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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: travel

The Big Cheese

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by laurencereade in L

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cambuur, Channel Tunnel, Edam, Eindhoven, Erste Divisie, Football, Holland, Leeuwarden, netherlands, travel, Zuider Zee

With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

These next two articles serve two purposes, first to document the one country of the 25 I’ve visited for football, that’s never been covered in this blog- The Netherlands. Secondly this was my first footballing trip abroad as an independent traveller.

Friday 11th February 2011 ko 20.00

Dutch Erste Divisie

CAMBUUR LEEUWARDEN 2 (Schepers 21 Türk 59)

F.C. EINDHOVEN 1 (van Boekel 83p)

Att 5,950

Entry €20

Programme €1

Pennant €7

With this tale, it’s important to set the scene. Three-and-a-half years had passed since that first footballing trip abroad to Sweden, and since that time I’d added no further countries to my experiences. The reason was straightforward, my then wife was claustrophobic and would neither fly, nor go on a cross-channel ferry. I could plan, but I knew that anywhere I went would have to be without her. That I wasn’t prepared to countenance. Continue reading →

53.205509 5.814329

Curds and Whey

09 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by laurencereade in C

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Tags

Adam Jones, berkshire league, Billy Manning, Bowden's Park, Cheddar, marc caines, Mark Caines, Matt Day, North Berkshire League hop, Phil Annets, Richard Lindegard, Sherbourne Town, travel, west didsbury

Saturday 4th August 2012 Ko 3.00pm

Western League Division One

CHEDDAR AFC 3 (Jones 16 Manning 82 R Lindegard 85 og)

SHERBOURNE TOWN 3 (Caines 33 46 Day 39)

Att 159

Entry £4

Programme £1

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

When selecting a game to see I’d pondered several ideas. Some hoppers went to see West Didsbury and Chorlton’s first game in the North West Counties League, others ticked off Loughborough University’s new ground. I selected Bowden’s Park for several reasons, firstly because the club are in the process of selling it to a supermarket chain who most be running out of local economies to ruin, and on a less controversial note, I fancied doing something touristy! As incidentally did North Berkshire League Press Officer Phil Annets.

I picked Phil up early, the idea being to visit Cheddar Gorge for at least a couple of hours before heading over to the ground. Its worth noting that there are 2 distinct areas of this Somerset village. There’s the gorge, a tourist trap with its caves, shops and cafes, but turn left at the bottom and there’s a quiet village, the only clue to its fame being the double yellow lines, forcing the tourists into the “Pay and Displays”

Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom and includes several show caves. The gorge has been a centre of human settlement since Neolithic times, including a Saxon palace.  It is also the site of several limestone quarries. The village gave its name to Cheddar cheese and has been a centre for strawberry growing, with the crop being transported on the Cheddar Valley railway line, which closed in the late 1960s but is now a cycle path. It is now a major tourist destination with several cultural and community facilities, including the Cheddar Show Caves Museum.

It was a good job we left early, as mixture of driving rain, and heavy traffic left the M4 and M5 a virtually car park, and our 2 hour visit soon turned into a quick dash for a block of cheese each and some dreadful fish and chips before heading over to the ground.

Cheddar won last season’s Somerset County league, and with the huge advantage of already having floodlights the promotion to Western League football was secured. That said, there are obvious deficiencies with the ground. With two sides being formerly roped off only, they are now inaccessible. There’s no seats either, save for the picnic tables outside the large bar areas. What there is in abundance though is character, most notably to the right of the covered area by the half way line.

For there is a tiny tea bar run by two old timers. It’s a simple enough menu, tea or coffee in a mug for 50p. Phil and I stationed ourselves there, and were soon joined by 4 or so hoppers, including Terry the press officer at Dorchester Town, and one of my subscribers, Bob. We watched the game, chewed the fat, and Phil fielded questions on September 22nd’s North Berkshire League hop. And all the while a steady supply of tea was being supplied; you don’t get that in the professional game.

Ah, the game almost forgot! Well that was the best reason to be there. Sherbourne made the far better start, so when Adam Jones scored the Cheesemen’s first Western  League goal, it was a major surprise. Less surprisingly Sherbourne soon found space in a rather porous Cheddar defence (I couldn’t say holes, could I?) and were good value for their 2-1 lead at half time.

When Marc Caines gave Sherbourne a 3-1 lead soon after the re-start, it looked like the end of the game as contest. The game began to wide down, but with just 8 minutes left substitute Billy Manning’s 20 yard free kick sparked Cheddar back into life. The visitors goal was put under siege, and when George Booth’s misplaced shot was turned into his own net by Richard Lindegard, you didn’t begrudge Cheddar their point.





