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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Benson Lions

Belief

25 Thursday May 2017

Posted by laurencereade in B

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Tags

Ardley United, Benson Lionesses, Benson Lions, Cup, final, Football, ladies, Nomads, Oxford City, Oxfordshire FA, Womens

Sunday 23rd April 2017 ko 16.30

Oxfordshire FA Women’s Cup Final

OXFORD CITY LADIES 2 (Avery 9 McCabe 83)

BENSON LIONESSES 0

Att c100 at Ardley United FC

Entry & Programme £4

As competitions go, I suspect this one needs a rethink as Oxford City Ladies have won this one 12 times in 16 years! Now that’s no criticism of Oxford City, you can only beat what’s in front of you, and I’d note that Oxford United’s women’s team were notable by their absence from this competition. It didn’t help when Lionesses’ manager Jon Radcliffe was told to “Enjoy your day” with no one giving his side the slightest of chances. That unintentional slight certainly galvanised Jon and his team, not that they ever needed the motivation, and I certainly know why! Continue reading →

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Lionesses Pride

05 Thursday May 2016

Posted by laurencereade in B

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Benson Lionesses, Benson Lions, Cup, Football, Milton United, Oxford City Nomads, Thames Valley Counties Womens League

Sunday 24th April ko 16.00

Thames Valley Counties Women’s League Cup Final

BENSON LIONESSES 0

OXFORD CITY NOMADS 3 (Frackiewicz 22 51 62)

Att c200 at Milton United FC

Entry £1

Programme £1

On one level I was at this one purely down to Jon Radcliffe and the Benson Lions. It you aren’t aware of him and them, they represent the absolute pinnacle of my time as a groundhop organiser. Benson Lions are the RAF side based on the base, and if you were at either of the games they hosted, you’ll know why I hold Jon and the club in such high regard. Continue reading →

Where It All Started

09 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by laurencereade in M

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Benson Lions, Headington Quarry, John Fathers, Margaret Road, Masons Arms, North Berkshire League, Oxford, Oxford City League

Saturday 7th November 2015 ko 13.30

Oxfordshire FA “John Fathers” Junior Shield 2nd Round

MASONS ARMS 1 (Long 22) 

BENSON LIONS 2 (Swales 14 Willis 55)

Att 16 at Margaret Road Recreation Ground, Headington Quarry, Oxford

Entry FREE

No Programme

In so many ways if any game had my name on it, it was this one. I’m from this part of Oxford, my local is the Masons Arms, and I serve on the committee of the North Berkshire League, the league where Benson Lions ply their trade. But that’s only a superficial look at why this game was a must see for me. Continue reading →

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Aim For The Plane

21 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by laurencereade in G

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Tags

Benson Lions, GroundhopUK, Grove Rangers, North Berkshire hop, North Berkshire League, Wasbrough Field

Saturday 19th September 2015 ko 13.30

North Berkshire League Division 3

GROVE RANGERS 4 (Pickering 2 Vaux 18 Cramp 21 22)

BENSON LIONS 1 (Radcliffe 88)

Att 154

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

The first clubs on my wish list for this hop were Grove and the Lions. They’d kept us royally entertained at the Defence Academy last time round, so it seemed entirely logical that we’d simply reverse the fixture this time. What I entirely forgot about was the full sized model of the De Havilland Venom nearby, marking the site of RAF Grove which closed in 1974, but also I felt also marking the visitors’ links to the RAF. Continue reading →

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I.D.

24 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by laurencereade in B

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Benson Lions, Defence Academy, Grove Rangers, Jon Radcliffe, MOD Shrivenham, North Berkshire Groundhop, North Berkshire League, raf benson, Shrivenham, Watchfield

Saturday 20th September 2014 ko 19.45

North Berkshire League Division Three

BENSON LIONS 1 (Papa 47)

GROVE RANGERS 1 (Reid 59)

Att 172 at Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Faringdon Road, Shrivenham

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

Catering: Beef and Veggie Burritos and Tacos

Beer: Chiltern brewery Flanders Pale Ale, Lord Lieutenants Porter

On the 2013 North Berkshire Hop we paid a highly enjoyable visit to see Benson Lions at their home ground at RAF Benson, report here. The base required an ID check, and we worked hard with Lions’ chairman Jon Radcliffe to ensure the event went smoothly.

In all groundhop games you have to have a good club and good officials to work with and that counts double for a game on an MOD base, and in Jon there’s a man who I could confidently hand the staging over to him in the knowledge it would be done beautifully. So when last year’s hop was over I phoned Jon with a proposal. Continue reading →

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The Dandridges

28 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by laurencereade in H

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Benson Lions, Darren Hill, East Hanney, Hanney, North Berkshire League, North Berkshire League Division Three, North Berkshire League hop, War Memorial Hall

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.

Continue reading →

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Cooperation

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by laurencereade in B

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Benson Lions, Jon Radcliffe, Josh Bourton, Neil McMahon, North Berkshire League Groundhop, raf benson, Westminster, Westminster College

Saturday 21st September 2013 ko 11am

North Berkshire League Division Three

BENSON LIONS 1 (Keightly 83)

WESTMINSTER 4 (McMahon 17 59 Bourton 30 69)

Att 153

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

Bottle of Real Ale £2.50

Full English RAF breakfast including tea £5

The North Berkshire League Groundhop is very much my baby, so much so it’s the only time that at GroundhopUK Chris Berezai and I swap places, with me leading, and him acting as deputy. It makes sense, when I live a mere 10 miles from Steventon, the village that provides the centre-point of the league. Continue reading →

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Ceueslaue

12 Sunday May 2013

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Benson Lions, berkshire league, Challow Fc, East Challow, future hop, hedge hill, North Berkshire League, North Berkshire League Groundhop, Referee, Thomas Kelly

Saturday 11th May 2013 ko 15.00

North Berkshire League Division 5

CHALLOW FC 1 (McGowan 74)

BENSON LIONS RESERVES 2 (Swales 21 46)

Att 8

With an invite received from Long Wittenham FC to attend their end-of-season barbecue and watch the FA Cup final I needed to be somewhere nearby. I then realised there’s a club in the NBFL I’ve mentioned a few times, but knew nothing about, and that’s Challow.

There are only 3 first XI’s in the NBFL’s bottom division, so when on the last NBFL groundhop we featured Uffington United, I had a choice of either Challow or Appleton as the opposition. I plumped for Appleton, as I know them well, and have a soft spot for the gallant battlers that lose almost every week. The trouble is they were losing really heavily at the time, and there was concerns that the team wouldn’t be up for a beating in front of a large crowd. So Challow were on standby just in case, but as it transpired Appleton were happy to play, and made a lot of friends despite losing 12-0 on the night, as they didn’t ever give up. They will feature on a future hop, as will Challow, if for no other reason than just look at these pictures!

East Challow is a small village a mile or so west of Wantage. It’s cricket ground dominates, to the extent that its used for some Oxfordshire Minor Counties fixtures. There’s also the parish church of St. Nicolas to visit. It  was a Norman building of the 12th century, but the font and some masonry of the nave are now the only features surviving from this time. In the 13th century the chancel was rebuilt and the bell-cot and three-bay north aisle added. The Decorated Gothic south chapel was added early in the 14th century.

East Challow Rec’ is tucked away down a track off Hedge Hill Road, behind the local school. I parked up, started to walk down and stopped. I simply had to fire up the camera and record the simply stunning view. I reflected that I’d been a bit worried about the fixture actually taking place; Benson Lions are the team from the RAF base so if too many players are called away, the first team takes precedence so reserve games do have a tendency to get called off. You can’t really argue with a postponement due to the team being in Afghanistan!

I did have a bit of a steer on this one! With Benson Lions hosting the first game on this years NBFL hop I’d had a chat with club chairman Jon Radcliffe the previous evening. We talked about the arrangements for getting 150-200 hoppers through security at the base, it will definitely pay to have pre-booked ticket and be on the coach for this one, and he also confirmed that there would be enough players available for the reserves to fulfil their last game of the season.

That fact pleased Challow no end, as the two sides they’ve enjoyed the company of most this season has been Berinsfield Reserves, and the Lions. They’d decided to lay on some hospitality for the Lions at the manager’s pub, as “For all those lads do for our country its the least we can do…” A classy touch by a classy club.

Challow FC or Challow United, go back a long way, over a hundred years in fact. They folded a couple of years ago, over unpaid league fines and general apathy, but returned this season with a new team. There isn’t much to the ground, just a small changing room block and a fallen tree shaped so as to provide a seat. But what a view there is, with the Vale of the White Horse stretching out towards Faringdon and beyond. The club have tried to improve their lot. Some houses are being built on the edge of the village so the club lobbied for a new clubhouse as part of the planning gain. That gambit failed but there will be a new kit for the team for next season!

