Retro - Porthmadog 3 Barmouth & Dyffryn United 1 (Friendly - 2015-16)

11^th July 2015

Porthmadog  3  Barmouth & Dyffryn United  1 (Friendly)

I sometimes think we take certain things for granted, like for example living where we live in Derbyshire, the beauty of the scenery and the landscape is sometimes forgotten. It’s too easy to fail to recognise just what you have on your doorstep.

Granted, Wales is more than just a quick car journey away, but that said, within a couple of hours you can soon be over the border, and into some of the most fantastic landscapes this nation has to offer.

I’d kind of always known that, but it only really resonated again last season, and that was because I decided to have a purge at many of the Cymru Alliance grounds I’d yet to visit. Trips to Llanidloes, Llandrindod Wells, Denbigh, Llanfair and Penycae relit the fuse for me, and I made it one of my objectives for this season to try and complete all the grounds in the Alliance, and also the Welsh Premier League. Not just because it was a box ticking objective, but because it would involve some beautiful drives through some wonderful scenery, to some spectacular places.

Not only that, Rachael had been with me on some of the jaunts with me, and pretty much felt the same, so while she doesn’t normally harangue me as to what games I was going to be going to, during the course of the Summer she has paid more than a passing interest as to what my plans were regarding Wales.

Porthmadog’s friendly seemed a nice idea, it was a part of the World I’d not been to since a Sixth Form Residential Field Trip that resulted in us sleeping in a mountaineering hut outside Llanberis in freezing conditions! It was a comical trip with the late Malcolm Gander leading us, but I can remember playing football on the beach in Criccieth, counting cars in Beddgelert, and other random trips to places like Capel Curig and Betws-y-Coed. The problems started when we nearly got into a fight with some German exchange students in Caernarfon, and then had a drunken bender one night and were threatened with a swift journey home in disgrace!

That aside, I fancied Porthmadog, Rach booked a nice hotel in Caernarfon (yes, there is such a thing!) and we came up with a few things we could do to while away a couple of days. I’d not quite bargained for how long it was going to take though, my sat nav said just over three hours, but in reality it took four. The journey, once over the border at Oswestry, took us across the bottom of Wrexham, past the spectacular Pontcysyllte Aquaduct, and into Bala. It was then up into the lakes and mountains before dropping down into Porthmadog itself.

We initially went to a very quiet Criccieth and collected pebbles and rocks from the beach to decorate our garden, before heading into Porthmadog itself and down to the harbour for lunch.

With kick off approaching, we set off for Y Traeth, the home of CPD Porthmadog, only to discover that since the building of the new bypass, the main road to the ground was blocked by bollards, so after the usual degree of piss taking, it was a quick detour back through the town and onto the bypass to eventually find the one and only access road that leads to the car park!

Y Traeth is a bloody good ground, it used to host Welsh Premier League football and to be fair, it is without doubt one of the best grounds in the Cymru Alliance. A smart and spacious clubhouse greets you as you enter the turnstiles, with three small stands down one side of the pitch providing plenty of seats. A further ‘Atcost’ seated stand sits behind the far goal, with a larger section of cover, with a limited number of seats adorning the opposite end. The side opposite the trio of stands has no furniture as such, other than the huge obligatory TV gantry and Press Room that seems commonplace at Welsh grounds.

I liked it, it was smart, it was clean and tidy and the welcome, while initially in a foreign language, was a very welcome one!

But while the ground was impressive, it’s the location and the scenery that really takes you back. Whichever way you seem to look, it’s just stunning hills and mountains. With Craig Alltwen to one side and Moel-y-Gest to the other, and not to forget the sound and sight of the steam trains running along the Welsh Highland Railway, I would beg anyone to find a more scenic setting at this level of football.

The game itself wasn’t up to much, Porthmadog were worthy winners in the end against their Welsh Alliance counterparts, but it wasn’t really about the game, it was about the location, and the chance to visit some beautiful places and take in great scenery with my loved ones.

That night, we hit Caernarfon after checking into our lovely hotel, the Celtic Royal, and upon a recommendation from a work colleague we had a fantastic meal at the Black Boy. The next day saw us visit take a walk into the town and also around the edges of Caernarfon Castle and the harbour. 

Later that afternoon we went the short distance to Llanberis, and to be honest, if you think Porthmadog is impressive, the scenery here as you look out across the lake really is truly spectacular, and not only that, just behind you is the home of CPD Llanberis, which got me thinking about a football trip to Snowdonia!

A trip to the fascinating Electric Mountain followed, before we closed our little weekend break with a ride down to Portmeirion, a place I have wanted to visit for many years, and on a beautiful afternoon, it really was a stunning place to visit and have a meal, looking out over the water watching the tides coming in.

By 9pm we were safely back home, a long and tiring couple of days, but so many great memories and such a wonderful place. I would recommend it to anyone, and while the football itself was a little bit dull, it really didn’t matter when you are in a place like this!

Retro - FC Utrecht v Heracles Almelo (2015 Football Weekend)

29th November 2015

FC Utrecht  4  Heracles Almelo  2  (Eredivisie)

Ten years ago, when the Football Weekend was starting to get into full swing, I told Theo that one of the places I would really like to go was Utrecht, this was alongside Feyenoord, Den Haag and Ajax.

Why those particular clubs? Well during the rise of media attention of football hooliganism, and also at a time where those inclined started to make names for themselves by producing books on the subject, often based on personal accounts, Holland came into focus.

Not only that, the delightful Danny Dyer decided to do a bit of a World tour looking at Football Hooliganism across other continents, and as you can imagine, he focused on the Dutch.

And which clubs were the most prevalent in these tomes and features? Ajax were up there with their rivalry with Feyenoord, and having gone to Ajax very early on, and had the experience of a game at De Kuip in Rotterdam last year, I can testify that they are both very ‘passionate’ bunches, whereas what I was picking up on Den Haag was quite simply that they were the biggest bunch of bastards the World has ever seen.

Utrecht on the other hand was quite an interesting one, the fans very kindly assisted the local authorities many years ago by dismantling their own stadium after the last game of the season, in readiness for the new one being built, and guess what, they didn’t charge a penny! But also, they had gained some infamy due to a hooligan group known as the Bunnik Side.

When Danny Dyer went to Utrecht he was taken into the supporters own bar in the stand behind the goal, which is also known as the Bunnik Side, and as you have probably worked out, the hooligan supporters are named after the stand in which they position themselves for the games.

They were an evil bunch, but not a young bunch, blokes in their forties and fifties, and believe me, you would not have messed. I went on to You Tube to see them in action, and yes, they can play alright! Funnily enough as well, only around three years ago we had been watching a local game near Doetinchem on the Sunday on one of our trips, and the Utrecht v Twente game was live on TV, well it wasn’t, because the Utrecht fans were on the pitch trying to attack the Twente fans, the game ended up being abandoned! It’s fair to say Theo and my Dad were less than keen on a visit.

So Utrecht and the Bunnik Side stayed with me, and every year as we got the train from Amsterdam to Arnhem, we passed through Utrecht, and just before train went through Bunnik Station you could see the tall stands of the Galgenwaard Stadium on the left hand side.

However, the games just never fell right, we ideally needed a Friday night or a Sunday game, and finally, this year, it fell in our favour, the Sunday afternoon against relatively low profile opposition in the shape of Heracles Almelo. What this also meant was that tickets wouldn’t be a problem.

We had a challenge for Theo though, half jokingly we told him when he was over in October that we would like a bit of corporate hospitality at the game with it being the last one of our tour, did he deliver?

The plan was relatively simple, drive to Utrecht and head for car park P4, then we had to meet Harry. What could possibly go wrong? Two things to be fair, car park P4 was not signposted, we circumnavigated the ground twice, and then reversed down a motorway slip road. Finally, we were sent to a small car park at the training ground, a ten minute walk away, only it appears P4 is one of those secretive little places that no one really knows about!

What about Harry? Theo told us he was an elderly chap, with grey hair and he would be at the main entrance wearing an FC Utrecht coat. That begged a couple of questions, who was he, and how did he know him, the short answers were “no idea” and “I don’t”!

Strictly speaking, Harry was the Father of an old colleague of Theo’s, he’d never met him, and didn’t know what he looked like, so welcome to the old game of find a needle in a haystack! But find Harry we did, and it turned out he was a super chap, and a great host.

Very simply, Harry worked for FC Utrecht in a capacity that meant he helped foreign players integrate into the Club, the City and indeed the Country. The good news was, he pretty much had access all areas, and as a result we were ushered through the main entrance, fitted with a wrist band and taken upstairs to a large lounge. It was fantastic, lager flowed, food was served although we didn’t partake, and Harry told us his story and some of the history of the club. While we were chatting, Harry then introduced us to a chap, who I kind of recognised but wasn’t sure of his name. Turned out it was Jan Wouters, the former Dutch International midfielder, famed for his elbow on Paul Gascoigne in 1988! He was manager at Utrecht a couple of seasons ago, but was now the assistant at Feyenoord. Today, he was doing some scouting.

We chatted briefly to Jan, he was quite a softly spoken and shy man, quite a contrast to the player he was, where he was famed for his aggressive midfield play, bearing in mind he played in the best Dutch side after the Cruyff / Neeskens side of 1974. He also had something of a stellar spell playing for Bayern Munich as well.

The day itself had been designated a memorial day for former Utrecht player David Di Tommaso who had died in his sleep ten years ago to the day. Before the game we laid flowers at a memorial outside the ground, and then in the build up to kick off an evocative montage was shown on the screens in the stadium. His widow gave an emotional speech on the pitch just before the game started and then his son, Noah, kicked the game off. The crowd at varying intervals throughout the game chanted his name in tribute, all very powerful stuff.

The Galgenwaard has been through many changes since their hooligans demolished it all those years ago. The newly built version after a few years was deemed to be too small so a much bigger attempt shot up in its place. It wasn’t dissimilar to the DW Stadium at Wigan, probably a touch bigger, but design wise it did remind me of it. The ground had around 18,000 in for the game, which was well under capacity.

Heracles, who were flying high, went in at half time with a one goal lead, and it was looking a bit grim for Utrecht as they were down to ten men. But the second half saw a completely unexpected turnaround of event. Former Ram Nacer Barazite, who I once saw miss a last minute penalty against Forest, scored twice in quick succession, before Heracles got it back to 2-2. However, two late goals from Sebastien Haller gave Utrecht a victory that seemed most unlikely at half time, it was to be a fitting tribute to David Di Tommaso.

A quick beer, and a farewell to Harry before the walk back to our car and the journey to Duiven, which strangely enough thanks to a diversion, took us through the small town of Bunnik, and it did make me wonder just how the locals feel about being associated with one of the biggest football hooligan gangs in Europe?

But that was the football weekend over for another year, all went to plan, we had a fantastic time, but now back to reality, and looking at the weather forecast, probably the list of plastic pitches was going to have to be dusted down once again.

Retro - VFL Osnabruck v Chemnitzer (2015 Football Weekend)

28th November 2015

VFL Osnabruck  2  Chemnitzer  0  (Liga 3)

Civic duty called on the Saturday of our trip, the City of Derby is twinned with the City of Osnabruck in Germany, and it was with a degree of seriousness that we emailed the Osnabruck envoy to Derby the night before, to see if he fancied meeting us at the game!

He didn’t reply until the Monday, apparently he doesn’t check his emails at weekends, but that said, the thought of a freezing cold afternoon sat with three beer swilling and bratwurst scoffing blokes with a passion for all things Derby was perhaps a bit too much for him.

I’d wanted to go to Osnabruck for a while, for a few reasons to be fair. One being the fact it is twinned with Derby, the other that the ground was meant to be quite a smart and traditional stadium, and thirdly, I’d heard from a friend of mine that the fans were known for their support and passion.

It was my turn to drive, so I insisted on a 10.30am start, and by the time we were going past Deventer on the road towards Enschede, both of my companions were snoring away. The autobahn soon arrived and within two hours we were parking up on the side streets that are adjacent to the ground.

The stadium in Osnabruck is not too far from the centre of the City, and given it’s hemmed in nature with housing on all four sides, you could to a degree draw parallels with the old Baseball Ground at Derby. On that note, not a single reference to Derby was anywhere to be seen as we travelled to and from the ground, certainly not on any road signs like you would find in England. I’m sure though, somewhere in Osnabruck there is a reference to it, just like the old Osnabruck Café in Derby where my Grandmother used to work.

We managed a beer and a bratwurst on the concourse outside the stadium, and as is always the case in Germany, the crowds like to arrive nice and early. The stadium itself is a little cracker, holding 16,000 it has a fairly modern stand on one side and then in the main stand where we sat were some executive boxes to the rear, while underneath were various food and drink outlets.

Behind the goal to our left was covered terracing, split down the middle between home and away fans, while behind the goal to our right were the hardcore VFL supporters, and they didn’t half make a racket.

Just shy of 9,000 were in the stadium for the game against Chemnitzer. Chemnitzer come from the town of Chemnitz, which is in the former East Germany, and while the name may not be overly well known, many will remember them by their former name of Karl Marx Stadt. East German football prior to the unification of Germany is something that fascinates me somewhat, and when time permits I would like to do some more research into some of the famous old names like Carl Zeiss Jena, Dynamo Dresden and Lokomotiv Leipzig.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was fantastic, the VFL fans were simply amazing, putting on a display of scarves and flags prior to the kick off, and then singing non-stop throughout. The away fans numbered about 30, but then according to the programme Chemnitz is 489 kilometers from Osnabruck!

The match was in what is known as Liga 3 in Germany, and it is as you would expect, the third tier of football in the Country. Some of the teams in the league have experienced the top flight Bundesliga football, Energie Cottbus for one, and while Osnabruck sat fifth in the table, Chemnitzer sat ninth.

The first half was pretty poor, but the game came to life in the second period when the hosts found the net twice, in front of the packed terracing. It was probably a fair result in the end as the visitors offered very little in front of goal. As is always the case in Germany, at the final whistle the players went to celebrate with, and applaud the fans. Ten minutes after the game as we approached our car, the Osnabruck fans were still in the stadium at full voice, celebrating the victory. My admiration of German football fans continues to grow the more I see them. They constantly support their teams, and never ever seem to get on their backs when things aren’t going so well.

We escaped the City pretty easily and within a couple of hours we were pulling onto Theo’s drive back in Duiven. Our Civic duties complete, normal service could be resumed, the beers were very quickly out of the fridge!

