Clouds Unfold

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

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Tuesday 10th July 2012 ko 7.00pm

Pre-season Friendly

THRAPSTON TOWN 3 (Middleton 22 Cummins 23 Gilsenan 50) Marshall sent off 79 (foul language)

WHITTLESEY BLUE STAR 1 (Hibbins 7) Morrell sent off 78 (violent conduct)

Att 12 (h/c)

Played at Titchmarsh Playing Field, Northants

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

With Thrapston’s ground unavailable due to cricket, this fixture was moved around a mile and a half to the pretty village of Titchmarsh. Its population is a mere 500 or so, and is the birthplace of the former Poet Laureate John Dryden (1631-1700). The village is dominated by the parish church of St Mary, which seems far too large for the size of the village. There’s nothing too unusual about that, England’s pleasant pastures supplied enough itinerant labour in the past to make a church like this thrive.

In ancient times those feet toiled the lands where the playing field now stands. There’s two pitches, one raised above the other, and both are used in the Rushden and District Sunday League. There’s a smart Pavillion too, built in 2008 and when the rain came, a few of the hoppers used its entrance for shelter during the second half. The agrarian feel still is there with the fields still in evidence on two sides of the pitch. In, one two horses rather disdainfully ignored the action.

The game saw United Counties Division One outfit Thrapston take on Blue Star, newly promoted to the top flight of the Peterborough and District League, one division below their hosts. Intriguingly the fixture was being refereed by Bruce Stevens, a qualified official, but also the husband of the home secretary. It didn’t matter to either side, even with what happened later. Yes there were multiple substitutions, Thrapston virtually changed teams at half time, but this was a good competitive fixture to watch upon the clouded hills.

The opening few minutes saw the mental fight conclusively won by the visitors. Paul Hibbins fired home after 7 minutes, but as the half wore on, the clouds unfolded and the rain fell, Thrapston gained the ascendancy. Jordan Middleton soon equalised from a free kick, and a defensive slip saw Luke Cummins fire home a minute later. When Jamie Gilsenan made it 3 it looked like an entertaining, if routine win against lower level opposition. What made it interesting was what happened with just over 10 minutes left.

It is, of course an unwritten rule of pre-season friendlies that no-one gets booked, or sent off, but in this instance Mr Stevens had no choice, the arrows of desire had taken over completely. Clearly, Blue Star’s Jamie Morrell was the victim of a rough challenge from Lewis Harman. Harman deserved his booking and possibly worse, but when a player (Morrell) kicks out at his tormentor, what option does the Ref have, whoever their spouse is? It got dafter a minute later as Scott Marshall’s backchat to Mr Stevens produced another dismissal, but if you will swear at an official, what do you expect?

It all seemed out of keeping with the resy of the game, and the beautiful surroundings. A satanic finish which produced a furrow to the countenance divine, in England’s green and pleasant lands.

Home and Away?

08 Sunday Jul 2012

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Saturday 7th July 2012 ko 3.00pm

Pre-season Friendly

FAREHAM TOWN 10 (Cotton 17 Shrimpton 28 Boud 33 Tambling 35 Lindsey 44 Wilson 52 58 Roden 53 Robinson 68 Thompson 69)

SPORTING BISHOPS WALTHAM 0

Att 46 (h/c)

Played at University of Southampton Playing Fields, Wide Lane, Eastleigh

Entry FREE

Programme £1

With rain coming down in torrents flooding the A34 on the way down, I suspect all involved were glad of a 3G pitch. Mind you, Bishops Waltham  postponed a reserve friendly that morning, as the opposition didn’t want to play in the rain! The complex, is just about in Eastleigh, and is opposite Southampton Airport Parkway railway station.

