My Football Adventure

Farsley Celtic 1908 - 2010: Thank you for the memories - part one

2010-03-10T19:05:00.004Z

March 10th 2010, the day that Farsley Celtic were finally disbanded after over one hundred years existance. It was also the same day that Chester City were wound up after 126 years. Recent years has seen the demise of several clubs such as Telford, Halifax and Scarborough, something is clearly wrong and needs to change. It is possible that Farsley might have been rescued from oblivion if the Administrators hadn't been so unreasonable charging ridiculously large fees. But the reason why Farsley have headed towards oblivion essentially stem from the spending money that was essentially predicated on a housing development that never happened, thanks mainly to the Leeds City Council planning committee, but also the credit crunch and subsequent slow down in the property industry.

I first got taken to watch Farsley Celtic by my father in the early-mid 1990s, mainly because it was far too expensive and poor value for money to go watch Leeds United, how times haven't changed. I remember very little about watching football in those days at Throstle Nest, it was more about going to the tea hut around the back of the stand and getting cones of greasy chips, bags of penny sweets and cans of pop. The shed behind the goal offered shelter from the windy conditions (it is always windy at Throstle Nest) and it had some wooden seats that were covered in dust, and terracing that was dust. When I got a bit older at Throstle Nest, I used to take great interest in the club shop, a portakabin full of about 10% merchandise and 90% programmes, where I occasionally bought bundles of programmes for a quid or so. When my friends and I were once at the Nest, we bought our form teacher a York City programme for his leaving present, as he was a long suffering fan of the Minster Men.

Going to Throstle Nest, watching such luminaries as Robbie Whellans, Calvin Allen, Steve Learoyd and Ian Blackstone became a part of life on cold mid-late '90s Saturday afternoons. Buying 10p mixes, early '90s football league programmes and watching Unibond First Division football, followed by three hours of warming up at home in front of the Brookside omnibus, Gladiators and Noel's House Party kind of sums up mid-1990s Saturdays for me.

I grew up in Horsforth and went to school in Menston and remember trying to whip up a bit of Farsley v Guiseley fervour, when the clubs played each other in the FA Cup Qualifying rounds (I think!). At the time, Guiseley had been in a division higher than Farsley for quite a few years, indeed Guiseley were very close to getting into the Conference in the early 90s, whilst Farsley languised in the bottom half of the Unibond First Division for many seasons in the 90s. The Farsley - Guiseley fervour worked to some extent as we went to a game and had fun in the way that boisterous 14 year olds do. No one else really came back for some more though.

Other games that excited people from school to go to were friendlies against our professional neighbours. One particular game that stands out is a visit of Bradford City, probably a year or two before they got promoted to the Premier League, with the Bantam's brazilian cult hero Edinho scoring and celebrating exuberantly. I remember a later visit of Bradford where Ashley Ward missed a penalty for them. Leeds visited a few times, probably around the time of their meteoric rise and fall, as did a Celtic XI (i.e. the Scottish Celtic).

One particular memory of watching the Celtic didn't involve any football at all. Myself and a couple of friends travelled to Morecambe on a wet autumn day for an FA Cup qualifying round (it may have been the final qualifying round, I can't remember) only for the game to be called off. Still, it was a great day out for as, as young 'uns, to have a day away from home and to travel on the player's coach.

At around the turn of the millennium, I remember a couple of occasions from the clubhouse at Throstle Nest. One of these was an end of season presentation evening, where Martin Haresign's trousers split. I also saw in the new millennium in the Throstle Nest club, as a fifteen year old.

Another season beckons...

2009-07-30T22:17:00.007+01:00

It has been about six months since I last decided to write anything on this here blog. The football adventure didn't really happen for me. I did go to another Wigan Athletic game against Hull City, but I didn't get to any new grounds. Last season I missed games in League One, Conference, Unibond Premier, Unibond 1st div N/S and also the North West Counties First Division. So, I have until May to try and get to games at these levels this season, it can be done... but its not really an adventure is it?

Let's look at the possibilities:

League One:

Leeds United: I've been to Elland Road many-a-time, I still call myself a Leeds fan and its not really much bother for me to get to Elland Road when visiting friends and family back 'ome but £29 to watch Leeds play Exeter? It only cost £10 to watch Farsley play them in the league two years ago. (Granted its £21 to sit behind the goal, but still?!)
Huddersfield Town: Its another pretty easy one to get to and I've been down the Galpharm for football and rugby league games many a time - over twenty quid to watch them too?!
Oldham Athletic: Believe it or not, I've never been to Oldham. I've never had a sporting reason to visit and to be fair, there aren't many other reasons to visit. 18 quid to watch the other Latics.
Stockport County: I've been to Edgeley Park before a few times, mostly for Stockport Beer Festival and to a couple of County games. County are a bit of a second team to me.

I think looking at the above, Oldham Athletic would be the destination, especially as Boundary Park may soon be no more.

Blue Square Premier (t'Conference):

Altrincham: I have been there before to watch Farsley a couple of times, so that wouldn't be too fun.
Chester City: Nice city, but I hear the stadium is in the middle of an industrial estate, which puts me off a bit.
York City: York's great, I've never been to Bootham Crescent either. Yeh, York sounds about right.

Unibond Premier:

Ashton United: I've been to Hurst Cross (?) before, so it wouldn't be very adventurous
Bradford Park Avenue: One of Farsley's rivals... I couldn't do that! Plus I've been to their ground a few times before anyway.
Burscough: Just down the road/railway from me in Wigan and I've never been there before... so a possibility.
Buxton: Its do-able from Wigan via the train - and quite adventurous too.
FC United: As a so-called Leeds fan, no thanks!
Guiseley: See Bradford Park Avenye
Marine: Never been there, but not too far from Wigan (I think they play in Crosby), could check out 'Another Place' whilst I'm there
Nantwich Town: Got a friend who lives in Nantwich and was meant to visit, so maybe
Whitby Town: Never been, but I do love the seaside

So er, most likely Burscough, Buxton, Marine or possibly Nantwich.

Unibond 1st Division (North AND South):

Bamber Bridge: Quite easy to get to from Wigan by train, so maybe.
Chorley: Pretty near to Wigan, plus I've heard a lot about Victory Park
FC Halifax Town: I've been to the Shay before, but its somewhere thats fairly easy to get to on my Transpennine travels.
Lancaster City: Pretty easy to get to from Wigan and I like Lancaster.. and anyone that has a ground called the Giant Axe is fine by me.
Leigh Genesis: Very near to me and probably the best ground (technically) in the non-leagues, if they can afford to play there.
Mossley:Up in the Hills, its do-able I spose
Radcliffe Borough: Fairly local, but I have been there before watching Farsley
Salford City: As above
Skelmersdale United: Another local one for me and I have never been there before
Trafford: As above
Warrington Town: Same again
So, any one of them... except Halifax, Radcliffe or Salford I guess!

and from the south, I wouldn't mind a visit to Sheffield FC, the oldest club in the world no less. Plus, I like Sheffield as a city.

North West Counties League First Division

Ashton Town, Daisy Hill and Wigan Robin Park are all very close, so would all be worth a visit! Atherton Colleries are near, but I went there last year when they were in the NWC Premier.

The first port of call for any football statistic questions I had, or simply just who was in what division was Tony Kempster's Football Site. Tony died in June from Cancer and is sure to be greatly missed by all in the Non League Football Community, seeing as he must have devoted hours of his own time to maintaining that site.

Stick it up your Janus

2009-01-29T17:28:00.003Z

Janus, the roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings (so wiki tells me) and known to me as the man with two heads, who we used to hear about in Primary School when it was January. We just needed some dude with two heads, with different faces, to take our mind off December and the God of December, Santa. Janus could also refer to the star of 'Game On' and later 'Eastenders' and not forgetting 'Up and Under' (bad film about Rugby League with Neil Morrissey in it), but she's not really referred to when talking about January.

As well as being the time of new beginnings, hence the boy Janus, January is also a time for abstinence and feeling sorry for one's self in the bleak mid-winter. This January I tried to give up alcohol (lasted 2 weeks), tried to diet (didn't last) and then in the last week of the month I have started a points based diet (Slimming World, it was free because of all the fat people in Wigan, the PCT send people off to lose weight). Despite thinking that watching some football games would help me get through this torrid month, I didn't and I'm now thinking that it is looking difficult to get my last five games in, I'll have to do a few Tuesday nighters because I'm always busy at weekends now!

I haven't given up and I will get to these five games and maybe more! The mighty Farsley Celtic may not have long left. The main backer has pulled out of the club, then came back again this week. This week it seems that the Celts are having a winding-up order served on their ass. The club's success in the Conference last year was bank-rolled with a view that some of their land would be sold for housing, as it happened the Council refused them planning permission (at committee, the qualified planning professional said yes) and then the housing market went tits up shortly after. It could end up like a smaller scale version of Ridsdale's fuck up at Elland Road, but lets hope not.

Bradford City v Morecambe

2008-12-28T21:43:00.010Z

The last time I watched a football match at Valley Parade, City were in the Premiership. A friend of mine had a season ticket and when he was unable to attend I went to three games, the opener of the season, a draw with Sheffield Wednesday and towards the end of the season I saw Southampton take the points away and also an extraordinary 4-4 draw with Derby County. Looking at those, I guess my friend was picking and choosing his games, as those teams aren't exactly the leading lights of English Football.