Retro - Achilles 29 v FC Volendam (2015 Football Weekend)

27th November 2015

Achilles’29  0  FC Volendam  0  (Eerstdivisie)

The annual Dutch / German trip that myself and my old man partake in was well under way. Along with our old friend Theo, we had already taken in the Champions League game between Borussia Monchengladbach and Sevilla, and then the Schalke v APOEL Nicosia game the following evening, but for the third game of the five game tour, it was a bit closer to our base in Duiven, which falls in the Gelderland region of the Netherlands.

Today wasn’t just about football though, it was also about a bit of culture and a bit of a history lesson. We started our day with a short drive through Arnhem, over the John Frost Bridge, until we arrived at the historic and well to do town of Oosterbeek.

Oosterbeek is famous for a couple of things, firstly Ronald Koeman used to live in the town, but secondly, it was a town ravaged during the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. The Battle of Arnhem itself was famous, or maybe even infamous, for Operation Market Garden, which in short was a huge military plan drawn up by Field Marshal Montgomery for the Allied Forces to make ground on the Nazi march through Western Europe and make way into Germany. With one of the key elements being the capturing of the many bridges that run along the Rhine and the Maas.

It went wrong. A variety of factors played their part, and despite the Allied Troops receiving a hero’s welcome as they made their way through the streets of Oosterbeek and Arnhem, the resistance from the Nazi’s proved too strong, and the backup of troops that were due to arrive never materialised in time, so ultimately, the final bridge at Arnhem, the road bridge, was unable to be captured by battalions that were lead by Lieutenant Colonel John Frost.

‘A Bridge Too Far’ it became known, and with Airborne troops from USA, the UK and Poland being heavily deployed in the region, it was one of the biggest failures of WW2, and not only that, an estimated 17,000 lives were lost on the Allied front.

But, the Gelderlanders did not blame the Allies for the devastation that Arnhem, Nijmegen and Oosterbeek suffered as a result, if anything they were immensely thankful of the fact that every effort had been made to force back the Nazi Invasion, but ultimately the price of failure was huge, and the War was to last for another year.

These things are never ever forgotten, and in Oosterbeek is the Airborne Museum which depicts the story of Operation Market Garden superbly, with some hugely poignant and evocative material. Ultimately it is a memorial to the thousands of Airborne Troops that fought in the area in the War, and I would defy anyone not to feel moved by the stories and images that are there for all to see.

Moving on from Oosterbeek, we travelled back through Arnhem, over the bridge towards Nijmegen before heading for the small town of Groesbeek. Once in Groesbeek we made our way to the National Liberation Museum, which again tells the history of the region through the War, but at the same time focuses on the liberation and the rebuilding of the area. Not only that, a memorial dome contains inside it various logs, the name of every member of the various military batallions that died in the battles, including date, location and cause of death. Many were just reported as ‘lost in action’.

While I had a brief idea of the Gelderland involvement in the War, I didn’t truly understand the full story behind it, including both the human cost and the legacy that was left behind as a result. It had been an inspiring, sobering and humbling day, and only on days like this do you fully appreciate the freedom and liberation we take for granted in our Western World.

Groesbeek was to be our footballing destination as well, and what a fascinating story it is. For a town of 20,000 people, it has an incredibly rich football history, with a real depth to it in terms of the numbers of clubs involved.

Up until two years ago two clubs fought for top level amateur supremacy in the town, namely De Treffers, and tonight’s stop off on our tour, Achilles’29. The two sparred initially in the Hoofdklasse and then the newly formed Topklasse, only for Achilles’29 to accept an invitation from the Dutch FA to join the professional ranks, which the duly took up.

De Treffers were a touch miffed, and started to make noises about joining the Eerstdivisie themselves, but up until now that hasn’t happened, so the boys from Achilles have got the balance of power for the moment.

Beneath those two though are four other amateur teams, namely Germania, DVSG, Groesbeekse Boys and Rood-Wit. It is such a rich town in footballing terms that both TV and the written media have shown great interest in the town and how it has gone on to be so successful in the soccer arena.   

Having sampled a pint or two at a fabulous pub in the town that had its own brewery, we decided to take a walk to the ground, which sits right on the edge of Groesbeek. Fifteen minutes later after buying tickets from the booth outside, we had made our through the turnstiles and found ourselves sitting in the tidy social club.

The ground itself is typical of a Dutch amateur football ground, and I’ve seen one or two over the years at the likes of Spakenburg, Rijnsburgse, and Veenendaal. A small but smart main stand adorns one side, with a covered terrace on the opposite side. The two ends were flat standing, but surprisingly the pitch was of the grass variety, as most amateur clubs opt for an artificial pitch, in fact many of the Eerstdivise clubs have now also gone down the artificial route.

The visitors were high flying FC Volendam, a team that had surprised a few this season by  placing themselves in contention of a promotion spot, whereas Achilles, after a good start to the season, have recently found it something of a struggle and look set to find themselves struggling to stay out of the bottom three. 