There was also the vexed question of who was the “home” team. This is neither side’s home ground, but Bishops Waltham is a lot closer, but the programme was produced by Fareham secretary Paul “Splodge” Proctor. He told me that Bishops had asked for the game, and the £80 cost of the pitch was being split between the two clubs. Splodge was hoping to recoup Fareham’s half of the money through programme sales. He sold 19, so I bought a couple more. The real winners here were the university who did well out of charging student prices for beer to thirsty hoppers.

With the rain still bucketing down, the vast majority of both spectators and substitutes sought refuge on the terrace bar’s balcony. It afforded a decent view, albeit with the tall fence partially obscuring the near side. If the rain had abated, more people would have taken advantage of the hard standing on the far side of the pitch. As it was, I quickly took my pictures, found Splodge for the substitutes’ names and sought refuge back at the balcony.

If Waltham had gone through with the reserve game is the morning, I hate to imagine the thrashing they’ve have received. As it was they went into this game, with only 4 substitutes, no recognised goalkeeper, and only 4 members of last season’s squad. Fareham treated the game as passing practice, and as a means of blowing away close-season cobwebs. Sporting barely touched the ball for the duration of the game, and even suffered the indignity of a non-goal that was, keeper James Webb diving over Graham Lindsey’s non-shot for the fifth goal.

Despite Fareham putting out virtually a new side for the second half, the goals continued to be scored with metronomic efficiency, and the fact that the Creeksiders played exhibition football as soon as the 10th goal had been scored saved the Hampshire League outfit further humiliation. In theory there’s only 2 divisions between the two sides, the reality looked like a good deal more.

The Barrow Boys are hawking

08 Sunday Jul 2012

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Friday 6th July 2012 ko 8.00pm

Pre-season Friendly

FISHER FC 4 (Wilson 19 Telesford 38 Mustafa 43 Haidana 87)

AFC CROYDON ATHLETIC 1 (Jansen 66)

Att 64 (h/c)

Entry & Programme £3

Coffee £1

At Bacon’s College, Rotherhithe, London

I love visting London, in fact when there’s time, I love driving across the capital. With Bacon’s College being set in the heart of Docklands, just below the Surrey bend of the Thames, I saw some of the sights on the way, Tower Bridge, Madame Tussaud’s and so on, it was seventh heaven street for me!

It was easy to park in the new-looking residential streets around the college, and being around an hour before kick off I caught the end of a graduation prom just leaving the college. They looked very cosmopolitan, and smart. The gaggle of groundhoppers waiting, looked a good deal less of both but one, Dermot, pointed out that Fisher’s old ground was just a short walk away. The Surrey Docks Stadium, was once meant to be a football league ground in waiting, but now lies derelict – a victim of a dispute between a now defunct club, and an intransigent landlord. The phoenix club would like to move back there, away from a groundshare at Dulwich Hamlet, but that looks a long shot. In the meantime, an annual visit to a 3G pitch 100 yards away provides some succour.

There’s some similarities for AFC Croydon. Caught up in the maelstrom of the Pakistani cricketers spot-fixing scandal they found themselves in a fix not of their own making. Owner Mazhar Majeed, agent to the three cricketers jailed, was given a 32 month sentence, and there’s still an investigation as to whether Majeed used the club for money laundering purposes. On 2nd October 2010 club chairman David Le Cluse was found dead with a bullet wound to the head, in a garage in Sutton. The club folded in December 2011, and was immediately resurrected by the fans. With the club’s home, the Keith Tuckey stadium unavailable, the new club will spend this season sharing Croydon FC’s Sports Arena, playing in the Combined Counties League. This was AFC Croydon Athletic’s first ever game.

Frankly, it showed. Whilst the facilities wre unsuitable for a step 6 club to use Bacon’s College as a permanent base, the 3G pitch was excellent, and Fisher soon made their class tell. It wasn’t that Croydon, still using the old club’s Ryman League branded kit, were substantially poorer, it was that Fisher were sharper. Perhaps that game I’d watched at Arkley a few days earlier had been of more use than I’d thought! With multiple rolling substitutions slowing the game down, the evening became more of a social occasion, and as the red sun sank, the skyline took on a life of its own. The Shard, Gherkin, and the Docklands Towers gave an unimportant game a spectacular backdrop. For the record, Lee Jansen had the honour of scoring AFC Croydon’s first ever goal, but it mattered little, for both sides this was about picking a side for a season a full month away.

