Tag Archives: Superleague

Olympiad

01 Wednesday Feb 2017

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Sunday 22nd January 2017 ko 15.00

Greek Superleague

A.E.K. 2 (Pekhart 24 Mandalos 47)

ASTERAS TRIPOLIS 0

Att 5,025 at Spyros Louis Olympic Stadium, Athens

Entry €15

No Programme

It seems to be that if you’re anything resembling a sports fan and you’re in Athens you really ought to visit the Panathenaic Stadium. There’s been a stadium here since 330 BC, but this marble incarnation dates from 1896 when it was rebuilt to host the first modern-era Olympic games. It also served at the 2004 Olympics hosting the archery and the finish of the marathon. Traditionally, it is where the Olympic flame leaves Greece for the torch relay to the host city. It costs €5 to have a look round. Continue reading →

Consideration

29 Sunday Jan 2017

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Saturday 17th January 2016 ko 17.15

Greek Superleague

PANIONIOS GSS 2 (Risvanis 25 Katharious 54)

PANETOLIKOS 0

Att 860

Entry €15

No Programme

Sat at a cafe in Monasteraki I had a dilemna. Two years ago I’d visited Athens and watched Panionios and Olympiacos, and those were our only two options on this Saturday evening. I knew that Olympiacos would have the “Wow” factor of a modern ground, but I wanted my girlfriend Robyn to get something authentically Greek so I plumped for Panionios, but even afterwards I wasn’t sure whether I made the correct decision.  Continue reading →

Travels with Iain

21 Thursday Jan 2016

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Saturday 16th January 2016 ko 13.45

Scottish Junior FA West Region Superleague First Division

LARGS THISTLE 0

MAYBOLE JUNIORS 1 (Riley 7)

Att c200

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

I’m fortunate that I have friends dotted all over the place, but the downside is the gargantuan driving stints to visit them all! Regular readers will recognise Iain’s name from us visiting a  steady succession of Scots football grounds such as Irvine Meadow and Falkirk. It’s fair to say that whilst the 6 hour drives between our two towns mean we don’t spend as much time as we’d like together, but we’re fortunate that it’s the kind of friendship that we can pick up where we left off.  Continue reading →

A Million Miles Away

22 Thursday Jan 2015

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Sunday 18th January 2015 ko 19.30

Greece Superleague

OLYMPIACOS 2 (Dosseni 69 Maniatis 90)

PANAITOLIKOS 0

Att 18,462

Entry €25

Season’s membership €10

Programme FREE

It only took around half an hour for the metro train on the M1 line to travel from Apollon to Faliro station in Piraeus, but in all honesty it felt like a different world. The Georgios Kamaras stadium was a friendly, homely place, but the Karaiskakis Stadium was a corporate vision of concrete and steel, with the inevitable procedures to go with it.

Continue reading →

Bubble

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

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Saturday 17th January 2015 ko 19.30

Greece Superleague

PANIONIOS GSS 1 (Boumale 34) Kolovos missed penalty 86

PANATHINIAKOS 1 (Berg 78)

Att 1,849

Entry €25 (Main Stand)

No Programme

Badge €3

Here’s a tip for you. When you take the €8 metro trip from Athens airport into the capital, the metro platforms are the two in the middle, it is very easy to jump on a suburban train headed to…. !

After you’ve reached Athens itself it costs further €10 for a 5 day mass transit pass for the metro, buses and trams. That is easy enough to buy, the machines have an “English” button, but you do need to validate the ticket via one of the machines by virtually every escalator. There are plenty of warnings about failure to pay or validate, but I’m bound to say I saw no ticket checks during my 4 days here, and there are no barriers either!

