Tag Archives: groundhopping

The Big Day at the Big Arch

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in H

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

Sunday 10th July 2011 ko 7.04pm

J-League Division One

SANFRECCE HIROSHIMA 1 (Lee 2) K Morisaki sent off 42

CEREZO OSAKA 3 (Kurata 33 Kiyotake 49 Komatsu 51)

Att 11,615

Entry & Programme 2,000 yen

Towel Scarf 1,575 yen

Badge (from vending machine) 200 yen

Coach ticket 8,000 yen

From Cerezo Stall

Towel Scarf 1,575 yen

Badge 635 yen

This day, a Sunday was for me at least, more than just a football trip, it also was about learning a lot about the country and its culture.

The coach left Osaka at around 10am, and I was pleased that it was a bright pink affair with the club mascot, the wolf embrazoned on it too. A volunteer took payment of 10,000 yen via a portable credit card device, and your payment included a ticket for the away end. The coach was air conditioned and spacious, and the Cerezo fans were rather fascinated by the new Gaijin, especially when Peter told them just how much football I watch!. And elderly couple practised their English on me which they’d picked up during the American occupation from watching “Bonanza.” Another elderly lady presented everyone with beautiful leaflets for the game. A real collectors item!

We stopped at service stations twice each way, and the meals available were both cheap and tasty. I also enjoyed the ice cream stalls!

For a 7.04pm kick off we arrived by British standards stupidly early, around 4.30 pm. That’s because the culture is to reserve your place by placing your bag on your chosen seat (it’s perfectly safe to do so), then go for a meal, and generally relax. Pete and I decided to explore. We soon discovered that there are 3 stadia, two smaller ones that seemed barely used and a sports field where hundreds of children were playing in a tournament. Make no mistake, the future of the Japanese game is rosy.

We made our way to the the stadium, and bought our goodies, and I took advantage of the fact that as a courtesy the away team is allowed to set up a stall. I watched the lady who’s practised her English with me, take her Cerezo-pink bicycle from the boot of the coach, and cycle up to the ground from the car park. It transpired she isn’t too fleet of foot these days so this arrangement allows her to see away games. It is a matter of course that she was able to leave the bike unattended by the away end.

The stadium is genuinely iconic (it must be, the amount of photos I took!), but I do wonder how practical it is. For a ground featured in the World Cup it does have a running track, and I do wonder how much cover the Big Arch actually provides. There was no way of knowing as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was 35 degrees! I found both sets of fans sitting happily together enjoying the catering so I joined them.

The two team buses arrived rather ceremonially, and I settled down for my first view of Peter’s favourite team. And it didn’t start well either, Tananari Lee stabbing home following a defensive howler with only 90 seconds on the clock!

The turning point was unquestionably the dismissal of Koji Morisaki on 42 minutes. It looked a little harsh, particularly the first booking, but Cerezo took full advantage and in the end won comfortably.

We strolled back to the coach early enough to watch the sets of fans waving each other goodbye as friendly as could be, and then were handed a complimentary beer to start the long drive home. We reached Osaka at 2.30am and I was on the 6.28am Shinkansen to Tokyo……

This day so far I feel represents the absolute zenith of my groundhopping career. It will take some matching!

This is it!

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in K

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Friday 8th July 2011 ko 7.00pm

Japan Football League

ZWEIGEN KANAZAWA 1 (James 40)

HONDA FC 0

Att 1,658

Entry, Fan, and Programme 1,500 yen

Badges 1,500 yen

Stickers 800 yen

Towel Scarf 1,200 yen

In many ways this day was the perfect day for a groundhopper like me. The day was spent visiting Kanazawa Castle and the Kenrokuen gardens. That was followed by a thorough wash and shave in a public baths, and after 35 degree heat and 90% humidity trust me you need it, a trip to see a 7.00pm kick off.

I should explain the Japanese pyramid. Top is the J-League First Division, then the second division, and the JFL is the 3rd and last national tier. Below you get the regional leagues followed by the prefectoral ones. More of those…. later!

The Ishikawa Seibu Ryokuchi Stadium is conveniently placed in a park right by the main freeway, and is adjacent to another impressive stadium. It’s far too big for Kanazawa’s needs being the largest in the JFL but the club do their best to make it feel homely. The German Zwei, or two is a reference to the fact that this is the second Kanazawa team to try to make it big. If simply being friendly and well-organised is a guide, then they’ll have no problems.

