Tilbury v Dereham Town

Chadfields

Ryman League, North Division

September 26, 2015

Ground No 174

IF it hadn't been for Adolf Hitler, Leyton Orient and the demise of greyhound racing in Tilbury, I would never have spent a hot Saturday afternoon in the dying embers of summer soaking up rays on the Chadfields terraces.

Tilbury, you see, used to play next door on Orient Field - so called because the bloke who owned it was an O's director. During the Second World War the club were kicked out so the ground could be used as an anti-aircraft battery to defend the nearby docks from Hitler's Luftwaffe.

When hostilities ceased they were allowed back into their former home... but only on the proviso that they became Orient's nursery club. Blow that for a game of soldiers, or something similar, they replied and moved into the dog track next door which had fallen into disrepair.

With the cloth cap and betting slip brigade left to find somewhere else to try and win some beer money, Chadfields was turned into a football ground and remains a fitting venue for Ryman League action.

Almost too good in fact. With its concrete terraces, covered standing areas and two seated grandstands, Chadfields positively screams out for far more fans that the hardy 63 - including a noisy and enthusiastic bunch from Dereham - today.

The turnstiles are on the right as you enter the car park, just before the clubhouse, so you enter at one corner of the ground.

Catching your eye first, after collecting your free programme, is the distinctive main stand. Straddling the halfway line, it houses the boardroom and changing rooms underneath but there's nothing in front of it except hard standing - it's almost as if they've forgotten to add a paddock area of terracing in front it.

There doesn't appear to be a clear view of the action from the seats, either. Instead, anyone sitting there has to peer through the nine what appear to be window frames. In fact viewed from the other side, the stand looks like a small Butlins chalet block. When the teams came out I half expected them to be accompanied by redcoats ready to line them up for a knobbly knees competition.

I'm not sure what the view would be like from the seats but it's certainly the sort of unique stand that adds character to a non-league ground.

There's hard standing on either side of the structure and a section of missing fence exposed some disused and bricked up turnstile buildings, suggesting that the previous entrance to the ground was between houses on the estate that backs on to it.

On the opposite side is another, more conventional, brick-built stand with three rows of bucket seats. It's flanked by covered terracing, one section of which was home to a group of leather-lunged Dockers die-hards who were in vociferous form throughout the game.

Behind each goal is concrete terracing although anyone standing there has to watch through the enormous panels of wire mesh put up to prevent wayward shooting resulting in lost balls. "It's like being at school when you used to watch the girls play netball," remarked one visiting fan, thus letting slip the reason his exam grades weren't up to scratch.

Behind one goal is the clubhouse and function suite. I'd seen this described as looking "unwelcoming" and with its stark, no-frills exterior and black metal shutters, it didn't do much to offer a better description for itself.

More than welcoming, however, was the tea bar next to it and my cuppa went down a treat.

Bowers & Pitsea v Stansted

Len Salmon Stadium

Essex Senior League Premier Division

September 12, 2015

Ground No 173

 

WE are, as the Volvo radio ads suggest, a nation that loves double acts. Morecambe and Wise; Torvill and Dean; Ant and Dec.

Add Bowers and Pitsea to that list.

Pitsea, a concrete jungle of 1960s and 1970s buildings that blends seamlessly into the new town of Basildon, is home to an Essex Senior League ground well worth a visit. If you had to sum up the charm, character and feel of a ground towards the lower end of the pyramid grading system, you'd only have to visit the Len Salmon Stadium.

Situated right on the very outskirts of Pitsea, you arrive at the ground after driving through a sprawling residential estate.

It's impossible to imagine where there might be room for a ground as you pass through White Van Man heartland but suddenly there's an opening and a sign pointing to the ground. You head down a narrow lane then, boom! It opens up before you - sizeable car park, ground, clubhouse.