Greece’s financial problems were manifest, and not just from the political posters and campaigners for the imminent general election. There seems to be a general attitude of make do and mend, but in no way shape or form has the Greek welcome I’d remembered from childhood holidays been diluted. Continue reading →

Weegie

10 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Scottish Junior FA West Region Superleague, Premier Division

POLLOK FC 2 (Hunter 41 Diack 89) Aitchison sent off (denying clear goalscoring opportunity) 6

LANARK UNITED 1 (McCluskey 71) McLaughlin missed penalty 6

Att 415

Entry £5

Programme £1 (they issue for every game)

Badge £3.50 but charged £3 due to lack of change

Meat Pie £1.20

Bovril 80p

In early 2011 I wasn’t in a good place. My marriage had ended, and I was sat alone in a house I knew I was destined to leave. Fortunately I am blessed to have a friend in Dumfries in Iain and I was both fortunate and grateful to get a phone call to say,

“Come up (to Dumfries) and visit, and since its you, I’ll let you pick the game.!

Well you shouldn’t ever turn down an opportunity like that, so I travelled up, collected Iain, and at lunch time we parked in the Morrison’s car park adjacent to the ground. Iain extracted a large wedge of cash from the supermarket ATM, and one of my memories of the day was that he found it pretty much impossible to spend it at Newlandsfield Park. Iain, my friend, this is the wonderful world of the Juniors, no rip-off prices here! Continue reading →

Everything You Need

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 8th February 2014 ko 13.45

Scottish Junior FA West Region, Central League Cup 2nd Round

BENBURB 1 (McGurgan 30) Lovering sent off 88 (2nd booking)

THORNIEWOOD UNITED 6 (Duffy 6 Murphy 16 Malone 45 McGowan 62 O’Donnell 78 Brophy 85)

Att 64

Entry £5

Programme £1

When I was a sixth-former we were encouraged to debate the burning issues of the time. I remember a particularly heated debate on the death penalty, and a particularly powerful argument was putting yourself in the position of the condemned prisoner and the dread of waiting for the appointment with the executioner. I felt a flavour of that dread about those involved at Benburb.

Benburb are on borrowed time at their home Tinto Park. The 82 year old stadium has been sold for housing, the “Site Office,” sign is up on the fence outside, and the club neither know who now owns their home, or when the axe will fall.

Continue reading →

Encroachment

30 Monday Dec 2013

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Saturday 28th December 2013 ko 13.30

Scottish Junior FA West Region, West of Scotland Superleague, Premier Division

KIRKINTILLOCH ROB ROY 2 (McGeough 71 Sawyers 90)

CUMNOCK JUNIORS 1 (Maguire 26)

Att 219 (head count)

Entry £5

No Programme (the club normally issue, but editor away on holiday)

Bundle of old issues-complementary

Club bar scarf- complimentary

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Schemes O’ Mice An’ Men

30 Sunday Dec 2012

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Saturday 29th December 2012 ko 13.45

Scottish Junior FA West Region Superleague Premier Division

IRVINE MEADOW 0 McGowan sent off 57 (2nd booking)

AUCHINLECK TALBOT 2 (McCann 44 Spence 86) White sent off 62 (2nd booking)

Att c400

Entry £5

Programme None

I wish I could see more of my mate Iain. The trouble is that he lives in Dumfries, a 5 hour drive from Oxford. We met longer ago than either of us would care to remember, when we were marooned on a bank course at a faceless hotel in Tewkesbury. When however there’s a game, a curry and a pint to be had, one of us jumps in a car….

The west coast of Scotland, south of Glasgow is Robert Burns country. From Iain’s house, a mere stone’s throw from the Burns Mausoleum (more on that in my next article) from our drive up the A76 past the Burns Memorial at Mauchline, and seeing signs for Ayr, his birthplace and setting for the poem “Tam O’ Shanter.”

Irvine doesn’t seem to fit the poetic theme, this is a New Town, based on shipping and shipbuilding, and was extensively bombed during World War 2. Burns did spend time here, working in a flax factory on the Glasgow Vennel. More recently Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was born here, and cycling champion and innovator Graeme Obree calls Irvine home.

If you’re not familiar with Scottish Non-League please don’t get Continue reading →