Date: Tuesday November 3rd 2009
Ground: Beech Grove
Comp: West Midlands Regional Premier League
Match: Ellesmere Rangers 3 Bloxwich United 2 HT: 1-2 ATT: c98

(No scorer stats or attendance on WM(R)P website)

Additional: Entrance £3, Programme £1, Coffee/Tea £0.70

Beech Grove in pictures

This Ellesmere is a small market town in Shropshire, not the Ellesmere as in Ellesmere Port. This Ellesmere is properly in the middle of nowhere, so remote that it is described as being near Oswestry, a town quite humble and anonymous in its own right.

It’s funny how things come in twos. I’d never before seen a West Midlands Regional League Premier match (step 6) until last Tuesday, and now I’m seeing  my second a week later. It was a must see. Ellesmere were top and Bloxwich second; two points behind. Ellesmere had won all 9 previous home games.

It was a 40 mile drive West through Cheshire and Shropshire, along some of the darkest country roads you can imagine, passing through Nantwich and Whitchurch. It was like the Deliverance version of Man Utd v Chelsea.

I’d seen Ellesmere before, en route to TNS, and it looks like a lovely rural town, population only 3,000 odd. The large mere (the largest outside the Lake District) provides a scenic and calming backdrop. It only takes a minute to drive through the town to the West side, where the ground lies, along Beech Grove.

The ground is fairly well hidden, but fortunately signposted. I parked on the residential road, with no problem, and no residents only nonsense. You can drive into the ground, down the single lane track, but I chose to walk down from the street.

The Rangers have a really nice setup,with training pitch next door to the ground. It’s not what you expect when you see the tiny sign pointing you between two garden hedgerows. The tea room was very welcoming and large, laid out in a proper café style, with a number of tables. There were the traditional non-league souvenirs on the walls, with television playing Sky Sports in the corner. My coffee was served in a proper china mug, which I could take pitch-side; none of this styrofoam nonsense.

The entrance was £3 again, same as last week at Wolves Casuals, and again £1 for a matt finish, but well worth the money programme, full of statistics and photos, in colour. By the way, they recorded their scores correctly as in their scores first, their opponents’ last, whether home or away. As in A 4-1 H  0-2 meaning they won 4-1 away and then lost 2-0 at home. Its amazing how many publications get in a terrible muddle listing their scores.

The ground is small but smart, nestling in an outlying residential area. The main stand is fairly shallow, about four rows up by 25 long of seats, covered.

The Main Stand - a mere 100 odd seats

That was it for structures to the ground, the rest hard standing, framed nicely by some large trees and hedges.

The match was a classic and certainly lived up to my expectations of a top vs second encounter. The match was played at a fast pace and in the first half both teams looked capable of winning it. Ellesmere took the lead, but before half time, Bloxwich had come back to lead 2-1. Rangers’ 100% home record was looking in danger.

The second half saw a great comeback from Ellesmere, helped to some extent by some poor Bloxwich defending. However, the winner, from a freekick, took a slight deflection as it fired into the top corner. Maybe a tad harsh for the away team.

Excellent evening’s entertainment, great club. A few weeks on, they are still top, one point ahead of Bloxwich, but now with AFC Wulfrunians, Bustleholme and Dudley Town all within three points. It’s all getting very tight at the top.

Beech Grove in pictures

WM(R)P League website

Date: Tuesday October 27th 2009
Ground: Brinsford Stadium
Comp: West Midlands Regional Premier League
Match: Wolverhampton Casuals 2 Dudley Sports 2  HT: 2-1 ATT: c45

Additional: Entrance £3, Programme £1.00, Coffee/Tea £0.60

Brinsford Stadium in pictures

This was my first ever West Midlands Regional Premier League game. Their Premier division sits at step six of the non-league pyramid, rather like the Midland Combination. It is comprised of a lot of Birmingham based clubs with a few outshoots in Shropshire and Herefordshire. Promotion from this division is into the Midland Alliance.

Wolverhampton Casuals play at the Brinsford Stadium, just off the A449 at Coven’s Heath. It is a very easy ground to find, but be careful to slow down in time on the fast A449, to make the turning into Brinsford Lane. I overshot it and had to turn at the next two roundabouts for another attempt on the dual carriageway.

Wolverhampton Casuals, known as the Cassies, were founded in 1899 and have been playing in their present league since 1982. They only came back to Brinsford Lane in Coven Heath in 1998-99, when floodlights were installed. In the past they have been known as Wolverhampton Old Church and Wolverhampton Amateurs. Their opponents tonight were Dudley Sports, founded 1979. Both teams were languishing in mid-table.

There is parking in the ground with payment being made through one’s wound down window. I’m coming to realise quite a few grounds at this level are drive-thru. There is just about enough parking for their needs but come a local derby or exciting cup match cars may have to spill outside into the country lanes somewhere.

They have a really fine set-up with a full size training pitch next door, the clubhouse, changing rooms and snack bars separating the main ground from the spare pitch. Also, and this struck me as quite surreal, a deluxe caravan that was fully furnished and had the light on as I walked past. Who lives there?

The ground was very basic. The only structure being the tiny covered stand that held just about the minimum 50 required for step six football.

Everybody stood on this side, which was also where the snack bar and large drinks bar were. I was, in the second half, literally the only person in a different part of the ground. The attendance was between 40-50. This was a head count as the WM Reg Prem division website does not record attendances and goalscorers, which is quite disappointing.

The whole ground is surrounded by trees which gives it a good enclosed feel, but aside from the small stand, the perimeter bar held in with concrete posts, is all that separates the fans from the pitch.

A lot of features of lower non-league football are refreshingly unique and quirky, such as the large deluxe caravan mentioned or coffee in proper mugs. However, in the second half, I was subjected to a not so nice assault of sorts. A couple of Wolves Casuals subs were warming up in front of me when one of them let out an enormous fart; a fart of very high tariff, in terms of both noise and duration. They found it highly amusing while I started to suspect the reason why I was the only one stood at the ‘dark side’ of the ground.

The match was fairly good, and once again at this level I was pleasantly suprised by the quality of football and also the fact that both teams tried to play an attractive passing game. The Cassies opened the scoring with a twenty yard unstoppable volley into the top corner. Dudley Sports got back into it but Wolves were back in front before half time. Dudley Sports rallied in the second half and probably deserved their equaliser.

The programme was only a £1, printed on matt white paper, but with some good stats, including league table with home and away records and detailed histories of both clubs. A very good value for money evening.

Brinsford Stadium in pictures

Date: Saturday October 24th 2009
Ground: Bill Stokeld Stadium
Match: Carlton Town 5 Leek Town 2  HT: 2-1 ATT: 97
Gent 26, Ball 38 Jenkins 64p, Whitman 73, 76: Johnson 1, Cope 89
Additional: Entrance £7, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £0.80

Bill Stokeld Stadium in pictures

Leek Town were in need of a win here. Their early season table topping form was deserting them. They came in to this game down in sixth with Carlton mid-table.

Finding Carlton’s ground was a bit tricky. Google maps directed me through the heart of Nottingham, which was ok in termsof traffic etc, except for the fact that the directions were wrong. After correcting myself, with help from a man at a petrol station, Google maps finally deposited me in a residential cul-de-sac. If you do plan to go to Carlton don’t approach via Stoke Lane, as half way down only buses can continue. Approach via the Colwick loop road (A612).

Carlton Town were founded in 1903 as Sneinton FC and only changed their name in 2002. They have arrived in the Unibond via the Northern Counties East League and are doing fairly well.

Once I finally got to the Bill Stokeld Stadium, there was ample parking. It looks like a fairly modern stadium. The clubhouse looked brand new.

This contained the snack bar and changing rooms. There was a bar further back from this with beer garden style seating outside.

The only stand was a 164 seater behind the goal. Other than that there was just a tiny bit of covered terrace under the main building.

Leek couldn’t have started better with a 1st minute volley into the bottom corner from a right sided cross, from Johnson. They continued to look threatening but despite this Carlton came back into it thanks to a winding run from the very talented right winger Tristan Whitman. He set up Carlton’s equaliser. Their second before half time was a superb finish from a long shot.

Leek didn’t look too bad but every time Carlton attacked they looked dangerous and often scored. Their third was from the penalty spot and number four and five were both great finishes from Whitman. Cope grabbed one back for Leek at the end. It was a strange game that on another day may have finshed 2-5 but Carlton did deserve it and looked like one of the better sides in this division. Leek need a bit more resolve and grit if they are to get back up the table.

Please take a look at my pics as they are some of my better ones. There was a good light.

Date: Tuesday October 13th 2009
Ground: Barton Stadium
Match: Winsford 0 Newcastle Town 1  HT: 0-0 ATT: 97
Boast 79
Additional: Entrance £6, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £0.80

Barton Stadium in pictures

This was a late decision. I was originally going to watch Leek Town at Market Drayton, but MDT had an FA Trophy replay. So I decided to finally capture the closest ground (step 6 and above) that I had yet to visit. It had the added bonus of being against a Newcastle side who had started their season with 10 straight wins. Could Winsford stop their spectacular run?

Winsford were 5-0-5 and had the peculiarly mismatched home and away records of 1-0-4 , 4-0-1. Their home form was dire.

Winsford United were founded in 1883 as Over Wanderers, playing in the Welsh Combination League. Not long after that, they started playing at the Barton Stadium, although in those days it was the Great Western Playing Field. The new name of the ground was in honour of Mr. R.G. Barton, who led the committee to re-establish Winsford United after the First World War.

It used to be a Greyhound Stadium as well, which is evident in the pictures. It has the curves at each end and you can still see the mounted lights for the home straight.

Newcastle Town are a newer outfit, founded in 1964. They seem to have finished in the top four of the North West Counties League for about ten years straight but with no promotion. I’m not sure whether this is because of restrictions of the ground or whether they’ve just never finished quite high enough.

The ground was easy enough to find, with plenty of on-street parking. It is fairly centrally located in Winsford. The general rule of thumb is the older the ground the nearer to the town centre it is and the newer the ground the further out, in some retail park.

The ground is an unusual one, on account of the big sweeping ends, that were necessary for the dog track. It claims to hold 7,000, with 600 seated in the main stand. I don’t reckon that standholds 600, but I”ve read it written several times. I managed to pick a seat under the covered terrace under the bit of roof that was missing…on a rainy night. I swiftly moved round the ground.

