My Matchday - 268 Gigg Lane

Bury 1v0 Southend United
League Two
Saturday 23rd October 2010

For the first time this season I found myself at a bit of a Saturday loose end. With the 23rd October being the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup, I waited to see how the draw turned out before I made plans.
The cup draw paired the Heed away at Alty, and as I visited Moss Lane just last season, I wasn’t too bothered on making a quick return. All our local clubs in the north-east are out of the cup, so I scanned the fixtures and noticed Bury were at home, the only League club in the north of England which I’m still to visit, so I decided to sacrifice cup fever for another tick off the 92.

Bury is a former cotton mill town, located at the foothills of the western Pennines in Greater Manchester. The town lies on the River Irwell, situated in between the neighbouring towns of Bolton and Rochdale.
The town is locally renowned for its world famous open market, which has been on the same site for nearly 600 years, and amongst its many past famous residents is Sir Robert Peel.
The 19th century Prime Minister was born in Bury and introduced the modern police force (hence the terms "Bobbies") and formed the famous British Police division, 'Scotland Yard' in London.
There’s a memorial statue; Peel Tower which is situated nearly 1,000 feet above sea level, the monument which was originally built to provide work for local workers, can be widely recognised for miles around. (But I didn’t see it !?!)

The name Bury comes from an Old English word meaning "castle", "stronghold" or "fort", an early form of modern English borough. It’s pronounced differently depending on which part of the country your from, either called “ Berry” or “Burrey”
The one and only, Mark E. Smith, front man with the legendary The Fall grew up in Prestwich in Bury and at one time was a regular at Gigg Lane, he is more than qualified to tell it like it is and his own brusque way..

This year Bury FC celebrate their 125th birthday and over those many years they’ve played and remained at the same ground - Gigg Lane.
The club formed following a meeting in a local boozer between Bury Wesleyans and Bury Unitarians in April 1885. The newly merged club played their first match at the ground on the 12th September in a friendly against Wigan, which they won 4-3.
Competitive football arrived as founder members of the Lancashire League, with The Shakers winning their first trophy in the Lancashire Challenge Cup in 1892, before joining the Football League Second Division in 1894.
Neighbours Manchester City provided the opposition in the first ever League game at Gigg Lane in front of 7,070 who witnessed a 4-2 win to the hosts.
Bury are the third longest continuous members of the Football League after founders Preston North End and Notts County. The club played in the First Division until 1912 after winning promotion in their debut season and were twice FA Cup winners in 1900 and 1903.
The ground was originally part of the Earl of Derby estate, who later gave the ground as a gift in June 1922. The first structure was built on the south side in 1887 and the first ever floodlit game took place on the 5th November 1889, when a crowd of 7,000 saw Bury defeated 4-5 by Heywood Central, which took place under “Wells Patent Lights”



FA Cup success saw cover added at the Cemetery End and a new stand erected at the South side. Both end terraces were rebuilt in time for the club’s return to the top division in 1924. After promotion £12,000 was spent on a new Main Stand and seats added in the South Stand which raised the capacity up to 41,600, with further cover over the Boy’s Stand two years later.
In 1938 the Manchester Road stand was built at a cost of £3,440 which meant the ground was covered on all four sides, that was until gale force winds took the roof off the Cemetery End in 1952, which was eventually re-covered ten years later with funds raised by the Supporters Club.
In 1953 Bury became the first club in the region to have floodlights and followed Wolves example by hosting exhibition matches against top foreign clubs, as well as playing local clubs Man Yoo and Citeh. Wolves provided the opposition for the first floodlit game on the 6th October, just a week after their own lights were switched on at Molineux. It was during this era the record attendance was set, with 35,000 attending an F.A. Cup 3rd round tie with Bolton Wanderers on 9th January 1960.