In 1999/2000 City finished 17th and lived to fight another season in the Premiership, thanks to a last day of the season victory against Liverpool, which if my memory served me correct also sent Bradford's bitter rivals Leeds into the Champions League places. The Homes of Football website has some good pictures from that particular day. City staying in the Premiership for another season with Geoffrey Richmond bankrupting them by making signings such as Benito Carbone in an attempt to stay there and Leeds making the Champions League and Peter Ridsdale 'living the dream' meant that fateful day in 2000, then a great day for football in West Yorkshire, helped contribute to the downfall of both clubs. In that season, Morecambe finished third in the Conference, some four divisions, or 77 league places, beneath City.

Ten places seperated the teams for their last games of 2008. Coming into the game, Morecambe were undefeated in 3 and City hadn't won in five, so the league placings don't exactly tell you anything. Morecambe were outsiders to win the game, but may have been worth a bet. City were 1-0 ahead at half time and I would say that the visitors matched them in the first half, a lot of Morecambe's chances came from capitalising on Bradford passing the ball in their own half, a tactic which didn't really work.

Morecambe continued to dominate a lot of the game, with some promising build-up play, but these were rendered fruitless by the City defence. The Bantams, attacking the Kop in the second half, scored about ten minutes in when Boulding raced in and passed a couple of watching Morecambe defenders to drive a shot beyond Roche in the Morecambe goal. City's third was a 25-yarder from Law (which I would like to see again) and the fourth was a Barry Conlon penalty, smashed into the bottom right, following a Morecambe handball. The scoreline flattered City, but no goals conceded in 270 minutes by the Bantams says it all.

Although I haven't watched football there for eight years, I regularly watched Bradford Bulls there during the 2001 and 2002 seasons whilst Odsal was being redeveloped, or should I say painted. It was good to be back in the Kop (Carlsberg Stand) again, but I forgot how drab it was, The concourse was what I imagine a prison would be like. The view from the top of the Kop is great, you can see the whole of south and central Bradford, which is a great backdrop for the rest of the Stadium, especially when darkness falls. The stand towers above the surrounding terraced housing and it used to tower over the rest of the ground when the Sunwin Stand didn't have its second tier added on, to run down two-thirds of the pitch.

The atmosphere was a bit flatter than I remembered City was were they in the Premiership, the ground was half-full today rather than sold-out as it was in the Premiership days, the Bradford End (TL Dallas Stand) now plays host to some singing home fans under its low roof, which probably took some of the noisy element out of the Kop. A crowd of 13,000 is very credible for this division though, especially against a team with only a small away following, City's attendances are boosted by relatively cheap season tickets, to take advantage of a stadium with a capacity designed for a time when Bradford were tearing up the Premiership.

The photos aren't that great, as I was so high up. I was far too high to get a picture of one of the finest mascots in the league, the City Gent aka Lenny. A portly man in a bowler hat, a city kit and a briefcase full of sweets.

Here we go:

(Last) Season's Greetings: Reflecting Farsley Celtic's time at the top (of the world of Non League football)

2008-12-22T17:15:00.013Z

Last Tuesday, December 16th, Farsley drew their FA Trophy First Round game away at Burton Albion. When I saw the result in the paper on Wednesday, I was pleasantly surprised. I hadn't really given the game much thought until then, which either shows how poor a supporter of Farsley I am, or how far Farsley have come in the previous years, I'd rather go with the latter.

Now Farsley are playing in Blue Square North (Conference North), following a one season adventure in the Conference (or Blue Square Premier), I'm starting to regret not going to those away games in the Conference last season. I made it to two away games, Altrincham and Droylesden, that's one current Conference North team and one team who should be in the Conference North, but were lucky to escape.

I missed local derbies away at recent ex-football league neighbours York and Halifax. The home game versus Halifax on Boxing Day was magnificent and saw a 3-0 win before 1,501 supporters. The result against York City was pretty poor but the experience of the game was stupendous. The largest crowd of the season (1,603) and the biggest away support I've ever seen down at the Nest, not only that, it was on the Television, with the huge trucks from Setanta Sports parked up behind the Shed. There was also a whole lot of West Yorkshire Police there and it was just quite surreal, when a couple of years earlier a clash with near-neighbours Ossett Town had yielded less than a tenth of that night's attendance. It is now sad to see that Halifax Town are no more and a reformed club are playing in a division below the mighty Ossett Town. (and I mean absolutely no disrespect to Ossett Town, I am just using them as a point of measurement on the football pyramid).