Main Stand with bite out of it

The other side had a three-sweeping-steps covered terrace that was quite a good atmosphere. It is alongside the home track that the greyhounds used to charge down to victory.

The snack bar was very convivial and inviting as you come in,but the toilets were a bit scary.In retrospect, I’m not sure the toilets I went in were still in used. They may have been condemned or defunct; mind you, I couldn’t find any others. They were behind a wall, darker than a black hole, and what you could see was various debris hiding behind which I think was a gutter. (and maybe the Winsford Boggart). They made the cubic brieze block at Nantwich’s Jackson avenue look like an en-suite bathroom at the Ritz.

Toilets

I enjoyed the game. Both teams played some good football and there wasn’t a lot to choose between them. I thought I was going to witness the end of Newcastle Town’s great winning run; but on 79 Boast finished powerfully from a great cross to get win number 11 out of 11. Winsford may have felt a tad hard done by.

Since then Newcastle have won another six straight league games and are now 17-0-0. The win against Winsford was also the start of seven clean sheets. Remarkable record.

Barton Stadium in pictures

Date: Tuesday September 8th 2009
Ground: Ingfield Stadium
Match: Ossett Town 3 Kendal Town 2  HT: 1-1 ATT: 233
Hardaker 19, Lee 56, Hollindrake 71: Wain 30, Steel 77
Additional: Entrance £7, Programme £1.50, Coffee/Tea £1.00.

Ingfield Stadium in pictures

Ossett is one of those unusual small towns that boasts two similarly sized non-league football teams. With a population of a little over 20,000, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield, it is host to Town (Unibond Premier) and Albion (Unibond Div One North), both grounds near the town centre. These double team towns aren’t actually as rare as you might think,  like pairs of prime numbers. There’s Atherton with its Laburnum Rovers and Collieries, Ashton in Makerfield with its Athletic and Town and Ashton under Lyme with its Curzon and United, to name a few. It’s always been Ossett I think of, though, when it comes to two team towns.

 This was ground number 157, a prime number. I was desperately hoping 159 was prime, too, so then it’d be part of a prime pair; I could then visit Ossett Albion for my 159th ground, fulfilling the whole prime number pair analogy. Alas; it wasn’t meant to be. Damn the numbers 3 and 53.

The Ingfield Stadium was very much a bonus ground, one that I hadn’t considered before. My wife was watching a table on ebay, and while I didn’t think she’d actually put a bid in for it, let alone win it, when she said it was in Wakefield, I couldn’t help looking up the nearest non-league clubs in that area. Ossett Town were at home on the Tuesday and their ground was only 4.5 miles from the ebay pick-up address. I was suddenly showing huge interest in her item and its bid progress, for not entirely honest reasons.

The table she won was too big for our car, so we had the unexpected addition of needing to hire a transit, something I wasn’t looking forward to doing. My first football match by Transit van. I find driving the things quite scary, not sure of where the boundaries to the car are and feeling half blind, not having a rear-view mirror. However, I made it to Wakefield, via Leek and Buxton and skirting Chapel-en-le-Frith and Glossop, including the very picturesque B6105 with its views of the Torside reservoir. The pleasant cross-country route all the time tempered by my agitation at being in charge of a huge van, feeling like a ten-year-old that had stolen a juggernaut. I know, I’m pathetic, having been trained at the dandy school of driving.

After picking up the table and chairs I drove the short distance to Ossett; first impressions were of a pleasant little town, with a seemingly large concentration of eateries and restaurants. I had a bit of time to kill so got some fish and chips just off prospect Road, in the town centre. The nicest Fish and Chips I’d had since Warminster circa 1985. Cheap, too, with Fish £2.

Having parked my Transit in the free-after-6 town centre car park, I walked the short distance to the ground. The ground is so central, you almost expect a clock tower in the centre circle. It is slap bang in the middle of town. They have played there since 1957, the team having been founded in 1936.

A fine pair of Ossets. Town at the top and Albion, bottom

The end of the ground backs on to a main high street and opposite the new bus station.

Back of the main stand

The main stand is, unusually, behind a goal and holds approx 400.

Main Stand and, left, wheelchair area

There are two small covered terraces on either side of the pitch and a large array of buildings at the back behind one side housing friendly and spacious clubhouse/bar, snack area, club shops etc. It was almost like a little football village.

Terrace in front of many buildings including snack bar

Ossett had not had a great start to the season, while visitors Kendal were top, with no defeats and a hatful of goals. So it was a surprise to see Ossett start out on top and play some really good football. They deserved their lead, but allowed Kendal back in to the game before half time. In the second half Ossett again played really well and took a two goal advantage thanks to some superb attacking play. Kendal forced a goal back to make a very tense ending for the home side, but at the end Ossett thoroughly deserved to inflict Kendal’s first defeat of the season. A great advert for Unibond football, both these sides should be top half, and at £7, a bargain too.

Ossett is definitely one of my favourite grounds I’ve visited. The whole experience was very enjoyable and I even got the transit back to Stoke without any dents or scratches. And by the way the table and chairs I picked up were a bargain, even including van hire, petrol, fish and chips and match entrance – a fine investment by Mrs Groundhog, a valuable Ossett.

Ingfield Stadium in pictures

Unibond League South
Sep 5 Leek Town 1 Stamford 0 HT: 0-0 ATT: 272
           Miller 51
Sep 12 Shepshed Dynamo 1 Leek Town 1 HT: 0-1 ATT: 141
              Ramsay 90                  Corden 6
Sep 19 Leek Town 1 Spalding 0 HT: 1-0 ATT: 276
              Cope 39

Leek stay top of the league after another 1-0 victory today, against Spalding. Two weeks ago they weren’t on top form, but managed to beat Stamford 1-0, thanks to an acrobatic strike from Miller in the second half. Stamford would’ve felt aggrieved at not getting a point there, though. It was a slim victory.

Stanford Attack

I didn’t go to Shepshed, unfortunately, but apparently Leek were unlucky not to hang on to their early lead, conceding in the ninetieth minute.

Today, against Spalding, again Leek Town didn’t look the sharp side that were banging goals in earlier on in the season. They are still playing some good football but don’t seem to have the passion and urgency of the first week or so. This could be down to being top of the league, with teams coming here braced for a tough game.

I was quite impressed with Spalding. Their record before today was the exact opposite of Leek (0-2-5), but they played like a team much higher up the table. They should’ve taken the lead with a twenty yarder tipped on to the bar by Hodgson, with the rebound not falling nicely for them. They also had a free shot tamely struck at Hodgy, that should’ve been a goal. Leek rode a bit of luck before a Johnson free-kick was headed powerfully into the top of the net by Cope. 1-0 half time.

The second half was fairly even but, again, Leek were a bit lucky not to concede to a Spalding side determined to get an equaliser. Leek had a few chances themselves, but there were no more goals and Leek win 1-0 again. Despite not being on top form they have managed to get 7/9 points, very nearly the full 9/9, were it not for the Shepshed 90. So far, this season I have seen five Leek games and they’ve won all five! My luck cannot last – surely. I am going to Quorn next week, home to the ultimate processed food, the odds are my record will fall there, but let’s hope not.

In a similar vein to the 1990 book of the same name this is an account of my favourite year, part one.

Brighton & Hove Albion – Second Division 6th place (losing Play-Off finalists) – FA Cup 4th round – League Cup 1st round.

Albion 1990-91 (wearing the worst kit of all time)

The motley bunch above, wearing the lurid pink strip, looking like some Gay World Cup side, is the team from my favourite ever season, 1990-91. The kit, incidentally, was voted as one of the worst five kits of all time. Not helped much by the words NOBO emblazoned on their chest. I still have this top in my wardrobe. 

I’ve supported the Albion since 1980, which includes five promotions and a Cup Final appearance; but those seasons still don’t compare to 1990-91. Just looking at that picture amuses me, even forgetting the pink tops; every player on it is more familiar to me now than 95% of those who have played for Brighton since. Most of the matches from this season still remain vivid in my mind, much more so than most from the nigh on 20 seasons since.

Ultimately, they weren’t good enough for promotion, (losing to Notts County at Wembley) but whatever they lacked on the field was more than made up for in charisma and sheer entertainment. Take the kits for a start – not just the garish away kit but also the comedy home kit, that was so much like a tesco carrier bag, it must have seemed like free advertising to the food giant.

Gary Chivers in the Tesco kit

Brighton were not expected to do much that year. Having narrowly avoided the drop to Division 3 two seasons running, and with no money to spend, the likelihood was that our tenacious grip on Division 2 was finally going to give way to relegation. Two signings from abroad, namely Johnny Byrne and Mike Small from Le Havre and PAOK Thessaloniki FC, did not cause a stir around the pre-season Goldstone Ground. Nobody had heard of them (Byrne played for QPR a while back but that didn’t raise any eyebrows). Optimism for the coming season was low.

As it turned out they were two of the best signings Brighton ever made; their partnership together producing over 30 goals and taunting Division Two defences all season. Added to this exciting front-pairing was the fact that our games were high scoring; 3-2 wins commonplace, as were crushing defeats,  as in 4-0 at home to Sheff Wed, 4-2 at home to Middlesbrough and 6-1 at Oldham. When we lost we really lost it, none of that 1-0 nonsense for us, no sir.

 It was also my first season at University in Preston – and as luck would have it the away games in the far north seemed to be in term time, the London and south east games in the holidays. I went to 20 away games that year.

Brighton were also playing very attractive football. This seems to be a feature of Brighton throughout the years, and none more so than this year. In fact, at times, our football was almost non-contact, which was why we tended to fair so badly against the bruisers and cloggers in the league. It’s funny how clubs seem to retain a reputation through years and decades, despite the complete change of personnel, from players to backroom staff. It is said the human body has a complete change of cells every seven years or so, but something within us keeps us the person we are. It is as though clubs, too, have this indefinable something that stays true despite comeplete physical change.

Our manager, Barry Lloyd, had been with us three and half years, and despite a very enjoyable promotion in 1987-88 from the third division, with Garry Nelson and Kevin Bremner, another pair of characters, partnering up front, he was the cause of a lot of frustration amongst fans at times. This was directed at his apparent inability to get any grit in the team; to get stuck in when needed, to change plans slightly to accommodate the more physical sides.

Barry Lloyd

It was a typically inauspicious start to the campaign, showing no foretaste of what was to come. I missed the opener at Barnsley (not missing another until October) but remember where I was when I heard the final score. Hardly a JFK moment, I know, but memory can be a tad unpredictable, especially where football is concerned. I was mooching around the Peter Pan amusement arcades down the beach, on the way to the marina, playing slot machines and games, when I heard from the change man’s radio that Garry Nelson had put us 1-0 up! At the start of the second half, too - maybe Brighton could win an opening day match for the first time since goalnets were invented?

No. Brighton lost 2-1, and I walked home from Peter Pan amusements both skint and depressed. I had that out-of-all-context depression that comes after a summer holiday of anticipating a new season, followed by opening day defeat. The coming Wednesday it was to get worse. It was time for the annual Goldstone-League-Cup-defeat-at the-hands-of-lower-division-opposition event. I think this particular match made it five seasons on the trot losing our home leg to a lower league club – the benefactors on the night, Northampton Town, 2-0. Although, for some reason, this scoreline was probably what persuaded me to go up to the County Ground for the second leg; as it at least gave me the chance to see an amazing comeback. (Well, I was young and naive.)

On the Saturday we met Wolverhampton at home and drew 1-1 in an even game. We looked better that day and maybe showed some signs of potential brilliance, but it wasn’t anything to get excited about yet. A curious fact about this match is that it was the first time Wolves had ever not lost to us. Before this game our record against them was Pld 10 W 10 D 0 L 0. It was surely the biggest bogey in football history. To take the bogey metaphor further it was like one of those stringy ones that dangles from your nose for a good inch. However Wolverhampton finally picked the bogey as they got their first point off us.

On the Tuesday it was a drive in my Dad’s car up to Northampton to the County Ground for the second leg of the Rumbelow’s (or whatever) Cup. I’d manage to persuade my mate Steve to come, despite his general lack of interest in football. He was a football hedgehog, hibernating for three years and eleven months, only to appear during the World Cups, suddenly watching every match like a man possessed and talking football like a Goldstone regular. He did come along to the odd Albion match; but i think it was more for the day or night out, more than anything. We were only just eighteen and driving was still a novelty.

The County Ground was a little affair, the smallest ground I’d seen since Aldershot; smaller still in fact. The side adjoining the cricket pitch just had duckboards separating it from the football pitch. I couldn’t believe a league team had such a small ground – and they were bloody well beating us, too. It was a fairly dismal night, standing on the open terrace behind the goal, forlornly drinking coffee in the late August night, waiting for what looked like an inevitable 0-0. It briefly flickered to life in the 87th minute when we took the lead; but before the expectation of a dramatic equaliser and extra time could play in our heads, the cobblers scored at the other end for 1-1 and 3-1, on aggregate. Out of the League cup yet again.

Mike (Micky) Small is my favourite Albion player of all time. He was a powerful imposing striker, in the mould of Emile Heskey, who could hold the ball up and strike fear into opposition defences. He had a way of ploughing through defenders like an ice-breaker through icebergs. Added to his strength was an eye for goal and speed. At nearly 30 already, he had somehow gone under the radar of bigger clubs; a hidden gem plucked from Greek football . He was the kind of player you could pin your hopes on for some magic if you were trailing in the last five minutes. He very fast became a hero down at the Goldstone. His song was:

He’s tall, he’s black, he’s lethal in attack…Micky Small…Micky Small

John Byrne, too, was approaching, or may have been 30 when he joined us from Le Havre. He was a very skilful player and cut quite a figure dashing down the line with his leonine hair. His speed and skill matched with Small’s power was an awesome combination.

They are pictured in the pics below along with the rest of the squad.

The next league fixture was away at Watford. Vicarage Road would become the first away ground I’d been to twice. In those days away fans were made to do ‘the long walk’. Having arrived at the ground you were forced not just on the obligatory one and a half times round the ground to the away section, but an almighty trek encircling the biggest allotments in the world. It took, literally, about twenty minutes to walk to the turnstile. In those days they were famed for their singing family section, the only noise you heard off them was the regular childish squeak of ‘Watford…[clap, clap, clap]…Watford. I also remember the Brighton fans singing

Elton John is a homosexual

which seems strange now based on its bland factuality. Also, very rich, coming from fans from gay capital, Brighton, with their team playing in a pink kit!

It was another Albion hero, Gary Nelson, who slotted our winner home under the keeper in the second half. The triangle of Albion fans around the floodlight went berserk as we notched our first win of the season. These were the days when away fans were often shepherded into a triangle of terrace beneath a floodlight, usually open to the elements, while the home fans sit or stand in relative luxury.

Next up were two home matches in four days, Charlton on the Saturday, then Portsmouth on the Tuesday night. I dreamed of six points as supporters are wont to do; the rational part of my brain shaking its head in a patronising manner. These two matches didn’t just provide the dreamed of six points, it showed Brighton to be a high scoring attacking force. In both games we trailed 1-0 early on, but in both games we cruised back to two goal advantages; against Portsmouth all before half time.

They looked like a side that could score with every attack. The combination of Byrne and Small, with little Clive Walker (the Phil Collins lookalike) on the wing and midfield class act Dean Wilkins, not to mention the likes of Robert Codner and Mark Barham, we looked like we had plenty of goals in us. It is reassuring to have a high scoring team, as going a goal behind does not signal the death-knell for getting any points out of the game. Brighton fans were starting to get a bit excited about the season, especially as the two wins had leapt us in to fourth place.

As I mentioned the team was full of larger than life characters. Clive Walker, the bald grinning ex Chelsea and Sunderland player with loads of top flight experience and a League Cup final to his name (in which he missed a penalty), was getting on a bit, but still capable of some genius down the wing. He was one of those players that was occasionally brilliant, but probably more of the time jaw-droppingly hapless. In fact, this polar tendency seemed to run within the team to varying degrees. A lot of our players were both capable of sheer sparkle but also comedically bad football.

Central defender Gary Chivers was generally a very reliable chap but would then occasionally think it a good idea to try header keepy-uppies in the middle of a packed Albion area in the ninetieth minute, with us holding on to a slender one-goal advantage. He was reputed to be a bit of a joker in the changing rooms, and occasionally this comical side of him would appear at the most inopportune moments on the pitch.

Robert Codner was another of those players with two faces. He was a talented midfielder, who a few times a season scored an absolute blinder, but the crowd had a love hate relationship with him. He was much maligned for having another job ‘in the city’ as some kind of financier. No one ever knew exactly what he did but  apparently it was a sore point with Barry Lloyd who was often at loggerheads with him for his time-keeping and commitment to the club. He was also reputed to be a bit of a bad boy with a cocaine habit. But you can’t not love a guy who, at Hartlepool’s Victoria ground in 1993, while the away fans were shielding themselves from freezing sideways daggers of  rain blowing in off the North Sea on to the exposed corner terrace, unleashes a 35 yard thunderbolt thwang-er-wang-er-wanging off the underside of the bar to score. You just can’t. His chant was:

Ooh aah Cod-er-ner
I said Ooh aah-Cod-er-ner

Robert Codner

But perhaps the player who most encapsulated the Jekyll and Hyde tendencies was local boy John Crumplin. I think he was signed from Bognor Regis Town. He was immortalised in Brighton folklore for the ironic chant:

Johnny Crumplin, Football Genius

When he first started playing for us, as a youngster on the right wing, he was so bad as to attract ridicule from the North Stand, amusement from the East Terrace and probably anger from the West Stand. He was one of those players that every club has from time to time, where you seriously wonder how they slipped through the net of school football and trials to become a professional. Passes were mis-hit, clearances were sliced into the stands and running was often followed by falling over.  So the North Stand would sing Johnny Crumplin, football genius after one of his Charlie Chaplin moments.

However, John Crumplin worked his socks off and he certainly wasn’t lacking in determination. Moving to his preferred right back position, he gave his Albion performances the proverbial 110% each time (which may well have made his cock-ups even more amusing). After a season or so Crumplin improved dramatically, to the extent where the chants of Johnny Crumplin, football genius were more often than not serious rather than ironic, although the chant was still sung for the mistakes too. He did actually start to become the football genius he was mockingly labelled from the start.

For me the whole football genius thing came to a head, a perfect dénouement to the legend of John Crumplin, in 1993, at home to Burnley. He took the ball from inside the Albion half and his right back position, on a  charging run; he took it inside one Burnley player, then another…and finding himself 25 yars out near the middle of the pitch, thought he’d have a go. The ball went fizzing sublimely over the keeper’s head, off the bar and in. I’ve never seen the Goldstone erupt so violently. Even the West Stand were singing his song. Crumplin had graduated the school of football genius.  It was a prize Albion moment.

By the way, mocking reference to the West Stand can best be described by an unknown North-stander who put it brilliantly. The only peep you’ll hear out of the West Stand is if someone farts or drops their handbag.

Crumplin remains to this day a major part of Albion history. Ask any Brighton fan over about 30 to name ten famous Albion players and I’m sure he’d make most lists alongside the likes Mark Lawrenson, Jimmy Case, Peter Ward, Terry Connor and Dean Saunders. He now manages Walton & Hersham Town, apparently.

The Football Genius (on left)

Next to Crumps in the picture are two other local lads. In the middle Ian Chapman was the first graduate of the FA school at Lilleshall to play in the league and became Albion’s youngest player at 16. He played for us for almost 10 years, during that time was probably our most reliable player. On the right is John Robinson, a youngster who started looking like a decent player by the end of the season. He always looked thin and delicate on the pitch, like a small gust of wind would blow him away; though his awkward gait and dandyish running style didn’t affect his football adversely. He was to score a vital goal for us in the play-offs. He later went on to play top flight football with Charlton.

Back to the season, Brighton were in fourth after the two home 3-2 wins. Next up was away at Briston City. It was also the weekend I was going up to the highly auspicious Lancashire Polytechnic to do I’m not sure what. My Dad took me up on the Saturday, via Bristol, of course. By a coincidence my brother Andy (RIP) had just moved to Clifton in Bristol, so it was a good excuse to meet up with him.

