Tag Archives: Northants Combination

Mystery Trip

18 Monday Apr 2016

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Thursday 7th April 2016 ko 18.45

Northants Combination Division Two

KETTERING PARK ROVERS 0

WELDON UNITED RESERVES 4 (B Smith 5 34 Brown 24 Thompson 74)

Att 9

Entry FREE

No Programme

I’d organised to collect fellow hopper Chris from near Milton Keynes, but save for the game being in the Northants Combination, I had no idea where I was going. That didn’t change when Chris gave me the club’s name, Rovers don’t actually play in Kettering! Continue reading →

Crossing The Line

16 Friday May 2014

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Tuesday 13th May 2014 ko 18.30

Northants Combination Division 3

IRTHLINGBOROUGH RANGERS 1 (Potts 17) Potts sent off (violent conduct) 72, J Martin sent off (violent conduct) 86

KETTERING PL UNITED 7 (Ablewski 26secs Chojak 26 62 83 89 Leskowski 60 Augusciak 77) Putyrski sent off (violent conduct) 72

Att 12

Entry FREE

No Programme

It must be odd playing for an Irthlingborough side at the moment, knowing that the most well-appiointed ground in the town is the mothballed Nene Park, the former home of Rushden & Diamonds and Kettering Town. The advantage of visiting another team here is that unlike trips to the large ground you do actually see the town! For my southern eyes, it has elements of both north and south, I do like a border town, and the Church of St Peter, with its lantern tower is a wonderfully evocative landmark. The football ground, the Rec’ is found at the end of Scarborough Street. Be forewarned the street is narrow, and there’s no parking so a bright move is to park in town and take the 5 minute walk up the hill. I did, and was surprised at the obvious tension for an end of season game with absolutely nothing riding on it. Continue reading →

I Know Where It’s At

11 Sunday May 2014

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Wednesday 7th May 2014 ko 18.30

Northants Combination Premier Division

BRIXWORTH ALL SAINTS 1 (Ling 52) Dufty sent off 90 (2nd booking)

MILTON 0

Att 27

Entry FREE

No Programme

Brixworth lies to the north of Northampton, a stone’s throw from the M1/M6 interchange at Catthorpe immortalised in a million traffic reports. The team takes its slightly unusual name from the huge parish church of All Saints. Its one of the oldest, largest and most complete Anglo-Saxon churches in the country. It was founded circa 680 AD and was called  “The finest Saxon church north of the Alps.”

The village church is mentioned in the Peterborough Chronicles, being a monastery founded when Sexwulf became Bishop of Lichfield before the death of King Wulfhere in 675AD. Many elements from the original building remain visible, although there are later additions, notably the tower. The club is to be found on Froxhill Crescent, the mid-point of a modern estate and in the middle of it all is the wide expanse of the St David’s Playing Fields. Continue reading →

Obelisk

14 Monday Apr 2014

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Thursday 10th April 2014 ko 18.30

Northants Combination Division 3

NORTHAMPTON AFC OBELISK 0

KISLINGBURY 1 (Richards 79)

Att 13

80 minute game

Entry FREE

No Programme

 

If you travel to the Kingsthorpe district of Northampton you’ll find an obelisk. It’s not in brilliant condition, its 100 feet’s’ worth of sandstone in need of renovation, despite its Grade II listed status. It was placed there by order of Lord Strafford of Boughton Manor, friend of the 4th Duke of Devonshire, educated here by his tutor the Rector of Boughton, and the inscription reads as follows,

“This Obelisk was erected in the year 1764 in memory of His Grace William Cavendish
Duke of Devonshire.
There in the Rich, the Honour’d, Fam’d and Great,
See the false seat of Happiness Compleat.”

The estate that surrounds it is modern, and as a result the obelisk looks rather out-of-place with its surroundings, but it does serve one purpose; if you want to find a fourth tier Northants Combination game, just aim for the obelisk, and the Obelisk club is to be found at the end of the lane to its left. That said, as I photographed the structure several visiting players asked me whether they were heading in the right direction!