The ground gradually went into decline following the Bradford fire in 1985. The wooden Main Stand and Manchester Road end were reduced in capacity and the Boy’s Stand was removed which brought the capacity down to just 8,337.
The ground was brought back to life, being totally rebuilt between 1992 and 1999 with sufficient funds raised through the Football Trust, FA grants and the Shakers Incentive Scheme which gave Bury supporters an impressive 11,000 all seated ground.
As you walk towards the ground along Gigg Lane, the BFC Sports Bar, the Bury FC Community Trust office and the club shop are found on the approach to the stadium.
The Main Stand is through the club car park and it is from this part of the ground that access to all four stands is found.
Once through the turnstiles a walk up a flight of stairs takes you to the front of the tier. Below the seats there is some unused terracing which has brightly painted yellow exit stairs and centrally the executive club, which is a small window box structure in between the team dugouts. There’s some supporting pillars which can slightly restrict views in some areas and half the stand is used as a family section.
The other three stands are similar in design, opposite the Main Stand is the Les Hart Stand which houses the TV gantry and extends to meet the Cemetery End. The bridged corner section has a police control box suspended beneath the roof. The Cemetery End was completed in 1999 and has a large gangway at the front which means the seats are set back from the pitch.
The Manchester Road end is the away section and has an electric scoreboard, which was bought from Leicester's old Filbert Street ground.
The ground is decked out in blue flip seats with white lettering picked out at all four sides. The blue roof facades and supporting pillars all match which gives the ground an overall neat appearance.
Bury’s recent run of good form continued with an effortless win over lowly Southend United.
The Shakers were gifted a dream start when Nicky Ajose was tripped in the box but Ryan Lowe failed to convert the penalty, keeper Glen Morris pulling off a fabulous save.
The Shrimpers keeper again produced another impressive save to deny Lowe, before Joe Skarz scored the games solitary goal in the 41st minute. The defender escaped his marker to neatly flick his header home from Schumacher's well-judged free-kick, which was only his second ever career goal.
The visitors didn’t offered much of an attacking threat, with their first and only serious effort arriving after 53 minutes, when Barry Corr headed over from close range when it was easier to score, then minutes later Josh Moore went close.
Bury comfortably held on to their slim advantage to take them up into third place in League Two and stretched their current unbeaten run to eight games.

Without having much time to book cheap train tickets, the journey to Greater Manchester had to be made in the old jamjar.
After checking on google maps, I found that Gigg Lane is only 139 miles from door to door, which took me only 2 hours 20 minutes, which included the predictable hazardous wet driving conditions through the Pennines on the M62.
I arrived in Bury at 12.20pm and after heading to the ground to pick up my ticket, I had a wander around town and the famous market. As I’m a responsible driver, a pub crawl was out of the question, however I did manage the one pint, which was split in between the town’s two Wetherspoons pubs. The new Lloyds bar ‘ The Art Picture House’ is very nice having a rather striking interior.
The journey back north went smoothly, assisted by the good news on Radio Manchester that local club Altrincham had lost at home to Gateshead in the cup and also the live commentary on Real Radio of the Toon’s away win at Upton Park.
I arrived home at 7.10pm, so for a change, it was nice to be back in the house so early. The Bury trip must be my only one amongst the 92 which is quicker and cheaper to do by road than rail. However it wasn’t all good news, the prompt return meant I had to endure Saturday night TV. It wasn’t just that bliddy X-Factor I had to suffer, but also that Come Dancing carry on, where I had the misfortune to witness England’s most capped player acting like a complete and utter tool - mefinks the less said about this the better!
So overall a canny day out in Bury and the impressive Gigg Lane, even without the assistance of vast amounts of alcohol.

Matchday stats

BFC 1(Skarz 41) SUFC 0

att.3,531

Admission complementary courtesy of our friends at Corals - Official Betting and Gaming Partners of the Football League.
(£17 ticket)

Programme £3

'Where's The Tea Hut' watches FCUM at Gigg Lane 24 hours later in the FA Cup.

Ground no.268 Gigg Lane - Matchday Web album (17 pictures)

My Matchday - 267 Kingsmeadow

AFC Wimbledon 1v0 Gateshead
Blue Sq.Bet Premier
Saturday 16th October 2010

My third trip to the smoke this season is also a personal first, being my primary trip down to that London supporting the Heed Army for their Blue Sq.Bet Premier clash with AFC Wimbledon.
AFC Wimbledon unfortunately don’t play in Wimbledon, they ground share with Kingstonian in Kingston-upon-Thames, 8 miles away at Kingsmeadow Stadium, which is now known as The Cherry Red Records ‘Fans Stadium- Kingsmeadow.
The Royal Borough of Kingston-Upon-Thames is an ancient market town which lies 10 miles south-west of Charing Cross. The suburb is historically known as the place where Saxon kings were crowned and the site of the first crossing point over the River Thames.
The stadium was built in 1989 on the site of the old Norbiton Sports Ground which replaced their traditional Richmond Road ground. The first game saw Kingstonian take on Queens Park Rangers in a friendly.
The stadium and football club was purchased by the Khosla family after Kingstonian went into administration after relegation from the Conference in 2001.
AFC Wimbledon undertook to buy the leasehold of the ground from the Khoslas in 2002. The capital was raised by The Dons Trust, who launching a share issue and in turn arranged for a commercial loan to clear the remaining debt to the owners.
AFC Wimbledon kept Kingstonian on as tenants and charged them a lower rent than they had been charged by the previous proprietor, with Kingstonian retaining both gate receipts and bar takings at their home games.

