Tag Archives: groundhopping

The Pace of Life

05 Friday Jul 2013

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Thursday 4th July 2013 ko 19.40

Pre-Season Friendly

PRIORS MARSTON 0

SOUTHAM UNITED 7 (Delahunty 30 Tennant 40 65p 74 Doherty 53 Stephans 78 79)

Att 42

80 minute game

Entry FREE

Programme- No ( you are joking!)

Priors Marston is one of those pretty-as-a-picture villages tucked away so you just have to stumble across them! The village is just about in Warwickshire, around 7 miles from Daventry, and is close to the Northamptonshire border.

The Church of England parish church is dedicated to Saint Leonard and was first built in the 13th century. The tower dates from the 17th and 18th centuries, but the building you see today was largely rebuilt in 1863.

The village school, The Priors School was originally a state school opened in 1847. In August 1996 it was forced to close due to a decline in numbers but after a month of intensive fundraising and planning the school re-opened. It still offered free education to village residents, and also accepted fee paying pupils from further afield. The school raised over £1.2m during 15 years of self regulation until September 2011, when it became one of the first of 22 new free schools to open in the UK. This returned the school to state funding but independently managed.

The Priors Sports Field lies on the edge of the village, on the Byfield Road. There’s a tennis club, but the place is by and large a cricket field that stages football in the winter. In the last few years that’s been even more the case as the Saturday football team withdrew from the Banbury and Lord Jersey League and now only play Sunday football, in the depths of Division 5 of the Leamington and District Sunday League.

With a team so obscure, the fixture attracted a gaggle of hoppers, who 10 minutes before the scheduled 7.00 kick-off looked nervous, especially the one who’d travelled all the way from Leatherhead for this game. Eventually the home players arrived in dribs and drabs, with the lack of urgency that the warm weather seemed to inspire. It didn’t seem to worry the referee, he just had a chat to the Southam players and warmed up lackadaisically.

I took time to explore the pavilion, taking care to avoid the ladies preparing a barbeque for the players. They’d been banned from serving food before half-time, but when was half-time going to be? I discovered that there are plans to demolish the pavilion and replace it with an altogether grander affair. The issue is a common enough one, funding. I have a feeling the old pavilion will be around for a while longer.

The game kicked-off a staggering 40 minutes late, and unsurprising both sides made a slow start, a mixture of legs getting used to playing, and the visitors playing what appeared to their under-18 side. In a truncated game it took a full 30 minutes for the first goal, Jamie Delahunty firing home, and after that the Midland Combination side passed their hosts to death, and the goals came steadily throughout the rest of the game. Ben Tennant scored a hat-trick from the unlikely position of left back, and quite a hat-trick it was! The first was a blast from long distance, the second a penalty, and the third a delicious curling free kick that did just enough to evade the keeper’s despairing outstretched fingers. Goals from Keiran Doherty and a late brace from Robbie Stephans sealed the straightforward victory.

In the final analysis, of course it really doesn’t matter, but the players got a little fitter, the managements learned a little more and the spectators enjoyed a pleasant evening out in the sunshine.

The Coal Post

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Tuesday 30th October 2012 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

COLNEY HEATH 3 (Thompson 10 Clarke 69 Armstrong 82)

HADLEY 0

Att 61

Entry & Programme £6

Tea 70

Cheese & Onion Roll £1.40

Anyone who’s travelled around the northern curve of the M25 will have been within a mile of the Recreation Ground, and this pretty village would be fairly unremarkable but for one historical detail.

The first essay I was asked to write at university in London, was seemingly simple – define London’s boundaries. You could use famous square mile of the city, or perhaps the man-made moat of the M25. I think I plumped for the M25, an imperfect solution, but I couldn’t think of a better boundary, but the discussion made for an interesting lecture slot when our marked papers were returned!

There was in fact another boundary, still further out and these are the coal posts, used to mark where a tax on coal entering London would be levied. The series of around 280, all from 12 to 18 miles out, were of various types, but formed an irregular loop around the capital from medieval times to the tax’s abolition in 1890. The remarkable thing about Colney Heath is that there were 4 posts for the village alone, and all are still standing, the one I’ve photographed is on the small green opposite the “Cock” Pub. It must have been an important point on the route into the capital, from the north.

The Recreation Ground is a classic example of a ground being adapted to suite grading requirements. I would imagine that in the past cricket was played, but now the extra space is used as a training pitch. Floodlights have been added, and the clubhouse roof extended forward to keep the requisite 50 or so seats from getting wet. The clubhouse, large and warm was the best facility, and plenty there desisted from watching this game, but who can blame them when Reading 5 Arsenal 7 is being televised in the warm?

