How far?

A bit of a random post but below is a list of the nearest grounds at varying levels of English football's pyramid that I have not yet visited...

Premier / Football League: 
Villa Park, Aston Villa FC - 42.4 miles

Step 1 - Football Conference (Blue Square) Premier:
Kenilworth Road, Luton Town FC - 67.8 miles

Step 2 - Conference North / South:
York Street, Boston United FC - 66.6 miles

Step 3 
Valley Stadium, Redditch United FC - 53.4 miles

Step 4
Jubilee Stadium, Evesham United FC - 58.8 miles

Step 5
Loughborough University Stadium, Loughborough University FC - 14.4 miles

Step 6
Addison Road, Easington Sports FC - 49.1 miles

Step 7 
NFU Sports Ground, Ashby Ivanhoe FC - 17.5 miles

A half season review

With only one Saturday left in the calender year I am going to spend some time reviewing the first half of the 2012/13 football season.

Since the beginning of July and upto & including Friday 28th December I have watched the following:

47 football games, 2 games of handball and 1 game of basketball.

The football season for me officially started on the 8th July with a game in the Leicester Sunday League's Summer Competition between EMR and AFC Sporting Charnwood. This was played on the 3G pitch at Guthlaxton College in Wigston which saw EMR run out 6-3 winners. 

Best game: Corby Town v Hayes & Yeading United (24/11) FA Trophy on 24th November.

A tough choice but a worthy winner. The game was played in dreadful conditions with the rain never letting up all through the ninety minutes. Hayes lead 2-0 at half time but Corby came back in the second half to turn this tie on its head, with the winner coming in the 90th minute, and made driving there and back worth the while

Worst game: Great Britain v South Korea (04/08) Men's Olympic Quarter Final

Another category with several options but in the end went for the above. A shocking game of football in which I was bored after twenty minutes. A real shame as it was played in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Best programme: (based on value for money) Oadby Town

I have picked up thirteen different club programmes this season, but despite being a supporter of the club, the Oadby Town are issuing is the best they have produced for a number of years.

Most friendliest club: Bridport

Another tough choice but well deserved. My wife and I visited them for a pre-season friendly back in July and found everyone at the club welcoming and friendly. This included the ladies that run the catering hut who kindly gave us a bowl of water for our dog.

Favourite ground (professional): Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

This was out of a choice of five with the others being  1) Ricoh Arena, Coventry; 2) Molineux, Wolverhampton; 3) Bootham Crescent, York and 4) Pride Park Stadium, Derby

As stated previously the Millennium Stadium was visited for the Olympic Games football tournament. Very impressed with it despite it being twelve years old. I also found the stewards very friendly and informative as well.

Favourite ground (non-league): Garden Walk, Royston Town

Visited during pre-season for a game against Histon and the ground was immaculate. I really liked how  the stands and perimeter fencing were made out of wood which gave the ground some character. Also they had worked hard during the close season and refurbished the clubhouse.

Highlight

A no brainer here but visiting London for the Olympic Games is something that I will never forget. Everything from the organisation of getting into the park, the transport to the games makers deserve ten out of ten. I know I got lucky in getting tickets for the handball tournament and had to pay the top price of £50 each for two tickets, but it was money well spent in my book. It also helped that the wife and I both enjoyed watching the sport. 

Plans for 2013

At sometime during the year I will hit the 500 mark for football venues visited - at the time of writing I am on 466. This will hopefully include visits to a few more Premier / Football League stadiums, with provisional plans being Cardiff City (26/01 v Leicester) and Barnet (23/03 v Cheltenham). I also would like to attend an ice hockey game for the first time and also take in a Leicester Riders basketball  game. 

County Cup

DYP UNITED 2-2 FC TUMAR

(after extra time; Tumar won 3-1 on penalty kicks)

Sunday 16th December 2012

Leicestershire Sunday Trophy 3rd Round

Braunstone Park [pitch 3], Cort Crescent, Leicester

A glorious but chilly Sunday morning saw yours truly have a wander down to Braunstone Park for a tie in the 3rd round of the Leicestershire Sunday Trophy. This match pitted DYP United of the Leicester Sunday League Division 2 against FC Tumar of the Alliance Football League Division 4.

The first half was a fairly even encounter, though I would say Tumar would be slightly ahead on points. Tumar dominated the second half and if not for the DYP keeper would have won this tie comfortably inside the ninety minutes. They opened the scoring around the hour mark when Andy Lewis pounced on a back pass and poked the ball past the oncoming keeper, but with their only shot on target in the second half, DYP equalised on seventy two minutes. The first period of extra time passed by with either side failing to take a grip on the proceedings, but the second period saw a goal apiece that came within two minutes of each other. Even at the death Tumar could have won it but a shot was cleared off the line. 

Into the penalty shoot out and DYP had their first three kicks saved by the Tumar keeper, while Tumar themselves converted two of theirs. DYP finally got off the mark with their fourth kick, but Tumar were also successful and booked their place in the quarter finals.

The draw for the next round is as follows:

Hinckley Knight v FC Charnwood

Spinney Rovers v FC Tumar

Kilby Town v Monsell WMC

Harborough Hotshots v Desford Athletic or Clarendon Park Rangers

51 photos of the game can be viewed in the slideshow below:

pre-Christmas cracker

BRINKLOW 4-3 MAHAL

Saturday 15th December 2012

Birmingham FA Saturday Vase 3rd Round

Barr Lane, Brinklow, Warwickshire

Shock horror...a proper report on the blog today!!!