After the six goals I’d witnessed in the previous seven days my expectations were high, but Albion put in a stinker of a performance and lost easily 3-1, with the one a lucky late consolation. It’s funny how your football team seems to mimic one’s life and current mood sometimes. That weekend I was feeling lacklustre and worried about the whole university(sorry Polytechnic) thing; the Albion performance mirrored this exactly.

Just one week into Poly life and, as if I’d written the fixture list myself, Brighton are away at Blackburn. Reflecting my renewed optimism in life generally, Brighton got an unexpected away result at Ewood Park. This was before Blackburn became fashionable, before Shearer and Dalglish et al. The ground was an enormous shed-like affair and the hundred or so Albion fans were like flotsam and jetsam behind the goal in a vast sea of concrete terracing. As such the atmosphere wasn’t great and the winner was one of those goals that crosses the line, but doesn’t hit the net; a goal where the fans look expectantly at the linesman for the goal signal, rather than the satisfying whump of the net. The celebration is obviously less spontaneous and rather comical. Rather than the explosive release than normally accompanies goals, it’s more of a mexican wave of ‘whooa’ noises, followed by some tentative arm waving, yessing and hopping about.  However…win it was.

This pattern continued throughout the season. Disappointing defeat followed by unexpected win, embarrassing mauling by blinding victory. The players seemed to blow hot and cold together and when they were cold it could be Siberian. They didn’t draw many games, it was very much an all or nothing side. Intense heart pounding frustration and anger one week was elation the next.

Highlighted perfectly the following week with a  4-0 drubbing at home to Sheffield Wednesday. All thoughts of play-off contention seemed to evaporate quickly with that result. The next few games were also winless. Home to Swindon we threw away a 3-1 lead to finish the game 3-3. Then I made my first trip to the Hawthorns to meet Steve, an arrangement we’d made before we left Brighton for our respectively educational institutes. He was at Hatfield so it seemed about halfway. We got a respectable 1-1 there. Then we got thumped at Oxford 3-0 (I didn’t go) before finally getting a win at home to Hull, 3-1.

We were now mid-table with a record of W5 D3 L4

Then just as we thought we’d got the winning touch again Middlesbrough came away from the Goldstone with a 4-2 victory and some very soft goals. It was clear our defence was very pregnable and to win we needed to get a lot of goals. Perry Digweed (who was twinned with Watford keeper Fraser Digby) was another of those players that could be very frustrating. A superb shot stopper, his achilles heel was actually his midriff, that seemed to have a football-sized hole either side, so any shots hit across him always went in. One-on-ones with Perry, you knew the outcome.

In to November, Brighton restore every fan’s hopes with a win away at Ipswich, 3-1, (one of the few aways I didn’t get to). Then with yet another 3-2  win at home to Plymouth, our season looked back on track for a potential play-off place. With this spike in our form, I decided to book a train from Preston to London for the West Ham game. West Ham were top of the league, so it was a tempting fixture, and I’d never been to Upton Park before. Andy was going too, from Bristol. We agreed to meet beforehand to soak up the pre-match atmosphere.

The atmosphere before and during the game until half time was the best ever. The buzz around Barking Road and Green Street, fans milling about everywhere, a slightly tense, edgy feeling in the air; anticipation for the game mixed with a little bit of worry about trouble. Upton Park before the Taylor report was the best atmosphere ground you could get. Big terraces, low roofs, excellent acoustics and stands so close to the pitch you could almost touch the players. The Albion contingent sang deafening choruses of all the songs in their repertoire, rejoindered with raucous responses from the Hammers.

The script was written for the best game ever. Until half time, it was the best game ever. Despite playing the team at the top of the table, we murdered West Ham. It was the best performance of the season by far. It almost became exhibition stuff as the interplay between the team was sublime. It really was just like watching Brazil. Small headed us into the lead to give us the much deserved advantage before the break.

Thanks to Hammers’ sub Stuart Slater and his wonder goal we conspired to lose 2-1. Even the West Ham tannoy announcer, in introducing a song called Throwing it all away alluded to the Brighton performance. That half was, to this day, the best I’ve ever seen the Albion play; how we managed to lose the match still rankles.

We were still mid-table W7 D3 L6

What was worse after the Hammers game was that the fans who went knew we were better than mid-table, we should be up there. It’s somehow worse to follow a side you know can be brilliant and not fulfilling their potential as it is watching a crap side fulfilling theirs.

I went home to Brighton the following weekend to watch a frustrating 0-0 at home to Millwall. Then, back in Preston the following week, got the train to Oldham Werbeth. Another station is called Oldham Mumps. I wondered what other stations in Oldham might be called – Oldham Hepatitis? Oldham St Vitus’ Dance?  I hoped I didn’t catch the Werneth at Boundary Park.

Oldham were near the top, too. They also had a plastic pitch. Brighton just could not get to grips with plastic. They were like monkeys on ice skates on the plastic. It was going to be a tough one. And it was. A 6-1 defeat was about a fair result. Dean Wilkins gave us a nugget to carry home, with a trademark free-kick, curled into the top corner.

Dean Wilkins’ nickname was Wendy due to his reluctance to tackle and get stuck in. He was the younger brother of England player Ray Wilkins. Jokes abounded about him upsetting his perm if he got tackled. He needn’t have bothered, as his hair went the same way as Ray’s. He was pure skill, Wilkins, he had a deft touch and was scoring Beckham style free-kicks long before Beckham came on the scene. He could be a bit of a pain in the arse if you were 2-0 down to some cloggers and needed some grit, though.

Dean Wilkins - luxury player

Dean actually came back to manage Brighton briefly in 2007-08. I thought he was doing an excellent job and really enjoyed watching the Seagulls under him. He had obviously passed down his attractive play to the youngster in the squad, that he was nurturing. I was very disappointed to see him go.

 After the defeat at Oldham it was home for the Christmas holidays and some Goldstone action. A 1-0 win against Barnsley was a much needed three points. Then I went to meet two friends for the night, shortly before christmas, who hailed from Biddulph near Stoke. I saw Small slot away a second half goal for another 1-0 win, from the wooden seats at Vale Park.

Boxing day was one of the most frustrating games I’ve ever seen. The match should never have taken place, such was the water on the pitch. The ball was splashing into puddles with no bounce, players trying to kick the ball were like cars driving through a ford, it was ridiculous. Bristol Rovers’ 3rd minute goal was enough to win them this farcical game.

Thus ended 1990 and the first half of the season. We were still in mid-table with a record of W9 D4 L8. However the new year was to bring a dream cup tie, five of my top ten away games of all time and a dramatic finalé to the campaign.

Date: Monday August 24th 2009
Ground: Coles Lane
Match: Sutton Coldfield Town 1 Bedworth United 1 HT: 0-1 ATT: 158
Matt 90: Blair 22
Additional: Entrance £6, Programme £1.20, Coffee/Tea 60p Full food menu including Faggots.

Coles Lane in Pictures

Between two Leek Town home matches I had a free Monday evening. I had a choice of three venues all about the same distance away – Atherton Collieries, Curzon Ashton and Sutton Coldfield Town. Curzon Ashton’s is a new stadium but, while very modern with excellent facilities, too similar to the Weaver Stadium to entice me. Atherton are step six and so I guessed would be very small indeed, so I plumped for Sutton Coldfield from the Zamaretto League Midlands division (step four).

Sutton Coldfield Town date back to 1879. They started out playing in Birmingham leagues and have been at Coles Lane since the 1930s. Fellow Div One Midlands team Romulus, from Castle Vale, share the ground. As do Grosvenor Park.

Sutton Coldfield is a huge town with a greater population than a lot of league clubs (105,000), but being in the centre of Birmingham with Aston Villa nearby, they have struggled to get potentially large support.

I found the ground quite easily, thanks again to google maps. It is very close to Sutton’s town centre and placed right between streets of housing, which is always a pleasing setting for me. Entrance to the ground is mid-way along Coles Lane, down a short stub of a road. Cars actually enter the ground, through the turnstiles, so to speak. You pay the entrance from your car window and park behind the goal in the clubhouse carpark. I opted for a space on Coles Lane itself, preferring to walk up to the gate.

Today’s visitors were Bedworth United, so a fairly local derby. Neither side had won a game yet.

The ground is rather dominated by the wondeful main stand. A very tall antiquated construction, very steep and tall, offering great views. Entrance was from behind the stand up precipitous wooden steps. It reminded me of the stand at Nantwich’s former home, Jackson Avenue. The layout inside was wooden benches with no backs. split into thirds, with the middle third being the ‘first class benches’, the business suite, for journalists and other besuited individuals. Seven benches up it held approximately 200.

The second half kicks off under the main stand

There were no structures at either end. One end was the clubhouse, car park and snacks bar. This latter had a full blown menu selection, like a little café, the plat-du-nuit being the Faggots and gravy. Coffee was excellent value at 60p.

Along the other side was a small covered terrace.

Covered Terrace

Next to the main stand was a nice bit of traditional open terracing with crush barriers.

It was a very physical and fast paced game. Chances were few and far between as the ball thwacked and thwocked between the middle third of the pitch. Bedworth looked a seriously well organised side, who didn’t let Sutton hold it for more than a second, as they chased everything. It was frustrating for the home team and exhausting just to watch. It seemed like a 15-a-side game, space was at such a premium. Bedworth scored a cracking header to take the lead and deserved to win, all in all. Their steadfast and brutally efficient defence was finally undone about four minutes into injury time, when a parried shot was messily bundled over the line. 1-1 but Bedworth will view it as two points dropped.

 The best thing I took from this visit was nothing to do with football, but an expression I heard from a local supporter. There were three good friends chatting pitchside, all late thirties, early forties. One of them had had to reduce his hours at work and was explaining to the others that he had taken on an extra part time job in the evenings. His mate smiled at him and said Well, you’ve got to keep the smell away.  The first bloke agreed, but as if the other’s sage comment hadn’t received enough attention he re-iterated, smirking all the while, You’ve just got to keep the smell away.

What a perfect synopsis of recession hit Britain. Also, classic example of the humble self-effacing humour of the ‘North’.