I gave a hopper sporting a plastic boot a lift to the nearest station, and set off on a slow drive back across London, this time making no attempt to avoid the congestion charge. When you’ve got time, and the charge isn’t applied after 6pm, you can afford to linger, but not too long, the close-ups can get rough!

A little tucked away corner in Derbyshire

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

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Monday 2nd July 2012 ko 7.30pm

The Summer Football League

RED LION 3 (Blackburn 38 Smith 51 Mosedale 68)

WHEEL 0

Att 19 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

There are of course no lack of summer football leagues in the British Isles. Football is a summer activity these days in the Republic of Ireland, and there are no lack of summer “Welfare” leagues in the north of Scotland. In England and Wales, they’re far more unusual, with amongst others the Llandyrnog, and Catforth leagues together with the Tunbridge Wells Veterans League.

The Summer Football League tends to get referred to as the Derby Summer League by groundhoppers, but is actually based around the North Derbyshire town of Ashbourne, famous for its Shrove Tuesday “Football” match. The league isn’t affiliated to the Football Association, and there’s a rule that precludes players who play in winter football taking part. The league started in 1930 as an agricultural league, with kick offs timed around the needs of farming. Even today, the league retains a rural feel, with minimal facilities, and each team having a base at a local pub. Games are over 80 minutes, except for the cup competitions where the full 90 minutes are played.

Red Lion are based at the David Naylor Transport Ground in the tiny village of Mammerton, near Longford. Last season they played as Ostrich, in Longford, but moved for this season, swayed by a pitch for free and uncertainty over a change of landlord at the Ostrich pub. Its basic, a pitch where a field could be, but for a league where changing rooms are deemed unnecessary, it suits the team well.

The opposition was Ashbourne-based Wheel, who I once saw in their previous incarnation as Wheel Inn lose 19-0 at home to Bradley, one of the leading lights of the league. Time hasn’t seen much change to Wheel’s fortunes, at kick off rock bottom of the table with just one draw to show for their efforts. With Red Lion a place above them also with just a point, there was little chance of a high quality game.

In fact the game greatly exceeded expectations, even though Wheel played with just 10 men throughout. In the drizzle, Red Lion had most of the possession, but it took until near to half time for them to force home the advantage, Anthony Blackburn shooting low into the left corner from 10 yards out. Wheel showed great spirit, and in Sean Jones a goalkeeper capable of excellence. His save in the dying embers of the half was worthy of a far more lofty stage.

As the second half wore on, and Red Lion made use of their bench Wheel noticeably tired. Red Lion’s left winger Lee Mosedale, a contender with Jones for man-of-the-match, found the key to Wheel’s defence, a quick “Give-and-go” with central midfield then cut across the right-back. It set up Chris Smith for the second, and Mosedale himself fired home for the third.

A deserved win for Red Lion, but Wheel fought well enough to suggest that with luck and a full complement of players, better fortunes lie ahead.

 

 

 

This Next Season

01 Sunday Jul 2012

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Saturday 30th June 2012 ko 2.00pm

Pre-season Friendly

LONDON LIONS 1 (Keterman 48)

FISHER FC 2 (Oyettunji 11 Wadmore 43)

Att 42 (h/c)

Entry & Programme £5

Played at Rowley Lane Sports Ground, Arkley, near Barnet.

I don’t remember pre-season friendlies ever starting up this early, well not for clubs not involved in European qualifying. It gave me a small dilemna, as I normally use the FIFA rule that places June in last season. However the match-day programme has got 2012/3 so I’ve reset the counter!

The appeal of this one was the ground, London Lions normally play their home games at Broxbourne as there’s no lights at Rowley Lane. That may well change with the new floodlit 3G pitch adjacent to the main pitch. Our game was another step down the hill, on the training pitch. One of two hoppers ummed and ahh’ed but then realised they could come back again for the main pitch! Incidentally, the main pitch is used on a Sunday by Arsenal Ladies reserves, affording the hopper to break every purist rule in the book, all at once!

I do have a slight connection with Arkley, as my grandfather was born there, and was brought up in adjacent Barnet. The sports ground these days is very much a base for the London Maccabi association. It’s a trust aimed at promoting sport for London’s Jewish community, and its principal football team the London Lions, play in the second tier of the Spartan South Midlands League.

I would question the fiver to get in, but the 8 page programme was welcome, and an hour of the game was hugely enjoyable, until two tiring sides felt the need to make vast numbers of subsitutions, destoying the rhythm of the game. With Fisher having no players under contract, this was a game for the multitude of triallists to impress, and its didn’t take long for one, Olye Oyettunji to impress, cutting inside the left back and placing a shot in the bottom left corner.

The visitors were clearly the stronger outfit, and got their second from the penalty spot, Adam Wadmore converting after Aron Barnes brought down Ope Aromona. The second half saw the Lions come into the game a little more and made the game interesting on 48 minutes, Tony Junior Keterman converting Sam Sloma’s left wing cross. Sloma played last season for London’s other Jewish club, Wingate and Finchley, so perhaps there’s communication between the two clubs!

The Devil in the Detail

20 Wednesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 17th June 2012 ko 17.15

UEFA Women’s European Championship Qualifying Group 6

ENGLAND 1 (Yankey 67)

NETHERLANDS 0

Att 5,505

Entry (all areas) £5

Programme £3

@ Salford City Stadium

This close season mullarky isn’t much fun, I’d gone almost a week without a game! But then Chris Berezai phoned, and said he and Chris Bedford (http://pitch-side-stories.blogspot.co.uk/) were going to this one, so why not?

In purely groundhopping terms, this was quite an important one, as Salford City Stadium is only used by Salford City Reds Rugby League team, and so chances for another association football match at the ground look to be slim. A 5.15 kick-off, presumably to tie in with the Men’s European Championships allowed me a run home at a reasonable hour.

The 12,000 stadium is in fact in Barton-upon-Irwell, Eccles, and was built to replace the rugby club’s former home, The Willows. That ground hosted two association laws games, both between Salford FC and FC United of Manchester. It’s one obvious quirk is partial standing behind both goals, 2/3 of the space being simply tarpaulins. The space is there for an expansion to 20,000 but that would require some major adaptations. The devil in this place, is in the details.

Consider the attendance, well under half capacity but sufficient to cause a massive queue from the M60. The official car park costs £5 but is only bookable in advance, so all other drivers are directed to the nearby aerodrome. That costs £5 too, but the queue to leave afterwards was lengthy, and was worse when we got to the road back to the M60. I’d rather not imagine what it would have been like with 20,000 there.

We approached the ground and discovered the modus operandi was to buy a ticket before heading to the turnstiles. Common enough, but only have three windows open is plain silly, especially another was wasted on programme sales. I saw no programmes on sale in the ground. It wasn’t obvious where our turnstile was so we asked a steward resplendent in his “G4” jacket. He asked which stand we were in, we replied, “The West,” he responded, “Well, I THINK it’s this one, not but I’m not sure where the turnstiles are.” I walked round to the corner, and guessed correctly.

