Tag Archives: League

4,3,2,1

17 Monday Oct 2011

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Sunday 16th October 2011

Kompetitie 3e Nationale B

K.F.C. VIGOR WUITENS HAMME 1 (De Lange 88)

KSV BORNEM 2 (Janssens 11 Muttinck 40)

Att c2,000

Entry €17 (seat in the middle of the main stand)

Programme €1

Braadwurst hotdog €4

Back to another Belgian Division 3 game, and this time in an atmospheric town centre ground. Plenty to like here, including the typically Belgian touch, the bar that you can see the game from. Friendly locals too, I showed my ticket at the wrong gate, and the steward informed me, in Flemish, that I needed to use the middle entrance. I understood, but the locals, realising I was not local, admonished him for not telling me in English. Definitely not necessary!

I took my seat in the stand and immediately spotted a problem. Behind my left ear a small boy with a high-pitched voice was shouting his support for Hamme, and to my right a middle-aged man and his wife were indulging in a see who can chain-smoke the smelliest cigarettes! Small irritants, because this was a great game to watch, two good sides, but Bornem always looked just that little bit fleeter of thought, and it was that little extra competitive edge that allowed them to prevail. Janssen’s thunderbolt free kick was worthy of a bigger stage, and whilst I was sad to see friendly Hamme lose, it did keep the little boy quiet!

So, 4 games, in 3 countries, in 2 days, with 1 Country point, and all down to the efforts of Peter Ford. Many Thanks mate.

Germany, but only just!

17 Monday Oct 2011

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Sunday 16th October 2011 ko 11.00am

Kreisliga A Aachen

SV 1927 KOHLSCHEID e.V. 4 (Savelsburg 30 Sendscheid 32 39 Ronneie 81)

SV RHENANIA 05 WÜRSELEN 1 (Böhnen 59)

Att 132 (h/c)

Entry €3

Programme FREE

Coffee €1

So, after leaving Belgium we managed to be in 3 countries within 2 hours. From Belgium to Holland, then a mere 5 miles into Germany, and the Casinostrasse, Hertzogenrath. In fact, I bought a cup of coffee in Holland, drank it in Germany, and disposed of the cup back in Belgium!

In German Kreis means circle, or less literally local, and this level of football is towards the bottom of the German pyramid, Kreisklasse does need to be seen to be believed!

Whilst I’m always up for a game, and especially in a new league,  I wasn’t expecting much at all. I was not so much surprised, more amazed, firstly at the well appointed ground, but the major surprise was the excellent programme!

We decamped to the clubhouse where the 2 English visitors caused a little disbelief! “You come all the way here to watch this?” As a hopper I live for comments like that!

It was easy enough to get the lineups, and I got talking to the announcer. It transpires that the visitors have a rich history, playing in the top flight of German football pre-Bundesliga. One of the trainers of the German national side started his career at Würselen.

Not much to call between the two sides in a good passing game whose skill level far exceeded my expectations. The main difference was Fabian Sendscheid who took his goals well, to put the game well beyond the visitors before half time. The seond half eased off a little, perhaps inevitably, but this was a mighty fine game, at a fine ground, a little off the beaten track.

Rhyme and Rjissen

17 Monday Oct 2011

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Saturday 15th October 2011 KO 2.30pm

Topklasse Zaterdag

SVV EXCELSIOR 31 2 (Wilens 46 56)

IJSSELMEERVOGELS 1 (Ramic 30)

Att c1,500

Entry €8

Programme FREE

Teamsheets FREE

Coffee €1

These 4 games were the brainchild of well-respected hopper Peter Ford; I merely provided company, and occasional directions! We used the Channel Tunnel on Friday night, well Saturday morning and stayed the remainder of the night at the spartan, but cheap Formule 1, at Calais Coquelles. Despite a massive hold-up on the Antwerp ring road, we arrived at Sport Park De Koerbelt,in Rjissen, Netherlands around 45 minutes before kick off.

Despite the name the Dutch Topklasse is in fact the 3rd tier, and there’s very little promotion up to the next level the Erstedivisie. In fact the vistors have won the Topklasse Zaterdag for the last 2 seasons, and it was obvious that the locals were keyed up for this game against the “Big Boys.” Which brings me neatly up to the Zaterdag bit. Below the top two levels, Dutch football is split into Saturday and Sunday football, a remnant of the influence of the two major religions in the country. Nominally at least the Catholics play on the Sunday, and the Protestants on the Saturday. Odd, but handy for the groundhopper!

The ground is on the edge of town and has a rural feel, even featuring a narrow gauge railway outside. There’s a large wooden stand, but the impression is one of space, the main pitch is “Veld 3” and there plenty of space for the patrons to mill around or use the excellent clubhouse behind the near goal. It reminded me of Degerfors of Sweden, but smaller.

