weekend 28/29th March

Three more football games and a game of basketball were attended during the last weekend of the month. Firstly I picked up a friend of mine at Nuneaton station at midday and I ticked off the two JDW outlets in the town, the Felix Holt and the William White and had lunch in the latter. To be honest they were two of the scruffiest and shabbiest JDW's that I have been in. Anyway this gave us enough time for us to get to our game of football that afternoon. 

Dunlop 0-0 Coundon Court Old Boys

Coventry Alliance Premier Division

Dunlop Sports & Social Club, Burnaby Street, Coventry

It took us no more than half an hour to get to Coventry and the Dunlop Sports & Social Club is located in the northern suburbs of the city, making it very easy to reach from junction 3 of the M6 motorway. This was my first game in the Coventry Alliance this season and as it turned out my first 0-0 score of the season as well. 

The Sports & Social Club is a tidy affair with it being home to two bowling greens, two full size rugby pitches, one half size and one full size football pitch and a cricket pitch as well. There is a large social club on site with parking on the access road. There is nothing pitch side at the football pitch, though there is a bit of hard standing along the far side. 

The game had a 0-0 feel about it early on with both sides struggling to adapt to the blustery wind that blew across the pitch for the whole ninety minutes. To be fair to the teams it wasn't a bad game as they tried their best and they did create a few chances though neither goal keeper was really tested.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 25

With the game finishing around 4pm this gave us plenty of time to get home before heading out again. 

36 photos taken mainly during the first half can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Leicester Riders 106-86 Plymouth Raiders

British Basketball League

Sir David Wallace Arena, Loughborough University

The tickets had been booked seven weeks in advance for what would be my sixth and final regular season game of the 2014/15 campaign. Also coming along for their first ever basketball game would be my friend Colin, my dad Paul and my brother Gary and his three boys - William, Oliver and Harry. 

The Riders are one of the best basketball teams in the country and while they are waiting for a new arena to be built in Leicester itself, they are playing their home games at Loughborough University. 

Both teams got out of the blocks quickly and very few shots were missed in a high scoring first quarter with the Riders up 31-23. The second saw only six points less being scored as the Riders increased their lead by three points to ten at the half 56-46. The third saw Plymouth cut into the lead and at one point had it down to just a single point. The Riders rallied to lead 76-69 at the end of the third. The final ten minutes were pretty much a formality as the hosts hit another thirty points and conceded just seventeen to win the game by a twenty point margin.

Tyler Bernadini was awarded the MVP with twenty six points and six rebounds. Neil Watson who leads the BBL in assists added another fourteen to his total and averages over ten a game.  

Admission: £11

Programme: £2

Sunday 29th March

With having very little on I offered to take Colin back home to Cheltenham, though this act of kindness was so I could take in two more games of football. I did however forget that the clocks went forward and it meant an early start from Leicester. As expected the traffic was very light all the way down and the journey took less than ninety minutes. Having dropped Colin at a nearby supermarket I headed south to the village of Frocester, and arrived with a couple of minutes before the 10.30am kick off.

Frocester United 3-3 AFC Cheltenham

Gloucester & District Sunday League Division 1

St. Peter's Field, Peter's Road, Frocester, Gloucestershire

On a nice day this would have been a lovely setting to watch a game of football with the sports ground being located immediately behind the parish church. Instead the game was played in strong winds and at times driving rain. Luckily there were a line of trees at the far end which gave me some shelter and saved me from a soaking.

The game wasn't too bad considering the conditions. Frocester sit in mid-table with nothing really to play while their visitors are chasing promotion. Frocester took the lead on ten minutes with a controversial goal. The lead lasted around twenty minutes before a goal keeping error gifted the visitors an equaliser on thirty one minutes. Just five minutes had lapsed before the home #10 drilled a low shot past the AFC keeper to restore his sides lead. They could not hold on to it as with a minute remaining in the half the visitors drew level for a second time. Just after the hour mark and Cheltenham took the lead for the first time during the game, and going into the final stages the looked to have all three points, but a minute into stoppage time Frocester were awarded a free kick. This resulting kick caused confusion in the AFC defence and the ball was headed in by the AFC #5 past his own keeper which have the home side a point.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 4

After the game enough time was had to allow me to get something to eat before my second game of the day.

Tredworth Tigers 2-3 Slimbridge Reserves

Stroud Charity Cup Section B Semi Final

The Spa, Spa Road, Gloucester

The Spa is located in the centre of Gloucester and is also home to a local cricket club. There is a small car park and a two storey building which houses the changing rooms and bar. Both of these two teams, like all teams that compete in the various sections of the Stroud Charity Cup are Saturday clubs, and both compete in division 2 of the Stroud & District League with just one place seperating them in the league table. 

Tredworth hit the ground running and opened the scoring inside sixty seconds, and by twenty four minutes were two up. They thought they had scored a third before half time but this was ruled out by the referee. The tie was turned on its ahead in the second half as the visitors scored three goals in the space of ten minutes - 50, 51 and 60. They should have put the game to bed in the latter stages but missed a couple of sitters. Tredworth should have made them pay as they were awarded a penalty kick in stoppage time, but the resulting kick was well saved by the Slimbridge keeper. 

