Rum

11 Sunday Aug 2013

Tags

Andrew Grant-Soulsby, caribbean sugar, Chester le street, cumberland county, Darren Donald, Harvey Harris, Jefferson's Rum, Northern League, Stuart Clarke, sugar plantations, Whitehaven AFC

Saturday 10th August 2013 ko 15.00

Northern League Division 2

WHITEHAVEN AFC 2 (Donald 23 64)

CHESTER-LE-STREET TOWN 1 (Grant-Soulsby 77)

Att 208

Entry ?

Programme £1

Badge £2.50

It was very much a case of “Gentlemen start your engines,” as the match finished at Celtic Nation. The road out from the ground was narrow and congested, and I knew from experience that Carlisle city centre can be a nightmare to negotiate. Hop organiser Harvey Harris looked frustrated. sat in the courier seat of the coach as a stream of cars passed by, his coach blocked in by a single pesky, inconsiderate car. He finally got away about 10 cars behind me, but once out of Carlisle it was a straightforward enough drive west to Whitehaven.

The coastal town is possibly best known for being the most complete example of planned Continue reading →

The Mission

21 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by laurencereade in M

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bilborough Town, groundhop, Magdala Amateurs, Notts Senior League, Rob Hornby, Stuart Clarke

Friday 17th April 2013 ko 18.30

Notts Senior League Senior Division

MAGDALA AMATEURS 2 (Sutton 10 48)

BILBOROUGH TOWN 1 (Lucas 22og)

Att 245

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badges sold out

If there’s one thing I like more than a groundhop weekend, its a groundhop I’m not involved in organising! Rob Hornby, apart from being a good friend, is a wizard of organising events in and around his home in Mansfield. He organised the sadly finished Central Midlands League Groundhops, but has now switched to the parallel status Notts Senior League for his annual Bonanza. The format was one game on the Friday, followed by 4 on the Saturday, and with none of the clubs having floodlights it was set to be a busy weekend!

My mistake, in retrospect was not taking half a day off work; Friday night traffic meant I missed the first few minutes of the game, that apparently kicked off a touch early. Never mind, that’s my fault, especially as the Stuart Clarke influence in me likes to get to a ground early and soak the place up.

The club play behind the ROKO Health Club, in West Bridgford, in South Nottingham, and their unusual name takes a little explanation! They were formed in 1895 by the Rev. Gwynne as the side of the St Emmanuel Sunday School based on Magdala Road nearby. They took the name as Notts Magdala, but when a reserve side was added they promptly broke away and became the Magdala Amateurs of today! The first XI carried on, and eventually changed their name to Nottinghamshire FC and also play in the Notts Senior League, just north of the city.

For a club less than 2 miles from a major city’s centre, the ROKO centre’s pitch is quite arboreal in location! It made for an attractive meeting point, in the setting sun, although I did feel sorry for the owner of the car wash in the car park, who must have thought his Christmases had come at once as 10 times Magdala’s attendance arrived only to drive straight past him!

Rob had clearly got the club working along the correct lines, as everyone looked busy. The catering was contracted out to a local sandwich bar, and the merchandise stall did a roaring trade. I found Rob, and donated a bag of programmes towards his charity stall. Then I actually managed to relax and watch the game!

It didn’t take long to work out that Magdala were clearly the stronger team, and they took the lead through Lee Sutton. Only poor finishing and the woodwork stopped them adding to the score and the profligacy was punished when Bilborough equalised when a cross spun off Magdala defender Richard Lucas for a bizarre own goal.

Sutton doubled his tally just after the break and that was to be the end of the scoring, although both sides had chances, the majority falling to Magdala. I watched Rob as the final whistle blew. The first game is always the most nerve-wracking as organiser but his smile spoke volumes. I gave another hopper a lift into the centre of Nottingham, then disappeared into the night.

: Rob Hornby

Paradise Lost

13 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by laurencereade in H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

abdul latif, Darren Inns, Glenn Billingham, Harpole, michael betts, Milton, Nathan Cook, Northants Combination, Shaun Markie, soccer, Stuart Clarke

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.