby.

As for the the Stadium well, it’s a municipal edifice originally built for American Football, but converted to 4G, and association rules. It’s huge given that the highest level of football regularly played there is the 4th tier Kansai League. The stadium was used for the 2001 East Asian games football tournament, together with the Nagai Number 1 stadium (Cerezo Osaka) and the Osaka Expo ’70 Stadium (Gamba Osaka). Nearby is a swimming pool, tennis courts, even the park’s own subway station. Pete and I were due to watch a Kansai League game there and soon discovered that it had been moved from the Saturday to the Monday, a public holiday, and all there was to watch was a friendly between 2 Junior High School teams.

Now at this point you may have picked up on the fact that this was at roughly midday and the authorities were asking teenagers to play at the height of the heat and humidity. After, all the professionals don’t play until the evening! In Japan football is a summer sport despite it being a northern hemisphere country. The reason is due to the fact that roughly 4 northern teams do get significant snow during winter, and so staging and travelling to games would be difficult. I’m bound to say that in a country renowned for its ingenuity, I’m surprised a work-around hasn’t been found as it was really very warm even to watch!

Well, it was truncated, but the game was perfectly watchable, and yes, it counts because what are the chances of me ever returning?

The Big Day at the Big Arch

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

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Sunday 10th July 2011 ko 7.04pm

J-League Division One

SANFRECCE HIROSHIMA 1 (Lee 2) K Morisaki sent off 42

CEREZO OSAKA 3 (Kurata 33 Kiyotake 49 Komatsu 51)

Att 11,615

Entry & Programme 2,000 yen

Towel Scarf 1,575 yen

Badge (from vending machine) 200 yen

Coach ticket 8,000 yen

From Cerezo Stall

Towel Scarf 1,575 yen

Badge 635 yen

This day, a Sunday was for me at least, more than just a football trip, it also was about learning a lot about the country and its culture.

The coach left Osaka at around 10am, and I was pleased that it was a bright pink affair with the club mascot, the wolf embrazoned on it too. A volunteer took payment of 10,000 yen via a portable credit card device, and your payment included a ticket for the away end. The coach was air conditioned and spacious, and the Cerezo fans were rather fascinated by the new Gaijin, especially when Peter told them just how much football I watch!. And elderly couple practised their English on me which they’d picked up during the American occupation from watching “Bonanza.” Another elderly lady presented everyone with beautiful leaflets for the game. A real collectors item!

We stopped at service stations twice each way, and the meals available were both cheap and tasty. I also enjoyed the ice cream stalls!

For a 7.04pm kick off we arrived by British standards stupidly early, around 4.30 pm. That’s because the culture is to reserve your place by placing your bag on your chosen seat (it’s perfectly safe to do so), then go for a meal, and generally relax. Pete and I decided to explore. We soon discovered that there are 3 stadia, two smaller ones that seemed barely used and a sports field where hundreds of children were playing in a tournament. Make no mistake, the future of the Japanese game is rosy.

We made our way to the the stadium, and bought our goodies, and I took advantage of the fact that as a courtesy the away team is allowed to set up a stall. I watched the lady who’s practised her English with me, take her Cerezo-pink bicycle from the boot of the coach, and cycle up to the ground from the car park. It transpired she isn’t too fleet of foot these days so this arrangement allows her to see away games. It is a matter of course that she was able to leave the bike unattended by the away end.

The stadium is genuinely iconic (it must be, the amount of photos I took!), but I do wonder how practical it is. For a ground featured in the World Cup it does have a running track, and I do wonder how much cover the Big Arch actually provides. There was no way of knowing as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was 35 degrees! I found both sets of fans sitting happily together enjoying the catering so I joined them.

The two team buses arrived rather ceremonially, and I settled down for my first view of Peter’s favourite team. And it didn’t start well either, Tananari Lee stabbing home following a defensive howler with only 90 seconds on the clock!

The turning point was unquestionably the dismissal of Koji Morisaki on 42 minutes. It looked a little harsh, particularly the first booking, but Cerezo took full advantage and in the end won comfortably.

We strolled back to the coach early enough to watch the sets of fans waving each other goodbye as friendly as could be, and then were handed a complimentary beer to start the long drive home. We reached Osaka at 2.30am and I was on the 6.28am Shinkansen to Tokyo……

This day so far I feel represents the absolute zenith of my groundhopping career. It will take some matching!

Menagerie

25 Friday Nov 2011

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Tuesday 22nd November 2011 ko 7.45pm

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Cup 2nd Round

HAREFIELD UNITED 2 (Reader 42 Majeed 51)

LONDON TIGERS 0

Att 40

Entry & Programme £6

Tea £1

Back in May the move from Banbury to Oxford, involved a distance of a mere 31 miles, but it did alter massively my potential destinations for midweek gamea. This fixture is now only 40 miles from home!

