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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Woodford United

Circles

12 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by laurencereade in U

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Tags

Buckingham Town, Chris Berezai, groundhop, Higham Town, ON Chenecks, Peterborough & District League, Peterborough Northern Star, Sleaford Town, the United Counties League, UCL, United Counties League, Woodford United, Yaxley

A week or two ago I was asked by the United Counties League Facebook page to write a guest article. It quite deliberately doesn’t mention the Peterborough & District League, who are also involved in August’s hop, after all it was for a purely UCL audience!

I’m a groundhopper, there I’ve said it, and the United Counties League and I go back to October 2003. I’d just moved to Banbury, and saw that Woodford United were at home to Stewarts & Lloyds. The ground was a devil to find, it helped when the lights were switched on, and I watched S & L triumph once their regular goalkeeper arrived and was substituted on! The people were friendly, and the barbeque tasted as good as it smelled!

I must have enjoyed myself, Continue reading →

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Blessed

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by laurencereade in G

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Banbury, Banbury and Lord Jersey League, C, Easington Rec, football pitches, GYFITD, money worries, Rev Browne, slum clearance, Woodford United

Tuesday 23rd April 2013 ko 18.00

Banbury, District & Lord Jersey League Division Four

G.Y.F.T.I.D. 7 (S Saleh 14 A Williams 22 Ali 27 Robertson 30p 53 80 Vikanis 37p)

WOODFORD UNITED “C” 0

Att 16 (head count)

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

On the face of it a game in the bottom division of a local league, on Pitch 2 of Easington Rec’ in Banbury isn’t the type of game to inspire. Add to the mix that the opposition are the 5th XI of a side rock bottom of the Southern League Central Division, with real money worries, and I did wonder whether we’d get a game at all. A few groundhoppers will read this and think, “Well I don’t do reserve sides,” well my only comment on that would be to state that you missed a real gem this evening.

The Easington district of Banbury is a classic case of a village being swallowed up being up by its larger neighbour. It was first noted in 1279  and was a rural estate attached to the former Calthorpe Manor. Over the years the land was slowly built on to the extent that the 1919 Housing Act was followed by the building of the Easington housing estate of 361 council houses in what was one of the first slum clearance schemes in the country.

Easington Rec’ or Park, if you believe the notice at the entrance is a benefit of that planning, a wide expanse of green, with two football pitches, a children’s play area, and a changing room denuded of its windows. On a warm evening it was a pleasure to spend a couple of hours in the company of the Banbury and Lord Jersey League.

Inevitably I had to get one question answered. Yes, you’re probably thinking it too! The answer is Global Youth For Talent In Diversity, and their Twitter biography states that they are “A dynamic organization creating change in the lives of young people.” They are very much the brainchild of Rev Browne, whose quiet authority was an obvious guide to everything his young charges did. GYFTID are a diverse group of people brought together by a love of sport, and it was clear that the whole group pulled together despite obvious differences in race, culture, and experience.

It reminded me of many years ago when I captained my university’s 6th XI. Being the bottom team at college, I got the players no one else wanted, plus those who turned up fancying a game on a Wednesday afternoon. One day I had an away tie, and 3 Asian lads turned up who I’d never seen before. They were dressed “Gangsta” style, in bandanas and tracksuits and on the coach kept themselves to themselves, speaking in Urdu during the journey. Once however they were kitted out and ready to play, everything changed and they were great lads to play alongside and socialize with afterwards. The 19-year-old me learned a valuable lesson that day and I suspect it’s a similar one that the Rev Browne is teaching his young charges.

Except one of them isn’t quite so young. I hope centre half Steve Hatt won’t mind me mentioning his age, he’s 52, and there’s a sparkle in his eye; he clearly loves playing alongside lads half his age. He said, “I don’t mind, I pass the ball, they do the running!”

I enjoyed a chat with stand-in goalkeeper Darius Browne. He’s “Rev’s” son and didn’t mind playing in goal, although he did produce a few saves that did seem to be purely for the spectators, and League Rep’ Paul Harper was serenaded with a few bars of “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone!”

Paul was there to help referee Gino Spiro in his first adult game, and I if Paul hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have noticed. He did well, although Rev Browne’s influence was enough to make sure nothing unsporting could happen. When you live by your principles its easier to influence others by them. Rev chose to name himself as a substitute, and it reminded me of the genesis of another local football club started by another Reverend, the Rev John Scott-Tucker in 1893. That club was Headington United, now Oxford United.

Woodford did their best, but bottom with 4 points all season points to a team playing for nothing more than pride, and they will certainly finish the season with that intact. GYFTID could and should have reached double figures, only profligate finishing in the second half prevented that.

In truth, the game rather petered out as Woodford wilted and GYFTID realised that the hard was work was finished. Of course they play for more than just victory in a mere football match, I was amazed when the players came to me to shake my hand at the final whistle. I strolled back to my car having come to a conclusion. Yes my hosts are gifted, but more than anything else, they’re blessed.






 

 

The Fish and the Barrel

11 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by laurencereade in R

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Butlin Road, dreadful time, Fazel Koriya, Howard Forinton, Jamie Brassington, Josh Blake, Rugby Town, Rugby United, Steve Palmier, United Counties League, Valley Sports, VS Rugby, wessex league, Woodford United

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…..



Howard Forinton

 

 

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