Modus Operandi

05 Wednesday Mar 2014

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Tuesday 4th March 2014 ko 19.30

Isthmian League Division One South

CRAWLEY DOWN GATWICK 2 (Sargent 28 Akanbi 42)

THREE BRIDGES 3 (Romain 53 Daniel 68 Rivers 90)

Att 113

Entry £8

Programme (reissue with insert) £2

Badge £4

Tea £1

The Mid-Sussex village is one of those pretty settlements that utterly belies its location close to Gatwick airport, and the M23 and M25 motorways. In fact I’d planned on visiting just before the Maltese tour, details here, but genuinely couldn’t face driving to Gatwick, then driving home, and returning a few hours later! Continue reading →

Me Corderoy Britches

03 Monday Mar 2014

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Saturday 1st March 2014 ko 18.30

Northern League Division Two

DARLINGTON RAILWAY ATHLETIC 2 (Allison 33 84)

THORNABY 3 (Bythway 10 Melvin 22 Woodhouse 82)

Att 195

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Teamsheet 20p

So journey’s end for the 3rd of the 4 Northern League hops, and for me at least the first revisit of the 3 events! I’d paid Brinkburn Road a visit in 2006 on a Friday night for a FA Vase game against, yes, Thornaby! Continue reading →

Drift

03 Monday Mar 2014

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Saturday 1st March 2014 ko 14.30

Northern League Division Two

STOKESLEY SPORTS CLUB 1 (Upton 67)

TOW LAW TOWN 2 (Thexton 18 26)

Att 189

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Pie & Peas £2

The second game of the “Southern” day of the Northern League saw one of the league’s southernmost outposts. So much so the that the town is actually in North Yorkshire, more normally associated with the Northern Counties East league at this level of the game, although there’s been a fair amount of exchange over the years.

This is the land where Captain Cook grew up. He was born in nearby Great Ayton in the foothills of the North York Moors, and the distinctive Roseberry Topping hill, with its Matterhorn-esque silhouette as a background. It was once the symbol of the now defunct county of Cleveland and was in almost complete contrast with the petrochemical industrial backdrop of Redcar that we’d left behind. It’s fair to say that Broughton Road is a ground best visited in the light for the spectacular scenery behind. Continue reading →

Northern Ventures

02 Sunday Mar 2014

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Saturday 1st March 2014 ko 11.00

Northern League Division One

MARSKE UNITED 0 O’Sullivan sent off 37 (violent conduct)

GUISBOROUGH TOWN 4 (Johnson 30 90 Roberts 63 86)

Att 433

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

One of the advantages of a one-day Northern League hop is also its great disadvantage! I left darkened Oxfordshire at 5.30am wondering what the weather would be like, and as the sun rose over scenic Coventry it became clear that organiser Harvey Harris had booked the weather; the cold I can live with, but getting wet on a multi-game day is just plain depressing. Continue reading →

The Carshalton 6

26 Wednesday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 25th February 2013 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Premier Division

CARSHALTON ATHETIC 0

DULWICH HAMLET 4 (Clunis 21 Lodge 30 Daly 39 51)

Att 277

Entry £10

Programme (reissue from postponed game on 1st January with insert) £2

Badge. Carshalton Athletic I am NOT paying £5 for a badge.

Tea £1

My original idea was to visit the War Memorial Ground a couple of weeks ago, but then it was suggested to me by Mishi Morath that it would be more interesting to wait for Dulwich Hamlet to be the visitors. I diverted to an interesting evening at Tunbridge Wells, including a supporter reinforcing a cliché by complaining that I’d referred to them as Tunbridge, something she found, “Tres Annoying!” Mishi’s advice proved to be sound, and my trip to the ground just off Colston Avenue proved to be far more interesting than I expected. Continue reading →

Farewell, the bonnie banks of Ayr!

23 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 22nd February 2014 ko 14.15

Scottish Junior FA Cup 5th Round

WHITLETTS VICTORIA 4 (Holland 56 Allan 59 Balfour 69 72)

YOKER ATHLETIC 1 (Frew 42)

Att 367

Entry £5

Programme (Chinese takeaway style) 30p

Badge Comp

Tea £1

As a hopper when you can’t find anything that takes your fancy, a good option is work on the lengthy list of Scottish Junior grounds that may not be in use for much longer. I like many others had loved Benburb’s soon-to-be lost Tinto Park, and as I drove north up the M6 yet another time, I wondered if my day could be as special as a fortnight ago. I surprised myself by having as good a time as then, if not better. Continue reading →

The Two Green

20 Thursday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 18th February 2014 ko 19.30

Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division

ROTHLEY IMPERIAL 2 (Love 33 Howard 70)

SILEBY TOWN 1 (Jelly 53)

Att 29

Entry £3

No programme

Tea 50p

Regular readers on these travels will know that I like to tell both of you, dear readers, a little about where I visited. The trouble with the small Leicestershire village of Rothley is where to start and what to leave out!

The village is centred off two greens, the Cross Green and the Town Green, both reached from the crossroads on the A6 that is the village’s raison d’etre. Continue reading →

Quality

16 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 15th February 2014 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Connolly 27 Wroe 53 Smalley 68)

MANSFIELD TOWN 0

Att 5,108 (365 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc’ Oxford Mail)

Its been a good week to look at sport as a whole. I do enjoy the Olympic games, and like many others I watched agog as Lizzie Yarnold won gold for Team GB in the Skeleton Bobsleigh. I’m not sure why I enjoy watching the sports that I don’t know intimately, but there’s something visceral about throwing yourself down an ice tube on a tray with your chin an inch from the ice. Of course she won by just under a second over 4 runs, a massive margin, but it was the way she conducted herself afterwards that impressed me. Calm, collected and respectful she is a credit to herself, her country and her sport, and watching her interview you could imagine a legion of young girls taking up sport with her as their inspiration. I fact a few hours later I saw a tweet of a 5 year-old girl, face down on a skateboard wearing her brothers cycle helmet. It’s a powerful, positive message, and one I hope will be repeated many, many times. Continue reading →

3rd Time Unlucky

13 Thursday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 12th February 2014 ko 19.45

Oxfordshire Senior Cup Quarter-Final

THAME UNITED 0 Lynch sent off 24 (serious foul play)

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Hawtin 20 71)

Att 171

Entry £5

Programme £1

My football season really isn’t complete without a trip to Thame United, they’re a decent bunch, and I wish we’d managed to pay the ASM Stadium a visit before the Hellenic hops finished, but league politics put paid to that idea. Still, I’ve managed to visit for local cup finals, and of course Thame United home games! I remember Chinnor borrowing the ground for last year’s quarter-final against Oxford United in this competition. It was cold then, and well, some things don’t change! Continue reading →

Everything You Need

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 8th February 2014 ko 13.45

Scottish Junior FA West Region, Central League Cup 2nd Round

BENBURB 1 (McGurgan 30) Lovering sent off 88 (2nd booking)

THORNIEWOOD UNITED 6 (Duffy 6 Murphy 16 Malone 45 McGowan 62 O’Donnell 78 Brophy 85)

Att 64

Entry £5

Programme £1

When I was a sixth-former we were encouraged to debate the burning issues of the time. I remember a particularly heated debate on the death penalty, and a particularly powerful argument was putting yourself in the position of the condemned prisoner and the dread of waiting for the appointment with the executioner. I felt a flavour of that dread about those involved at Benburb.

Benburb are on borrowed time at their home Tinto Park. The 82 year old stadium has been sold for housing, the “Site Office,” sign is up on the fence outside, and the club neither know who now owns their home, or when the axe will fall.

Continue reading →