Life At The Bottom

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

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Saturday 21st December 2013 ko 18.00

Campeonato Nacional de Liga de 1a División

REAL BETIS BALOMPIÉ 0

U.D. ALMERÍA 1 (Azzez 4)

Att 26,550

Entry €60

Programme FREE

Badge €2

Teamsheet FREE

One advantage of our previous game finishing two-and-half hours before this one, was that Andy and I had plenty of time to soak up all that the Estadio Benito Villamarín and its environs had to offer.

The first task was to buy a ticket which proved to be interesting! We were directed to a booth in the bowels of the North Fondo (Stand). There were only 3 hatches open, one for complementaries, but bizarrely two adjacent hatches for home and away fans! We managed to make our choice understood, and bought top priced tickets for the middle tier of the main stand which proved to be an excellent investment. Our €60 were snatched away, the tickets thrust our way and the hatch slammed shut. Did I say something wrong? Continue reading →

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

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Saturday 21st December 2013 ko 13.30

1a División Andaluza Cadete

REAL BETIS CADETE A 7 (Santos 5 Toni 26 44 69 Ángel 83 Edu 86p José 85p)

SAN ROQUE DE LEPE 0

Att c200

Entry FREE

Teamsheet “FREE”

With a day in Seville and a Sunday spent doing little more than travelling to and from Huelva there was little point retaining the hire car. I returned it to the rental company at Santa-Justa rail station and the young girl who took the keys asked how I’d found the Fiat 500 to drive,

“Absolutely fine,” I replied, “But the steering wheel is on the wrong side!”

She panicked for a moment, glancing over to the car before realising what I meant! We exchanged a joke or two about driving in each other’s countries before Andy and I strolled over to the station to plan the details of our next two days over a coffee that the station café managed to forget to charge us for, then refused point-blank to accept my payment when I tried to be honest! Continue reading →

Spanish Fly

23 Monday Dec 2013

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Friday 20th December 2013 ko 20.30

Segunda B Grupo 4

CÁDIZ CF 3 (Josete 19 Villar 47 Fall 63) Luque sent off 69 (denying clear goalscoring opportunity)

CP CACEREÑO 4 (Valverde 24 Carrizosa 48 Elias 69p Gaspar 80)

Att c2,500

Entry €18 (around £15.10)

Programme FREE

After our successful tour of Budapest a few weeks ago Andy and I decided to repeat the formula, albeit with a different destination! We flew to Seville, and booked into a hotel in the city’s historic Old Town, the idea being to watch Real Betis on the Saturday and Huelva on Sunday.

For the groundhopper a bugbear of football in Spain is that kick-off times are often not fixed until a few days before the game, so you have to be flexible. I discovered on Wednesday that Cádiz were now playing on Friday night and so checked times with Renfe the Spanish train operator. Despite the Estadio Ramón de Carranza having its own station, the last train departed for Seville 15 minutes after kick-off!

We hired a car, and I spent the 10 miles from the airport to the hotel learning how to drive a left-hand car on the right-hand side of the road. That wasn’t difficult in the Old Town with its one-way system, and narrow streets! Continue reading →

Kes

19 Thursday Dec 2013

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Tuesday 17th December 2013 ko 19.45

United Counties League Premier Division

SLEAFORD TOWN 2 (Siddons 15 Tunstall 86) B Greenwood sent off 80 (2nd booking)

WISBECH TOWN 4 (Jones 64p Reed 65 80 83)

Att 106

Entry £5

Programme £1

6 days earlier, Wavendon-based Chris Garner and I were thawing out after the game at Waltham Forest and we talked about where to head next. Between us we’ve visited around 1,900 grounds, and fortunately there’s very little duplication, but when he suggested Sleaford I reflected for a moment.

Chris didn’t know, but with my GroundhopUK hat on Chris Berezai and I had been talking to the United Counties League and one of their feeder Leagues the Peterborough & District League, about a potential groundhop starting in August next year. The UCL committee, I knew were meeting on Monday evening to make a final decision so me being at a UCL fixture the next day was either going to look like perfect timing or somewhat awkward. Fortunately, the groundhop proposal was passed, I’ll post the details at the end of this, and I was able to have a chat with both club and league officials during the game. Continue reading →

Ginger Spice

15 Sunday Dec 2013

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Saturday 14th December 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Constable 8 Kitson 90)

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 1 (Murphy 45)

Att 4,091 (194 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc Oxford Mail)

This game saw something unusual for OUFC manager Chris Wilder, he actually had to pick the team! With Michael Raynes, Sean Rigg restored to fitness and loanee Asa Hall eligible, the side looked far more like the side top of League 2, and in the FA Cup 3rd Round.

There was one massive surprise though, and that is that the visitors tried to play United at their own passing game. Ask any Oxford United fan how to beat the U’s at Grenoble and you’ll get the same answer. Stifle the midfield, and in particular Dave Kitson, then counter-attack where you can. It worked for Bristol Rovers and Portsmouth, and its got to the point where I settle into my seat expecting more of the same.

Continue reading →

Peter O’Toole

15 Sunday Dec 2013

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I’m sad to hear that Peter O’Toole has died.

I met him once a long time ago while I was in my second year at Uni, and was playing cricket for the University of North London team.

We had a regular Friday net at Lords’ indoor school and I was bowling my usual ugly leg-spin when I noticed someone famous in the net to our left. It was O’Toole, his son Lorcan, and the young man’s school friends. The actor had just been successful in a custody battle for the boy, and neither I or the rest of our team would have paid him much notice until he came into our net and very politely asked us to stop playing for a minute.

We acquiesced and he borrowed a bat and ball and got his party to stand back in his net. He whacked the ball against the net, making it bulge back into his net by a foot or two.

“There,” he said, “That’s why you don’t stand right against the net!”

And with that he returned to his party, and I returned to my forlorn attempts to perfect my “Wrong ‘un.”

He never did return to that net and we’d booked it for I think, 12 weeks. He was a perfect gentleman and I did allow myself a little knowing smile when I saw him in the film, “Venus,” a few years ago. He really was playing against type, judging by the chap I encountered in the early 90’s.

Rest In Peace Peter.

Man on the edge

13 Friday Dec 2013

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Wednesday 11th December 2013 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Division One North

WALTHAM FOREST 0 Menga sent off (2nd booking) 65

NEEDHAM MARKET 4 (Townrow 35 Crisp 81 Izzet 83 Mills 90)

Att 55

Entry £8

Programme £2

Team Sheet FREE

I used to live in North-East London, although I seldom headed to this part of the world, just a short-lived job checking bus tickets for an LRT survey on a route from Walthamstow Central to Ilford Bus Station. The job required catching specific buses at specific times which meant a lot of waiting around. In fact I managed to get thrown out of McDonalds for taking just that little bit too long over a cup of coffee!

The area is notable for being the birthplace of William Morris one of the founders of the British Arts and Crafts Movement. Other notable people born in the borough include David Beckham, actor Derek Jacobi, former England cricket captain Graham Gooch, and film director Alfred Hitchcock. The heavy metal band Iron Maiden was formed in Leyton. Continue reading →

Crux Roesia

13 Friday Dec 2013

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Tuesday 10th December 2013 ko 19.45

Southern League Division One Central

ROYSTON TOWN 0

KETTERING TOWN 0

Att 234

Entry £8

Programme £2

Badge £2.50

Sometimes its obvious you’re driving to somewhere ancient. The A505 north from the A1 is more or less dead straight, as it follows the Roman road, Icknield Way. When the road intersects with Ermine Street, now the A10, you’re in Royston. The crossing of the two old roads was marked by Roisia’s cross, which eventually was corrupted into Roisia’s Town, then Royston. Sadly all that remains of the cross is the footstone. Continue reading →

English First Sight

08 Sunday Dec 2013

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Saturday 7th December 2013 ko 13.30

John Fathers Oxfordshire Junior Shield 3rd Round

BRIZE NORTON 3 (Lachwicz 5 Bronk 29 Rowe 36) Rowe sent off 45 (violent conduct)

ASHTON VILLA 5 (Furtuna 70 Jukic 70 Benjamin 83 85 90) Green sent off 45 (violent conduct)

Att 11 (and 6 ponies)

Entry FREE

Raffle £1

No Programme

For the most part, airports disappoint me. Most of my encounters with them involve waiting and queuing in a place that could be almost anywhere. I remember landing at what was then called Jan Smuts airport in Cape Town, a vision of metal, glass and air conditioning, then stepping outside and experiencing the heat, flies and squalor of the squatter camp outside the perimeter fence. It is a strange way to welcome a visitor.

Continue reading →

The Old, The New, & Hugh

01 Sunday Dec 2013

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Saturday 30th November 2013 ko 14.15

South West Peninsula League Division One East

AXMINSTER TOWN 0 Downs sent off 65 (violent conduct)

STOKE GABRIEL 4 (Stevens 45 Fisher 56 Critchlow 60 Worthington 80)

Att 42

Entry & Programme £3

It’s impossible not to think of carpets when you consider the Devon town of Axminster. Not that you’re in Devon by much, you’re in that part of England where you can be in Devon, Somerset or Dorset within a short drive. The town has been a centre for carpet production since 1755 when weaver Thomas Whitty saw a Turkish carpet in Cheapside, London, and to worked out how to produce a product of similar quality. Within a few years his carpets covered the floors in places such as the Brighton Pavilion, Chatsworth, Warwick Castle, and a little ironically Defterdar Palace, home of the Sultan of Turkey!

Continue reading →