Shafted

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Saturday 3rd December 2016 ko 14.00

Hellenic League Division One East

HEADINGTON AMATEURS 1 (L Cuff 65)

SANDHURST TOWN 2 (Bryce 24 41)

Att 16

Entry & Programme £2

This season there’s been a steady stream of clubs finding a way to return home. The likes of Hadley and Slough have got new grounds, but one return has rather sailed under the radar. Headington Amateurs have returned home, but unlike the other clubs this has been far from a happy ending.

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A Touch Of Frost

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Tuesday 29th November 2016 ko 19.45

Surrey Premier Cup, 2nd Round

BANSTEAD ATHLETIC 5 (Smith 43 90 Maddock 54 Hill 67 Frost 90)

OLD WILSONIANS 2 (Gravesande 12 Steadford 16)

Att 25

Entry £6

Programme £2

Just every groundhopper has been in this position, stood by the pay gate while the referee paws nervously at a hardening, frosty pitch. You know that it’s too late to head elsewhere, even my other possible fixture at Sittingbourne was to fall foul of the weather. You try and dig a heel into the turf to see if the cold ground will take that mythical stud. You fret, and thinking selfishly I really wanted to see this game, as it was one of the more interesting ties in a County Cup this season. Continue reading

Relationships

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Sunday 27th November 2016 ko 14.00

FA Women’s Premier League- Midlands Division 1

LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS WOMEN 1 (Colledge 68)

LONG EATON UNITED LADIES 4 (Newton 2 62 Moulton 40 Pashley 74)

Att 12 at Holywell Pitch 4, Loughborough University

Entry FREE

No Programme

For somewhere a two-hour drive from Oxford I don’t half see a lot of Loughborough University! It is of course entirely logical that a football enthusiast should see a lot of Britain’s leading university for sport, starting with the Paddock Pitch for Loughborough Students’ game with the now sadly defunct Woodbourne Sports. Then there was the more straightforward visit to the Holywell Stadium for Longborough University’s match with Heanor Town. Last time I discussed the relationship between town and university, but those games, and this visit hints at another relationship altogether. Continue reading

Sunday Morning Coming Down

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Sunday 27th November 2016 ko 10.30

Long Eaton Sunday League Premier Division

ATTENBOROUGH CAV’S 4 (Brady 22 Beaton 41 Ford 66 73)

LONG EATON T.N.I. 2 (17, 86p)

Att 15 at Beeston Fields Recreation Ground

Entry FREE

I completely understand why some groundhoppers won’t watch Sunday League football, it is a slightly different animal to the normal Saturday league action. The pace of life is more relaxed, you’re unlikely to see a stand or even a rail, and the variance of players’ talent is often huge across a team. But once you accept that there’s so much to enjoy. Continue reading

Groundhopping Hell?

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Saturday 26th November 2016 ko 14.00

Notts Senior League- Premier Division

NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY 2 (Fletcher 31 81p)

UNDERWOOD VILLA 2 (Voller 39og Thompson 78) Wright sent off 71 (foul language)

Att 14

Entry FREE

Programme FREE

On one hand if you want to complete the Notts Senior League, you’ll need to pay the Clifton Campus a visit, and it gives the club precisely what they need, a good facility at which to play its games. On the other for the spectator its a one-sided plastic pitch in a cage, utterly bereft of character; save for the Uni’s corporate branding you could be anywhere. It is though where the needs of the participatory league and those of a spectating league collide. Continue reading

Doughty

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Saturday 26th November 2016 ko 11.30

U18 Professional Development League-North

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3 (Gomis 26 28 McCormick 75)

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 2 (Scott 44 Dyson 79)

Att 88

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

If a former owner of a club wants to leave a legacy, then there aren’t many better places than the club’s academy. Nottingham Forest’s academy in Gresham Close is named after former owner Nigel Doughty who ploughed over £100million of his own funds into the club but died suddenly in 2012 aged just 54. Continue reading

The Move From Muntz Street

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Saturday 19th November 2016 ko 15.00

EFL Championship

BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 (Adams 81) Spector sent off (serious foul play) 90

BRISTOL CITY 0

Att 18,586 (1,774 away)

Entry to “Legends Lounge” meal, programme, tea, teamsheet- Complimentary

I’d hate to feel pigeon-holed as to the kind of football I watch. I like the idea of being able to do something as basic as Beesands Rovers or as grand as the opening game at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, or even as crazy as the Belgrade Derby. Why set parameters? Continue reading

Cards

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Wednesday 16th November 2016 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One West

HOOK NORTON 0 Eyre sent off 53 (2nd booking) Watkin sent off 87 (2nd booking)

ABINGDON UNITED 3 (Wharton 18 Edney 64 Gila 68)

Att 35

Entry & Programme £5

On the face of it Hook Norton is rather isolated situated in Oxfordshire but only a mile or two from Warwickshire, at the end of a twisting B-class road from Chipping Norton. The village was originally founded on ironstone deposits in the area but is these days a well-to-do village with the Hook Norton Brewery still using steam traction and horse-drawn drays. But it’s well-to-do nature has made  life rather difficult for its football team. Continue reading

Thorogood the Destroyer

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Tuesday 15th November 2016 ko 19.45

East Midlands Counties League

ASHBY IVANHOE 7 (Thorogood 7 17 83 Own Goal 28 Cawley 31 L Edwards 39 D Edwards 51)

GEDLING MINERS WELFARE 1 (Slawson 50) C Winstanley sent off (DOGSO) 17

Att 75

Entry £4

Programme £1

It was difficult to channel your inner Walter Scott when the traffic was this bad and the fog this thick. The town in Leicestershire certainly does seem to have an eye for the exotic named as it is Ashby-de-la-Zouch after the Zouch family who were granted ownership of the town following the Norman Conquest. Then there’s the Ivanhoe suffix from the Walter Scott novel set in the 12th Century castle here. The football does have something to live up to! Continue reading

Pepperinge Eye

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Saturday 12th November 2016 ko 13.30

Dorset Intermediate Cup 2nd Round

CORFE CASTLE 7 (Ricketts 4 10 18 Johnstone 22p 47 Smith 37 Hector 63)

BROADMAYNE 1 (Johnson 54)

Att 28

Entry FREE

Programme £2.50

You really can’t avoid Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck, the A351, and the steam railway to Swanage has to take a metaphorical deep breath to squeeze past! The 11th century castle built by William the Conqueror, one of the first in the UK to be built out of stone found itself on the losing side in the English Civil War in 1649 and was slighted afterwards.

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