Ah yes, that teamsheet. Usual thing, I asked for the lineups, and the next thing is I’m handed a pass and a media guide. Quite a souvenir!

The game was a fair summary of my take on the Japanese game throughout my stay. Some sublime passing and individual skill, but sometimes rather naiive, and just about every team needs a 30 goal a season striker.

This was a highly entertaining game, and I was pleased to pick up my first towel scarf. That’s an interesting Japanese take on the football staple. If you’re going to watch a game in the heat, why would you want something woollen? Zweigen have ambitions for elevation to the J-League 2 whilst the visitors as a works team are forbidden from any further promotions. They could simply divest themselves of the works link, as many other teams have, or just accept their fate.

But the abiding memory will be just how well organised and friendly it all was. With the game still clearly learning, this was something more established footballing nations can learn from the Japanese.

Three Stadia and a botanical garden!

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in M, N, O

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

With me just out of hospital after stomach surgery I’d thought I’d put some stuff on July’s Japanese tour. As usual it’s as much about the people and the places as it is about the football, as it should be. Enjoy, and I hope to be back on the road soon.

Thursday 7th July 2011 ko 2.00pm

Japan University Football Association Prime Minister Cup Semi Final

MEIJI 1 (Iwabuchi 73)

OSAKA TAIIKO 1 (Matzuzawa 19)

AET  Osaka won 4-3 pens

Att c150

@ Nagai Number 2 Stadium, Osaka

Entry, Programme and Teamsheet 1000 yen (about £8.50)

Nagai Park is southern Osaka is quite something. There’s the massive Number 1 stadium, used in the World Cup, the 20,000 Kincho, and the 10,000 Number 2 all within 100 yards. Potentially an easy triple, and there’s the Botanical gardens too! Continue reading →

Pantomime season

18 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in F

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Sunday 18th December 2011. ko 10.30am (scheduled) 12.00pm (actual!)

Upper Thames Valley League Division 3A

FOREST HILL 1 (Gonzalez 50) Matthews missed pen 17

CHATSWORTH BUCCANEERS 1 (Davies 45)

Att 15 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

The small Oxfordshire village of Forest Hill lies about 5 miles east of Oxford. If you’ve ever driven from Oxford to London then you’ve probably passed the place. The poet John Milton, courted his future wife Mary Powell at the now demolished Manor house. The architect George Gilbert Scott ( Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station, the Albert Memorial ) redesigned the local church’s nave. It’s possible to see both the Beckley TV transmitter and Brill windmill.

The Forest Hill Recreation ground is to be found on the north-western tip of the village, on the B4027 Stanton Road. This bit was completely lost on referee Trevor Pitson, who as a late replacement for the injured Andrew Cotter got the wrong postcode and ended up in Great Milton, 8 miles away. He tried to contact the club, but the UTVL website had the wrong phone number. He’d returned back home to Faringdon by the time the club managed to contact him!

The advantage of this is that it gave a frosty pitch a chance to thaw. With the clubhouse having been destroyed in an arson attack in 2005, there was nowhere for the players to keep warm other than their cars, and I used the time to learn a little more. Forest Hill had a top flight UTVL side but the fire forced them off the ground, to Oxford’s Cutteslowe Park. The high fees charged by Oxford City Council proved to be too much, and the club folded after one season in exile.

This is the current club’s first season in existence and despite the name division 3A is as much the bottom division as 3B! Garsington based Chatsworth are having a dreadful season with just the one point so far.

The game turned out to be well worth the match-long wait as both sides used graft to make up what they lacked in skill. The memory I will have is the brilliance of the two goalkeepers Iain Locke for Forest Hill and Mike Webber for Chatsworth. Between them they produced 4 saves that a professional would be proud of. Webber’s reaction save to tip away a flicked header made up for a freezing conditions.

As much as anything else I enjoyed the company of two friendly clubs and some tremendous banter, particularly before the referee arrived.

“Well this ref can’t book us for a late challenge”

“The ref’s fee’s £30 lets go down the pub and drink it!”

You don’t get that in the professional game.

Ghosts of Atkins past

18 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Saturday 17th December 2011

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Craddock 50 Smalley 87) Craddock missed pen 86

NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0 Akinfenwa missed pen 90

Att 7,517 (748 away)

Entry S/T

Programme (inc Oxford Mail) £3

There’s a mere 46 miles from the clubs’ stadia, but there’s no great rivalry between the two teams. Oxford hate Swindon, and Northampton hate Kettering and until recently Rushden & Diamonds. Add to that very little playing contact between the two clubs until the day Ian Atkins became Oxford United manager and took a fair percentage of his successful Cobblers team with him. While the football was awful to watch Atkins was the only succesful manager while Firoz Kassam was chairman.

Despite all of that there was little extra intensity to this game. Northampton brought and decent following to boost what would have been a depleted pre-Christmas crowd.

The first half was a forgettable affair, with United lacking an anchor on midfield, and Northampton looking a team in transition from the loose, losing passing side to a tighter, dare I say uglier outfit typical of new manager Aidy Boothroyd. At that point easily the best player on the park was the portly figure of Cobbler’s striker Ade Akinfenwa, whose vision and touch seemed lost on those around him.

After the break Northampton looked noticeably more direct, the ball being biffed down the channels a lot, not a bad tactic for League 2 but useless for playing to an immobile striker.

Oxford took the lead on 50 minutes when Johnson’s poor clearance fell straight to Potter. He passed to Craddock who was allowed far too much space in which to turn and shoot home from 12 yards. He ran to celebrate with the physiotherapist who treated him through a long spell injured.

On 85 minutes Johnson’s unfortunate afternoon continued as he tripped Craddock in the box. Craddock and Leven argued as to who should take the penalty, and Leven must have been seething as Craddock’s spot kick disappeared into the car park, damaging a wing mirror!

In the final analysis it didn’t matter as Constable found space on the left and looked up to see Deane Smalley at the back post. Smalley had the easiest opportunity to tap the ball in for his first goal at home. A long time coming for a man who a lot was expected.

Heslop’s miss from Tonkin’s cross defied belief but so did what followed, in injury time. Batt was penalised for handball, but if Craddock’s penalty was missed, then Akinfenwa’s was definitely saved, Clarke diving at full stretch to his left.

Progress of a sort for United, and Northampton will feel that there’s every reason to believe that the new regime will ensure League survival. That, perhaps is why there’s so little rivalry.

Leylandii

13 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in B

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Monday 12th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

BEMERTON HEATH HARLEQUINS 1 (Sanger 65)

GE HAMBLE 0

Att 29 (h/c)

 

Entry £6

Programme £1

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

Cheeseburger £2.50

 

Bemerton Heath is a housing estate in the north-western suburbs of Salisbury. I’d like to tell you something interesting about the place, but I can’t because I can’t find anything remotely interesting about it! That’s no criticism, as the club are a wonderful group of people, at an interesting ground.

I drove down to the Westwood Recreation Ground straight from work, and by the time I’d passed the Laverstock turn the weather was positively apocalyptic with a howling gale and the rain lashing down. I parked up and dashed into the large clubhouse. The GE Hamble committee seemed to be waiting, not for me, but for a decision. It became clear that although the pitch was perfectly playable the Bemerton management and both managers didn’t want to play. The final decision was left as late as possible to the extent that the turnstiles did not open until one minute to kick off! Continue reading →

Bring Me Sunshine

11 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in M

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Saturday 10th December 2011 ko 3.00pm

League 2

MORECAMBE 0

OXFORD UNITED 0

Att 1,914

Entry (centre of main stand) £21

Programme £3

Badge £3

Tea £1.50

Pie, Peas, and Gravy £3

This was one of the now rare occasions when I could be both an Oxford United fan and a groundhopper!

Morecambe on the North Lancashire coast actually takes its name from the 190 mile bay on which it lies, its former name being Poulton-le-Sands. That name is a good reference to the sandflats, where cockle-picking remains a business. Its there that at least 21 Chinese cocklepickers drowned in February 2004, trapped by the fast tide.

On a happier note, in 2010 Morecambe was noted as having the most dog lovers in the UK, but no mention of the town is complete without reference to its most famous son, comedian Eric Morecambe, whose statue is a landmark on the seafront.

Continue reading →

Trot On

09 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in O

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Wednesday 6th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

FA Youth Cup 3rd Round

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Marsh 58)

BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Caton 4 Iliev 90)

Att 451

Entry £3 (as a season ticket holder, £6 otherwise)

Programme 50p

Its been many years since OUFC’s youth team had made the 3rd round of this competition, and since only the Lower Tier of the South Stand was open it was interesting to see the game from another perspective. And at those prices, what a bargain!

