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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: North Devon League

The Birthday Conundrum

23 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by laurencereade in B

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Appledore Lions, Barnstaple, Barnstaple FC, Devon, Football, groundhopping, Non League, North Devon League, Phil Hiscox, Tony Cloak

Saturday 19th June 2021 ko 14:30

North Devon League Intermediate One

BARNSTAPLE FC (Shaddick 10 59 Burbidge 20 Box 36 Robinson 78)

APPLEDORE LIONS 1 (Kinder 30)

Att c20 at Queen Elizabeth II Playing Field, Tews Lane

Free Entry

Finally the end of the 2020/21 season was in sight. Robyn and I knew we’d be back in the South West, a combination of seeing family in Bristol and an invite to spend the evening with friends in Totnes saw me make a beeline for a league I’m close to regarding as an old friend. Continue reading →

The Bucket List Ground

26 Friday Oct 2018

Posted by laurencereade in S

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bridgerule, Football, groundhopping, Non League, North Devon League, Old Alswear Road, South Molton

Saturday 8th September 2018 ko 15.00

North Devon League- Division Intermediate 2

SOUTH MOLTON 3 (Motteram 39 M Latham 48 Jones 70)

BRIDGERULE 2NDS 2 (Parker 46 Barnwill 85)

Att 19

Free Entry

Unless you’re a groundhopper, the small Exmoor Town of South Molton is best known as being where the last stand of the Penruddock Uprising took place in 1655, or where in 1686 Lord of the Manor Hugh Squier’s philanthropy endowed the Grammar School that is now the South Molton United School. It’s a quiet place, but one to explore for a few hours, then have a pub lunch. But if you are a groundhopper South Molton, is an absolute bucket list ground.  Continue reading →

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The Hidden Gem

09 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Combe Martin, Football, Hollands Park, Non League, North Devon League, Stratton, United

Sunday 14th May 2017 ko 15.00

North Devon League- Senior Division

COMBE MARTIN 3 (Taylor 6 Z Humphries 25 32)

STRATTON UNITED 0

Att 24

Free Entry

There are no end of hoppers who simply wouldn’t have discovered this little gem. Why I hear you ask? The North Devon’s second tier nominally slots in at the 9th step of non-league and so many hoppers’ radars won’t register below Step 6. Their loss…… Continue reading →

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Bampfylde

03 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by laurencereade in N

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bradworthy, Football, groundhopping, North Devon League, North Molton, Rockfield, Sports club

Saturday 22nd October 2016 15.00

North Devon League Premier Division

NORTH MOLTON SPORTS CLUB 3 (Phillips 25 35 55p) Body sent off (offensive / abusive / insulting language and / or gestures) 88

BRADWORTHY UNITED 9 (M Carter 13 51 60p 87 G Carter 42 83 90 Clarke 24 73)

Att 14 

Entry FREE

No Programme

As Forrest Gump once commented,  “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” In groundhopping terms that is certainly the case belpw Step 6. Yes, you’ll see your fair share of fields, but you’ll also see the occasional surprising little gem. And half a dozen hoppers at Rocksfield certainly enjoyed their afternoon here. Continue reading →

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Mazzard

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by laurencereade in L

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

AFC, Bideford, Bideford Community, Castle Inn, Football, groundhopping, Landkey, Millenium Ground, North Devon League, Town

Saturday 22nd October 2016 ko 12.00

North Devon League Premier Division

LANDKEY TOWN AFC 1 (Phillips 40)

BIDEFORD COMMUNITY 5 (Comerford 2 Morris 26 61 St John 29p Kewley 78)

Att 20

Entry FREE

NO Progamme

On the basis that any double is a good double it made sense to sit in a car for 3 hours to head to a small village near Barnstaple to watch that side play a Southern League side’s reserves. The reason for the early kick off was that the visitors wanted to travel afterwards to watch local boxer Tommy Langford fight in Cardiff that evening. The bout was cancelled, but the early kick-off was kept, and that was enough for half the attendance to have absolutely no connection to either side! Continue reading →

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In Another World

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Arlo Reddick, Cerne Abbas Giant, Charles Kingsley, Clovelly, Higher Clovelly, Ian Chan, Lundy, North Devon League, Roib Kearney, Thomas Frost, Torrington FC

Saturday 16th February 2013

Clovelly

Entry, Parking and 2 Museums £6.50

Then at 14.30

North Devon League Intermediate Division 1A

CLOVELLY AFC 4 (Kearney 8 18 77 88)

TORRINGTON RESERVES 2 (Frost 7p Reddick 64)

At Clovelly Parish and War Memorial Hall, Higher Clovelly

Free Entry

Nothing for Sale

With a bed for the night in Dorset it seemed logical to look for something interesting to see in the South-West, as well as a football match afterwards. I ended up settling on Clovelly because I hadn’t been there since childhood, and I fancied a low-level game; sometimes you need to re-connect with the grass-roots and get muddy feet!

During the 100 mile 2 hour journey, I questioned my decision regularly. I stopped at the Cerne Abbas Giant, partially as part of yesterday’s “Prehistoric” tour, and as a final attempt to find something “Unworldly” in Hardy’s Wessex. Once again I was foiled, the thick fog making the chalk carving in the hill invisible.

I crossed in to Somerset, then into Devon, and gradually became aware of the Holiday Parks and Theme Parks, that have become the tourist industry’s way of coping a climate that whilst temperate, can’t compete with the Spanish Costas. In turn that scene changes once you turn right off the Barnstaple Road, and head downhill to Clovelly.

Roughly 1,600 people live in this pretty fishing village, famous for its cobbled streets, and steep gradient down to the sea. Due to this, and the narrowness of the streets, motor transport is banned by the Hon. John Rous, a descendant of the Hamlyn family who have owned Clovelly since 1738. That is where there’s some controversy, as its highly unusual to be charged simply to visit a viable village where people live and work normally.

Certainly the visitor centre is dreadful, simply a tourist catch-penny, I scuttled through quickly, but the village whilst beautiful, has more to it than meets the eye. With access restricted, if you live here you have to find a way of getting anything heavier than a bag of shopping down to your house. The solution is  two bread baskets tied together with wooden runners to form a sled. I spent some time trying to take pictures avoiding them, until I worked out what they were. Another surprise was the sheer number of cats! Yes, there is no lack of fish, and our feline friends would have no issue with the slope, but everywhere I looked there was a cat in need of a cuddle!

One of the two museums your entry fee gives access to (the other is a fisherman’s cottage) is the home where Charles Kingsley grew up. He was a social reformer, and a supporter of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. His book The Water Babies is influenced by Clovelly, and Westward Ho! by the North Devon peninsula.

For all of that I clambered back up the hill, pausing to watch a lady tending to a garden with a 1:3 gradient, still pondering what it would be like living in a village that’s part tourist attraction, part working environment.

With the inevitable boxes of fudge for my family stowed in the back of the car I drove the mile or so up the hill to Higher Clovelly. This is a far more typically Devonian village without the yoke of restrictions imposed on its sister down the hill. As is so often the case, the football club plays on a pitch by the village hall, but in this case there are two factors to consider. Firstly its quite a village hall, with billiard room, kitchen, bar and mini-theatre. In fact, the referee changes in the stage area, with the curtains drawn! However it’s view from the little stand that is the ground’s selling point.

You can see the Puffin sanctuary island of Lundy isolated in the Bristol Channel. These days it only has a population of 28, with plenty more visiting on day-trips to view the wildlife and to visit the Bronze Age Burial Mounds, and Mesolithic flint work. With a full hour before kick off, and the ground deserted, I stood and watched a boat sail across the channel between the island and the mainland, and took a deep breath. Here was my unworldly moment, in the place I’d expected it least!

It got better as the players and officials arrived. To a man and woman, all were friendly and both teams put on an entertaining game on a heavy, bobbling pitch that seemed to have been cut for rugby rather than football. The undoubted star of the show was Clovelly player-manager Robin Kearney whose clever late runs were incomprehensible to the Torrington defence. He scored all 4 of Clovelly’s goals, ably assisted by captain Ian Chan’s long throws. Torrington tried hard, and will feel that 2 goals is scant reward for good play, taking account of the level (10 promotions from the Football League) and the playing conditions.

I smiled as I watched the last five minutes as a couple of hours before I wondered whether paying £6.50 to visit Clovelly was good value for money. I’d realised that when you take Clovelly AFC into account too, it’s a real bargain.









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