Sutton free kick near the end

Coles Lane in Pictures

Aug 22nd Leek Town 3 Mickleover Sports 2 HT: 3-2 ATT: 229
Unibond League South

Aug 25th Leek Town 5 Brigg Town 1 HT: 3-0 ATT: 216
Unibond League One South

Mickleover Sports was my first home game as a Leek Town fan. If I wasn’t already addicted on the Saturday, then I certainly was on the following Tuesday at home to Brigg. It wasn’t just the high scoring wins; it was the old routine of being a fan of one club, the familiarity, the same faces, stands and pubs beforehand. The willing of your team to win, rather than the polite attendance of a couple of random ones. It reminded me of days at the Goldstone Ground in the eighties, when I went to every home game.

The Saturday against new boys Mickleover Sports (form the Northern Counties East League) was a good enough start. Trailing 1-0 to a well taken free-kick, they proceeded to score three in 10 minutes to completely turn the game around. Their attacking strength was awesome. Making good use of wingers they looked capable of scoring every time they went up field. Much like the Brighton team of 90-91, conceding goals was not so devastating for the supporter, such was the confidence in attack. In fact the pattern of the first half was very reminiscent of an early season game against Portsmouth that season.

Mickleover got one back before the break, a beautifully taken goal, stolen from the defence and hooked past Steve Hodgson in the Leek goal. The quality was high. After a five-goal first half it was slightly disappointing that the score remained the same at the end; but nonetheless a good all round performance enjoyed by not just me, but my two boys, 6 and 5, young Town fans in the making.

[I must clarify that I haven't completely turned my back on Brighton. I still regard myself as a Brighton fan. I have turned my back on the league and its expensive homogenously bland tastes. The fact that Brighton are my team is unchangeable like ones parentage; it's just that I have chosen now to watch a team in a division that better reflects what I believe football to be all about, and indeed what the FA did before the 30 pieces of silver known as The Premier League. Fundamentally it is a league I can afford and get value for money.]

By the Tuesday evening I felt like I’d been a Harrison Park regular for years. Admittedly, the 5-1 scoreline probably helped but it was kind of like coming home, in a displaced sort of way. The main stand at Leek, a relatively large structure with 500 odd seats, could’ve been the old West Stand at the Goldstone and standing behind the goal at the Macclesfield Road end was like the old days in the North Stand, albeit on a smaller scale.

Leek's Main stand with 8 step terrace beneath

The traditional football ground smells were all accentuated; the bovril, sweat, cigarette smoke, flatulence and pasties. The sounds of boot on leather, the cries of the fans all sharpened. There was nothing much different here than any other football game of a similar level that night, but because I was a Leek fan now, my senses were more alert, my body and soul was receptive; even the sallow light from the floods and the evening air seemed to pass through me, rather than around me. I was part of football again.

Leek free-kick against Mickleover

I went to the Tuesday game with Tom, a disillusioned Darlington fan, who is adopting Leek Town with me, too. In fact, it was his idea in the first place. Leek murdered Brigg Town. The attacking combination of Cope, Ashman, Corden, Brannan and Miller was too much for Brigg, and they were 3 down before the break, including a delightful twenty yard shot into the top corner from the league-wizened and still very skilful Wayne Corden.

The Macclesfield Road end - a great atmosphere especially when Leek are 5-1 up

Two late goals gave the scoreline a fairer look and sent the Leek town faithful home very happy. The whole experience, compared to just watching any old game, can best be described as the difference between passive smoking and smoking. This was the full nicotine high. This was the full inhalation of football, unfiltered and with a high tar content. If this game didn’t get me (and I’m sure Tom too) addicted, then nothing would.

And the fact is that in our first season, after five games, unbelievably:

We… are… top of the league

I said we are top of the league

Clubhouse and snack bar

Main Stand

Tom on the terrace

Club shop

Links Willenhall Town  Leek Town

Date: Thursday 09th July 2009 7.00pm

The New Saints missed an ideal opportunity to make it to the next round of the Europa Cup for the first time in their history, in this game. They totally dominated their Icelandic counterparts from start to finish and the score should have been 9-2. Unfortunately for TNS the FRAM keeper was on supernatural form, pulling off a string of full stretch saves. Add to that some poor finishing and a good pinch of bad luck and TNS went out at the first stage for the eleventh time.

This wasn’t their usual Europe experience however, as this was the first time they were able to hold their home leg at their home ground. It was a special occasion accompanied by some souvenir badges and knitwear of which I just couldn’t resist. Yes, the Venue (or Park Hall as it’s more commonly called) had passed UEFA ground requirements so TNS did not have to borrow from Wrexham, Newtown or Cardiff.

Are you Celtic in disguise?

It was a shame but nonetheless a great effort by TNS. A very cagey away style from the Icelanders and lacking in spirit, but nonetheless a good tactical win, with the keeper, Hannes Haldorsson their star man with a 10/10 performance.

The FRAM team celebrate their victory

The Venue in pictures

Ground: Deeside College Stadium
Date: Friday 6th March 2009, 7.30 pm
Competition: Welsh Premier League
Match: Connah’s Quay 2 Airbus UK Broughton 3 HT: 0-3 Att: 215
Additional: Entrance: £6.00 Programme: £1.50 Coffee/Tea £1.00

Deeside College Stadium in pictures

Words may follow later

Sandygate Saturday 3rd January 2009;  Northern Counties East Premier Division;
Hallam 6 Lincoln Moorlands Railway 1 HT: 3-0 Att: 60;

Having picked off a rare new league venue last time out at Morecambe, it was back to grass roots football on Saturday at Hallam FC, whose grass lays claim to the oldest pitch in the world. I was privileged once again to have the company of my Uncle Don and his brother-in-law Cyril, both from Sheffield. They’re enjoying this groundhopping and have already requested a visit to Stocksbridge Park Steels some time soon. Cyril says it is a picturesque one.
It seems incredible to me that 44.6 miles from my house and just 2.9 miles from my Uncle’s house lies the oldest football ground in the world, belonging to the second oldest football club in the world (probably). If Hallam FC were in America there’d be road signs within a 100 mile radius, inviting people to divert off the free-way, for the attraction. Upon which they’d find a souvenir shop, café and some man taking photos of you by the entrance sign. I’m sure it’d be a money maker over there.
With it being over here, though, it lies in typically English understated glory behind a yorkstone wall in the affluent Crosspool area of Sheffield, only advertising itself when one gets up close to the sign.

Sign above entrance to Sandygate

I thought it was solid fact that Hallam were the second oldest football club in the world, after near neighbours Sheffield FC. They were to Sheffield what K2 is to Everest, Buzz Aldrin to Neil Armstrong. It all fitted in well with the first Sheffield Rules derby being played between Sheffield and Hallam at Sandygate in 1861. The proximity made sense, rather than the staggering conicidence of another club forming at the other side of the country at exactly the same time. This being the other claimant to the runners-up spot – Cray Wanderers; who state on their website, with as much unequivocal confidence as Hallam, that they are the second oldest football club.
Hallam give a foundation date of 4th September 1860, while Cray Wanderers is always stated as just 1860. On further probing for an exact date, responses so far have been like the alibis of a jaded felon who no longer cares for details ‘Oh…before Hallam’.
The claim for second place remains frustratingly inconclusive; like in Shrödinger’s experiment where the cat remains in a state of being both dead and alive, until the box is opened, Hallam and Cray both occupy the positions of second and third oldest club until Cray can clarify exactly when in 1860 they were founded. As they haven’t done before now with any certainty, I guess they never will, which in my view concedes second place to Hallam FC, despite Cray having a slight mathematical advantage with a chance of 248/366, with all other things being equal, of being second.
A stronger fact is that Hallam’s ground of Sandygate which they’ve used since their birth in 1860 is the oldest in the world. Though they are still those that would contest this fact; peevish disgruntlement from pedants querulously arguing for currently used pitches, whenceforth fossilised football remains were found

I drove the picturesque route to Sheffield to Uncle Don’s for dinner with him, my Auntie Mary and Cyril. It was good pre-match atmosphere. I was a bit surprised to learn that Cyril had probably been to more grounds than me, as a player and coach. He played for Doncaster Rovers reserves and Nottingham Forest reserves in the fifties before going on to coach New Mills and several teams in the Sheffield area, including Sheffield Wednesday reserves.

The opponents today were Lincoln Moorlands Railway, founded in 1989, and struggling to remain in the Premier division of the Northern Counties East, having just evaded relegation in the first season last year. Hallam are on a three win running streak and look to make it seven unbeaten at home today.

League table before game

Hallam get no bigger gates on account of their history and record breaking; only 60 turning up today, our triumvirate making up exactly 5% of the crowd (or in terms of how much we added exactly1/19th). We did, rather embarrassingly, take away 100% of the prizes though, as Uncle Don won the ‘Get the correct minute of the first goal comp’ with the number 3 which he drew from some rather smart sealed and labelled envelopes before the game; and Cyril won the raffle, winning a bottle of wine. We cleaned up!

The ground was smaller than I anticipated. The main stand is a 240 seater with good elevation and views. Apart from this the only structure was a small covered bit of terrace behind one goal, just spanning roughly a third of one end and rising to three steps at its apex.

Main Stand

A charming feature of the ground was the perimeter bar which is wonderfully crooked, as you can see in the above picture. The crookedness continues all the way round. It’s as if a once straight bar has endured 148 years of subsidence and general wear and has moulded itself into a new skewed position.

The pitch is very uneven and has a slope to rival Clitheroe’s. Looking from the Main Stand those shooting from left to right have an uphill task. The pitch also veers widthways. The other side of the pitch to the main stand is not accessible to fans; one lonely ball boy sits in the middle to collect balls from the cricket pitch. This side abuts Hallam Cricket Club’s ground, which when in use uses the football ground as part of pitch. This cricket pitch, too, has a quite spectacular slope upwards at the far side giving it the impression of a bowl.

Cricket pitch at the far side

On this bitterly cold day Hallam deservedly thrashed a Lincoln MR side, who lacked confidence and despite showing some good attacking flair looked outclassed, with Hallam’s impressive attack tearing them apart on numerous occasions. They could have had ten in the end. Hallam look good enough for a late promotion surge while Lincoln MR will have to improve to avoid the drop.

We sat in the main stand for the first half, then after picking up all the prizes on offer stood on the perishingly cold covered terrace behind the goal. A great game and historic ground, for just a fiver. Well worth the money.

