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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Chinnor

The Oxfordshire Day (That Wasn’t)

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by laurencereade in C, L, S

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Chalfont Wasps, Chinnor, England, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, hellenic league, Holyport, Long Crendon, Non League, Stokenchurch, Yateley United

Saturday 20th April 2019

11.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

STOKENCHURCH 0

CHALFONT WASPS 3 (Letterman 29 42 Williams 47)

Att 234

Entry & Programme £5

15.30

15.30 Hellenic League Division 1 East

CHINNOR 1 (Knowles 54)

HOLYPORT 4 (Raply 4 45 56 Driffill 16)

Att 196

Entry £4

Programme £1

19.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

LONG CRENDON 0

YATELEY UNITED 0

Att 269

Entry £6

Programme £1

It was unusual to be in the middle of an organised hop and for me to wake up at home. But with the Hellenic Hop visiting 3 clubs all within 20 miles from home and with an elderly father to keep an eye on, it made sense to have a couple of nights back home, even if Robyn and I did miss the full English breakfasts back at the Almondsbury Interchange! I found myself harking back to the days of the North Berkshire League’s Hops too, and on arrival at Stokenchurch you could see why. Continue reading →

51.703580 -0.910590

Surrender to the will of the wind

09 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by laurencereade in O, T

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Andy Whing, ASM Stadium, Ben Thornton, berks and bucks fa, Chinnor, Deane Smalley, oxford united., Oxon Senior Cup, Simon Heslop, Thame

Wednesday 6th February 2013 ko 19.30

Oxfordshire Senior Cup Quarter-Final

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Smalley 69p)

CHINNOR 0

Att 151

Entry £5

Programme 50p

When you follow a League club, County Cup competitions tend to pass you by. That’s particularly the case in Oxfordshire, where there’s only one League Club, and some of the larger Non-League clubs are in the Berks and Bucks FA, as in this part of the world, football still follows pre-1974 county boundaries. Theoretically the ties still take precedence over league fixtures but the larger clubs have long since negotiated to play reserve teams, and away from any fixture clash. Continue reading →

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Illuminate

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Adam Clayton, Brian King, Chinnor, Fllodlights, Floodlights, Gareth Tucker, Hellenic hop, hellenic league, John McMahon, Oxford City, Paul Alder, Quarry Nomads, Station Road, Stuart Cattell, U2, Wantage Town

Tuesday 25th September 2012 ko 7.45pm
Hellenic League Floodlit Cup 2nd Round

CHINNOR 1 (Cattell 12og)

WANTAGE TOWN 2 (McMahon 23 Alder 28)

Att 93

Entry & Programme £2

The Oxfordshire village of Chinnor really does mark both a geographical and topographical boundary. The limestone escarpment slopes up from the village towards the Bledlow Ridge, and its that escarpment that marks the boundary with Buckinghamshire. Former weatherman Bill Giles lives here, and almost unbelievably, U2 bassist Adam Clayton was born in Chinnor before moving to the Irish Republic aged 5.

It’s been a long time since my last visit to Station Road, I think it was for a Hellenic Hop game against Oxford City’s Reserves, but that was on what’s now Chinnor’s second pitch, and that was just roped off. Ironically given the opposition, soon after they inherited the rail from Quarry Nomads’ Margaret Road home- Oxford City took over the Nomads to get their place in the Hellenic, and soon, the team was wearing City Blue and White, and there was no football at Margaret Road. With there now being no Hellenic hop, it was a straightforward decision to get the new pitch ticked. Judging by the sheer number of hoppers there I wasn’t the only one thinking along these lines!

The Nomads’ rail is still is situ but Chinnor have moved about 50 yards, and a right angle from the clubhouse, itself due to be demolished in favour of something more suitable. It all looks new, clean, and built with precious little thought. The pitch only just fits its footprint, I certainly wouldn’t want to see a goalkeeper at the clubhouse end fall backwards into the goal, he’d hit his head! Whoever decided it was a bright idea to put the two prefabricated stands behind the dugouts obviously hadn’t considered what the view would be like from them. I assume that in time some attempt will be made to enclose the ground, as my £2 entry was taken by me finding a small pile of programmes behind the bar and buying one.

Still, the club is justifiably proud of the progress its made, and Brian King, General Secretary of the League was beaming at being present at the club’s first ever home game under lights. It wasn’t long ago that the club was doing very little in the Oxfordshire Senior League on very little more than a park pitch. But that’s the rub for the club, floodlights aren’t cheap, and the Hellenic League Division One East has only 14 teams in it. It will be interesting to see how many times, save for the mandatory Saturday 3pm kick offs, that the lights actually get used!

It was an odd evening, with a ladies’ circuits class taking place in one corner, and a referee’s assessors’ course separating into gaggles of 5, spread around the pitch. It was one only a few occasions I’ve not looked out-of-place with my clip board.

As perhaps you’d expect, Wantage of the Hellenic Premier were too proficient for their lower-ranked opponents. They had a shock though, when Stuart Cattell attempted an interception, but watched horrified as it looped over Gareth Tucker to give Chinnor an unlikely lead. Wantage soon put that right, and two quick-fire finishes from John McMahon, and Paul Alder gave a more realistic view of the play.

What should have been a simple second half was made more difficult by Wantage easing off and failing to capitalise on they did create and were nearly forced into extra time when Wantage’s Brad Davies header produced a diving save from Tucker, his own keeper with 2 minutes left. That of course exhausted an obvious source of a floodlit game for Chinnor. I wonder when the next will be?




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