Challow started the season brightly and were top in September. Since then, results have rather tailed off, and going into this one they were seventh from twelve. And in all honesty they never looked like winning this one. The Lions were just that little bit stronger and smarter from the moment they scored their first, direct from a free kick from an acute angle. In fact it soon transpired that Challow’s best chance lay with the visitors lack of numbers, they had just the one substitute, he was used at half time, and throughout the second half players went down and were forced to carry on but as passengers.

It was fortunate that the Lions scored the second half early on in the second half, a penalty following one of those challenges that gives managers sleepless nights. It proved to be sufficient for the win, despite Challow’s Eammon McGowan wriggling through to reduce the deficit.

The standard wasn’t high, but what do you expect at this level? NBFL chairman Leroy Paddock popped over to see young referee Thomas Kelly who he mentors. Young Thomas had a fine game, Leroy’s obviously taught him well, and it was good to catch up with Leroy, who’s a thoroughly decent chap.

It summed a convivial afternoon’s entertainment, and it wasn’t long before I was at Bodkins field, for Long Wittenham’s barbecue. What better to watch the FA Cup final than at a grass roots clubhouse with a grilled burger, a £2 pint of real ale, and the North Berks Cup. Well done lads, and to everyone else, you’ll love the place come September!



Lions’ first
The Main Stand

Eammon McGowan
Lions’ second

 

Airplay

01 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by laurencereade in B

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Tags

A J Stockford, Benson Lions, Berinsfield, berkshire league, Brian Rawlings, David Murphy, divisional champions, Mark Ingram, Matt Taylor, raf benson, Simon Kenny

Tuesday 1st May 2012 ko 6.45pm

North Berkshire League Division Two

BENSON LIONS 1 (Taylor 25)

BERINSFIELD 8 (Ingram 22 Stockford 24 49 Rawlings 44 Kenny 47 Saunders 62 73 Marshall 75)

Att 23 (h/c)

80 minute game

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

It would be easy for the unitiatied to confuse Benson AFC with Benson Lions. There isn’t much distance between the two grounds, about a mile or so, but there’s one massive difference, the Lions are a Forces team, and play their football within RAF Benson. That of course means you have to get through security.

All it takes is a little forward planning. You need to produce photo ID at the guardhouse, and they’ll take your photo and issue you with a pass to flash at the gate. From there, it’s a short drive through the Domestic Site of the base to the sports ground on Lancaster Way. There’s football, rugby and cricket, as well as a fitness trail, and its as sick and span as you’d expect at a military base. This game was played on a different pitch than normal, as with cricket taking precedence, the football was shunted away from the clubhouse.

The security factor didn’t stop a fair few Berinsfield fans from making the short trip to follow their team, in fact one admitted she’d driven past her “Weightwatchers” class in Benson to attend this game. However I’ve been sworn to secrecy as to her identity!

With both sides normally wearing red, Lions opted to change their kit, only to discover their green change kit was dirty. So they decided to wear the RAF Benson team’s new 2nd XI kit. Have a look at the photos, it’s quite something!

The afternoon had seen the pitch used for an inter-base game. This had two impacts on our game. Firstly there was a small muddy pool in one goalmouth, the second proved pivotal. 4 Benson Lions players played in both fixtures, and while Berinsfield as befits the divisional champions were worthy winners, the fatigue had an obvious impact on the hosts.

Berinsfield took the lead, Mark Ingram’s deft flicked header, steering AJ Stockford’s cross from the left past Gillespie in the Lions’ goal. It was quickly 2-0 as Stockford’s cushioned volley after a quickly taken free kick wrong footed a Lions defence arguing that the free kick was taken in the wrong place. It was, but play to the whistle lads.

Lions, found a lifeline as Dan Dixon parried a shot right to Matt Taylor who stabbed in at close range. At half time the servicemen were unfortunate to be losing as they’d matched their visitors.

All that changed as the players visibly tired, during the second half. Simon Kenny fired home to make it 3, and Stockford tapped home to get himself a brace. Lions bad evening got worse when Steve Morley collected a second yellow for elbowing David Murphy, putting unnecessary strain on an exhausted team. The Lions bench had seen it coming, the assistant manager had offered a £20 bet. There were no takers, but they couldn’t substitute him as they has to prioritize the players who’d played in both fixtures.

Substitute Luke Saunders collected a late brace, both times Gillespie got something on his shot, but both times he watched the ball trickle agonizingly over the line. Ian Marshall’s late strike was a neat coda to a league season that’s seen Berinsfield lose only twice.

After the game I had long chat with Benson Lions about how they could host a NBFL groundhop game. The base does have procedures for open-days, but security isn’t something that can be compromised but that I’m sure that can be worked with, and the club have great plans for the visiting hoppers.

To finish, I need to correct one element of my previous reports on Berinsfield. They had let me know that they have only been asked to leave one league, not the three I previously mentioned. I apologise, and am happy to set the record straight.




Community Champions

26 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by laurencereade in B

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Tags

AJ Stockford, Andy Gillespie, Benson Lions, David Murphy, Lay Avenue, Mark Ingram, North Berkshire League

Wednesday 26th April 2012 ko 6.30pm

North Berkshire League Division Two

BERINSFIELD 4 (Stockford 21 79 Ingram 39p 62) Ingram missed penalty 42

BENSON LIONS 0

Att 57 (h/c)

80 minute game

Entry FREE

Programme (by Mick Birt) FREE

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

Bacon Roll £1

With the amount of times I’ve seen Berinsfield, it was about time I paid Lay Avenue a visit. At work in Banbury I watched the rain pelt down, and as I left the streets were flooded. It couldn’t be on, could it? It was on, and best of all it was being well publicised by secretary Jackie Cullen on the social media, and by Jackie picking up the phone to each of the gaggle of hoppers that nervously checked before heading out. As it happened, the pitch was in superb condition.

The village of Berinsfield lies about 7 miles south of Oxford on the road to Reading. It occupies the site of RAF Mount Farm, a satellite of RAF Benson, initially used to train bomber pilots. It was later taken over by the United States Army Air Forces, who used it as a reconnaissance base. From here stars including Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour and Glenn Miller took off to entertain the troops in Europe. Miller performed for the US service personnel at the base in December 1944. From there he went to RAF Twinwood, boarded a Noorduyn Norseman single-engined aircraft, took off for Paris – and was never heard of again.

In 1957 the Air Ministry sold the airfield for civilian use. Bullingdon Rural District Council decided to build a new village – the first in England for 200 years – to be named after Birinus or Berin, a local saint. The word ‘field’ was added because the Americans called their base an airfield. To this day the village is markedly different to the obviously affluent villages that lie adjacent, Berinsfield is working class and proud of it, and the football club with its friendly welcome reflects this.

The club actually uses two pitches at Lay Avenue. This was to be the last game on the pitch used this evening, despite it facing the tea bar which did a roaring trade. The pitch will be rotated through 90 degrees, freeing up space for a children’s pitch. The “other” pitch will be used for first XI fixtures, and the rotated one for the club’s new reserve team. The club have just been turned down for floodlights.

It’s always more interesting watching a game with something riding on it, and with Berinsfield needing a point to take the Championship there was a real feeling of anticipation. With Benson Lions second from bottom it didn’t look likely that Berinsfield would miss out, especially when AJ Stockford (why does he always find a way into my reports?)  was at the end of a slick passing move to open the scoring. This was a very special game to watch, with a good playing surface helping both sides to play attractive passing football. It would be easy to paint the Lions as the fall-guys in the piece, but they matched Berinsfield pass for pass, and only missed out on a point from great keeping by Berry’s Toby Coffey, and bad luck.

Berinsfield doubled their lead from the penalty spot after Stockford was brought down. Captain Mark Ingram slotted away the penalty to end the first half and was asked to repeat the feat in the opening salvo of the second. This time, the kick was weak, and the shot was saved by Andy Gillespie. He made up for it after 62 minutes, heading home at close range.

I should apologise at this point to David Murphy, as in my War Memorial Cup Final report I stated that there are only 3 things in life are guaranteed, death, taxes and David Murphy scoring for Berinsfield. It was therefore inevitable that Murphy would fail when I saw him next! He came close though, dancing through the entire Lions defence, only for his blocked shot to fall kindly to Stockford who made no mistake from a full yard out.

As the game wound down the club made a lasting impression on the 5 or so hoppers present. Jackie Cullen came out with a tray with 5 portions of sausage and chips for the hoppers that had visited. She commented, ” You’ve come to visit, the least we can do is feed you.”  That’s 5 friends that club’s made for life, and reflects brilliantly on both the club, the league and the village itself.

As I drove out of the car park, something happened that summed up Berinsfield perfectly. I spotted 2 young lads wearing hoodies hanging around. I was just wondering, but then one of them grinned at me. It was AJ Stockford telling me to get home and start typing! Great people, great club, and congratulations on your championship.


Jackie



 

 

 

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