Gentlemen No Swearing Please

10 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by laurencereade in H

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Craig Getliff, Football, groundhopping, Hallam, northern counties east league, Oldest ground, Sandygate, soccer, Teversal, travel

Saturday 7th April 2012 ko 4.45pm

Northern Counties East Division One

HALLAM 1 (Getliff 88)

TEVERSAL 0

Att 212

Entry & Programme Hop Ticket

150 year brochure FREE

When we put this hop together there was one ground that loomed large, Hallam’s Sandygate, as it’s the oldest football ground in the world, and the club the second oldest behind Dronfield based Sheffield FC. On the coach we were a little nervous about how long we would need to cross Sheffield, but the traffic was kind and we reached S10 in plenty of time.

The first ever challenge match at Sandygate took place against Sheffield FC, on Boxing Day 1860. This is still believed to be the first ever inter-club game. The club also holds the Youdan Cup named after a local football enthusiast Thomas Youdan. This is believed to have been the first cup competition and the oldest football trophy in the world which remains the property of the club as it was won outright by Hallam in 1871. Although lost for a number years it was bought back from a Scottish antique dealer in 1997.

The club understandably trades on its “Oldest Ground status,” but the visit of the hop was also the start of something new for the club. Having been left a sizable bequest from a fan, the club have built an impressive new clubhouse, complete with some impressive signed shirts! This game was to be its opening bow. Although this was my second visit to the ground, the thing I’d forgotten was just how steep the slope is! So steep is it that our conversation soon turned to comparisons with the infamous slope at Chard. That slope for those who haven’t been, is far more acute than here, and is frankly jaw-dropping.

I’d got the impression from NCEL officials that the club might struggle with the hop crowd. I had to sort out getting a team sheet pinned up somewhere prominent, and the club were surprised that Chris and I would do the crowd count. Both were in the notes to clubs, but were easily sorted out. I was disappointed that the club quickly ran out of badges, but the 150 years brochure was a nice touch and made up for a poor programme. All in all, the club coped reasonably well with the crowd, and our coach driver Godfrey was pleased at the excellent hospitality he received.

I spoke to the Hallam officials prior to kick off and they didn’t seem at all confident at their team’s chances. Right from kick off in became obvious why. Hallam played with absolutely no confidence, and unfortunately for the neutrals, Teversal soon became sucked into the malaise. The game was the quintessential nil-nil bore draw until, with the hoppers beginning to move towards the exit, Craig Getliff rifled in from just outside the box. A stunning strike utterly out of step with the rest of the game, but a goal’s and goal and we continue.

Ratty happy with his food


A pensive League chairman David Morrall. He should have been, his vice chairman had driven into the back of his car on the way to the ground!



When the sun declared war on the butter, and the butter ran

12 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by laurencereade in N

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Ceredigion, Charles Harvey, Chris Morgan, Jamie Thompson, League, Maesglas, New Quay, Parc Arthur, Peter Almond, poet dylan thomas, Richard Evans, travel

Saturday 10th March 2012 ko 4.15 pm

Ceredigion League Division One

NEW QUAY 1 (Harvey 41) Thompson sent off 88 (dangerous play)

MAESGLAS 2 (Howell 38 R Evans 88) Morgan sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 276

Entry & Programme-Hop Ticket

Badge £3

3 bottles of Pen-Lon beer at £3 each

Curry and Chips £3

Not having to worry PRICELESS!!!!

The last game saw us head south once again to the pretty fishing village of New Quay (not to be confused with the Cornish town of Newquay!) Once again, in footballing terms this was another step down in status, and once again it felt like a step up! Continue reading →

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Blogroll

  • Damage In The Box Chris Powell’s travels across the UK and Europe. The artist must frequently seen in the pub 0
  • FA Cup Factfile Phil Annets on all things to do with the World’s greatest cup competition 10
  • Football Club History Database Want to know where a club finished in what league and in what year? Richard Rundle’s site is a veritable goldmine! 0
  • Football Hopper “Fast” Eddie McGeown’s erudite perambulations around the nation’s football grounds 0
  • Gibbo's 92 As Atherton Colleries’ programme editor puts it, ” The best trips are random, unplanned and spontaneous.” 0
  • Groundhopping.se Per-Gunnar Nilsson’s trips around his native Sweden, and into Europe 0
  • Grounds for concern The late Mishi Morath’s picture blog. Obviously no longer updated but still a wonderful archive. 0
  • Kate Shrewsday. A thousand thousand stories Not about football, but beautiful writing, Kate can make words dance. 0
  • Modus Hopper Random Graham Yapp’s travels 0
  • Swedish Football History & Statistics Mats Nyström’s curates this site, which does exactly what you’d expect 0
  • The 100 Grounds Club Shaun Smith’s groundhopping football blog. The original internet ground logging website. 0
  • The Football Traveller The bible for every groundhopper. Non-League fixtures magazine delivered weekly. Published and edited by Chris Bedford 0
  • The Intinerant Football Watcher Peter finds the grounds other hoppers cannot reach. Top bloke too! 0
  • The66POW Rob Waite’s travels 0

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