recent Sunday League football...

Blog reports and photos on the following three games:

1) Sunday 24th November 2013
FC Azzurri 2-1 East Goscote Athletic

http://sundayleaguefooty.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/fc-azzurri.html

2) Sunday 1st December 2013
Albion All Stars 2-1 Red Lion Repton

http://sundayleaguefooty.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/albion-all-stars.html

3 Sunday 8th December 2013
Melton Lions 0-2 Ellis Park

http://sundayleaguefooty.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/melton-lions.html

Bosworth battle in vain

MARKET BOSWORTH 20-24 LICHFIELD

Saturday 7th December 2013

Midlands 1 West

Cadeby Lane, Market Bosworth, Leicestershire

After last weeks trip to Coalville RFC I always had the intention of watching another rugby union game this Saturday as well. It was a case of which local side to visit, and with the fixtures giving me plenty of options I narrowed it down to a shortlist of three. There were along with Bosworth, South Leicester and Leicester Forest. 

Market Bosworth play their home games on Cadeby Lane which is on the eastern edge of the village. As you enter there are three pitches, large car park and clubhouse. The main pitch nearest to the clubhouse is railed off on the two sidelines only, with dugouts on the far side and a scoreboard in the far corner. Also there was no hard standing surrounding the pitch or cover for spectators. When arriving at the ground I was not charged an admission fee and no programme was issued. 

The game today was a bottom v top encounter in Midlands 1 West and on paper it should have been a comfortable victory for the unbeaten visitors. Bosworth opened the scoring early on with a penalty before two unconverted tries gave Lichfield a 10-3 lead. The home side got the final score of the first half with another successful penalty attempt. Early on in the second half Bosworth took the lead for the only time in the game. A penalty attempt struck the upright and they gathered the ball to go over for a try which was converted. Lichfield then upped their game and scored two more tries, both of which were converted to give them a lead of 13-24. After a spell of sustained pressure Bosworth finally got a second converted try to reduce the arrears to just four points with four minutes remaining. 

Websites

Market Bosworth

Lichfield

31 photos can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Coalville RFC

COALVILLE 12-47 OLD NORTHAMPTONIANS

Saturday 30th November 2013

Midlands 1 East

Memorial Ground, Hall Lane, Coalville, LE67 5PF

With no football games locally that grabbed my attention I decided to go and try my hand at rugby union photography for the first time. After checking the fixtures on the RFU's website I chose a game in Midlands 1 East, which is one of the regional leagues that sits at the sixth level of the game in England. Coalville are the only side from Leicestershire in this division, with the other thirteen teams are spread across five more counties. They are Derby, Ilkeston and Matlock (Derbyshire); Mansfield, Newark and Paviors (Nottinghamshire); Market Rasen & Louth (Lincolnshire); Bugbrooke, Kettering and Old Northamptonians (Northamptonshire) and Huntingdon & District, Peterborough and Peterborough Lions (Cambridgeshire). 

pitch side view of the clubhouse 

Coalville play their games at the Memorial Ground in Coalville itself and it is located down a driveway off Hall Lane. This opens up to a large car park, two storey clubhouse / changing room building and several rugby pitches. The main pitch nearest the clubhouse is floodlit, fully railed off with dugouts and a scoreboard on the far side. The clubhouse is located on the first floor and is impressive with both bar and kitchen facilities, and a large balcony gives a good view of the action happening on the pitch. There was no admission charge but a 12 page programme was on sale for £1 behind the bar.

On the pitch Coalville were at the wrong end of the table, recording just one win in their eleven league games with only Peterborough below them. Their visitors from Northampton are having a much better season and record eight victories from their eleven games and sat in 5th place. The game went to form with Old Northamptonians producing some impressive running rugby and had the game all but won in the opening twenty minutes, scoring four converted tries and ended the half with a twenty three point advantage (5-28). Following a sin bin for a Coalville player midway through the second half, ON's scored three more tries (two of which were converted) in the space of about ten minutes. The home side got the final score of the afternoon with a converted try late on. 

I went into this with a bit of uncertainty regarding how things would be off the field, but if I lived in Coalville then I could imagine myself being fairly regular at their home games with everyone friendly and welcoming. The game itself was fairly enjoyable for a neutral like myself and I got talking to the ON's photographer which helped pass the time. There is one thing that I find about rugby union tedious and that is the scrum, as it took every one several attempts for the players to get it correct in the referee's eyes. This could be due to new laws that have come into place. One thing that is guaranteed and that is I will be back to watch some more rugby union very soon, and will start looking at the fixtures later on in the week.

websites / social media:

Coalville RFC - official website

Old Northamptonians - official website - twitter

40 odd more photos of the game can be viewed in the slideshow below:

new blog

I have set up a new blog (Sunday League Footy) that will be focusing on Sunday League football in Leicestershire & Rutland and will run along side this one. The idea behind this is to hopefully act as an informative resource, providing details on the leagues and competing clubs. At the moment it is a work in progress, but over the next few weeks more information will be added, so by the time 2014 comes around it should be fully operational as it were. Also any match reports and photos on Sunday League games will also be posted on the new blog, and not on this one.

For more details please visit the new site @ http://sundayleaguefooty.blogspot.co.uk/ 

W.B.A.

WORSBROUGH BRIDGE ATHLETIC 0-3 HALL ROAD RANGERS

Saturday 16th November 2013

Northern Counties East League Division 1

Park Road, Worsbrough Bridge, Barnsley, South Yorkshire

My original plan for today was to take in a tie in the 2nd round of the Birmingham FA Saturday Vase between Jaguar-Daimler and Paget Rangers, but a posting on the Non-League Matters Forum stated that the home side had recently moved from their home base to ground share. With nothing really standing out I made the decision around Saturday lunch time to head into South Yorkshire. Worsbrough Bridge had been on my hit list for a few years now, and with nothing to stop me I made the 150 mile round trip. Bridge play on Park Road which is located on the A61 a few miles from junction 36 of the M1, and was one of the easiest grounds in terms of location that I have been to. On arrival there is a small car park and despite arriving about thirty five minutes before kick-off space was at a premium.

A warm and friendly welcome was had by the chap taking the gate and I paid £4 for the admission and a further £1 for a programme. The entrance to the social club and tea room are outside the confines of the ground, but today the former was out of bounds due to an impending function. The football club share the ground with the cricket club and steps lead you down to the playing surface. Most of the facilties (main stand, dugouts, changing rooms and hospitality room) are on the right hand side while there is a small covered stand on the left hand side. Behind the far goal and part of the left hand side are out of bounds to spectators. 

After originally forming in 1923 as Worsbrough Bridge St. James, the club reformed in 1947 as Worsbrough Bridge Athletic Club playing both football and cricket, and as like today at Park Road. After success in the local Barnsley League they were accepted into the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League in 1962. After enjoying both league and cup success in the 1960's Bridge stepped up to division 3 of the Yorkshire League in 1971. In 1982 they became founder members of the Northern Counties East League when the Yorkshire League merged with the Midland League and they have remained in this competition ever since.

Going into the game Bridge sat in fourth place in the NCEL Division 1 table with 35 points from their sixteen league games, while their visitors from Dunswell found themselves eight points and six places below their hosts in the table. The first half was fairly even with neither goal keeper being tested that often, though I did feel going towards half time that the home side would be slightly ahead on points. With one minute left of the first half a defensive error gifted the visitors the lead, as a misplaced and mistimed back pass allowed Matthew Crane to roll the ball into an empty net from a narrow angle. The home side put the pressure on the visiting goal in the second half, but I felt that they would be vulnerable to the counter attack and this proved to be the case. Another misjudgment in the home defence allowed Chris Adams to double Rangers' advantage on seventy five minutes. Their third and final goal of the afternoon came just five minutes later when Adams hit an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area.

Overall a scoreline that probably does not reflect the game in relation to the balance of play, but football like other sports is about taking the chances created and one presented to you. On this day Rangers did just that and they made the trip back to East Yorkshire with all three points.

Admission: £4

Programme: £1

Attendance: 89 (official)

Badge: £3 - available from club secretary Charlie Wyatt

Websites / Social Media

Northern Counties East League - official website - twitter - facebook

Worsbrough Bridge Athletic - official website - twitter
Hall Road Rangers - official website - twitter - facebook

37 ground and match photos can be viewed in the slideshow below:

more football photos

Three games over the weekend and two of which I took photos at.

Saturday 2nd November 2013
Thurnby Valley 4-3 Whetstone Athletic
Leicestershire FA Saturday Vase 2nd Round
Willowbrook Park, Colthurst Way, Thurnby Lodge Estate, Leicester

Admission / programme: none
Attendance: 16



Oadby Town 5-1 Thrapston Town
United Counties League Division 1
Freeway Park, Wigston Road, Oadby, Leicestershire

Admission: £5
Programme: £1
Attendance: 138

Sunday 3rd November 2013
Wigston United 3-10 Athletic Oadby
Leicestershire FA Sunday Intermediate Cup 2nd Round
Willow Park, Aylestone Lane, Wigston, Leicestershire

Admission / programme: none
Attendance: 12

Keyworth United FC

KEYWORTH UNITED 1-2 aet MOORGREEN

Saturday 26th October 2013

Notts Senior League Senior Cup 1st Round

Platt Lane, Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, NG12 5GE

Nothing really stood out in terms of where to go, with my only requirement was that the fixture had to be local, and preferably an early kick off as well. This was due to winning two tickets to watch the Leicester Riders v Glasgow Rocks in the British Basketball League. Following a scan of the fixtures in the Nottinghamshire Senior League (NSL) this cup match caught my attention between Keyworth United of the Senior Division and Moorgreen of Division 2. 

According to the NSL website the kick-off was 2pm and also their (Keyworth United's) ground on Platt Lane was the nearest at step 7 and above that I had not previously visited. The ground (and Keyworth itself) is straight forward to get to for myself coming from Leicester - a few miles on local roads to the A46 Leicester Western Bypass, and then stay on the A46 until the exit with the A606 (Melton Mowbray and Nottingham). Heading north west on the A606 towards Nottingham, you turn left when signed for the British Geological Survey, and the ground is on the right after the bridge. You enter through some gates into a fairly large car park and the main pitch and clubhouse are to the right. The ground is home to numerous full size and junior pitches and also Keyworth Cricket Club. The main pitch is railed off on three sides, has dugouts on the Platt Lane side and had recently installed floodlights with connection to the national grid happening this week. The clubhouse is also new with the club receiving grants from the Football Foundation. 

the clubhouse

I arrived at the ground at around 1.45pm in readiness for what I thought was the advertised 2pm kick-off, but in turned out to be 2.30 which gave me enough time for a sausage cob which were on sale in the clubhouse for £2. I got recognised as a hopper by one of the home officials and he told me about the club, and that they were looking forward to being part of the NSL groundhop in April. 

The football club are one of the oldest in Nottinghamshire, and have played under various names, at different grounds and in different leagues throughout their existence. An excellent detailed history of the club can be found on the club website: history. 

programme cover

Keyworth went into this game at the bottom of the NSL's Senior Division recording just one league win so far, while their opponents from Eastwood sit top of division 2 with an unbeaten record. I saw Moorgreen earlier on in the record when they recorded a 3-0 victory at Greyfriars FC and they looked a decent side. Right from the off Moorgreen looked the better side and most of the action was in the Keyworth half. It felt only a matter of time before the visitors would take the lead, but the first half ended goalless. The visitors were again the better side, creating the better chances and at one point coming very close to opening the scoring but the ball struck the cross bar. Against the run of play on 82 minutes Keyworth were awarded a free kick on the right hand side, and the resulting kick was turned into the back of the net by a defender. Their lead lasted just three minutes as Moorgreen took the game into extra time when Sam Dilks levelled the proceedings. An even first period of extra time followed, with the home side having their first shots on target during this time. The visitors winner came on 108 minutes when Ben Holmes cut inside from the left and smashed the ball past the Keyworth keeper. Dilks should have put the game to bed but missed two excellent chances in the final ten minutes. No further scoring and the visitors deservedly booked their place in round 2.

Admission: Free

Programme: 50p

Attendance: 25

Websites / social media:

Notts Senior League - FA Full time

Keyworth United - official website - twitter

Moorgreen - twitter

Maps:

grounds visited in Nottinghamshire

new grounds visited during the 2013/14 season

44 photos taken during the first half can be viewed in the slideshow below: