Dulwich Hamlet v Leatherhead

CHAMPION HILL

BOSTIK LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

GROUND NO 197

NON-LEAGUE football outside the National League has, let's face it, earned a bit of a reputation for being a bit one man and his dog.

You know - pokey little grounds, empty terraces and the bloke in the anorak who doesn't count a ground as a tick unless he's seen a goal at both ends, bought a programme and touched every corner flag. And frankly in my opinion there's nothing wrong with that!

But then there's Dulwich Hamlet where non-league football is cool again.

Champion Hill has gained a bit of a reputation for being Hipster Central with its passionate all-inclusive social policies, community outreach projects and terraces brimming with trendy young things you'd expect to see in an artisan cereal café rather than a non-league ground.

The stickers and stencilled artwork around the ground, the craft ales at the bar and the Asian street food stall where food is served with chopsticks does little to play down the reputation. I genuinely expected to see an advert for beard oil in the programme.

But it's easy to be flippant about Dulwich Hamlet's rampantly lefty principles and uber trendy following.

The bottom line is that this is a proud old football club supported by fans who genuinely care about the team and who want to enjoy a game played in a vibrant and colourful atmosphere - and surely that's what we all want as football fans, isn't it?

And for all it's pink and blue trend-bucking quirks, Dulwich Hamlet is very much a football club not a freak show.

To illustrate - after we'd walked through the turnstiles (keep your eyes open before you enter or you'll get a soaking from the car wash slap bang outside the gates) there stood a programme seller, someone selling 50-50 draw tickets and another guy asking regulars to sign a get well soon card for a committee member who had been taken ill. How much more non-league can you get?

And the hardcore fan base known as The Rabble, many of them decked out in the imaginative apparel from the well-stocked club shop (I particularly like the T-shirts based on the Ramones tops worn by legions of trendies who wouldn't know a track from Road to Ruin if it bit them on the bum) were right behind the team all afternoon.

There were more than 1,700 in for this game. That's an amazing turnout for a game and this level and I've been at Football League games where fewer people have parted with their hard-earned cash on the gate.

Apparently the fans have a song based on Duchess by The Stranglers - one of the greatest songs ever recorded - although sadly I didn't hear it on this occasion. There were, however, plenty of roars of approval for the Pink and Blue Army as they marched to a 4-0 win.

Champion Hill in its current guise has only stood since 1992. Its predecessor on the same site was one of the most imposing stadia in non-league football - it even staged the FA Amateur Cup final in the 1930s and an international clash between South Korea and Mexico as part of the 1948 Olympics. A non-league ground as an Olympic venue - imagine that!

But with the club going through a bit of a hard time and the ground falling into a state of disrepair, an unlikely saviour arrived in the form of Sainsbury's. The supermarket giant got out the chequebook to secure land for their newest superstore - but part of the deal was that Dulwich Hamlet could build a new ground on the site of the old one. Result.

And a fine ground it is too. Though much smaller than its predecessor, it can still accommodate 3,000 fans including 500 in its defining feature, the Tommy Jover Stand, named after the club legend who spent seven decades at Champion Hill as a player, official and president.

Built into the brick-built structure, the top storey rising above the stand's roof is the clubhouse, changing room and a commercial gym. With its pale brickwork and small towers rising at either end it looks like something in between a castle and a shopping centre.

Perched up top in the middle is a clock, but don't bother checking it to see how long is left to play. Word has it that it's not worked since being struck by lightning in 1956 but whether or not that's an urban myth created by someone who's watched Back To The Future too many times, I can't be sure.

Beyond the stand towards the far end is an open tarmacked area with a goal painted on the perimeter wall and a couple of small basketball nets. Along with the chopsticks, another football first for me...

Behind the goal is a bank of terracing, smaller than the modest section at the opposite end, while midway down the side facing the main stand is a covered standing area.

