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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: ground

Broadreeds

14 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by laurencereade in S

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Tags

Arundel, Football, ground, groundhopping, High Street, Hinshelwood, Non League, Selsey, Southern Combination, Sussex, Sussex County League

Tuesday 8th February 2022 ko 19.45

Southern Combination Division One

SELSEY 2 (Alman 42 Higgins-Pearce 73)

ARUNDEL 1 (Hawkins 90)

Att 156

Entry £5

Programme Free, online/downloadable

It really wasn’t the plan to make this season all about what I still think of as the Sussex County League. The reality is that 2,300 grounds plus into this groundhopping odyssey I am rapidly running out of opportunities within a 2 hour radius of work. Then there’s a tactical element too; with my GroundhopUK hat on I’m less likely to visit grounds in leagues I’m likely to be couriering a coachload of hoppers to! And for what little its worth we did have a brief chat with the Southern Combination a couple of years ago but at committee level there seemed to be little interest in a organised groundhop. 

Continue reading →

Estuary English

02 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by laurencereade in H

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cribbs causeway, Football, Greg Andrews, ground, groundhopping, Hallen, Hallen Centre, hellenic league, henley on thames, Jaz Bright, Radstock Town, Ryan King, severn estuary, Western League

Wednesday 29th February 2012 ko 7.45pm

Western League Premier Division

HALLEN 3 (Andrews 11 Bright 69 King 86)

RADSTOCK TOWN 0

Att 62

Entry & Programme £6

Badge £3

Pie £1.50

Tea £1

So, how did you spend your “extra” day? I finally got round to visiting a team I’d seen about 10 years ago away at Bideford, and found their story interesting. They’d had a long stint in the Hellenic League and had fought tooth and nail to be transfered to the Western League, eventually taking their case to the FA to get their way.

Hallen is on the southernmost edge of Gloucestershire, close to the Severn estuary. You can see the red lights atop the Avonmouth and Second Severn Bridges from the ground. The village has a rural feel to it, with its pub and war memorial but is marooned, trapped between the M49, M5 and the M4 to the north. Despite the M5 being clearly visible from the village, it takes a good 10 minutes to drive from the Cribbs Causeway turn on the M5 to reach the ground.

Co-incidentally the Hallen Centre ground was built at least in part from monies secured from the sale of the land that allowed the huge Cribbs Causeway shopping complex to be built. The Asda Store in its former guise of Carrefour was once the largest supermarket in the UK.

The money has allowed the club to build an excellent ground, with the undoubted centrepiece being the Frank Fairman stand, which wouldn’t look out of place at a ground of a far higher status. That said the club haven’t rested on their laurels, as the new turnstile block was put to work for the first time. It’s a converted bus shelter, with the turnstiles themselves being procured for a cut-down price, second hand from a firm near Henley-on-Thames! As ever it was the people involved with the club that made the place, as I learned more about the club, and their hopes for the future.

On the pitch I felt the score was a little rough on Radstock who looked a competant side. It was they who made the better start with neat clipped passing catching the home defence cold, but other than a snap shot that shaved the outside of the post it all came to nothing. Hallen took the lead after ten minutes when Billy George crossed to the far side of the penalty area. Radstock keeper Austin Byfield blocked Tom Collett’s shot only for Greg Andrews to follow up to pass into the empty net.

Radstock always looked dangerous, but Hallen’s second goal on 69 minutes killed the game. Neat passing play between George, Collett and Jaz Bright resulted with the full-back overlapping, completely missed by the defence, and firing home.

I was having a chat with the one of the substitutes, Ryan King at this point. He thought as I did that Radstock were worth at least a goal but it wasn’t to be, as it was to be to be him who had the final say, coming on to side-foot home from the edge of the box.

So, two “H’s” in two days, and in both cases excellent visits. I’ll look on both with considerable fondness.





First Impressions

08 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alton Town, Bass, Football, goals, ground, groundhopping, Moneyfields, Wessex

Tuesday 6th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Cup 3rd Round

ALTON TOWN 2 (Brown 34 Dyer 77)

MONEYFIELDS 4 (Slater 11 Hore 25 39 Asajelic 74)

Att 70 (h/c)

Entry £6

Programme NO (2 old copies FREE)

Tea 50p

Hot Dog £1.50

The Hampshire town of Alton, other than being a northern outpost of the Wessex League is probably most famous for being where the term “Sweet Fanny Adams” was coined. In  1867, an eight-year old girl, Fanny Adams, was murdered. Her assailant, Frederick Baker, was executed in Winchester and one of the original public notices advertising his forthcoming execution hangs in the Crown Public House in the town. The murder, so the story goes, coincided with the introduction of tinned meat in the Royal Navy, and the sailors who did not like the new food said the tins contained the remains of “Sweet Fanny Adams” or “Sweet F A”, hence the expression which for over a century has meant “Sweet nothing.” My first impressions of the local team were not far removed from that! Continue reading →

51.150719 -0.973177

A game of one half

30 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Aylestone, ball, Birstall, G Seal, Goal, ground, groundhopping, League, Leicestershire, Man-Klee, new, Park, Senior

Tuesday 27th September 2011 ko 7.15pm

Leicestershire Senior Cup First Round

AYLESTONE PARK 2 (G Seal 18 27p)

BIRSTALL UNITED 1 (Man-Klee 8 )

Att 54 (h/c)

Entry £2.50

No programme

Chips & Cheese £1.50

With the  Leicester based club having moved a full 400 yards to their new home, The Mary Linwood Recreation ground in Saffron Lane, this fixture attracted some of the big hitters of the groundhopping fraternity.

The ground reflects precisely the clubs needs and immediate ambitions. There are two pitches, so close that the dugouts are double sided, and the clubhouse is both large and impressive. However the sole spectator accommodation is still the same unseated Arena stand, salvaged from the old ground, and given a lick of paint. You question how far the club can progress with the ground as it is particularly when you consider that the club has the advantage of the demise of the Leicestershire Constabulary club which supplied both players and committee.

What we got was a cracking half of football. Birstall took an early lead, Aylestone stung by the threat to their 100% record responded, and with a penalty to take the lead we were set up for an exciting second half. I’d have even settled for extra time.

I turned up for the second half, I’m not sure the players did! What we got was a turgid half of ill-tempered hoofing, and a catalogue of unforced errors. By the end, extra time would have been a trial.




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