To be perfectly frank, the game was awful and had 0-0 written all over it pretty soon after it kicked off. Volendam, as their league position would suggest, looked the better side but they lacked the killer edge in attack to get the all important goal. Achilles on the other hand never looked like scoring and it’s hard to recall them creating a chance of note.

The attendance was given out in the media as 1132, which to be fair is about twice as many as we estimated were in the ground, so I’ve got absolutely no idea where the figure is derived from, but what I would say is that it is done to create a perception across the Dutch nation that the promotion of the club to the professional game has been a success. The jury, for me, is still out on that one. Indeed, we spoke to the Father of one of the Achilles players, and he told us that the players earned around 2000 Euro a month, now times that by 16, and try and work out how 500 or so paying spectators paying 10 Euro every fortnight covers that wage bill? Doesn’t add up does it?

But, despite the poor quality on display, it had been an inspiring day, and an enjoyable evening at the well appointed ground of Achilles’29, maybe, just maybe we might return to Groesbeek one day to pay De Treffers a visit. As we walked back to the car on a cold November night, the streets were quiet and empty, 72 years earlier those streets would have had tanks and troops rolling down them.

Lest we forget.

Perspective

Elton Vale  4  Moorside Rangers  2

Manchester Football League – First Division

It’s really hard to get my head around the fact I may well have just watched my last football game of the season, in March!

I may be wrong, and I hope I’m wrong, but in reality, unless the relenting leagues continue with their stance going into the midweek and next weekend, I’m afraid that could well be it.

Look, enough has been said, and, will continue to be said about who’s right and who’s wrong in this, but my view is simple. I don’t think the FA have been strong enough, by passing responsibility onto leagues to make decisions, but then again, if the league does decide to play having made an informed decision, then clubs should do so. 

The trouble by then allowing clubs to cancel games on health grounds turns it into a farce. I’m not saying a club would take advantage of the situation, but it did seem bizarre on Friday that a National League club announced, just around the time the competition was declaring games on, that they had four members of staff self-isolating, and they wanted the game they were playing in that evening calling off? More clubs followed suit and that is well documented.

Financial, that’s what it all boils down to. The National League and the Northern Premier League in my view have been put under pressure by certain clubs to allow games to take place, threatened maybe, whereby someone was going to have to pick up the tab for their contract players at a time when they were not getting any revenue. South Shields v FC United of Manchester for example, attracted over 3,000 on Saturday, and had the league called it off, I can imagine the conversations that would have taken place……

Anyway, it is what it is, us mere spectators and lovers of the game had got a very small window where we could make a choice, and I suspect the bulk of us did make the choice to attend a game, raised attendances across non-league football would suggest that. Was I not going to attend football on Saturday, on health grounds? No chance, if I could find a game I was going, and let’s be honest, Government advice is not suggesting, at this stage, we should do anything differently, sport in general has made that decision contrary to the health and science professionals.

So, had it all gone to plan, on Friday night I would have been in the North of Ireland, watching Derry City play Sligo Rovers, and then on Saturday I was going to be in Belfast watching Dundela take on Portadown. I chose on Thursday to cancel my trip because the games were called off, so it meant a Plan B.

The Manchester League and the Cheshire League’s were playing, and it did seem that unlike the more senior leagues, where the self isolation situation was then getting games called off despite it being ‘game on’, they were cracking on regardless. Maybe COVID 19 doesn’t impact below Step 6, but anyway……?

I had a few choices, but decided to plump for Elton Vale who were riding high in the First Division and looking a good bet for promotion to the top flight. By the time I made my decision I was a bit tight for time and didn’t arrive at the West of Bury location until fifteen minutes before kick off.

A team called Elton Fold joined the Manchester League in 1995, and by 2002 they had changed their name to Elton Vale. Over the years they’ve jumped between the leagues top two divisions, and as I say, this time around they look a good bet for getting back to the top flight, if of course we actually finish the season.

The ground is smart and tidy. Located down Elton Vale Road, the entrance to Elton Vale Sports Club takes you past the cricket ground on the right, and then just as the car park opens out in front of you, the large clubhouse is on the right hand side, with tennis courts set behind it.

The football pitch is at the end of the complex and sits on a plateau. It’s fully railed off with dugouts on either side, while the playing surface was in superb condition despite the heavy overnight rain. The areas around the pitch though were waterlogged, and you didn’t have to stand for long before you started to sink!

The clubhouse incorporated the dressing rooms, while the bar area was quite busy, with plenty of banter and gallows humour around the current crisis that engulfs the World.

I’m not sure how many Elton Vale get watching them every week, but I would have estimated the crowd was around the fifty mark, and that may well have been slightly higher than normal. Those that did turn up on a cold and wet day were treated to a very entertaining game of football.

The mid-table visitors took the lead in the first half, and for a period the high flying hosts were all at sea and could easily have conceded a second goal. However, Vale regained their composure and by half time they had flipped the score line on it’s head and went in with a 2-1 lead.