Speaking of points of measurement on the football pyramid, 1998/9 or 9 seasons before Farsley made the Conference, Farsley were five divisions below Oxford United and last season they played in the same league. I was disappointed to miss Farsley's 5-1 loss at the Kassam Stadium in April, the result was terrible yes, but a chance to see Farsley play a league game before 4,000 in a football league style stadium and a time in the season when Farsley still had a faint hope of staying up. I also missed the away victory at Torquay, Torquay who were in the football league a year before, also Farsley's last win of the season and when the Celts had a real hope of staying up (they lost the last six games after that).

So, what did I actually see then? Aside from the aforementioned Manchester away games and home local derbies, other highlights were beating Cambridge United at home, nearly giving run-away winners of the league Aldershot a good game at the Nest, seeing the bald eagle Jim Smith's Oxford side narrowly beat Farsley and the opening day of the season's victory over Stafford Rangers.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, Farsley held Burton away and face them tomorrow at the Nest (December 23rd). Burton are now 8 points clear at the top of the Conference, so what a good result for Farsley and the chance of the classic upset. Had this been two or three years ago I would have been coming home for Christmas early, but now I'm confident we can get a result and maybe I'll go watch the Celts take on Salisbury in the second round. The fact that I can probably count on one had the amount of times Farsley have been in the FA Trophy on one hand, still doesn't mean much to me, after last season's exploits.

If Farsley can have a strong second half to the season and get into the play-offs, it is unlikely that they will be as fortuitous to get promoted, but if they do it again, it won't be as special as the first time but I will make a much better effort to get to some away games. I should make more of an effort to get to games in Conference North, but I don't think it'll ever be the same!

pic 1: Farsley v Halifax on Boxing Day
pic 2: Farsley at the Kassam Stadium (from Oxford United site)
pic 3: Cambridge United at Throstle Nest (from Cambridge United site)
pic 4: Farsley v Aldershot

Wigan Athletic v West Bromwich Albion

2008-12-01T20:17:00.008Z

The Premiership. The holy grail, pièce de résistance, the boss, the vip, but above the championship, no less. I think this video sums it all up pretty well.

So here we were in Wigan to see the giant forces of the Latics and Baggies in a cataclysmic collision in this global league, where worldwide audiences would have lapped up the fare served up by the likes of er... Titus Bramble. Of course there were England internationals such as Emile Heskey and er.. Scott Carson playing too.

I had no shortage of people wanting to come and watch this match anyway, I was part of a party of five at this game. But without Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt (I did have to Wikipedia that by the way). We got mistaken for Baggies fans in Wetherspoons, amongst our groups were no Wiganers and so our lack of a distinctive Wigan accent seemed to count against us. One of our party does have a slight Midlands twang though, so that may explain that. It was nothing too bad though, just heard a voice on the way out say 'boing boing baggies, and all that'.

Walking from the town centre to the stadium is a route I am familiar with, as I have been to the stadium a few times before, albeit for the 13-a-side code. The area around Wigan's two police stations was teeming with Greater Manchester constables, which made me think that the Baggies must have a bit of a reputation. The walk from the town centre to the stadium, on a miserable day, is not nice. It must give the town a bad reputation because it is so grim. There are much nicer places in Wigan that someone could walk through, but the thousands who travel into Wigan by rail to the JJB must think the town is a right shithole.

We paid the extra two pounds to sit on the half-way line, £22 each. The same as what I paid for a seat near the front at Preston to get extremely wet, but here perched under the scoreboard on the back row of the East Stand it was just like watching the game on the television. In fact, with the amount of photos I was taking, my friends thought I was filming the game. I told them I was filming it for Kuwaiti television, but I wasn't really.

The game itself was pretty poor in the first half, it took 40 minutes for the Latics to have the first shot on target. West Brom really should have won the game though. The baggies were boinging at the start of the second half after Ishmael Miller pounced on an error by Titus Bramble. The Latics equaliser was an acrobatic effort from Camara, totally against the run of play. Wigan won it in the final minutes with a Boyce bullet header winning the game.

The atmosphere was quite flat in the first half, the WBA fans made some noise telling the Latics fans that their support was 'fucking shit', when they were leading I think I even saw the Baggies bouncing or boinging. The Wigan fans didn't seem to make much noise until they got the equaliser. A strange chant was the old 'Carnival de Paris' song, you know 'der der, der der der, der der der, der der der, der der... der der der der, der der der der, derr de der der der der der...', strange in the sense that it ended with 'Ath-let-ic', not the two syllabilled 'Wi-gan', or 'La-tics'... yes, someone should like tell them about that or something.

One of the most atmospheric things about the game was the fog that hung over the tops of the stadium throughout the game.

