football in a cage

OAKHAM UNITED 0-3 NETHERTON UNITED

Saturday 1st February 2014

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

Uppingham Community College, London Road, Uppingham, Rutland

For a second consecutive Saturday my football game of choice is in the Peterborough & District League (PDL). I had no plans for watching football today, but for some reason I checked the fixtures during the middle of the week, and noticed a change of venue for this fixture. Oakham United currently play their home games at the Vale of Catmose College in Oakham itself, but with all the wet weather they have hired out the 3G pitch at Uppingham Community College. I knew of the establishment but was not aware they had installed an artificial playing surface in the grounds, and as far as I am aware this venue has not been used for any open-age football before, and unless it is hired out by any of the local non-league clubs, will probably be never used again. With this in mind it would be foolish of me to miss this opportunity of "ticking" this venue to watch a game of football, especially as one of my aims is to watch football at two hundred different venues in Leicestershire & Rutland.

Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, located approximately half way between Leicester and Peterborough and six miles south of the county town of Oakham. The journey from my home on the other side of Leicester took around an hour, though about half of that was trying to find a way across the city due to several routes being gridlocked. Once I crossed to the other side of the city centre, traffic was light and I arrived in Uppingham twenty minutes before kick off. The community college is located on the southern edge of the town, and as I later found out is also home to Stoneygate RFC who have moved here from Covert Lane in Scraptoft. 

On paper this game had away win written all over it with Oakham in the lower reaches of the Premier Division table, while their opponents from Peterborough sit top of the pile and are in a battle with King's Lynn Town Reserves for the league title. I have seen both these teams before at their respective home grounds - Netherton in May 2012 when they beat Uppingham Town and Oakham in February last year. In snowy conditions they beat Leverington Sports. 

Arriving at the college there was noticeable factor that would make the game interesting as it were, and that was the wind which was heading in an easterly direction towards the far goal. The first two goal kicks from the Netherton keeper didn't reach the half way line and flew outside of the cage. Despite playing into the wind Oakham didn't take advantage and it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the dying seconds of the half. The opening few seconds of the second half made the trip worthwhile as those who were there witnessed probably their goal of the season. At the kick off the ball was touched to the visitors #4 who hit a superb strike into the wind that dipped over the Oakham keeper and into the net. Having watched over 800 games of football over the years this was the first time that I have seen that happen. From then I expected Netherton to push on and add a few more goals, but the game became sterile and it wasn't until the latter stages that they added a third. 

The game attracted a decent attendance of around 40 with a few number of them being hoppers. Also in attendance were SRSN (Stamford & Rutland Sports Network).   

websites / social media:

Oakham United - official website - twitter
Netherton United - twitter
Peterborough & District League - FA Full Time site - twitter

29 photos can be viewed in the slideshow online below:

Uppity Uppity

UPPINGHAM TOWN 2-0 LEVERINGTON SPORTS

Saturday 27th March 2010

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

Uppingham Sports Field

My choice of game today sees me take in a first venture into the Peterborough & District League (PDL) to see Rutland side Uppingham Town in action. Uppingham have played in the PDL since 2002 when they transferred from the Leicester & District League. There first campaign was in the leagues first division where they secured the runners-up finishing three points behind divisional winners Emneth Seniors and with it secured promotion to the Premier Division. In the six seasons to date in the Premier Division the club to be fair to them have struggled, finishing in the bottom half on five occasions with a highest finishing position being 8th place in the 2004/05 season.  This season Uppingham currently sit in 9th place in the division winning eight of their twenty league games played so far. Their last game saw them lose 1-0 at home to Ramsey Town in the Peterborough Senior Cup, while Leverington lost 2-1 at home to Oundle Town in a premer division encounter. Leverington themsleves joined the PDL in 1962 and won Division 3 (Southern Section) at the first attempt remaining unbeaten in the process, winning twenty nine of their thirty league games played. Two years later and they won the division two title finishing five points ahead of Spalding Youth Old Boys. A division 1 runners-up spot in 1968 secured promotion to the premier division, and they have remained in the PDL top flight ever since. Their one and only premier division title came in 1996 when they finished eight points ahead of runners-up Deeping Rangers. 

League table (as at 20th March)

Pos / Team.............Pl W. D. L. F. A. Pts
1. Whittlesey Utd......24 17  4  3 75 32 55
2. Moulton Harrox......26 17  4  5 71 30 55
3. Deeping Sports......25 15  4  6 74 35 39
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9. Uppingham Town......20  8  6  6 40 44 33 (+3 points)
13.Leverington Sports..20  6  1 13 26 48 19

Uppingham itself is a small market town (population 3,721) in Rutland which is the smallest historic county in England. The town is located roughly half way between Leicester and Peterborough with the county town of Oakham 6 miles to the north. The town is probably most well know for its public school which was founded, along with a hospital in 1584 by Archdeacon Robert Johnson. The original school building can still be found in the towns churchyard and is a grade 1 listed building. Old Uppinghamians include:

Jonathan Agnew Leicestershire and England cricketer

Donald Campbell World Land and Water Speed record holder

Stephen Dorrell MP and health secretary

Stephen Fry Actor and writer

Phil Spencer property expert

Rick Stein Chef and restaurant owner

Johnny Vaughan TV and radio presenter

The home of Uppingham Town is the imaginatively titled "Uppingham Sports Field" which is on North Street East. The pitch is a basic roped off affair though the club do have their own clubhouse on the site. There is street parking around the field and there is also a small pay and display car park opposite next to the co-op. As expected there was no admission charge or programme issued which I believe is normal for the Peterborough League. The game itself was not the best with the referee making some strange dicisions at times. Uppingham took the lead on 24 minutes when their number eight scored with a low shot past the keeper that went in off the post, but before that Leverington had two goals disallowed, the first of which was for offside and the second for a foul on the keeper. The game became niggly and dissent was creeping into the game and it was for dissent that Leverington had a man dismissed towards the end of the half. In stoppage time at the end of the half Uppingham were awarded a very soft penalty but the resulting kick was saved by the visiting keeper. The second half was primarily a stale affair with neither side making much of an impact, but as the half wore on Uppingham began to find space with their numerical advantage and secured all three points with just seven minutes left on the clock when a cross from the right was headed home.

Attendance: varied but peaked at around 40
Google maps driving time / distance: 43 minutes and 22.5 miles

websites:

Peterborough and District League: http://pdfl.footballleagueadmin.com/

Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppingham and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutland