Aveley v Cheshunt

Millfield

Ryman League South

September 17, 2016

Ground No 191

WHEN I was a kid I always wanted to go to Aveley's Millfield ground. In the days before the M25 we'd often motor past the big, imposing stand that backed onto the main road as we made our way to the Dartford Tunnel.

I used to wonder what was on the other side of the perimeter fence and vowed that, when I was a big boy, I'd make it my business to find out.

Imagine my surprise, then, when at the age of 52 I finally made it to an Aveley home game to discover that this clearly wasn't the ground we'd passed when I was a nipper.

What that ground was, I honestly have no idea now. My mum and dad had very little sense of direction and an even smaller collection of maps, so even with the benefit of the internet, online maps and Google Street View, I'm still none the wiser.

But it was still good to visit such a proud, traditional football ground, especially as its days are numbered.

Home to the club since the 1951-52 season, the ground's main stand, with an expanse of concrete terracing in front and either side, is indeed the ground's most imposing feature, although not as imposing as the one the eight-year-old me looked longingly at from the window of a passing car.

The wooden stand, with 400 tip-up seats, was added in 1957, while opposite is a covered standing area - a cobbled together metal and scaffold affair.

Until high winds destroyed it in 2009, that area was occupied by the Pepper Stand, a standing enclosure bought from neighbours Grays Athletic for 100 quid after they decided they didn't want it at the Recreation Ground.

Grays feature heavily Aveley's history. As well as flogging them their old standing enclosure, Athletic were the visitors for the grand opening of the stadium and were also the opponents for its first game under lights. It's fitting, then, that they groundshare there in advance of their own new ground being built.

The clubhouse, situated in the car park is a sturdy and sizeable 1950s structure with the club's crest featuring ornately on some of the windows.

And above the bar is a reminder that it won't be around for too much longer. The club move to a fresh home at Belhus Park next season and plans for the new era are proudly displayed for all to see.

Burnham Ramblers v Ilford

Leslie Field

Essex Senior League

September 3 2016

Ground No 190

BURNHAM on Crouch is, as fans of Ian Dury and the Blockheads will already be aware, the place to lie with a nice bit of posh on the couch.

It's also the place to be if you want to see the Ramblers at home in Essex Senior League action on Non-League Day 2016.

I can only take Mr Dury at his word regarding the "bit of posh" activities but were said ladies to exist, he wouldn't have found any in the vicinity of Leslie Field.

For while Burnham is a popular haunt among bank managers, lawyers and accountants with a penchant for yachting, the ground is situated on the edge of a rough and ready industrial estate.

Home to the Ramblers since 1987, Leslie Field's dominant feature is the large, brick-built, gable roofed clubhouse which also houses the changing rooms and a function suite.

Leaning up against it inside the ground is the main stand with around 150 seats - pretty comfortable as it goes and with a decent amount of leg room.

It was while sitting in one of said seats that I was asked a question I'd never heard at a game before - "Have you got any Blu Tac?" The guy in need - who I'm pretty certain was joking - was trying to attach what looked like a Lithuanian flag to the perimeter fence. Fortunately he managed without the need for a sticking agent. Result.

Curiously there are dug-outs built into the stand - an arrangement that was never going to work - and bigger, more practically positioned dug-outs  on the opposite side of the pitch are used by the teams.

Also opposite is a covered standing area backing on to a changing room block that serves one of the three other pitches (including a training pitch) on the 10-acre site.

Save for a small terrace of three shallow steps behind one goal, that's about it as far as the ground goes.

I worried - unnecessarily as it turned out - at the very clearly inoperational  tea and snack van next to the main stand. Fortunately however, I heard a bloke taking tea and coffee orders from his pals at half-time so I followed him as he unbolted the main gate and made his way through the car park, into the clubhouse building and up the stairs into a cosy car area with a tea bar in the corner.

The tea was a snip at 70p and the surroundings were pleasant too, with pennants and photos adorning the walls and flags and shirts from various professional clubs on the ceiling.

Ramblers were in the Ryman League until recently and everything is in place for them to operate at that level again. Leslie Field is a decent enough ground with a particularly distinctive main stand (my in-laws bought me a postcard depicting it on a recent visit to Burnham - can't imagine too many step five clubs can boast that).

All they need is a team to match. Burnham are rooted to the foot of the ESL table without a draw let alone a win to their name and had conceded 16 goals in their previous four games without registering a single one themselves.

In fact they'd also crashed 9-0 at home to today's opponents in the FA Cup on the opening day of the season, so a 3-1 defeat on this occasion must have almost felt like a win.

East Thurrock Utd v VCD Athletic

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.

 

Basildon Town v Shenfield

Basildon Sports and Leisure Ground

Essex Olympian League Division One

March 19, 2016

Ground No 187

IF only Shenfield had been able to field their star player, they'd have had the X factor and really been able to hit the right note.

As it was their recent stellar signing had been injured in only his second appearance for the club a couple of weeks earlier and, in his absence, they crashed 4-2 in a cracker of a match, having fought back to level from being two goals down and had a goal controversially chalked off with the scores all square.

You don't get many star names this far down the pyramid - level 12 - but Shenfield really do have a bloke in their squad you'd take a selfie with or thrust your autograph book towards as he warmed up on the touchline. Albeit someone who found fame for something other than football.

His name? Olly Murs. Yep, the fella who finished second to Geordie Joe McElderry in the 2009 X Factor final, went on to sell millions of records to 30-something housewives and told a poor pop star wannabe she was going home before the results were announced  while presenting the show that made him famous.

Had he been fit for action, however, he'd have approached the ground on the edge of the concrete jungle known as Basildon along a straight, concrete road leading from the new town's industrial and retail park quarter.

And the first thing he'd have seen would be an ugly steel-framed structure that looks like a camouflaged army base. It's actually the Basildon Sports and Leisure Club - it contains the changies, two bar areas and a function room and is actually a good deal more pleasant and welcoming than it looks from the outside.

Having strolled up to the pitchside from the car park without any sign of anyone collecting admission money, I popped into the bar, picked up a free programme and bought a cup of tea ahead of first taste of Essex Olympian League football, thus taking my afternoon's outlay to the grand total of a quid. Bargain or what?

The ground is situated in something of a sporting hub. It's right next to Basildon Rugby Club's home ground - they too were in action in front of a far bigger crowd - and that in turn sits adjacent to The Longman Motors Stadium, home of Essex Senior League club Basildon United who were also playing and, by a stroke of coincidence, also won 4-2. The floodlights from both adjoining grounds are clearly visible.

On the far side are the dug-ours - both wooden and what look like repurposed bus shelters - in front of two other full-size pitches.

To the right is the Post Office Ground - presumably where Basildon's posties play football to keep themselves fit to deliver letters around Vange, Laindon and Pitsea and escape the drooling jaws of homeowners' dogs.

The near side is dominated by the camouflaged army base, sorry I mean the sports and social club, to which access is gained through patio doors, and there's also a small, wooden  covered area, some picnic benches and a kids' playground in front of it.

Basildon's oldest football club won't be the top of your discerning groundhopper's list of venues to visit. But it was only a 10-minute drive from my front door, the game oozed entertainment and screamed value for money. Result.

And if it hadn't been for a sore hammy, I'd have seen a pop star play live too.

Raynes Park Vale Res v Wanderers

Prince George's Fields

Surrey South-East Combination

March 12, 2016

Ground No 186

 

 

**** me, I'm in the first team!

 

That was the first line of the message I received which made up my mind how I'd be spending my Saturday afternoon - being a proud dad watching the lad do his thing at the highest level he'd ever played at.

 

He did alright too! Maybe I'm biased but he didn't look out of place and you wouldn't have known he'd never been near the first team before. Okay, his side got tonked 4-0, but two of those goals were dodgy penalties and Wanderers held their own for long periods.