Lets enough as my ramblings anyway, here are some pictures (including one of Boyce's header whistling over the line, I was proud of that, even though its still a rubbish picture, at the bottom):

Atherton Collieries v Congleton Town

2008-11-15T20:56:00.009Z

It doesn't get much more glamorous than this. I took the good lady for another exciting day out at the football, to Atherton down the road. The original plan was to go watch Bury take on Grimsby and go to the beer festival at Bury, but we were feeling far too lazy, so decided to save some money and hopped on the 32 bus down to Atherton.

After walking in the general direction of the ground, we found it eventually, seeing the small floodlight pylons sticking up between the rows of terraced housing. Dodging smokers on pavements outside pubs and being careful not to get flattened by prams on the main street.

Admission to the ground was a fiver, as I had predicted, with the fee of one pounds for the programme. The programme was like one I would have seen at Farsley in my youth when Farsley were in the depths of the Northern Premier League First Division, one division above this. It had a standard front cover and then a photocopied inside with various adverts and a league newsletter. I don't begrudge paying a club like Atherton Collieries a small bit of money.

The ground looked tired. It had a sloping pitch, which wasn't in the best condition and a range of structures fulfilling various functions located around the ground. The East side of the ground had a curious stand with bench seating, which I feared I would get a splinter from, the clubhouse was also here which was like an old scout hut type building. It didn't look like it would support a man of my weight! The changing rooms on the north side of the ground had the look of a static caravan and that building also occupied the refreshment hut and finally to the west of the ground was a more permanent looking stand that was being kitted out with red plastic seats, presumably from Hilton Park at Leigh.

The teams entered the pitch with no fanfare whatsoever and the game itself started with a penalty being awarded in the first minute. Colls' no 10 slotted it past the keeper whilst saying 'Fuck off!'. He looked like the St Helens rugby league player Sean Long, it was the hair. A big blonde thing sat on the top of his head. 8 minutes later at the opposite end of the pitch, Congleton were awarded a penalty which they scored. About 35 minutes followed before the next penalty was given to Collieries, this one was saved. But making up for that, another penalty was awarded to Collieries midway through the second half. Four penalties, thats just crazy!

This turned out to be Atherton's third win of the season, in the 17th game. This was beating a team who had won 8 from 12. It was hard to tell which team was near the top of the league and which team was at the bottom. Colls' substitute, no.14 (he came on in the first half at some point but I wasn't paying much attention), whatever he was called seemed to cause Congleton a lot of problems... he couldn't half run.

I was thinking during the game, when I was one of 47 stood in this crumbling ground (I nearly fell over on a loose paving slab!) that sports teams like this should be at the heart of their communities. I guess maybe at one time when Atherton actually had Collieries that the team will have served a purpose as a social activity for the pitmen. These clubs should be alive with activity, on and off the pitch, but I wasn't really feeling it at Atherton and its the same story all over the place. People should get behind teams like Atherton Collieries.

Only the Premiership, League One, League Two, Blue Square Premier, Unibond Premier, Unibond North (though I've been to a Unibond north club in the FA Cup!) and North West Counties First Division to go, thats more than one match a month!

Enjoy the pictures:

Preston North End v Reading

2008-10-18T20:46:00.009+01:00

Finally, a game to write about for my adventure! The last game I wrote about on here was in mid-September, but as my aim is to go to a game at every level of the pyramid (down to NWCFL), then the FA Cup game at Clitheroe didn't really count, did it?! Last week I went to watch Farsley Celtic beat Hyde, so I wasn't going to write about that. But here is something I can write about now, my first visit to Deepdale, Preston.

I attended this game with Sara, the biggest (in terms of the competition) game she'd ever been to. Our travels started in Wigan with the customary Wetherspoons breakfast. The egg on this one was almost raw, not nice. Then also got some 'garlic potatoes' from the continental market in Preston city centre, they were tinned potatoes with some herbs. A waste of £3.50 indeed! I was impressed that PNE's match day catering included the Butter Pie option, but I didn't buy any food in the ground.

I always thought that Deepdale was impressive, how it had a picture of the player the stand was named after made out of seats. That being Alan Kelly, Tom Finney and Bill Shankly. Unfortunately, we didn't sit on anyone's face (ahem) and opted for the Invincibles stand. Mainly cos it was the newest stand. We were sat on the sixth row from the front, which meant when the fine rain came down in the First Half, we got soaked. It was cold, as I left the house in Wigan I declared it was 'crackin' t'flags', by the time we went to leave Wigan it was cloudly, by the time we got to Deepdale, it was drizzly. Needless to say, we weren't in the suitable attire. There was only about two people in the entire block sat in front of us, with everyone else behind. The ground was about half full with just over twelve thousand there. A particularly odd thing was that one of the mascots for the game was aged 50.