The stadium had a capacity of 4,720. Safety work and improvements which were carried out before last season have brought the stadium up to the required Conference standards, thus reducing the capacity from 6,299.
The Paul Strank Stand is the main stand which has a single tier of 1,125, made up of eight rows of red seats. The stand also houses the stadium's bars and facilities and was extended during the 2008-09 season when additional seats were added and the roof extended.
Opposite the main stand is The John Smiths' Stand, which is a shallow terrace which runs pitch length with cover running parallel up to the edge of each goalmouth.
The Kingston Road End is usually the away end with partial cover at the rear of the terrace which was improved and updated in the summer of 2009.
The Athletics End is a covered terrace which was named after the Kingston Athletics Centre, which is situated behind the stand. Cover was added during the 2005-06 season and was renamed the “The Tempest End" after the Dons shirt sponsor who contributed to the stands improvements. The front gangway is trench like with the terrace partly set back, which improves the view of the pitch.

The death of the original Wimbledon FC has been one of the most contentious decisions and a debatable issue amongst the football fan community in recent years.
The relocation 56 miles north to Buckinghamshire was unparallel in English football and by moving such a long distance and cutting all ties with the area, it was only natural that Dons fans turned their backs on the new MKD club in protest.
I can only compare it if the same situation happened to my own team. It would be alike in distance to relocating across to Carlisle or up to Berwick. Apart from the sheer injustice of such a move, I personally couldn’t be bothered to travel so far for what is supposed to be a “home” game, as Cumbria or Tweedside isn’t where I’m from, so how could you possibly call it home?

The Dons fans were determined not to let the a proud 104 year history die, a history which evokes memories from Southern League FA Cup giant killers in the 1970’s to the world of the Crazy Gang, who had the mettle to upset the odds and beat the mighty Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final. The Dons were one of the original members of the Premiership when Sky TV took over the working mans game in 1992, constantly upsetting and become a frequent thorn in the side of the so called bigger clubs.

The new club was founded in June 2002 just days after the FA gave permission for the Milton Keynes relocation. The club is entirely owned by the supporters as a co-operative. The Dons Trust having a one fan - one vote system with each member having a voice in the club.
Once the club was formed, player trials took place on Wimbledon Common over a three day period to assemble a squad for the new club’s inaugural season. Within a few weeks the team was ready and played their first ever game, which attracted a crowd of 4,657 for a pre-season friendly against Sutton United, which they lost 4–0.

The new Dons' opening match in the Combined Counties League was played at Sandhurst Town's basic Bottom Meadow ground and attracted a crowd of 2,449. A third place finish at the end of that first campaign represented a solid start, but the following season the Dons secured a league and cup double and ever since the club haven’t looked back.
Five years after that first promotion, AFC Wimbledon are now just one step away from the Football League after achieving four further promotions through the Ryman Leagues and topped off by winning the Conference South title at the first attempt in 2008-09.

Last season the Wombles had a decent season, comfortably adapting to the big league with an 8th place finish. This season they’re looking to make a push for promotion and after a narrow victory against The Tynesiders, they finishing the day in pole position.
In a tight game where one goal was going to be enough to clinch victory, it was a 72nd minute header from Ismail Yakubu which finally saw off a determined Gateshead.
An even first half saw the home side create a few half chances for Kedwell, while Jolley had a good effort with an overhead kick. However it was the visitors who had the best chance and could have gone ahead, but Kris Gates fired over from six yards after good work from Nelthorpe.

The Dons improved as the game progressed and went close to taking the lead when Ricky Wellard's header hit the post a minute after Jon Shaw almost scored at the other end, his diving header from a corner kick came back off the woodwork.
The home side did eventually find a winner when a Wellard free kick fell perfectly to Yakubu, who found time and space to bullet in a header from 12 yards which earned three more precious points for the Dons.

This matchday was as long one, like one of those really long days you see in a complete series of “24” I left home at 0610 and didn’t return until midnight, thanks to engineering works on the east coast line which put an extra two hours plus on to my journey home.
I arrived at Kings Cross at 0950(must mention that I spoke to Shepherd aka Celtic Heed doing his trolley-dolly job for on the train) and took the tube straight to the Wetherspoons at Liverpool Street Station, planning to have breakfast and a pint. However on arrival I found the pub chock full of Spurs supporters and also Norwich fans who were in town to take on QPR, so I just have to settle for the pint - and no bait!
Around lunchtime I headed down to Waterloo to catch my connection train towards Hampton Court, where I was meeting Squad #162 Michael Green for a drink in New Malden. Michael had emailed me after he viewed the ‘Possibles and Probables’ column and noticed I was due to visit Kingsmeadow. He suggested meeting up for a drink and promising me “a unique pub experience”
The public house in question is called Woodies Freehouse and it was a splendid choice. The pub is covered from floor to ceiling in sporting memorabilia and serves a decent selection of ales. The bar also does a good choice of grub, the delicious chicken and leek pie more that compensated for earlier missing out on breakfast in ‘spoons.
I finally arrived at Kingsmeadow at 2.30pm and spoke to a few members of the Heed Army, as well as finally meeting Terry’s Badges, I’m a regular customers of his and he has a large badge stall behind the Main Stand
I was made very welcome by Club Secretary David Charles and the local press guys, as is normally the case, my arrival is met with much anticipation as they’re always desperate to know before kick-off Gateshead’s formation and who’ll be playing in each position.(Why don’t they just ask Ian Bogie?…Eddy)