Small terrace behind the goal

Uncle Don (Alexander) and Cyril (Boswell) on the bitterly cold covered terrace

Match Details
Scorers: Patterson 3 Bates 17, 55 Hunter 30 Ward 75, 77 : Garrick 79;
Entrance £5 Programme £1.00 Coffee 1.00p

Ground: Christie Park
Date: Saturday 13th December 2008, 3.00 pm
Competition: League Two
Match: Morecambe 1 Darlington 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 1,873
Howe 66
Additional: Entrance: £13.00 Programme: £3.00 Coffee/Tea £1.00

Christie Park in pictures

Two grounds backwards, two grounds forwards – finishing last season on 76/92 I am now back on 76/92, Rotherham & Morecambe replacing Rotherham and Colchester, if you know what I mean.

It was nice to be going to the game as an away fan, as I was accompanying Tom to watch his beloved Darlo team (they’re just friends now though after this performance). It was an excellent day out and fulfilled all the criteria of a great away day experience except one…the one that is often conspicuous by its absence – a good result.

I met with Tom at noon and he drove the 90 odd miles up to Morecambe which took about an hour and forty five minutes, a good amount of time to build up the atmosphere, get a bit of background on my team for the day and worry about the fixture being called off (as it was at the same time last year, after 22 minutes, in similar meteorological conditions). We drove in by the coast road which gave us a nice winter view of Morecambe Bay under a waning gibbous moon.

We arrived around 2pm which gave us time to sample a delicious Fish & Chip shop just outside the ground. The chips were piping hot and lovely – a good start. Next up was a pub for a pint of real ale which we found a short walk up from the ground in the York Hotel; left out of the chip shop and about 5 minutes up the road. The train station is not too much further up the road for those who like to go by public transport.

It was a free house selling some fine real ales, and adorned with the scarves of football clubs that had played at Christie Park. It was a friendly place with a big screen showing the early Premiership kick-off.

The early view I got of Christie Park showed that it was a fair size for a team that had spent its entire existence in non-league until two seasons ago. Ironically, the good view of the ground was only had because the near long side consisted of an Arc car wash where one would normally expect a stand. You could peer over the low wall at the rest of the ground. Beyond the car wash and dividing wall was a tiny terrace, with a dandy Heath Robsinson style structure housing the TV cameras.

The car wash terrace (That was actually its name)

Morecambe were founded in 1920 and have always played at Christie Park, although it wasn’t originally called that. This season could be the last one to see them play there as they have plans to be playing in a new stadium by the start of next season. Christie Park looked more like a traditional old league ground than those of most league teams, on the other three sides.

Main Stand

The Darlo fans (of which I was an honorary member for the day) stood on the Umbro covered terrace which rises nine steps up and houses what appears to be some kind of press box. Opposite this is the North Stand; a larger terrace where the Shrimps singing contingent stood.

North Stand for home fans seen from away end

Darlington,as Tom almost proudly asserts, have been rubbish since 1883 (10 more than today’s crowd). I couldn’t argue with him on this performance. A lacklustre first half only augured for a goalless draw, but Morecambe came out in the second half with what certainly appeared a greater desire to win. I must’ve got Darlo on a bad day, such is my jinx on teams, as before this they were lying in fourth with a good away record.

Tom was obviously disappointed but, when the cloud of defeat had blown over out towards the Irish Sea ,we could look back on an otherwise great experience of Morecambe. Their traditional ground will be missed if they move, and I will be one step backwards once again in my 92 mission.

Ground: St Georges Lane
Date: Saturday 22nd November 2008, 3.00 pm
Competition: FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Match: Worcester City 1 AFC Wimbledon 3 HT: 0-2 Att: 895
Wilding 62 Godfrey 5 Aiteouakrim 41, 68
Additional: Entrance: £10.00 Programme: £2.00 Coffee/Tea £0.80

St Georges Lane in pictures

St Georges Lane, home of Conference South side Worcester City, was a bonus ground for me. It wasn’t one I had earmarked for the next season or two, nor one I’d ever given much thought to before. My Dad was up for the weekend though. He is an AFC Wimbledon fan and they happened to be away at the reasonably local Worcester in the FA Trophy, a mere 70 miles away down Ms 6 and 5. It’s normally me that chooses the obscure non-league venue to go to when he comes up, normally one I’ve been casing for a while; so it was nice to be landed a totally unexpected one – like a rare guest beer in a local pub.

Worcester City have a fine non-league pedigree – they were founded in 1902 and after playing in the Birmingham & District League joined the Southern League and then the Alliance Premier in 1979. They stayed in non-league’s top flight until 1984/5. Due to their location they were moved from Conference North to Conference South this year. Their greatest moment though, was beating Liverpool in the FA Cup, 2-1, in 1959.

AFC Wimbledon’s history is quite well known by now, and they are flying high in the Conference South after promotion via the play-offs last year. They lost to Worcester in the league earlier this season, somewhat surprisingly, 3-2; having been 3 down after about 20 minutes.

St Georges Lane was a bit of a surprise to me. I had envisaged something modernish beforehand but, if you forgive the cliché, entering St George’s Lane was like stepping back in time. I was very surprised to find out afterwards that it is only 53 years old. It is a massive ground for non-league, and I got the sense that since its opening it may have been encroached on somewhat, lessening the capacity. The official capacity is 4,850, but that has got to be the biggest understatement in stadium history. It is easy to imagine their record crowd of 17, 042, against Sheffield Utd in the FA Cup in 1959 (this was the next round game after beating Liverpool), fitting into the stadium. You could fit the 4, 850 just on the side terrace alone and still do a star jump without hitting your neighbour. The bottom part, known as the Shed, has a massive roof on it and certainly looks unchanged since the 50s, when even non-league grounds were huge.

The Shed

There is a big old ornate seated stand opposite with 1,300 seats that reminds me a lot of the stand at Chesterfield’s Saltergate.

Away fans were segregated for this tie – whether that is normal or whether it was just because a large AFC Wimbledon contingent was expected, I don’t know. The Wombles all stood on a tapering terrace known as the canal end, again reminding me a bit of the away end at Saltergate. There were a few hundred Wimbledon fans that made the journey.

Away Section

The other end, the Dressing Room End looked like it was just a flat walkway behind the perimeter bar.

St Georges Lane is fairly central to Worcester, just north of the centre and the train station. Not having researched the pubs beforehand, we stopped at a pub, thinking it was probably the last one before the ground. It was uninspiring and sold no proper real ales. We were disappointed to find a much nicer looking pub right by the ground! Entrance was £10 which is about what I expected but the programme was fiendishly overpriced at £2 – it looked like something from the eighties, a slender bromidic affair entitled ‘City News’.

As I said, St Georges Lane had the air of being unchanged in a good while. One could almost imagine men in long shorts coming out, with Kenneth Wolstenholme on the tannoy in his clipped BBC tones. It did look in a state of disprepair and I have since learned that it may be set for demolition soon, in favour of a 6,000 seater new stadium on the edge of Worcester. It will be a shame in a way, because while St Georges Lane seemed a little too large for Worcester City, and had difficulty generating much atmosphere, it is a great piece of football history and deserves keeping in some respect. The memory of their giant-killing defeat of Liverpool and 17,000 souls packed in to watch a 4th round cup-tie still linger palpably in the rafters of the Shed and in the roof of the main stand, sharing a space with some pigeons now, no doubt, but there nonetheless.

The game wasn’t a classic, but obviously my Dad was pleased with the deserved win for AFC Wimbledon. They looked the better side for much of the match with Worcester unable to show much inspiration for a fight back.

AFC Wimbledon play Uxbridge away in the First Round Proper on 13th December

Ground: Silkmore Lane
Date: Saturday 15th November 2008, 3.00 pm
Competition: Midland Combination Premier
Match: Brocton 0 Loughborough University 1 HT: 0-1 Att: 42
                            Hale 37
Additional: Entrance: £4.00 Concessions £2 Programme: £1.00 Coffee/Tea £0.50

Photos of Silkmore Lane

Brocton is a small district south west of Stafford. The football team were founded in 1937 by an Arthur Mayer, who owned the Chetwynd Arms. The club played in local leagues at the Chetwynd Arms Ground until fairly recently, when promotions have forced them to upgrade their venue.

The Badgers moved to the Rowley Park Stadium in Stafford to meet the requirements for the Staffordshire Senior League (then the Midland League) and then moved again to the Cannock Sports Stadium in 2003-04, as it had the floodlights to enable them to take part in step 6 football in the Midland Combination. This was only available for a year, forcing them to find a groundshare quickly. They have shared with Heath Hayes’ rather charming Coppice Colliery Ground  until this season. (click here for report and pictures of the Brocton Heath Hayes derby new years’ day 2008).

In 2006 Brocton were granted a 30 year lease on the Old Police Sports Ground in Stafford, which were derelict and hadn’t been used by the police in a while. With the help of £50,000 from the Big Lottery fund they started the ball rolling on work to bring the ground up to Step Six standards and it was ready for use for the start of this season.

I took Dylan, my six year old, along with me on his insistence. I think he quickly regretted his eagerness to attend as the weather was grim, a steady fine rain permeating a dull afternoon, and the football was perhaps grimmer.

Slikmore Lane sits on the south side of Stafford and ends at the turnstile to the ground. It is the first ground I’ve ever been to where the car park entrance is also the turnstile, so to speak. You pay for entrance and a programme through your car window before parking up. I mean turnstile metaphorically, as the place where you pay, rather than a huge rotating turnstile that your car bumper turns around!

The reason for this set up becomes apparent when you park as the car park is directly behind the small main stand and the pitch side. It is a bit like a drive-thru stadium. You could watch the game from your car if you wanted. I almost wish I did on account of the weather.

Main Stand with car park behind

 The set up inside the ground was very similar to that at Stone Dominoes, smart but very basic. The main stand held about 110 seats by my reckoning; a nice touch was two reporters seats at the back that had flip down desks for them to write on! They were no other stands, just some smart fibreglass dugouts and level standing behind the perimeter bar.

 The changing rooms, executive suites and snack bar were all housed in green portacabins behind one goal, squelching in the recent rains. Despite this slightly makeshift arrangement, it is testament to Brocton and everyone involved that they have come so far and now have a smart floodlit ground. It always amazes me how such small clubs seem to generate such huge funding and manage to progress.