Entrance to the ground is close to the far corner flag. Behind the goal is a long, covered standing area - it feels more like walking into a large garden shed than into an area of a football ground. Even floor is largely wooden. Today was a warm, Indian summer's day with short sleeves the order of the day but you could imagine standing in there on a wet winter's afternoon, steaming Bovril in hand and feeling happily sheltered from the elements.

Immediately to the right of the turnstiles are loos, but to the left is the stuff that makes the Len Salmon Stadium such a gem.

There's split level terracing with a café behind (nice cuppa for a quid) and beyond that a VIP box with comfy seats and all; a 180-seat covered stand (the programme describes it as "well-appointed" - I  wouldn't disagree) and then some more terracing - an eclectic yet neat combination.

Behind the other goal is the Town End - this I know because of the banner attached to the brick wall behind the net - and some hard standing which extends along the far side too, with its backdrop of tall trees, but that is out of bounds to spectators.

Curiously for a team that plays in red and white there is an awful lot of sky blue in the ground (and a smattering of claret so presumably it's a nod to West Ham, in whose fanbase they are entrenched) but it certainly makes the place bright and appealing.

Today's match brought Bowers and Pitsea a 4-1 victory to keep them top of the Essex Senior League. The club have ambitions of climbing the pyramid and have the team and ground to match. I hope they manage it and I'll certainly be following them along the way.

Sporting Bengal Utd v Burnham Ramblers

Mile End Stadium

FA Vase 1st qualifying round

September 5, 2015

Ground No 172

 

WELCOME to the best kept sporting secret in London.

 

Sporting Bengal United's aims, objectives and achievements are admirable. Operated by the Bangladesh Football Association, the club was formed in 1996 to encourage Asian football in London.

They're currently holding their own in the Essex Senior League, having reached the League Cup final last year and they've even had players called up by the Bangladesh national team. But, blimey, they don't make it easy for anyone trying to find them on a matchday.

The Mile End Stadium is a not insignificant facility. Essentially an athletics stadium, it once attracted 27,000 fans to a Blur concert and as well as an adjoining sports centre with a pool, gym and more, there are also five-a-side pitches, a hockey pitch and tennis courts.

But once you get off the tube at Mile End you're on your own. No clues.

It's not much better when you get there either. The abundance of sports bags, towels and goggles being carried by the kids in the queue should have given it away - I'd ended up in a queue for an afternoon swim before being directed to the entrance round the other side.

Even on that side you wouldn't have known there was a match on had you not been able to see right through the wire mesh fencing that surrounds the stadium. No signs, no billboards plugging forthcoming matches, no mention at all of this being a home of the beautiful game.

Opened in the 1950s as the King George V Stadium, it's pretty unremarkable to be fair. There's one main stand with wooden bench seating, hard standing around the pitch/track and that's it. The sports centre runs immediately behind the far side/straight but the modern high rise structures of One Canada Square and its Canary Wharf neighbours behind the end/bend to the right of the stand forms a far more striking backdrop.

I'm not a fan of football at athletics stadiums due to the obvious distance from the pitch. And with no operational Tannoy, the tea hut being a couple of vending machines in the reception area and the small crowd looking rather lost in its surroundings, the Mile End Stadium doesn't help itself. There wasn't even a half-time draw.

It wasn't a great game either, although the hosts looked stronger and sharper as the game wore on and cancelled out an early goal by Ramblers (or Rumblers as the programme would have it) to force extra-time and a replay thanks to a regal finish from Prince William (not the Prince William of course - he would have been watching the egg chasers at Twickenham I'd imagine).

But the fans - especially the lads in front of the ground who yelled "shooooooooooooot" every time a Bengal player got the ball - gave plenty of encouragement to their team.

As a project, Sporting Bengal United is marvellous and long may it continue. But as a matchday experience for the floating fan? It's certainly different. It's not non-league football as we know it.

But the young and enthusiastic fan base made this matchday experience stand out too, and that's something that would be very welcome at other grounds of a comparable level. Let's hope they get the secret out in the open!