Ashbourne Summer League

League Cup Final

Saturday 29th June 2019

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 19.04

Doveridge 2 Red Lion 0, attendance 54

51’ 1-0

60’ 2-0

@ Mappleton Playing Field

Mapleton Road (near Okeover Arms pub)

Mappleton

DE6 2AB

£2 Admission

No Programme.

It is seven years since I last watched a game in this league and it was six years before that when I saw my previous one. I had watched seven games at one time, but got fed up with the poor standard of football on offer and couldn’t believe that many of the grounds were nothing more than a very poorly cut piece of grass, out in the middle of nowhere, where players got changed next to their cars as there were not even changing rooms on site. It is certainly not worth making a special journey for, but as I had been in Coventry during the afternoon for the rugby league, and the fact that it was only an hour and a quarter drive from there, then it made sense to do tonight’s match. The village of ‘Mappleton’ (which is what the signpost says when entering the village) is a couple of miles north west of Ashbourne, although Google Maps and my SatNav spell it ‘Mapleton’, which is also what the sign post said when leaving Ashbourne.

The match was like watching ‘attack versus defence’, as Red Lion looked to take the game to penalties, as they had obviously decided that was their best, or only, chance of winning the match. They defended brilliantly, keeping it scoreless until halftime, but having conceded a goal just six minutes into the second half meant their plan had failed. They conceded a second goal on the hour mark, which made little difference to the outcome, as they would never have scored anyway.

Pre-Season Friendly

Sunday 23rd June 2019

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.04

Enfield Borough 2 Rising Ballers 4, attendance 67

13’ 0-1

15’ 1-1

32’ 1-2

41’ 1-3

43’ 1-4

83’ 2-4

@ The College of Haringey, Enfield & North East London (Enfield)

73 Hertford Road

(Enter via The Ride)

Enfield

EN3 5HA

No Admission or Programme.

Enfield Borough play in Division 1 of the Spartan South Midlands League, whilst Rising Ballers are a Sunday League team. Rising Ballers were the better team from the off and they could have easily been ahead by more than the 1-4 lead they had at halftime. The second half saw a number of changes and the game never reached the quality of the first half. A late goal for Enfield made it look closer than it was.

Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Premier 2 Division

Semi Final

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 16.45 Actual 16.57

G.N.G. Leicester 2 G.S.A. Reserves 3, attendance 125

6’ 0-1

64’ 0-2

68’ 1-2

74’ 1-3 (pen)

90’+ 1, 2-3 (pen)

@ Riverside Football Ground (F.C. G.N.G.)

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2FW

No Admission

Tournament Brochure, free, 68 pages.

I had decided earlier in the day that if the host club G.N.G. Leicester were playing in the Premier 2 Division Semi Final, then I would stay on for one last match. It should never have been in doubt, and it wasn’t, as they had won all their matches in the Walsall and Birmingham tournaments and comfortably won their opening match this morning as well, judging by their winning margin. My decision was also swayed by the fact that the match was being played on the Riverside Football Ground main pitch, which is home to F.C. G.N.G. who play in the Leicestershire Senior League, Premier Division. It was also the only ground in that league that I hadn’t visited as the 2018/19 season came to a close. Despite being floodlit, it made more sense to do a match whilst I was here, rather than make a special journey, and anyway, they don’t tend to play many midweek matches due to the small size of the league, so perfect.

G.S.A. took an early lead, but decided to ‘shut up shop’ and just sit back and see if G.N.G. could break them down. They relied on the blistering pace of their Number 9, who had opened the scoring, as a real weapon. Ten minutes into the second half G.N.G. had a man red carded for a foul and shortly afterwards G.S.A. broke away to make it 0-2. It looked to be all over, but the ten men replied with a 20 yarder that the ‘keeper really should have saved, to make it 1-2, but the two goal margin was quickly restored as G.S.A. scored a penalty, completing a hattrick for their Number 9. G.N.G. did reduce it to 2-3, when they scored a penalty of their own in stoppage time, but it was too late to alter the outcome.

Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Premier Division

Quarter Final

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 13.00 Actual 13.18

Smethwick F.C. 1 Singh Brothers Derby 1, (1-4 pens), attendance 45

11’ 0-1

47’ 1-1

@ Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, Pitch 4

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2 FW

No Admission

Tournament Programme, free, 68 pages.

