Big In Japan

London Samurai Rovers  6  FC Deportivo Galicia  1

Combined Counties League  – First Division

Admission / Programme - £6 / £2

I’m not going to repeat the debacle of what has been the 2022-23 season and my attempts to get to the Rectory Meadow home of Hanworth Villa, other than to say, since my last blog where I ended up elsewhere for the fourth time in less than six months, Steve has also had the misfortune of rocking up in the car park only to find that the game has just been called off (Easter Monday v Northwood to be precise).

But one thing I’m not is a quitter (apart from pretty much every role I ever took on at Belper Town Football Club – I’ve quit and had more comebacks than a heavyweight boxer when it comes to that club). So, I had a plan, I only discovered pretty recently that another club also played at Rectory Meadow, and that was Step 6 side London Samurai Rovers. Furthermore, I wasn’t going to go a Hanworth home game midweek (they did have a few to fit in), but, once we’d got to the holiday in Devon, I’d no longer got any Saturday home games left to go to, so if I wanted to get this season, I only had one way of doing it.

LSR (as I will now call them) only had one Saturday home game left and that was on what was officially the last Saturday of the non-league season when it comes to Steps 3 to 6. The game was against FC Deportivo Galicia (who themselves groundshare at nearby Bedfont Sports), and having looked at the league table, both clubs were well in with a shout of a promotion play-off spot to move up to Step 5.

I’ll be honest, up until recently I can honestly say, other than seeing their name on a list of member clubs, I had no idea who LSR were, what they were about, or where they had come from. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the element of surprise, but by the same token, I do like to have an idea of what I’m going to watch, so I did my homework.

Formed in 2017 they are clearly a very young club indeed, but at the time of formation they were known as London Samurai United. Based around the West London area of Acton, they were designed to serve the footballing needs of the large Japanese community, and from a playing perspective they started out in the Middlesex County League. They then merged with JL Rovers and with it came the new name, and a promotion to the Combined Counties League where they now reside. Up until this season they played at the Twyford Avenue Sports Ground in Acton, but the promotion to the CCL meant they needed better facilities, hence Hanworth.

Digging a bit deeper, it appears from a hierarchical perspective, they have some serious names involved with the club. Maya Yoshida (Schalke 04 & Japan) is a Principal and Shareholder, while Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal & Japan), and Takumi Minamino (Liverpool & Japan) are Vice Principal’s of the club.

This is a club that has very quickly become rich with membership, having male and female sides down to junior levels, and a huge membership base not just amongst the Japanese community, but all communities within West London. It is truly quite a success story, but more on the club later.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t massively confident before setting off, in fact the night before Steve was winding me up by playing a game of Hanworth Villa Postponement Roulette, partly because with the weather set fair, what inexplicable issue could arise to see the game being called off? I held my nerve, Steve was more of the view that due to the soft nature of the pitch, a mole infestation was probably going to be my downfall.

So yes, I checked Twitter on Saturday morning for both clubs and at the point where I was setting off we had nothing, but then having spoken to my old mate Dave on the way down he did inform me that LSR had indeed tweeted about the game etc. That said, I was still a touch apprehensive as I trundled the last couple of miles along the M3 (maybe I was having flashbacks to last time), and meandered my way around the houses before heading along the track into the car park.

It was as I was on the very final leg of my journey, in fact I’d already glimpsed the ground on my left as I exited down the slip road, that Steve phoned me out of morbid curiosity. He was sat in the bar of a leisure centre in Bridlington, preparing for some Bridlington League game or other where they were just trying to gather enough jumpers together to create some goalposts.

“Have you got a game mate?” He asked

“Well, we’ve got cars in the car park and we’ve got lads with LSR tracksuits and kit bags walking towards the ground as opposed to away from it which I guess is positive” I replied with

“Yes” he went on to say, “But is that one set of players or two, you need two for a game……”

For a brief moment I did pause, but then another car came into the car park, different tracksuit, all was looking good. Steve, at this point did state he was just happy that one of us had finally got to a game at Rectory Meadow, but, I did state that this was far from a done deal just yet!

So was Rectory Meadow as a venue worth the pain and anxiety that it’s put me through this season?

Given it’s location, it’s got quite a rural feel to it to be fair. The car park, once you’ve avoided potholes the size of a small gravel pit, is a large affair, and then to the left of it is the entrance along the East side of the venue. Immediately to your right is the dressing room building with the clubhouse next to it, which was indeed open for business.

While the clubhouse and dressing rooms are set away from the pitch, up close and personal to the grass are two areas of cover, one seated and one standing, both running from the half way line down to the South corner flag. It’s just flat standing behind both goals (one of which is out of bounds), while between the dugouts on the West side of the venue is a small seated stand which looks to be the oldest of the spectator areas at the ground.

The pitch itself, given all of the recent problems, looked fine, albeit it did look to be quite hard in places which makes you wonder if it has an issue in terms of when it does rain heavily, that water simply sits and struggles to drain away.

So the game, well the first thing that struck me from reading the programme was that LSR had a lad upfront called Morrison Hashii, and his goalscoring record is incredible. Prior to the game he’d got 69 goals in 41 games, and within that he’d netted fourteen hat-tricks. Without spoiling the surprise, he made it fifteen on the day of the game, and since then LSR have played a further game and he got a hat-trick in that! So, as it stands we are on played 43, scored 75, and sixteen hat-tricks!

So why is he still at LSR? Maybe he simply loves playing for the club and with his mates, because surely clubs at a higher level must have had a look, and indeed been prepared to pay him a serious amount of money to play for them?

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the game, LSR were a joy to watch and in the first half they swept into a 4-1 lead. Hashii scored twice in the period but the goal of the game came from Shuto Kono, who scored direct from the kick off after LSR had conceded a goal. He simply looked up and lobbed the goalkeeper from the half way line.

FC Deportivo Galicia were all out sea in the first half, despite still being in with a shout of the play-offs, and you did wonder what the second period might hold for both sides. To be fair, while LSR remained in control, the visitors were somewhat better organised and only conceded the two more goal, one of which being the hat-trick goal for the man of the moment.

The play-offs are in the bag for LSR, and on this showing you wouldn’t bet against them getting through them and with it a promotion to Step 5. As for Rectory Meadow, well, interestingly enough, as I write this Hanworth Villa are into the play-off final themselves, against Walton & Hersham, and if they get through that, which is a huge ask to be fair, then the ground could be hosting Step 3 football next season.

I’ll leave Steve to plot his strategy accordingly, for me, it’s taken all season, but finally the big tick can go in the box.

It’s done!