West Sussex League

Premier Division

Wednesday 10th April 2024

Kick Off 18.00 On Time!

Watersfield 1 Harting 4, attendance 19

16’ 0-1

29’ 0-2

34’ 0-3

48’ 0-4

90’ 1-4

@ Alban Head Playing Field

Sandy Lane

Watersfield

RH20 1NE

No Admission or Programme.

I had confirmation from the home club via Twitter that the game was going ahead as planned and they helpfully also said that if anything was to change, then they’d update as necessary, although weren’t expecting anything to alter in the meantime. It did rain all the way there, but once on the A24 it was nothing more than light rain/drizzle, but did continue throughout the game. The ground is at the end of Sandy Lane, a right hand turn off the A29 when heading towards the coast. There is a small car park at the entrance, with the pitch running lengthways away from here, with a cricket square to the left and a pavilion/changing room building on a raised area beyond the far goal.

The match was 6th versus 3rd in the league table. The visitors were far more clinical with their finishing and the game was more evenly contested than the scoreline suggests. A break down the right was pulled back and finished with a shot into the top corner after sixteen minutes, to put Harting in front and they doubled their lead with a header from a corner just before the half hour mark. Five minutes later it was 0-3, finishing easily having been clean through on goal. The game was put out of reach, with goal number four coming three minutes into the second half. Watersfield got a last minute consolation, but Harting were deserved winners.

Having kicked off on time, with just five minutes for halftime, taken out on the pitch, we were done and dusted at 19.35. The result sees both clubs remain in the league positions they started the night in. Harting are two points adrift of second placed T.D. Shipley, having played the same number of games, whilst Lavant remain three points clear at the top, as well as having a game in hand on the two below them.

United States of America

National Basketball Association

Saturday 28th December 2019

Tip Off 19.00

Boston Celtics 97 Toronto Raptors 113, attendance 19,156

Celtics Starters :

Daniel Theis : 4 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk

JaysonTatum : 12 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl

Gordon Hayward : 13 pts. 6 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk

Kemba Walker : 30 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl

Jaylen Brown : 17 pts, 5 reb, 1ast, 3 stl

Used Substitutes : Grant Williams, Enes Kanter, Carsen Edwards, Marcus Smart, Brad Wanamaker, Romeo Langford, Javonte Green

Coach : Brad Stevens

Raptors Starters :

Serge Ibaka : 20 pts, 10 reb,

OG Anunoby : 7 pts, 4 reb

Kyle Lowry : 30 pts, 4 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl

Fred Van Vleet : 18 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast, 5 stl, 1 blk

Patrick McCaw : 18 pts, 7 reb, 8 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Used Substitutes : Chris Boucher, Oshae Brissett, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson, Terence Davis, Malcolm Miller

Coach : Nick Nurse

@ TD Garden

100 Legends Way

Boston

MA 02114

$106 Admission + $22.58 fees. Resale, Mobile Ticket.

Team Sheet, free. Double sided poster size.

Tickets for this game had been bought in advance on-line. Despite being loaded onto your mobile phone, therefore requiring no printing, they are still subject to extortionate add on fees! The price for tickets was reasonable, considering this was 2nd versus 4th in the Eastern Conference, especially with Toronto Raptors being the reigning NBA Champions, although they are now without Kawhi Leonard, who was the difference between them and former champions Golden State Warriors during last years finals and it will be a massive surprise to everyone if they repeat the feat. In fact, just winning the Eastern Conference title will take some doing, let alone taking on the best from the West, which will more than likely be either L.A. Lakers, Denver Nuggets or L.A. Clippers, which is where Kawhi Leonard is now plying his trade.

TD Garden was opened in 1995 (as Fleet Center)and is now named after its sponsor, TD Bank, and has a capacity of 18,624, which is 532 less than the official attendance for tonight’s game! Considering it is a relatively new venue, it is a dreadful place to endure two to three hours of pain, as the seats are the most cramped I have ever come across and I still have the bruises on each hip to prove it. Quite a few people couldn’t even fit into their seats at all, choosing instead to sit in the gangway, which went unchallenged by the arena security team, so it must be a regular thing.

The two teams met on Christmas Day, in Toronto, with Celtics taking the game 118-102. The Raptors haven’t played since, but Celtics were playing their second game in succession, having beaten Cleveland Cavaliers here in Boston last night. The rest looked to have suited The Raptors, as apart from a couple of times midway through the first period, when the score was briefly tied, Raptors led for the remainder of the game and never looked like being pegged back, giving only a second home defeat of the season to The Celtics.

Despite missing two of their top four scorers due to injury, Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell, they were also missing Centre Marc Gasol, all three having picked up injuries in a win at Detroit a week ago. Kyle Lowry top scored for the visitors with 30 points, with Serge Ibaka getting 20. Patrick McCaw and Fred Van Vleet each scored 18. Kemba Walker led the way for Celtics with 30, backed up by 17 points from Jaylen Brown.

United States of America

National Collegiate Athletic Association

Division I

American Athletic Conference

Sunday 3rd March 2019

Tip Off 14.00

Temple University Owls 80 Tulane University Green Wave 69, attendance 7,090

@ The Liacouras Center

1776 North Broad Street

Philadelphia

PA 19121

Admission $15 + $10 fees

No Programme.

The Liacouras Center was opened in 1997 and originally named The Apollo of Temple. It was renamed in 2000 after Temple University President, Peter J. Liacouras and has an all seated capacity of 10,206. It is easily reached by taking the Broad Street Line on the underground, getting off at Cecil B. Moore Station, with the journey costing $2.50 each way from the centre of Philadelphia.

Temple Owls are one of the top college basketball teams in the United States and are currently number 5 in the list of most ever wins in NCAA Division I. Tulane came into this bottom of the league table, but started well and looked like they might make a real game of it. Temple settled down and ran out easier winners than the eleven point winning margin suggests. Quinton Rose, with 29 points, led the way for the Owls, with Levan Shawn Alston Jr getting 22. Samir Sehic top scored for the visitors on 24 points.

We had bought tickets in advance of the game from the venue, which incurred a rip off 67% added fee to the ticket price, but needn’t have done so as the crowd was only about half of what the official figure claimed, although the price of the actual ticket on the day may have been more expensive. They obviously include season tickets on top of any sold tickets for the match.

United States of America

National Basketball Association

Saturday 2nd March 2019

Tip Off 20.30

Philadelphia 76ers 117 Golden State Warriors 120, attendance 20,624

76ers Starters :

Jonah Bolden : 12 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk

Tobias Harris : 20 pts, 9 reb, 3 ast

Ben Simmons : 25 pts, 15 reb, 11 ast, 3 stl

Jimmy Butler : 21 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

J. J. Redick : 6 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast

Used bench :

Mike Scott, Jonathon Simmons, T. J. McConnell

Warriors Starters :

Draymond Green : 6 pts, 9 reb, 10 ast, 3 stl

Kevin Durant : 34 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast

Alfonzo McKinnie : 0 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast

DeMarcus Cousins : 25 pts, 8 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk

Stephen Curry : 28 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl

Used bench :

Jordan Bell, Jonas Jerebko, Quinn Cook, Shaun Livingston, Damion Lee, Andre Iguodala

@ Wells Fargo Center

3601 South Broad Street

Philadelphia

PA 19148

Admission $170 + $28 fees, Resale, Print at Home Ticket

No Programme.

The Wells Fargo Center was opened in 1996 and has a capacity of 20,478, but with additional standing tickets available in the executive boxes this can increase by another couple of hundred. It is also home to the NHL team Philadelphia Flyers. It is located at South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which is also home to the NFL and MLB stadiums of Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia Phillies respectively. The complex is at the end of the Broad Street Line on the underground, which is NRG Station. It costs $2.50 each way from central Philadelphia.

