tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10014067338231876542024-03-13T05:16:16.381-07:00Up for the Cup!Travels largely around the non-league grounds of northern England rediscovering the soul of football in the early rounds of the FA Cup and other matches with a cup-tie flavour.Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-29652599411610286922016-06-16T06:05:00.000-07:002023-11-19T07:59:25.427-08:00The last post: Building bridges<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<em>It never rained but it poured in Tadcaster last winter but the town and its club emerged triumphant. (I entered this article into the When Saturday Comes writing competition).</em><br />
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The 2014-15 season had been full of promise. Tadcaster Albion reached the quarter-final of the FA Vase (the furthest they’ve ever been in the competition) but it all ended in tears and an unsavoury fracas at the final whistle with visitors from Highworth Town (see below). A three-horse race for the step five North Counties East League title with Worksop and Shaw Lane Aquaforce finished with similar disappointment, the momentum of Tadcaster’s campaign having suffered in the face of the Vase run.<br />
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The manager, Paul Marshall, who had guided the club to <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/tadcaster-albion-2-hemsworth-miners.html">its first ever promotion in 2010</a> and is best known for taking Harrogate Railway to the second round of FA Cup in 2002, surprisingly parted company with the club in summer to be replaced by Billy Miller, who had just led Railway to its highest ever finish in the step four Evo-Stik Northern Premier League first division north.<br />
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Since the club’s purchase by ambitious i2i Sports Ltd in summer 2013 the ground had been smartened up and, relatively unusually at this level, a vocal knot of supporters had become established under the cheer leadership of Captain Chickers (left) who comes to matches dressed in full white naval captain uniform. <a href="https://youtu.be/PTgppiJPQuc">“I’m feeling Tad all over”</a> sung to the tune of the Dave Clark Five’s Glad all Over had become their signature tune. Now regularly attracting gates of 250 plus, there was a buzz about the club and the scene was set for another memorable season – and so if proved in more ways than one.<br />
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Tadcaster soon picked up where they’d left off and all was going well until the rains came. Sited just a wayward clearance away from the River Wharfe, the i2i Stadium had long been vulnerable to heavy rain, suffering regular postponements for waterlogging but the club never encountered anything like the water levels of last Christmas. The pitch, clubhouse, car park and surrounds were submerged in the several feet of water which had also pushed flat the sheetpiled perimeter fence. The cost of the damage was estimated at £300,000.<br />
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Storm Eva’s impact on the town made national news when the swollen Wharfe dramatically washed away part of the Grade II-listed Georgian bridge that binds the halves of Tadcaster together causing the bridge’s immediate closure and months of ongoing reconstruction. A temporary footbridge was suggested a short distance downstream from the damaged bridge with one abutment on land owned by the Samuel Smith’s brewery. (Nicknamed The Brewers, Albion were formed in 1892 as the club of the rival John Smith’s brewery also located in Tadcaster). Samuel Smiths, a huge employer in town, has had a sometimes strained, quasi-feudal relationship with the locals, a situation which was exacerbated when the brewery refused to grant permission for the bridge on its land amidst concerns that it would become permanent and demands to influence design of the reconstructed road bridge.<br />
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Step forward Albion. The club offered land adjoining their car park from which bridge could connect to the bus station. The temporary structure was opened on 12 February, the same week as Tadcaster’s first home match for 73 days and the passing of one of the side’s biggest fans and club barmaid, 23-year-old Sonny Lang (right), who had lost her battle with cystic fibrosis. Following a minute’s silence before the match each player hugged Sonny’s mother at pitchside. The club had raised £5,000 for Sonny’s fund in a charity match in October. Sonny’s Bridge, as the crossing was named, also proved to be a springboard.<br />
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Tadcaster re-joined <a href="https://youtu.be/KuoHNTVN7GA">battle with Handsworth Parramore</a> (which sounds more like a character from a Noel Coward play than a football club) at the top of the table, the clubs exchanging first and second place on an almost weekly basis. They met at Tadcaster on 9 April (see lead pic) with the home side securing a crucial 3-1 victory which set them up for the run-in.<br />
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Faced with a fixture backlog, manager Miller recruited – and in style. He brought in Jonathan Greening (above, left), 37, brother of Tadcaster striker Josh, but much better known as the former Man United, Middlesbrough and West Brom midfielder. (He still feels sheepish about receiving a Champions League winners’ medal at United when he didn’t play a moment of the 1998-99 European campaign and only sat on the bench on “that night in Barcelona”.) Greening had played for Albion the previous season then briefly re-joined his first club, York, at the start of 2015-16 campaign. He left in December when he and Richard Cresswell (below, right), 38, another returning York alumni who made his name at Leeds and the Sheffield clubs, were surprisingly overlooked for the vacant post of manager. Cresswell also signed for Tadcaster as cover along with Seb Carole, who had also played for Leeds and boasted bona fide Champions League experience with Monaco. Another ex-pro on the club’s books is assistant manager Matt Heath who has turned out for Leicester. All four ex-Premier League players took to the pitch together for a victorious League Cup quarter-final against neighbours Knaresborough Town the week after the big Handsworth clash.<br />
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Thereafter the wheels briefly threatened to come off the wagon. An away match at Pickering, now managed by Marshall, was pivotal. Albion were a goal down with three minutes to go but came back to win 3-1. A heavy defeat at Maltby Main, one of 10 games in April, followed but proved to be the last hiccup. Tadcaster finally secured promotion and the title with a game to spare by defeating Armthorpe Welfare on a bitterly cold, stormy, hailing evening. (Five layers were only just enough). Not that the weather phased the denizens of the town given what they’d gone through. Captain Chickers was singing in a rain of champagne.<br />
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The next day the Tour de Yorkshire passed through Tadcaster, another prompt for the town to look forward. For a final flourish Albion came from 0-3 down at half-time in their last league match at home to Athersley to win 4-3. Taddy finally came into dock at the end of the season with defeat to Cleethorpes in the League Cup final on 14 May. But, heh, in the circumstances no-one cared too much. Bigger battles had been won.<br />
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The club now anticipates its first ever season at step four in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League. The i2i Stadium is being upgraded over the summer too with a new 240-seater stand and, to follow, a two-storey clubhouse with plenty of other flood proofing features in the plan, it’s safe to assume.<br />
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<em>I think this will be my final post. When I started this blog 10 years ago reading a report about your little club online was quite novel. Now the point of such postings and interest in them has been washed away by a tsunami of social media. Who wants to read 500 words about a match a day or two after it's happened when you get can endless snippets and pics about it as it happens? Well, I do but judging from the declining view counts for my posts I'm the minority.</em><br />
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<em>I'm also finding it a little harder to find interesting grounds I haven</em>’<em>t already visited and say new things about matches without being patronising. Increasingly I also feel like a nerd with a camera at matches. So, with three blasts of the whistle, that's it.</em></div>
Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-27597252269746169602016-06-09T09:30:00.000-07:002016-06-16T01:42:16.350-07:00Grand stands<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<em>Here’s an end of season round up of grounds and stands that I’ve</em> <em>mainly stumbled across on my travels in recent weeks.</em><br />
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Driving to a work meeting I passed this grandstand just to the side of the main road leading into <b>Lincoln </b>from the west. It was once part of a Georgian racecourse sited on the other side of the road until its closure in 1964. The structure was built in 1892 and restored for use as a community centre in 2012. From a quick snoop around I guess it’s still something of a white elephant.<br />
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After another meeting at <b>Alnwick </b>in Northumberland I couldn’t resist checking out the town’s Northern League football ground, the second most northerly senior ground in England after Berwick (and I feel like discounting them since they play in Scotland). The clubhouse looks like it should belong to a cricket club and the stand opposite has “has some great grubby seats worth photographing” according to a groundhopper I met at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/newton-aycliffe-3-west-auckland-1-aet.html">Eppleton</a>.<br />
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On a walk in the Yorkshire Dales I stumbled across the home of <b>Settle United</b> of the step 7 Craven & District League. What a backdrop. I will return one sunny match day and perhaps see if there is a good vantage point on the fells.<br />
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I started my season back in August at <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/barton-town-old-boys-1-droylsden-2.html">Barton Town Old Boys</a> and ended it at Sunderland’s <strong>Stadium of Light</strong> on May 27 for England v. Australia (2-1). Quite an entertaining game as friendlies go and a very rare chance for my lad to watch his national team. We took our seats as the anthems were playing and only just in time, therefore, to see the Rashford debut goal. Phew!<br />
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Windmill? Flag with horizontal red, white and blue stripes? Yup: no mistaking where this ground is. I came across it on a cycle tour of Zeeland in the southern Netherlands in June. The club is called <strong>Racing Club Souberg</strong> and, from what I can google, plays in the sixth tier of Dutch football. Its great claim to fame is that former players include Danny Blind, current manager of the Dutch national team. Through his connections he brought Ajax sides to the ground for friendlies in the 90s.<br />
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I took in the qualifying rounds of the <strong>Aegon Ilkley Trophy</strong> on June 11. The competition is part of the ATP Challenger Tour for players outside the top 100. It was like a little Wimbledon (just six courts, all immaculate) and the best free sporting occasion in Yorkshire after the Tour de France. The new clubhouse is striking, reminding me of similarly splendid amateur sporting facilities just down the road at <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/14491945@N04/sets/72157633298902763/">Ilkley rugby club</a>. They do things in style in this corner of the West Riding.<br />
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<em>Not so golden oldie?:</em> I love this pic of Everton’s Goodison Park in 1970. Scarves without lettering; fans standing up, cops among them; a grumpy St John Ambulance man; a clock crudely perched on a wall with advertising for a defunct chain store; Scouse urchins in parkas; and, heaven forbid, an ad for cigarettes. It all looks so grubby and grey – from another world let alone another era.<br />
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<i>E</i><i>ighties footballers in showbiz: </i><a href="http://bbc.in/1V3ui1Y">Here </a>is a clip of Kevin Keegan taking penalties against Placido Domingo in 1980 (see clip 5) and <a href="http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/remember-when-football-legend-george-1762244">here </a>is a story about George Best playing football with Supergran at North Shields FC in 1984. Frankly surreal, the like of which we will never see again.<br />
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<i>Whatever happened to him?: </i>I watched <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/stocksbridge-park-steels-1-curzon.html">Stocksbridge Park Steels in the FA Cup in 2007</a> and, a quick check of the programme, suggests that a very young Jamie Vardy may have played that day. Couldn’t spot him in any of my pics, though. Playing for Curzon was Mike Norton who went on to star with FC United of Manchester on their rise through the leagues.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-18189719854511514322016-05-08T21:00:00.000-07:002016-05-10T01:38:16.000-07:00AFC Fylde 1 Harrogate Town 1 (2-1 on agg)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>National League North, play-off semi-final (second leg)</i><br />
Attendance: 1,384<br />
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AFC Fylde’s smart ground is peculiarly located in more ways than one. You find it down a country lane surrounded by fields, round the back of a pub just outside Warton, a village between Preston and Lytham St Annes. What’s more it’s confusing that the club, nicknamed The Coasters and styling itself as “the football club of the Fylde coast”, isn’t actually located on the coast while longer established Blackpool and Fleetwood are. But probably best not to mention them in these parts ...<br />
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As a modern ground I wasn’t expecting to like Kellamergh Park but what an understated little gem it is. It’s easy to imagine Fylde playing here in the North West Counties League just seven years ago. Despite being purpose-built the ground still has quirky features including a slightly retro LED scoreboard, bird hide-style video gantry on a roof and two VIP lounges housed in the poshest converted shipping containers I’ve ever seen both within a yard or two of the touchline. The pitch was as immaculate as a golf course and, in keeping with the comparison, had two sanded areas. The ground is so small and open you can see the visiting club’s coach in the car park and sheep grazing behind the dug-outs. It’s as bucolic as <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/esh-winning-4-seaham-red-star-3.html">Esh Winning</a> or <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/thackley-2-abbey-hey-2.html">Thackley </a>and also in part reminiscent of some of those pristine Premier League training pitches you get hidden out in the sticks.<br />
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Today’s match was the last at Kellamergh. Just a decade after building it Fylde will move to the new Mill Farm venue for next season. The current stadium was always going to be a means to an end for the club’s ambitious millionaire chairman David Haythornwaite (who owns an animal feeds business). I wonder what will happen to Kellamergh after the move. Perhaps the land will revert to agricultural use as though a football club never played here at all, the temporary encampment having served its purpose on the club’s march towards bigger battles.<br />
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On a sunny day with the temperature soaring to 25C Kellamergh was a fantastic setting for a match. There’s a good family feel to the place too a bit like at Guiseley while the 200 or so Harrogate fans, who chanted and drummed from start to finish, also contributed to a crackling atmosphere. They sung “I’m feeling Town all over” (an unlikely appropriation of little Tadcaster’s signature song, “Tad all over”) and “We’re just a town full of tea shops” standing shoulder to shoulder with the Fylde chanters and sometimes joining with them for a song. No need for segregation here at all. The occasion was a wonderful advertisement for the conviviality of non-league football.<br />