One thing that caught my eye at the match was the club mascot. Unfortunately I’m old enough to remember the Bernard Cribbins narrated kids show The Wombles, which first hit our TV screens back in the 70’s. Although I wasn’t a fan, I have seen it, and what I do remember is that the characters were a bunch of pointy nosed happy-go-lucky types, who were at their most content picking up rubbish found on the common and making good use of the things that they’d found.
The Dons club mascot is Hayden the Womble who is nothing like those TV characters who proceeded him. Hayden tries his best to drum up the home support by carting ‘round an empty wheelie bin, then proceeds to bang the lid up and down and wait for the crowd to respond. I know it’s just a bloke in a big sweaty suit but his face just looks pig sick all the time, as if he just can’t be chewed with the hassle, at one point I felt almost sorry for the yellow faced litter picker, he’s just not in the same class as Wellington, Orinoco, Great Uncle Bulgaria and of course the greatest of them all - Superwomble.

Most fans will be in total agreement that if one club deserves a return to League football then no one could argue the case against AFC Wimbledon. The club seem to be heading in the right direction, although I feel their future would be more suited away from Kingsmeadow. The ground is good enough for this level of football, however there isn’t much scope for improvement should the club progress.
It would be a Wombiling dream to see the club return to SW19, but that isn’t likely to happen in the near future, but in the meantime they’ll happily settle for the Wimbledon name to return to the Football League, I for one really hope they can do it.



Matchday stats
AFCW 1(Yakubu 72) GFC 0
Att.3,330
Admission: (PP) £14
Programme £2.50

Ground no.267 Kingsmeadow - Matchday web album (18 pictures)

Hasta parecía día de reyes...

* Buen juego, pero con mira muy desviada.
* Oribe, necesita mas trabajo.
* Pesan las ausencias
* ¡3 Palos! Salcido hubiera sido felíz en el juego
* Comentario en torno a la Selección, AL FINAL.

Con 3 marcadas ausencias que al final pesaron y bastante ( sobre todo dos), Santos y Monarcas empatan a cero goles en un domingo atípico donde ¡ no hubo goles en los 3 partidos de la jornada dominical !
La ausencia de Benítez y Darwin Quintero fue un punto primordial ya que las oportunidades se tuvieron, sin embargo, Oribe Peralta no salió en una tarde afortunada y falló las mas clara llegada que tuvo enviando por arriba el balón ante el enojo que casi me hace darle un sendo chingazo a la televisión luego de ver esa falla.
Ambos equipos se dejaron jugar, tuvieron llegadas y eso lo demuestran los 3 palos que tuvieron durante el partido (2 de Morelia, uno de Santos ) así como las llegadas que se tuvieron por ambos lados pero que sin embargo se fallaron de forma bastante lamentable, sobre todo del lado santista.
 MAS INFORMACION

Lo mejor del partido =)
la nueva generación de aficionadas

Romano salió con una formación precavida, usando su ya famosa línea de 5, dejando arriba solo a Peralta y dejando que Ludueña se sumara al ataque.
El hachita, tuvo una aceptable participación, pedía el balón, se hacía notar daba la pauta,  y mandaba pases para un Oribe que sigue quedando a deber y que parece ser que la banca le ha venido mal, ya que su mira se encuentra demasiada chueca ( algo que el entrenamiento, el trabajo y la confianza, corrigen asi que no hay que hacerla mucho de tos, tiempo hay ).
Sinceramente, el partido fue uno de esos juegos de 0-0 con llegadas y bastante entretenido, es cierto, el gol, es el invitado de honor en esta fiesta, y su ausencia siempre pesara, pero creo que se debe de agradecer que ambos equipos lucharon por conseguirlo, y si no se dió fue por una situacion bastante extraña, pues ese domingo parece ser que estaba previsto que no hubiera goles, ( eso, o se los acabó todos el ti-gue-res, que se dio gusto ganandole a un equipo gris y por fin darles una satisfacción a su "exigente" afición, que faltando varios minutos por jugar y AUN IR GANANDO se fue del estadio dejando atrás a su "pasión" )

Hasta me dieron ganas de ir a Elektra

Lo bueno del empate, es que todos los involucrados en la parte de arriba, quedaron igual, y se prepara el duelo de la jornada pues Santos repite visita para ir contra la maquina de la Cruz Azul, el líder general del torneo en lo que se antoja un partido de pronóstico bastante reservado, pues si bien la máquina viene jugando bien, Santos ya podrá contar con sus 3 panteras que regresan luego de sus respectivos juegos de Selección.
Ojalá Romano, sepa acomodar mejor su equipo, ya nos dimos cuenta contra Toluca que teniendo 2 de ataque naturales y sin inventos el equipo juega alegre y al ataque ( el cual debe ser su fisonomía basica, ¿me metes dos?, te meto 4 ) aunque debemos de tomar en cuenta que siguen buscando los minutos del menor, entonces se presta para que sigan usando a Uriel Alvarez en la central volviendo a la ya tan temida ( por nosotros ) línea de 5.

"Vámonos que aquí espantan...rumbo al Azul"

Sea cual fuere la formación, ojala se de un encuentro con goles y emociones, Santos requiere ya de una victoria de visitante ( la ultima frente a Pachuca  jornada 3 ) para devolver esa confianza fuera de casa, el potencial lo tienen, ojala que salgan con hambre y deseos de volver a arrasar a los rivales como en los primeros juegos.

==================================================

MIENTRAS TANTO EN CD JUÁREZ...

Ganaron las divas, PINCHES VENDEHUMOS,
¿listos para la proxima fiesta?, ya esta lista la bebida
y Gema, esta separada para Salcido.

 Se daba la noticia de que Néstor de la Torre, dejaba de ser Director de Selecciones Nacionales ¿y todo por qué? por APLICAR EL REGLAMENTO.
Así es señores, tal como sucede en este país, se va el que CUMPLE CON EL REGLAMENTO y se quedan QUIENES LO VIOLAN, parece mentira o un extraño escrito de Kafka, pero nuestro futbol mexicano, es una BURLA, un circo de PAYASOS vestidos como "Seleccionados" nacionales que al ser mostrados en público como lo que son UNA BOLA DE BORRACHOS, FIESTEROS Y SINVERGÜENZAS, los cuales se "indignaron" porque les sacaron sus trapitos al sol ( a Salcido le sacaron otra cosa mas dura ) y los sancionaron POR NO COMPORTARSE CON RESPETO al llamado de una Selección Nacional.

Orale Salcido, llégale a tu mero mole.

 Gente como Rafa Márquez el cual, ya se le nota el deseo de irse de pantalon largo al exigir que se le diera "Poder", un Guardado que cree que por estar en Europa puede hacer lo que quiera, Salcido ( y su señor-a) ni caso mencionar sus gustitos, y 10 jugadores mas ( entre ellos el crack Esqueda ) se pusieron dignos porque "eso no se dice" "esas fiestas son íntimas" obvio, como no van a ser íntimas si hasta travestis meten a que les den...cariño.  Y mandan una carta no pidiendo EXIGIENDO que se destituya a "ese señor" ( hay, que mamones), desgraciadamente, y como siempre sucede en este país, se prefiere respaldar a una bola de CALIENTABANCAS, en lugar de alguien que su unico pecado FUE APLICAR EL REGLAMENTO.
Así, el dúo criminal formado por Decio de María y Justino "Chabela" Compean, se bajan los pantalones y se empinan ante unos señores que PISOTEARON el código de conducta y todo pensando en los millone$ que genera ESTE PINCHE CIRCO LLAMADO SELECCIÓN MEXICANA, la cual, de mi parte, hace mucho dejó de ser un equipo de orgullo ( mas puntualmente desde Francia  98).
Hoy en día, ese equipo esta lleno de DIVAS que lo único que les interesa son el shopping en los juegos en USA y que no se les rasgen las medias durante esos juegos.
Atrás quedaron los Azpe, Ambriz, Hernández, Galindo, Peláez, Suárez, García que SE MATABAN por vestir la playera, y le metían huevos, hoy...si se los meten...bueno, quien sabe, habrá que preguntarle a Salcido.

Resultados de los partidos moleros de la Decepción Mexicana
¡¡ANIMO GUTY, VENGA GUERRERO!!

Mientras tanto, HOY juegan UN PINCHE PARTIDO MOLERO, ¿y que se saca de esto? simple y sencillamente billetes ( cortesía de los Juareños, a quienes les dieron atole con el dedo ) pero lo peor de todo, es que NUESTRO VALUARTE de la defensa, sale lesionado gracias a la entrada artera de un orangutan venezolano.
¿ PARA ESO SIRVEN ESTOS PINCHES PARTIDOS?
No, pues muchas gracias pinche bola de directivos, ahora que SANTOS EXIJA mínimo una retribución o de perdido levante una queja POR ESTOS PARTIDO MOLEROS en los que solo se expone a los verdaderos valuartes a los que verdaderamente SUDAN por llegar a vestir esa DEVALUADA playera verde, mientras que otro solo por calentar la banca en Europa ya tiene seguro el llamado por lo tanto, ni se apuran ni se acongojan.

Venga esa panza chelera mi Giovanni Dos Tragos.

 Ésta es su Selección señores, una horda de jugadores inflados, que SE JUNTARON Y EXIGIERON SUS DERECHOS para defender su derecho DE FIESTA ( dejarán de ser mexicanos) mientras tanto, sus compañeros de profesión, son vendidos como reses en un draft, o los perjudican los pactos de caballeros, o los tratan como productos desechables, pero para eso NO TIENEN LOS HUEVOS para juntarse, e ir en contra del sistema BENDITO FUTBOL MEXICANO JAJAJAJAJAJA.

Pero saben que, tienen la suerte de representar a un país donde TODO ES AL REVES, en poco tiempo la gente olvidará todo esto, y la Selección seguira vendiendo HUMO, haciéndoles creer a los que NO PIENSAN que es posible llegar a un pinche quinto partido.
Y como dice aquella canción... 

"POR ESO ESTAMOS COMO ESTAMOS, POR ESO NUNCA PROGRESAMOS, tal parece que gozamos, PONER LAS COSAS AL REVES."

Todo un Orgullo para el país.

ESE ES EL TRI DE "MI CORAZON"

Todo un "orgullo" de mercadotecnia.

¡Sale!

Risca United (Wales)

Risca United are a true valleys side, hailing from a South Walean mining town between Cwmbran and Caerphilly. Formed in 1946 out of the ashes of a number of under-achieving local sides, they initially played in the Monmouthshire Senior League, before moving on to the Welsh league proper in the fifties, where they stayed until the mid-sixties when they hit a spot of financial bother.

The club were saved at the last minute when they merged with another local side, Fernlea, with who they already shared a ground. After a few years just ticking over and barely surviving back in the Senior League, the 1970s saw them hit a spell of golden form. In just a few short years they won an impressive total of 13 trophies, including an astounding three consecutive cup and league doubles. In 1990 they rejoined the Welsh League, reaching the top flight by the middle of the decade.

These days though they've found their way back to the third division - the fourth level of the Welsh game. Since then they have merged one more time, this time with local junior side Gelli United in order to ensure that they had a strong youth wing. They play at the cosy little Ty-Isaf Park, and are known to their friends as The Cuckoos -although whether this has anything to do with their knack of absorbing other teams while keeping their own identity intact is never mentioned.

All photos © lays with the owners
Videos from YouTube. Underlying © lays with the owners of the clips.



http://www.riscautd.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risca_United_F.C.

Eastwood Town (England)

Eastwood Town come from the small Nottinghamshire town of the same name, just to the north west of Nottingham itself. They haver a long history of playing in black and white, although appear to be only recent converts to the stripes themselves, so we'll have to keep an eye on the progress of their kit over the coming seasons. They were formed in 1953, although there was a team of the same name knocking about in the early 1920s who only lasted for a couple of seasons, and who have no connection to the current club.

Like many fellow stripes, Eastwood hail from a former coal- mining town, and is perhaps most famous as being the birthplace of the writer DH Lawrence, with many of its houses and hostelries cropping up frequently in his stories. It's also one fo the few places where the rare dialect East Midlands English is still spoken. So don't be surprised if you have only half an idea of what anyone is saying to you if ever you pay a visit up that way.

The Badgers, as the club like to be known, have recently worked their way up from the Northern Premier League currently play in the Conference North, the sixth tier of English football, and the first to be regionalised. They play at the 2500 capacity Coronation Park, just off the main Nottingham Road. Famous old boys include Arsenal and Forest star Tony Woodcock, who was born in the town, the much travelled Alan Buckley and former Bradford and Middlesbrough defender Richard Liburd. Their traditional rivals haver always been the nearby Ilkestone Town, although as The Robins have recently been wound up, they may have to go further afield for their derbies.

However, perhaps their biggest moment came in the 2008/09 FA Cup, where they reached the third round, taking the scalps of Wrexham and Wycome Wanderers along the way, before being deprived of a major payday when they were drawn to Kettering, who rather impolitely beat them 2-1 in a tense match.

All photos © lays with the owners
Videos from YouTube. Underlying © lays with the owners of the clips.

Nymark Idrettslag (Norway)

Nymark IL are a fourth division Norwegian side from the beautiful city of Bergen, on the country's west coast. They were formed in 1921, in the borough of Årstad, in the south of the city. As is often the way in Norway, they are part of a wider sports association, which also has very popular cycling and athletics wings.

They play at a multi sports facility in the shadow of the stadium of their more illustrious city rivals SK Brann, known locally as the the Nymarksbanene fields. Casting an even more impressive shadow over the ground is Ulriken, the highest of the seven mountains that surround Bergen, and an impressive backdrop to any match.

They were originally part of the Arbeidernes Idrettsforbund, or Worker's Federation of Sports, the first explicit worker's sports society in the country, and linked to the Communist Red Sport International. The Federation was formed after 15 wrestlers were banned by the Norwegian Wrestling Federation for taking part in what they deemed to be a politicised sports meeting. This helped spawn a worker's federation of sports that soon spread across the country, and despite a brave national boycott of sports by its members during the Nazi occupation, fizzled out when it merged with the Norwegian Confederation of Sport in 1946.

These days Nymark are still closely connected to the people of Årstad, but in a slightly less politicised way. Although get them riled up and they'll still let you know what's what!

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Arbroath Victoria FC (Scotland)

Better known as The Vics, Arbroath Victoria are one of the oldest clubs in the Scottish game, having formed in the misty old days of 1882. They played their first ever match against the rather splendidly named Sunrise on the town common that same year, a game they won by a healthy 3-0. Their biggest win came eight years later when they narrowly edged their local rivals Burnside Athletic by a score of 15-0. 1890 was clearly a good year for them, as they went on to win the coveted Forfar and District Junior League later in the same run.

They play in the Scottish Junior Football East Region North Division, which is approximately the ninth tier of Scottish football - although it's tricky to accurately state as theirs is not pyramidical system with direct promotions between the leagues. Their home games are battled out at the 4000 capacity Ogilvy Park, and their biggest rivals are the very local Arbroath SC from the same league. However, every year The Vics take part in a challenge match against The Scottish Third Division side Arbroath FC called the Urquhart Cup. But despite the distance in leagies between the two sides, The Vics quite frequently win it, and are in fact the current holders.

All though their history they've won a wealth of fabulously titled local trophies, including the likes of The Forfar Businessmen's Trophy, The Brechin Rosebowl, The Forfar Junior Consolation Cup, and best of the lot, The Cream of the Barley Cup. But perhaps the biggest day in their history though came in 1982 when to celebrate their hundred years of being they lured a talented young Irish lad called George Best in to play a stint for them in their centenary match. Not surprisingly he played a blinder, scoring two goals on the way to a 4-3 win over Arbroath FC. Sadly though he couldn't be convinced to play on for the rest of the season.


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Beith Juniors (Scotland)

Beith Juniors, from the small town of Beith, some twenty miles to the west of Glasgow, were formed in 1938, out of the ashes of the former Scottish League club, Beith, who played in the short-lived original Scottish Third Division. The original club won the Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1928, and the Ayrshire Senior Cup three times.

They currently play their matches in the rather finely- named corner of the Scottish Junior game SJFA Stagecoach Superleague Premier League, which is the highest division of the West Region of the Scottish Junior FA - approximately the eighth tier of the Scottish game. They go under the dual nicknames of The Mighty and The Cabes, and play their games at the 1800 capacity Bellsdale Park.

Over the years they've won an array of local trophies, including the Ayrshire League, the West of Scotland Premier Division, the West of Scotland Cup and rather regal sounding Jackie Scarlett Cup. Indeed, so good have they been in the knockout trophies that they were dubbed the Cup Team of the Nineties in the area, with seven trophy wins and a whole lot more lengthy cup runs.

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Randaberg Idrettslag (Norway)

Randaberg IL are a Norweigian second division team (which, slightly confusingly is the third tier of their national league system) from Randaberg, a town of about 10,000 people just to the North of Stavanger in the very south west of the country. They were formed back in 1925 as Fotballklubben Ørn (or The Eagles FC), a fine name that they kept until 1933, when they joined the Norwegian FA, and changed it to Randaberg Fotballklubb, which they thought would make them be taken a little more seriously.

Their first great mark in the national football psyche came in the early 1960s when the great Reidar Goa was their first player to gain an international cap, a little while before he was transferred to the region's biggest club, Viking Stavanger. Their biggest moment of the sixties came around the same time when they were drawn to play the then star-studded Sandefjord in the third round of the cup. It is said half the population of Randaberg made the trip to Oslo to see their plucky battlers edged out 3-1 - but only after an epic battle.

