Tag Archives: wessex league

Fabius

07 Monday Apr 2014

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Tuesday 1st April 2014 ko 19.30

Wessex League Division One

HAYLING UNITED 0

UNITED SERVICES PORTSMOUTH 0

Att 7

Entry £5

Programme £1

As much island hopping as groundhopping this one! The island at the eastern-edge of Hampshire is a popular tourist destination as well as being where in 1958, the windsurf board was invented by Peter Chilvers, although it took a 1982 court case to prove his claim! The island was used for “Operation Fabius,” in 1944 a mock invasion in preparation for D-Day. I enjoyed crossing the bridge over from Langstone and enjoying the view back over the harbour towards Portsmouth. 

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A lift up

18 Sunday Aug 2013

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Saturday 17th August 2013 ko 15.00

Wessex League Division One

ANDOVER TOWN 3 (Yates 11 Foot 27 Dixon 37)

HYTHE & DIBDEN 0

Att 61

Entry £5

Programme £1

When I was growing up my Dad used to comment that Andover ought to be where the tax office is based ( ‘and over… ok I’ll get me coat!). The Hampshire town is most famous for its military connections,  RAF Andover was opened on Andover Airfield, to the south of the town, during the First World War and became the site of the RAF Staff College. Before then, in 1846, the town came to public attention after an enquiry exposed the conditions in its workhouse. The Andover workhouse scandal brought to light evidence of beatings, sexual abuse and general mistreatment of workhouse inmates by the overseers. Inmates were noted as being driven by hunger to eat the bones which they were supposed to crush to make fertilizer.

These days the town is a base for the likes of Twinings, and Stannah stairlifts. Being situated on the A303, the town has excellent links to the M3, M4 and M5.

To tell the truth, the footballing side to this story is rather convoluted to the uninitiated. The roots of it all lie Continue reading →

The Vulture Job

28 Sunday Apr 2013

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Saturday 27th April 2013 ko 15.00

Southern League Premier Division

BASHLEY 2 (Gamble 49 90p)

BANBURY UNITED 0

Att 196

Entry £10

Programme £1.50

In groundhopper parlance the Vulture Job is visiting a ground purely because it’s about to disappear. And which ever way you look at it that’s the case with Bashley’s Recreation Ground or is it? The waters seem a little muddy.

The club play in the grounds behind the village hall (no cats?!!!). The hall was built in 1946 and 1948 an additional 3.5 acres were purchased “to enhance the life of the inhabitants of Bashley.” A lease was granted to the football club to use the grounds and it would appear that the relationship between the two is the root of the club’s move two and a half miles to Wessex League outfit New Milton Town’s Fawcett’s Field. That in turn creates two issues, firstly the FA has banned mergers that would allow a club to improve their standing by artificial means, and secondly Wessex League rules forbid ground sharing.

The result as it stands is a merger by default, with the new club provisionally named Bashley New Milton, with New Milton resigning from the Wessex League. The trouble with this is that the Southern League have vetoed the name change so the club are awaiting a decision from the FA as to whether to overturn the Southern League’s decision.

In the meantime planning permission has been gained for a stand at Fawcett’s Field so as to fulfil Southern League ground gradings, and the move does look set to go ahead, but you wonder if the Recreation hasn’t had its last hurrah, a charity game this Thursday excepted.

And to be honest I don’t really need much of an excuse to visit the beautiful New Forest in any case. The village lies in the centre of the medieval forest, and you do have to watch your speed, in case you encounter the famous ponies, cattle, or in my case a donkey waiting for a bus, on my way out in Burley! Burley Fire Station, incidentally, is thought to be the only fire station in the country with a cattle grid at the entrance.

Another reason to be there was the opposition, I used to live in Banbury, and the Puritans are a wonderful example of a small club who season after season defy the odds to maintain their Southern League Premier status. They do the little things well too, for example their programme is always exceptional.

With all the build-up and conjecture, and the fact that I absolutely HAD to be back in Oxford at 6.30pm without fail, perhaps it was inevitable that the game wouldn’t be a classic. Banbury claimed to have 7 out for various reasons, and although they named two substitutes there seemed scant evidence of them being present, let along actually used. If the team was lacking, then the support certainly wasn’t. They made up over half the crowd, and many wore flat caps in honour of manager Edwin Stein.