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Fylde took the lead with a rasping, goal of the season contender on 11 mins. Being 1-0 down from the previous leg you might have thought the visitors would’ve crumbled. But no, they hit back within minutes with a far post stroke-in from a low cross and maintained the pressure during a tense second half, having the lion’s share of possession but rarely converting it into clear-cut chances against a resolute home defence. Fylde won a penalty with 15 mins only for it be to saved keeping Harrogate’s dreams alive. In the fourth minute of injury time a cross flashed across the Fylde box only for a flying Cooper to miss connection by inches. We held our heads and howled. It was like Gazza in the Euro ’96 semi-final all over again. That was the moment – or should’ve been.<br />
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You could acuse Harrogate of being <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/harrogate-town-1-hastings-united-1.html">chokers in big matches</a> from the past but not today. They fought valiantly and tirelessly but paid the price for the first leg defeat. Great day out. Pity about the result.<br />
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<i>Make a day of it:</i> If you go to see Fylde next season I recommend a 21-mile largely off-road bike ride around Preston called the Guild Wheel. The well signed route is full of variety and interest and includes the Brockholes nature reserve. I also came across Preston docks (never knew they existed) and a railed football pitch with two rusty old dug out shelters <a href="http://binged.it/1No951N">idyllically located on the banks of the Ribble</a>.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-32669103661517235892016-05-04T22:00:00.000-07:002016-05-05T05:59:17.887-07:00Northallerton Town 0 South Shields 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Northern League, second division</i><br />
Attendance: 185<br />
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A lot’s been happening in Shields. To the north of the Tyne FA Vase holders, North Shields, are drawing 350+ spectators a week, the first division’s highest average while on the other side of the estuary and a division lower South Shields are drawing crowds of 600+, surely unprecedented for a non-phoenix, step six club. Why? Well, in the south it’s down the support of local businessman, Gary Thompson, who owns a utility management company. He bought the club last summer and relocated it back to the South Shields after a period in exile in Peterlee. The Shields ground had been closed due to disputes with the then landlord.<br />
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Thompson has since invested in the club by, for instance, substantially improving the clubhouse and signing ex-Middlesbrough and Sunderland star Julio Arca. (He didn’t play today but still came along). Certainly, the club’s profile has changed hugely <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/tow-law-town-1-south-shields-1.html">since I last saw them two years ago</a>. Backed by a large town with a population of 80,000, The Mariners sailed away at the top of the table. Where and when will it all end? Who knows – the owner is targeting the National League and a new stadium – but, for the moment at least, all aboard to enjoy the ride.<br />
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I’d been planning to jump on the bandwagon last December at the Vase tie against <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/morpeth-town-2-bristol-manor-farm-0.html">Morpeth Town</a> but when the match was finally played at Consett after umpteen postponements I couldn’t make it. Subsequent opportunities past me by and so it was I finally got to see Shields in their last match of the season against my most local Northern League side and their first opponents back in August.<br />
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Last week I watched Tadcaster Albion win the Northern Counties East League wrapped up in the five layers, a hat and gloves. “I should’ve worn pyjamas under my trousers,” said one spectator. “What?” replied his mate. “Do you fancy a nap at half-time?”. Thankfully today conditions were just as you’d expect them to be when contemplating fixtures in late April or early May. Spring is here.<br />
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The talk on the terraces was about that team beginning with ‘L’. In truth whichever match fans chose following the thrilling weekend Premier League double-header it was going to be something of an anti-climax and so it proved. Furthermore, Shields, starting the match following seven straight wins, had secured promotion five games ago and Northallerton had lifted the Ernest Armstrong Memorial Trophy two days earlier. Accordingly, the attendance was lower than it would’ve been had the fixture been played on the original date in January.<br />
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Having nothing to play for didn’t stop a vocal knot of about 20 Northallerton teenagers chanting for most of the match, a rare sound at step six. They call their side just “’Allerton” which is what you might have thought was the full name of the club judging from the sign on the grandstand when I visited previously in 2004 (see above). The ground remains unremarkable. “If you all hate Geordies hold a shoe,” jested the fans, footwear in hand. The Shields fans replied when their side scored the only goal with 12 minutes to go: “Get your shoes off for the lads”.<br />
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As the sky turned orange at sunset the Shields manager urged his players on for the last time this season: “Come on. Just half an hour then you can have a rest.” At the end the Shields fans jokingly booed the ref as he approached the tunnel. He responded with a theatrical bow, smiling. The gesture was fitting. I’d caught up with Shields in time only for their curtain call. I shall have to take my seat earlier next season for the Shields first division derby perhaps. Now that will be a tasty encounter.<br />
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<em>Programme notes:</em> A ‘thought for the day’ was a passage from the gospel of John and it’s always useful to be reminded when a game (or, at least, it’s original date) coincides with the Cambodian New Year.</div>
Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-20083032012447745772016-04-24T21:00:00.000-07:002016-04-28T09:02:19.936-07:00Castleford Tigers 16 Hull Kingston Rovers 58<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Super League</i><br />
Attendance: 7,106<br />
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God, I felt like a southerner today as if I had “southern softy” tattooed on my forehead. Over 20 years after relocating from London to York I went to my first rugby league match. In fact I felt more foreign in a stadium than I have done since going to the <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lile-rousse-0-calvi-2-aet.html">Corsica Cup final </a>four years ago and I was only 20 miles from home.<br />
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“I haven’t been here before. Are there open terraces or is it all fixed seating?” I asked a security man outside the ground. After that I didn’t need to disclose my origins again and, with access all areas, set about wandering around this vintage brick and corrugated steel sporting arena. I’d wanted to visit for some years but never got around to it and was conscious that time was starting to run out because ‘Cas’, as all the fans call them, are due to move to a new stadium in two years.<br />
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It was unusual to be in a such a large and full ground with terraces on three sides. The open, railway end, reminded me of dear old Elm Park which is no bad thing in my book. The creeky old seated grandstand with its two giant floodlight pylons partly obscuring the view is the main feature and, looming behind the terrace to its right are three chimneys that provide some northern, industrial context.<br />
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The spectators provided plenty more. I’d guess that the vast majority of them live within a few miles of the ground and come to every game and there was a refreshing apparent absence of corporatisation, the stadium name apart (see notes at the end). The sense of community, forged in Castleford’s mining days, is extraordinarily strong. Despite drawing large crowds Super League passes by most UK sports fans to the extent that going to a match feels a bit like joining a cult for the afternoon. But there’s nothing out of the ordinary about it in industrial towns across Yorkshire and Lancashire where rugby league seem to provide a regular family outing like baseball in the US. Everyone goes to the game from nippers in pushchairs to youths, parents and grandparents with an even split between the sexes. The older women berate the players like handbag-wielding grannies used to scream at wrestlers in the 70s.<br />
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The girls aspire to be in the Castleford Tigers Paws cheerleaders, a formidable platoon of 30 or so pom-pom shaking lasses in their teens and 20s who paraded single-file onto the pitch like Take me Out contestants. You could almost smell the perfume from the touchline. Some will have started in the Paws Dance Academy. I suppose cheerleaders are another unlikely connection with baseball.<br />
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The match (highlights <a href="https://youtu.be/ZbabKo8nkmA">here</a>) was as one-sided as the result suggests. KR ran in 11 tries and Cas didn’t score at all in the second half. “The more we went after it, the worst we got,” said Cas coach Daryl Powell. Too true. The Tigers weren’t roaring today and didn’t make the game much of a contest but it was still an enjoyable and unsual occasion for me and a type of northern exposure that all newcomers to this region should experience.<br />
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<i>Name games: </i>Cas’s ground name is a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/article-2405382/Rugby-League-Castleford-Tigers-rename-stadium-Mend-A-Hose-Jungle.html">bizarre hybrid</a>. Originally built for the town’s short-lived football club in 1926, The Jungle was renamed two seasons ago as the Mend-a-Hose Jungle following a deal with local firm Mend-A-Hose which makes fluid connector products. The Paws cheer leaders danced at half-time to Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses as well as, predictably, Eye of the Tiger. How about Abba’s I am a Tiger and Tiger Feet by Mud?<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">For full album of pics click </span><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117333976974215293609/6277524531411937473?authuser=0&feat=directlink" style="text-align: left;">here</a><span style="text-align: left;">.</span></div>
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-10903834027847104202016-03-25T21:00:00.000-07:002016-03-31T07:15:13.546-07:00Newton Aycliffe 3 West Auckland 1 (aet)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Durham County FA Challenge Cup final</i><br />
Attendance: 604<br />
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Setting off for a cup final after breakfast on a Friday seemed somehow wrong but on arrival at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare ground in Hetton le Hole for an 11am kick-off everything suddenly seemed right and any reservations I had about going to the match were dispelled.<br />
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Bathed in spring sunshine the setting was supreme. What better way to start the Bank Holiday weekend? A couple of other spectators were already discussing a potential double-header at Crook and Spennymoor the following day. Another had more immediate, food concerns. “Burgers?” asked his companion. “It’s Good Friday. You canna have burgers! Fish and chips on the way ho-um!” Children played games pushing sticks into the ground, lots of people were in t-shirts and one chap had even broken out the deckchair in honour of the occasion. The scene reminded me of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/billingham-tn-1-norton-stockton.html">another bank holiday cup final at Thornaby</a> last May. Today was just the tonic for the endless, grey, wet winter. I set the camera to ISO50 for the first time for months and memories of that <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/penistone-church-3-knaresborough-town-0.html">sodden afternoon at Penistone Church</a> were soon banished.<br />
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The ground used to be home to Eppleton Colliery Welfare. In 1999 Sunderland City Council announced the investment of £2.2m in the redevelopment of the ground, a move heralded by then chairman as “the most exciting thing every to have happened to us.” His dreams didn’t last long. Eppleton, Durham County Cup winners in 1990, dropped out of the Northern League after an 11-season spell in 2003, having won just 23 matches in their last six seasons. They folded two years later since when Sunderland under 21s and Sunderland Ladies (Twitter hashtag: ‘howaythelasses’) have taken up tenancy.<br />
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Eppleton’s loss is most certainly Sunderland’s gain. Today the stadium looks fantastic and the pitch pristine, although slightly sloping. Only the corner entrance (see above) through a tall wall gives the hint of its origins, a little reminiscent of the entry to <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/tow-law-town-1-south-shields-1.html">Tow Law Town</a>. There is just one stand, built in 1992. The other elevated viewpoint is the balcony of the Bob Paisley Bar (see below) within the Hetton Centre behind one of the goals which was constructed for the community as part of the ground’s redevelopment. Access to the balcony – more the sort of feature you get at rugby grounds – isn’t obvious as your correspondent found out. A gate in the fence below the balcony leads to an enclosed grassed area and directions from the lads watching from above just led me to another blind corner much to their mirth. You have to exit the ground completely then enter the Hetton Centre.<br />
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From a quick check of the semi-final results I expected Whickham to be opposing <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/newton-aycliffe-0-north-ferriby-united-0.html">Newton Aycliffe</a>, having defeated West Auckland 3-0 but they were subsequently expelled from the competition having fielded an ineligible player. West Auckland progressed in similar fashion when Darlington 1883 were thrown out ahead of their first round clash. In fact, West had only won twice in the five rounds to the final having been exempt from the first round.<br />
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Newton Aycliffe, competing in their first ever County Cup final, are managed by Peter Dixon who left West Auckland following a fall-out with the board in October 2014 taking most of the team with him (eight of Newton’s starters today had previously played for West), all of which gave an extra edge to today’s encounter.<br />
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West Auckland took the lead after just four minutes when a drive by Hudson took a couple of deflections on its way into the net. Newton Aycliffe, having had the lion’s share of possession for most of the match, deservedley levelled on 54 minutes with a chest down and volley into the top corner by Campbell. They won the cup with two goals in the first half of extra-time, one a freekick bent around the wall by Knight and the other coming at the end of a solo 30-yard run by Garthwaite. Both lads sprinted over to the balcony to peel their shirts off below their squad mates on the balcony and get booked as a result. There was more leaping around and high japes at the trophy presentation. County Cup? Felt like the FA Cup! What a good Friday.<br />
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<i>Highlights: </i>For 20 mins of highlights courtesy of North Shields FC TV click <a href="https://youtu.be/vTy_Ekqx-1o">here</a>. I don’t have room for all the pics this time but click <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117333976974215293609/DurhamCupFinal?authuser=0&feat=directlink">here </a>for the full album.<br />