Portacabins & Dugouts

When I went to see them on New Years Day this year at the Coppice Colliery Ground for the match against their landlords, Heath Hayes, I was made to feel really welcome. I was given a complimentary coffee amongst other niceties. Again the welcome was good; the chairman introduced himself after seeing me with my camera. I was apprehensive at first. At grounds with very small gates I get very self-conscious taking photos and am very aware of the ‘e’s not from round these parts is ‘e looks from the regulars.

I probably don’t help myself much – I know it’s a lot worse if you’re furtive about it, it just makes you look guilty. (I envy those groundhoppers with the confidence to snap away with abandon, bending down with camera, their bottom sticking in some season ticket holders face in order to get the best shot of the away section, without a care). However the chairman jollily enquired of me on seeing me snapping – photos? he enquired simply and then introduced himself and made me feel very welcome, before telling me about the progress the club had made.

Todays visitors were high flying Loughborough University, sitting 2nd in the league to Brocton’s 14th. They are a brand new club, having started this year (though a team representing the university did play in the Leicestershire League between 1966-72) and share their home ground with Loughborough Dynamo.

The game was unfortunately fairly terrible, and to compound this, I missed the only goal by being distracted by the raffle ticket man trying to sell me a ticket.  The apocalyptic film-noir weather did nothing to improve matters. Dylan did very well to last until 4.20 before begging to go home. I was begging him to go home at 4.10.

The new football drive-thru

Ground: The Airfield
Date: Friday 7th November 2008, 7.30 pm
Competition: Welsh Premier Football League
Match: Airbus UK Broughton 2 Bangor City 3 HT: 2-2 Att: circa 200 tbc
McIntosh 27,33 Sharp 14, 41(p) Hoy 72
Additional: Entrance: £6.00 Programme: £1.50 Coffee £0.50 or 20p from machine in toilets.

The Airfield in pictures

There was no dancing in the streets of Airbus last night (Friday) as the Wingmakers spurned the opportunity to cause an upset against 10 man Bangor. This was my first Welsh Premier match, and after a great game at an interesting venue, I feel my addiction to grounds veering West to the Principality. There are nine Welsh Premier teams that I can get to in less than two hours by car, so I’m hoping to slope off after work on a few more Fridays before the season is out!

The history of Welsh football is quite strange and convoluted. The Welsh Premier has only been going since 1992; before that they were unique in having no national league. Historically the best teams in Wales have always played over the border in England – Cardiff and Swansea are both still in the Championship, in the recent past Wrexham and Newport County were also in the league and going back further you have Merthyr Town and Aberdare Athletic. The classic quiz question asks when was the only time the FA Cup wasn’t won by an English team, with Cardiff, 1927, being the answer.

When the League of Wales was set up, it started some lively debate about who should play in it. Some reckoned that all the league clubs playing in England should return to their home country’s league, but the bitterest disputes were between the non-league clubs playing in England and the FAW. The bigger clubs were left alone to play in England, for historical reasons, I supppose; but the FAW tried to drag back the smaller ones to its own league or face consequences. They were known as the ‘irate eight’ – Bangor City, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport County, Newtown and Rhyl.

Bangor, Newtown and Rhyl returned to Wales with the other five forced to play their home games in England! Barry Town played at Worcester and Colwyn Bay had to share with Ellesmere Port and Northwich! In 1995, though, a court ruling decreed that they could come back to Wales and remain in the English non-league pyramid. With Caernarfon and Barry also going back to Wales it left just Newport, Merthyr and Colwyn Bay the remaining Welsh clubs in the English non-league pyramid.

Most League of Wales games only attract crowds of a couple of hundred, and most of the teams are from small towns and villages, but as it is nevertheless the Premier division in Wales the winners get a chance to play in the Champions league with the runners up playing in the UEFA cup! It’s quite an incentive for these village teams to aspire to. TNS have appeared in Europe on a number of occasions despite being a team that hail from the tiny village of Llansanffraid-ym-Mechain, in mid Wales!

Airbus UK Broughton FC (with the Broughton bit having been added this season) were founded in 1946 as a works team, with their name changing over the years in line with the company. Originally Vickers-Armstrong they then took the names de Havillands, Hawker Siddeley, British Aerospace, BAE Systems and then Airbus FC, until this season. Their nickname is the Wingmakers as the factory makes the wings for the Airbus series of planes (or Airbae), before they are delicately transported by road, river and sea to Toulouse in France. They have only been in Wales’s top flight since 2004-05.

As you might guess they play in the village of Broughton in Flintshire, just west of Chester. The ground, called the Airfield, sits within the Airbus complex and due to its proximity to the actual airfield, four of its floodlights are retractable. They fold down like the legs of Thunderbird 2 onto brackets which support them. I believe they are the only ones in the country (and the UK!).

The brackets that the floodlights sit upon when retracted.

The ground lies just off the A55 next to the Broughton retail park. There is a big car park next to the ground, that is free; the ground lying on the edge of all the big factories and workplaces that comprises the Airbus site. They have a main stand that seats about 250 and opposite this is the clubhouse, a big brick building which comprises the dressing rooms and a further 100 covered seats at the front for officials and people connected with the clubs in some way. It also houses the public toilets, which incidentally have a door straight to the dressing rooms. Tom, who accompanied me, said he could smell the deep heat emanating from under the door, when he went!

The Main Stand

The clubhouse with approx. 100 seats in front

In one corner of the ground there are a few portacabins, one of which has the refreshments and an excellent club shop. The club shop sells a vast array of badges from Welsh clubs all the way down the Welsh pyramid, and a sizeable assortment of programmes from all over the uk. There are also numerous club shirts adorning the walls. You could easily spend a good ten minutes browsing there. Tom and I both had a burger and coffee, which while quite good value (£2 and 50p) were absolutely awful. At half time however, we found a vending machine in the toilets, of all places, that did hot drinks for 20p! It’d run out of sugared coffee so I had to go for a tea, which was a huge improvement on the earlier coffee!

Aside from the clubhouse/stand and the main stand the rest of the ground is flat standing behind the perimeter bar, with a grassy knoll of sorts behind one goal.

Grassy knoll on left as Bangor take a penalty

I have often wondered what the quality of football was like in the Welsh Premier and which English division you could compare it to. I was pleasantly surprised. Both teams were very fit and well organised and both played some good football. I would estimate that its standard is at least Conference level and maybe even League Two. (I am told by someone in the know that it is probably comparable to a few divisions lower than this – sort of Northern League (step 3 of non-league) for the better clubs[see comments]. The attendance I would guess at about 200, which was just enough to make a good atmosphere, enhanced by a fair view vociferous Bangor fans. [Attendances would also be comparable to Northern League (Unibond) level].

Bangor made the better start and looked like they were likely winners, but it all went pear shaped for them after Brewerton was sent off in the first 15 minutes, apparently for swearing. It must’ve been a hell of a swear word to get a straight red – not just darn or bloody. It was actually a Bangor player that told us what happened, while he was waiting to take a corner kick. He said in a thick Welsh accent that the ref had told them beforehand that as long as they kept their swearing to a minimum and kept it quiet he would turn a blind eye, but he then goes and sends James off.

The Bangor faithful behind the goal were furious, but only a minute or two later Sharp put them 1-0 up with an overhead bicycle kick from six yards, that the keeper could only parry into the net. It was a goal of incredible skill and uplifted the disgruntled visiting fans for a while. Send another off ref and we’ll score another you f*****! commented one Bangor fan. As the first half wore on Airbus started to take advantage of the extra man and penetrate the Bangor defence. The equaliser was a volley smashed in from close range after a flick-on from a Rory Delap style throw in. They made it 2-1 shortly after, this time a turn and smash from McIntosh into the corner, again from close range.

At this point there looked to be only one winner, but a penalty was awarded to Bangor on 41 minutes to even up the scores again. The second half was nowhere near as exciting as the first and Airbus looked lacklustre when I was expecting an onslaught to punish the man-short Bangor. They really should have made more of their advantage, but were made to pay even more when a cross was only palmed out by their keeper onto the foot of Hoy who volleyed in from close range to score the winner for championship chasing Bangor City. There is no doubt that the Airbus players will be kicking themselves about three points dropped there. Bangor stay fourth with Airbus in fourteenth.

Tonight was a great introduction to Welsh football, with a smart ground, cheap entrance price and good quality football. For the amount of fans present the atmosphere wasn’t bad either. I’m looking at the fixture list for my next Welsh trip!

Links: Welsh Premier website

Ground: Community Drive
Date: Saturday 18th October 2008, 3.00 pm
Competition: North West Counties League Div 1
Match: Norton Utd 3 Holker OB 2 HT: 1-2 Att: 65
Hughes 8 Bamber 18 (pen)
Own goal 59 Southwood 32
Rutter 69
Additional: Entrance: £4.00 Children £2 Programme: £1.00 Hot drinks: Coffee £0.40

I took Dylan, my six year old son, down the road on Saturday to watch our local side, Norton Utd, with a view to maybe supporting them on a regular basis. Community Drive is a great venue, comprising Norton Cricket Club and Football Club and also hosting table tennis. The views are excellent from the high sided grass bank. One has a panorama of part of the city, a view of the old Chatterley Whitfield colliery, and Mow Cop (highest point in staffordshire) in the distance. On one side the pitch is overlooked by Poplar trees making it a really pleasant setting.

Norton had made a good start to the season with their opening home match a six-nil thumping of newly-promoted Manchester side Irlam. Since then their results have been up and down, seeing them resting in mid-table. A win today would really put them back in touch with the top. The visitors, Holker Old Boys, had made the long trip from Barrow. They were residing near the foot of the table.

Norton made a good start to the game, dominating the early play and were rewarded with a eighth minute opener; a close range shot from a cross. Frustratingly they lost the edge somewhat and let Holker back in to it, first with a penalty and then with a sublime lob from twenty yards, chipping the Norton keeper, to go into the break 2-1 up.

Norton showed their passion in the second half and deservedly took all three points, equalising thanks to a massive headed own goal, forced into somewhat from some heavy attacking, and then a beautifully struck 20-yarder that flew into the top corner from Rutter – a goal fit to win any match.

These are a few of the pictures Dylan took. He has quite an eye for a pic! In total he took about 120 photos. Here are some of them.  For the full picture show click here

Ground: Nethermoor Park
Date: Saturday 27th September 2008, 3.00 pm
Competition: FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
Match: Guiseley 2 Garforth 2 HT: 2-1 Att: 447
Merris 31              Piper 40
Hanson 37           Haywood 80
Additional: Entrance: £7.00 Programme: £1.50 Hot drinks: Coffee £0.80

PHOTOS of Nethermoor Park

Once upon a midday dreary
Whilst I travelled weak and weary
To an FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round match, in Guiseley, in the Yorkshire Moors
Suddenly there came a nagging
Doubt, as of someone gently tapping
Out the message ‘What the hell are you doing this for’
‘I must be insane’ I muttered
Tis only this and nothing more

Quoth the Groundhog ‘Nethermoor!’

In ordinary circumstances I might not have visited Guiseley at any point for the rest of my life, but ITV Yorkshire emailed me, completely out of the blue, to ask if I wanted to be involved in the coverage of this FA Cup match. My first reaction was No way , but my wife actually insisted I take up the offer. Given such an easy excuse to get a new football ground in how could I refuse? However, I was still a little concerned about the TV aspect of it. The groundhog is a creature that doesn’t like to be in the spotlight.

I emailed back to check that they weren’t mistaking me for someone who actually had a readership, and was reassured enough to book a train via Manchester and Leeds, for the fairly local derby against Garforth. I had several Naked Lunch moments on the trains, but was still excited at the prospect of Nethermoor Park, a ground that would have eluded me, otherwise.

Arriving at Guiseley station you come out onto a cobbled terrace street with the familiar yorkstone buildings around. It looked like a quiet effete little town, obviously popular with Leeds commuters. I had a large sausage and chips before walking to the ground, just six or seven minutes walk from the station. It is an impressive setup with five a side pitch, cricket club, bowling club and childrens playground all in the same complex. I was particularly enamoured of Nethermoor Park’s rustly floodlight pylons, rusted to saturation point with none of the original lacquer on show at all. It looked like my kind of olde style ground.

I waited around for ITV to show up, resisting a very strong urge to run away and be on my own for the game. ITV Local were trying out some new things with their coverage, with the idea of community involvement, where the fans become involved in the production, rather than just being the audience. The TV man, who was to film the match, seemed a little vague about what he wanted – the upshot being that I was to have a camcorder for the day to capture any footage that I thought appropriate?!

The best thing about this was getting to climb a ladder onto the roof of one of the terraces, where the official footage of the game was being filmed. The roof seemed quite fragile and I had visions of falling through like that Wolves fan at Scarborough about 20 years back. Getting down onto the ladder was very hairy.

Unfortunately the main stand at Guiseley had been the victim of an arson attack a few weeks back, causing damage to half the stand and likely to cost around £20,000 to repair. You could see the blackened sign on the front and the sheets covering the damaged seats.

The damaged main stand

On this same side was a snack bar and directors’ ‘lounge’, the word lounge to be used in its loosest sense, it being just another portacabin with some bottles of spirits on the table. Both ends were open terracing at just ground level, and the other side had two covered terraces, the slightly bigger one that I stood upon going about seven steps back. The noise levels created quite an atmosphere under both of these terraces.

The two covered terraces

Guiseley were founded in 1903 and have an FA Vase trophy under them from 1991. They are currently flying high, unbeaten in the Unibond Premier, and hoping to consolidate a good FA Cup run by beating local rivals Garforth, who play in a division below the Unibond Premier, the Unibond One South. Garforth have had a colourful last few years, with high ambitions for the club. Founded in 1964, the fourth tier of non league is the highest they’ve climbed in the pyramid. Their chairman of four years, Simon Clifford, has strong connections with Brazilian football and, bizarrely, Socrates played for them on a one month loan deal as player-coach. He came on against Tadcaster Albion at the age of 52! The same season Lee Sharpe also played for them.

Garforth brought quite a following among the 447 crowd, and were quite vocal, too. Despite a promising start they found themselves two down after 37 minutes, and it started to look like a comfortbale victory for the higher placed team. However, a messy goal shortly before half time gave them renewed hope and they payed a blinder in the second half and should really have finished Guiseley off to create one of the round’s shocks of the day. An equaliser came, but a winner eluded them thanks to the post at one point.

It was a cracking cup match, once again highlighting the excitement and quality of football at this level, and the refreshing lack of interest in money, glamour, fame and all all the other things that go to make the boring soap opera of the Premiership and to a lesser extent, the Championship. The rusty floodlight pylons stood proud and erect against the Yorkshire sky as testament to this idea, as if deigning anyone to be shallow enough to criticise them.

Another shot from the roof

Guiseley is a football ground with character and friendly staff. They seem to have a good following, too. I am grateful to ITV Local for inviting me to it; it was an interesting day, but something that I am more than happy to leave to the professionals. It has cleared one thing up form me – watching football is a hobby for me and I am happy for it to stay that way.

The other two bloggers who were there to help out for the day were Luke Beaumont, who writes a general blog: http://www.lukeb3000.blogspot.com/ and Stuart Moss, a lecturer of entertainment management at Leeds Met University, who writes http://entplanet.blogspot.com

From l-r Colin from 1000heads, Stuart Moss - blogger with student - Aidan, Jack Clothier from ITV Local, Luke Beaumont and me.

Ground: Don Valley Stadium
Date: Saturday 20th September 2008, 3.00 pm
Competition: League Two
Match: Rotherham 1 Luton 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 4,095
Rhodes 61
Additional: Entrance: £20.00 Upper Tier £18.00 Lower Programme: £2.50 Hot drinks: Coffee £1.20

PHOTOS of Don Valley Stadium

This match was a meet up of members of Shaun Smith’s 100 Football Grounds club members. Shaun started his blogsite a few years ago now, accumulating fellow groundhoppers from all around the globe who had been to more than 100 football grounds. His membership is now up to 113! Due to the massive logistical nightmare in trying to gather together people from around the world into one place at the same time, and a lot of them cancelling late on, only four of us turned up in the end, but it was a great day, nonetheless.

One of the members, Dan, turned up late, having been unable to ascertain a meeting place due to computer difficulties in the morning. It was only by luck that he bumped into us after the game, and amusingly introduced himself as number 93. It reminded me of the line in the Elvis song Jailhouse Rock ‘Number 47 said to number three, you’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see…let’s rock’ I thought of our own version Number 34 said to number 93, you’re the cutest groundhopper I ever did see, let’s hop!

The group was swelled 50 % by my Uncle Don and his brother in law Cyril, both of Sheffield, who I picked up on the way. Though not members of the 100 grounds club, they were both interested in local football, and accompanied me to Sheffield FC last year.

This season Rotherham are playing at the Don Valley Stadium in next door Sheffield, leaving their traditional Millmoor home because of excessive rent demands by the landlords and general disagreements. They are hoping to use the excellent facilities here until they can either sort out the disagreements or have a community stadium built. This move is on top of starting the season with a 17 point deduction for going into administration. It wasn’t quite as bad as their opponents today, Luton, who started the season on a soul-destroying -30 points, for administration and failing to agree terms with creditors, and and some other reasons…possibly because they are not called West Ham.

Despite the adverse conditions faced by both clubs Rotherham had made a great start to the campaign with three wins in six and Luton hadn’t done too bad with a couple of away wins already. It was a battle of the minus pointers. Rotherham were two wins away from nothingness. Luton were still a long way off and needed nothing less than promotion form to have any chance of avoiding the conference next year.

Uncle Don, Cyril and myself met up with Shaun in the Banker’s Draft in the centre of Sheffield, next to a tram stop, which would give us a tram ride to outside the ground. As well as Shaun, the founder, and me (number 34), Jonathan turned up as well (number 68). It was thus slightly disappointing that Dan was number 93 rather than 102, spoiling what would have been a nice arithmetic progression! It was a good atmosphere in the pub, talking football with a Charlton, Newcastle Sheffield Wednesday and United fan. Although with two contrasting broad accents, Shaun’s geordie and Cyril’s Yorkshire, at times understanding 20% of what was said was good going!

The Don Valley was much bigger, brightly coloured and altogether more European looking than I was expecting. I hadn’t read up on it beforehand, so had it in my head it was going to be a deluxe Withdean Stadium. However, to call it that would be an injustice. Built in 1991 to host the World Student Games, it is a proper Olympic-style stadium with a capacity of 25,000. It is also home to the Sheffield Eagles rugby league club.

The bright yellow poles that are a large feature of the ground and the canvass-looking white sails effects that form the roof reminds one of the Millenium Dome, which is a little unfortunate, as it is a nice design. For Rotherham’s home games only the big main stand is open, which is a two tiered covered structure, as compared to the rest of the ground which is open seating on one low level. The seats utilise space well and the ground space could easily swallow up a further 25,000 if it wished to expand to another tier on all sides.

The main stand with away fans in the two tiered structure in the background behind the 100m finish line and to the left overspill for the impressive Luton following.

Inside, the stadium was very spacious and airy, the views superb. As an athletics ground it was magnificent. Apparently the track is situated five metres below ground level with low seating creating a bowl effect, leading to better viewing and athletic perfomances. A nice touch were two extra tiers of seating at the start and finish of the ‘final straight’ where the 100m would have taken part. Another fine aspect were the floodlights, which looked East European. They were imposing auspicious structures, that are apparently the strongest in the country. They stand 45M above the track and really give the stadium an imposing air.

As a football ground it wasn’t great, as an atmosphere was difficult to create, being so far from the action and in such a large open space. It felt like how I imagine watching football at an Olympics would be like. Two thirds of a stadium unopen and the rest partially filled and quiet on a sunny breezy day with a backdrop of the Olympic City we were in. (In this case Grimethorpe, Wincobank and Tinsley Industrial Estate!

Don Valley and backdrop

The first half was pretty rubbish, but the second made up for it with some good action. Rotherham were deserving winners all in all, but had to win it with an either sublime or freaky 30 yard chip that sailed in to the top corner just above the keeper’s head. It was the type of goal you see on highlights of lower Scottish division games. I’m sure Rhodes said he meant it, though!

It was a good day out and a great stadium to visit with excellent transport links to the ground. Hopefully, it won’t be the last of 100 Football Ground Club meetings. Thanks to Shaun for organising it. Read his account here.