Category Archives: L

The Blue Aeroplanes

06 Wednesday May 2015

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Saturday 2nd May 2015 ko 15.00

Cheltenham League First Division

FC LAKESIDE 3 (Bowers 55 Griffiths 22 Griffiths 90p)

WHADDON UNITED 3 (Peters 45 Watkins 62 80)

Att 116

At Pitch 4, Dowty Rotal Sports Ground, Down Hatherley Lane, Staverton

Entry FREE

No Programme

A few weeks ago I watched Whaddon United, enjoyed the experience, and paid little or no attention afterwards. I thought their win against Kings AFC would see them lift the Cheltenham League title with ease. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw the league table with them only one point clear with one game left, and my plans for Saturday were immediately changed when I saw that game was away against Lakeside, the second placed club! A shoot-out for the championship shouldn’t be missed.

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The Point

14 Saturday Mar 2015

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Sunday 8th March 2015 ko 14.30

Ceredigion League Division One

LLANBOIDY 3 (James 25 33 37)

MAESGLAS 3 (Roche 17 Harman 43 75p)

Att 219

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

The great advantage of being stood next door to league secretary Aled Davies at Pencader was that he’d been in near constant contact with Llanboidy, and confirmed there were no issues with the weather, in fact it was blue skies all around! It had stopped raining for the last ten minutes at Pencader, but when I returned to the car and put the postcode for Cae Dandre into the satnav I wondered if I’d got the correct address!

There are no lack of Carmarthenshire clubs in the Ceredigion League, but Llanboidy is right on the border with Pembrokeshire! The village lies on the Welsh side but close to the Landsker Line, where supposedly the first language spoken changes from Welsh to English. Continue reading →

Chapel

09 Monday Mar 2015

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Saturday 7th March 2015 ko 10.15

Ceredigion League Division Two

DEWI STARS 6 (Owens 16 23 29 37 W Williams 74 Thomas 87)

S.D.U.C. 1 (Kennedy 45)

Att 174

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

When you organise the final hop of a league’s run, you always have the difficulty of putting together a schedule with clubs that aren’t necessarily ideally placed geographically. To add to that we had the necessity to put the Dewi Stars on the Saturday as the playing field is owned by the chapel in Llanddewi Brefi, and they objected to the club playing on a Sunday. Yes, that’s right, Llanddewi Brefi of “Little Britain” fame, and as I demolished an early breakfast in Carmarthen my aim for my visit was to dispel the notion of “Only Gay in the village” however funny Matt Lucas’ sketches were.

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Countywide

05 Thursday Mar 2015

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Wednesday 4th March 2015 ko 19.30

Staffordshire County Senior League Division One

LEEK C.S.O.B. 4 (Bown 3 Pointon 46 57 83)

KEELE UNIVERSITY 0

Att 62

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

Tea 50p

We really should start with the obvious, it’s County School Old Boys! From a groundhopper’s perspective they were the North West Counties League club that shared at Leek Town. Most hoppers don’t seem to be interested in a ground’s second club, so for many years they sailed under many people’s radar, mine included.

All that changed with their resignation from the NWCL at the end of last season. They took their reserves place in the second tier of the Staffs County League, and moved to Pointon Park, in Cheddleton, some 4 miles south of Leek. That is where its starts getting interesting. Continue reading →

The Mini Driver

26 Thursday Feb 2015

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Tuesday 24th February 2015 ko 19.45

Hampshire Premier League Cup Semi-Final

BAFFINS MILTON ROVERS 3 (Watts 18 Couzens 47 Burnley 90)

WINCHESTER CASTLE 0 Pickett sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 36 at Liss Athletic

Sometimes when I reflect on what I’ve watched and where I’ve been I do spot an obvious pattern. Here for a variety of reasons I’ve seen quite a bit of the Wessex League and its footprint. Perhaps its because its easy enough to reach, just a blast down the heartily boring A34, but you know what that means though, time to seek out the little gems somewhere else!

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Suffolk Punch

02 Friday Jan 2015

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Thursday 1st January 2015 ko 15.00

Isthmian League Premier Division

LEISTON 1 (Godbold 78og)

WITHAM TOWN 1 (Wraight 21)

Att 210

Entry £10

Programme £2

Badge £3.50

As a carload of slightly hungover groundhoppers half clambered, half fell out the car at the Crown Inn, Leiston no one remembered just how close we all were to Sizewell Nuclear Power Station. Just the railway line with its old-fashioned level crossing gates gave a clue when we bumped over the line, waking my 3 passengers!

The Suffolk town grew in the 19th century through the production of steam tractors. At the Leiston Works, Garrett & Sons produced the vehicles together with a wide variety of metal products, munitions included. Continue reading →

Bells End

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

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Sunday 28th December 2014 ko 15.00

Conference North

LOWESTOFT TOWN 2 (Ainsley 14 Woods-Garness 81)

GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 0

Att 534

Entry £12

Programme £2

Badge £3.50

The trains all terminate at Lowestoft, and one solitary piece of track strikes out towards the harbour 200 yards away before giving up, blocked by the crossroads. Yes this the most easterly town in the UK, unequivocally defined by fish, although I did wonder whilst having my lunch at the local Wetherspoon pub whether my scampi was locally sourced- I do have my doubts!

Of course Lowestoft is famous for being the hometown of the rock band, “The Darkness” rather overshadowing the fact that classical composer Benjamin Britten was born here! Darts fans will no doubt point out that shy, retiring Peter “Snakebite” Wright lives locally!

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Blood swept Lands and Seas of Red

31 Friday Oct 2014

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Let’s start with the facts, this is the moat of the Tower of London, gradually filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies each representing one British military fatality during the First World War.

The Poppies were designed by Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper, and over the last few months the moat has gradually filled with a sea of red. In time the poppies will be sold, with 6 charities benefitting, but what is it like to visit? What does it look like, and more importantly how does it make you feel? Continue reading →

Words

16 Thursday Oct 2014

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Saturday 11th October 2014 ko 19.00

Promotion D’Honneur

TITUS LAMADELAINE 0

CS PÉTANGE 1 (Smigalović 45)

Att c239

Entry €8

No Programme

So over the border into the Grand Duchy and one of Europe’s smaller countries. Luxembourg lies between France, Belgium and Germany, and the Stade Jos Phillipart in Rodange lies roughly a kilometre from France to the south and two from Belgium to the North. So I got my eighteenth countrypoint, but not by much! Continue reading →

Here, There & Everywhere

11 Friday Jul 2014

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Saturday 5th July 20145 ko 19.45

League of Ireland Division One

LONGFORD TOWN 3 (O’Sullivan 65 81 Shaw 79) G. O’Connor sent off 62 (dangerous play)

SHELBOURNE 0 McDonagh sent off 62 (violent conduct)

Att 780

Entry €10

Programme €3

Badge €5

NB. The Irish tour’s cost of £285 included entry into all the 3 games, and programmes, all transport, all excursions, and 3 nights bed and breakfast at Dublin City University

The great advantage of a day with just the one match to see is that the rest of your time is a blank canvas. There was time for a leisurely, if large breakfast before the coach headed north to the pretty seaside town of Skerries, In fact you could trace the coast north and see over the border to Northern Ireland. Continue reading →