With games being played on Sundays I will be heading south to watch more games in this competition in the not to distant future.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: around 30

43 photos taken during the game can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Olympics - Part 1

Women's Olympic Football Tournament - Group F

Saturday 28th July 2012

@ City of Coventry Stadium [Ricoh Arena], Coventry

I know a lot of people have been critical of the Olympics being awarded to London, but personally I am massively in favour of it. This opinion is rather obviously swayed by the fact that I love watching sport whether it be cycling, rugby or american football, though it you are reading this association football or soccer is my main passion sports wise. 

Right from the start it was my intention to try and get some tickets for the football tournament plus hopefully some for an event at the Olympic Park. When the original application process for hopefully getting tickets came around, three requests were made: 1) football @ Coventry; 2) handball and 3) athletics. The football was a side issue as I was more interested in the latter two as the chance to experience the Olympics first hand is something that will probably never happen to me again. Rather unsurprisingly the only successful ticket application was for the football and the chance to go down to London for the games was gone. A few months later and some more football tickets were purchased, this time for a men's quarter final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Then a few months ago I got in from work one morning and heard on the news that there was to be some more tickets released for sale. Online I went and managed to get two tickets for the handball preliminaries for Friday August 3rd, which after the hassle and then disappointment of the original ballot was very straight forward and simple. Details of the visits to Cardiff and London to follow in parts 2 and 3.

   

For the football tournament I believe originally Villa Park in Birmingham was to be one of the six venues, but the club (Aston Villa) withdrew due to having work done on the pitch during the summer. The Ricoh Arena, or City of Coventry Stadium as it is to be known for the games was chosen as a replacement. I was not fussed as I had not visited either stadium anyway. The tickets that I managed to get were the cheapest available which was £20 and this was for two games. Which nations would be on show was not important but as it turned out we would be watching the current world champions (Japan), Sweden, Canada and South Africa. Women's football has only been an Olympic sport since the 1996 games in Atlanta. The record of the four teams involved today are as follows:

year	Japan	Sweden	Canada	South Africa
1996	1st round	1st round	did not qualify	did not qualify
2000	did not qualify	1st round	did not qualify	did not qualify
2004	quarter finals	4th	did not qualify	did not qualify
2008	4th	quarter final	quarter final	did not qualify

The current FIFA world rankings sees Japan in 3rd place, Sweden in 4th, Canada in 7th and South Africa the rank outsiders in 61st. The opening games in the group were played on Wednesday and both went as expected. Japan beat Canada 2-1 with first half goals from Nahomi Kawasumi and Aya Miyama, with Melissa Tancredi getting the Canadian goal on 55 minutes. Sweden went top of the group with a 4-1 demolition of South Africa. Goals from Nilla Fischer, Lisa Dahlkvist and Lotta Schelin gave them a three goal cushion at half time. A Portia Modise goal on the hour mark pulled a goal back, but Sweden's three goal advantage was restored three minutes later when Schelin got her second goal of the game.  

The stadium is very easy to find being only a short distance off junction 3 of the M6. It opened in 2005 and has a capacity of 32,609. Parking around the stadium for the matches were for either officials or if spectators had reserved it in advance. Considering the attendance was less than half the originally stated capacity organisers seemed to struggle with this. In the end we parked about 3/4 mile away near to the M6 motorway.

The security aspect was something that has been well documented in the press leading up to the games, and this (in my opinion) over-the-top approach was how it was. All possessions which including credit cards, cameras and even money had to be put in clear plastic bags to get into the stadium. When inside the stadium the majority of people simply put their possessions back into their own bag(s) and discarded the plastic ones. 

The atmosphere inside was that of a friendly and party nature with plenty of families in attendance along side the visitors from the four countries involved as well as the more hardened football fans. Not surprisingly the Japanese had the largest following spectator wise and number of photographers. Chants of "Nippon Nippon" broke out numerous times during their game against Sweden. Some of the Canadians were quite creative with their comments, with "there's only one Justin Bieber" in particular. During the second half the football team was amusingly nicknamed "The Biebers", though I somehow doubt that Canadian Football Association will make it official!!!! 

 Game 1
JAPAN 0-0 SWEDEN

This was the better of the two games despite the lack of goals. The Japanese dominated the game for the most parts and showed why they are the world champions. The passing, movement and one touch football were a pleasure to watch and left the Swedes chasing shadows. Despite their dominance the only saves Sweden keeper Hedvig Lindahl were comfortable and did not give her much concern. Sweden had both a height and physical advantage but on the times they did get forward the Japanese defence looked assured and dealt with things with the minimum of fuss.

Game 2
CANADA 3-0 SOUTH AFRICA

Any doubts about a second nil-nil of the afternoon were put to bed very quickly as the Canadians opened the scoring on seven minutes. A ball across from the right was guided past the South African keeper by Melissa Tancredi, though having seen the goal again to tv I thought Thokozile Mndaweni should have done better to keep the ball out. My consensus then was that the Canadians would push on and increase their advantage, but the South Africans got into the game more with Mpumi Nyandeni being dangerous. The South Africans nearly equalised following a mix up in the Canadian defence but the ball hit the top of the bar and went over. The second half saw the South Africans come at the Canadians but just before the hour mark it was 2-0. A cross from the left was headed goal wards by Christine Sinclair. It hit the underside of the bar and appeared to cross the line, but Sinclair reacted quickest to make sure. It was then only a matter of time before Canada increased their lead further and with seven minutes remaining Sinclair got her second of the afternoon. A through ball pierced the South African defence and she coolly beat Mndaweni with a low side footed shot.

Admission: £20 
Programme: £5 (football tournament)
Attendance: 14,753   


Some more photos of the ground and fans can be viewed below: