Empathy

09 Friday May 2014

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Saturday 3rd May 2014 ko 15.00

League 2

NORTHAMPTON TOWN 3 (Marquis 29 Toney 33 Kouo-Doumbe 50)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Williams 6) Williams sent off 19 (violent conduct)

Att 7,529 (1,358 away)

Entry £19

Programme £3

I’ve watched my team lose their league status, and its a perfectly horrible experience, and one I wouldn’t wish on any fan (well perhaps Swindon, but that’s tribal!). The Conference may well be a quasi-League 3 but the process of falling into it still hurts a lot. 6 months ago, Northampton were racing favourites to take that drop, sacked manager Aidy Boothroyd, recruited Oxford United’s Chris Wilder more here, and went into this game out of the relegation zone for the first time this year, needing a point to guarantee League football.

In contrast Oxford had been in the play-off positions virtually all season, but since Wilder’s departure form had slumped with the club destined to finish 8th whatever the result. They had nothing but pride to play for, but the Cobblers’ conundrum was as follows. If they lost and either Wycombe or Bristol Rovers won, they were down, so how the club decided to stage the game surprised me.

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The Long Road Back

04 Sunday May 2014

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Thursday 1st May 2014 ko 18.30

Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division Two

NEWENT TOWN 4 (Bayliss 7 12 Gibbs 69 74)

LONGFORD AFC 1 (Edwards 16)

Att 31

Entry FREE

No Programme (the club issue for “Big” games)

Tea £1

Around 15 years ago, I was being given a lift to watch an Intertoto Cup game at Newtown AFC, and our driver had decided to avoid the motorways and take the scenic route, just clipping the top of the Forest of Dean. We passed a sign for Newent and he commented that the town’s club used to be in the Gloucestershire County League, but had disappeared off of his radar. I was new to groundhopping, and took a stupidly snobby attitude to the perceived quality of football on show. The simple fact was that I was in no position to judge, and when I saw this fixture on the club’s website, I felt I owed them a visit. It may have taken me far too long, but it was a good choice on my part, the football was excellent.

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The Dun Cow

04 Sunday May 2014

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Tuesday 29th April 2014 ko 18.30

Banbury District & Lord Jersey League Division One

HORNTON 4 (Walton 25 Bedding 27 81 Lee 82)

BLOXHAM 3 (Toule 17 R Gregg 12 35)

Att 11

Entry FREE

No Programme

As a groundhopper it sometimes pays dividends to step out of your comfort zone, and look out a game that chances are you’d never go and see on a Saturday. Early evening kick-offs do mean you get home at a sensible hour too! Hornton is one of those pretty-as-a picture villages in the very northernmost fields of northern Oxfordshire, and in truth you do hardly notice the border in these agricultural lands.

Even now the village shows signs of the area’s turbulent past. During the English civil war Banbury, just 5 miles away was a Puritan stronghold, but Oxford a Cavalier city, Banbury United’s nickname is still the Puritans, and I remember their programme featuring a cartoon of the legend of the locals hanging a cat on a Monday for the killing of a mouse on a Sunday. There’s the frankly gorgeous Church of England church of St John the Baptist, but just down the road is the Methodist Church, to give the stone cottages a choice of prayer on the Sabbath. Between the two the Dun Cow pub satisfies those who choose to ignore part of one of the churches’ doctrine. Continue reading →

The Good Doctor

02 Friday May 2014

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Sunday 27th April 2014 ko 10.00

Beograd Zone Liga

FK ŽELEZNIČAR 4 (Radosavljević 28  30 Tintor 32 Tovilović 85)

FK RESNIK 1 (Stanković 87)

Att 83

Entry 100 RSD (71p)

No Programme

Team Sheet- Comp

Even without alcohol, it felt like the morning after the night before as I awoke in my hotel of Slavija Square. Yes, I had witnessed the madness of the Belgrade Derby but I was worried that a 4th Division game, despite being more what my football is about would seem tame by comparison. I suspected my companions felt the same way as we checked out, and caught the taxi out to the ground by the Sava river with the railway line behind. The fact that near to Stadion FK Železničar our two drivers had to ask directions added to my feeling of unease. We arrived, and my feelings were completely wrong; I’d forgotten about the warmth of a Serbian welcome!

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Eternal

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

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Saturday 26th April 2014 k0 19.00

Super liga

FK PARTIZAN 2 (Drinčić 27 Kojić 90)

FK CRVENA ZVEZDA 1 (Mrda 56) Ninković missed penalty 25 Mijailović missed penalty 34

Att 30,000

Entry 2,000 RSD (£14.21)

No Programme

No Souvenirs (although overpriced ones are available at the airport!)

 

When it comes to football in Belgrade, and Serbia in general Red Star and Partizan dominate. Partizan was the team of the army, named after the Communist Partizans who fought the Nazis in World War II. Red Star were formed in 1945 out of the war-time Serbian United Antifascist Youth League, and became closely associated with the Ministry of the Interior and more specifically the Secret Police. Every since the two clubs’ formation the rivalry has been intense and during the existence of Yugoslavia, rivalries with the two Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb, and Hajduk Split were also ferocious. In fact many attribute the riot on May 13, 1990 at Maksimir stadium in Zagreb during a match between Dinamo and Red Star, as being the spark that started the Croatian War of Independence that began a year and a half later.

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Digging Down

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

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Saturday 26th April 2014 ko 11.00

Prva Beogradska Liga Grupa A (First Belgrade League Group A)

FK SLAVJIA 2 (Vzglats 10 Dragutinovič 63)

13 MAJ 3 (Pantič 50 66 Bustič 52)

Att 28

Entry FREE

No Programme

Team Sheet FREE

Bag of Nuts 100 Serb Dinar (100 RSD = 71p)

Played at Stadion Mladi Obelić, Beograd

We’d flown into Belgrade late Friday night and by the time I was ensconced into the Hotel Slavija Lux it was well into Saturday. Here’s a tip for you. Since it’s almost impossible to get Serbian Dinar in the UK, make sure your cards are cleared for use abroad. There’s a cash point in arrivals, and that may well be your only way of getting money for the bus or taxi into Belgrade if the Bureaux de Change are closed.

From the moment we landed it became obvious that Serbia thinks it has an image problem, and so a proud nation is doing its best to make foreign visitors welcome. Getting to this game was a case in point, we’d established that the game was on and when kick off was, but the location was a real problem. There appeared to be two stadiums and one office block for the home team, but with barely a word of Serbian between us we’d reached an impasse. Continue reading →

Lower Versus Upper

28 Monday Apr 2014

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Thursday 24th April 2014 ko 18.30

Banbury & Lord Jersey League Premier Division

HEYFORD ATHLETIC 4 (Blenford 6 73 Bone 13 Clack 68)

HEYFORD UNITED 1 (Douglas 82)

Att 35

Entry FREE

Programme NO

As far as I’m concerned the end of the football season isn’t complete without a midweek trip to watch some Lord Jersey League football. The league covers the villages around Banbury and Bicester and I’ve seen some real gems over the last few years, try clicking on GYFTID and Hanwell United, although both have since folded. However this one had a little more riding on it, in fact so much so the league paid for two appointed linesmen. Continue reading →

My English Friends

28 Monday Apr 2014

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Wednesday 23rd April 2014 ko 19.45

Western League Premier Division

ODD DOWN (BATH) 3 (Hunt 41 Jones 50 Hiroli 55)

BITTON 1 (Corrick 81)

Att c60

Entry & Programme £6

Badge-  Comp’

 

I’d had no intention of watching anything more under lights in the UK this season, but when my mate Andreas was over from Germany and decided he was going to Odd Down, it was an easy decision to join him. Apart from anything else I’d had a postponement a few weeks earlier report here so the place owed me a game, and it turned out to be an inspired choice, as I had an answer provided to a question I’d been pondering for a week or two. Continue reading →

The Dandridges

28 Monday Apr 2014

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Tuesday 22nd April 2014 ko 18.45

North Berkshire League Division Three

HANNEY UNITED 4 (Bishop 3 22 N Pimm 11 Harris 66)

BENSON LIONS 0

Att 3

Entry FREE

No Programme

I think Premier League pitches should take a leaf from Hanney’s book and have daisies in the grass. I’m not sure whether it would improve the football, but perhaps the quintessential Englishness could manifest itself in fairer play? Maybe not, but this was a wonderful excuse to watch a game in a location that could only ever be in England.

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Thoughts

25 Friday Apr 2014

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Monday 21st April 2014 ko 18.00

Northern League Division One

NEWTON AYCLIFFE 1 (Hedley 4)

SHILDON 1 (Wood 68p)

Att 446

Entry £6

Programme £1

Badge £3

Its felt like the end of an era as the cavalcade reached the Newton Aycliffe Sports Ground. There were a few tired legs and still more tired faces, including organiser Harvey Harris. I managed to spend a few minutes with him and thanked him for his efforts, organising one hop a year isn’t easy, 4 including this hop, a monster 4 day 11 game epic is tough, very tough. He seemed pleased to be hanging up his boots, and I don’t blame him for that, the League will organise a staggered kick-off day, not a hop, next season so that people can keep up with new teams and grounds to the league. That day will be in co-operation with the hopping diary, so I’ll look forward to seeing, once again my friends in the North.

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