18th March 2012 ko 10.10am

Central Midlands League South Division

CLIFTON 3 (Atkins 52 C Anderson 61 Richardson 90)

REAL UNITED 0

Att 267

Entry & Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Team sheet 20p

This was the 9th, and sadly the last Central Midlands League Bonanza, where games are staggered so as to attract the groundhoppers. It’s hop that I was involved in for a short time until GroundhopUK and the League mutually agreed that the League would take over the running of the hop wholly themselves. The face of the CMFL, of course is Rob Hornby, one of life’s unsung heroes who works both tirelessly and with a huge smile for grassroots football despite serious ill health. Rob’s retired from the CMFL committee but continues to run the Bonanza, and will shift the hop to the Notts Senior League for next season. We at GroundhopUK were pleased to donate a stuffed carrier bag of programmes for Rob and wife Hazel’s charity programme stall and attend a hop where all we had to do was watch the game. Mind, you it didn’t stop me being stopped regularly to be asked whether I’d done the crowd count!

I wonder how many people who seeing Clifton would immediately think Bristol. In fact this Clifton is in Nottingham.  The Clifton family trace their lineage back to Alvaredus de Clifton, a Norman knight who was appointed Warden of Nottingham Castle in the time of William the Conquerer, and who took his name from this Nottinghamshire village, now a city suburb, in which he settled. Sir Gervase de Clifton purchased the manors of Clifton and Wilford from the de Rodes family in the late 13th century, and held Clifton Manor until the 1950’s.

Clifton is also a well known area in Nottingham for sporting talent, with Olympic Ice Skater Jayne Torvill growing up here, as did former Boxing Champion brothers Tony and Kirkland Laing. Jermaine Pennant, Jermaine Jenas, and Darren Huckerby all played as youngsters for Clifton (Formerly Clifton All Whites).

The Norman Archer Memorial ground is more than adequate for the club’s needs, playing 7 promotions from the football league. There’s a small stand, with no seats, plus hard standing. I can imagine the place being fairly bleak when its cold and windy. Not a problem on a warm day like this, the programme sold out, and club officials were kept busy printing out teamsheets for the throng. There also seemed to be a roaring trade in bacon rolls!

The opposition were even more intriguing. Real (pronounced the Spanish way-“Ray-Ahl”) play at the nearby Gresham Sports Centre, but started life in 1998 as a means of reducing drug use and associated crime in the area.

With the CMFL altering its constitution from a top and second division to North and South divisions I was interested to see how the standard would have fitted in the old set up.  The visitors pronunciation of Real was unfortunate as this game was real football, in the English language sense, two amateur sides slugging in out in what was at times more enthusiastic than skillful. The game needed a goal and a spectacle it was a little dull until Clifton opened the scoring, after that it was one way traffic.

It was a pleasure to catch-up with friends, especially those who couldn’t be on last week’s Welsh hop-up, and the promise of another 3 games kept me more than interested. That said it did seem strange for it to be midday and I still had 4 and a half hours of football to watch!