But this little team attracted national attention once more in 2007, when an interesting character called Fred Ingebrigtsen came in and splashed the money around, claiming he would help them work their way up the league ladder as soon as possible. He hired former FK Haugesund boss Kjell-Inge Bråtveit to lead the charge and had soon lured former top flight players the like of Sindre Erstad, Øyvind Svenning, Jørgen Tengesdal and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim into the fray. But as is the case with many sugar daddy clubs, the success hasn't quite happened for them yet. But it'll certainly be worth keeping an eye on them just in case it does! Remember, you heard it here first! (Unless you're Norwegian, of course!)

Stop Press! I've just got a note from Per Thime, Randaberg's sports director, who tells me that his boys have just won the  league with two games remaining, which means that they'll play in the second tier of Norwegian for the first time in their history. As he puts it: "That means we are in the list of the 30 best teams in Norway. And we like that!"

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Amapá Clube (Brazil)

Amapá Clube are a team from the remote Amazonian region of the same name at the very North of Brazil. So remote are they that the rest of Brazil use the place as a marker for being a long way off - much as we do for The Outer Hebrides of Timbuktu. They come from the state capital, the mining city of Macapá, a city so out of the way that there are no road links to the rest of Brazil, so to get there you either have to fly or take a boat. 

The football team, usually known more simply as Amapá , was formed in 1944, and play in their local state league, the Campeonato Amapaense, which they have won on a respectable ten occasions, making them the second most successful team in that league ever, after their city rivals Esporte Clube Macapá who have notched up a massive 17 titles. However Amapá last won their league back in 1990, and Macapá's last victory came a year later, and it is the young upstarts of Ypiranga, also from Macapá who are currently the leading lights of Amapaense football.

However, there is one thing that makes Amapá Clube especially unique. Their pitch, the 5000 capacity Estádio Milton Corrêa straddles the equator, with the halfway line of the ground running exactly down the line of zero latitude. This means if you win the toss you can choose to defend a whole hemisphere rather than the usual mundane half. This curious geographical positioning also means that you get to see some quite outrageous shooting, with goal attempts from the attacking side's own half a regularity, as the players attempt to make a name for themselves as having kicked the ball in one hemisphere and hit the net in the next. Understandably the ground is more commonly known by its nickname Zerão - the big zero!

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Associação Desportiva Senador Guiomard (Brazil)

Associação Desportiva Senador Guiomard are a team with a name that you wouldn't want to sew onto a banner. Fortunately, all but the most passionate (or insane) refer to them by the thankfully less tongue-bending acronym ADESG. They hail from the municipality of Senador Guiomard in the Brazilian state of Acre, in the far west of the country in the upper reaches of the Amazon, and close to the border with Bolivia.

They are a relatively young team, having first kicked a ball in anger as recently as 1982. However despite their youth they have won the state league - the Campeonato Acriano - the once, having taken both stages convincingly in 2006. Remember, Brazil is a country where the season is split into two distinct halfs, with the overall annual winner being the team with the best average record of the two, so to take both in one year is quite an achievement.

They play in the 2000 capacity Estádio Naborzão, and go by the nickname of Quinari's Lions - although I've yet to discover excatly who, or indeed what, Quniari is. They also play in variation of the classic black and white stripes in that their kit is predominantly white, with a thick black pin stripe. But it still counts, and they're more than welcome into the family of black and white stripes!

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Ammanford AFC (Wales)

Ammanford AFC are the result of a merger between two much older clubs from the village back in 1992. Ammanford Town were established in 1945 when a chap called Vic Grove donated a chicken as a prize for a raffle, the proceeds of which went on to help form the club. However, in the early days they were known as Betws, taking on the mantle but not directly succeeding the earlier local club the Ammandford Corinthians.

After a few years playing in a collection of small local leagues, they started to outgrow their bowl and in 1949 were elected to the Welsh League - helped in part by the goodwill afforded to their illustrious Corinthian cousins. By the sixties, however, there were a number of Welsh clubs playing under the Betws banner, and so the Welsh FA asked them if they could change their name, which they did to the aformentioned Ammanford Town. They would change it once more, when things began to get financially tough in the 1980s, and by 1992, they merged with Ammanford Athletic to form the AFC that they are still known as today.

These days they play in the Welsh League Division Two, the third level of Welsh Football. They call the Manor Ground Home, which Betws bought with considerable foresight back in the early days of their foundation. Perhaps their most famous son is the former Everton, Wrexham and Wales international keeper Dai Davies, widely accepted to be one of the best Welsh keepers of all time, who played for the club when he was just 15. He was discovered by the former Liverpool and Swansea wing-half Roy Saunders, who managed them during the club's most successful days in the mid-60s.

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