Size Matters

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

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Tuesday 2nd June 2015 ko 19.00

Superettan

IF BROMMAPOJKARNA 2 (Hellberg 29 75)

IFK VÄRNAMO 1 (Cederqvist 44)

Att 624

Entry (seating) 150sek (c £11.76)

Programme/ Lottery 20 sek

In Stockholm there’s a fairly obvious footballing pecking order. Top are Djurgården and AIK, closely followed by Hammarby, and all are currently playing in top flight of Swedish football, the Allsvenskan. Bromma were relegated from there last season, and currently lie bottom of the second tier Superettan, or Super-One division if you’d prefer the English translation. But to judge Brommapojkarna, or to translate, the Bromma Boys Club, on their league position would be to completely miss the point of their existence, as they are the biggest club in Europe. Continue reading →

Fine Margins

31 Sunday May 2015

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Saturday 30th May 2015 ko 14.00

Scottish Junior FA, West Region Superleague Premier Division

HURLFORD UNTED 2 (C Robertson 59 Donnelly 77)

SHOTTS BON ACCORD 1 (McCrum 90)

Att 144

Entry £5

Programme (reissue from 6/12/14) £1 (original price £1.50)

 In Scotland below the professional ranks there’s two visions of how non-league could look. On one hand there’s the new Scottish pyramid with the Lowland and Highland league champions playing off for the right to play off against the Scottish League’s bottom side for the final place in the league. On the other there’s the Juniors, not aged-based, more an alternative FA, with the North, East and West Regions ploughing their separate furrows, save for the Junior Cup. Continue reading →

Tin Plate

28 Thursday May 2015

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Thursday 27th July 2006 ko 19.30

UEFA Cup 1st Qualifying Road 2nd Leg

LLANELLI AFC 0

GEFLE IF 0 Hedlund sent off 27 (DOGSO)

Llanelli won 2-1 on aggregate

Att 2,500 at Stradey Park, Llanelli (Llanelli RUFC)

Entry £10

Programme £2

Just occasionally as a groundhopper you get an opportunity so good, virtually everyone drops everything just to be there. This was one of those occasions, as back in 2006 Llanelli’s home at Stebonheath Park wasn’t yet up to UEFA ground-grading regulations, so the club decided to play their UEFA Cup fixture at Stradey Park, the home of Llanelli Rugby Union Club. Continue reading →

Third Parties

27 Wednesday May 2015

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Tuesday 26th May 2015 ko 18.30

Coventry Alliance Premier Division

FOLLY LANE OLD BOYS 2 (Jones 44 Fitzharris 50p) Pidgeon sent off 45 (violent conduct) Fitzharris sent off 90 (violent conduct)

WHITNASH TOWN 2 (Wilkinson 30 Scott 83) Watkin missed penalty 90

Att 353

Entry FREE

Programme 50p

Recently I saw a comment on Twitter about this game. It said something along the lines of “It’s not often you see a league’s season boiling down to a final game shoot-out for the title.” I allowed myself a wry smile, this was the third such shoot-out I was to witness this season after the tense afternoons at Harold Wood and Dowty Staverton! This one was to surpass both of them. Continue reading →

Mistress

24 Sunday May 2015

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Saturday 23rd May 2015 ko 14.15

Maidstone & District League Premier Division

THREE SUTTONS 2 (Barham 22 Todd 68)

WEST FARLEIGH 2 (Nibbs 33 Foster-Couch 44)

Att 39

Entry FREE

No Programme

When the games begin to run out at the end of the season, you also have to contend with the possibility that sides will simply decide not to bother playing the game. It doesn’t help when some leagues award those ties as 0-0 draws; you can actually be better off not playing which can’t be a good thing. My original idea was a Middlesex League game at Paddington Elite, but the visiting team couldn’t raise a side so I cast my net a little wider. With that propensity for call-offs having two games in the same league less than 3 miles apart looked a good plan for me, the idea being is there were no signs of life at the first, simply drive on to the second! Continue reading →

Setting it up

24 Sunday May 2015

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Tuesday 19th May 2015 kop 18.15

Coventry Alliance Premier Division

AMBLESIDE SPORTS 0

A.E.I. RUGBY 6 (Halim 2 60 Vince 63 65 76p Glover 85)

Att 47

Entry FREE

No Programme

Start with the obvious I suppose, this is Ambleside Way in Nuneaton, not the pretty town in the Lake District, and the club takes its name from the Ambleside Sports Ground, which in turn is named after the street. After all, the other Ambleside would be a little far for the Coventry Alliance’s footprint! Incidentally the ground is a few hundred yards from the Hinckley and North Warwickshire College ground, used for some Midland U21 League fixtures Continue reading →

Gas Panic

21 Thursday May 2015

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Sunday 17th May 2015 ko 14.00

Conference Promotion Final

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 (Harrison 30)

GRIMSBY TOWN 1 (John-Lewis 2)

AET Bristol Rovers won 5-3 on penalties

Att 47,0229 at Wembley Stadium

Entry £10 (Member clubs’ allocation- “Neutral Zone”)

Programme £5

Now I know the Conference Premier is pretty much League 3 these days. I know it’s almost entirely full-time and I know there are many former Football League clubs in its ranks. The vital word here is “Former” though, and take it from me, a fan of a club that did lose its place in the League, it hurts a lot it when you get relegated. You get used to the comments like “How on earth did you end up there?” and every time you go to a game you cheer your club on straining every mental sinew to get back to whence you came. There’s nothing wrong with the Conference, but believe me the fans of at least half of the clubs in its top flight hate being there.

Continue reading →

Pickin’ ’em

20 Wednesday May 2015

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Saturday 16th May 2015 ko 14.30

Essex Olympian League- Premier Division

HAROLD WOOD ATHLETIC 4 (Tolan 45p Ziepe 68 Suchley 73 Foley 86) WADHAM LODGE 1 (Holt 6)

Att 212

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

When the games start to run out what do you look for? The pretty ground? The game with something on it? I even know one hopper whom eschewed this one as there wasn’t a programme on sale! He wasn’t the only one who put the paper-based souvenir before the match, the club put up notices advertising the lack of a programme, and the strap-line on their website told the same story. You could only imagine the number of phone calls they’d taken…. Continue reading →

Second Class Post

15 Friday May 2015

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Wednesday 13th May 2015 ko 18.30

Middlesex County League- Premier Division

L.P.O.S.S.A. 0

HILLINGDON 4 (Altomare 34 Casey 51 Rose 63 Mohamed 71)

Att 66

Entry FREE

Programme £1

I suppose I should start by answering the obvious question, its London Post Office Sports and Social Association. The club plays at the London Post Office Association Club, close to Sudbury Hill Harrow railway station and Sudbury Hill tube station. Continue reading →

Tested For The Unexpected

14 Thursday May 2015

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Tuesday 12th May 2015 ko 18.30

Coventry Alliance Premier Division

DUNLOP 0

A.E.I. RUGBY 2 (Linton 13 Newman 48)

Att 32

Entry FREE

No Programme

A tip for those visiting Coventry, always allow plenty of time to negotiate the suburbs, it took me 30 minutes to negotiate the final mile to the Dunlop Sports and Social Club, in Burnaby Road! As the joke goes, the Luftwaffe did horrible things to Coventry during the Second World War but the town planners did worse afterwards! Continue reading →