Out in the cold, this was a game that entertained without ever catching fire. The script suggested that Hadley would steal a point, despite Colney Heath having by far the greater possession and taking the lead early on through Matt Thompson. As ever the script wasn’t followed, but it took Aaron Clarke’s goal was late as the 69th minute to put the tie beyond doubt. Paul Armstrong’s tap in afterwards was mere icing on the cake.

As I left, my friend James commented that I couldn’t have many clubs in this league left to do. I really hadn’t thought about it, but when I checked this morning he was correct. Just 4 grounds without lights in the bottom division. Knowing me, I’ll end up completing those without realising, such is life!!

 

Far to go

08 Saturday Sep 2012

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Saturday 1st September 2012 ko 3.00pm

Gwent County League Division 3

ABERGAVENNY THURSDAYS 7 (Davies 19 36 Purvis 22 Wallace 43 Hopkins 51 Surtees 75 86) Ford sent off 89 (dangerous play)

PONTYPOOL 1 (Hatherall 87)

Att 28 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

So, when you’ve finished a gruelling 11 game tour of Welsh lower league football what do you do next? That’s right, do more of the same thing! There was also the bonus of the game being at the other end of my street! Yes, you have read that correctly, I live in Oxford, and at the end of my street is the A40. If you follow it for the small matter of 90 or so miles, you reach Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, just 6 miles over the border with England. Continue reading →

Bibliophile

02 Sunday Sep 2012

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Saturday 25th August 2012 ko 7.30pm

Mid-Wales League Division 2

HAY ST MARYS 3 (K Jones 26 Goodwin 44p 49)

TALGARTH TOWN 2 (Perry 7 Brooks 87)

Att 317

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

A quirk of the journey from Presteigne to Hay-on-Wye, is that you spend the vast majority of it in England, ducking back across the Wye only to enter this pretty bibliophile town. That’s right, Hay is Wales’ book town, the English and Scottish equivalents being Sedbergh and Wigtown. It is Hay though which started the practice, although there’s more to the place than just the 30 or so second hand bookshops.

There’s two castles, which as the border has moved over the centuries, have frequently changed hands. The town only really settled down when Wales was taken over by King Edward I Longshanks Continue reading →

Reinventing the cliché

11 Monday Jun 2012

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Sunday 3rd June 2012 ko 11.00

Kriesliga A Essen Sud-Ost

SV PREUSSEN EIBERG 1 (Tüker 75)

SuS NIEDERBONSFELD 1 (Angerstein 42)

Att 67 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Coffee €1

With it being Lee’s stag weekend, its fair to say we’d had more than a few beers on Saturday night. In fact, at breakfast one of our number had a receipt from the hotel bar with 2.20am on it. Yet for all of that, we weren’t stupidly hungover, just a little bleary-eyed; perhaps that’s due to Germany’s strict beer purity rules, no nasty chemicals here!

We took a train 35 km west to Essen, a city based on the Ruhr industries of coal and steel. I was a little surprised therefore that when we left the train at Essen-Eiberg station, the scene was one of leafy suburbia! Still not everywhere has to be a post-industrial hell-hole does it? It was a pleasant enough stroll to the Bezirkssportanlage Oststadt, or to be more accurate it would have been bad it not been hammering down with rain! Worse still Lee had looked up the ground on Google Maps and reported that there didn’t seem to be any cover. Brave faces were in evidence as we walked past the clay reserve pitch and into the main complex.

And from that point things looked up. There was a buzz about the place with beer being sold, and sausages were being grilled. For some reason I discovered that there was strong coffee being sold in the clubhouse! Better still, we discovered that there was cover in the form of two railway shelters, perched above a terrace with seats bolted on. We immediately made a bee-line for one and reserved our seats, rather reminiscent of the cliché about Germans and sun-loungers!

At pitchside there’s a shale running track between the terrace and the pitch. It seemed all rather municipal when compared to the club’s building efforts behind. But we had a decent vantage point, the game was on and we were dry!

It wasn’t the easiest game to watch. Maybe I was more hung over than I thought, but this was a game that for long periods failed to spark (maybe it was the rain!). Neiderbonsfeld were clearly that better side, but failed to capitalise on their possession, and will have been disappointed to have reached half time with only Jonas Angerstein’s effort to show for their efforts. They were made to pay when substitute Sebastian Tüker tucked away a well-taken equaliser, and in all honesty I thought that would be the final score at that point.