We drove to the East car park, and Dad wondered as we turned whether we’d get a spot. 10 seconds later, I counted 7 cars……

Those who decided against this one, missed a real cracker, possibly the best game I’ve seen all season. Highly skilled and highly committed, I actually forgot that there was Champions League football going on at the same time. Also watching were several members of the OUFC first X1 squad which is good to see.

The vistors took an early lead through man-of-the-match James Caton converting a cross from the right at the back post. For most of the first half OUFC looked slightly overawed, and it was noticable that after the break that Bolton’s confidence waned as their hosts gave them less respect. When Tyrone Marsh’s looping header beat the excellent Lewis Fielding in the Trotters’ goal, away heads dropped and it took some stern words from manager (and ex OUFC left back) Jimmy Phillips to get Bolton fired up again.

The talk worked and despite the valient efforts of tiring legs Bulgarian forward Georg Iliev managed to twist in the box to shoot past Dan Lincoln. Heartbreak for OUFC whose endeavours deserved a shot at extra time.

First Impressions

08 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in A

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

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 →

The Bulldozer Looms

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in B

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Saturday 3rd December 2011 ko 2.00pm

Central Midlands League Southern Section

BELPER UNITED 1 (Wadsworth 72) Smith sent off 45 (violent conduct)

SUTTON TOWN AFC 2 (Buchanan 15 Hollingworth 38)

Att 45 (h/c)

Entry/Programme/Raffle £1

Tea £1

After the morning game at Loughborough University, the 30 mile drive to the Derbyshire town of Belper was straightforward. The town’s name is thought to be a corruption of Beaurepaire – meaning beautiful retreat – the name given to a hunting lodge, the first record of which being in a charter of 1231.

The industrialist Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Richard Arkwright, built a water-powered cotton mill in Belper in the late eighteenth-century: the second in the world at the time. With the expansion of the textile industry Belper became one of the first mill towns. In 1784 Strutt built the North Mill and, across the road, the West Mill. In 1803 the North Mill was burnt down and replaced by an new structure designed to be fireproof. Further extensions followed, culminating in the East Mill in 1913 – a present-day Belper landmark. Although no longer used to manufacture textiles the mill still derives electricity from the river, using turbine-driven generators.

In 1938, local firm A.B.Williamson had developed a substance for conditioning silk stockings – the introduction of nylon stockings after the Second World War seemed to make it redundant, but mechanics and fitters had discovered its usefulness in cleaning hands and it is still marketed by Deb Group as Swarfega.

However Paul and I’s reason to be there was simple, the town’s second football team will be moving off their ground at the end of the season, and Alton Manor isn’t being featured on March’s Central Midlands Hop.

You wonder what Alton Manor would have looked like before the housing estates that will eventually swallow it up were built. Its compact, and has seen earthworks to create enough pitch space from side-to-side. Its railed, with a cramped octagonal changing room block. The only toilet is within this, and it was locked during the game. To allow elevation from the Midland Regional Alliance to this season’s Central Midlands League a small shelter has been cobbled together from 4 sheets of corrugated iron, Catering was being provided by a burger van.

As part of the planning agreement the builders who will bulldoze the ground were to provide a replacement ground. A wrangle over land ownership means that this isn’t going to happen so United are eyeing a little used ground in town. Apart from a few other hoppers, two of which were looking to head for the second half at Holbrook after this encounter, also present was Frank Harwood, League chairman for the last 30 years, and who is helping out Rob Hornby with this year’s groundhop. He took great delight in telling Paul, at his first CMFL game, all about the league and its history.

The game was a bruising encounter, with language as violent as the challenges. The referee missed a blatant penalty for Belper early on, then Sutton scored with a curling shot from the right. The lead was doubled, direct from a free kick, but by this time it was clear that it would only be a matter of time before industrial football and a young referee would ignite this tinderbox. It happened on the stroke of halftime, when Belper’s Matt Smith was scythed down whilst running through. He got up and immediately punched his assailant, sparking a melee. Its was obvious he had to receive his marching orders, which he did, but how the referee failed to find another card I’ll never know!

This set the tone for the second half which was largely ill tempered and it was clear that the visitors believed the game was won. Belper did enough in midfield to have stolen (mugged?) a point and should really have equalised, wasting a string of chances including one that almost defied belief.
The home fans were increasingly upset at the referee, leading to some great comments. One one-eyed local called referee Ollie Bickle  “A useless bloody article” and then better still “You make a T*** look normal” Although I’m not sure what’s abnormal about one of those!

So an entertaining game but I’m not convinced that Frank Harwood would have wanted a game like this as Paul’s first ever game in his league!