Tag Archives: Eastern Counties League

The Jam Factory

29 Wednesday Apr 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Tuesday 17th April 2007 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One

TIPTREE UNITED 5 (Hill 11 31 Robinson 43 Bryan 45 Defoe 55)

Emery sent off 45 (violent conduct)

CORNARD UNITED 0

Att 52

Entry £5

Programme £1

This is a curious tale in so many ways, but I really couldn’t have predicted just how bizarre it was going to be when I drove to the Essex town 13 years ago. The village is to the south-west of Colchester and is unquestionably most famous for jam, the Wilkin & Sons factory is here, and the labels on the jars still have Tiptree on them. In fact there’s even a Tiptree Jam Museum. I’ll claim it was closed when I visited!

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Castle On The Hill

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

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Friday 27th December 2019 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One North

FRAMLINGHAM TOWN 8 (Berry 24 66 89 D Smith 30 57 75 Ling 47 Willett 51)

FELIXSTOWE & WALTON RESERVES 2 (Ingram 23 Norman 68)

Att 75

Entry £5

Programme £1

It is difficult to avoid reference to Ed Sheeran in Framlingham, and in any case, why try? The singer/songwriter is Framlingham’s most famous son, and while there doesn’t seem to be quite the same connection with the club that Olly Murs has with Coggeshall Town, the singer has tweeted his allegiance to the club after being spotted at, of all places, Stamford Bridge! Perhaps that’s why Framlingham Town market a replica shirt with Sheeran’s name on the back. Continue reading →

Mercury & Bismuth

28 Wednesday Nov 2018

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Tuesday 30th October 2018 ko 19.45

Eastern Senior League Division One South

MAY & BAKER 2 (Owuadey 6 Harvey 88)

FIRE UNITED CFC 1 (Dias 89)

Att 27 

Entry £5

Programme £1

With the creation of the Eastern Senior League, to fill a hole at Step 6 in Essex, a slew of new clubs have taken a step up in status to fill the league. For Fire United that meant a move from Hackney Marshes to the Terence McMillan Stadium in Newham, formerly home to London APSA. More on them later, but May & Baker’s story is fascinating. Continue reading →

Nomenclature

26 Monday Nov 2018

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Tuesday 23rd October 2018 ko 19.45

Eastern Senior League Division One South Cup 1st Round

WHITE ENSIGN 0

BENFLEET 2 (Delieu 51 G Unwin 52)

Att 33 at Basildon Sporting Village

For this season the FA has taken steps to iron out one of the quirks of the footballing pyramid, in that until now there hasn’t been a league to link the Step 5 Essex Senior League and the Step 7 Essex Olympian League. They had a blueprint; the Kent Invicta League was formed in 2011 to bridge the gap between the Kent League and the Kent County League. The Invicta League eventually was swallowed up by the Kent League and the result is now the two divisions of the Southern Counties East.  Continue reading →

The Nest

31 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Saturday 29th September 2018 ko 15.00

Eastern Counties League Division One North

LAKENHEATH 1 (McCabe 3)

MARCH TOWN UNITED 3 (Cooke 7 Gillies 45p Mattless 74)

Att c100

Entry £5

Programme £1

One of the most welcome additions to the Eastern Counties League roster this season has been Lakenheath. I’d had a fair few hoppers recommend, The Nest or The Pit, depending on who you talk to but for no good reason I’d not managed to visit. I’m glad I did go but I do wonder whether I caught the club at a real crossroads. Step 6 will alter just about everything for Lakenheath FC, both as a club, and a place to watch football.  Continue reading →

East Heading West

31 Friday Aug 2018

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Saturday 21st July 2018 ko 15.00

Pre-season Friendly

GORLESTON 3 (Gilfedder 13 45 Ramm 21)

LOWESTOFT TOWN 4 (Brown 9 12 Overy 46 Folkes 54)

Att 193

Entry £3

No Programme

My regular reader my have spotted a running theme of me gradually ticking off the grounds of the Eastern Counties League. Part of the reason is prioritising those Leagues not being visited by an organised hop, and another is regular trips with Wavendon- based Chris. His location near Milton Keynes makes heading east sensible, but there is the vexed question of what to do about the grounds he’s done that I haven’t. One was Gorleston, and with him being unavailable I simply picked the furthest one east! Continue reading →

No Distance Left To Run

22 Sunday Oct 2017

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Friday 29th September 2017 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Premier Division

STANWAY ROVERS 1 (Blackwell 78)

WIVENHOE TOWN 0

Att 201

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

Friday night football is something that’s clearly worked for the Eastern Counties League with regular fixtures throughout the season. It makes sense especially for clubs like Stanway with Colchester United on their doorstep as it allows the Football League club’s fans to come and watch too.  From a hopper’s perspective it does allow the chance to tick off another ground on a day of generally sparse fixtures; in fact the only issue is battling Friday night traffic to get there! Continue reading →

Stretching It

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

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Tuesday 5th September 2017 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One

DOWNHAM TOWN 1 (Sykes 66) Bailey sent off 59 (2nd Booking)

NORWICH UNITED RESERVES 3 (Stewart 7 Will 21 Jackson 74p)

Att 95

Entry & Programme £5

 

A fixture in the Norfolk town of Downham Market is just about as far as I can manage midweek, and it did help that was a slight delay to kick off for a rather unusual reason! Continue reading →

Meridian

06 Wednesday Sep 2017

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Tuesday 22nd August 2017 ko 19.45

Cambridgeshire County League Division Senior A

SOMERSHAM TOWN 2 (Wiggins- Brown 37 Sterna 50)

OVER SPORTS 3 (Peacock 12 49 Sessions 75)

Att c100

Entry FREE

This last couple of weeks the running theme has been clubs with an Eastern Counties League past. There was the abandoned game at Long Sutton and of course Wisbech Town were until relatively recently in the ECL. But Somersham at first glance seemed be unusual in that they were playing a floodlit game in the second tier of a county league. Continue reading →

Best Wishes

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Sunday 30th July 2017 ko 11.00

Peterborough & District League Division One

LONG SUTTON ATHLETIC 0

TYDD ST MARY 0

Match abandoned 12 minutes- serious injury

Att 346

Entry £4

Programme £1

The coach parked up outside the ground and in front the main road looked choked. It was a mixture of through traffic, and groundhoppers who in many cases had found inappropriate places to park. The inevitable happened, a hopper’s car scraped a local’s car and apart from the thoroughly unpleasant exchange of views afterwards the best he can hope for is the loss of his no claims bonus. I wonder whether he’ll book the coach next time? I however had other thoughts… Continue reading →