If you've enjoyed a can or two of Beavertown from the bar and need to answer nature's call but aren't sure where to head, help is at hand. For painted in letters of unprecedented size at the top of the structure are the words 'toilets opposite'. This area is now commonly known as the Toilets Opposite Stand.

Yes, going to Dulwich Hamlet is no run of the mill non-league football experience. And non-league football is all the better for it.

Maldon & Tiptree v Hayes & Yeading

Park Drive

FA Cup 1st qualifying round

September 2, 2017

Ground No 196

WHAT are the chances of Sergio Aguero popping up as a manager in the Bostik League First Division North in a few years?

Pretty slim, you'd have to say, but then the Argentinian hitman has racked up 183 appearances for Manchester City... some 23 fewer tan current Maldon and Tiptree gaffer Kevin Horlock made for the Sky Blues during his playing career,

City were different club back then, mind: No moneybags Emirati owner and down as low as the third tier during Horlock's time there.

It's been all change for the Jammers too over the last couple of decades. In 1997, when Horlock joined City, they were plain old Maldon Town, played in the Eastern Counties League and had been at Park Drive for just three years. A merger with Tiptree United came in 2010.

Being a relatively new ground, Park Drive has a  modern feel. A fellow blogger described it as being "hard to love" on a wintry midweek night. On a hot summer afternoon? Well I'd be in no rush to take it behind the bikesheds but, yes, it was certainly worthy of a bit of affection.

As you enter the ground, the pitch is on the left and a brick-built building ccontaining the clubhouse, committee room, tea bar and changing rooms is on the right.

Between the two is a grass area containing picnic tables and parasols. First impressions are that it looks more like a motorway service station than a football ground.

I half-expected to see a family of five from Luton next to a Vauxhall Zafira complaining in equal measure at the traffic on the M1 and the price of a ham sandwich in the cafeteria instead of a football pitch.

Closer to the far end is a split level hard standing area and in the middle is the tunnel - a covered and fenced walkway from the changing rooms to a quirky brick structure which straddles the halfway line.

This has covered areas for the  fans either side of the pitch entrance - the team line-ups handily pinned up inside one - and the dugouts on the other side of the metal fence that rings the pitch.

Behind the goal at the far end is hard standing while opposite is another small stand, containing 93 seats while on the opposite side of the pitch to the dugouts is the main stand, a 250-seat structure flanked by hard standing.

Behind is a big grass bank - out of bounds for spectators - which had me guessing what might be on the other side.

For some reason I had a vison of a huge reservoir where rare breeds of mallard fluttered to their hearts' content, or maybe a flotilla of yachts sailing along the glistening blue water of the Heybridge Basin.

I was rather disappointed to see on Google Earth that nothing more than a big, green field lay on the other side.

Great Wakering Rovers v Enfield 1893

Burroughs Park

Essex Senior League Premier Division

August 26, 2017

Ground No 195

MUCH of the land which surrounds Great Wakering is closed to the likes of you and me as it forms a Ministry of Defence firing range.

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.

West Essex v Sporting Bengal Utd

Mayesbrook Park

Essex Senior League Premier Division

April 8, 2017

Ground No 194

"THIS must be regarded as one of the best sporting weekends of the year," proclaimed the captain in his programme column, "but who needs the Premier League, Grand National and Masters golf when you've got 14th v 17th in the ESL in sunny Barking?"

My thoughts exactly! On an absolutely scorching spring day, a trip to Mayesbrook Park certainly hit the spot with me.

I can't vouch for the other 18 paying customers but it floated my boat.

I'd chosen this game because my good lady had an appointment not a million miles away and had to change trains at Barking, so I thought I'd tag a long, get the District Line one stop back to Upney and take a leisurely stroll for a mile or so from the tube station to the ground.

What a lovely walk it was too - anyone who thinks outer London is a concrete jungle full of smog and high rises should take a walk through Mayesbrook Park and check out its lake, acres of grassland and play areas.

Nestled behind an £8.1m sports centre and athletics track used as a training facility for athletes competing in the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics is the home of Barking since 1973 (although they've merged with East Ham, folded and reformed in that time) and more recently Essex Senior League newbies West Essex.