Of course I was right, but only after a fashion. I made the mistake of commenting how well referee Adam Schneider had done, when Niederbonsfeld forward Özay Gökesil went down in installments in the box, and to the crowd’s consternation Schneider gave a last-minute penalty. Up stepped Angerstein, and his shot went wide of the left post, to give justice for a poor decision, but not in terms of the visitors’ possession and general superiority.

Just Nod If You Can Hear Me

15 Tuesday May 2012

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Sunday 13th May 2012 ko 3.00pm

FA Vase Final

DUNSTON UTS 2 (Bulford 32 79)

WEST AUCKLAND TOWN 0

Att 5,126

At Wembley Stadium

Entry, Programme & Team Sheet- Complimentary (Many Thanks to Dave Morrall of the Northern Counties East League)

I really hadn’t planned on doing this one, but when Chris Berezai phoned me to say Dave Morrall, chairman of the NCEL had offered us complementaries for the final, well who’d say no to that?  So my suit and tie travelled up to Chris and Jenny on Sunday morning, and the two of us must have looked like we were off to church, as we left Long Eaton!

It was easy enough to park at Stanmore Tube station, and we passed The Hive, home to Barnet FC’s training facilities, and potentially their new stadium too, between Stanmore and Canons Park. It’s just 4 stops to Wembley Park, so there was plenty of time to collect out tickets, and enjoy a local chinese meal. After that it was a short walk to beneath the Bobby Moore statue to the hospitality entrance. Our tickets gave us access to the Bobby Moore lounge, which gives you a large bar and food area behind the seats directly below the Royal box. We got a free programme and team sheet, and noticed that food and drink prices were just as stupidly expensive as everywhere else in the ground. £8 for a burger is way beyond a joke.

Our seats were just to the right of the dugouts, a few feet from where the “Wally with the brolly” once forlornly stood, and on a sunny day I did notice there wasn’t much roof over our heads. However padded seats and armrests are not to be sniffed at, and there was a little clip in front of you for your programme!

What was utterly lacking was a half decent attendance. With this being an all Northern League final, that league’s policy of not taking promotions due to excessive travelling was borne out by the 85,000 or so empty seats! In these straitened times though the FA should take most of the blame. This is a competition for clubs a minimum of 5 promotions from Football League status so to ask people to spend £25 a ticket (no concessions) plus £4 for £2 worth of programme, plus the cost of getting there, is at best insensitive and at worst crass. Surely charging £10 each would have produced a better crowd and more revenue. The alternative would be to move the final to somewhere more suitable, although one hopper’s idea of Hartlepool was I think a little wide of the mark. I did comment though that it would have been a darned sight nearer for both sides to have played at Hampden Park.

The game saw Dunston take on the World Champions as West Auckland famously won the Thomas Lipton Trophy representing England in 1909 and again in 1911. On this occasion West Auckland were undone by the predatory Andrew Bulford who completed the feat of scoring in each tie. While West Auckland had far more possession, they created few chances and once Bulford latched on to a Stephen Goddard flick-on, he opened the scoring with a neat lob over keeper Mark Bell.

The second half carried on in much the same vein, and when West Auckland switched to 3 at the back in search of a goal, it was inevitable that there would be more space for Dunston to exploit. And exploit they did. Bulford hit the post, and soon after strike partner Goddard did exactly the same. The two combined nicely for the winner, Goddard again flicked on, and Bulford capitalised on hesitancy in the West Auckland defence to fire past Bell, taking his Vase tally for the season to 15.

 

Reversal

10 Thursday May 2012

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Thursday 10th May 2012 ko 6.30pm

Northants Combination Premier Division

WELDON UNITED 1 (Fraser 64)

RINGSTEAD RANGERS 3 (A Wells 10 Tarr 17 Coles 83)

Att 23 (h/c)

Played at Ringstead Rangers

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

To do this hobby well, you do need a good support group, and a lot of “Plan B’s!” This evening proved the point well. Plan A was Didcot Casuals at their Upper Thames Valley League ground, but Peter Hack phoned to say that was off. Then Chris Garner told me Lee West had found something in the Northants Combination, and it was Lee who’d discovered that Weldon had switched their game to Ringstead due to their own ground being waterlogged. Even as I headed north, Rob Tyler contacted me to tell me of another UTVL game at Saxton. James Rennie also let me know that he’d had a no-show at City Colts.  So, its a big thankyou to all of you, without your help I wouldn’t have chalked up ground 1,300 tonight.

Ringstead is about a mile from Raunds. If you’ve ever visited that town, and travelled there on the A45 you use the same junction, but travel in the opposite direction. The village was once a home to a large gravel works, that’s now been turned into lakes, which must set off the local flower festival rather nicely. I doubt if anyone noticed when local resident Alf Roberts left his birthplace to set up a grocer’s shop in Grantham. I would imagine they might have, many years later when his daughter Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister!

The ground is found at one end of Gladstone Street, and is functional. There’s just the one pitch, but there are signs that cricket may have been played too at one point. There’s a changing room block rather touchingly built by, “Players, Committee and friends.” The pitch is roped off and cover is provided by was looked to be a shed!

It was obvious that Weldon are a Corby side, judging by the Scottish accents, and names! On this occasion they looked second best to a side that lost their keeper to a dislocated shoulder after an hour. At that point they’d done well to get back in contention after being blown away in the first 20 minutes, with a well taken goal from Sean Fraser. However they failed to force a single save from stand-in keeper Glenn Turner, and with all substitutes used, the 10 men of Ringstead went up the other end to score a third, David Coles forcing in at close range.

It was, in truth typical end of season stuff, rather lackadaisically refereed by Scott Dempsey. What he couldn’t keep up with he didn’t see, and what he did he often didn’t give. How he failed to give Ringstead a penalty early in the second half I’ll never know.

So, Ringstead joins my group of 100th’s. Amongst these are, Holbrook MW (500) Darlaston (800) Cardiff City Stadium (900) Newbridge (1000) Dobwalls (1,100) and Blackstones (1,200). Wonder where 1,400 will be?

Muddy Waters

07 Monday May 2012

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Monday 7th May 2012 ko 11.00am

Oxon Senior League Presidents Cup Final

MARSTON SAINTS 1 (Payne 75p)

RIVERSIDE 2 (Green 25 87) Green missed penalty 87 Harris sent off 73 (spitting)

Att 83 (h/c)

Entry & (4 page) Programme £3

@Abingdon Town FC

The Culham Road home of Abingdon Town is one of the County’s best grounds, in fact with Oxford United back in the League, I’d have thought it was the best non-league ground in Oxfordshire. The only problem is that in football terms, you’re in Berkshire, pesky pre-1974 boundaries still apply! There’s so much to like with cover on 3 sides, and 2 areas of seating. The clubhouse doubles up as a nightclub, and the offices as a campervan business, judging by the sheer volume of them parked up.

The ground does have issues though, and its clear that the ground is beginning to reflect the clubs lowly status these days in the Hellenic League. Turnstiles have been removed and some of the roofs are leaking. Not good on an appalling wet morning, on a riverside pitch, notorious for its propensity to flood.

The game saw two Oxford based sides go head to head. Marston Saints play at Boults Lane, in Old Marston. That’s just a stone’s throw from Oxford City’s Court Place Farm ground, and the John Radcliffe Hospital. Riverside are new to the OSL this year and are yet another reincarnation of Headington Quarry, using the Margaret Road ground that the now defunct Quarry Nomads called home. Their kit even had a “Quarry” badge on it!

The game was extremely one sided. Riverside dominated throughout, and should have won this far more easily than they did. They spurned an early penalty, given for handball, but continued the press until Ben Green atoned for his poor spot kick by being at the right end of a goalmouth scramble to open the scoring. This pattern continued through the rest of the first half and well into the second, with Riverside asking all the questions and Saints keeper Dave Newbold keeping them out.

All that changed with around 15 minutes left. Riverside keeper Chris Harris, bizarrely sporting a woolly hat dashed out to collect a ball but had to challenge an onrushing Ben Green. Green caught him, but play continued briefly only to be stopped as the linesman was frantically flagging. There was a brief conflab, then referee David Stanley dismissed Harris for spitting. Harris later claimed he shouted, “And spit came out.” Unsavoury to put it mildly. Riverside captain Arron Armstrong went in goal, but was unable to stop Tom Payne’s penalty.

For a brief time it looked like Marston could steal an unlikely and undeserved victory. Armstrong saved well down to his right, but the crisis was soon dealt with and normal service resumed. Green collected his second, as Marston quickly ran out of ideas in the mud. There was a little tension as a lot of injury time was played, due to the dismissal, but as the trophy was presented, I felt most sorry for the two sides arriving for the afternoon final, the pitch was a mess.

