Tag Archives: Wales

Men of Harlech

01 Monday Dec 2014

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Saturday 29th November 2014 ko 14.00

Gwynedd League

CPD HARLECH TOWN 3 (H Williams 10 Parry 13 77)

Y FELINHELI 5 (Pennie 21og AW Jones 44 Martin Hughes 50 G John 55 Daffyd 64)

Att 21

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

This part of Northern Wales has always held great resonance for me. From childhood holidays in Barmouth, to travelling home from a weekend in Porthmadog in complete silence as my marriage collapsed, the area has signposted stages of my life, although I am bound to comment that my father still hasn’t managed to pronounce Bettws-Y-Coed correctly yet!

But then during this year’s Welsh hop our coaches left Nefyn and travelled via Penrhyndeudraeth to Barmouth and we passed through Harlech on the way, passing more or less under the Edward Longshanks-built castle. Apart from humming “Men of Harlech” for the rest of the journey I wondered whether there was a team in the town. That was answered conclusively when we arrived at Barmouth when the Harlech team made themselves gloriously known by commandeering the stand. Continue reading →

Rattle & Hum

16 Sunday Nov 2014

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Saturday 16th November 2014 ko 14.00

Gwent County League Division One

NEWPORT CORINTHIANS 1 (Perszewski 5) Perszewski sent off 28 (violent conduct) Berry missed penalty 37

ABERGAVENNY TOWN 4 (Morgan 10 17 C Norman 18 Jenkins 45)

Att c30

Industrial areas have a sound all of their own. Whether its the hum of the steelworks, or the buzz of overhead cables, or the distant thunder of a goods train there’s a personality to be found here. And let’s be honest, I picked Coronation Park solely because of the transporter bridge behind. You have Dave Collins to thank for this piece, and if you don’t know Dave, and you really should, he’s the publisher of the excellent magazine Welsh Football, and a recent magazine had a quite wonderful picture on the front cover, several versions of which you’ll see at the end of this text. Me being me, I forgot which team I needed to visit, so that’s another reason to be grateful to Mr Collins! Continue reading →

Death of a 1000 passes

14 Monday Jul 2014

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Thursday 10th July 2014 ko 18.45

Europa League 1st Qualifying Round

BANGOR CITY 0

STJARNAN FC 4 (Rauschenberg 53 Bjorgvinsson 61 81 A Johannsson 85)

Agg 0-8

Att 805

Entry £14

Programme £3

Let’s be honest here, I’d waited far too long to visit the Welsh club’s new home on the banks of the Menai straits. But the decision to wait proved to be a good one, as a competitive game this time of year is not to be sniffed at, and I’d never watched a side from Iceland either!

Continue reading →

Skewen

11 Wednesday Jun 2014

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Friday 23rd November 2007 ko 19.30

Welsh Premier League

NEATH ATHLETIC 2 (Price 78 Bevan 90)

ABERYSTWYTH TOWN 2 (S Roberts 18 Sherbon 32p)

Att 218 at Llandarcy Park

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

Today’s “Greatest Hit,” is a little unusual. Not only does the ground not exist (for football) but neither does the team either! The roots of the club lie in BP, British Petroleum and their predecessor National Oil Refineries. The club was founded in 1922 as National Oil Refineries F.C as the works team for the new refinery, and played at Llandarcy Park, now to the south-west of the M4 as it passes by Junction 43. Continue reading →

Arrivals & Departures

07 Saturday Jun 2014

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Saturday 22nd May 2010 ko 12.00

Welsh League Division Three

ABERTILLERY BLUEBIRDS 4 (L Lewis 17 Davies 32og Goodenough 64 80)

GARW SBGC 0

Att 126

Entry & Programme £2

So another of my “Greatest hits,” and sadly this is one Valleys ground you can’t see a game at anymore. Bluebirds have just vacated Cwm-nant-y-groes in favour of a 3G pitch at the local leisure centre. The club finished bottom of Division 3 this season, so I would imagine they’ll return to the Gwent County League. The ground isn’t actually in the town, rather than small village outside of Six Bells, and perhaps that’s why the move is so popular with both club and council. The club get a more practical ground, suitable for their needs, and the council save on the costs of maintaining Cwm-nant-y-groes. But of course, sometimes there’s more to it than mere practicalities. Continue reading →

How Green Was My Valley?