The game itself wasn't too great in the first half. Reading probably had more chances, Lonergan had to come up with a couple of good saves and the woodwork kept them out. They took the lead through a penalty, on the opposite side to me. Reading could have probably had it sewn up at half time. Preston put the Royals under a lot of pressure in the second half, both their goals came from mistakes from Reading's American 'keeper. All three goals of the game were at the opposite side of the pitch for me. Once again the woodwork kept Reading out as they fought for the equaliser. It wasn't until PNE scored that the home fans made themselves heard, though they didn't seem to have the biggest range of songs.

After the referee blew for full time, Reading's Noel Hunt, for some reason, was asked to move away from the Reading fans by a steward. He was told in no uncertain terms to go, but he wasn't having it. The 5'8" midfielder then tried to push the steward out of the way. The steward was about the size of a house, so it was funny to see. The steward then got barracked by the Reading fans after, funny stuff!

That's the Championship off the list then, I enjoyed my afternoon out at Deepdale, except the weather. And here is a few pictures:

Mi Aventura De Fútbol - big blog wrote on holiday

2008-10-02T15:27:00.006+01:00

Two Saturdays in a row without a football match, but here is a blog just to maintain the integrity of my online ramblings, or something. Although I am now typing this in Wigan, I wrote this post on September 30th on the balcony of an apartment at Costa Encantada, Fenals, Lloret De Mar, Catalunya. Being on holiday and spending a lot of time with Estrella Damm has given me a lot of time to think.

The Saturday before I set off on holiday saw me watching 'Soccer Saturday', with Jeff Stelling and co on Sky Sports. There is something quite compelling about watching a bunch of ex-professional footballers watching football. The show seems to have a significant 'cult' following and an accompanying drinking game. We attempted a watered down version of this (did it without spirits, we're pussies I know) but the rule about drinking constantly when Chris Kamara was on screeen is pretty dangerous. This was especially so on this saturday as he was covering the Watford v Reading game, with that goal. Unbelievable Jeff.

I think I like Soccer Saturday because of the constant stream of information, which is dedicated as much to the Football League, Scottish Leagues and Conference as it is to the global monster that is the Premiership. In bars across Lloret (and not just dodgy Brits abroad bars) I've seen at least 4 premiersgip games being advertised, plus La Liga, Serie A and the SPL. In my apartment, the Spanish TV channels have shown me Liverpool v Everton, along with live goal updates from the Premiership. Seeing what appeared to be the Spanish version of 'Soccer Saturday', it made me glad if the UK alternative. When I was in such holiday resorts about ten years ago, I can never remember Premiership games being so readily available. Premiership games on channels from Europe and the Middle East at certain pubs at 3 o'clock on a Saturday are, along with drinking and soccer saturday, keep people away from going to watch less glamorous football teams. Plus, about 15-20 years ago, I guess it was much cheaper to watch football and teletext and the videprinter won't have kept people off the terraces (then again I was only 4-9 years old then, so who knows.

As a Rugby League fan (Super Bradford), I was angered by the decision of Dave Whelan not to let the Wigan v Bradford play-off game take place at the JJB. But given the sheer power and money involved in the premiership, it was no surprise. The kind of money Mike Ashley is asking fore Newcastle United, for example, is absolutely obscene when compated to the 2nd most viewed domestic sport on Sky (Rugby League, that is!).

A colleague of mine recently when to Italy on holiday and when telling people where she was from, Wigan, the response 'Premier League!' followed. The thought of Wigan Athletic as a global brand 30 years ago would have been insane!

I have just had a great insight into the life of Wigan Athletic 30 years ago, in their final season as a non-league club, in Andy Vaughan's 'Punk Football'. This book has also enlightened me about what Wigan was like in that era, which is good to let me fet a feel for a place where I now live. Vaughan's book, along with Mark Steel's 'Reasons to be Cheerful' have helped answer my questions about what it was like being a young lad during the rise of punk rock.

Anyway, to the football! No idea who I shall see next. I didn't manage to get to a CF Lloret game, I couldn't even find out what league they were in, but the ground didn't look too bad. I did watch Espanyol get stitched up against Barcelona on the television though. Yes, I follow (look at the results in the paper) the less popular team in Catalunya.

Clitheroe v Leek Town

2008-09-13T20:41:00.006+01:00

There were no signs of Premiership Football taking place in Wigan when I went to get to my train from Wallgate. There was only one Policeman at the station and not a single one of the 5,000 Mackems who were coming to town. There was no getting away from Premiership football when I got to Bolton though and I had to endure a large group of Arsenal fans, who were making their way to Ewood Park. Indeed, there is nothing like a bit of anti-Semitic singing to get the afternoon off to a good start.

