The 100FgC 2009 Accolades

(The 100FgC New Years Honours list)

* Best Match Attended *
Southport 2 Gateshead 3
7th March, Blue Sq. North

History suggests that Gateshead don’t usually win these crucial matches. A cracking second half with Gateshead staring defeat in the face as Southport took a 2-1 lead, before a great late come back and as the song goes..
“2-1 down, 3-2 up, Wayne Phillips he wrapped it up”

My best game of the year, great entertainment and the result and performance made it that extra special.
(2008 winner Gateshead 2v0 Fleetwood Town, 23rd Feb, Unibond Premier)
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*Goal of the Year*

Lee Novak Gateshead v Vauxhall Motors, 28th February

Kris Gate began the move with a ball out wide to Harwood who struck a superb first time 40 yard diagonal ball into the path of the league's leading scorer, Novak.

The 20 year old chested the ball goalwards under pressure from a covering defender to lift a right foot shot past James Coates and into the far corner of the net. Class!
(2008 winner Michael Owen Newcastle Utd v Sunderland, 20th April)

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* Favourite Uncharted Senior Ground *

Deepdale - Preston North End

After years and years we finallly got there and it was worth the wait.

(2008 winner Hampden Park)
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*Favourite Uncharted Non-League Ground*

Haig Avenue - Southport
Classic old Football League ground, with real ale in the clubhouse named after the stand.
(2008 Ewen Fields - Hyde United)

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*Favourite ‘ My Matchday’*

My Matchday 214 Griffin Park An excellent day, great ground with a pint or two consumer in every corner, and the day was finished off with, well, those who read the original post will know!

(2008 winner My Matchday 186 Don Valley Stadium)

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* Best Pre Match Bevvy *

The Barrels in Hereford.

A pub which I'd be proud to have as my local and that's the biggest compliment I can give it. And a quality pint too. http://bevvyalmanac.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/decent-beer-and-no-bull/
(2008 winner - Sportsman, Hyde)

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*Silver’spoon Award*

The Brandon Works - Motherwell

The best Wetherspoons purely for the good food and service, which was top quality. The bar staff are very friendly and helpful.
(2008 winner - Union Rooms, Newcastle)

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Last but by no means least and to some the most important accolade of the calendar year..

*Scabby Eye of the Year*

Chicken Balti Pie

Surrey Street - Glossop North End

Delicious from the pastry through to the filling. Top Quality!

(Previous winner - Stake & Kidney at North Ferriby Utd)

Happy New Year, Have a great 2010. Cheers!

SS

My Matchday - 238 Holker Street

Barrow 3v3 Gateshead
Blue Sq. Premier
Saturday 26th December 2009
Barrow-in-Furness is a large industrial town and seaport in Cumbria, found at the tip of the Furness peninsula on the north western edge of Morecambe Bay and bordering the Irish Sea.
This small 19th Century hamlet became one of the largest iron and steel centres in the world and a major shipbuilding town. The railway was introduced to carry iron-ore, slate and lime-stone to the new port. The town’s wealth grew with the development of the steel and shipbuilding industries.
Barrow AFC were formed in 1901 and began playing competitive football in the Lancashire League. The club played at a variety of grounds in their early days, beginning at The Strawberry for three years, before moving on to Ainslie Street and Little Park until settling into their current home on Holker Street in 1909 which had been the former home of Hindpool Athletic.
In 1903 the club joined the Lancashire Combination, becoming league champions for the first and only time in 1920-21 which gained election to the Football League in the newly formed Division Three North.
The reformation of the Football League in 1958 saw Barrow placed in League Division Four, however the decade saw the club host two epic battles in the FA Cup. In 1954 a record Holker Street crowd of 16,874 witnessed a respectable 2-2 with Swansea Town, then five years later another 16,000 plus crowd saw a tremendous performance against the mighty Wolverhampton Wanderers, eventually losing the tie 4-2.
In 1966-67 the club won promotion to Division Three, which was followed by their highest league placing of 8th the following season. But within three years their 51 year stay in the Football League was over, relegation and then two bottom three finishes meant having to apply for re-election. Barrow were up against Hereford United in their fight to retain League status. The first ballot was tied with 26 votes each, then the second rounds of voting saw the Southern League side gain nine extra votes.
They returned to Non-League football in 1972 in the Northern Premier League, then joining the Alliance Premier League in 1979. Over the years the club has plied their trade within these two leagues with five sets of relegation and promotions.
The clubs most successful time came in the late ‘80’s under the leadership of former Gateshead manager Ray Wilkie. He steered the club back into the Conference by winning the Northern Premier League title in 1988-89, then lifting the FA Trophy the following season with a 3-0 win over Leek at Wembley.
The Bluebirds were placed in the Conference North when it was formed in 2004-05, then returning to the Conference by winning the league play off final in 2008 with a 1-0 win over Stalybridge Celtic.
Barrow reach the 3rd round of the FA Cup last season after seeing off Brentford in the previous round, taking on Premier League side Middlesbrough with the backing of 7,000 supporters on Teesside, their team put up a credible performance before losing 2-1.
The Bluebirds fans can again look forward to another 3rd Round cup tie in the North-east, with another large following heading over to Sunderland next week (best of luck!)