The Sweet Smell of Champagne

05 Saturday May 2012

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Saturday 5th May 2012 ko 2.30pm

North Berkshire League Division One

FARINGDON TOWN 2 (Harrington 40 Sutton 77)

CROWMARSH GIFFORD 2 (Allum 55 Currell 84)

Att 38 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Badge £3

Tea-in-a-mug 40p

I like Tucker Park,with its rural views and good facilities. There’s a large clubhouse and the bonus of a covered 3-step terrace. Best of all there’s a view of the West-Oxfordshire town’s most famous feature-the Folly.

It was designed by Gerald Wellesley, Marquess of Douro, for Lord Berners and built in 1935. It is 140 feet high and affords panoramic views of the Vale of White Horse.  During the Second World War the Home Guard used it as an observation post. In 1982 Robert Heber-Percy restored it and gave it to the town in trust. It’s actually on the site of an ancient ditched defensive ring.  This was fortified by supporters of Matilda sometime during the Anarchy (1135–1141) – her campaign to claim the throne from King Stephen but was soon razed to the ground on Stephen’s orders . Oliver Cromwell fortified it in his unsuccessful campaign to defeat the Royalist garrison at Faringdon House.

This fixture was the stand-out in today’s NBFL programme. Two long-time front-runners for the championship it had boiled down to Crowmarsh needing just a point to take the championship, just 7 years after forming from the nucleus of a boys’ club.

It was clear from the outset that Faringdon would not roll over easily. Whilst Crowmarsh were clearly in the ascendancy, Faringdon looked dangerous on the break. Faringdon’s Louis Bouwer’s last-ditch sliding tackle kept Crowmarsh out, before a Faringdon corner got caught in the wind, hitting the bar with keeper Chris Sutton beaten. Faringdon took the lead on 40 minutes, when Matt Pill’s right-wing cross was met by Derren Harrington. His low drive took a wicked defection, wrong footing Sutton.

The tension was palpable with the trophy present, but artfully hidden in a box in the teabar. Crowmarsh took 10 minutes to equalise as Andy Allum was put clean though and was brought down by Faringdon keeper Ryan Curtis. Curtis was booked, and Allum dusted himself off to beat Curtis from the penalty spot.

But still Faringdon wouldn’t lie down. Gary Sutton picked up a rebound, and 20 yards out hit a real missile of a shot past the other Sutton. It looked like the trophy might have to remain in storage until Tuesday. But then a free kick was played into the Faringdon box and Liam Currell got just enough force on his header to get the ball over the line despite a desperate lunge by a Faringdon defender.

That finished the game as a spectacle and the celebrations at the final whistle were heartfelt. There was a nice touch as the Faringdon captain ordered his players out of the changing room to applaud Crowmarsh as the trophy was awarded. A class act applauding another. I like that.

Whitley Would

01 Tuesday May 2012

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Monday 30th April 2012 ko 6pm

Reading League Senior Division

SOUTH READING 3 (Lyden 37 86 A Kingsbeer 90)

COOKHAM DEAN 1 (Lennon 41)

Att 32 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

It’s fair to say that Whitley Wood isn’t the most salubrious part of Reading. In fact when I entered the Reading half marathon, and my ex-wife discovered that the race starts here, she commented that was because no-one in their right mind would run towards the place. Not that there’s anything much wrong with the facilities on the Basingstoke Road, a clubhouse, car park and a roped off pitch. At this level, what else do you need? There was also a the backdrop of Reading FC Madjeski stadium as a backdrop. I do like the small game/big ground visual gag!

This was a game with something riding on it too, as South Reading with 3 games left were 8 points from leaders Westwood, who’ve finished their fixtures. Also in the mix are Woodcote/Stoke Row who are 6 points behind with 2 to play. I’d seen South Reading before, winning easily away at Bisham Abbey against Marlow United. That day they’d featured former Farnborough bad boy Ray Spence, and they won that day at an arrogant canter. That was a division down, bizarrely called the “Premier Division” and it was clear at the outset that the arrogance has disappeared now they’re not winning every game easily. Spence incidentally is now at Reading Town.

In fact while this game was eventually won, and won well, it was as much down to profligate finishing from Cookham Dean then any great superiority on the hosts part. Chief culprit for the visitors was Xavi Etienne who miss a hat trick of gilt-edged  chances IN EACH HALF. Ben Lyden eventually opened the scoring for the hosts who were were almost immediately pegged back by Cookham’s John Lennon; it was all coming together nicely as a spectacle.

But then the ideas just stopped. The game needed an inspiration and it came from Ben Lyden. A decent cross arrived from the right, and he did well to steer the ball into the net. He was immediately substituted due to work commitments, and he just got changed when referee Peter Hitt gave a great advantage to allow Adam Kingsbeer to race through in stoppage time to give the score a slightly flattering feel.