With the current NBA champions being the visitors, it meant that ticket prices were astronomical, but readily available through the resale outlets. Unfortunately, the main man for the 76ers, Joel Embiid, was missing his fifth consecutive match through injury, although this was offset by Klay Thompson being absent for the Warriors as he was nursing a knee injury picked up in the game with Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

This was in the balance right to the end as the lead changed hands fourteen times and eleven times it was all square. The 76ers had a chance to level it up with 1.7 seconds left on the clock, but lost possession and their chance of taking it to overtime was gone. Once again Durant and Curry led the scoring for the Warriors, with an impressive 25 points also scored by Cousins. Ben Simmons top scored for the 76ers with 25 points as part of a triple double.

The win leaves Golden State Warriors top of the Western Conference, although they are being pushed all the way by Denver Nuggets. Philadelphia remain fourth in the Eastern Conference.

British Basketball League

Sunday 6th January 2019

Tip Off 14.00

Surrey Scorchers 78 Manchester Giants 105,  attendance 400 est.

@ Surrey Sports Park Arena

Richard Meyjes Road

Guildford

GU2 7AD

Admission £11.50 + 57p On-Line Booking Fee, Will Call *

No Programme.

Having really enjoyed watching basketball whilst living in the U.S.A. I thought it was about time I watched a game over here to see what standard the game was this side of The Atlantic.

*I booked my ticket on-line, which meant a £3 discount of the price ‘on the door’ if booked 3 hours prior to the start of the game (£2.43 saving after the booking fee), with tickets available for collection up to half an hour before tip off. Having arrived at 13.05, I soon realised what a shambles the people running the Surrey Scorchers are. There was no ticket waiting, which was also the case for the two people behind me in the queue. I was directed to the reception desk, but as their printer was not working properly, it was a very basic print out on a piece of paper, minus any barcode for scanning. The reason given for no ticket being ready was that “we printed all the ticket orders at 10 o’clock, so anyone who ordered after this won’t have been processed”. It is hardly rocket science to print the tickets once the three hour deadline has expired, rather than an hour before on-line booking closes, is it ?

Anyway, it was a case of walking upstairs to gain entrance to the court. The person checking for tickets didn’t even check the piece of paper, but was more bothered about putting a stamp on people’s hands so that you could go in and out for use of toilets/bar etc as there are no facilities courtside. According to the website of the Sports Park the arena holds 1,000, but even with additional courtside seating it only holds 534.

The next problem was no matchday programme or even team lists, so unless you go every week you would have no idea who any of the players were, which is pathetic at this level. The Scorchers website and twitter account was a total waste of time as well, as there was no up to date information on either.

As for the match……not great, which was perhaps to be expected with this being second from bottom versus fourth bottom in the league table. Manchester only had two players on their bench, which just about sums it up. Even with four extra players available Scorchers were never really in it. These two sides would get absolutely hammered by any half decent college team from The States and would probably struggle to actually win a match at all. It is a pity the experience was so bad and not a patch on attending an event in America.

Australia

National Basketball League

Saturday 30th December 2017

Tip Off 17.30

Sydney Kings 79 Melbourne United 103,  attendance 6,014

Kings Starters :

T. Blanchfield 10 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk

B. Newley 4 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk

J. Randle 26 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast

P. Ellis 13 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast

A. Singh 0 pts, 1 reb

Bench :

T. Garlepp 2 pts, J. Cadee 8 pts, D. Pineau 8 pts, I. Humphries 0 pts, A. Thoseby 2 pts, S. Daly 0 pts, J. Tyler 6 pts

United Starters :

C. Goulding 18 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

T. Wesley 12 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk

C. Ware 26 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast

J. Boone 18 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

C. Felix 7 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl

Bench :

D. Barlow 8 pts, K. Adnam 2 pts, T. Smith-Milner 3 pts, C. Moller 9 pts, P. Hooley 0 pts

@ Qudos Bank Arena

Olympic Boulevard

Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney

NSW 2127

AUD $52 Admission + AUD $6.70 Fees, Will Call.

No Programme.

Qudos Bank Arena, which was known as Sydney Super Dome when it was completed in 1999, is a multi purpose arena that was built for use in the 2000 Summer Olympics. Capacity here is 21,032, of which around 18,200 is seated. For Kings home games, only the bottom tier and a small section of the third tier is used for spectators.

The arena is easily reached by public transport from the city centre. Trains from Sydney Central Station to Lidcombe on line T1, with a change to line T7 for one stop to Olympic Park, take around 35 minutes at a cost of just AUD $6.02 return using an Opal Card, which is the equivalent to the Oyster Card in London.

As for the match, it was far too easy for Melbourne after halftime. Sydney actually led 46-44 at the break, having been up by 5 points at one stage. However, Melbourne blitzed them with a 15-0 run in the opening stages of the third period and never looked back, holding a 26 point lead at one point towards the end.

Australia

National Basketball League

Friday 22nd December 2017

Tip Off 19.30

Melbourne United 99 Adelaide 36ers 91,  attendance 8,089

United Starters :

D. Barlow 7 pts, 2 reb

C. Goulding 22 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast

T. Wesley 14 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk

C. Ware 24 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast

J. Boone 4 pts, 12 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk

Bench :

D. Anderson 5 pts, K. Adnam 2 pts, T. Smith-Milner 0 pts, C. Muller 8 pts, P. Holley 11 pts, F. Van Hove 2 pts

36ers Starters :

D. Johnson 20 pts, 10 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk

N. Sobey 19 pts, 3 reb, 1 stl

M. Hodgson 1 pt, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk

J. Childress 18 pts, 8 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk

S. Shorter 11 pts, 11 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk

Bench :

B. Treys 3 pts, S. Johns 0 pts, N. Larkins 0 pts, M. Deng 14 pts, R. Moore 5 pts

@ Hisense Arena

2, Olympic Boulevard

Melbourne

VIC 3004

AUD $54 Admission

Programme, Download Only.

Unlike the N.B.A. in the U.S.A., matches here are played over 4 x 10 minute periods, rather than the 4 x 12 minute format. The standard here would be similar to the top colleges in America.

Once Melbourne got in front, it all looked to be going very comfortably for them. Adelaide led by 4 points early on, but at one stage, Melbourne were up by 16 points. With 1 minute 28 seconds left on the clock, Melbourne led 91-83, but a superb comeback looked on the cards, as Adelaide reduced it to 93-91 with just 23 seconds left, before the hosts hit back to seal the win.

Hisense Arena is a multi- purpose venue that is part of the National Tennis Centre at Melbourne Park. It was opened in 2000 and hosts games in the Australian Open Tennis as well as netball and track cycling, which requires a re-configuration of the seating. Basketball matches here have a 10,500 capacity. Public transport is ideal for this venue as Tram No.70 stops right outside.

Canada

National Basketball Association

Eastern Conference

Thursday 19th October 2017

Tip Off 19.30

Toronto Raptors 117 Chicago Bulls 100, attendance 19,800

Raptors Starters ;

Norman Powell : 15pts, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl

Serge Ibaka : 8 pts, 4 reb, 2 blk

Jonas Valanciunas : 23pts, 15 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl

DeMar DeRozan : 11pts, 6 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl

Kyle Lowry : 12pts, 4 Feb, 9 ast, 1 stl

Used Subs ;

CJ Miles, OG Anunoby, Fred Van Vleet, Jakob Poeltl, Delon Wright, Pascal Siakam, Alfonzo McKinnie

Bulls Starters ;

Paul Zipser : 7pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl

Lauri Markkanen : 17pts, 8 reb, 1 blk

Robin Lopez : 18pts, 8 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl

Justin Holiday : 15pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Jerian Grant : 7pts, 2 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl

Used Subs :

Denzel Valentine, Cristiano Felico, Ryan Arcidiacono, David Nwaba, Quincy Pondexter, Kay Felder, Antonio Blakeney

@ Air Canada Centre

40 Bay Street

Toronto

ON M5J 2X2

CAN $123 + CAN $15.25 fees.