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<i>Famous sons:</i> Hetton le Hole’s most famous footballing son is ex-Liverpool manager Bob Paisley who died just over 20 years ago. It’s surprising the whole ground or community centre isn’t named after him although perhaps fitting that Eppleton are still remembered in the name. The town has a memorial to the man rather than a statue and he was never knighted. Bob’s father worked down the pit and Bob played for Hetton Juniors at the Eppleton ground as a teenager. “It all started when young Robert got his hands on a pig’s bladder from his uncle’s butchers shop,” says a feature about Bob’s origins framed on the wall of the Hetton Centre. Nearby is a brass memorial plaque to the seven men who died in a pit explosion in 1951. Bob described Hetton as “a close-knit community where coal was king and football was religion”.<br />
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The village was also once home to Harry Potts, who managed Burnley during a successful period in the 60s; Ralph Coates (bizarrely my favourite footballer when I was a boy), ex-Tottenham in the 70s; and Kevin Keegan’s granddad.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-68180331407200113302016-02-27T03:53:00.000-08:002016-03-03T07:28:44.988-08:00Morpeth Town 2 Bristol Manor Farm 0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Vase quarter final</i><br />
Attendance: 718<br />
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We’d all been on a journey to reach this match. Bristol Manor Farm had driven 314 miles having come a similar distance for the previous round at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/sunderland-rca-3-sleaford-town-2.html">Sunderland RCA</a>. The hosts, meanwhile, had taken 108 days to get to this point. Astonishingly, that’s how long it had been since their last home match (on November 11), the intervening fixtures having been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. They last played at home on a Saturday the weekend the clocks went back.<br />
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Before the monsoon they began their Vase campaign with a 5-4 win with the last touch of the game at West Didsbury & Chorlton having been 4-0 up at half-time. They had a walkover in the second round when <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/rochdale-town-2-1874-northwich-4.html">1874 Northwich</a> were unable to field a team for tie rearranged for midweek. The next match due to take place at South Shields was postponed eight times before being staged on Consett's 3G pitch, Morpeth winning a thriller 10-9 on penalties. Morpeth surrendered home advantage to get the fourth round tie played at Vase holders North Shields in a gale. Then came a long trip to Hertfordshire to beat Berkhamsted and so to today. My journey was a bike ride along Druridge Bay in the morning (see last pic). Always nice to make a full day out of a fixture if you can. This was the furthest north I’d ever watched a match.<br />
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I approached the ground on a country lane. “Prepare to navigate off-road,” instructed the sat nav. Ah. The “off road” bit was actually the track to the car park. That was full so drivers were told to return the way we came and take the first right. This led towards a farmhouse and again I thought I’d gone wrong but, no, an expected dog leg led to pitchside. I parked right behind one of the goals. All this for £6. What a bargain. That would barely buy you a cuppa in the Millionnaire League.<br />
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As soon as I stepped out of the car I knew I was going to enjoy this one. Craik Park boasts a superb, secluded, sylvan setting that would be heaven on a summer’s day. Tall trees surround the pitch, conifers (or is it a giant hedge?) on two sides and deciduous on another in a style that brings to mind <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/guisborough-town-1-workington-4.html">Guisborough’s ground</a>. The clubhouse and changing rooms are half-hidden in the woods (see below). The whole place has the feel of a Scout campsite than a football ground. As modern grounds go (Craik was purpose-built in 1994) the scene takes some beating.<br />
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The main stand is set back from pitchside, the gap to the touchline denoting where a running track used to run. Opposite is a new barn-like cover (see below) but the eye is caught by a peculiar small, temporary stand just 10-seats wide that is positioned behind one of the goals as if mimicking it (see first pic). You feel that just by removing a couple of strategically placed steel rods the whole thing could collapse in an instant. There is a similar structure at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tadcaster-albion-3-brocton-2.html">Tadcaster Albion</a>. The club had had heaters on the pitch all week to get the game on. Across large swathes the surface was as soft as putty.<br />
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Considering this was what the club described as “the most important match in our long 132-year history” they may have been a little disappointed that the gate didn’t reach four figures. The only sound was the shrill shreiks from the young lads behind the goal that brought to mind those England schoolboy internationals at old Wembley. (Always great to see so many youngsters enthusiastically supporting their local, non-league team).<br />
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In an exciting, end-to-end game Morpeth took an early lead when Swailes (see ‘Old warhorse’ below) scored with a flying header from a corner. They pretty much bossed the rest of the half and should’ve put the tie to bed by half-time given the number of good chances they had. Bristol, who came into the match off the back of 13 straight wins, had the better of the second half and richly deserved an equaliser. I felt sorry for them when, in the dying seconds, Morpeth sealed victory – and that with a tap-in following a mis-hit.<br />
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So the journey continues for The Highwaymen (see below). They will be travelling precisely the same distance as Bristol did today – to Bowers & Pitsea in darkest Essex for the semi-final first leg. Assuming the tie is still alive for the second I highly recommended going along. There will be a good craic at Craik, to be sure.<br />
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<i>Names that stand and deliver:</i> I always like nicknames that both reflect a club’s location and have an air of menace. The Highwaymen, the nickname for Morpeth, a town located on the old Great North Road, is a cracker.<br />
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<i>Old warhorse: </i>You wouldn’t pick a fight with 45-year-old Chris Swailes of Morpeth. He looks as hard as nails. Click <a href="http://www.thefa.com/news/competitions/fa-vase/2016/feb/morpeth-bristol-manor-farm-preview-180216">here </a>for an interesting profile on the ex-Ipswich, Bury and Rotherham defender. He’s described as having a “love affair with the Vase”. Ooh, err, missus.<br />
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<i>Pics and clips: </i>Bristol Manor Farm went to Craik from their home ground, The Creek. Click <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ccpub/albums/72157628030119637">here</a> for pics of a match there in 2011. The club is the only one in steps 1-6 with ‘farm’ in its title which relates to the city’s Manor Farm estate. Highlights of today’s game are <a href="https://youtu.be/izPk0q4YOeU">here</a>.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-52753003831485108872016-01-23T21:00:00.000-08:002016-01-25T08:11:54.145-08:00Sunderland RCA 3 Sleaford Town 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Vase, fourth round</i><br />
Attendance: 109<br />
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It’s funny how often the most hidden grounds are in the smallest settlements. I recalled <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/parkgate-fc-1-whitby-town-3.html">Parkgate</a>, <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/afc-emley-7-brodsworth-welfare-0.html">Emley </a>and <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/barton-town-old-boys-1-droylsden-2.html">Barton</a> in my approach to Meadow Park, home of Sunderland RCA. I’d been there on Google Earth, of course (but not too much for fearing of spoiling the surprise) and I recalled that access was via a modern close but I still couldn’t quite believe that Beechbrooke would lead to my journey’s end. Remarkably, though, after several wiggles, it did. There was no signage at the top of the close when I arrived at 12.20pm which didn’t help although by kick-off there was a small red sandwich board with an A4 sheet slid into a plastic sleeve indicating ‘Sunderland RCA’. No beckoning Wembley arch here, to be sure.<br />
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I’d arrived early for a bike ride. Ryhope (the initials stand for Ryhope Community Association) is a former pit village on the coast between Sunderland and Seaham. It also lies on route 1 of the National Cycle Network and the Walney to Wear coast to coast route. The match was a a good opportunity to ride the routes and get a feel for the area at the same time. I ended my tour by checking out the ‘view from the cemetary’ (see bottom pic) since this is the name of a blog-like section of the club’s website and programme.<br />
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The view is expansive and unhindered. If you like to watch your football surrounded by gravestones Ryhope is the unquestionably the place to come. The church provides one of the ground’s main backdrops, the other being the chimney belonging to a Victorian pumping station. Deciduous and evergreen trees add a little extra appeal. This place would be nice on a summer’s day. The accommodation consists of a battered, bomb-proof main stand and lean-to with corrugated roof and posts made from what looks like rusting Meccano. What I initially thought was the kazi is actually the dressing rooms which are connected to the pitch via a path bounded by a faded, red rope.<br />
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“So how do you play this game, then?” the old bloke behind me (they’re all old blokes at Northern League grounds) jested with his companion. He, like me, probably hadn’t seen a match for weeks. The lawnmower patterns and a sanded area of the pitch told the sorry tale of our mild and relentlessly wet mid-winter. Boy, it was good to be back. My long wait had perhaps over-raised my expectations about a sense of occasion. We’re just talking the last 32 of the Vase here, after all, although this was the furthest either side had been in the competition.<br />
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Including Old Salty, last encountered at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/newton-aycliffe-0-north-ferriby-united-0.html">Newton Aycliffe in September</a>, the crowd only just surpassed three figures. Sunderland were playing at home and Ryhope Colliery Welfare (amazingly this village is home to two Northern League clubs) were hosting South Shields both of which will have knocked a few off the gate. I was one of the very few to be sporting club colours (and I’d bought my black and red scarf primarily to wear at Knaresborough Town) while the sound of the seagulls and an ice cream van (what?) rose above the murmur of conversation. All the talk was about that the <a href="https://youtu.be/FvNNEKUmB7A">classic Vase tie</a> between South Shields and Morpeth on Wednesday. Such a pity that the Shields derby in the next round today was not to be but RCA served up an absorbing alternative.<br />
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RCA have been scoring goals for fun in this competition, all curiously against Yorkshire opposition. They put three past Bridlington, four past Silsden, five past Hemsworth Miners Welfare and four past high-flying <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tadcaster-albion-3-brocton-2.html">Tadcaster Albion</a>. More were to follow today although the opposition came from Lincolnshire.<br />
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Sleaford took an early lead but RCA fought back to go in 2-1 up at half-time. After the break Sleaford regained the initiative and deservedly levelled on 70 mins albeit following a defender’s error. I really, really didn’t want extra time not least because I’d have to miss it to be home by 6.15pm for a meal out. To my relief six minutes from time RCA settled the tie when Charlton spotted the Sleaford keeper off his line and lobbed him in style from 30 yards out, leaving the goalie backpedalling and pawing at nothing. (Click <a href="https://youtu.be/52kgrd-Ibck?t=7m24s">here</a> for the goal within the highlights). How I cheered. Right at the end a player from either side was left sprawled on turf following two fouls in the space of a few seconds which triggered a melee and Sleaford sending off. For me, a great day out could not have had a more satisfactory conclusion.<br />
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<i>Further reading:</i> One of RCA’s former players, Joe Dixon, has a hugely detailed and beautifully curated <a href="http://www.joedixon9.co.uk/">website </a>about this playing days in the 60 and 70s. Full of newspaper clippings, it’s like an open scrapbook and so evocative of the era. All of his career was spent in the regional leagues. An average Joe in the broader scheme of things but all the more interesting because of it.<br />
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<i>Programme notes: </i>A line from the aforementioned View from the Cemetary in the programme made me laugh out loud: “This Vase run is fairy tale stuff. Most exciting thing to happen in Ryhope since the chip shop caught fire.”<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-83307390193191525962015-12-19T21:00:00.000-08:002015-12-22T08:02:43.737-08:00Penistone Church 3 Knaresborough Town 0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Northern Counties East League, first division</i><br />
Attendance: 80<br />
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Peering up to the floodlights in the gloom my son and I could see the rain sheeting down cinematically and it barely abated the whole match. Showers rattled the roof of the stand where we cowered and the subs and the lino squelched in front of us in the touchline mud. The conditions when you visit new grounds have a great bearing on the experience and that was certainly so today. The weather was grim.<br />
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Pity because Penistone’s ground (near Barnsley) would make for a good trip on a sunny day with a bike ride along the nearby Transpennine route into the bargain, perhaps. (Click <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/squadronleaderhayes/sets/72157656894163678/with/20417648068/">here </a>for pics by a chap who had the sense to go to Penistone on such a day last August for the club’s debut in the FA Cup). There is a Pennine backdrop to the far touchline while the church tower appears behind the near touchline with roofs of terraced houses visible behind the single stand. It has just two rows of seats and PCFC painted white on black on the wall at the back.<br />
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A smart, proud club sporting Juventus livery, Penistone is enjoying only its second season in the pyramid. I was confused on arrival. A sign in one direction said <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;">‘</span>pay kiosk’ and, in the other, <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">‘</span>over 35 spectators and players’. I thought that the Church may have instigated an admission scale according to age and I might be in for a sort of pre-pensioner discount. But it transpired that the latter sign led round to a veterans match on the pitch behind the ground.<br />
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There was no getting away from the fact that today’s match was a very run-of-the-mill league fixture. The interest for us was visiting a new ground, getting out of the house on a dull day and seeing our local lads into the bargain. (I last saw them at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/hall-rd-rangers-0-knaresborough-town-6.html">Hall Road Rangers</a>). Town went one down in seconds and were played off the park thereafter. A woeful performance by Knaresborough, in fact. My son joined me in anticipation of an <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span>away the lads vibe<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">”</span> but it seemed that we were <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;">‘</span>the lads’ and we weren't exuding much vibe come the final whistle. I like to go to church at Christmas but the village chapel on Christmas Eve will probably be easier to enjoy.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HakOixgvXJg" width="420"></iframe><i>Programme notes: </i>Among the pen pictures was reference to Alvyn Riley who has <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span>a wand of left foot<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">”</span> and James Young who has <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span>a cultured left foot<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">”</span>. They’d go well in that Daniel Day-Lewis film ...<br />
