Pages

Sunday 27 January 2013

Huddersfield Town

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1-1 LEICESTER CITY
Saturday 26th January 2013
FA Cup 4th Round
John Smith's Stadium, Stadium Way, Huddersfield




match ticket
programme cover
Admission: £10
Programme: £2
Attendance: 11,945 (4,000 away)

Original plans for today was as is normally the case a visit to a non-league club, with plan A being that of Oakham United in the Peterborough & District League. About ten days ago I was looking at the weather forecast and for the week leading up day time temperatures would seldom get above freezing. With this in mind I asked my mum and her partner if they fancied going to watch Leicester City play their fourth round FA Cup tie @ Huddersfield Town, helped by fact that the two clubs had agreed to reduce ticket prices. With not being a season ticket holder or member of Leicester City I would have to wait to see if any of their allocation would be available on general sale, and I believe there was around 1,000 left. Come 9am and both myself and my wife (who decided to come along) had rang the club using the land line and a mobile and were in a que - I got through first after about ten minutes and managed to purchase four (three adults and one senior) tickets and a price of £36 which included a £1 booking fee. I personally have visited the stadium before but it was for rugby league and not football when I saw the Huddersfield Giants take on the Sheffield Eagles in April 1997.

The plan was to leave earlier in order to have some lunch in the town and have a walk round before heading to the stadium. We (my wife Angela and I) were picked up at 9.30am by my mum and her partner Dave and made the ninety-five mile journey north with no problems. The traffic on the M1 motorway was light with it only being busy when he got into Huddersfield itself. The John Smith's Stadium is well signposted and we parked up in a pay & display car park on St. Andrews Road. From there we walked into the town centre and made our way to one of the two JD Weatherspoon outlets, The Cherry Tree for some lunch and liquid refreshment - two pints of Arctic Fox went down very well. Heading back in the direction we came I popped into the other 'Spoons outlet The Lord Wilson for a quick half while the others were looking around House of Fraser. From there we made our way to the stadium and got to the ground around 2.15pm.

The town
Huddersfield is a large market town with a population of around 150,000 inhabitants, located in, and being the principal town of the Metropolitan Borough of Kirkless in West Yorkshire. It is located some twenty five miles east of Manchester and twenty miles south west of Leeds while the M62 motorway passes a few miles to the north of the town. The town has direct rail services to a lot of the "major" northern cities including Leeds and Manchester but not to the nations capital London.

Huddersfield is not a tourist town though does have some excellent examples of Victorian architecture, but is more well known for sport - the birth place of Rugby League, the birthplace of prime minister Harold Wilson and its role in the Industrial Revolution.

The railway station is a Grade 1 listed building and was describe by John Betjeman as `The most splendid station facade in England, second only to St. Pancras in London.'

During the Industrial Revolution Huddersfield was a centre of civil unrest. This was during a period when Europe was experiencing frequent wars and trade had slumped and crops failed. Local weavers faced losing their livelihood due to the introduction of machinery in the factories. Luddites began destroying mills and machinery in response. One of the most notorious attacks was on Cartwright - a Huddersfield mill owner who had a reputation for cruelty.

The club
The club were formed in 1908 and joined the North Eastern League in time for the 1908/09 season, finishing in 16th place in the 18 team division. The following season they transferred to the Midland League finishing in 5th place come the season end. Just two years after being formed they were elected to division 2 of the Football League. In 1922 the club secured its first major honour by winning the FA Cup. Between 1923 and 1926 they were crowned Football League champions, becoming the first English team to win three successive league titles. A feat that has been matched (but not bettered) by only Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.

The Stadium
The stadium was designed by H.O.K. Sport and built (by Alfred McAlpine) and opened in 1994 at an estimated cost of £40m. While construction was taking place it was known as the Kirklees Stadium, while from 1994 to 2004 it name the McAlpine Stadium. It was under this name that I saw a rugby league game here in 1997 when the Huddersfield Giants took on the Sheffield Eagles. From 2004-2012 it became known as the Galpharm Stadium, and after brewery Heineken took out a five year sponsorship deal last August it became known as the John Smith's Stadium.

The capacity of the stadium is 24,499 and is an all seater affair. It is located to the north west of the town centre, approximately one mile from the railway station.

Previously the club played their home games at Leeds Road which was their home since 1908, and they recorded a club record attendance of 67,037  for an FA Cup 6th Round tie v Arsenal on the 27th February 1932.