Anyone who’s made a serious attempt at completing the 92 Premier and Football League grounds will recognise the ground. It’s what a tolerably ambitious League 2 club builds. Safe, functional, and utterly lacking in imagination. The sight lines are good, but the leg room lacking, the food hot, but overpriced. It didn’t stop many groundhoppers turning out for this one though! Another annoyance was the insistence of the programme, announcer, and scoreboard of referring to the visitors as “Holland”. Holland for what its worth, is the western area of the Netherlands, and it was the Netherlands National Women’s team on show this evening. Still pricing the tickets at a fiver is an excellent move, and it was an obviously different demographic watching the game. Its also an idea that those organising finals for the FA Vase, and Trophy should take a long look at.

With the Dutch topping the group, and only the top team guaranteed to progress to next year’s finals in Sweden, England needed a win to stay in with a shout of top spot. In front of the BBC2 cameras, the game was as dull as the ground was uninspiring. In a turgid first half both sides passing was too poor to generate a chance worth recording. It took a cheeky bit of quick thinking from England midfielder Rachel Yankey to break the deadock. Awarded a free kick just outside the Dutch box, keeper Loes Geurts started lining up a wall, without checking that the referee had signalled an “On the whistle” kick. She hadn’t, so Yankey neatly lofted her kick into the underguarded net, and left the Dutch to argue the point.

After that the game opened up a little, but was never going to be a game to convert any doubters to the cause of the womens’ game. That’s a real shame, as the BBC has invested much in female football, but I suspect England manager Hope Powell will be far more interested in the leaps and bounds the team has made during her tenure.

There was one more piece of poor management as I left. I walked past two large security guards at reception in order to get team sheets for the three of us. I asked the lady behind the desk, and she looked at me in stunned silence. Eventually another guard said, “Sure, how many do you want?” and went and collected them. In the meantime I was treated to the lady shouting at the guards, ” How did you let HIM in?”

I should have said something, but I collected the teamsheets and disappeared into the Sunday night traffic.

 

The Pickled Herring Brigade

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 10th June 2012 ko 17.00

Division 5 Svart Sörmland

IFK NYKÖPING 1 (Abdulsatar 77)

VALLA IF 2 (Nilsson 59 L Larsson 90)

Att 55

Entry, Programme, Yearbook, and meal- Hop Ticket

Coffee 10 sek

Pennant 20 sek

The final game of the Swedish hop saw something of a homecoming for the 6 of us that were on the very first trip back in 2007. Back then, we’d landed early at Skavsta and stayed in the pretty town of Nyköping. We’d arrived too early to be allowed into our hotel rooms so went for a stroll and discovered Folkungavallen. We’d also discovered that IFK were at home that Friday, and were sorely tempted to stay and ditch a trip to Nyköping BIS. I’m glad we didn’t for many reasons, but Kim and I were keen to take the hop here ever since.

But why? Have a look at pictures! A wonderful gatehouse and a pretty as a picture wooden stand. Is that not enough? What made it special for Kim and I was watching the other hoppers jaws drop as we arrived, then started to explore.

The stadium was originally built for an agricultural fair in 1914. After the show, it was decided that the facility would be converted to sports use. By 1919 the conversion was complete, but the ground wasn’t officially inaugurated until 1921. The ground was only renamed Folkungavallen in 1925, after a poll in the local newspaper. From my perspective, it was the fact that it doesn’t seemed to have changed much since then, that makes it what it is. On one hand a relic, on the other something of real beauty.

We were welcomed by the ebullient figure of club President Veronica, and were invited for a meal of pickled herrings, potatoes and light beer at half time. Did this make us the Swedish equivalent of the Prawn sandwich brigade? It didn’t feel like it, as this was a friendly, down to earth club struggling at the bottom of the table, but who made some tired hoppers extremely welcome.

A word about that league and division. There are 2 division 5’s in the area, and unusually the authorities have not gone for a geographical split. They’ve gone for “Black” (Svart) and “Blue” (Blå), strange but it seems to work for the local FA!

Sadly, what it didn’t give us was an exciting game. The heavens opened and it appeared to drown any goalscoring ambition. It was clear that the hosts would willingly take a point, so Nicklas Nilsson’s goal for Valla looked to open things up a little. That it did, until Sardast Abdulsatar scrambled an equaliser for Nyköping, and at looked to be the final score until Lars Larsson tucked home the winner for Valla with just seconds remaining. Harsh on Nyköping, but things like this happen when you’re occupying one of two relegation spots. The other, by the way is held by the other club that plays at Folkungavallen- Harg.

That was the last game of this year’s Swedish hop, and a little run of 20 non-UK games for me! There was barely enough time to do the final bits of housekeeping on the short drive to Skavsta airport, and in no time we were flying back to Stansted.

I’d like to thank firstly Kim Hedwall for organising the whole thing. Put simply, no Kim, no hop. Secondly Thomas Nybom, our driver, and often the voice of sanity. Every hop needs a great coach driver, and Thomas is a gem. Lastly, I’d like to thank everybody who supported the hop in its 6th year; I hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!

If reading these reports tempts you into attending next year, we’ll be advertising the 2013 hop around April. Normally that’s in the “Football Traveller”, and ” Non League Digest” together with various Facebook pages and Twitter.

Initiation

17 Sunday Jun 2012

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10th June 2012 ko 13.00

Division 7 Södra Sörmland

RÅBY-RÖNÖ 7 (T Andersson 19 84 M Karlsson 48 58 Holmsell 49 Svehn 56 Fahlén 77)

STJÄRNHOVS 3 (B Andersson 63 Ekström 75 R Karlsson 90p)

Att 105

Entry & Programme, Badge and T-shirt Hop Ticket

Can Coke 10sek

After the usual gargantuan breakfast, Thomas and the coach arrived in plenty of time to gradually make out way back towards Nyköping, and eventually Skavsta. The other 23 hoppers were talking about their evening’s out, but I knew just how early Thomas must have left southern Stockholm to be in Eskilstuna at 9.45. I found him a strong coffee which was gratefully accepted.

As we set off I quickly calculated the distances and times involved. With Råby being fairly close to Nyköping, we were going to be there far too early. Kim being Kim he had a surprise. We made a stop along the way at the Swedish Tramway museum in Malmköping, and so 24 football fans had a whale of a time riding on a 1935 German built tram, and looking at the vintage trams and buses on display. One of our number, a keen train enthusiast was particularly pleased! Continue reading →

M or XL

15 Friday Jun 2012

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Saturday 9th June 2012 ko 17.00

Superettan

DEGERFORS IF 1 (Rennie 45)

HAMMARBY IF 3 (Ayranci 31 Forsberg 69 Lallet 90) James sent off 57 (2nd booking)

Att 5,603

Entry, and badge- Hop Ticket

Programme 10 sek

T-Shirt FREE

With Thomas driving, we reached Stora Valla in plenty of time, enough time to watch the Hammarby fans arrive in a plume of green smoke! Degerfors is the club where Tord Grip and Sven-Göran Eriksson started their managerial careers. Their names are inscribed on the “Tree of Achievement” behind one goal but other than that I found no other reference made to these famous sons. I’d made a visit here around a year earlier, where Kim and I ended up being interviewed for the club’s website!

The ground is Kim’s favourite in Sweden, and it’s easy to see why. There’s a wonderful old wooden stand, with terracing on the other three sides. On the far side the wooden steps double the standing capacity on a day when triple the normal attendance arrived. For me what makes the ground special is the nooks and crannies. There are so many places to watch the game!

The club annoyed Kim by not supplying the 24 programmes he’d ordered, but with the club producing a T-Shirt for the first 3,000 through the gate, they handed him a box of 50 for us, in a mixture of medium and extra-large sizes. Trouble was that most of us had already been given ours at the gate. On the basis of “Waste not, want not” I was charged with throwing the box of shirts over a 10 foot fence for Thomas outside to catch and stow aboard the coach. Expect Kim to have a similar shirt on for the foreseeable future!

