Harrow Borough v Billericay Town

Earlsmead Stadium

Ryman League Premier Division

Saturday, February 23, 2016

Ground No 183

 

WORLD renowned seat of learning for posh boys, Harrow School, was one of seven schools which met in 1963 to establish the Cambridge Rules, which in turn formed the basis of the Football Association's first ever rulebook.

 

Despite this, the Crispins, Tobys and Tarquins also play their own version of the game, known as footer, in which the future Tory politicians and entrepreneurial reality dodgers can handle the ball in certain situations, aren't permitted to play the ball if they're in front of it and must score by shooting between a pair of ticks.

 

The lack of straw boaters and the more down to earth demeanour of the crowd today suggested the posh lads were too busy with their own version of the beautiful game to come and support their local team, based just 2.3 miles away from the establishment where Winston Churchill, Robert Peel and Benedict Cumberbatch all learned Pythagoras's theorem and how to converse in Latin.

Had they joined us, they wouldn't have had any trouble finding anywhere to sit or stand - the Earlsmead Stadium, capacity 3,070, is the sort of ground that deserves higher attendances and the 161 of us present were rattling around a bit in there to be honest.

Home to the club since 1934, it sits in the middle of a well-populated Metroland residential development, the floodlights poking their heads above the rooftops as you stroll along Carlyon Avenue from the conveniently situated Northolt Park railway station.

While the station is handily placed, the ground doesn't have any nearby pubs for a pre-match pint, apparently. Being a diligent groundhopper I contacted the club for recommendations, only to discover the three nearby boozers have all closed down.

Still, lunch and a couple of pints of Greene King St Edmunds in the Victoria and Albert at Marylebone Station went down a treat and there are not one but two bars in the two-storey structure at the ground.

With the trains from Marylebone running only once an hour, we had ample time to pop into one of them for a pint of Young's (nice but a tad too cold, I felt) and catch the end of a pretty amazing Norwich v Liverpool game on the telly.

Entrance points to the ground are at either side of a shallow concrete terrace behind one of the goals. Immediately to the right are the loos and a tea bar (if only I'd noticed they sold slices of bread pudding before I'd bought a Double Decker) and beyond that a long covered standing area acts as a backdrop to the dug-outs.

The opposite end is also made up of shallow terracing, with an overflow car parking area behind.

To the left is a 1970s main stand with 350 seats, flanked by covered standing areas, the first of them made out of an old air raid shelter by all accounts.

My journey today took me directly past both the Olympic Stadium and Wembley Stadium but my more modest surroundings provided me with an entertaining game - a come-from-behind 2-1 win for the hosts against a side who hadn't lost since October - and a thoroughly enjoyable day out. And not a straw boater in sight.
 

Concord Rangers v Ebbsfleet Utd

Aspect Arena

National League South

January 2, 2016

Ground No 159 revisited

 

WHEN I was a kid my dad reckoned it always rained in Kent, something I've regularly taunted my mates from south of the river with - paying scant regard to any kind of factual evidence of  course.

 

Typical, then, that the heavens should open as I made my way to the Aspect Arena along with said pals from the Garden Of  England who had crossed the Thames to follow the high-flying Fleet, thus pooh-poohing my flimsy and scurrilous argument that we're all wearing Speedos and flip-flops in Essex while they're putting up their brollies in Kent.

 

In any case it would take more than a few splashes of wet stuff to put me off a trip to the Aspect Arena. It's a great ground - in fact it was my first visit here that convinced me to launch this blog.

 

Concord Rangers - who take their name from Concord Beach, next to which they kicked their first ball - are Johnny Come Latelys to senior football, having only entered the Essex Senior League as recently as 1991 and are currently playing at the highest level they've ever reached and a step above their near neighbours Canvey Island.

 

By all accounts you'd be lucky to find more than 40 people inside on a matchday 20 or so years ago so it's been a supersonic take-off by Concord, you might say. The Beach Boys really have hit the right note since then.

 

As a result the Aspect Arena isn't as imposing as other grounds in the same league  but it's welcoming, easy on the eye and easily good enough for Concord's needs.

 

With a large contingent making their way from the other side of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, Thames Road - the cul-de-sac towards the end of which the ground, opened in 1985, is situated - was more than a little congested. And since the footpath abruptly ends once you reach the last house, the remainder of the on-foot fan's journey to the turnstiles quickly became a game of dodge the car.

 

Fortunately we arrived safely and headed through the entrance into a hive of feverish pre-match activity as fans grabbed a cuppa from the tea hut, a burger from the food van or a pint from the spacious and modern clubhouse. The function suite remained empty though - no matchday wedding party like the one at Sutton Common Rovers today.

 

Looking straight ahead from the tea bar to the right of the turnstiles is the main stand, a low but long structure only four rows of seats deep, flanked by small, demountable steel and plastic stands, the like of which I'd seen recently at Hullbridge.

 

Behind the goal is hard standing with a covered area behind the goal while on the far side are two more of those small stands with a big video gantry in between and Thorney Bay Caravan Park on the other side of the perimeter wall.

 

Behind the other goal is a large covered area. You're right up close to the pitch even when you're under cover here.

 

And when it's packed out, as it was today, the floodlights are on and the players are scrambling in the goalmouth looking for a breakthrough, it's an intoxicating place to be.