Rookery Hill
Ryman League Premier Division
April 9, 2016
Ground No 188
OKAY so there were no pretend commentators, no ultra-critical fans complaining their table-topping team is having a nightmare while on their way to yet another win and no anti-fascist activists chanting messages about social inclusion and left wing ideologies.
But it's days like these that bring home exactly why I get such a kick out of spending Saturday afternoons far from the bright lights of the big time.
An eventful and enthralling game in a stadium full of character and all for a fraction of the price of watching a match at the top end of the pyramid. Result.
First the game. Surely a clash between a host team second in the table and their already relegated visitors was only going to end in a heavily weighted result? Well yes, The Rocks rolled to a 4-1 win but that tells only part of the story.
After taking an early lead they were pegged back from the penalty spot and plucky VCD gave as good as they got for much of the match thereafter, even having a goal disallowed despite having a player sent off half an hour in.
They also brought on a sub who, with his long, flowing dreadlocks and muscular frame, could have been Mario Melchiot. He even wore No 15, Mario's number at Chelsea. In fact as he alternated between crucial, well-timed, last ditch challenges and instances where, let's say, he'll look back on and feel he could have done better, it was hard to believe I wasn't watching the real Mazza.
As for the ground - well considering it was only opened in 1985, it's got plenty of character. A soulless modern arena it certainly isn't.
It's an eclectic collection of structures with something to catch your eye almost everywhere.
As you walk through the gate at the corner of the ground, to your left is what looks like a small Anglian Windows sun house conservatory which has been picked up from a nearby three-bed semi in Stanford-le-Hope and deposited in its new surroundings.
Next to that are a couple of portable buildings, one perched atop the other and painted a deep green like much of the ground. Beyond that is the tea and snack bar, a 160-seat stand and the loos.
The end to the right of this side features a pair of distinctive elevated standing areas with, bridging the gap between them a flat, elevated standing platform made up of wooden planks and scaffold poles.
On the far side is another stand, this one with 140 seats and, beyond the two sizeable, brick-built dug-outs is a flat, covered standing area. Hard standing extends behind the other goal.
The spire of St Mary the Virgin Church - a place of worship since Saxon times - pokes its head up behind the corner of the ground that houses the entrance to add to the unexpectedly rural feel of Rookery Hill.
The club are planning to move to a new ground in Stanford-le-Hope in the not too distant future - I hope it has as much charm as the current one.
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