Despite this being the highest level match so far, it was easily the least entertaining. Derby took an early lead and Smethwick levelled it up just two minutes into the second half. Both teams cancelled each other out and there were very few chances for either side to win it, so we headed to penalties to decide the winners. Smethwick only scored one of their three taken, but Derby scored all four of theirs to go through.

Having watched three matches back to back, with no time in between for food or drink, I decided to take a break and have a sit down, before doing match number four of the day, scheduled for 16.45, which would be a match involving the host club G.N.G. Leicester.

Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Premier 2 Division

Quarter Final

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 11.15 Actual 11.48

A.F.C. Coventry Lions 1 G.S.A. Reserves 3, attendance 50

8’ 0-1

17’ 0-2 (pen)

19’ 1-2

35’ 1-3

@ Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, Pitch 3

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2FW

No Admission

Tournament Programme, free, 68 pages.

As we waited for our scheduled 11.15 match to start, the trouble brewing following the Panjab Sandwell versus G.S.A. Youth match now turned into a mass brawl, which involved between 50 and 100 people, including one of the teams from our match, G.S.A. Reserves, who went to add numbers to members of their club involved in the fighting. For a good five minutes or so the fighting moved from one side of the pitch to the other and just as it looked like it had quietened down, another fight broke out on the fringes, and off it went again. The Police arrived just as it was calming down and some sort of order was restored.

There seemed to be a dispute going on between various sections of the G.S.A. committee and players as to whether they would actually play on, or withdraw from the tournament as some sort of protest, but eventually it was decided that they would carry on. Having kicked off 33 minutes late, it meant the match was reduced to 2 x 40 minute halves to try and get back some of the lost time and keep the rest of the day on schedule.

It didn’t appear to affect G.S.A. too much, as they came out and attacked from the off, going two goals up early on, but a superb free kick pulled Coventry Lions a goal back, but G.S.A. soon restored their two goal lead. The second half was a non event. This match didn’t finish until 13.17, which could have been a problem, as our next match was due to start at 13.00. Thankfully, the game beforehand went to penalties, so our next match was going to start late and it meant we had a minute gap between our match finishing and the next one starting. It was a good job it was only about 25 yards between the two pitches.

Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Division 2

1st Round

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 09.30 Actual 09.31

F.C. Panjab Sandwell 2 G.S.A. Youth 4, attendance 30

18’ 0-1

33’ 1-1

49’ 1-2

51’ 2-2

74’ 2-3

80’+ 6, 2-4

@ Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, Pitch 2

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2FW

No Admission

Tournament Programme, free, 68 pages.

Having attended this tournament last year, I arrived with a list of 4 pitches that I hadn’t seen matches on previously. Although the fixtures are on the tournament website, the actual pitches are not known until you arrive on the morning of the opening round of matches. It turned out to be a real bonus today though, as they were using the three pitches at the Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, which hadn’t been used last year, so I decided to do a match on each of these, then see if I had the stamina to do any more matches after this.

From the two tournaments played so far, in Walsall and Birmingham,(they use the same venues for both competitions) these were the top two teams in the overall league table. There used to be three divisions, but this year there has been a ‘Premier 2’ added, although it means a number of teams receive a bye in the first round of this division, which is the lowest level, due to it having fewer entrants. It is also the only one of the four divisions that are played as 80 minute games, rather than the traditional 90.

This was a really good game, although it turned into a very niggly affair, especially after G.S.A. went ahead late in the match through a controversial goal. Panjab thought a free kick should have been awarded to them, but having stood and watched G.S.A. score, they then argued with the Referee and each other for around 6 or 7 minutes before the game finally restarted. To make matters worse, G.S.A. then added a fourth goal well into added time to seal a 2-4 win.

As we headed to Pitch 3, for the scheduled 11.15 kick off, the arguments continued on the other pitch and as well as the two teams that had just played, it now seemed to have Sikh Hunters involved as well, as they were trying to warm up for their match, but were being hampered by the arguments that were beginning to become much more heated………it was about to ignite, big style!

