Hannan | Football: Wherever it may be

Tags

Annan Athletic, Central Park, Cowdenbeath, groundhopping, Hannan, League 2, Scotland, Scottish League, SPFL

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.

Saturday 2nd August 2008 ko 14.20

Scottish League Division 3

COWDENBEATH 1 (McQuade 16)

ANNAN ATHLETIC 4 (Jack 30p 48 Archibald 58 Johnstone 90)

Att 596

Entry £10

Programme £1.50

There are of course no lack of towns that with the greatest of respect to their residents, that you’d never visit for tourism but would for football. That said I do know one couple where the wife made the rather rash decision to let hubby book their summer holiday. They were due to visit Sunderland this June had it not been for Coronavirus. Cue the complaints from the Sunderland tourist board….. Continue reading →

Tags

Football, groundhopping, Hannan, J-League, Japan, Osaka, Tsurumi Ryokuchi Stadium

Saturday 16th July 2011 ko 2.30pm

Junior High School Friendly

HANNAN 3 (6 8 12)

SHIRASAGI 0

Att 3 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No programme

Drinks via vending machines

@Tsurumi Ryokuchi Stadium, Tsurumi Ward, Osaka

Very much a case of get what you can. The park, Ryokuchi means Green Plaza by the way, is in the east of Osaka, and features swimming pools, cycling and jogging trails, and peaceful seating areas, although it is the flowers that have become the main attraction here. A massive attraction in Japan in early spring is gazing at the blossom, and Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park is a popular place to indulge the hobby.

As for the the Stadium well, it’s a municipal edifice originally built for American Football, but converted to 4G, and association rules. It’s huge given that the highest level of football regularly played there is the 4th tier Kansai League. The stadium was used for the 2001 East Asian games football tournament, together with the Nagai Number 1 stadium (Cerezo Osaka) and the Osaka Expo ’70 Stadium (Gamba Osaka). Nearby is a swimming pool, tennis courts, even the park’s own subway station. Pete and I were due to watch a Kansai League game there and soon discovered that it had been moved from the Saturday to the Monday, a public holiday, and all there was to watch was a friendly between 2 Junior High School teams.

Now at this point you may have picked up on the fact that this was at roughly midday and the authorities were asking teenagers to play at the height of the heat and humidity. After, all the professionals don’t play until the evening! In Japan football is a summer sport despite it being a northern hemisphere country. The reason is due to the fact that roughly 4 northern teams do get significant snow during winter, and so staging and travelling to games would be difficult. I’m bound to say that in a country renowned for its ingenuity, I’m surprised a work-around hasn’t been found as it was really very warm even to watch!

Well, it was truncated, but the game was perfectly watchable, and yes, it counts because what are the chances of me ever returning?