Tag Archives: Football

Worthy

28 Monday Mar 2016

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Wednesday 23rd March 2016 ko 19.30

Somerset County League Division One West

GLASTONBURY 0 Rahn sent off 85 (2nd booking)

WELLS CITY RESERVES 1 (Pledger 2)

Att 47

Entry £3

No Programme

On the face of it, there are one or two who would look at a game at the 12th level of English football and assume that it wouldn’t be worth bothering with. A few more might look at the fact that Glastonbury won the Western League 3 times in 1948/9, 1950/1 and 1969/70 and assume that the ground is a throw-back to past glories. Inevitably, the truth is more interesting than the assumption. Continue reading →

Bris’

10 Thursday Mar 2016

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Tuesday 8th March 2016 ko 19.45

Western League Premier Division

BRISLINGTON 0

MELKSHAM TOWN 3 (Hughes 3og Higdon 45 Stradling 71)

Att 42

Entry £5

Programme £1

Even this far in to my groundhopping odyssey there are still grounds that leap out from my “Football Traveller” directories. It’s almost as if Ironmould Lane, was shouting out, “Why on earth haven’t you visited yet?” Continue reading →

Refuge

07 Sunday Feb 2016

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Friday 5th February 2016 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One

HALSTEAD TOWN 2 (Cook 26 Pavett 55)

WIVENHOE TOWN 3 (Keating 3 Turner 18 Hampson 62)

Att 202

Entry £6

Programme SOLD OUT

Whilst the Eastern Counties League’s attempts at “Groundhopper Days” have not fared well, they’ve had considerable success with Friday evening football. This was the classic example of where it works best, two clubs near Colchester playing a local derby knowing there was another derby the next day, Colchester United travelling to Southend United. I got the distinct impression that plenty at Rosemary Lane had every intention of attending both games. Continue reading →

Bowl Shaped

01 Friday Jan 2016

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Saturday 28th December 2015 ko 15.00

Eastern Counties League Premier Division

FC CLACTON 2 (Cowden 56p 83)

STANWAY ROVERS 4 (Shaw 12 29 55 Palmer 87)

Att 220

Entry £7

Programme £1

It may have been a case of a 25 minute drive from Felixstowe to a game in the same division and league but the Rush Green Bowl is a step up in quality from Dellwood Avenue, and the sense of occasion was obvious. It wasn’t easy to find a parking spot but once through the turnstile the club’s sense of unconscious competence was impressive. Continue reading →

Dos Inglés

26 Saturday Dec 2015

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Sunday 20th December 2015 ko 17.00

Copa Regional de Ceuta- Final

CARMELITAS 1 (Jose 34p) Juande Dios sent off 57 (DOGSO)

RAMON Y CAJAL 4 (Alessandro 24 Cristian 81 Nabil 87 Hamid Oulad 90)

Chakin missed penalty 59

Cristian sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att c300 at Estadio Alfonso Murube, Ceuta

Entry FREE

Programme NO

The difficulty in planning any football in Spain is that the fixtures aren’t fixed until less than a week beforehand. If it’s league fixture, then you can predict with a reasonable degree of certainty that the game will take place on a given weekend, but that could be any time between Friday and Monday, although the part-time Segunda B, and Tercera divisions are far more likely to play on Saturdays and Sundays. All you can do is cover your options and wait. And there were so many good reasons to visit Ceuta too…. Continue reading →

The Rock

22 Tuesday Dec 2015

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Friday 18th December 2015 ko 20.30

Gibraltar League Division One

LIONS GIBRALTAR 2 (Santos 45 Narvaez 53)

ANGELS FC 0 Larouia sent off 87 (foul & abusive language)

Att 65 at Victoria Stadium

Entry FREE

No Programme

I do wonder whether the Gibraltar FA have fixed their kick-off times around flights arriving at the airport more or less adjacent to the ground. My flight from Luton landed at around 7.15pm, and there was plenty of time to clear customs and complete a first, walking back across the runway I’d just landed on, to get to the ground. But then Gibraltar is unusual. Continue reading →

Play From Your… Heart

29 Tuesday Sep 2015

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Friday 25th September 2015 ko 17.55

International Club Veterans Friendly

ATHLETICO FLOREASCA 8 (Florea 4 66 70 Parashiv 8 20 38 52 Di Salvatore 30)

TuS BAR KOCHBA NÜRNBERG 0

Att 16 at Centrul Tehnic al Federatiei Romane de Fotbal, Buftea, Romania

Entry FREE

No Programme

 “Yes! Yes! Play from your ******* heart!… I am available for children’s parties, by the way.”

 Bill Hicks “Relentless” 1992

My contact in Romania Andrei had alerted me to this highly unusual ground to visit, to the north west of the capital. He’s involved at Bucharest-based Floreasca, and was kind enough to organise travelling companion Sim and I a lift out to Buftea with the visiting team. It would save a lot of time, effort and worry in new country, and all of that looked in jeopardy when our flight was delayed, sat on Luton Airport’s runaway. Continue reading →

Building Jerusalem

23 Sunday Aug 2015

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Saturday 15th August 2015 ko 15.00

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

NELSON 0

NEWTON AYCLIFFE 4 (Knight 29 Banks 59 Moffat 81 86)

Att 96

Entry £6

Programme £2

Badge £3

If there’s one competition every football fan should be a fan of it’s the FA Cup. Despite top flight clubs attempts to devalue it, for me the memories of clubs you’d never heard of battling against familiar Football League clubs remain a romantic part of growing up a football fan. Be it Blyth Spartans, Shepshed Charterhouse or Sutton United, the FA Cup was and is where the thrill of the underdog giving the patrician a bloody nose was more interesting than watching the same old sides fight for the League title. With those thoughts in mind I wanted something special to visit for the competition’s opening round.  Continue reading →

Gas Panic

21 Thursday May 2015

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Sunday 17th May 2015 ko 14.00

Conference Promotion Final

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 (Harrison 30)

GRIMSBY TOWN 1 (John-Lewis 2)

AET Bristol Rovers won 5-3 on penalties

Att 47,0229 at Wembley Stadium

Entry £10 (Member clubs’ allocation- “Neutral Zone”)

Programme £5

Now I know the Conference Premier is pretty much League 3 these days. I know it’s almost entirely full-time and I know there are many former Football League clubs in its ranks. The vital word here is “Former” though, and take it from me, a fan of a club that did lose its place in the League, it hurts a lot it when you get relegated. You get used to the comments like “How on earth did you end up there?” and every time you go to a game you cheer your club on straining every mental sinew to get back to whence you came. There’s nothing wrong with the Conference, but believe me the fans of at least half of the clubs in its top flight hate being there.

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The Blue Aeroplanes

06 Wednesday May 2015

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Saturday 2nd May 2015 ko 15.00

Cheltenham League First Division

FC LAKESIDE 3 (Bowers 55 Griffiths 22 Griffiths 90p)

WHADDON UNITED 3 (Peters 45 Watkins 62 80)

Att 116

At Pitch 4, Dowty Rotal Sports Ground, Down Hatherley Lane, Staverton

Entry FREE

No Programme

A few weeks ago I watched Whaddon United, enjoyed the experience, and paid little or no attention afterwards. I thought their win against Kings AFC would see them lift the Cheltenham League title with ease. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw the league table with them only one point clear with one game left, and my plans for Saturday were immediately changed when I saw that game was away against Lakeside, the second placed club! A shoot-out for the championship shouldn’t be missed.

Continue reading →