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<i>Off the rails: </i>Lincoln Moorlands Railway, also in the NCEL first division, are taking some tonkings. They’ve conceded 11, 12 and 14 goals in matches so far this season and are only one defeat or so away from a minus 100 goal difference. An end of season trip to see them trounced at Yorkshire Amateur (long wanted an excuse to go there) is in order. New Mills are struggling too having lost all 19 matches to date in the Northern Premier League first division and scored only 11 goals in the process.<br />
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<i>Rub-a-dub-dub:</i> Great <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/11/bournemouth-manchester-united-fa-cup-1984">write-up</a> and pic, below, in The Guardian about when Bournemouth played Man U in 1984. Ah, those were the days ...<br />
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<i>Cup runners: </i>I've come across a couple of blogs of lads on FA Cup trails, both southern based. One blog is <a href="http://beautifulgame2015.blogspot.co.uk/">here </a>and the other <a href="http://acrossthepark.org.uk/blog/?cat=5">here</a>.<br />
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<i>A spot of egg chasing:</i> I experienced another new ground in vile weather last month: Harrogate RUFC’s new enclosure with clubhouse. I watched the match against Preston Grasshoppers (15-5) in the fourth tier of English rugby.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-16697046567898903562015-10-31T21:00:00.000-07:002016-04-19T01:25:50.544-07:00Rochdale Town 2 1874 Northwich 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Vase, first round</i><br />
Attendance: 142<br />
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For the first time in 11 years I don’t have an FA Cup first round tie to go to. No ties within striking distance tickled my fancy. In fact I’ve pretty much done all the clubs that are ever likely to reach the proper rounds which led me to look further down the pyramid for an alternative fixture a week in advance. Today’s Vase tie caught the eye even though it was at a stage of the competition that’s so premature it’s hardly ejaculated. Why? I’ve long wanted to visit Rochdale Town having seen pics and 1874 Northwich are well supported (as I found out at <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/nelson-3-1874-northwich-1_7.html">Nelson two years ago</a>) which meant the match would have the semblance of an occasion.<br />
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As soon as I arrived at the Mayfield Sports Centre I knew I was going to enjoy myself more than, frankly, as a neutral I ought. This is a cracking little ground, oozing character, and right up there with the manifold delights of its league rivals from other Lancashire mill towns, <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/nelson-3-1874-northwich-1_7.html">Nelson</a>, <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/padiham-0-darlington-1883-2.html">Padiham</a>, <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/bacup-rossendale-borough-1-formby-4.html">Bacup </a>and <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/colne-1-barnoldswick-town-1.html">Colne</a>.<br />
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The ramshackle main stand, with painted wooden benches and an assortment of individual backs, is a gem. It comes in two parts that are held together in a linked arms sort of way by an uncovered new steel frame. Perched precariously on top and looking decidedly decommissioned is what looks like the upper saloon deck of a steamer and a static caravan. (There was one of those overlooking a corner). The stand is flanked on either side by giant dugouts easily mistaken for further spectator accommodation.<br />
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The smaller stand opposite follows suite being surmounted by a sort of bird hide shed, similarly unpopulated. The fragility of the structure is belied by the grandeur of its name: the Rochdale Fusiliers Association Galipoli (sic) Stand. Marvellous. Town used to have an equally fabulous monicker: Castleton Gabriels, which dates back to when players had to belong to the nearby St Gabriels Catholic church.<br />
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Behind the stand stretch the Pennine hills, today shrouded in a mist penetrated by a church spire and electricity pylons. The sole colour in the backdrop belonged to the red coat of a grazing horse which had been dulled by a very damp week. Later a sub warming up squelched with every step. One of the ends is covered and the other has three open terraces, hinting, as they always do, at bigger crowds in bygone days.<br />
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The khazi at the terraced end has a smirksome slogan inside and a great view to boot meaning you need not miss a moment of the action as you widdle. Judging from the stench and leaves clogging the drain this isn’t one of those conveniences that is inspected on the hour with the results recorded on a log.<br />
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“Problems with the lights?” I asked a geezer in an orange tabard in the gathering gloom as he investigated the interior of a steel cabinet immediately to my right. “Yes,” he replied, before explaining that the rugby league side that shares the ground hadn’t left the gadget that’s needed to open the cabinet to access the floodlight switch. “All they’re thinking about is their big semi-final today,” he griped. He found a solution a little later, though, although the lights behind one goal remained off throughout. As my gaze returned to the action, I put my hand onto a barrier and into contact with the remains of a meat pie merging with the rust.<br />
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What about the action? Well, “’74” (as the away fans addressed them) went in deservedly two up at the interval, in keeping with their status a step higher than their hosts in the North West Counties League. Town rallied earlier the second half and got one back only for ’74 to reinstate their leading margin soon after and seal victory with the best goal of the lot, a mazy run and drive from the edge of the box. Town got a consolation with the last but two kick of the match. (Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OnYARmnje0">here </a>for 25 mins of highlights).<br />
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Last season ’74 reached the third round of the Vase and this time I can see them sticking around until after Christmas when the competition really hots up and I hope to return for the main course. As for today I can’t think how I could’ve got better value from a fiver. Loved it.<br />
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<i>Not up for the cup: </i>Had I waited to see Rochdale Town in the FA Cup I may have been waiting a long time. They’ve qualified for the competition just once in the last 14 years and lost that tie, last season, 0-6 to Runcorn Linnets. (I had planned to go to the match before it was switched). They lost all six preceding ties between 1994 and 2001. Northwich Victoria, 1874’s parent club, contest the first round proper of the FA Cup against Boreham Wood on Saturday. For more about the internecine recent history of clubs from Northwich see <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117333976974215293609/December92013#5955330235867668658">this feature</a> from When Saturday Comes.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-711997220873157712015-10-24T21:00:00.000-07:002015-10-25T12:19:10.508-07:00Harrogate Town 1 Grimsby Town 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Cup, fourth qualifying round</i><br />
Attendance: 1,920<br />
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Harrogate Town’s home can seldom seemed more inviting. The autumn sun was glinting across a pristine pitch, a band of home fans chanted and drummed non-stop unlike anything I’d heard here before and the stands were very full. (Harrogate had allocated the main, new stand to the 800+ Grimsby fans like hosts surrendering the master bedroom to house guests). The pre-match atmosphere was crackling; this felt like a big match in a proper stadium and a million miles away from <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/harrogate-town-5-west-auckland-1.html">the FA Cup replay that I saw on a very wet October evening just three years ago</a>.<br />
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Sitting third in the National League North, Town have the feel of a club on the up. They took an early lead when the ball was checked back from the byline and Daniels woofed it into the top corner. The joint was jumping. Relegated from the Football League five years ago, the Mariners were much quicker and more dangerous than lowly Burscough, <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/harrogate-town-3-burscough-0.html">Harrogate’s visitors in the previous round</a>, and predictably equalised on 34 mins.<br />
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Soon after the re-start a Harrogate defender lunged recklessly at a Grimsby attacker and the ref awarded a penalty. It was saved but the rebound headed in. Two minutes later Grimsby broke through to score a third. Game over. The inflatable cod were flying and Harrogate had had their chips. The scoring was complete with a fourth goal for the visitors on 73 mins by which time everything had long gone flat, the sun disappeared behind the clouds and an autumn nip was in the air. The stage deserved a better final scene.<br />
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Ah, well. My nephew and son companions and I always have the number of our other local lads, York, to anticipate in Monday’s draw. (It’s being staged at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/thackley-2-abbey-hey-2.html">Thackley where I went in the first qualifying round</a>).<br />
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<i>Photo credits:</i> I didn’t take any pics today since I covered the ground in <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/harrogate-town-3-burscough-0.html">the previous round</a>. Pics are pinched from the websites of Harrogate Town, Advertiser and Informer and the Grimsby Telegraph.</div>
Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-66644634615781472792015-10-10T21:00:00.000-07:002015-10-11T01:25:47.664-07:00Harrogate Town 3 Burscough 0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Cup, third qualifying round</i><br />
Attendance: 513<br />
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I’d been holding out for a home draw for Burscough as I’m really want an excuse to visit but it was not to be. Instead the step 4 side from near Wigan were drawn to play just down the road from me – against Harrogate, two divisions higher up. Tardily I hadn’t seen them since <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/harrogate-town-1-hastings-united-1.html">the big Hastings tie</a> and several subsequent ground developments so I guessed it was high time I got down there anyway.<br />
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The CNG Stadium is an object lesson in how to make the most of where you are and remove the need to relocate. Inevitably plain though they are, two new stands, one with a crest proudly on either end (see below) improve the ground tremendously. The southern end still needs attention but I rather like its higgledy-piggledlyness. The changing room block is decidedly Sunday league while a new outdoor hospitality area (see above) looks very chic with its bistro-style chairs and a floral display that wouldn’t be out of place at the town’s renowned autumn flower show. In the old stand (still with its scaffolded video gantry) a woman held her newborn baby next to a pram. Silver Cross, of course. This is Harrogate after all.<br />
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Town took the lead with a 20-yard drive into the bottom corner by Swain. A Burscough player was sent off for a bad tackle just before half-time and, from that point onwards, we kinda knew where this tie has heading. That said the visitors rallied for the third quarter of the contest before The Sulphurites (great nickname that no-one actually uses although The Sulphurite is the name of the programme) ended it when Knowles lobbed the keeper following an up and under (got to get at least one rugger reference in here for topicality). Harrogate sealed the win when a cross was headed into his own goal by Devine of Burscough.<br />
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“A good day’s work,” was how Harrogate gaffer Simon Weaver summed up the match on BBC Radio York. Indeed. Job done. The tie turned out exactly as you’d have expected from the clubs<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">’</span> league rankings and form.<br />
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<i>The Sergio Agüero of Mansfield: </i>Hats off to <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/afc-mansfield-0-tadcaster-albion-3.html">AFC Mansfield</a> of the Northern Counties East League. They banged in six with no reply against Grimsby Borough on Sept 26 and doubled their tally four days later in a 12-2 caning of Lincoln Moorlands Railway. Dean Rick bagged seven goals, five in the first half.<br />
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<i>Hopping mad:</i> <a href="https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/brotherhood/">Here </a>is an interesting blog post (and pic, below) about a match in the local Bucharest league in Romania featuring a goalkeeper with one arm, a pitchside kennel and rusty, post-industrial setting. The piece is well written and the blogger certainly gets around a bit.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-90354785995257953892015-09-26T21:00:00.000-07:002015-09-29T00:35:14.353-07:00Newton Aycliffe 0 North Ferriby United 0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Cup, second qualifying round</i><br />
Attendance: 254<br />
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While walking around the cricket pitch that adjoins Newton Aycliffe’s ground I passed two boys tossing sticks into a horse chestnut tree to knock down conkers. (The game seems rather quaint in this iPod age). I hadn’t been able to park inside the ground because of the crowd. Ah, yes: we’ve reached the second qualifying round.<br />
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For Newton Aycliffe (in Co Durham) this was their first time at this lofty stage and, even though, they were still three wins from the first round proper the match still heart-warmingly qualified as the biggest in their 50-year history according to their chairman and ex-manager writing in the programme. Today’s visitors, step 2 North Ferriby, know a fair bit about big matches having won the FA Trophy at Wembley just four months ago. Newton’s managerial duo – the Brian Clough and Peter Taylor of the Northern League, Peter Dixon and Paul Foster – have twice recently been at Wembley too with <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/west-auckland-town-3-bradford-park.html">West Auckland</a> in FA Vase. (Seven of their starting line-up today had followed the duo from West Auckland since their appointment a year ago).<br />
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The match was of note to me in that it was the fourth time I’ve happened to see North Ferriby in 12 months. I first saw them at the same stage of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/cleethorpes-town-1-north-ferriby-united.html">the Cup last season at Cleethorpes</a>, then <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/warrington-town-1-north-ferriby-united-0.html">away to Warrington</a> (they just keep getting Cup draws away to small teams I’m interested in) and finally in the <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/wembley-ways-cup-ties-at-north-ferriby.html">Trophy semi-final against Bath</a>. Any more of this and I’ll have to join the supporters’ club.<br />
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There isn’t much more to say about the match than about Newton’s tidy but very basic ground. (It consists of two small, modern stands and some cabins but I suppose you can’t have a grand old ground in a new town). It was a tight, tense encounter with relatively few clear cut chances but some good saves from the home goalie. The closest we came to a score was just after the three cheers on the rugby pitch over the fence when a header from Denton of North Ferriby hit the base of the post.<br />
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Soon afterwards Northern League legend Matty Moffat (“Matty Moff”) of Newton found himself alone against four yellow shirts on the edge of the Ferriby box. Was he about to go on a mazey run to grab a dramatic late winner, cause the upset of the round and give me a little more to write about? Sadly not. Unfortunately, in the final reckoning this Cup occasion didn’t have much to get excited about. (It was the only goalless tie in 80 matches in this round).<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RTAW_0Qrr6Y/VggzgvPwbPI/AAAAAAAAJBw/kSA4wiKmFBM/s1600/IMG_8368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RTAW_0Qrr6Y/VggzgvPwbPI/AAAAAAAAJBw/kSA4wiKmFBM/s200/IMG_8368.JPG" width="84" /></a><i>Face in the crowd:</i> Father Christmas, aka Salty, and a great peripatetic Northern League supporter, put in an appearance. I lost spotted him at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/norton-stockton-ancients-2-leigh.html">Norton & Stockton five years ago</a>.<br />
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<i>Quote of the day: </i>“You definitely got bullied at school!” shouted at the ref by a fan.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-2003211642123176202015-09-12T21:00:00.000-07:002015-09-29T00:35:37.872-07:00Thackley 2 Abbey Hey 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><i>FA Cup, first qualifying
round</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Attendance: 86<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I don’t like to overgoogle
grounds before I visit them so when I went down to the woods today I was sure
of a big surprise and what a pleasant one it was. Thackley’s Dennyfields – named
after a long-serving groundsman George Denny and located in northern Bradford –
is a gem and one of the most appealing grounds in Yorkshire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The wooded, rural setting with
grazing horses just visible between trees on the far side along with a main stand with
wooden bench seating were reminiscent of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/esh-winning-4-seaham-red-star-3.html">Esh Winning</a>. A tower on a slight hill
catches the eye. It’s the top of a ventilation shaft for the Skipton to Leeds
railway line. While nipping out to get a panorama pic (and missing the third
goal, damn it) I came across an old turnstile in the bushes which
I guess must provided access to the ground in a previous configuration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The sound of church bells
drifted over the arena for much of the match. The noticeboard beside the tea
bar had just two notices: one about the half-time draw and the other reading:
“Honey for sale. See Geoff (gateman).” It’s that kind of of place, dearly
cherished and with a strong sense of community. “I’ve been looking after Andy’s
ferrets all week ...” I overheard a fella saying on his phone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The Lancashire versus Yorkshire
angle to the game was part of its appeal. Both sides came into the match having
achieved good wins in the previous round: Thackley away to Northern Leaguers
Ashington and Abbey Hey (from Manchester and step 5 like Thackley) knocking out
last season’s top Cup giantkillers, <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/warrington-town-1-north-ferriby-united-0.html">Warrington Town</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Abbey Hey took the lead
following a goalkeeping slip and went two up just before half-time when
a winger jinked his way skilfully to the byline and checked the ball back for Hardy
to whack in from close range. Two Abbey fans whirred their rattles. Yes:
rattles at a football match albeit apologetically small ones. The retro,
Northern League-like feel of the occasion got better and better. The pair later
unfurled a banner. Always good to see the first one on the FA Cup trail: ‘Abbey
Hey: Isle of Man 2015’, it read with reference to the club’s pre-season match.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">To their credit Thackley
stuck at it and were rewarded with a headed goal by Garrod on 69 mins. The
Dennyboys equalised eight minutes later when the Abbey keeper spilt a cross and
Bentham stroked home. Thereafter both sides went hell for leather for the
winner but it didn’t come. A string of fine saves by the Thackley goalie kept
them in the tie. Great game, great ground, great afternoon. (Abbey Hey won the replay 1-0).</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Famous old boy: </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thackley's star alumni is ex-Bradford City beanpole, Ian Ormondroyd.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>New kids in town: </i>I heard on the radio that none of the players in todays Man U/Liverpool match came from the city they were representing. Football without tribalism is barely football at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Dennyfields is very photogenic and the weather was superb today so the pics were very good, though I say it myself. Too many to display within the text, though. Click <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117333976974215293609/ThackleyVAbbeyHey?authuser=0&feat=directlink">here </a>go to the full album.</i></span><br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-33900197571857416672015-09-12T13:00:00.000-07:002015-09-20T03:36:13.229-07:00The nappy pin that’s part of football history<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Before the <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/thackley-2-abbey-hey-2.html">Thackley match today</a> I checked out the remains of the former home of Bradford Park Avenue. The
club dropped out of the Football League in 1970 and the structures were
demolished 10 years later. Unlike the sites of most other former grounds it
hasn’t been built over since there’s a covenant that specifies that it should
always be use for sporting purposes.
Today one half the old pitch is currently occupied by a gym and the
other, open half is used by the University of Bradford Archery Club. There are clearly
no limits to construction on the opposite side of the road where today a giant
mosque stands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The old ground is being
excavated by archaeologists from the University of Bradford prior to its acquisition
and likely alteration by the neighbouring cricket club and will subsequently be
interpreted by artists for an exhibition next year at the National Football
Museum in an initiative also part-funded by the Arts Council. It was open to
the public this weekend as part of the annual Heritage Open Days programme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Man with his arm down a goalpost hole.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Along with three other curious
visitors I sheltered from a downpour under a gazebo on what would’ve been the
edge of the old penalty area while our guide explained what the archaeologists
had found. I love this sort of thing but, in truth, there wasn’t a vast amount
to see. (I felt like a mother struggling to be impressed when her eager son
shows her an unusual bug he’s found in the garden). There were the goalpost
holes (one of which has had a plastercast made of it), some net pegs, red
cinders indicative of the running track that once surrounded the pitch and
coins. Apparently, fans would toss coins into sheets behind carried around
behind the goal to raise funds for the club. The first coin archaeologists
found was a 1966 penny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-gRqvopbJA/VfqIbzP-KfI/AAAAAAAAI-s/qIcZv00DvC4/s1600/BradfordPA2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-gRqvopbJA/VfqIbzP-KfI/AAAAAAAAI-s/qIcZv00DvC4/s400/BradfordPA2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dig took place in front of the covered stand in the lower middle of this pic.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">One visiting fan this week told
of how during a match the elastic snapped in the shorts of the Bradford goalie
and, to the amusement, of the crowd, he had to use a nappy pin to affect a
repair. The following match the fans threw nappy pins at him in jest. To the
archaeologists’ delight within hours of being told the story they found one of
the pins. No doubt it will be the centrepiece of the exhibition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Excavation of the dug-out
areas hadn’t revealed anything. The terraces, now largely overgrown with trees
but partly cleared as part of the current project, were clear to see and walk
up, though. I passed a bent over crush barrier on my way to photograph the
urinals (not normally something I’m in the habit of doing, I assure you). I
also checked out the old turnstile entrances with a five shillings sign still
painted above one of them. I’m sad I missed the old turnstile itself but you
can see pics of it and read more about this initiative on this recommended
blog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fBNVEqoL6wY" width="420"></iframe><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What about the art? Well, a
“mad Italian” called Giorgio has been visiting the site at 3.30am to make
recordings as part of the art initiative. “What? Of birds and other animals?”,
our guide had asked him. Oh, no. The fella had put his microphone down the old
goalpost hole! He intends to create a montage starting with this sound, then
leading into the sound of a coin being tossed and finally into the recollections
of supporters. Simply barking – or have I had some sort of weird dream?!</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T2SJJJ4HuvE/VfqIqTe-KhI/AAAAAAAAJAM/ZRdQzsgl7B8/s1600/imgID38395476.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T2SJJJ4HuvE/VfqIqTe-KhI/AAAAAAAAJAM/ZRdQzsgl7B8/s400/imgID38395476.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Another artist has collected leaves from the nine species of tree that grow
around the pitch (in daylight, I assume). Other creative endeavours included
photographing a group of Park Avenue supporters chanting on the terrace (above) and a
recreation of the final goal at the League ground, a match in which a youthful Kevin
Keegan played for Scunthorpe. Watch this space – and goalpost hole. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For more information on the dig see this </span><a href="http://www.bpadmc.co.uk/category/bpafc-history/breaking-ground-bpa/" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">recommended blog</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salts FC, Saltaire <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">(see below).</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><i>Another ripping yarn:</i> Also on my
way to <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/thackley-2-abbey-hey-2.html">Thackley </a>I checked out the ground of Salts FC which forms part of the
sports complex originally built for the workers at the Victorian Salts Mill in
Saltaire. It’s claim to fame is that it was a location for one of Michael
Palin’s Ripping Yarns TV comedy dramas in the 80s. The ramshackle old stands
that were presumably the reason for its selection are still there but have been
considerably shored up. Earlier this month the club opened new changing
facilities in a formidable, windowless concrete building on the opposite side
of the pitch. Never mind being vandal proof; it looks like it could survive a
sustained nuclear attack.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Palin at Salts for filming in 1979.</td></tr>
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-41156394961256831832015-09-08T23:00:00.000-07:002015-09-15T00:30:45.704-07:00Rugby Town 0 Romulus 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Northern Premier League, First Division (South)</i><br />
Attendance: 157<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1spz-DTn4_Y/VfFBXri07dI/AAAAAAAAIwA/mC_9g_h6IhU/s1600/Old%2Bboy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1spz-DTn4_Y/VfFBXri07dI/AAAAAAAAIwA/mC_9g_h6IhU/s400/Old%2Bboy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I hadn’t got my fixtures mixed up and realised that this match wasn’t an FA Cup tie. Further potential confusion was provided by signs going into Rugby promoting the forthcoming Rugby World Cup which takes place elsewhere although the town is, of course, the home of the sport. Lodging overnight in Warwickshire for work I’d come to see Rugby play football. The sign for the ground just says ‘Football Ground’ so I wasn’t quite sure until I’d got to the end of it if I had found the correct sport.<br />
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Butlin Road is a very large, well appointed ground with a particularly impressive cantilever grandstand (see clip, below, which also includes the first goal). In most respects the set-up wouldn’t look out of place in the League rather than lowly step 4. Are Rugby a sleeping giant (or number eight, at the very least)? The highest level at which they’ve played has been the step 2 Southern League Premier Division in the late 80s and early 90s as VS Rugby when they also reached the proper rounds of the FA Cup on several occasions. The club switched to the Northern Premier League for the first time this season and currently languish towards the bottom one place below tonight’s visitors Romulus (from Sutton Coldfield).<br />
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Nicknamed Valley after Valley Sports (the club’s original name and the ‘v’ in VS Rugby), the home side trotted out to the tune of The Skids’ Into the Valley. Later players’ and coaches’ calls echoed around the arena while trains on the West Coast Mainline rumbled past unseen behind the far stand. It’s remarkable and somehow refreshing that such a relatively large crowd – many of them solo, middle-aged blokes, hands stuffed in pockets – turned out on a cold evening when England/Switzerland was on the telly (not much of an attraction, I know) to watch a run-of-the-mill fixture.<br />
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<i>Pics extra:</i> It's always a struggle to get decent pics at night with my camera. For daytime pics of Rugby check this <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/onionbag/albums/72157649736960881">recommended blog</a>. To make up for the lack of stills here are pics from the summer courtesy of my brother - of Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, and a pitch in the village of Sint Willibrordus (Williwood to locals) just outside Willemstad on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-34990114369994341242015-08-29T21:00:00.000-07:002015-09-01T05:58:31.968-07:00Barton Town Old Boys 1 Droylsden 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Cup, preliminary round</i><br />
Attendance: 142<br />
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For me the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup are summer’s parting gift. This season’s trail began at Barton Town Old Boys on the southern side of the Humber Bridge. (£3 return toll compared to just £5 admission, a bargain!) The tie brought back happy memories from last season of seeing <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/wembley-ways-cup-ties-at-north-ferriby.html">North Ferriby (on the other side of the bridge) in their FA Trophy semi-final</a> and <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/ossett-albion-0-droylsden-4.html">Droylsden at Ossett Albion</a> last season. Sadly, though, their fans who were so entertaining then weren’t much in evidence today.<br />
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As is often the way at this formative stage of the season I prefaced the trail with a bike ride and struggle to find the ground. I reached Barton Cricket Club easy enough but initially didn’t realise that the football club was further down the narrow lane. Had it not been for the railway line I may have overshot and ended up in the wetlands of the adjoining nature reserve. That’s what happened to a Droylsden shot during the warm-up. In the car park I came across a player fishing the ball out of a mildewy ditch with a long pole.<br />
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Barton’s ground is trim but very plain, consisting of just three modern corrugated steel stands and a one-storey clubhouse. The only remarkable features are the artificial turf that covers a bench for the subs (must’ve had some left over from the technical area) and a view of the Humber Bridge.<br />