This year Holker Street has been celebrating it’s 100th birthday and now has an overall capacity of 4,256. The ground is spruced up with the stands, clubhouse and the back walls of the terraces decorating in the club colours of blue and white.
The Main Stand was opened in 1996, replacing the old wooding stand which had stood since 1912. The stand is decked out in blue with the club’s name boldly picked out in white amongst the 1,000 seats, with old fashioned brick pitch level dugouts.
Ray Wilkie Popular Side is a standing terrace with cover added towards the centre which has supporting pillars and also accommodates the PA box at the back.
There’s open terracing behind each goal, the Holker Street End is a larger terrace which curves in each corner meeting each stand, while the Crossbar End is much smaller, situated in front of a building block incorporates the club offices, changing rooms and social club, which overlooks out onto the pitch.
When entering the town the ground is visible with its set of traditional floodlights, which were erected in 1963 and purchased from Arsenal when Highbury’s lights were replaced, although one of those pylons is fairly new and doubles as a mobile phone mast.

Barrow and Gateshead shared six goals, serving up a traditional Christmas cracker with the visitors failing to maintain the lead on three occasions.
The match got off to an explosive start with two goals in the opening four minutes. Neale McDermott put Gateshead ahead with a goal his ‘fatha’ would have been proud of, after swapping passes with Daryl Clare his delicate chip from the edge of the box found the top corner and was reminiscent of Terry Mac himself.
Minutes later it was all square when a wicked 25 yard shot from Goodfellow took a slight deflection giving Farman no chance, then just before the break a cross from McDermott set up Clare for a simple finish.
Barrow drew level in the 51st minute, when a through ball found Bond on the edge of the box, who took the ball in his stride before striking a sweeping right foot shot into the far corner of the net .
An error from Barrow goalkeeper Tomlinson restored The Tynesiders lead, dropping a cross which was gratefully accepted by Clare for his second goal of the game, but once again the lead lasted only minutes as Blundell made it 3-3 on the hour mark.
Gateshead had good chances to win it, Craig Baxter was unlucky to see right foot efforts twice come back off the post while Jon Shaw also hit the woodwork from close range. Darren Williams almost clinched it late on but agonisingly saw his header cleared off the line, although if he’d scored Barrow would have probably equaliser in the final five minutes.
An excellent game with both sides serving up a Xmas treat with the 1700 plus crowd certainly getting value for money.


After living in Arctic conditions for the last week or so, I wasn’t expecting to see any traditional Boxing Day football action this year. However after checking the Barrow website, I was surprised to read that apart from a sprinkling on Christmas Eve, there had been no snow in Barrow-In-Furness.
So after we travelled across the country, through atrocious weather conditions on the A66, it was hard to believe that we were going to see a game especially with matches at Carlisle and Preston being postponed.
As we got closer to Barrow the amount of snow diminished and once we arrived in the town it was as if we had went through some kind of time warp. Green grass, bright sunshine and warmth as if we had jumped back from the middle of winter into early autumn.
Myself accompanied by Ian Tommo headed into the town in search of a decent pint. We stopped off at the Ambrose Hotel then on to the Furness Railway (Ws) where he asked the barmaid why there isn’t any snow, her explanation was that it was because we’ve got too much salt in the air! So a special thanks to the ‘power of the salt’ for making it possible by defeating the snow, thus allowing us an enjoyable day out in Barrow-in-Furness.

P.S. FREE THE GATESHEAD ONE!

BAFC 3(Goodfellow 4, Bond 50 Blundell 59)

GFC 3(McDermott 2 Clare 41,56)

Att.1727

Admission £13

Programme £2.50



Ground no.238 Holker Street - Matchday Webalbum (20 pictures)

My Matchday - 236 Kirkby Mills

Kirkbymoorside 0v3 Ryhope Cw

Wearside League Cup 2nd Round

Saturday 12th December 2009

Kirkbymoorside is a small market town in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire between Helmsley and Pickering and approximately 25 miles north of York.
The town is known locally as Kirby, as there’s a silent K in Kirkbymoorside which I’ve only just discovered, meaning I’ve been spelling it wrong all his time.
The town has a population of 3,000 and recently it became the last town in the country to implement double yellow lines for parking restrictions.

Kirkby Mills is found off the main A170 road. On arrival you are welcoming by three gentlemen taking admission money and selling programmes and pin badges.
The car park is shared with the Bowling Club and Squash Club and is found at the top of the ground. The pitch has a slope which runs down towards the adjacent cricket pitch. At the top of the slope are a pair of white brick dugouts, each having extra bench seats at the front. There’s hard standing behind the dugouts but the popular place to watch the game is the elevated grass verge above.
The clubhouse, home and away changing rooms, refreshment bar and toilets are all within the same building, while the referee and his assistants make use of the facilities in the squash club to get changed.
Work on the ground is still ongoing with the pitch perimeter fence and wooden fencing at the front of the car park still to be finished.