No Programme.

The Air Canada Centre is in the heart of Downtown Toronto, immediatly to the south of Union Station, which it is connected to via a pedestrian walkway. It was opened in February 1999 and has a capacity of 19,800 for basketball. It is also home to Toronto Maple Leafs, of the National Hockey League and Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League. It was announced in August, that from July 2018, it will be renamed Scotiabank Arena, following a new sponsorship deal of CAD $800 million over 20 years.

Tonight was the season opener and despite being announced as a 19,800 sell out, there were quite a few empty seats, so the actual ‘attendance’ in the building was probably around a thousand less than claimed. The game itself ended up pretty one sided after the Raptors outscored the Bulls 33-14 in the second quarter to lead by 58- 37 at the interval. Despite the Bulls edging the second half by 4 points, the damage was done. CJ Miles scored an impressive 22 points from the bench on his debut for the Raptors

As the Raptors are the only non-American team in the N.B.A. it was the first time I have been to a top level game where the fans are there to watch the match, rather than being there just to eat and drink throughout, getting in and out of their seats every ten minutes, paying little attention to the actual action on the court. The same thing happened when I visited Canada to watch Montreal Impact play a Major League Soccer match at the Olympic Stadium…..it must be a Canadian thing and the match day experience is so much better for it !

National Junior College Athletic Association

Division I

Region 5 Conference

Wednesday 8th February 2017

Tip Off 19.30

McLennan Community College Highlanders 66 Ranger College Rangers 68,  attendance 265

@ The Highlands Gymnasium

1400, College Drive

Waco, TX 76708

$2 Admission

Programme free, 4 pages.

Well, this one was certainly a surprise result, despite it being 1st v 3rd in Region 5 Conference. McLennan came into this with a perfect 24-0 winning record for the season and were ranked No.3 nationally in the most recent poll.

They scored the first point of the game from the free throw line, but then trailed for the next thirteen minutes, but gradually came back into it and held a narrow 33-31 lead at halftime. The lead was increased to 43-31 with 16 minutes left, but Ranger fought back gradually to level it up at 61-61 with 2 minutes 50 seconds left. Another score, quickly followed by a 3 pointer made it 61-66 with 1 minute 22 seconds left. McLennan replied with a 3 pointer of their own with 33 seconds left and levelled it up at 66-66 with 5.2 seconds on the clock and it looked like we would be heading into overtime. Incredibly, Ranger then won it with the winning basket right on the buzzer to leave the home crowd stunned.

This is more than likely my last game I will do as a resident of the U.S.A. and could be my last basketball game for a while, as I don’t think there will be much comparison in standard to that which is played in the U.K.

Another thing that certainly won’t compare when returning to ‘rip off’ Britain is the price of petrol. I filled the car up last night with unleaded fuel at $196.9 a GALLON ! In sterling, that is roughly £1.57, or just 35p per litre !!!

National Junior College Athletic Association

Division I

Region 14 Conference

Saturday 4th February 2017

Tip Off 16.00

Navarro College Bulldogs 57 Kilgore College Rangers 51,  attendance 125

@ Wolens Special Events Center

3200, West 7th Avenue

Corsicana, TX 75110

No Admission

Programme free, 14 pages, Media Copy.

Eric McCollum scored a game-high 18 points for the Bulldogs, including six of the last eight inside the final 1 minute 51 seconds to end a five game losing streak. Davon Newton top scored for Rangers with 13 points.