My Matchday Pics 2006 -115 Ironworks Road, Tow Law Town

Tow Law Town
v
Gateshead
Durham Challenge Cup
Preliminary Round
26th september 2006
(score 1-2)

As the nights draw in and the first chills of autumn are upon us,what better way could there be to fill your tuesday evening, than spending a chilly night in the depths of County Durham,to see Gateshead's quest for a rare trophy at Tow Law Town in the Durham Challenge Cup.

Tow Law is a former iron works and mining town,and lies in the west side of Co.Durham at the brow of the Wear Valley,the gateway to the North Pennines.'The Lawyers' have been in the Northern League since 1920 and have played at Ironworks Road since the late 19th Century,their ground was built by volunteers during the mining strike in 1892/93.The ground features a main stand decked out in the clubs colours of black and white stripes,there is also a covered terrace behind the goal and the main feature of the ground is the slope which runs across the pitch and is steep enough to sledge down on a snowy day.

The Durham Challenge Cup is a competition open to clubs affiliated to the Durham FA,and features clubs from Tyneside,Wearside,Cleveland as well as County Durham itself.Tow Law are previous holders of the trophy,way back in 1895-96 season,but they'll have to wait another season to try and get their hands on the trophy again as the 'Heed Army' march through to the first round proper.The Tynesiders will be hopeing to become county cup winners,in a county that we're not even a part of,but we won't quarrel about geography if we can get our hands on a pot come the spring.

match report @-http://www.gateshead-fc.com/report.php?i=508

(click on thumbnails for larger images)

My Matchday Pics 2006 - 114 Boldon CA Sports Ground -Jarrow Roofing Boldon CA F.C.

Jarrow Roofing Boldon CA
v
Pontefract Collieries
The F.A.Vase (2nd qualifying Rd)
23rd September 2006
(score 4-1 att.108)





With Newcastles match against Everton moved to Sunday with it being the live Sky TV game I took the opportunity
to tick off another Arngrove Northern League(the 2nd oldest league in the world)ground of my list.I took the short trip along the Tyne to Boldon Community Association Sports Ground,home of 'The Roofers' for their F.A. Vase clash with Pontefract Collieries.

In 1991 Jarrow Roofing developed an unused site in Boldon as part of their long term ambition to progress to the Northern League.After progressing through the pyramid via the Wearside League,their ambition was fulfilled when they took their place in the Northern League Division 2 for the 1996/97 season when they finished runners-up to Northallerton, and they've consolidated there position in the top league ever since.
I was expecting an entertaining game with plenty of goals,'The Roofers' first 10 games this season has produced 55 goals including two 5-2 wins,a 5-4 win but also two 5-1 defeats.I wasn't dissapointed either,after a competitive first half the scores were level at 1-1 and just before half-time Pontefract were awarded a penalty,when the kick was awarded a young Pontefract fan turned to the few of us sitting in the main stand and said "Me Dad takes the penalties,he's bount to miss",his Dad didn't let him down either as he smashed his effort against the bar.In the 2nd half Jarrow got a grip on the game and hit the Yorkshiremen with a three goal burst early in the second half and ran out convincing winners by four goals to one.
So 'The Roofers' progress in to the next round of the FA Vase where they'll be hoping to go one better than their performance in this competition 2 years ago, where they lost out at the semi-final stage to Didcot Town in front of a record crowd of 1,100. Good Luck to them :-)
match report @- http://www.jarrowroofingboldoncafc.co.uk/REPORTS.HTM







(click on thumbnails for larger image)

Ground Image Of The Month

My first picture in this new monthly feature is a photograph taking from new 100FG Club member Gerhard Rudolf.It's taking at the Mestsky Stadion in Moravian Slovakia and is the home of Gambrinus Liga1 club FC Slovacko,formely FC Synot(Synot!! now you know why they changed there name)This has to be one of the sexiest floodlights I've ever seen,very original and one of a kind,or should that be four of a kind.The ground has a capacity of just over 8,000,you can view more pics of this ground @ http://www.fcslovacko.cz/fotoss.php?id=3

If you have a picture you would like me to post in next months 'Ground Image Of The Month' get in touch with me at sm1d@blueyonder.co.uk

The Latest Crack

Thank You Friends

The blog site has been 'live' now for 50 days, I would like to thank everyone for there contributions and support so far,especially those of you who agreed to become members of the 100FGC and have set up links to this site.Cheers to everyone who has signed a comment in the 'Guest Book' and left those kind words to boost my ego!

The site was originally set up for me to blog my visits to various football grounds,posting pictures and reviews,but I decided to open it up to fellow football fans who share the same interest as myself and I've had a great response so far,many thanks.

Website Review







A big thanks goes out to
Alan Percival,programme
editor for 'The Tynesider' the
matchday magazine of Gateshead F.C.
He penned a review in his 'Word on the Web' feature in the programme for the game against Guiseley.
Cheers Alan! keep up the good work.









100FGC Members News

I've had a great response from Germany where Groundhopping is very popular there.The most impressive list of grounds was submitted from Maik Van Den Berg(aka Nobelhopper) who has(as I write) attended matches at 654 in 32 countries,he send me a link to another fellow Groundhopper who has been to......wait for it........1123 in 55 countries!!,well my response to this is "We're not worthy" he should maybe start his own grounds club website and call it the 1000 Football Grounds Club,but I think he'll be the only member.He does have his own website titled 'Diary Of Some Groundhopping' I've added this to my link list,so you can see for yourselves.
Cheers!Enjoy your Football :-)

Grounds Hit List

As the season has got into full swing I still haven't had an opportunity to add new grounds to my list since the pre-season friendlies,but I have earmarked a few that I'll be visiting:

• 26th September - Ironworks Road Tow Law Town v Gateshead (Durham Challenge Cup)
• 11th October - Turnbull Ground Whitby Town v Gateshead (Unibond Premier League)
• 18th November - Emirates Stadium Arsenal v Newcastle United (FA Premiership)
• Oct - Nov - Belle Vue Doncaster Rovers v (match to be confirmed)
• I'm waiting on hopefully Newcastle's progress to the group stage of the UEFA Cup and hopefully a visit into Europe and also waiting the draw for Carling Cup 3rd Round,where I hope there's an away tie at a lower divisioned club where I'm yet to visit(but we'll propably draw Chelsea again!)

My Back Pictures - 105 Millennium Stadium

Newcastle Utd
v
Manchester Utd
13th April 2005

F.A.Cup
Semi Final
(score 1-4)

Cardiff's Millennium Stadium certainly has the 'wow factor' about it,I had ample opportunity to have a good look at the stadium,because the inept and heartless performances from three or four(or should that be five or six)of the team in black and white that afternoon,had me paying more attention to the magnificent stadium than the events on the pitch.
I was pleased that the F.A. decided to stage the 2005 Cup semi-finals as well as the final in Cardiff,I didn't hold out much hope of the Toon getting to the final,this is of course the Souness Era(or should that be Souness error)and with the New Wembley being ready the following season* this was maybe my only opportunity to see the lads at the national stadium of Wales.

(* Well thats what we thought!!)

The Millennium Stadium sits on the banks of the River Taff in Cardiff city centre,it was built on the site of the old Cardiff Arms Park.Construction of the stadium took just over 2 years and opened in 1999 at a cost of only £126m.If you compare this with the New Wembley which has an estimated cost of £750m and 7 years later the work continues.

It's the first Stadium in the UK to have a retractable roof,so those over paid footballers won't get there hair wet if it pisses down,and has a capacity of 74,500.

Another great feature of the stadium are the ''joy machines'' in the stadium bars,these machines can pour 12 pints in less than 20 seconds,which is handy if it's your round.But with this positive,there's a negative as the bogs are far to small with constant queues,so you have to be prepared to spend most of match dying for the toilet!

The most common compliant about Cardiff being the venue for the big finals is the location,it took us 9 hours to get home,the first 3 hours of that journey was just trying to get out of Wales!It will probably be my only visit to the Millennium Stadium,so I feel really sorry for those Chelsea,Arsenal and Man Yoo supporters who are regular visitors,and having to suffer the long 3 hour trip from London to Cardiff when they could just pop around the corner to Wembley.

On the whole I found Cardiff a most welcoming city,with the Newcastle supporters recently being named as the city's favourite football visitors, by a survey of local buisnesses and residence,well those 'Taffys' certainly have a stadium to be proud of,so "Diolch Caerdydd"