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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: welsh football

Pandy

18 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by laurencereade in T

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Tags

Aberkenfig, Bridgend and district league, Cup, Football, League, Llanharry, Non League, Pandy Park, Tondu Robins, Wales, welsh football

Saturday 2nd April 2022 ko 14:00

Bridgend & District League Open Cup 2nd Round

TONDU ROBINS 0

LLANHARRY 6 (Peete 3 Doughty 9 T Hamilton 12 Richards 50 Watts 67 Williams 79)

Att 27 at Pandy Park, Aberkenfig

Free Entry

It seems to me that if you want to find an interesting football match, all you really need to do is head to South Wales- there’s no end of them. The previous Saturday on the way back from Denaby Main we’d had a look at my options and this one rather jumped out, not least due to Tondu Robins’ long stint in the Welsh League. In the end it all added up to a lot more than that.

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Choices

06 Wednesday Apr 2022

Posted by laurencereade in Y

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Tags

Blackwood Comprehensive School, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Gwent Premier League, Lliswerry, Non League, Wales, welsh football, Ynysddu Welfare

Saturday 12th March 2022 ko 14:30

Gwent Premier League- Premier Division

YNYSDDU WELFARE 2 (Bowen 66 90)

Bowen penalty saved 44

A Davies sent off 90 (2nd booking)

LLISWERRY 4 (Cooke 31 37 70 Sully 90)

Cooke penalty saved 60

Att c50 at Blackwood Comprehensive School

Entry FREE

Programme £2

Its fair too say Ynysddu and I do go back a fair way. My first game involved with GroundhopUK was the then Ynysddu Crusaders’ hop game at 9 Mile Point in 2009, and then in 2018 I was at what could have been their final ever game at Pontllanfraith Leisure Centre. When the Leisure Centre was saved, I tried to get them to host on the 2019 Welsh Hop there, but just about everyone got let down by PILCS, unless of course you were involved at Ewenny Rangers! Continue reading →

Hindsight

11 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by laurencereade in B

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Barry Town, Bridgend Town, Bryntirion Athletic, Coychurch Road, groundhopping, Non League, Old Grounds, Pen Y Bont, Wales, welsh football

Friday 6th January 2006 ko 19.30

Welsh League Division One

BRIDGEND TOWN 0

BARRY TOWN 1 (Reddy)

Att c100

Entry £3

Programme 50p

My abiding memory of this game was arriving at Coychurch Road far too early, around 6pm as I didn’t know what time this game was to kick-off at. I knew nothing back then of course Coychurch Road had staged Southern League football, and Bridgend’s stint in English football had only ended in 1983, when the club had opted back into Welsh football.

The night’s visitors had been one of the “Irate Eight” who on the formation of the League of Wales in 1992 had wanted to remain in the English game. They’d played one season as Barri AFC playing out of Worcester City before returning to the Welsh game a season later. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t know what time kick-off time was either…

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The Ely Double

29 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Caerau Ely, Cwrt-yr-Ala, Cymru, Cymru South, Football, groundhopping, Llanelli Town, Non League, online programmes, Wales, welsh football

Saturday 7th September 2019 ko 12.00

Cymru South

CAERAU (ELY) 2 (Lyon 33 Outlaw 49)

Lyon sent off 69 (Serious foul play)

LLANELLI TOWN 3 (Parker 28 Hurlford 57 90)

Att c50

Entry £5

Programme, online only

Many years ago it was the Thursday before the Welsh Hop and a few of us had congregated at the event’s base in Treforest. A South Wales Amateur League game at Caerau near Maesteg was our destination and we’d lined up programmes and a meal in the clubhouse after the game. But know-it-all Jim was impatient and wanted to leave early, so we checked he knew where he was going. “Yes, near Cardiff” he replied as he made to drive away. To this day I wonder if we hadn’t yelled at him to stop when he would have realised? Continue reading →

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Unitary

29 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by laurencereade in A

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Aberbargoed, Buds, Centre for Sporting Excellence, CSE, Risca, United, Wales, welsh football, Ystrad Mynach

Friday 27th November 2015 ko 19.30

Welsh League Division One

ABERBARGOED BUDS 4 (Haggett 21 Shaw 37 Meacham 48 K Thomas 82) K Thomas missed penalty 37

RISCA UNITED 3 (Williams 16 32 Thomas 68)

Att 113 at Centre for Sporting Excellence, Caerphilly Road, Ystrad Mynach

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

It’s all change in the footballing world of Caerphilly for this season, with the opening of the Centre for Sporting Excellence in nearby Ystrad Mynach. The facility was built in 2014 by the local county council on the site of the former hospital and close to Penallta RUFC’s Ystrad Fawr ground. It’s an unusual, but highly impressive facility with two international-grade artificial pitches each with a 500-seat stand. One is for rugby, and one for football. It’s hardly surprising with a facility this good, that two sides have moved in, and since those two sides, Aberbargoed and Risca were playing each other, it was the obvious time to visit. Continue reading →