Vale got a third early in the second period but then Moorside rallied and pulled a goal back, putting the hosts under pressure, but a clear penalty for Vale last in the game sealed the points and saw them jump to the top of the table. For the record, Jack Alderson netted a brace for the hosts, while Adam Plimley and Declan Guy also netted. The Moorside goals came via Callum McNichol and Lewis Russell.

It was so weird driving back, no Sport on Five, no Classified Football Results, nothing. Selfishly, my thoughts turned to midweek, and next Saturday, would I be watching football? Can I make plans, can I look forward to the run in to the season? I have to be realistic and say ‘no’, and I know the health of the population is more important than any football match, of course it is and I get that, but at the same time, a big part of me feels very empty, and almost cheated. Surely it simply cannot end now, it would be like reading a book and then finding someone has ripped the last chapter out, it’s like someone taping over the final scenes of a film.

Null and void? Does that mean that what’s gone before is wiped from the record books? Did that amazing day watching Belper Town at Notts County in the FA Cup not happen? Did those Champions League games in Dortmund and Leverkusen not exist. Have I not completed the 92 after all?

Of course, they happened, and of course they will remain in the records, but the fact is, they may have all been for nothing, but that is no one’s fault.

It’s unprecedented, and in a couple of days we will know more, but right now, let’s just reflect on those chilling words of our Prime Minister on Thursday evening.

“Many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.”

Maybe we all need a sense of perspective, even selfish old me, and maybe the FA will grow a pair on Monday and make a big decision, either way, because that's why they run the game, from top to bottom, to make big decisions. Don't pass the buck to the volunteers, that's simply not fair to ask people far less qualified and informed to make decisions that could impact upon lives.

That said, if anything is on, I'll be going............ 

68 Guns

Havant & Waterlooville  2  Hampton & Richmond Borough  0

National League South

It was by a strange twist of irony that I should complete both the 92 Football League grounds, and the 68 National League grounds, in Portsmouth.

It was just over a year ago when I finally earned myself the coveted tie and certificate, watching Pompey take on Peterborough United in a memorable Checkatrade Trophy game at Fratton Park.

I decided at the start of this season that I’d try and polish off the half dozen or so in the National League, but to be fair, three trips to Kent and two to Hampshire were going to be tiring efforts, until of course I stumbled upon the wonder that is the Megabus train scam!

Having tried it out for the recent trip to Dover, letting the train take the strain, I decided to go for it again, but only after I discovered that you could buy an advance London to Havant ticket for just £11, as long as you didn’t mind the Southern Railways rattler.

So, for the princely sum of a mere £43, I could get to the South coast, which was certainly cheaper and much more relaxing than driving. It meant the usual 5am alarm call and then the 5.55am bus from the centre of Belper into Derby, before jumping on what is effectively a football special that gets you into London just before 9am.

Last time around we had Sheffield United fans on the way to Millwall, this time it was Wednesday going to Brentford. They were teenagers, and bloody annoying with it, I saw a video of them posted on social media later in the day as they were stumbling around on the streets of the capital. I don’t like Wednesday at the best of times, at least they got a 5-0 thrashing to make their day, assuming of course any of them actually made it to Griffin Park?

Once in St Pancras it was a short tube journey down to Victoria, before the 10am train departed. A wee latch lifter was taken in the Victoria Wetherspoons, and it was during this moment of imbibement that I noticed Havant & Waterlooville tweeted that a precautionary pitch inspection had passed. My plan B was always the game on plastic at Horsham, but thankfully it was not needed.

I’ve never travelled on the line from London to Portsmouth, but for the uninitiated it goes via Clapham Junction and East Croydon before dumping the holidaymakers and suitcases at Gatwick Airport. It then goes on through Three Bridges (what a night I had with Steve at Three Bridges many years back, but that’s a long story for another time!) and Crawley before landing in Horsham.

The train splits at Horsham, the front four coaches head to Portsmouth, the rest go to Bognor Regis. I managed to get into the right bit and soon we were going through Arundel before making our final stop prior to Havant, at Chichester.

It was just before mid-day so I decided to walk North from the station in Havant to the proximity of the ground. I’d done some research on the ‘Football Ground Guide’ website and a pub called The Heron had been stated as a good choice for a pre-match snifter. The ground is about a mile from the station, whereas the pub sits on the main road a couple of minutes away. It was fine, it did the job, and they also sold KP Dry Roasted, the only nut worth buying in my humble opinion. As Sadio Mane was scoring the winner for Liverpool, I made my way over the road to Westleigh Park, and the impressive pub / clubhouse ‘The Westleigh’ where it was very busy pre-match.

Westleigh Park has been modernised over recent years, and is now an impressive stadium. A seated stand sits on the half way line, with the letters HWFC picked out in the yellow and blue seats. To the right of the stand is an area of covered terracing, and as we move round in an anti-clockwise direction, more covered terracing sits behind the South goal.

Further shallower covered terracing extends all the way along the East side of the ground while behind the North goal is once again, more covered terracing. The pitch has a slight slope from North to South, and in places it was well sanded, but certainly playable.