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The hosts (aka The Swans – but shouldn’t their nickname by something bridge-related?) took the lead when a striker broke through the offside trap and lobbed the keeper. Droylsden equalised soon after the re-start when Hampson volleyed home after a corner wasn’t properly cleared and proceeded to boss the second half. The winner was a firm header into the top right corner of the goal from a cross from the left.<br />
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“Keeps! Keeps!”, a chap to my right called out to the Droylsden goalie. “Who was the scorer?”. “Dunno. Nine, I think,” he replied. (The fella had previously referred to another teammate as ‘seven’; he must be new). Moments later my fellow spectator switched on his radio microphone, having glanced down at this teamsheet. “And the scorer of the second goal for Droylsden is Steve Hall.” Priceless. To my left behind the goal two woman and children were sitting on the grass having a party, complete with party bags.<br />
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My other favourite remark of the afternoon came from dreadlocked Droylsden assistant boss Aeon Lattie. “As much as we keep booting the ball fucking forward they keep kicking it back,” he said to a colleague. With analysis like that he ought to be on the Match of the Day couch. Not surprisingly the Droylsden bench lead by the ever-angry manager Dave Pace outbarked the home bench. At the end, after an instruction to keep the ball, one of his lads did a wayward pass. You’d think he’d missed a penalty in the final judging from the opprobrium coming from the manager’s mouth.<br />
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In the end it was unnecessary. The Bloods deservedly won – and will face Ossett Albion in the next round in a repeat of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/ossett-albion-0-droylsden-4.html">the tie at the same stage of the competition last season</a>.<br />
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<i>Programme notes:</i> ‘Terrace talk’ bizarrely included a comment bemoaning the split of pop-punk band, The Hype Theory. Two pages were dedicated to pics of Barton players with a big blank box for their autographs. Didn’t see too many boys clustering around the players after the final whistle, notebook and pen in hand. The whole idea of autographs seems rather quaint now in this selfie-obsessed world.<br />
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<i>Face in the crowd:</i> In keeping with my <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/pickering-town-0-washington-6.html">first match of last season’s trail </a>Father Christmas put in an appearance today.<br />
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<i>Long distance travellers:</i> Barton had an epic (by early FA Cup qualifier standards) journey back from their replay in the extra preliminary round at Squires Gate in Blackpool. Having come back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 after extra time The Swans didn’t return from their coast to coast run until 2.30am following motorway jams. That’s nothing compared to the 779-mile midweek journey made by Carlisle players and fans to Plymouth earlier this month,<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33963978"> the longest trip in the Football League</a>. And finally, spare a though for Aberdeen having made <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33714222">the longest ever journey in European club competition</a>: 3,415 miles as the crow flies to Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan (north-west of Pakistan) in July to compete in the UEFA Cup qualifiers. They lost.<br />
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<i>Just not cricket: </i>Couldn’t agree more with Jonathan Freedland writing in The Guardian on Aug 6 about the prematurely early start of the football season: “A quirk of the diary it might be, but it feels like an offence against nature all the same. For the football season to begin now, as the Ashes reaches its climax, is all wrong. There are rhythms to our national life, tides and currents that mark the seasons as surely as the falling of the leaves or the darkening of the nights, and this seeks to upend them. It is a violation on a par with the premature ‘back to school’ poster I spotted in a high street window last week, a form of words that can make the heart sink in early September, let alone a month in advance.”<br />
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<i>Pic extra: </i>Talking of cricket and in the absence of many pics from Barton today here is a shot I took during the close season of the clubhouse-cum-stand at Gargrave cricket club near Skipton.</div>
Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-13114885760395867842015-05-04T21:00:00.000-07:002015-05-13T00:43:06.715-07:00Billingham Tn 1 Norton & Stockton Ancients 2 (aet)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup final</i><br />
Attendance: 350<br />
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I’d considered going for a walk on this fine Bank Holiday Monday and it felt like I was after I’d parked and began a woodland wander with my nephew Toby to the cup final. The approach reminded me of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/how-low-can-you-go-desperately-seeking.html">my trip to Shelley</a> last September. Located deep in a large park beside a cricket pitch and golf course and with hoardings hung on the perimeter fence, the ground is so secreted that we heard it (i.e. the PA) before we saw it. That’s if you exclude sightings of floodlights extending above the tree tops like saplings emerging from the undergrowth in spring.<br />
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The analogy is fitting. For years Teesdale Park, today’s venue and home of Thornaby, was in a very poor state suffering badly at the hands of vandals partly because of its isolation. Now it’s practically been re-born and is the most improved ground in the Northern League. Bedding plants beside the turnstile hut made me wonder if I should’ve got mine in earlier. Next to them were two giant owls carved from wood. Garden features abound in another corner of the ground and outside the tea container while old tree trunks with ferns mark out the parking bays. It was all a bit – dare I say it – National Trust.<br />
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Trees surround the ground on all sides. “Non-league nirvana” is how Toby described it. A steep grassy bank (reminiscent of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/padiham-0-darlington-1883-2.html">Padiham</a>) gives a superb vantage point from which to admire the Peter Morris stand and, to the left, a wonderfully rickety simple cover made from corrugated iron. Other sheets of it form part of the barrier. To the right is a small seated stand without a roof (but it looks like it once had one) which is so close to the goal that spectators are protected from errant shots by a large net. The white and light blue painted concrete steps look like something from a lido. Some seats for the stands have come from old grounds at Scarborough and Darlington, paint came courtesy of Dulux and labour for the improvements was provided via the probation service. Oh and then there are the bus shelters ...<br />
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An early chance sent a ripple of applause around the ground which was bathed in sunshine. We felt like we were the cricket match next door than watching a football cup final. It was an afternoon for sitting on your jacket rather than wearing it while chatting to chum, a sporting contest providing ambience and diversion while pooches pottered and toddlers tottered around the pitch. Bliss. Toby lay back to sunbathe on the bank, only thinking to work out which team was which some way into the match.<br />
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<a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/billingham-town-1-crook-town-4.html">I last saw Billingham</a> during their nightmare season in February 2014 as they were on their way to breaking ‘goals conceded’ records. Things have looked up since – and continued to do so during the early exchanges of the game. They took the lead in the first half when a cross was flicked on then volleyed home from the edge of the box.<br />
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Promoted from the Northern League second division nine days previously, <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/norton-stockton-ancients-2-leigh.html">Norton </a>were Billy’s equals in the main and grew in strength as the match unfolded. They missed two great chances in the dying minutes but then, deep into injury time they deservedly drew level with a volley from sub Nicky Martin playing his first match for two months. Toby and I had enjoyed the game but, as neutrals, didn’t really need an extra helping but, as is always the way in these situations, that’s what we got. Norton now had the impetus and sealed victory with another goal from Martin just before half-time of extra-time (see below). It was a highly competitive and passionate match in the best of Northern League traditions right until the final whistle.<br />
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The daughter of Ernest Armstrong gave a speech and then presented the trophy, her brother dishing out the medals. The afternoon had been a great advert for “community football” as Baroness Armstrong described it. The mood at the presentations was like the end of the village fete; you almost expected the cup to go to the grower of the biggest marrow than the winner of a football competition. A lovely scene in a sylvan setting to end the season.<br />
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<i>The important Ernest:</i> Ernest Armstrong was president of the Northern League from 1981-96, a Durham MP for 23 years and a former deputy speaker of the House of Commons. The knock-out competition named after him is played between teams in the second division.<br />
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<i>Programme notes:</i> Lambert and Jamieson of Norton both have “great feet” and Mitchell “knows where the goal is.” Love it. Great quiz question too: “Who is the ex-Aberdeen star who appeared on Top of the Pops twice on the same night?” Answer: Steve Archibald, singing for Scotland and Tottenham.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-71872606110367567072015-04-11T21:00:00.000-07:002015-05-29T01:55:15.134-07:00Esh Winning 4 Seaham Red Star 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Northern League, second division</i><br />
Attendance: 34<br />
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I’ve wanted to visit Esh Winning in Co Durham for years ever since reading a description in the Northern League guide: “Ground is in a picturesque setting (bring your bird book and binoculars).” A paean in the Northern League 125th anniversary book is equally enticing: “For the view, for the welcome, there are few better places to watch football in the north-east”.<br />
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This was clearly a place to save for a sunny day. I’m normally preoccupied with the FA qualifiers in August and September and Esh seldom stay in the competition long enough for me to catch them. Other big matches for the lesser Northern League clubs are in short supply. So I selected the last home match of the season which is how this humdrum fixture has been in my diary since last summer.<br />
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Paradoxically, the smaller the settlement the more I struggle to locate the ground which was the case with Esh Winning who actually play at Waterhouses a mile down the road in a wooded valley. As settlements go this is pretty tiddly and the smallest to provide a home to a Northern League club. We’re talking a rural village here without exaggeration. I passed through it and just as I was starting to curse and look for a place to turn I saw an Esh Winning sign, its stag logo accurately reflecting the setting.<br />
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The ground is an absolute delight. You enter up steps in the corner for the arena to be revealed in all its quirky, home-made, higgledy-piddledgy glory. Where to start? The main stand catches the eye if only for the precipitous pitch of its roof reminiscent of nearby <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/crook-town-4-holker-old-boys-4.html">Crook </a>and just as likely to catch the wind and let in sweeping rain, you’d think. Inside it are some weathered old seats, numbered, that I think came from a church. The benches they’re positioned on, the adjacent standing shelter and wonky rail around the pitch are painted (now flaking) in green and yellow.<br />
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Even more inviting and novel accommodation is provided by two small wooden shelters on a bank behind one of the goals. Nail a few planks to the front of them and they could be bird hides. In between are four park benches, two of which could’ve come from the Deerness Valley path which I’d cycled along in the morning (see notes at the end). Access up the incline is provided by paving slab steps with a steel rail, all painted green and yellow, of course. Wonderful.<br />
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Opposite the main stand and linked by a strip of astroturf are four spaced out bus shelters which I don’t suppose are often populated. A blustery wind whistled through them as they creeked from side to side. The soundscape was like a square rigger out at sea, the players calling out like sailors. One of the floodlights lay flat on the ground (blown down, I guess) and nearby turbines were earning their keep. Judging from the robustness of the dugouts gales are commonplace hereabouts.<br />
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As I was absorbing the surroundings the goals were raining in. Esh, sitting two off bottom, hit the bar in the first two minutes and forced a great save from the Seaham goalie before streaking into an extraordinary 3-0 lead. It seemed that after sealing the title three weeks ago Seaham hadn’t so much taken their foot of the gas but stuck both feet out of the window having parked up in a lay-by for a snooze. They got one back then Esh, immediately and somehow cheekily, nabbed another. “Embarrassing” was the word I picked out among the expletives as the visitors stomped off at half-time.<br />
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Somewhat predictably it was all change after the interval. Now kicking down the slope, Seaham found their pride and got into their stride to dominate, getting two further goals back to set up a cracking finale. You’d have thought this was a cup-tie judging from the visitors’ passion and keenness not to waste a second. I’d have loved extra-time too. A super save by the Esh goalie preserved his side’s lead.<br />
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So Esh Winning won - and got revenge for a 12-1 spanking at home to Seaham in the Vase last October. The afternoon was a winner all round, as far as I was concerned. One of the my favourite grounds of all-time and second best outing of the season (after <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/warrington-town-1-north-ferriby-united-0.html">Warrington</a>).<br />
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<i>Not in the news:</i> Esh aren’t big in the media. Their website appears moribund, they haven’t tweeted since last October and today there was no programme nor PA. In fact, the only announcement was when a fella wandered around the perimeter to say that the winning lottery number was 78. I rather like this old fashioned understatedness. Esh Winning are as discrete electronically as they are geographically.<br />
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<i>Pub name games:</i> Esh Winning Pineapple beat Liverpool Fantail in the FA Sunday Cup in 1978 in front of 1,500 spectators, the ground record. What a match that must have been – for the names of the teams alone. The Pineapple was the name of a local pub. By the way, the Red Star in Seaham is also the name of a pub in the town. Esh Winning is a name that could’ve been included in the Two Ronnies’ football results sketch. As well as the immortal East Fife 5 Forfar 4 they could’ve had “... and Esh Winning ... are losing.”<br />
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<i>From Esh to England:</i> Dating back to the 1930s Esh Winning’s two greatest former players are Raich Carter who went on to play 245 times for Sunderland and George Camsell who turned out 453 times for Middlesbrough. Between them they played 24 times for England.<br />