Originally when looking at possible fixtures today I intended to go and watch Ashby Ivanhoe v FC GNG in the Leicestershire Senior League. Ashby moved into a new ground in the summer and this would re-complete the league again, but Ashby have a rearranged county cup tie @ Ellistown so this will have to wait until 2013. With now at a loose end and no real restrictions I was then on the look out for another fixture. After trawling through various league websites a tie in the Birmingham Vase (BV) competition between two teams from different leagues caught my attention.

Brinklow is a village a civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire and is located on the Fosse Way, the Roman road that runs from Lincoln to Exeter. In 2001 it had a population of just over one thousand inhabitants.

Brinklow Football Club are members of the Coventry Alliance and compete in the premier division. This season they have nine out of ten league games and sit in second place, three points behind leaders Woodlands WMC but they have three games in hand. Their two ties in this seasons BV have resulted in away victories at Leamington Hibernian (5-0) and Barnt Green Spartak (2-0) respectively. Opponents Mahal play their home games at the Hadley Stadium in Smethwick and compete in division one of the West Midlands (Regional) League. They currently sit in fifth place having won nine of their fifteen league games. Their only tie in the BV saw them beat Midland Combination side Northfield Town 4-3 after extra time.

The drive down to Brinklow took me around thirty minutes, and with a bit of time on my side pulled into the local chippy and paid £3.50 for sausage, chips and a can of coke. The playing fields are set behind Broad Street which is the main road through the village. There is a small car park though, as expected no spectator facilities. 

The game though was a cracker with the Coventry Alliance side progressing to the quarter finals at the expense of their West Midlands (Regional) League opponents. The first ten minutes looked like the home side would steamroller Mahal, but went behind just before the half hour mark. Two goals in the last five minutes of the half saw Brinklow go in at the internval 2-1 up. 

Two minutes into the second half and Mahal were awarded a penalty but the resulting kick was well saved by the Brinklow keeper. A few minutes later and the home side were themselves awarded a penalty - personally I didn't think it was one, but anyhow no mistake was made from the spot and it was 3-1. Five minutes later and after was appeared to be a case of "handbags" the referee sent off one player from each side. With my view impeded by the opposition on the sideline I had no idea what it was for. Going into the final twenty minutes and Brinklow made it 4-1 to all intents and purpose book their place in the next round. Mahal though never gave up and added a second with nine minutes remaining. Their third and final goal came too late with it being two minutes into stoppage time. 

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 32

websites etc:

Brinklow - official - twitter - facebook

Mahal - official

Coventry Alliance - mitoo

37 match photos can be viewed in the slideshow below:

update

Firstly let me appologise for their being no new updates to the blog for the past three weeks, and secondly the blog will not be going into hibernation for the remainder of the winter months. I just need to give myself a kick up the backside every now and then!!!

Since the last post I have seen three football games and one basketball match. Firstly the football - on November 24th when the country was being drenched and matches postponed on mass, unsurprisingly my scheduled game between Buckingham Town and Oadby Town was postponed around midday. 

Corby Town's game in the FA Trophy was on and I made my way across to "Little Scotland" and ticked off their new ground, Steel Park. The ground backs on their previous home and by the end of it was glad I made the effort. It was a cracking cup tie that saw Corby come from two down at half time to beat Hayes & Yeading United 3-2. The winner came in the 90th minute from Leon McKenzie. It cost £10 admission and a further £2 for a programme - this was overpriced in my opinion and only worth half the amount. Despite all the rain the pitch was in excellent condition and held up very well during the game, so credit to the club for that.

On the Sunday with the wife at work my plan was to watch a game in the Alliance Football League, but the only one I found on was on the artificial pitch at Rawlins Community College in Quorn. This saw CSKA Carnabys play Royale Barcabullona in the 3rd round of the Bill Walton Cup and pitted two teams that were three divisions apart. It wasn't a bad game that was played in a biting wind, from which there was no escape and the visitors ran out 4-1 winners.

Ten days ago I decided I didn't fancy freezing my bollocks off standing in the cold for two hours so walked down to Braunstone Leisure Centre. The reason was to watch some basketball between the Leicester Warriors and Leeds Carnegie in the English National League Division 1. I had never seen a game of basketball before but I really enjoyed it. The Warriors won the game 71-68 in overtime after the two teams had been locked together on 65 points each at the end of the 4th quarter. There was no admission charge and all I spent was £1.25 on a cup of coffee. 

Finally to last Saturday and a trip to St Neots and more specifically Eynesbury Rovers FC. On the morning of the game I felt dreadful, but dosed myself up with medication and firstly made my way to Oadby Town FC, as you see this was my first away day with the Poachers this season. I, along with fellow supporters went on a mini bus organised by the club and it took around one hour to reach the ground. Eynesbury Rovers play at the Alfred Hall Memorial Ground and a friendly welcome was received. It cost £4 admission and a further £1 for a programme. The game pitted two sides at the top end of the United Counties League Division 1 table, with both losing one game each all season. As expected an even first half followed and the teams went in at half time 0-0. At the start of the second half Oadby took the lead through Sam Benjamin, a goal that not only proved to be the winner but also  missed by a good percentage of the spectators including myself. Oadby then had some excllent chances to put the game to bed, but could find the crucial second goal. In the end they were thankful for some excellent defending and an excellent save from Denham Hinds to secure the three points. It was a decent turn out from the Oadby supporters who made up at least a 1/3 of the 94 in attendance.  

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