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The Golden Lion

04 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by laurencereade in U

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Tags

AFC, Athletic, Carmarthen, Carmarthen Town, causeway, Chris Harte, Fc, Magor, Undy, Wales, welsh cup, welsh football, Welsh League, Welsh Premier

Sunday 30th November 2014 ko 13.30

Welsh Cup 3rd Round

UNDY AFC 2 (Cullimore 10 Hooper 45)

CARMARTHEN TOWN 4 (Harling 37 Belle 62p Hartland 76 White 90)

Att 331

Entry £5

Programme £2

When Carmarthen Town’s historian and press man Chris Harte emailed to alert me to the unusual day for this fixture I knew I had background in this part of the world. If you travel into Wales on the M4 using the second Severn Bridge the first village you see is Magor and its service station. Adjacent to Magor is Undy, and for years I travelled here to see Bethan, a friend of my ex-wife’s. Continue reading →

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Two Classrooms

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in D

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bardsey island, Builth Wells, Cae Morfa, Chris Jones, David Collins, Dyffyn Banw, Gutu Lewis, Jonny Williams, large crowd, Llangadfan, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, morfa, St Cadfan, Steve Morgan, Tom Molloy, Vynwy, welsh football

Monday 27th August 2012 ko 6.15pm

Mid-Wales League Division One

DYFFRYN BANW 2 (Molloy 6 G Lewis 33)

BUILTH WELLS 3 (J Williams 14 C Jones 16 Morgan 23)

Att 181

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

We’d got a sneak preview of Cae Morfa on the way out to Dolgellau, and the one thing that was clear is that if the rain didn’t stop, a lot of us were going to get wet! Just a small lorry stand, popular around here, and insufficient for a large crowd.

Dyffryn Banw is a group of houses next door to the village of Llangadfan, in Powys. The river Vynwy runs behind the ground, eventually feeding the lake of the same name near the border with England. The village is home to St Cadfan’s, a medieval church whose original features have been obscured by a 19th century restoration. The church was originally said to have been established by Saint Cadfan somewhere between 510 and 515, shortly before he departed and founded a monastery on Bardsey Island where he served as its abbot from 516–542. These days there’s a pub, which many hoppers used as part hostelry, part shelter before the game, and the primary school that the club use for changing.

Even after the event I do wonder whether some hoppers saw Cae Morfa, and immediately assumed they’d already done the ground, and made for home. The club used to play on a pitch behind the school, but moved down, and across the road a couple of years ago. To make things worse the old ground was called Cae Morfa too….

On arrival I got the distinct impression the club hadn’t read their briefing notes. They’d charged a young boy with counting the crowd with a clicker. A minor issue but when counting a crowd we want one count, on one game on a Hellenic hop, we got three counts, all different! More pressing was when I asked where they intended to put up the line-ups. The response of “Don’t worry, they’re in the programme,” again shows they hadn’t done their homework, so I grabbed lifts to the school and back courtesy of Dave Jolly, and Barry and Linda Neighbour. Thanks to them I avoided a soaking!

The trip proved to be interesting; it was easy enough to get the sheets from the referee and I found a classroom that had been co-opted for use as a dressing room to copy the information across. No showers, and barely any privacy for the players, and with the absence of either power or water I began to wonder how they were allowed to play in the top tier of the league with these facilities. Still, once the teams entered the field of play, everything slotted into place.

The game set off at the frantic pace we’d come to expect on this hop. Banw took the lead early yet at only the 23rd minute they found themselves 3-1 down. They pulled one goal back before half time through Guto Lewis, but sadly that proved to be the end of the scoring. Builth tightened up noticeably in the second half, and try as they might Banw couldn’t make this half any more than a virtual copy of the second half at Welshpool earlier in the day.

I didn’t mind, as I’d found somewhere to shelter! No one could work out why the home bench weren’t using their dugout, despite the appalling weather. “Welsh Football” editor David Collins and Martin Bamforth had set up camp in it, and after doing the crowd count I joined them! One hopper even brought us cups of tea at half-time! It was a most convivial way to finish a hop.

As we left Cae Morfa, a club official took Chris Berezai to one side, to report that a hopper had tried to pressure the young lad with the clicker to give him a discount on entry. Quite why he thought he was worthy of paying less than everyone else is a mystery to me, but we know who it was, and our cards are now marked. It won’t happen again, and I’m pleased to report that the young man stood his ground, and the hopper paid full price. Obviously he’d read the briefing notes!

From there it was a case of heading back to Welshpool, passing the steam railway on the way, that seemed an eternity earlier, before organising a collection for Clive and Alan, our two drivers/heroes. It was then a case of organising those heading south on to one coach, allowing Alan to head back to Shrewsbury, before thanking everyone for coming then heading for home. As ever I allowed myself to comment to Chris, “I think we managed it again.”