Continue reading →

Reversal

10 Thursday May 2012

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Thursday 10th May 2012 ko 6.30pm

Northants Combination Premier Division

WELDON UNITED 1 (Fraser 64)

RINGSTEAD RANGERS 3 (A Wells 10 Tarr 17 Coles 83)

Att 23 (h/c)

Played at Ringstead Rangers

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

To do this hobby well, you do need a good support group, and a lot of “Plan B’s!” This evening proved the point well. Plan A was Didcot Casuals at their Upper Thames Valley League ground, but Peter Hack phoned to say that was off. Then Chris Garner told me Lee West had found something in the Northants Combination, and it was Lee who’d discovered that Weldon had switched their game to Ringstead due to their own ground being waterlogged. Even as I headed north, Rob Tyler contacted me to tell me of another UTVL game at Saxton. James Rennie also let me know that he’d had a no-show at City Colts.  So, its a big thankyou to all of you, without your help I wouldn’t have chalked up ground 1,300 tonight.

Ringstead is about a mile from Raunds. If you’ve ever visited that town, and travelled there on the A45 you use the same junction, but travel in the opposite direction. The village was once a home to a large gravel works, that’s now been turned into lakes, which must set off the local flower festival rather nicely. I doubt if anyone noticed when local resident Alf Roberts left his birthplace to set up a grocer’s shop in Grantham. I would imagine they might have, many years later when his daughter Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister!

The ground is found at one end of Gladstone Street, and is functional. There’s just the one pitch, but there are signs that cricket may have been played too at one point. There’s a changing room block rather touchingly built by, “Players, Committee and friends.” The pitch is roped off and cover is provided by was looked to be a shed!

It was obvious that Weldon are a Corby side, judging by the Scottish accents, and names! On this occasion they looked second best to a side that lost their keeper to a dislocated shoulder after an hour. At that point they’d done well to get back in contention after being blown away in the first 20 minutes, with a well taken goal from Sean Fraser. However they failed to force a single save from stand-in keeper Glenn Turner, and with all substitutes used, the 10 men of Ringstead went up the other end to score a third, David Coles forcing in at close range.

It was, in truth typical end of season stuff, rather lackadaisically refereed by Scott Dempsey. What he couldn’t keep up with he didn’t see, and what he did he often didn’t give. How he failed to give Ringstead a penalty early in the second half I’ll never know.

So, Ringstead joins my group of 100th’s. Amongst these are, Holbrook MW (500) Darlaston (800) Cardiff City Stadium (900) Newbridge (1000) Dobwalls (1,100) and Blackstones (1,200). Wonder where 1,400 will be?

Paradise Lost

13 Friday Apr 2012

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Wednesday 11th April 2012 ko 6.25pm

Northants Combination Premier Division

HARPOLE 5 (Clarke 15 18 Markie 55 80 Inns 97)

MILTON 2 (Snooks 46 Cook 65) Billingham sent off 54 (2nd booking) Snooks missed penalty 84

Att 71 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

This small village in Northamptonshire is not to be confused with the Harpole in Suffolk, immortalised in “Viz,” that famously had Newcastle restaurateur Abdul Latif as its Lord of the Manor! This version is more sedate, there’s a scarecrow festival each September to raise funds for the local church! In the distance you can see the outskirts of Northampton itself.

The agrarian theme continues at the local playing fields, with farmland as their backdrop. There’s a well-appointed clubhouse, with fascinating memorabilia of the clubs highly successful past in the Northants League. There’s two pitches with a cricket square between them; our game took place on the pitch furthest from the clubhouse. Unlike its brother, it sports a skeleton dugout block, and  removable posts and rails. On a bright, if chilly evening it was a pleasant place to watch an excellent game.

With Harpole pushing for the title and Milton worrying near the bottom, it was surprising that Milton opted to play the first few minutes with 10 men, despite having a full complement of substitutes. Michael Betts soon arrived, but I had no other reason to note his name again as Harpole raced into a two goal lead. As if to add injury to insult, Milton keeper Piotr Hajemo took six studs to his ribs from his own defender as Stuart Clarke slid in to guide the ball home.

Callum Snooks pulled one back for Milton immediately after the restart, but Glenn Billingham’s red card for kicking an opponent cost his teammates any chance of a way back into the game. Not that at the time you’d have noticed, as Milton still found it within themselves to miss a penalty! There was an exchange of goals, but Harpole only made the advantage count when their visitors visibly tired. Shaun Markie collected his second, before fellow substitute Darren Inns’ thunderbolt half-volley provided a fitting coda.