I got on the train from Bolton to Clitheroe and managed to get a seat eventually, amidst the hoardes of Arsenal fans and, for some reason, 30 teenagers of got on the train at Darwen. I guess there’s not much to keep the kids entertained in that particular town, I guess it was because Darwen in the Northern West Counties League Division One weren’t at home. Obviously. The train emptied after Blackburn and I looked out on to the Pennine Moors as the train travelled into Clitheroe.

I managed to find the ground, eventually. I was a little bit complacent in thinking that Clitheroe was only a small place and a quick glance at Google Maps would be enough to see me on my way, but I was wrong. Into the ground I paid £7, plus £1.50 for a programme and £1 for a raffle ticket. The programme had stuff to read in it, which was nice; it was one with a colour cover that’s the same for every match and then black and white LaserJet insides, lovely. The raffle prize was 2 bottles of wine; I don’t begrudge a club like Clitheroe an extra quid though.

The ground comprises of an eclectic range of various stands and structures, with a pitch that sloped from side to side. The backdrop to the ground was also interesting, with views to the Pennine Moors, Clitheroe’s Castle, plus old and new housing.

A local asked me who I was writing for, as I had my pad and pen out, but I told him myself and it was for a blog. He told me that I would be writing about a Clitheroe win. Little did he know the kind of stuff I was writing down ‘Sloping pitch, stands, funny accents’.

The teams entered the pitch to ‘Sally Cinnamon’ by Stone Roses, I don’t know if there is any relevance to that, or whether it was just the song that was on at the time. The teams lined up and did that shaking hands bollocks, that seems to dog the game at all levels. I just don’t get it myself. Clitheroe were in Blue and White hoops and Leek Town in their change kit of red and black stripes. If I was ten years old, I would have decided that I was watching QPR v AC Milan, but, I’m not ten.

In the East Lancashire sunshine, both teams had countless chances. Clitheroe got plenty of good crosses in, but didn’t seem to have anyone their to tap them in. I stood, for most of the first half on what I would call the pop side, terracing all down one side, all under cover. The Clitheroe fans and their flags gathered here, in good voice shouting for Cli’ro. The visitors from Leek Town were also in good voice. One of the home fans decided to nip behind the fence adjacent to the stand and have a piss behind a fence, at least I think that’s what he was doing. I didn’t get a photo.

At half time, I got a cup of tea from the Grub Tub and sat in one of the structures opposite the pop side. I then spent most of the second half behind the goal that Clitheroe were attacking. They scored on 66 minutes when Johnson put a lovely finish on the end of a pass from the right, from about 10 metres out. After that, most of the momentum seemed to go Leek’s way and the Staffordshire team equalised on 83 minutes when Miller’s shot went across goal and in off the post. Both sets of fans got behind their teams in the closing minutes, but there will now be a replay at Leek on Tuesday night as the game finished 1-1. I will be keeping an eye on that.

I travelled back to Wigan via Blackburn and Preston, seeing plenty more Arsenal fans and a handful of Sunderland fans. I enjoyed my day out into the sticks, I would say I got my monies worth. It certainly was an interesting ground with bags of character and a strange array of stands. It will probably be the last game I go to until October now, so probably the last game with conditions that vaguely resemble summer.

And here are some photos:

Next Stop: Clitheroe

2008-09-10T18:18:00.002+01:00

I think on Saturday, I shall make Clitheroe my next port of call. I imagine that it is a good place to go on a sunny afternoon, I've been to the town before to the Castle and I spotted the football ground from there.

There is a snag though. I did aim to go to a game at every level in the pyramid at this level, well the game on Saturday is an FA Cup qualifier. The first qualifying round proper, where Clitheroe of the Unibond 1st Division North play Leek Town of the Unibond 1st Division South.

Both teams are near the top of their respective divisions, so it should be a good game. Indeed Leek Town seem to have fallen from grace a little bit, being a Conference team not so long ago. I don't know too much about Clitheroe though, apart from that I imagine it'd be a good place to go on a sunny afternoon.

Obviously I'm picking games for the right reason. Bring on the magic of the cup!

Farsley Celtic v Stalybridge Celtic

2008-09-07T12:03:00.007+01:00

The first day of the intrepid adventure thrust itself upon me and I thrust myself upon the Moon Under Water, the Wigan Wetherspoons pub. I went to line my stomach ahead of the day's transpennine trip and because a Wetherspoons breakfast is always good when one is slightly hungover.
I didn't think that I endeared myself to the punters in there very well. Coffee and a vegetarian breakfast isn't exactly de rigueur, when everyone else is drinking pints at 9:20 in the morning, on their own. I stopped short of buying a 'quality' newspaper though, buying one later.