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<i>Make a day of it:</i> Bring your bike like I did and go for a ride around a loop of disused railway lines that passes the ground. I went south to Crook on the Deerness Valley Walk then crossed over to the Bishop Auckland railway path up to Broompark then back along the Deerness line. It’s 22 miles in all. Allow three hours inclusive of rests.<br />
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<i>Further viewing: </i>I couldn’t fit all the pics into the narrative. Click <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117333976974215293609/EshWinningVSeaham?authuser=0&feat=directlink">here </a>for the full set in all its glory.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-49496269894206869822015-03-28T21:00:00.000-07:002015-04-01T02:13:26.048-07:00Robin Hood Athletic 2 Boroughbridge 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>West Yorkshire League, Premier Division</i><br />
Attendance: c 40.<br />
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Well, it wasn’t supposed to have been like this. For weeks I’d been keenly anticipating an FA Vase semi-final at North Shields but then couldn’t get a ticket, dammit. Plan ‘b’ was going to see <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/afc-mansfield-0-tadcaster-albion-3.html">Tadcaster </a>at Garforth, a match for which I’d won a hospitality ticket via a competition on Twitter. That game had been re-scheduled and, since my win, the wheels have come off the Taddy wagon so the match wasn’t quite such an attraction. And so to plan ‘c’ ... another pleasant paddle down the backwaters of the West Yorkshire League following similar trips to <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/how-low-can-you-go-desperately-seeking.html">Shelley </a>and <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/aberford-albion-and-american-samoa.htm">Aberford </a>earlier in the season. This time I followed by local lads, <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/three-false-starts-and-my-search-for.html">Boroughbridge</a>, to south Leeds for their match against Robin Hood Athletic within the rumble of the M1.<br />
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The ground occupies a large, square field bound by traditional terraced houses on one side and new apartment blocks opposite. I soon found it but struggled to gain access. At one point I thought about parking on Middleton Lane and crawling through the hedge. Entry, it transpires, is via the car park of the Coach & Horses pub. I then approached the rail around the pitch and ventured towards what I thought was an official entrance but was actually boarding and fencing protection around the floodlights.<br />
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The Coach Ground is a ground rather than just a pitch thanks to its fine stand. It has 10 terraces with four red painted benches at the top and solar panels on the fascia. (Bear with me: I know this bit sounds nerdy). A sign declares it to be the Andy Parker Stand and below the names of club benefactors are displayed. Adjacent is the welcoming tea room (“come in and smell the coffee”) and changing block. All in all it’s a cracking little set-up worthy of higher than step 7 in the pyramid. So clearly embedded in the community, the club has a Northern League feel and I can’t pay a higher compliment than that. Last season Robin Hood won the first division title and they will surely be knocking on the door of the Northern Counties East League before long.<br />
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For now they occupy mid-table in comparison to Boroughbridge who have been propping up the league having won only three matches all season. In very windy conditions Robin Hood went two up in 20 minutes but Boroughbridge, sporting bright pink, levelled it and hung on for a point. An enjoyable afternoon out at a club that’s as appealing as its name. Surprisingly large crowd too. Highly recommended whatever the other options.<br />
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<i>Some history:</i> Founded in 1952, Robin Hood Athletic took over a fallow field behind the Coach & Horses hotel in 1968. The stand dates from the late 70s. In 2003 the club purchased the whole site under the proviso it was always retained for recreation. Onsite changing facilities were added in 2010 to replace those at the back of the pub and the tea room was extended last December. Further reading about Robin Hood <a href="http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/robinhood1/">here</a>.<br />
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<i>Star connection: </i>Robin Hood’s greatest former player is Huddersfield legend Roy Ellam. Mention of his name instantly brought to mind his pic in my coveted 1970-71 Soccer Star gala collection stamp album. And here he is ...<br />
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<i>Starter for 10:</i> I began the afternoon with a visit to Whitkirk Wanderers who are based near Temple Newsam and were playing Thornhill in the division below Robin Hood. To my surprise there was entrance fee but at just £1 including programme I could hardly complain. Sadly what I thought from Google Earth may have been two quaint stands were vandalised shipping containers on a bank. After 10 minutes I made my excuses (almost personally as there were only about a dozen others there) and left.<br />
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<i>Mention in dispatches:</i> Three cheers for <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/wembley-ways-cup-ties-at-north-ferriby.html">North Ferriby</a> who beat Wrexham on penalties in the FA Trophy final this weekend. Sounds like a hell of a game.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-85886345483308460342015-03-07T21:00:00.000-08:002015-03-26T08:56:12.520-07:00Wembley ways: cup-ties at North Ferriby and Bradford City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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How important is getting to Wembley these days? Ahead of a Vase quarter-final last week Paul Marshall, manager of my local lads, <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/afc-mansfield-0-tadcaster-albion-3.html">Tadcaster Albion</a>, was asked whether he’d prefer to win the Vase or promotion. Promotion, he replied. I’d have thought that leading your side out at Wembley would top anything especially for a club at step five of the pyramid.<br />
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“One of the biggest matches in our history,” is how the North Ferriby website billed their Trophy semi-final second leg against Bath last week for which the prize was also a final at the national stadium. OK: they’ve been to Wembley before (in the ’97 Vase final) but perhaps the Conference North play-off final last season <i>was </i>a bigger deal. Triumphant Ferriby’s opponents in the Trophy final will be Wrexham who will be making their third trip to Wembley in just a year. You could hardly blame their fans for letting this one pass them by. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, literally. Nowadays it’s more a matter of who hasn’t played there (any League sides?) rather than who has ...<br />
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The Ferriby match ended 1-1 after extra time and 3-3 on aggregate, the hosts winning 4-2 on penalties. The attendance was a 1,871. A gripping cup-tie at one of my favourite non-league venues but I haven’t blogged in full about it as I’ve written about <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/north-ferriby-united-0-fc-united-of.html">a visit to Ferriby before</a>. Here are three pics, though.<br />
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This weekend’s FA Cup quarter-finals also, of course, lead to Wembley and present victorious fans with the poser about whether to go to the semi-final or keep their fingers crossed (and wallet closed) and hope for a visit to the final. A competition with three finals: what a nonesense.<br />
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For the first time this year it was warm enough today not to need scarves but my son and I still donned them (and had them flapping from the car windows) in the colours of my home-town team, Reading, for their quarter-final against Bradford. There was a 24,000 full house at Valley Parade, a complete contrast to my previous visit in the <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/eccleshill-united-2-knaresborough-town.html">Northern Counties East League Cup final</a> last May. I like the ground. It’s not without its quirks such as a higgledy-piggledy corner featuring traffic lights on the legs of the floodlights above the tunnel. Equally singular are the club songs blasted out in the build-up to kick-off: Take me Home Country Roads and Depeche Mode’s Just can’t get Enough. Bradford has a genuine, old fashioned community feel to it. Even the ticket office manager and company accountant are asked for the their FA memories in the (superb smelling) programme.<br />
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Reading have hardly blazed a trail to the quarter-finals. I saw them at the start of the run <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/huddersfield-town-0-reading-1.html">at Huddersfield</a>. Least said about that snooze fest the better. They were then drawn away to similarly distant, unglamorous second division opponents in Cardiff and Derby and, thus, have sneaked almost unnoticed into the latter stages, a stowaway on the great ship FA Cup. With promotion hopes and relegation fears banished Reading have never had a better opportunity to focus on and reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1927 especially given that today’s opponents were a division below. The Bantams’ run couldn’t have contrasted more including those defeats of Chelsea and Sunderland.<br />
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Pity the game didn’t live up to the pre-match buzz. The contest was as unsatisfactory as any goalless cup-tie is bound to be and very scrappy with it. There was only one shot on target throughout and pass completion was just 50%, reported Match of the Day. And what about Taddy Albion? They lost today’s Vase quarter final replay 0-1 to Highworth Town (from Swindon). It all ended in tears with a scuffle between players and spectators after the final whistle. Oh, well. Losers in the Vase, Trophy and Cup are probably happy to concentrate on the league. Wembley? Pah!<br />
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<i>Faces in the crowd: </i>My son and I were featured momentarily in the TV coverage (top right of still, below) as spotted by my brother watching at home in the US. I later texted him to ask him about an injury that had stopped the game for ages right at the end. “Bloody nose,” he responded. Tele-technology still amazes me ...<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-11336424862919790612015-02-21T21:00:00.000-08:002015-02-23T00:47:04.711-08:00Aberford Albion and American Samoa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today I watched two teams beginning with ‘a’. First up: step 8 Aberford Albion from a village south of Wetherby who were playing Kippax in the Leeds & District Cup (5-1, attendance 17). The appeal of the game was that it was on the route of bike ride I was doing with my son and, moreover, the club play at the railed off Bunkers Hill pitch beside some Gothic mid-19th century almshouses.<br />
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I’d often wondered if it was possible to photograph some action with the almshouses as a scenic backdrop. Assisted by leafless trees and sunshine it is – as these pics show. I had to wait an age for the ball to come down to the right end for a close-up, though as Aberford dominated and they were kicking in the other direction. Ain’t that always the way? Later we called in on Bardsey from the same league hoping to see the end of their match but I must’ve read the fixtures wrong as there was no-one there. Still, at least I didn’t end up at a bowling green like I did on <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/how-low-can-you-go-desperately-seeking.html">a previous West Yorkshire League outing</a> ...<br />
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In the evening we watched Next Goal Wins. Released last spring, the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Goal-Wins-Mike-Brett/dp/B00IKFFCNW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424680427&sr=8-1&keywords=next+goals+wins">DVD </a>tells the story of American Samoa’s attempt to qualify for the last World Cup, 10 years on from being beaten 31-0 by Australia in the biggest international drubbing of all-time. Coming into the pre-qualification tournament Samoa had lost all 30 games in the preceding 17 years and scored just twice. Seeing highlights of games against the likes of the Cook Islands is intriguing in itself but the film is about much more than that. It’s about the universal themes of self-belief, inspiration, and progress. There are two sub-plots: one about the need for Samoa’s Dutch manager to come to terms with the death of his daughter eight years previously and another about the experience of Samoa’s transgender player.<br />
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As the credits roll and captions pop up explaining what happened next to the protagonists you have to remind yourself that you’ve been watching a documentary rather than a reconstruction. Next Goals Wins gives you a warm glow and puts a smile on your face. It’s the ultimate real feel-good sports film and should be mandatory clubhouse viewing for teams the world over – from Real Madrid to, well, Aberford Albion and beyond.<br />
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<i>Taking on the badgers:</i> Aberford had huge problems at the start of the season. They spent £2,000 improving the pitch then burrowing badgers came along and ruined it causing multiple postponements. You can see where all the holes have been filled in.<br />
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<i>Groundhopping by bike: </i>To follow my bike ride see <a href="http://greatbritishbikerides.net/2011/01/10/hidden-history-in-gascoigne-country/">my other blog</a>. I’m planning to mark the end of the Northern League season by cycling along disused railway lines to four clubs in Co Durham ending up by watching one of them, Esh Winning, against champions elect, Seaham Red Star. What a treat. To finish here is a pic of the front of those almshouses.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-31950216828769966932015-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:002015-02-10T00:25:12.918-08:00AFC Mansfield 0 Tadcaster Albion 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Vase, fifth round</i><br />
Attendance: 604<br />
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Well, I’m glad I had an interest in this game and that my local lads (<a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tadcaster-albion-3-brocton-2.html">Tadcaster</a>) won. There was little about this occasion to appeal to the neutral; it was a one-sided contest at a very plain ground.<br />
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To give credit where it’s due, AFC Mansfield have done exceptionally well to get to this stage. The step 6 NCEL side have battled through six rounds without needing a replay to get here and are in only their third season. They were founded by three ex-directors of Mansfield Town who fell out with the rest of the boardroom. The Bulls then are, unusually, a directors’ rather than fans’ breakaway club. The reason for another community club in the region isn’t obvious since Shirebrook, Teversal and Rainworth are within a five-mile radius and Clipstone is just 1½ miles away. Cowering below the town’s two striking disused pit wheels, I’d past the latter’s ground on the way to AFC.<br />
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AFC are based at the former home of now defunct Forest Town Welfare. The pitch is surrounded by a gently shelved, narrow cycle track (I needed the zoom lens) and there’s a scoring tower in one corner, left over from its days as a cricket ground. Facilities include a pavilion behind one goal, clubhouse with conservatory, nine partly seated terraces and a flatpack stand acquired from Eastwood Town. Spectators are only permitted access around half of the pitch. Wembley could not have felt further away yet actually been so near in a competition sense.<br />
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Taddy nearly got off to a nightmare start when a sloppy and forceful back pass sent the keeper scurrying to and clashing with a post. That was as hairy as it got for the visitors who took the lead on 15 mins. Soon after a Mansfield player was sent off for dissent to the fury of manager and ex-<a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/brighouse-town-0-scarborough-athletic-2.html">Scarborough</a> boss Rudi Funk (still, for me, the best name in football). He was banished from the pitch too. Taddy extended their lead just before half-time when they burst through the offside trap and the ball was squared to Blissett to stroke home. The killer goal came after 70 mins.<br />
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When Taddy missed a sitter soon after the away fans could afford to laugh about it. Events off the pitch then became more interesting than those on it when a fan had fluid thrown over him from the conservatory terrace. Beergate ensured led by the cops. Taddy fans, comprising about half the attendance, had been superb throughout but even they finally stopped singing “Tad all over” for the last 10 minutes and the drummer unyoked his instrument. Job done: we’re through. One way or another the quarter-final will be much more memorable, I’m sure.<br />
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<i><span id="goog_1481252488"></span><span id="goog_1481252489"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>The sweet smell of success: </i>Previewing today’s match the Harrogate Advertiser sports writer said: “Progress [for Tadcaster] would shift the smell of the extraordinarily-priced Wembley hotdogs further up the M1.” Well, if I’m not mistaken the whiff has reached South Yorkshire and I’m getting peckish. Extra onions for me, please.<br />
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<i>Weather news:</i> It made a nice change not to have to check for a postponement nor don five layers before today’s game. Barney Ronay wrote <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/feb/06/english-football-february-chill-cold">an amusing piece</a> about cold football matches in today’s Guardian. He says that Graeme Souness “did seem to be at his best when grimacing with shin-barking agony on some frosty cart track of a pitch, eyes narrowed, moustache writhing, the emperor of tiny-shorted midwinter pain-football.”<br />
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<i>Mentions in dispatches: </i>A fella dancing around among the Taddy fans is a yellow football shirt looked like Socrates reincarnated. No Captain Chickers today, sadly. Spare a thought for Colwyn Bay who today made one of the longest west-east journeys in non-league football to play Lowestoft. Six hours each way. Further scrutiny of the NLP reveals the wonderfully named Karl-Mike Fondop-Talun of Vase fifth rounders, Stanway Rovers.<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/119017589">vs Mansfield 07Feb2015</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/photosbydavid">PhotosbyDavid</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-32599509901334982242015-01-31T21:00:00.000-08:002015-02-03T01:31:56.710-08:00Salford City 2 Darlington 1883 0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Northern Premier League, First Division (North)</i><br />
Attendance: 902<br />
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Approaching from the M60 the only sign for Salford City is about 18 x 4 inches and attached apologetically to the traffic lights for the right turn. It’s not much more than you might get for Bob’s 40th birthday party. At 3.20pm a Darlo fan burst through the turnstile f-ing and blinding because his taxi driver had taken him to Salford rugby ground by mistake. No tip there. The football club may be low profile in some respects, then, but there are signs of change within the ground, quite literally.<br />
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On the turnstiles a paper notice warned that there was filming (for a BBC) documentary) taking place inside the ground which included a drone buzzing around before the match and during the interval. Inside an old sign stating “This is Moor Lane. Home of Salford City FC” has been replaced by a new sign with stylish logo and simple slogan “Integrity and industry.” Thankfully, that – apart from a lick of paint to denote the club’s colour change from orange to red – is about as far as the ground improvements appear to have got since the club’s acquisition by the Class of ’92 last summer. I saw <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/salford-city-5-class-of-92-1.html">the Class and friends playing Salford</a> in a pre-season friendly at the city’s rugby ground (I’d nearly gone to Moor Lane) and was glad of the opportunity to visit Salford’s regular home. I parked on Nevile (sic) Road: they’ve already started naming roads after two of the club’s new benefactors (not)!<br />
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Moor Lane is a basic, open ground with large grassed areas, some banked, on three sides which give a partial bowl and, as such, is vaguely reminiscent of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/newcastle-benfield-0-spennymoor-town-1_19.html">Consett’s old stadium</a>. That, combined with the origin of the visitors and the Arctic cold (I was in full 80s ski wear) gave the occasion a Northern League feel which is no bad thing. Steps made from railway sleepers lead gently down one corner of the bank in a manner that Diarmuid Gavin would be proud of. Another quirky feature is a small boat named HMS Scrooge inexplicably at pitchside. These are the things I love about non-league.<br />
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The main stand is fabricated from concrete, six sturdy pillars doing their best to obscure the view (see pic, below). The ground’s builder must have had shares in Readymix as the fences around the pitch and outer perimeter are made of concrete too. Steel also abounds in the form of the obligatory shipping containers which include three for changing rooms.<br />
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Today’s match pitched second place against third but the main reason for the swollen crowd was the support brought Darlington. Every away match feels like a cup tie if the Quakers are involved as I found out at <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/harrogate-railway-athletic-0-darlington.html">Harrogate Railway</a> and <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/padiham-0-darlington-1883-2.html">Padiham </a>last season. Programmes were sold out by 2.30pm (it always surprises me how clubs don’t print more for predictably large gates) and the pressure on facilities was such that the PA announcer had to plea for fans to use the toilets, “you filthy animals.” The food ran out by half-time so the gates were opened for spectators to get to the shops.<br />
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The match was a tense, tight, niggly affair with few clear cut chances. The Ammies (Salford was called Salford Amateurs until 1989) took the lead on 32 mins when a striker burst through in the inside left channel and squared (or was it a cross?) to Webber for an unmarked tap in. The second goal in injury time was a similarly simple, incisive strike from Madeley, also from a cross from the left. By that stage it had all kicked off. White of Darlo was sent off for a second booking and teammate Mitchell joined him for a foul and abusive language. Players squared up to each other following a contentious tackle and the ref entered a 12th and final name into his by now bulging book. He was showing more cards than Paul Daniels (old joke, I know, but I like it). At the final whistle there was more pushing and shoving.<br />
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Enraged by the ref’s performance, Darlo fans massed at the gate which secures a compound outside the changing rooms and hurled abuse in the direction of the officials (clip <a href="http://youtu.be/cLyWE4dEbqI">here</a>). One of Darlo’s backroom staff was similarly incensed, bellowing at the lino and jabbing his finger at him like an apopleptic Arthur Scargill. “Still gonna win the league!”, the away fans chanted defiantly as they scowled towards the exit. Salford go top and Darlo lose only their third league match of the season. If these two meet in the play-offs expect a sparky encounter.<br />
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<i>Postscript: </i>There was more trouble at the game among the fans than I was aware of. See <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/darlington/11764211.Football_club_chairwoman_criticises_unruly_Darlington_fans_who__ruined_it_for_everyone_else_/">here </a>for report from the Northern Echo.<br />
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<i>Star turn:</i> Well, I’d have been disappointed if there hadn’t been one to report. Performing Class of ’92 duty today was HRH Nicky Butt, discreet under the hood of a black jacket in the directors’ box.<br />
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<i>FA Cup extra-time:</i> A mention in dispatches to Cambridge’s sub against Man U, the wonderfully named Harrison Dunk. I also like <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/117333976974215293609/SalfordVDarlington#6111201986538960482">this story</a> from the Northern League magazine about a fella who’s written a book about the FA Cup exploits of clubs from south-west Durham. A good fireside read, I bet.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001406733823187654.post-18730212657474015342015-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:002015-01-20T00:32:17.232-08:00Tadcaster Albion 3 Brocton 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>FA Vase, fourth round</i><br />
Attendance: 637<br />
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Steely grey skies, dripping, bare trees and a repeat of Bridgit Jones’s Diary on the telly instead of talent shows. Welcome to a January Saturday - and welcome to the Vase. Now that raises the spirits. Just as the FA Cup disappears in the rear view mirror (I didn’t bother watching the highlights of last week’s third round replays) the signs start appearing for the latter rounds of my other favourite FA competition.<br />
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I’d need signs for Brocton too. I’d never heard of the place but it’s a village in Staffordshire and The Badgers, as they’re known, currently lie in 17th place of the step 5 Midland League following promotion last season. A reporter from their local paper explained how until recently they’d essentially been the youth side for Stafford Rangers, having to bolster their ranks this season for the higher division. Their best player – and manager – is David Berks, an ex-Aston Villa youth.<br />
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It’s not just the geography that challenges in the Vase. I overheard fans seeking to clarify what stage we are at (the last 32) and which divisions the respective teams were in. Getting your bearings in the Vase is all part of the competition’s novelty and charm. Regardless of exactly where we all were in space and time after <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/huddersfield-town-0-reading-1.html">an outing to Huddersfield</a> it was a joy to be back in non-league where the Taddy scarf I bought for £8 cost £3 more than the admission.<br />
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The logo these days is everywhere, part of the improved marketing and overall rejuvenation of the club that has taken place under the current and previous owner. After decades in the doldrums you really get the impression this club is going somewhere which, judging from The Brewers’ six-point lead at the top of the NCEL, is the Northern Premier League, all being well come May. Since <a href="http://facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/tadcaster-albion-0-boston-united-2.html">my last visit 2½ years ago</a>, the ground has been improved. Jerry-built dug-outs have been replaced with shelters in a continental style and the clubhouse is very smart too. The wonderfully ramshackle seated stand (and I use the term loosely) remains, however. It looks like it could collapse easier than a child’s buggy.<br />
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Taddy boast the support to go with their lofty status. Today’s season’s best gate was 177 more than Harrogate Town’s home Conference North fixture and the fans are vocal too. In fact I’ve seldom heard such singing from supporters at this level. A choir of around 40 boisterous youngsters was led in choruses of ‘Tad all Over’ and other ditties by two older fellas. One sported a stetson and comedy Elvis sideburns attached to sunglasses and the other, known to his friends as <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamAcer1978">Captain Chickers</a>, was dressed as a sea captain in a white jacket and trousers with gold braid and matching white cap. Fantastic.<br />
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The start didn’t go according to the script. Brocton took the lead after four minutes when a slip by a Taddy defender gave a striker a one-on-one with the keeper. Taddy levelled it soon after when a cross was headed back into the six-yard box and stroked home and went ahead on the stroke of half-term with a header from a cross. Not to be out-done, Brocton started the second half as the started the first by scoring against the run of play. I struggle to remember another clear chance for the visitors in a match which Taddy continued to dominate. Fisticuffs saw a player from each side sent off and two booked. Soon after Taddy got what turned out to be the winner when Ward followed up a rasping drive from the edge of the box that was palmed away by the goalie.<br />
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They didn’t half make hard work of their victory, though. Credit must go to the Brocton keeper who made five fine saves in the second half, single-handedly repelling wave after wave of Taddy attacks. It says a lot about his performance that the hosts were reduced to playing keep ball by the corner flag in the closing stages. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The contest reminded me of <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/shildon-1-norton-united-3.html">Shildon v. Norton</a> in the FA Cup in October but in this case, the more strongly fancied northern side prevailed against their Staffordshire opponents and reached the fifth round for the first since 1978. My scarf will be out again for the next round.<br />
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<i>Star turn: </i>Jonathan Greening, ex-Man U, Middlesbrough and West Brom, played four times for the Brewers earlier in the season. He wasn’t in evidence today but his much younger brother and top scorer, Josh, was. Among the crowd I spotted Harrogate Railway legend, Steve “’ugger” Davey, who scored in Rail’s famous FA Cup tie against Bristol City in 2002. (I know: how <i>would </i>I recognise him?).<br />
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<i>Programme notes:</i> The Badgers’ origins are described thus: “Brocton was formed in 1937 when Arthur Mayer, the then owner of Chetwynd Arms, gave a football to the boys of Brocton and asked them to form a football club.” Can’t get simpler than that. Among the advertisers is local MP Nigel Adams who also has a pitchside hoarding. That’s what I call nailing your colours to the mast.<br />
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<i>Ray of sunshine: </i>Yesterday Palestine lost 1-5 to Jordan in the Asian Cup being staged in Australia. What a ding-dong derby! Jordan are bossed by Ray ‘Butch’ (love that nickname) Wilkins assisted by ex-Man U teammate Frank Stapleton (all together now: “Wo-ah! Frankie, Frankie; Frankie, Frankie, Frankie, Frankie Sta-ple-ton!”. Looks like the gents are loving their time in the sun. I don’t know why Five Live bothers reporting the Africa Cup of Nations. I would’ve drifted off to sleep quite happily on Saturday night not knowing that Equatorial Guinea drew 1-1 with Congo.<br />
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<i>Further reading: </i>I haven’t described Taddy’s ground much as I’ve done that twice before – for their <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/tadcaster-albion-0-boston-united-2.html">biggest FA Cup tie</a> and a <a href="http://www.facupgroundhopper.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/tadcaster-albion-2-hemsworth-miners.html">thrilling promotion decider</a>. Finally, here’s a pic from my maiden visit in August 2003 which shows how things have changed. I should also credit Ian Parker of the club for the pic of the brawl in this post.<br />
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Paul Kirkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04506737125948891439noreply@blogger.com0