I talked my way into the press area to grab a team sheet for the lineups, and the party scattered to find a space to watch the game, Kim and I found somewhere to reassure the other that it was all going well. Despite the shirts stating “VärmLAND VS HammarBY” ie a whole AREA versus just a DISTRICT, there was far more to the tie than that. Hammarby see themselves as an Allsvenksan side, and the Södermalm based club have the support to back it up. In 2013 they’ll have the stadium too, as their new ground just the other side of the Globen from the Söderstadion nears completion.

Going into this game, Hammarby were third, in the playoff spot, behind Östers and Landskrona. In contrast Degerfors were also in a playoff spot, of the relegation variety, fourth from bottom. Sadly for the red t-shirt wearers, the game went precisely by the form book. Eric Figueroa picked out Sinan Ayranci who finished with a deft flick. Degerfors responded just before half time, Amadaiya Rennie’s skidding 20 yard just sneaking in off the base of the left post.

When Monday James was dismissed for his second needless heavy challenge, it looked nicely set up for a Degerfors renaissance, but Hammarby went up through the gears and the for all the world it looked like Degerfors had the player missing. Max Forsberg danced past Daniel Sundgren and fired home from the edge of the box, before Christophe Lallet, last year at Degerfors player dribbled through the home defence before lobbing Jonas Bohlin in the home goal. There was even time for Ayranci to miss a tap in, but the Hammarby fans had already begun to party…

Hospitality

14 Thursday Jun 2012

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Saturday 9th June 2012 ko 13.00

Division 4 Värmland

IMMETORP BK 0 El Naga sent off 88 (2nd booking) Zetterberg sent off 88 (foul and abusive language)

SK SIPHÄLLA 1 (Nilsson 43)

Att 118

Entry, Programme, & badge -Hop Ticket

T-Shirt 70 sek

Pennant 20 sek

Coffee, Beer, Soft drinks and Fruit- Complimentary

After taking full advantage of the hotel’s buffet breakfast, for me, the final piece in the Swedish hop jigsaw arrived. That of course is Thomas Nybom of Interbus coaches. He’s driven each and every one 6 Swedish hops, and now greets us as old friends. He didn’t let us down with the transport either, the coach was high-spec, and brand new!

It took around 90 minutes to reach Karlskoga, the birthplace of Alfred Nobel, and the small village of Immetorp lies virtually adjacent. Kim and I visited Källmossen IP a couple of weeks earlier, and I’d been asked “Do groundhoppers like beer?” Obviously I’d replied in the affirmative, but I wasn’t expecting the sheer volume of the stuff they’d bought! Three brands, and at least 3 times as much as we could drink. I gave it my best shot though! Player Johan Karlsson (who I saw score at Nordmark) told us all about the history of the club and showed us the club’s old ground 200m away. The line-ups were posted on a whiteboard for us, and a barbeque was fired up.

My only concern was the dark clouds as there was little or no cover, but the rain held off until the final few seconds of the game. Another coach arrived with the away fans, who like us were off to Degerfors after this game. A makeshift entrance was rigged up for them. I told Thomas, and he moved the coach so we could make a sharper exit than them! You need a great driver for a hop, and Thomas, despite not really being a football fan is the perfect man for the job.

The game in truth failed to live up to the wonderful hospitality. The visitors annoyed 24 British visitors by scoring just before half-time, but we were consoled by at least avoiding a nill-nil! Immetorp made a comeback impossible with the dismissal of Martin El Naga for his second booking, closely followed by Fredrik Zetterberg for giving referee Davoud Ataei a mouthful of abuse for the decision.

That was a real shame, particularly as assistant manager Dennis Gustafsson found time at the end to come over to the coach, shake Kim and I’s hands and thank the party for coming to visit. Dennis, it was our pleasure to visit a classy group of people. I wish you and your club all the best.