Away fans are housed in the John Smith's (South) Stand which was full today and is the one you come to first. Views in the stadium are excellent though despite it being all seater it was "standing room only" with the club or stewards making no attempt to make the visiting supporters sit down. Personally I don't have a problem with this helped by being over 6' tall, but with my wife being only 5' 2"" she did have trouble seeing the action at times. If clubs are going to allow supporters to stand then surely it would be safer to have specific standing areas in stadiums than allow them to stand in seated areas. I know when this gets mentioned the old rhetoric of Hillsborough gets brought up, but in my opinion it wasn't the terraces that caused this tragic event, but the fact that supporters were in pens and could not get themselves to safety. 

Leicester came into the game as favourites with them putting together a winning run that has put them in the second automatic promotion spot in the Football League Championship, while Huddersfield find themselves in 19th place and sacked manager Simon Grayson a few days ago.

After seeing Leicester play very well against Middlesbrough just over a week ago it was a different story today. They were very disjointed, lacked any sort of cohesion and the first half was up there with the dross that I have witnessed this season. The second half did improve with Huddersfield looking the more likely to score. With the atmosphere already being electric in the away section, it went up a notch on the hour mark when Jamie Vardy and Martyn Waghorn were replaced by David Nugent and Chris Wood. Wood almost made an immediate impact but his curling shot was turned round the post by Huddersfield keeper Alex Smithies. Town took the lead on seventy minutes when Lee Novak beat Kasper Schmeichel from the penalty spot, this following a Lloyd Dyer foul on Jack Hunt. Leicester drew level with nine minutes left when Wood turned in a Richie de Laet cross. To be fair Huddersfield should have had the game sown up but James Vaughan poked the ball wide from six yards out and Peter Clarke had a header cleared off the line. 

A more detailed report can be found on the BBC website by clicking here - HTFC 

As expected it was very busy getting out of the car park and Huddersfield itself, and following a stop for a coffee at the Tibshelf services on the M1 we were back home at around 8pm.

10 ground photos can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Sunday 13 January 2013

Houghton into the semi-finals

HOUGHTON RANGERS 4-0 MEDBOURNE
Saturday 12th January 2013
Leicestershire Intermediate Cup Quarter Final
Weir Lane, Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire

After last weekend watching two games, which firstly saw Oadby Town put five past AFC Rushden & Diamonds in the United Counties League and Oscars overcome FC Hoskins 4-2 in the Alliance Football League Bill Walton Cup, it is county cup action for me today. Of the eight teams left in the Leicestershire Intermediate Cup Houghton Rangers' ground on Weir Lane was the only one that I had not previously visited, and as luck would have it they got drawn at home to Medbourne of the Northants Combination.

I don't know when the original Houghton Rangers Football Club was formed, but I do know that they joined the Leicestershire Senior League (LSL) Division 2 in 1976 and spent twenty one years in the league before finishing bottom in 1997, with all but two years (1991-93) being spent in the lower division. Relegation to the Leicester & District League (L&D) occurred in at the end of the 1996/97 season, but the club only last one season before folding. The current club bearing the same name was formed in 2005 and they have spent all their existence in the L&D, with their playing record as follows...
2005/06
Div 2
24
9
7
8
49
43
34
7TH
2006/07
Div 2
22
13
5
4
68
35
44
3RD
2007/08
Div 1
20
13
3
4
62
28
42
2ND
2008/09
Prem
26
18
4
4
82
30
58
2ND
2009/10
Prem
24
10
6
8
41
33
36
5TH
2010/11
Prem
20
13
3
4
49
26
42
3RD
2011/12
Prem
22
15
3
4
74
28
48
3RD

This season Houghton have made an impressive start to the league campaign with only one defeat in nine matches, while in the Intermediate Cup they have progressed through three rounds to get to the quarter finals:

Round 1: Huncote (H) won 3-1
Round 2: Anstey Town (H) won 2-0
Round 3: Greenhill YC (A) won 3-1

Opponents Medbourne, as previously stated ply their trade in the Northants Combination and currently sit in mid-table of division 1. With the Leicestershire FA not publishing the results of the third round I have been unable to find out who they played, but what I do know is that they had a bye in round 1 and a walkover in round 2 following the withdrawal of Butler Court.

Houghton on the Hill is a commuter village six miles east of Leicester and has a population of around 1,500 inhabitants. The village was the birthplace of the famed landscape artist John Glover who was born in 1767 and died in 1849 in Launceston, Tasmania.