Inter-Island Games Football Tournament 2019

Group A

Monday 17th June 2019

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.29

Ynys Mon 3 Orkney 1, attendance 620

16’ 1-0

35’ 2-0

43’ 2-1

87’ 3-1 (pen)

@ Maes Meurig (Gwalchmai F.C.)

off Crown Street

Gwalchmai

LL65 4SA

Admission by donation

£3 Tournament Brochure available, plus free Team Sheet. Didn’t bother with either.

The journey from Bodedern took about 12 minutes and I arrived in time to get the last car park space at the ground, which was a bit of a relief as the surrounding area didn’t look the best area to be leaving your car unattended. As with the earlier match, there was a collection for admission as you entered the ground and there was also a tea bar that was doing a roaring trade, as host ‘nation’ Ynys Mon drew in a very good crowd of 620, which may have even reached the 650 mark once all the stragglers had arrived.

It was nice to see that the traditional national anthems were played over the tannoy prior to the match, with ‘Land of My Fathers’ and ‘Flower of Scotland’ representing the Welsh and Scottish teams on view tonight. Ynys Mon went ahead after 16 minutes and it looked like this might be a bit one sided. Orkney started to push for an equaliser and it became much more even. The Ynys Mon Number 10 deserved to get a red card for his ridiculous act of cheating, when he pretended to have been head butted by the Orkney ‘keeper, in one of the most pathetic pieces of play acting you’re likely to see. The Referee only gave him a yellow card and a couple of minutes later it was 2-0, and yes, it was the Number 10 who scored it. He goaded the ‘keeper once more during his celebration. What a pity Orkney were not able to turn it round. They did pull it back to 2-1, but with the game still in the balance, Ynys Mon finally made it safe with a very harshly awarded penalty three minutes from the end. Somehow, I don’t think it would have been given if it had been at the other end……

The match was over at 20.23 and at least I would get around an hour and a half of daylight to start my near 300 mile drive home. Amazingly there were no motorway closures, so home for 01.15.

Inter-Island Games Football Tournament 2019

Group C

Monday 17th June 2019

Kick Off 15.30 Actual 15.29

Guernsey 2 Shetland Islands 1, attendance 165 (official number given as 208 !)

21’ 1-0

44’ 2-0

52’ 2-1

@ Cae Ty Criston (Bodedern Athletic F.C.)

Ty’n Fford

Off Church Street (B5109)

Bodedern

LL65 3TU

Admission by donation

£3 Tournament Brochure available, plus free Team Sheet. Didn’t bother with either.

The Inter-Island Games are being held in Gibraltar this year, but as they only have one football ground there, the football part of the tournament was being held in Wales, on the island of Ynys Mon, perhaps better known as Anglesey.

The matches were being held at a number of grounds across the island and of those being used, there were 3 that I hadn’t visited for a match. Unfortunately, the ground of Bro Goronwy was only staging a Women’s match, which I will not watch, so I was left with needing just two. Luckily, they were both hosting matches today and even better, they were at different times and very easy to double up. It also fitted in perfectly with the rugby league in Workington yesterday, so after a second nights accommodation in the North West, it was only an hour and a half drive along the North Wales coast for today’s action.

I had visited Bodedern Athletic before, (4th September 2004, when they beat Llandudno Junction 1-0 in the Welsh Alliance) when they played at Bodedern Secondary School, or Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern, to give it it’s Welsh name, which is on London Road, on the left hand side when entering the village from the A55. They now play on the eastern edge of the village, next to the Primary School. They are developing a nice little set up here and they even had the tea bar up and running, doing hot food and drinks. The organisation of the proceedings wasn’t too bad, considering volunteers would have had to take time off work to cope with the late afternoon kick off. The playing of the national anthems, which I have no idea what either of them were, could have been done better, but at least everything was done and dusted to enable the match to actually get underway a minute early.

Guernsey had quite a number of their squad who play in the Isthmian League for Guernsey F.C., but they made hard work of winning this match. The opening goal was finished with a shot through the ‘keeper’s legs after cutting in from the left and the second goal, just before halftime, was deflected past the ‘keeper at his near post from close range. Shetland got back into it early in the second half. They were awarded a penalty, but although it was saved, the ball fell perfectly for the striker to slot in the rebound. Neither side looked like adding any further goals and the game finished 2-1 to The Channel Islanders.