The train journey from Wigan to Leeds, via Piccadilly was largely uneventful apart from realising I'd left my glasses at home when I was halfway between Wigan and Hindley, getting molested by an Alsatian was another event. I then returned to my family home in Horsforth, before travelling by car to the ground. I'd like to think that this will be the last bit of car travel that any other visits to games will see, its more fun/challenging/interesting using public transport.

And so to the game and the mighty Throstle Nest. I find it hard to make observations about the Nest, cos I've been attending games there for about 15 years. From being an annoying 9 year old, to becoming a discernible football follower. There was both groups of people there and all kinds of people inbetween. I went to the game with my dad, his friend Stuart and my ladyfriend Sara. Sara has grown to accept that a day out at a non-league football game is a very romantic event. I also met Graham from my work who is a Stalybridge Celtic fan, he opted for the changing ends option so I didn't see him when the game was in place. We stood with a small enclave of Farsley fans by the half-way line and the cage from where the players emerge. Most of these blokes are aged 50 upwards, seem to have seen so much down at the Nest and have some excellent things to shout at the referee and opposition players, I think every non-league ground has such people.

Despite the deluge of rain that come the night before, the pitch was looking good and most of the game was played in sunshine. Observations on the opposition were that they were sponsered by a hand sanitizer (a festival essential) and their no.6 reminded me of Tony Adams, I think it was the haircut or perhaps the fact that my glasses were sat at home in Wigan. The Tony Adams bloke, took a knock in the eye in the first half, telling a Farsley fan it was an eyelash in his eye. Another highlight was Stalybridge's no.3 throwing a tantrum 'fuck off, its our ball ref!'. He got booked for that and also got the home fans giving him what for (me included).

Stalybridge's first goal, came from Farsley been at sixes and sevens but Andy Campbell leveled it a bit later. I was talking at the time and I was surprised to see how the goal was scored, I think it took some deflection or other. I suck at watching football. I read a description of Andy Campbell on an internet messageboard: 'that Ginner who played for Boro and fell out of the ugly tree hitting every branch on the way down', I did spot him from that description I must say. He may not be the most handsome bloke in the well, but he does kick some arse out on the park.

Our second half vantage point was from behind the goal, so my dad could sit down because of his new ankle. There's some strange seats behind the goal that are a legacy from meeting Conference Ground regs, although I think anyone over 4 foot tall would struggle to sit in the seats behind the front row. Another legacy from Farsley's conference spell last season is the segregation fence which separated the Farsley bootboys from the likes of York, Aldershot and Oxford fans.

One of the best things at Farsley is the tannoy man shouting 'GOOOOOAAALLLL' when the home team take the lead. This became 'GOOOOAALLL... WOOOAH...WHAT???', when Farsley had a potential late winner ruled out. Before that though, Walshaw put Farsley ahead after about 55 minutes, coolly slotting the ball under 'bridge's keeper. Stalybridge's equaliser came from a scramble and then their winner came at the death in controversial circumstances. Straight after the aforementioned ruled out goal, 'bridge's goal came from a free kick, which baffled the hoardes of Farsley fans behind the goal. Jubilant scenes amongst the healthy (in terms of amount, obviously) travelling support, not so much for the home fans, who's team are finding it difficult to readjust back down at this level.

I would normally write a conclusion here, but I can't find much to say about a ground I am so familiar with. Having said all that, pictures would have done the job better:

My football adventure!

2008-09-03T18:59:00.004+01:00

So, I have decided that this football season, I am going to watch a game at every level of the English Pyramid from the Premiership down to the lower echelons of the North West Counties/Northern/Northern Counties East League.

I currently live in Wigan, which for all its faults, is blessed with its proximity to teams at every level. I am also a Farsley Celtic fan and no stranger to the joys of non-league football. I've wanted to go to a shitload of football games and write about them since I read 'The Far Corner' by Harry Pearson, which is a rather great book. Pearson travels around the North East of England watching matches from the Northern League, all the way up to the Premier League, in 1993/4. Newcastle still had terracing at the Gallowgate end and Sunderland and Middlesbrough were rocking Roker and Ayresome respectively.

I am beginning my football adventure this saturday, at Farsley, which means adventure is a bit of a misnomer as I have been going to Throstle Nest for about 15 years! Also, I don't think I'll go to too many games in Yorkshire either. I'm planning to go to games when I've got nothing to do in Wigan on a saturday afternoon or tuesday night.

So, from Preston to Prescot, Wigan Athletic to Wigan Robin Park, Atherton Colleries to Atherton Laburnum Rovers... I'm gonna do this!