The game was a cracker. Spakenburg based Vogels clearly had it well within themselves easily and Ramic’s opener, a spectacular overhead kick will live long in the memory. But they reckoned without their host’s persistance, and Wilen’s 25 yard free kick was an excellent reposte. The winner was almost as good as what had preceded, Ten Hove’s cross from the left fooled the Vogels defence, I though Wilens touched it in, the stadium announcer didn’t!

Make no mistake, this was a huge shock, and the expressions on the faces of the home fans at the end spoke volumes. It was then back over the border to Belgium for our second game.

Hero and Villan

13 Thursday Oct 2011

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Wednesday 12th October 2011 ko 7.45pm

United Counties League Division One

HUNTINGDON TOWN 1 (Moyes 12)

WOOTTON BLUE CROSS 2 (Janes 17 34)

Att 65

Entry & Programme £5

Coffee 50p

A few days ago I watched Witney Town, a side becalmed at a location way out-of-town. Here’s club, again way out-of-town, but making it work for them. And for those who haven’t been yet and are planning a visit, don’t use the postcode, you’ll go horribly wrong! I did! Aim for the village of Kings Ripton, and Jubilee Park is just before you get there.

And what a well organised place it is. Spick and span, with a large clubhouse, its similar to Market Harborough’s Bowden’s Park. It’s all there. A tea bar, alcohol bar, cover, lights, and multiple pitches for community use. In fact my only quibble was the lack of a seated stand, with my hernia and general tiredness making such a thing desirable! I suspect, with the club at step 6 and having only been in situ since 2003, the comment would be all in good time!

I immediately took to the club, because, yes, they are friendly. It costs nothing to have friendly people having a joke behind the tea bar, and to help you out with the line ups. Put that with a local making their first visit, and there’s someone who’ll be back and will bring a friend.

So I walked (slowly) out to the pitch quietly rooting for the homesters. Interestingly former West Ham star Calum Davenport was turning out for the visitors, his career wrecked by injury, but it was Huntingdon who took the lead with Daniel Moyes’ free kick freakishly evading the keeper from a full 45 yards. A fluke? Oh yes, but they all count.

But just over 20 minutes later, it was Blue Cross who lead, Gary Janes taking advantage of first a defensive howler and secondly a glorious through ball. It was first half stoppage time when the first of the two major talking points occurred. Davenport pulled a shirt, in the box, was booked but Joe Furness’ penalty was well saved by Gerrard, diving to his left.

The second half could, and didn’t live up to the excitement of the first, but even with my newly found bias it was hard to deny Huntingdon at least a point. And in stoppage time, potential salvation occurred. Again referee Moore spotted an infringement in the box, again Furness stepped up to take the spot kick, again he aimed bottom right, and yes again Gerrard saved. Hero and Villian 18 yards apart.

Soon afterwards Blue Cross loudly celebrated an important away win. Home manager Ricky Marheineke walked off with his arm around a destraught Furness. You couldn’t help but feel not only for the player, but this warm friendly club.

To finish though, a question. Why is the club playing in the UCL? Nearby Godmanchester play in the Eastern Counties League, and Huntingdon’s under 18’s play in the Eastern Counties Youth League!

Elevation

13 Thursday Oct 2011

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Tuesday 11th October 2011 ko 7.45pm

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

HATFIELD TOWN 0

ROYSTON TOWN 6 (Lockett 20 Young 39 Feumi 43p Robins 67 Standen 81 90)

Att 87

Entry £6

Programme £1

Tea 50p  (in a University of Chester paper cup!)

Until last season Hatfield groundshared at Welwyn Garden City FC. Sharing somewhere other than your home town is seldom ideal, but Hatfield now at least have a home to call their own. The problem is that its still in Welwyn Garden City! Moreover the Gosling Sports Park, doesn’t just contain a 6 lane running track but a velodrome too, making the football spectator extremely distant from the pitch. That said the velodrome is perhaps the ground’s saving grace, as the banking does provide elevation, ameliorating some of the distance. Its helped further by a balcony the height of which I’ve never enountered anywhere other than Wembley Stadium. The panorama shot is from there and it does give a Subbuteo feel to wtching a game.

With 3 distinct viewing areas, the terrace, seating and balcony, the ground is certainly different, and I’ve heard descriptions of Stalinist, and East German, neither of which I’d necessarily disagree with. For me it simply felt municipal, nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn’t want to watch football somewhere like this all the time. I should add that the club has had to work hard to get the ground usable for football. Gates have to be locked at specific times, and a huge players tunnel built, which if it were in Kent would have the anti-polytunnel brigade up in arm!

Hatfield have signed a 7-year lease, but I got the impression that their tenure may well be a lot shorter than that. The bottom line is that they want to be in Hatfield, and they think they’ve found a suitable location. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but I’d get to Gosling Sports Park soon to avoid disappointment.