Sat second in the table, crowds are good at Westleigh Park, an average of just under 1400 is the third highest in the league, with only Maidstone United and Dulwich Hamlet getting more. 1347 pitched up today, for the battle between two sides that when the team names were put together, was undoubtedly the game with most letters in it, in all levels of football in the Country!

Havant were relegated from the National League top flight last season having finished next to bottom in their one and only season at Step One. Wealdstone will take some stopping this time around, but you would have to fancy Havant’s chances in what is surely going to be a Play-Off season.

The clubs history is an interesting one, they were formed in 1998 when Havant Town and Waterlooville merged. Both sides were Southern League Southern Division sides, with the ground at Havant being chosen as the clubs base, and in season one the merger clearly paid off with the club being promoted to the Premier Division.

They joined the Conference South upon it’s formation in 2004, and there they remained until 2016 when they were surprisingly relegated to the Isthmian League, surprising in the sense that the season before they had lost to Boreham Wood in the Play Offs.

The Isthmian was won at the first attempt, and then the following season they won the National League South, and with it came the coveted promotion.

Havant’s cup record is worth noting. Twice they’ve made the FA Trophy semi-finals, losing to Tamworth in 2003, and somewhat inexplicably to neighbours and rivals Gosport Borough in 2014.  However, they are most famous for their FA Cup exploits, notably in the 2007-08 season when victories at York City and Notts County set up a Third Round tie with Swansea City. The game in Wales ended 1-1 with Havant winning the replay in front of the TV cameras 4-2. The Fourth Round saw them earn a trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool, it finished 5-2 to the Reds, but the result didn’t matter, it was all about the occasion and the financial windfall.

The first half was a poor spectacle to be fair. Hampton sat just outside the play-off zone and were proving a tough nut to crack, but that all changed as the game moved into it’s final stages.

It took until the 77^th minute but local hero Wes Fogden opened the scoring from the edge of the box, before Jonah Ayunga finished very coolly in the 88^th minute after he was put through on goal.

It was probably the right outcome on balance, but Hampton, backed by a coachload of noisy supporters, gave it a right good go. Havant look a play off certainty, Hampton you would say have a chance, but it’s tight.

I had a wander back into the centre of Havant after the game and had a pint at the local Spoons. Havant sits North East of Portsmouth, hemmed in between the A3 and the A27, while Waterlooville is the neighbouring town to the North West of Havant. The town centre itself is quite small and compact, but the footprint of the town is quite large.

The 1755 train back to Victoria wasn’t especially busy as darkness descended over the South of England, and by the time I’d made it though London and up to St Pancras, I was in good time for the train back to Derby. The connection in Derby to Belper is a tight one, but I made it just in time to be able to stumble into the pub to meet Mrs H and her pals before last knockings at the bar.

A great day out, and a champagne job to boot, so, what’s next on the hit list I wonder, whatever it may, the odds on it being completed in the general vicinity of Portsmouth?  

Sociology

Dorking Wanderers  3  Slough Town   5

National League South

In a week where my old Keele University sociology course colleague, Priti Patel, was hitting the headlines again due to her alleged archaic management style, it seemed somewhat apt that I decided to visit a place where one of the first people I met while at University came from.

Lucy was in my sociology group as well, in fact I dug out a recent team photo and the two of us were stood together on the back row, Ms Patel is nearer the front, as was her way. Lucy was from the Surrey town of Dorking, and clearly Dorking was a place where the children didn’t qualify for a student grant, the parents were too wealthy!

I’ve not seen Lucy since Belper Town played away in the FA Vase semi-final at Oxford City in March 1995. She was studying for a Masters at Oxford University and the hotel we were using for a pre-match lunch was literally minutes round the corner from her digs. We kind of lost touch after that, and other than a very brief exchange on LinkedIn about ten years ago, contact is non-existent.

While not at Ms Patel levels, she does now work in a very senior position in the Education system, which actually begs the question as to what went wrong with myself. We’ve got a Home Secretary (or at least for the time being), we’ve got someone who can close a school down with the press of a send button on an email, and then we’ve got me, but I was never one for conformity or following the prescribed pathway.

Plus, I went to school in Alfreton, I take being alive and not having served a prison term as being a bonus!

Anyway, I’ve never set foot in Dorking in my life. We did plan to meet up, but when push came to shove it just seemed a touch too far round the M25 for me to drive down, so it simply didn’t happen. But, when Dorking Wanderers won the Isthmian League last season and with it won promotion to the National League South, it was the excuse I needed, because at some point in 2019-20, for one day only, I was going to head round the outskirts of Leatherhead and into the town that normal money simply cannot buy a part of!

I did think about going on the train, but that didn’t materialise, however what I did do was save it for when the weather was less than favourable, which in effect is all of 2020 so far and a large part of the final quarter of 2019!

What’s the story around football in Dorking then?

