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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Long Crendon

The Secret Santa

29 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by laurencereade in L, O

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Tags

Court Place Farm, Football, groundhopping, hellenic league, Long Crendon, Non League, Oxford, Oxford City, Wallingford Town

Saturday 19th December 2020 ko 15.00

Hellenic League Division One East

LONG CRENDON 1 (Warwick 54)

WALLINGFORD TOWN 2 (Dean 43 Silkstone 85)

Att 36 at Oxford City FC

Entry £5

No Programme

You could say I was at this game because of Santa Claus! As you may know I’m part of a pub quiz team based at the Masons Arms in Oxford. Each Christmas we have a meal out at a local gastro-pub and exchange gifts in a “Secret Santa” arrangement. Covid of course had meant that meal out was impossible, but we decided to do the Secret Santa gift exchange, and I offered to play Santa for the afternoon and do the collections and deliveries from the doorsteps of our homes. The idea was afterwards to go and watch either of two Oxfordshire Senior League games. The first was Bicester-based Bure Park with Oxford Irish (based at Rose Hill Community Centre) as back-up. Both were 2pm kickoffs. 

Continue reading →

The Oxfordshire Day (That Wasn’t)

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by laurencereade in C, L, S

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Chalfont Wasps, Chinnor, England, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, hellenic league, Holyport, Long Crendon, Non League, Stokenchurch, Yateley United

Saturday 20th April 2019

11.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

STOKENCHURCH 0

CHALFONT WASPS 3 (Letterman 29 42 Williams 47)

Att 234

Entry & Programme £5

15.30

15.30 Hellenic League Division 1 East

CHINNOR 1 (Knowles 54)

HOLYPORT 4 (Raply 4 45 56 Driffill 16)

Att 196

Entry £4

Programme £1

19.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

LONG CRENDON 0

YATELEY UNITED 0

Att 269

Entry £6

Programme £1

It was unusual to be in the middle of an organised hop and for me to wake up at home. But with the Hellenic Hop visiting 3 clubs all within 20 miles from home and with an elderly father to keep an eye on, it made sense to have a couple of nights back home, even if Robyn and I did miss the full English breakfasts back at the Almondsbury Interchange! I found myself harking back to the days of the North Berkshire League’s Hops too, and on arrival at Stokenchurch you could see why. Continue reading →

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The Cutteslowe Wall

16 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by laurencereade in R

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Arron Andrew, Ben Green, Cutteslowe Park, Jake Howard, James Bartington, Jefferson Harriet, Liam O'Callaghan, Long Crendon, Otis Woodward, Oxon Senior League, Riverside, Steve Foot, Tim Siret

Wednesday 16th May 2012 ko 6.30pm

Oxon Senior League Division One

RIVERSIDE 11 (Green 14 Woodward 16 59 Howard 23 Haines 34 Andrew 56 77 O’Callaghan 40 50 Foot 54p Harriet 56)

LONG CRENDON 1 (Duke 71)

Att 5 (h/c)

Played at Cuttleslowe & Sunnymead Park, Oxford (North Oxford FC)

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

When aiming to watch a game in the OSL it does pay to be adaptable. The Football Traveller Guide has Riverside playing at Margaret Road, the home of the now defunct Quarry Nomads. That ground’s a short stroll from home, but I had quick dash back home to jump in the car when I found out that the game had been switched to Cutteslowe Park, home to North Oxford FC. From talking to the Riverside manager, it transpires that the club have now relocated to the pitches adjacent to the athletics stadium on the Horspath Road. That makes them virtually opposite to the Rover Cowley Ground, in Romanway. But, with the council having taken down the posts they were forced to switch the game.  I also discovered that goalkeeper Chris Harris, sent off for spitting at an opponent in the OSL Presidents Cup final, is now serving a 9 game ban. We agreed that was an appropriate penalty. https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/muddy-waters/

As a small boy growing up in East Oxford, Cuttleslowe Park was a rare treat at the end of the number 2 bus route. There’s the paddling pool, the aviary, and the miniature railway, but the abiding memory was the feeling of space, the place is huge! I was completely unaware in those days of the presence of tennis, cricket, a measured mile, and at least 4 football pitches serviced by 2 pavilions. There is however a dark side to the area. When in the 1930’s council housing was built in Cutteslowe, the private estate to the west developed by Clive Saxton of the Urban Housing Company took great exception.

Saxton was afraid that his housing would not sell if so-called ‘slum’ dwellers were going to be neighbours, so in 1934, walls over two metres high and topped with spikes were built to separate them. In fact, the council tenants settled in well and soon raised a petition asking for the walls to be demolished. In 1938 the council pulled down the walls but had failed to take legal advice, and were sued by UBC, and the walls were soon rebuilt. Amazingly it took until 1959 for the walls to be finally demolished after the land on which the walls stood was bought by a compulsory purchase order.

At last I was able to attend a game without a coat, and enjoy the end-of-season sun. The game was played on Pitch 3, the furthest from the Lower Pavillion while a U16 game took place on Pitch 2. With Long Crendon as the visitors, rock bottom with only 4 points, and Riverside chasing the championship, a nil-nil draw was never likely. And yes the goals rained in as Riverside passed Crendon to death.

But here’s the thing, Crendon weren’t quite as bad as I’d expected. I’d watched them lose 4-10 on May 2nd https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/t-e-a-m/ and they barely functioned as a team. Here, with players unavailable and no sign of their manager, they stuck to what most players know 4-4-2, and went down fighting. And frankly I’d rather watch that, than the shambles I saw 2 weeks ago. Perhaps surprisingly, my man of the match was Crendon keeper James Bartington who made several fine saves. There was a moment of humour when his opposite number Darren Kinch put in strong bid to take the penalty, but was quickly overruled!

The match was unobtrusively refereed by Tim Siret, the last ref to book me. I’ll always be grateful, as I’d have sent me off for the challenge in what proved to be my last game.

With a 10 goal lead, Riverside eased off and Crendon gained small consolation with Kieran Duke’s fine long-range effort. This roused the hosts to force home the eleventh and soon after I was able to stroll through the park, remembering childhood visits.




T E A M

02 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by laurencereade in L, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Alax Woodfine, Chris Davies, Chris Scott, Dan Baylie, John Hitchen, Kev Pooke, Kieran Duke, Lance Shaw, Laurence Olivier, Long Crendon, Oakley United, Oxon Senior League, Ryan Scott, Vivien Leigh

Wednesday 2nd May 2012 ko 6.30pm

Oxon Senior League Division One

LONG CRENDON 4 (C Scott 17 R Scott 51 Duke 61 75p)

OAKLEY UNITED 10 (Baylie 9 59 Shaw 15 76 Woodfine 33 41 49 84 C Davies 83 Pooke 86)

Att 12 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

Its a quirk of the league that this second tier game was in fact played by two Buckinghamshire sides! Mind you Long Crendon is only just over the border, around a mile or so, as you leave Thame.

The village used to be known as simply “Crendon” but during the English Civil War, to avoid confusion with nearby Grendon that village had “Underwood” added, and Crendon gained a “Long” a remark on the ribbon development that is still in evidence today. In the 13th century Crendon and Aylesbury were the only two settlements in England where Continue reading →

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