Today it was the turn of the tenants to open the front door and invite some friends round. Having parted with just a fiver to get in - and that included a programme - the least I could do was put some money across the bar in the modest clubhouse just past the turnstiles.

Thirst suitably quenched by a cool can of Old Speckled Hen, I made my way up to the terracing behind the goal.

Comprising three long, wide steps, it's split by the entrance and exit to the dressing room area, covered on one side of the split, uncovered on the other.

The area behind the right touchline, which houses the dug-outs, didn't appear to be open to the public, while to the left is a long, short stand with terracing making way to seating towards the hard standing at the far end.

With only a handful of spectators in the ground - it's a crying shame that the hard-working people who run non-league clubs don't get the crowds they deserve - there was never going to be much of a matchday atmosphere.

But we were treated to five goals as the hosts triumphed 4-1 in a decent match and I got a free chocolate biscuit with half-time cuppa too. A result in my book.

I made a speedy getaway to meet up with my better half and as I headed out I couldn't help noticing a small pile of programmes in the turnstile booth which had long since been vacated by the club official who'd been manning it. Next to it was a note which read "honesty is the best policy".

It certainly is - I hope the latecomers took note and paid up as they went in, it's the least West Essex FC deserved.

FC United of Manchester v Harrogate Town

Broadhurst Park

National League South

January 21, 2017

Ground No 192

IT'S easy to knock FC United of Manchester. The 'we've got love enough for two' philosophy of the club set up as a backlash to the Glazer family's takeover at Old Trafford can be a difficult one to get your head around if you're a humble groundhopper in search of new ticks or indeed a fan of pretty much any other club.

So are FC United of Manchester simply a Manchester United presence in the non-league arena? Well no actually.

The roots of the club, and indeed the very reason for its existence, are clear. The name, the kit, the banners, the songs from the large and vocal crowd are reminders of that.

Even the exterior of the ground features imaginative use of railways sleepers - a nod to the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath who formed the club that went on to become Manchester United.

But since opening a ground to call their own in May 2015, FCUM have managed to retain their commitment to being a protest club while establishing themselves as an entity in their own right and a part of the community (one which is just three miles from Etihad Stadium, it's worth remembering).

Because it was set up as a Red Devils rebel club, FCUM had an instant fan base to tap into and as a result  the matchday atmosphere is more akin to that of a league game than a fixture outside the top four tiers of the pyramid.

And that's a good thing by the way - FCUM's rise from nothing to what they have now in 12 years is hugely commendable.

So too is their manifesto which pledges, among other things to make matchdays as affordable as possible (£9 for adults and £2 for kids is pretty cheap at this level); to encourage local talent to the club and to remain a not-for-profit organisation. Oh and there's free Wi-Fi in the ground too.

Broadhurst Park is covered on all four sides and the current capacity is 4,400. The area behind one goal remains undeveloped save for a roof, giving scope for further seats to be added in due course, while along one side is a narrow strip of hard standing. And some flags. Lots of flags.

That means the vast majority of those present watch the action from the St Mary's Road Terrace behind one goal, which holds 2,500 and was bought from Northwich Victoria whose Drill Field ground closed in 2002; and the all-seater main stand along one side of the pitch.

At the back of the main stand is the bar/clubhouse/hospitality area and underneath it is one of the ground's hidden gems. The tea bar. Yes, the tea bar.

Have you ever seen feta, butternut squash and leek pasties on sale at a non-league football match? Balti (vegetable or chicken) and rice was also on the menu, as were Lancashire cheese and spring onion sausage rolls.

We'd eaten before we'd set off but, as my brother-in-law remarked, "it's a shame you only go to grounds once or we could have lunch here next time!"

 There was certainly an appetite for goals too, as FC United fought back from behind twice to draw 2-2 and had an injury-time 'winner' chalked off. In all a very enjoyable afternoon out.