05 Thursday Jun 2014

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Saturday 28th May 2011 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division Two

TREHARRIS ATHLETIC WESTERN 2 (Harris 54 Glasey 65)

DINAS POWYS 1 (Jones 74)

Att 115

Entry & Programme £3

I remember my first glimpse of the Welsh Valleys, as the A470 crept north past Merthyr Tydfil, heading north away from Cardiff. Other than the signs in both Welsh and English, the scenery whilst beautiful, Castell Coch is here after all, the scene only really changes when you head into the valleys. You’re heading into coal mining territory here, and the streets narrow, the hills get steeper and the lines of terraced cottages stretch as far as the eye can see. The book and film, “How Green Was My Valley,” was based on here.

Continue reading →

The Bartender & The Thief

16 Sunday Mar 2014

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Saturday 15th March 2014 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division Three

CWMAMMAN UNITED 5 (M Hughes 16 Spring 39 Bonomi 58 66 L Hughes 69)

CWMAMAN INSTITUTE 0

Att 23

Entry FREE

Programme Comp

As a child growing up in Oxford, my parents had a liking for holidays in West Wales so I got well used to getting to the end of the M4 at Pont Abraham and the 10-year-old me always felt that this was where my holiday began. And decades later, when I reached that road’s end, almost in a random place- why wasn’t it built all the way to Carmarthen, I felt exactly the same way. Continue reading →

Whatever happened to Goronwy Jones?

16 Sunday Mar 2014

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Sunday 9th March 2014 ko 13.00

Ceredigion League Division Two

FFOSTRASOL WANDERERS 2 (A Bowen 57 C Griffiths 88)

DEWI STARS 2 (Andrew Jones 45 Owens 90)

Att 166

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

It seemed such a long time ago when Keith drove the coach past Troedyrhiw (Troy-dur-roo) Park on the way back from New Quay and the entire coach turned to their left and gawped at the beautiful ground in rural West Wales. It’s fair to say it helped push us into towards making the Ceredigion League a regular fixture.

The main stand (and you don’t get to say that very often in this league) is a classic piece of influence. Ffostrasol played at Builth Wells and liked their stand, so in 1978 built their own version. It’s a vision of lichen covered concrete, corrugated iron, and plank seating and there wasn’t a single one of the 166 present that didn’t immediately fall in love with it! Perhaps its the process of nature gradually claiming everything back to itself that appeals. Continue reading →

Plan C

14 Friday Mar 2014

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Sunday 9th March 2014 ko 10.15

Ceredigion League Division One

BARGOD RANGERS 3 (Skinner 2 35 D Evans 76)

MAESGLAS 3 (J James 15 38 Irvine 29)

Att 238

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

Tea & A Welsh Cake £1

Hat £3

So picture the scene, I’m sat in my office at work and I’ve got Twitter on in the background. All of a sudden the following tweet pops up….

Llanybydder

….and our Sunday morning game goes out of the window just under 3 weeks before the event. I knew Chris Berezai was at a business meeting in the north, so I spent a frantic few minutes looking at the Ceredigion website (and I’m thankful its detailed and up to date). It became clear that unless we were either going to run the hop a game short, or rejig all the other fixtures there was only one game open to us, Bargod vs Maesglas. We’d already postponed our visit to Saron as they’d played every 1st XI in their league, many hoppers won’t watch games involving reserves, and the only 1st XI Bargod had to meet was Maesglas. Continue reading →

Menu

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

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Saturday 8th March 2013 k0 16.00

Ceredigion League Division Two

CILGERRAN ROVERS 1 (K Phillips 66)

LLANON 0

Att 226

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

Beer £2.75

Cheese £4

Hat £5

Food – All of it!

I have a mate Graeme who has an unusual hobby, he collects Chinese takeaway menus. Other than that and the groundhopping he’s quite a well-adjusted chap he’s a schoolteacher, but if you’re in a car and you pass the takeaway, your journey will be paused for him to dash out and collect another one for his collection. Being a groundhopper helps his cause and other hoppers collect for him, so he’s got menus from places such as Hungary, the USA and Malta but I think the centrepiece of his collection ought to be a British takeaway menu from China! Continue reading →