Stein is the former manager and player at Barnet, and on the day when they agonisingly lost their Football League status, his current charges ran out of steam in the second half to lose 2-0. The difference ultimately, was forward Mark Gamble. His drag back and shot followed Rob Gradwell’s through ball to open the scoring just after half time.

Bashley lost midfielder Matt Finlay to a red card to two poor challenges, but try as they might, Banbury couldn’t find the energy from tired legs to a find an equaliser. Deep into injury time, a tired challenge brought down Gradwell and Gamble stepped up to score from the penalty spot. It was a fitting final word on Bashley’s tenure on the ground…..probably!

 

 

Mobility

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

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Tuesday 16th April 2013 ko 19.45

Wessex League Division One

FLEET SPURS 0

BROCKENHURST 3 (Ritchie 46 Spinney 53 Kenna 72p)

Att 23

Entry £4

Programme £1

I hate the fact the only reason I did this game is because Fleet Spurs have resigned from the Wessex League. It is the lot of the groundhopper that the end of the season is spent at least in part doing clubs and grounds that may not be there the next time round.

The Southwood Pavilion, in Kennels Lane, lies more or less equidistant between Fleet and Farnborough on former MOD land. At one end is the soon-to-be vacated Nokia building, the other woodlands leading to the Cody Sports and Social Club the former home of Farnborough North End. Therein lies the problem, the facility is nowhere near any population, so the most relevant statistic above is the attendance. They didn’t even cover the cost of the referee and linesmen this evening.

With financial facts of life stacked against you, a change is clearly necessary, but what that actually is isn’t known as yet. The club like would a sideways move to the Combined Counties, thereby reducing travelling costs, but a drop in status to the Hampshire League is possible, as is no move at all. It’s all down to the committees and darkened rooms of the FA to decide next month, or maybe the month after, the club simply doesn’t know. That can’t be easy for the players, not knowing even the level you’ll be playing next season.

And to be honest it showed, as promotion-chasing Brockenhurst dominated. They contrived to miss a string of chances during the first half. Over an excellent burger and cup of tea, the Fleet faithful feared the worst if the visitors found their shooting boots. Which they did with much of the crowd (such as it was) still in the pavilion, Dan Ritchie blasting home from 25 yards. Fleet worked hard, but offered little up front but it took something fortuitous for Brockenhurst to double their lead. The ball was worked well from the left but Mike Spinney’s shot was scuffed. A clean shot would have been easily blocked by keeper Ryan Bone, but instead it spun up and over the wrong-footed glovesman and looped in.

A silly penalty will no doubt help Brockenhurst’s goal-difference, it is extremely tight at the top after all, that was easily dispatched by Warren Kenna, the brother of former Southampton professional Jeff, for a rather harsh scoreline for Fleet.

Maybe I was the mood I was in, but I found myself warming to the small band of volunteers trying to keep Fleet Spurs going despite almost insurmountable odds. I wish them well whatever the FA decides.

Who pays the Ferryman?

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

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Tuesday 5th February 2013 ko 19.45

Russell Cotes Cup Quarter-Final

LYMINGTON TOWN 2 (Vokes 75 James 87)

FAREHAM TOWN 0

Att 23

Entry £3

Programme £1

Situated on the edge of the New Forest, the pretty town of Lymington is primarily a port. It’s the only place I’ve ever encountered where the docks (for the Isle of Wight ferry) can be accessed if you turn either right or left! That said, the town is more famous for smaller boats, yachts, and the boutiques and coffee shops suggest more Howard’s Way than, Brittany Ferry.

The name Lymington is derived from the Old English word tun means a farm or hamlet whilst limen is derived from the Ancient British word lemanos meaning elm-tree. It’s a a fair allegory to its arboreal location. From the early nineteenth century it had a thriving shipbuilding industry, particularly associated with Thomas Inman the builder of the schooner Alarm. Much of the town centre is Victorian and Georgian, with narrow cobbled streets, giving an air of quaintness. The wealth of the town at the time is represented in its architecture.

For a watcher of the non-league game, a well-to-do town is often a sign of a club who finds it difficult to get the necessary ground grading to progress, and the Lymington Sports Ground is a case in point. Shared with both tennis and cricket, the latter makes it difficult to fully enclose the ground, and it looks like a public footpath runs around the pitch. In most cases this and the fact that the changing rooms are a little too small to pass muster, are overlooked but the ground-graders have called a meeting, and the club are nervous…

The ground is dominated by the main stand, a benched affair with park seats at its centre. Its spick, span and obviously does the job, but then agaisn ground-graders don’t like benches, preferring the easily counted plastic flip-up seats commonplace in the fully professional game. I liked the pavilion-style clubhouse with tea served in a mug, no ecologically unfriendly paper cups here. The only downside was the R & B music blasting out from the television in the corner, even the young girl who presumably the barman was trying to impress had retreated to her ipod!