A club called Dorking FC joined the Corinthian League in 1956, before transferring to the Athenian League in 1963. In 1974 they merged with Guildford City to form Guildford & Dorking United, it subsequently went pear shaped.

In 1978 a club called Dorking Town joined the Athenian League from the Surrey Senior League, and in 1983, after being promoted to the Isthmian League, they dropped the ‘Town’ from their name.

They bumbled along, moving between the various divisions of the Isthmian League until 2006 when they were relegated to the Combined Counties League. The Isthmian period saw the club reach the First Round Proper of the FA Cup in 1992-93, losing 3-2 at home to Peter Shilton’s Plymouth Argyle.

By 2017, Dorking FC had vanished, resigning from the CoCo, but a club called Dorking Wanderers joined the Sussex County League in 2007 having been promoted from the West Sussex League. This new club moved up through the Sussex ranks before winning promotion to the Isthmian League in 2015, therefore taking over the mantle of the senior club in the town. Success continued, and after losing a Play-Off to Faversham Town, they went one better in 2016-17 and beat Corinthian Casuals in the Final.

Last season they won the Premier Division of the Isthmian and now find themselves in the National League.

Wanderers always played just to the North of the town in a village called Westhumble. But when the Surrey Football Association took it upon themselves to develop the now derelict Meadowbank ground in the centre of town that Dorking FC had used, it was a great opportunity for the club to move into a purpose built and perfectly located home for an up and coming outfit.

Meadowbank is quite literally on the High Street in Dorking. You enter the town from the North, pass the railway stations on the left and do a right at the roundabout. The High Street is full of shops that are neither budget or charity, but about quarter of a mile down you do a right and this road takes you to a multi-story car park. Parking at the ground is not possible, so unless you want to drive around and find some seemingly non-existent street parking, you may as well go to the aforementioned.

The beauty of the aforementioned is that when you walk out of the pedestrian exit, you are no more than thirty yards from the turnstiles. I was quite early, but it was a hive of activity even though it was two hours before kick off.

It’s a very shiny new facility, with dual branding in terms of the football club and the Surrey FA. A large FA facility sits in the Eastern corner of the South side, while adjacent to it is the dressing room and clubhouse facility spread over two storey’s. The clubhouse is very nice, serving meals and lager at a mere £3.90 a pint!

Beyond this is a smart grandstand, while further down the South side to the West end of the ground is an area of Atcost style terracing, more on that later.

The West side and the North side are hard standing only, while the East end is inaccessible as building work of some sort goes on. I assume it is more covered accommodation as the ground certainly needs it.

It’s a very nice ground though, in a nice setting, I did like it, but, in it’s current format, it has it’s issues when a big crowd is in situ, as it was today. 778 pitched up, but it looked and felt like more, with around 150 of them having travelled down the M4 and round the M25.

Both sides sat in the play-off berths before the game, with Slough having the edge in terms of positions. The game turned out to be one of the best, if not the best, I’ve seen all season.

Jack Barham gave Dorking the lead in the twelfth minute when he escaped beyond the Slough defence and slotted home under the goalkeeper. We had parity though four minutes later when Dan Roberts rifled home from just inside the penalty area.

Jimmy Muitt restored Dorking’s lead just before the half hour mark, and by now with the rain failing and both sets of fans wedged under the limited cover, we had some tension. The Slough fans were brilliant and very vocal, whereas their Dorking counterparts responded in good measure, barring a few teenage causal wannabees who thought it would be a good idea to goad the away support. A minor confrontation occurred and a Slough fan ‘Nigel’ was hauled away by the stewards, who in my opinion seemed more concerned with the Slough fans reaction than the initial provocation.

More cover, and segregation would have prevented the issue, and if Dorking are to progress again, that is something they’ll clearly need to address.

Anyway, just after the break Roberts made it 2-2 when his shot was fluffed by the Dorking goalkeeper, but shortly after that the visitors Paul Hodges was sent off for a professional foul. A decision made by the linesman, and based on video evidence he wasn’t the last man, it was very harsh.

Roberts then got his hat-trick to make it 3-2 to Slough, but Jason Prior was on hand for Wanderers with twenty minutes to go to make it 3-3. The man disadvantage only seemed to spur the visitors on though, and they went on to get a fourth and then a fifth goal from Warren Harris and Ben Harris respectively.

Nigel was back in the ground by the time the second half started, so in my opinion justice was done as he shouldn’t have been lobbed out in the first place, and, he got to see his team record a brilliant victory that took them second in the table.

The journey back was straightforward with no hold ups, it had been a fantastic day out and well worth the travelling. Just one more National League ground to visit now, fingers crossed for next Saturday and the South coast!

If one day I put my qualifications to good use and got a proper job working for the right people, maybe I too could live in a place like Dorking. Until then, I’ll leave it to the Lucy’s and the Priti’s of this World, besides, they’ve turned down Wetherespoons, and that’s something that my home town of Belper has in common with them. So maybe they’re not that much better after all!