In December 2007 the Houghton made the national headlines when it was dubbed "the village of the scammed" when a large number of fraudulent credit card charges in the Far East were linked to the JET filling station. In August 2008 Sri Lankan born Abdul Samad Mohamed Raik was jailed for two years and eight months, after he admitted to the charge of obtaining property by deception. A total of £175,000 was stolen in the scam which affected almost every house in the village.

Weir Lane is located on the eastern edge of the village and is off Main Street opposite the Co-op, with the football pitches and changing rooms / club room at the end of Weir Lane itself. The main pitch is railed off on the majority of the four sides, though there are no dugouts but some hard standing in front of the club room.

I took my camera with me but was not hopeful I would get any decent photos I could put online, this was due to my camera equipment and the poor light. I did look up at the sky at times wishing that the sun would break through the clouds but alas this was not granted!!!! 

I recognised the referee Imran Khan who I had seen officiate a game on Braunstone Park at the back end of last year and had a chat with him before the game. Going onto the game itself and it wasn't bad considering the pitch was very heavy - hardly surprising really!!! Medbourne got out of the blocks quicker and put pressure on the Houghton back line but without testing keeper Jimmy Greasley. As the half worn on the home side got into the game more and more with brothers Harry and Andy Almond causing problems. With the first half coming to a close Andy Almond found space in the penalty area and beat confidently beat the Medbourne keeper to give the lower ranked side the lead. Six minutes into the second half and Almond brother Andy had made 2-0. The game then had a scrappy period from the Houghton point of view with Medbourne looking to get back into the game, but were hit on the counter attack and Barber made it 3-0 on 73 minutes. With just a couple of minutes remaining and Barber turned in a low cross from the right to make it 4-0 and Houghton join three Leicestershire Senior League sides (Allexton & New Parks, Friar Lane & Epworth and Melton Mowbray) in the semi-finals.

In the few days before the game I had been communicating with Houghton via their twitter feed (@HoughtonRangers) and a warm welcome was had, even giving me a free coffee and half time.

Admission / programme: none
Attendance: around 30 

30 photos of the ground and game can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Please vote...

from the six pictures below:


From a shortlist of six please vote for your favourite action shot that I have taken during the 2012/13 season so far at the following games...
1) 14-07 Parkgate v Rotherham United
2) 14-07 Glapwell v Shirebrook Town
3) 07-10 Cross Keys Newbold v Thurmaston WMP 2009
4) 10-11 Dronfield Town v Phoenix S & S
5) 08-12 Eynesbury Rovers v Oadby Town
6) 16-12 DYP United v FC Tumar
Create your own poll


1) top right; 2) top left; 3) middle left; 4) middle right; 5) bottom left; 6) bottom right

Programme Covers - part 3

The third and final part...

1) Dronfield Town (Central Midlands League)

Price: £1
No. of pages: 16, of which 2 are adverts

2) Corby Town (FA Trophy)

Price: £2
No. of pages: 32, of which 9 are adverts

3) Eynesbury Rovers (United Counties League)

Price: £1
No. of pages: 32, of which 15 are adverts

4) Derby County (Football League)

Price: £3
No. of pages: 76, of which 16 are adverts

5) Cammell Laird (Northern Premier League)

Price: £2
No. of pages: 24, of which 5 1/2 are adverts


Programme Covers - part 2

Part two of three...

1) Wells City (FA Cup)

Price: with admission
No. of pages: 16, of which 8 are adverts

2) Oadby Town (United Counties League)

Price: £1
No. of pages: 32, of which 8 are adverts

3) Stratford Town (FA Vase)

Price: £1
No. of pages: 28, of which 8 are adverts

4) York City (Football League)

Price: £3
No. of pages: 52, of which 14 are adverts

5) Newcastle Town (Northern Premier League)

Price: £1.50
No. of pages: 64, of which 22 1/2 are adverts


Programme Covers - part 1

Following on from the "half season review" this is part one of three giving basic details of the different match day programmes I have picked up this season so far.


1) Parkgate (pre-season friendly)

Price: £1.50
No. of pages: 16, of which 6 are adverts

2) Baldock Town (pre-season friendly)

Price: £1
No. of pages: 12, of which 2 are adverts

3) Royston Town (pre-season friendly)

Price: Free
No. of pages: 32, of which 6 are adverts 

4) Newport Civil Service (Gwent Senior Cup)

Price: with admission 
No. of pages: 20, of which 5 1/5 are adverts.

5) Wolverhampton Wanderers (Capital One Cup)

Price: £2.50
No. of pages: 44, of which 12 are adverts