On the pitch there were 2 sides with radically different agenda. Hatfield are building for the future, in both senses of the word, while Royston simply wish to return to the Isthmian League. After watching one of the biggest away drubbings I’ve ever seen I’m not sure which club will achieve their ambitions. Yes, Hatfield’s defence was appalling, but they looked a young side, and an older, better remunerated team, ran riot. Are Hatfield relegation fodder? On this outing yes, but they’re not in a relegation spot, and are there better teams than Royston in the league? You suspect quite possibly.

Definately one to keep an eye on.

Brave New World

09 Sunday Oct 2011

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Sunday 9th October 2011 ko 10.30am (approx!)

Upper Thames Valley League Premier Division

KINGS ARMS WHEATLEY 3 (L. Cuff 27 Sackey 30 85)

BARTON UNITED 0

Att 18 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

This was another Peter Hack inspired choice and another of those Sunday League grounds that you can’t do on a Saturday. And this time he decided to come along!

The side plays on the main pitch at Wheatley RUFC just opposite the Wheatley Park Sports Centre, the other pitch was being used by King & Queen Wheatley giving me an excuse to return. The elevated position made it blustery but the view on a clear day would be spectacular.

I have connections with the Barton estate, having grown up on the Risinghurst estate, the other side of the A40 from it, and went to Bayswater School, on the Barton estate itself. I wondered while I was there why the local Saturday side, Headington Amateurs was never mentioned, but the Sunday side was. Nowadays its clear, the Sunday side had the locals, and represented the estate, and bluntly had a fairly fearsome reputation. Barton played Kings Arms in the final game of last season, a shoot out for the championship. The game was switched to Sutton Courtenay for security reasons, and a strong team of referees took the game. Barton lost, amongst much acrimony and alcohol, and so this game we approached with some interest, but trepidation.

We needn’t have worried as that Barton United it transpired have folded, this version is in fact Masons Arms from Headington Quarry, rebranded and moved to Barton Rec’. They’re a friendly enough much, no Stella or Strongbow to be found, but the edge has gone. No players remain from “Old” Barton, and frankly they looked flat.

Kings Arms never looked like be troubled and Referee Neil Evans had little or nothing to do. Three goals went in, each beautifully crafted, and Barton showed little or nothing, other than frustration.

I did find out that many of the “Old Barton” players went to Kidlington Royals. Perhaps I should check them out sometime.

Win a holiday in Jura

09 Sunday Oct 2011

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Saturday 8th October 2011 ko 6.30pm

Hellenic League Premier Division

KIDLINGTON 3 (Coyle 34 Curtin 47 73)

ARDLEY UNITED 4 (D Beckett 5p 84 Thorne 24 Bryan 43)

Att 158 (h/c)

Entry £5

Programme £1

Bacon Roll & Cheesy Chips £3.10

So, the final game of this mini-hop was at Yarnton Road, and unlike poor old Witney, this club are right at the heart of the local community. The facilities, are nowhere near as good as at Downs Road just two squat “Arena” stands, but the clubhosue does a roaring trade seven days a week, and that allows the football team to thrive. On this occasion they were bested by a resurgent Ardley United managed by former Oxford United and Banbury United legend Kevin Brock. Ardley have a strong ex Banbury United flavour, in fact at times I felt I was watching the Banbury side I enjoyed around 7 years ago when I’d moved to the town. It seems such a long time ago now….

One of the throng watching was Pete Hack. Pete reminds me of a bluesman, in that the restrictions put upon him has made him groundhop in a really interesting way. He runs the Whisky shop in Oxford’s historic Covered Market, which means he works every single Saturday afternoon. So he watches student football, the Sunday game, anything he can. A bluesman restricts himself to 3 chords, Pete’s restricted to non-Saturday afternoons. His hopping CV is, as a result, highly unusual and interesting. With the late kick off he was able to attend and brought a bit of a bonus. The Jura distillery have a competition to win a trip to the island, but Pete’s customers couldn’t be bothered to fill out the postcards to enter. So, at half time we had the sight of hoppers frantically filling in postcards, wondering whether there’s any football played on Jura! Anyone know?

That shouldn’t detract from the game which was excellent, and in my opinion the best two teams of the day. I always felt that Ardley were the better team, but the result was in doubt for the full 90 minutes, and that whether you’re a spectator, official, or groundhop organiser is all you’re looking for.

The Little Details

09 Sunday Oct 2011

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Saturday 8th October 2011 ko 3pm

Hellenic League Premier Division

WITNEY TOWN 0 Stott sent off 64 (pro foul)

READING TOWN 4 (John 30 38 75 Spence 88)

Att 117

Entry £5

Programme £1

Once upon a time Witney had a thriving football team. Based at Marriotts Close, in the centre of town, the social club made enough money to sustain Southern League football, even though attendances at the games were relatively low. But once the club relocated to their new stadium, in Downs Road, that link was broken. That’s because Downs road is closer to Minster Lovell than Witney itself, and who wants to go for a beer at a breeze block edifice by an industrial estate? The club folded, were restarted by the fans as Witney United, but that in turn folded at the end of the last season. Witney Town were quickly revived and controversially kept United’s league position and FA Cup place.

But it doesn’t solve the conundrum of football in Witney, namely that the facilities are excellent, but in precisely the wrong location. A wonderful friendly club, the free teamsheets, were most welcome, but the team was so obviously lacking.

There was a 10 minute delay due to problems with Reading Town’s kit. Last Monday they’d had a kit stolen leaving just two left. They’d picked one, in yellow only to discover upon arrival that Town still play in Witney United’s gold and black! They found red shorts and socks and borrowed Witney’s change shirts, a delightful shade of purple!

One look at the team sheet showed the depth of Witney’s on field problems. Reading Town featured former Torquay, Hartlepool and Cambridge United forward Marcus Richardson, and perhaps more intriguingly Ray Spence, formerly of Farnborough, Oxford City, and South Reading. That’s right, South Reading of the 2nd tier of the Reading League, Spence is to be polite, a controversial figure. No lack of talent, but with a quite appalling disciplinary record. I saw him play at Marlow United for South Reading and I would have booked him four times for dissent or unsporting conduct, and sent him off for throwing a punch. Somehow he stayed on the pitch…. On this occasion he was reasonably well-behaved, just a rake down a leg missed by the officials.

Perhaps he didn’t need to misbehave, as Reading won this game purely on the little details, if they got a chance, they converted it, mainly through Phillip John’s runs from the right which caught the home defence time after time. When Witney did get a chance, it was spurned, most notably by Bloomfield after 82 minutes. But when you’re struggling that’s what happens. That includes Jon Stott’s dismissal for hauling down a clean through Spence.

Maybe Reading will find themselves in the Southern league soon, but that’s level Witney should be at with these facilities, if only they can square the circle of such a poor location.

The all important strip of astroturf

04 Tuesday Oct 2011

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Monday 3rd October 2011 ko 7.45

Hellenic League Floodlit Cup 2nd Round

HIGHMOOR-IBIS 4 (Campbell 23 Small-King 45 Brown 61 Stargatt 71)

SHRIVENHAM 1 (Maximen 71)

Att 78 (h/c)

Entry & Programme £4

Coffee 60p

Palmer Park, Reading is somewhere I have, perhaps more connections to than you’d expect for a bloke from Oxford. That’s mainly because my ex-wife is from nearby Henley-on-Thames, and this trip saw me drive through the town for the first time for a while on the way. Not much has changed, but then not much ever does.

I’d actually played 5-a-side at Palmer Park many moons and stones ago, and far more recently used to enjoy delicious, and gargantuan Sunday lunches at Colley’s Supper Rooms on the corner of nearby St Bartholemew’s  Avenue. Sadly Colley’s closed and is being refitted as a bar and grill. It won’t be the same… Continue reading →

3, 2, 1!

30 Friday Sep 2011

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Wednesday 28th September 2011 ko 7.30pm

Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Reg Davis Cup Final

GALA WILTON 3 (Hoskins 2 Hemming Bolton 27og)

STAR FC 2 (Gluyas 33 Conway 44)

Att 165 (h/c)

Entry & Programme £2 (but see below)

Match played at Glevum Park, Gloucester (Tuffley Rovers FC)

Consider if you will, a League Cup competition so well organised that it’s completed from start to finsh in September. Consider also, that this is a league where the top division sits a full 8 promotions from the football league. For this was one of the best organised cup finals I’ve ever attended, perhaps only surpassed by the Japanese Students Prime Minister’s Cup. The programme was excellent, it was easy to get the line ups and any piece of information was either in the programme or a simple question away. In fact the only thing that a few days after the event that still puzzles me is exactly how much was it to get in?

The front of the programme says £3, I was charged £2, but Lee West behind me was handed his programme and told he owed me a pound! Work that one out!

Glevum Park saw Hellenic Premier action comparatively recently, and it shows. Spick span, albeit with a lack of a bar area, it would quicky fall into the “bog standard step 5” category if isn’t wasn’t for that stand. I’ve never seen on of those before! In fact that only other ground I’ve seen seats like that were at North Leigh and they’ve long since been ripped out. I believe they call that “Progress.”

And what a game it was! After half an hour it looked like it would be a case of how may Gala could get but then the club formerly known as Eagle Star, found their feet. Yes they scored just the two, but hit the crossbar and missed when it looked a good deal easier to score, and don’t be fooled by the lack of goals in the second half either, this was a cracker from start to finish.