Burroughs Park
Essex Senior League Premier Division
August 26, 2017
Ground No 195
Given that this match remained goalless until the dying minutes, you could crack the old pun that both teams should have paid a visit for some shooting practice. Aaaaahfank you - I'm here all week.
But in fact this was a cracker of a game, played by two teams full of energy and commitment despite the searing late summer heat,
When I lived in nearby Shoeburyness back in the fag end of the 80s, the only reason I had to go to Great Wakering was for the Sunday market - the football club were in the lower reaches of the Essex Intermediate League and were in the process of moving into their current home after obtaining a lease from the parish council for what, back then, was a disused allotment plot.
These days Rovers are in the Essex Senior League (although there's a giant, invisible piece of elastic which keeps pinging them in and out of the Isthmian League) and Burroughs Park is a tidy, well-established little ground.
The ground is - predictably given the site's history - nestled between plots of allotments and entry brings you out into Nobby's End, named after club's former general manager Nobby Johnson, described as their "talisman", who died in 2010.
To the left of the turnstile is a low bank of terracing, To the right is the clubhouse and tea/snack bar - the standing area here is covered too, so your chips won't get soggy if it rains.
The side running along the right-hand side of the pitch has hard standing until just beyond the hallway line, where the club shop (closed) and main stand are positioned.
Until the club's elevation to Isthmian League level, the standing area was covered with crushed cockle shells (there's plenty of those in the nearby Leigh-on-Sea cockle sheds - where I once bought Buster Bloodvessel from Bad Manners a big bag of seafood, but I digress), however this was a no-no once they went up.
And the 250 seats in the stand were formerly occupied by the bottoms of Bolton Wanderers fans when they sat at Burnden Park prior to its demolition.
The end behind the far goal has another small bank of terracing diagonally opposite its little brother in Nobby's End, and some hard standing,
On the other side is a small stand containing concrete terracing peering out over the wooden dugouts. It straddles the halfway line and is flanked by hard standing.
This is Rovers' first season back in the Essex Senior League after relegation in May but they're going well so far and the infrastructure is there - maybe this term they'll put the Great back into Great Wakering.
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