The Russell Cotes Cup was described by one official is “Just be in Hampshire and pay £30 and you’re in.” It’s for senior clubs in the county but holds no senior status, existing as a fund-raising competition for the Hampshire FA’s benevolent coffers. Clubs don’t always take it too seriously, although tonight’s side did, and for those interested in such fripperies, programme production is not mandatory.

And for all the world it looked like a nil-nil, and extra-time game. No lack of action, or goal-mouth incident, but poor finishing and a howling wind put paid to chance after chance. Peter Hurford’s header over the bar from a corner could well be miss of the season, it looked a good deal easier to simply bury the header. Eventually the deadlock was broken by Matt Vokes for Lymington. His elder brother by the way is Sam Vokes, currently playing for Burnley, and representing Wales.

The coup de grace was applied by Sam James, whose neat turn wrong-footed the Fareham defence completely, although I was more than happy to avoid extra-time on a cold evening!

Go Carefully

03 Thursday Jan 2013

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Wednesday 2nd January 2013 ko 19.45

Wessex League Premier Division

BLACKFIELD & LANGLEY 3 (Baldacchino 7 61 Gibbens 39)

FAWLEY AFC 0

Att 160

Entry £5

Programme £1

The trips south along the A34 are beginning to run out, I’m running low on Wessex League grounds to visit, this one I’d missed out on when someone parked their boat across the carriageway, and I only had time enough to pay Hythe & Dibden a visit.

The villages of Blackfield and Langley, long since subsumed into each other, are in the parish of Fawley, Hampshire, and Blackfield refers to the dark marshy soil prevalent here. The dominant feature here is Continue reading →

Vectis

18 Sunday Nov 2012

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Saturday 17th November 2012 ko 15.00

FA Vase 2nd Round

NEWPORT (IW) 1 (Przepolewski 10)

CADBURY HEATH 0

Att 201

Entry £6

Programme £1.30

Badge £3.50

Tea £1

In my last article I commented that I liked Sweden, at least in part for its wide open spaces. As I sat on the bus leaving the Red Jet ferry terminal at Cowes, I realised one of the reasons why I like the Isle of Wight, is the compact nature of the place. The streets are narrow and winding and there’s no great distance between anywhere. Other than my somewhat contrary nature, that feeling was rather shattered when the bus passed HMP Albany on the outskirts of Newport. The maximum security walls circling the huge facility looked particularly austere on a grey, cold day.

The bus amused me, as the company is called “Southern Vectis.” Vectis is the Roman name for the Isle of Wight, so why do you need to add “Southern?” From the bus station, its a short walk to St George’s Park, and you pass the Morrison’s and Marks & Spencer shops that sit where the football club used to live, until land prices saw a move further away from the town centre, to a purpose-built facility 25 years ago. Now Asda are sniffing around St George’s Park, but the club reckon they’ll move in next door, rather than displace them.

The ground reflects the club’s former Southern League status, with a large main stand and cover on all 4 sides. It’s an impressive home, albeit lacking the quirks and character traits of an older ground. The land was extensively levelled to build the the ground which has created a problem, with the pitch flooding. When there’s rain its a good idea to call ahead, we did, and the club were very good, calling me back with the message that the game was “Definately ON.”

The match was a match-up of the form teams of the Wessex and Western Leagues. I’d watched the Bristolian side at home in the 2010/11 FA Vase. They lost badly to an almost ridiculously strong Spennymoor side, but I remember the day most for a classy article in their programme by former resident Ian Holloway, now manager of Crystal Palace. This was a far more competitive match, although Cadbury Heath will wonder how on earth they managed to fail to at least force a replay.

Alek Przepolewski’s early header was his 18th goal of the season, but was also the end of Newport’s domination of play. Cadbury soon gained the ascendancy with some fine passing and movement, but at the end of it all, the forwards either blazed wide, or forced another good save from Gary Streeter in the home goal. Matt Huxley ballooned a shot over when it looked a good deal easier to score, and Streeter’s acrobatic tip over the bar from Mark Reynolds will live long in the memory.