There are of course so many people who deserve our thanks. Alan and Clive on the coaches were new to all this, but fitted in like old-hands. Having a coach allows hoppers without cars to attend games, and at Dyffryn Banw around 40% of the crowd arrived by one of our coaches. Thanks also to hoppers Graeme and Terry for helping with ferrying, and helping one hopper who obviously had difficulties. All our landlords, for cooking umpteen breakfasts all at the same time, including Cheryl at the Dolforwyn Hall who seemed genuinely sad to see us go. I will miss her hotel, and the evenings spent having a beer and a chat in the lounge. Thanks to Phil Woosnam, and Paul Worts at the Mid Wales and Mid Wales South Leagues respectively, it is always a real bonus to have the league officials supporting their hop and I think Phil and his family particularly enjoyed the steam train ride!

Finaly, thanks also to all the clubs, who without exception were a joy to meet and work with, and having now had emails back from some, made a healthy profit too. One club made £1900; that’s why we do what we do.

Hopefully we’ll see you on the 22nd September for the North Berkshire Hop. Advance tickets, at a discount from groundhopuk@yahoo.com.




Our dugout! Martin, self, David, and Terry Spracklen looking on. Photo by Chris Bedford

Phoenix from the Flames. Twice.

29 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by laurencereade in M

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Football, Gary Barnett, Gloucestershire Northern Senior League, groundhopping, London Road, mark lawrenson, Moreton Rangers, Newport AFC County, Soudley, welsh football

Saturday 28th January 2012 ko 2.00pm

Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division Two

MORETON RANGERS 3 (Wallace 10 31 61)

SOUDLEY 0 Adams missed penalty 73

Att 19 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Tea/Coffee 60p

Kitkat 60p

The pretty Gloucestershire town lies in the heart of the Cotswolds, and is in fact very close to being in any one of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, or Oxfordshire. For me it represented an interesting ground to visit, on a day when I needed to be back in Oxford early.

The London Road ground has hosted a far higher level of football than the nominal step 9 it does now. Moreton Town staged Hellenic Premier football until the club were bankrupted mid-way through the 1994/95 season amid accusations that player-manager Mark Lawrenson was being paid £300 a week, on a ground owned by the National Playing Fields Association. That last fact points to a big issue for the former club, and one for the future of any club using the ground, in that NPFA rules prohibit charging for entry.

The current club was founded as an under-8’s team in 1997, and since the Moreton Town name was unavailable due to monies owed, the suffix Rangers was adopted. In 2004 adult football once again came to London Road, with a team being entered in the second division of the Cheltenham League. In 2009 the club were 20 points clear in the division one when disaster struck. An arson attack left the changing rooms gutted, and to gain entry to the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League, the club had to get something built, and quickly. Amazingly the club and local residents raised £72,000 and the impressive block was built.

There is a little piece of Welsh football history too. The ground was used for the first (1988/89) season of the reformed Newport AFC (now renamed County)  as a means of avoiding the FAW’s attempts to get the new club to enter the Welsh pyramid.

The history is there for all to see when you enter. The remains of the old changing room block are still there and the floodlights look functional, until you’re told that the junction box went up in the blaze. Some benches have been constructed in the stand and a tea urn is placed at the back. The hot drinks and chocolate were most welcome on a chilly winter’s day.

These days the side is managed is managed by former Oxford United, Fulham, Huddersfield, and Leyton Orient player Gary Barnett. Barnett’s managerial career includes a spell as Jan Molby’s assistant at Kidderminster. As player-manager of Barry Town he won the League of Wales 5 times, and led the club into Europe 3 times, including an appearance in the UEFA Cup First Round Proper, losing to Aberdeen. These days, he runs a fitness business, and manages for fun. Molby incidentally, was due to appear at a fund-raiser for the club that evening.

The fixture looked on paper like a tough mid-table battle. On grass it was a mismatch as soon as a quickly taken corner was squared to Dougie Wallace who fired into the top left hand corner. The Soudley manager thought his full back should have headed clear, I thought few players have a telescopic neck. It set a tone for the entire game, constant Moreton pressure, and very few ideas from the visitors. Wallace got his second just after the half-hour, blasting home from just inside the box. It was clear that Wallace had it well within his capabilities to complete his hat trick, and he did so in style, holding off his marker and spinning round to shoot home. Soudley had just the one notable attack in the second half, their attacker being hauled down just inside the box. It summed up their afternoon neatly that Robert Adams’ penalty was turned round the box by McAteer for a corner. It was to be the only one they were to force all afternoon.

You wonder how far this Moreton incarnation can progress. There are plans to resurrect the floodlights and convert part of the stand to a clubhouse. The club see the future as being in the Gloucestershire County League, two promotions from here, but there are no ambitions to go any further, the difficulties in taking a gate being cited. Certainly the ownership by the NPFA has left Rangers with a ground far better than their current needs, and with a real sense of history. I hope they’ve seen the back of the bad luck that’s bedevilled football in this part of the world.

New and old changing rooms




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