Harefield is sometimes described as the nearest village to London, and it has an odd mix of village and suburbia about it. Its most famous for the hospital where Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub FRS, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon carried out the first live lobe lung transplant and went on to perform more transplants than any other surgeon in the world. By the end of the 1980s Harefield Hospital was the world’s leading transplant centre. A lesser known fact is that three Victoria Cross winners hail from the village.

Preston Park is on the right as you enter the village from Hillingdon, and is a good example of a lower division Isthmian ground. There’s a low seated stand, and opposite is a quirky covered enclosure; perhaps the reason why the club left the Isthmian on ground grading issues is because there’s no cover behind either goal.

It was a pleasant surprise to catch up with Pinner-based hopper Les Bull, and we both enjoyed the announcer trying to add razzmatazz to a cold damp game in front of 40 patrons. The visitors are a real “United Nations” team, having started out as a charity project to help disadvantaged children in Paddington. From there they entered the Middlesex League playing out of Kingsbury Town. When that club folded Tigers were allowed to take their place in the Spartan South Midlands League and became Kingsbury London Tigers. Now they’ve moved to the old Viking Greenford ground, and dropped the Kingsbury prefix although pitch problems have meant that as I write they’ve yet to play a home game!

While off the field the Tigers have problems, on this occasion they had a far simpler one, namely that in 90 minutes of play they failed to muster even one shot on target! Just one decent shot that hit the crossbar, during the second half, so it was left to the Hares’ striker Jack Reader to score one and set up Aban Majeed for the second, to settle a fairly forgetable game.

4,3,2,1

17 Monday Oct 2011

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Sunday 16th October 2011

Kompetitie 3e Nationale B

K.F.C. VIGOR WUITENS HAMME 1 (De Lange 88)

KSV BORNEM 2 (Janssens 11 Muttinck 40)

Att c2,000

Entry €17 (seat in the middle of the main stand)

Programme €1

Braadwurst hotdog €4

Back to another Belgian Division 3 game, and this time in an atmospheric town centre ground. Plenty to like here, including the typically Belgian touch, the bar that you can see the game from. Friendly locals too, I showed my ticket at the wrong gate, and the steward informed me, in Flemish, that I needed to use the middle entrance. I understood, but the locals, realising I was not local, admonished him for not telling me in English. Definitely not necessary!

I took my seat in the stand and immediately spotted a problem. Behind my left ear a small boy with a high-pitched voice was shouting his support for Hamme, and to my right a middle-aged man and his wife were indulging in a see who can chain-smoke the smelliest cigarettes! Small irritants, because this was a great game to watch, two good sides, but Bornem always looked just that little bit fleeter of thought, and it was that little extra competitive edge that allowed them to prevail. Janssen’s thunderbolt free kick was worthy of a bigger stage, and whilst I was sad to see friendly Hamme lose, it did keep the little boy quiet!

So, 4 games, in 3 countries, in 2 days, with 1 Country point, and all down to the efforts of Peter Ford. Many Thanks mate.

4,3,2,1

17 Monday Oct 2011

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Sunday 16th October 2011

Kompetitie 3e Nationale B

K.F.C. VIGOR WUITENS HAMME 1 (De Lange 88)

KSV BORNEM 2 (Janssens 11 Muttinck 40)

Att c2,000

Entry €17 (seat in the middle of the main stand)

Programme €1

Braadwurst hotdog €4

Back to another Belgian Division 3 game, and this time in an atmospheric town centre ground. Plenty to like here, including the typically Belgian touch, the bar that you can see the game from. Friendly locals too, I showed my ticket at the wrong gate, and the steward informed me, in Flemish, that I needed to use the middle entrance. I understood, but the locals, realising I was not local, admonished him for not telling me in English. Definately not necessary!

I took my seat in the stand and immediately spotted a problem. Behind my left ear a small boy with a high pitched voice was shouting his support for Hamme, and to my right a middle-aged man and his wife seemed to be indulging in a see who can chain-smoke the smelliest cigarettes! Small irritants, because this was a great game to watch, two good sides, but Bornem always looked just that little bit fleeter of thought, and it was that little extra competitive edge that allowed them to prevail. Janssen’s thunderbolt free kick was worthy of a bigger stage, and whilst I was sad to see friendly Hamme lose, it did keep the little boy quiet!

So 4 games, in 3 countries, in 2 days, with 1 Countrypoint, and all down to the efforts of Peter Ford. Many Thanks mate.