Even a change of forward line couldn’t change the visitors’ fortunes and its was well before 5 minutes of stoppage time that their heads dropped. There was one last penalty shout, the aftermath of which saw Reynolds booked, but Newport had already one eye on Monday’s draw, as of course will I!

Moonraker

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Wednesday 10th October 2012 ko 19.45

Western League Division One

CORSHAM TOWN 4 (Baker 7 Lye 39 J Moss 71 Moore 73)

WARMINSTER TOWN 0

Att 146

Entry £5

Programme £1

Teamsheet FREE

Whenever I venture south and west from Oxford, within a few miles you notice the accents change. The “Town” part of Oxford speaks with an approximation of the “Estuary” accent, but once you’re past Witney the country burr soon takes over. It’s a hangover from the days when the woollen industry went no further east than the Earley’s blanket factory in Witney, and listening to the people before the game reminded me of the story Oxonians used to tell of their country cousins. It consisted of the country folk thinking they could scrape gold from a pond at midnight, presumably because of the reflected moonlight. Bunkum of course, and I greatly enjoyed my trip to this corner of Wiltshire. Continue reading →

The Fish and the Barrel

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Tuesday 9th October 2012 ko 19.45

Southern League Central Division

RUGBY TOWN 2 (Koriya 12 Palmer 90)

WOODFORD UNITED 0

Att 145

Entry £8

Programme £2

Ever had one of those evenings when things conspire to trip you up? This was definitely one of those! The original idea was to head south to the Wessex League to watch Hayling, but that called off before I left work (Thanks Splodge for letting me know!), so I headed north to watch Saffron Dynamo, in the Leicestershire Senior League. That, it transpired got postponed because the Cosby-based side didn’t fancy playing Desford twice in 3 days, so I was faced with a choice, do a revisit or head for home.

A call from Graeme helped no end with my options, so I parked up in Butlin Road with a couple of minutes to spare. It was about a decade earlier that I’d first visited, when the club were mid-way though their transformation from Valley Sports, to VS Rugby, to Rugby United. Nowadays its Town following the merger with the United Counties League side, and Butlin Road remains a magnificent ground, a league ground in waiting, totally out of step with the club’s position, 4 promotions from the supposed promised land.

They were always likely to a take a step in the right direction this evening as Woodford are having a dreadful time of it. Led by former Birmingham and Yeovil forward Howard Forinton, and featuring former Leamington striker Josh Blake, you’d have expected a lot more than no points from 7 games. It became clear why though, as every first step was a backward one. It gave Rugby a head start every time, and on a different night there could have been a bucket-load of goals.

And for the life of me I don’t understand why there weren’t! The game was so one-sided I placed myself each half towards the end Rugby were attacking, as Woodford had almost no answers, to the obvious frustration of Forinton. But if the Woodford goal was a barrel of fish, for the most part the hundreds of bullets fired, missed. Fazel Koriya was there to finish off a neat through ball in the twelfth minute, but then a mixture of poor finishing, over-passing, and inspired goalkeeping from Jamie Brassington kept the game within reach of the beleaguered visitors.

Every time you thought “They’ve got to score with this,” Rugby found another way to miss, and on the odd occasion Woodford ventured forward, you wondered if they could steal the most unlikely of points. They didn’t, as with yours truly already moving towards the exit, an reverse pass from Seb Lake-Gaskin found subsitute Steve Palmer, and he did the simple thing, stroking home from just inside the box. If only his team-mates had done the same…..

 

 

Boats, Planes, and Automobiles

20 Thursday Sep 2012

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Tuesday 18th September 2012 ko 7.30pm

Wessex League Cup 2nd Round

HYTHE & DIBDEN 0

EAST COWES VICTORIA 1 (Barnes 77)

Att 37 (h/c)

The original idea was to meet Lee in Oxford then travel south to near Southampton to watch Blackfield & Langley. When I collected Lee, he’d just found out that a 30 foot boat travelling south of the A34 near Newbury had fallen off its trailer, so the carriageway was blocked. A little local knowledge is handy, so I diverted via Wantage down to the M4 and rejoined the A34, but it was too late to make kick-off at our planned fixture. But then Lee pointed out that Hythe is 5 miles closer, and with some creative driving we got there for the advertised 7.45pm kick-off. The trouble is that the game kicked off at 7.30 to allow the visitors to catch the last boat back to the Isle of Wight. You can’t win sometimes! Continue reading →