 

I'll come back to Raynes Park Vale to watch the first team and give it the usual Streetspavedwithgoals treatment in due course but since I was only there to see Wanderers on that occasion, let's throw the spotlight on them.

 

Today I made up exactly on third of the attendance. With none of the usual entrances open, the route into the ground wasn't especially obvious and I ended up following the players after they'd warmed up on an adjacent training pitch, then threw a right down the tunnel and into the spectator areas.

 

I wondered why the players were instructed not to warm up on the playing surface and all quickly became obvious - the pitch was a mudbath!

 

Who'd have thought, then, that the club playing on a pudding of a pitch in front of three people were approaching a momentous anniversary?

 

But it's true. For just five days later Wanderers marked 140 years since they won the FA Cup for the third time. They'd drawn 1-1 with Old Etonians on March 11 in the final, 1876 and then roared to a 3-0 win in the replay at Kennington Oval in front of 3,500 people a week later.

 

And that FA Cup victory was the springboard for an historic run of three successive triumphs in the world's greatest knockout competition - something Arsenal couldn't do this year and only Blackburn have managed since.

 

Far from being the start of a long of domination, however, pretty soon it started to  go belly up. Those pesky public schools started forming their own teams so the posh lads all left and played for Sir's side instead.

 

By the end they were reduced to playing one match a year - a festive Christmas fixture against Harrow School - and by 1887 is was all over.

 

All over, that is, until 2009 when, with the blessing of descendants of people involved with the original club, Wanderers were reborn.

 

The aim of the 21st century Wanderers is to ensure the legacy of the original club lives on and to raise money for worthy causes and so far they have handed over more than three grand.

 

Sometimes there's more to football than 22 blokes kicking a ball about on a pudding of a pitch in front of a crowd of three.

Bishops Stortford v Ebbsfleet Utd

The Prokit (UK) Stadium

National League South

February 6, 2016

Ground No 185

 

IT'S easy to be spoilt when things are going swimmingly well isn't it?

 

Take the Ebbsfleet fan who walked past me with 15 or so minutes of his side's match at the Prokit (UK) Stadium to go.

 

The Fleet are flying high at the top of National League South - eight points clear before kick-off and were 2-1 up away from home going into the closing stages of a match they did eventually close out to stretch their advantage to 11 points.

 

But, with the home side not unexpectedly applying a reasonable amount of pressure, Angry of Kent wasn't impressed. A brief look up as he passed some fellow Fleet fans revealed a stern face as he turned to them, muttered "What a nightmare" then continued on his way.

 

Clearly he didn't come close to the enthusiasm shown by the Pretend Commentator at Southend Manor a week earlier but at least he had a nightmare 2-1 win to celebrate along with the large contingent of travelling supporters.

 

What Mr Downbeat wouldn't have cause to complain about is how to find the ground.  Despite Stansted being known as The Airportmen, Bishops Stortford's home is actually closer to Stansted Airport. Just the other side of the M11 services the floodlights and main stand peak over the light industrial units and a nice, big sign points the way to the entrance and sizeable car park.

 

The stadium is neat and tidy with room for 4,525 fans and has been home to the club since opening in 1999 - in time to earn it the honour of staging the last league game in England of the 20th century.

 

Entrance is either side of the brick-built, 300-seat cantilever main stand which sits in front of the bar (big stage and dancefloor but no real ales on handpump although the keg Old Speckled Hen wasn't too shabby) and function room.

 

Also on that side is the food bar which served a very tasty bacon cheeseburger and had my mate rubbing his hands with delight at offering Bovril for only a quid.

 

Covered terracing is situated behind each goal while a small seated stand, video gantry perched atop, straddles the halfway line opposite.

 

It's new, it's functional rather than quirky and it's unspectacular. But the Prokit (UK) Stadium has plenty of room and with more than 500 enthusiastic fans inside, produced an entertaining match on a surface probably described somewhere as "difficult" and a vibrant matchday atmosphere. What a nightmare, eh?