Kirkbymoorside FC having played in the Scarbourgh & District League gained entry to the Wearside League last season after finishing runners-up in the Teesside League in 2007-08, finishing 10th in their debut season.
The club also have a successful reserve team, last season winning the league and another three trophies within the Beckett League.
The Moorsiders were up against Wearside League leaders Ryhope CW in the second round of the League Cup. The two clubs have met recently in the league when the visitors gubbed their hosts with four unanswered goals, today’s game was a lot closer than the score line suggests.

An even first half saw Ryhope looking more likely to score but it was Kirby who had the better chances, young striker Rivas had two good openings, the second of which produced a great save from the ‘keeper.
Ryhope’s best chance of the half fell to Butler, who raced onto a long clearance from the goalkeeper before seeing his right foot shot parried around the post. The Ryhope striker made amends early in the second half to give his side the lead, latching onto a high ball before producing a confident finish from a tight angle.
In the interval I felt if Kirby were to go on and win this tie, then they had to score first, but once they fell behind then it was virtually game over. However it wasn’t until the final five minutes that Ryhope were assured of victory, with a Hodgson own goal and a second from Butler in the final minutes booking a place in the League Cup semi finals.
Ryhope remain top of the league and will be looking to add further honours in the League Cup, a trophy they haven’t won since 1978. Kirby on the other hand are a growing club and just like today’s more experienced opponents, they too may be winning a trophy or two, sooner rather than later.

I left behind the fog on the Tyne to glorious winter sunshine in North Yorkshire. I travelled down the A19, then along the A170 through the North York Moors negotiating Sutton Bank, then passing through the picturesque valleys and rivers which eventually leads to the Yorkshire Coast towards Whitby, Robin Hood’s Bay and Scarborough.
I picked out a visit to The Moorsiders when an early kick off coincided with neighbours Pickering Town also being at home, so unfortunately I missed the last quarter of the game to head off a further six miles east for the second leg of my Ryedale double at Mill Lane.

KFC 0 RCW 3(Bultler 47, 87 Hodgson 85og)

att.42hc

Admission £2

Programme £1

My Matchday - 237 Mill Lane

Pickering Town 0v1 Thackley
Northern Counties East League Premier Division
Saturday 12th December 2009
Pickering is an historic market town which lies at the south boundary of the North York Moors National Park. This tranquil town was founded by king Peredurus at around 270 BC and has been formerly known as Piceringas and Pykering.
The North Yorkshire Moors Steam Railway, which runs 18 miles north towards Grosmont on the Esk Valley is the longest of its kind in the country. Other attractions include Pickering Castle and the Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life which are popular haunts with tourists.


Pickering Town FC were formed in 1888, having spent the majority of their early years in local leagues within North Yorkshire, winning both the Scarborough & District League and York Football League during the 1950’s and ‘60’s.
In 1972 they joined the Yorkshire League 3rd Division, winning two promotions in their first three seasons to reach the leagues top division, but within four years they were back where they started after successive relegations.
In 1982 they became founder members of the Northern Counties East League, winning the Division Two title in 1987-88 with further promotion to the NCEL Premier Division achieved in 1992.
The Pikes first season in the top league was their best to date, after finishing joint top with Spennymoor United on 90 points, they narrowly missed out on the title on goal difference.
The club made a brief return to the First Division at the end of the last decade, but won promotion again after two seasons and since 2001 the club have established themselves in the NCEL Premier Division finishing a credible 3rd last season.
In 2005-06 they produced their best performance to date in the FA Vase, losing out to Nantwich Town at the quarter-final stage and have reached the second qualifying round of the FA Cup on three occasions.

Pickering Town have played at Mill Lane since 1920. The ground has two separate 100 seated stands. The Main Stand sits on the half way line an is elevated above pitch level with a mixture of blue and red seats, green framework and the club name facing out towards the pitch. The dugouts are situated between the half way line and corner flag with the remainder of this side having hard standing.
The Stand at the far end is situated at one side of the goal, which has fours rows of red flip seats. The side opposite the Main stand is out of bounds, with only a picket fence to divide the ground from the neighbouring cricket pitch and of course this end forms the top of the famous slope. The nearside goal has a covered terrace with a capacity of 300 which runs halfway parallel to the penalty spot, next to the spacious clubhouse which has a bar with a weekly guest ale(missed out because of the car) and a large canteen at the back.
There’s five floodlights pylons which were installed in 1992 and the record attendance came in 1991, 1,412 for a friendly with Notts. County.

Pickering Town fresh from booking their place in the next round of the FA Vase in midweek were back in league action against West Yorkshire side Thackley.
The game was entertaining with both sides producing plenty of openings, be it only half chances, as both defences stayed firm in the opening half an hour.
Thackley finished the first half on top and thought they had taking the lead on 35 minutes. A corner kick was headed home by centre half Airey only to be ruled off by the linesman who spotting an infringement, even though the referee initially seemed happy enough to award a goal.
The decision enraged the Thackley players who spent the remainder of the half kicking anything in a blue shirt that moved which produced a bad tempered end to the first half.
The two teams club colours of Pickering’s all blue and Thackley’s red shirts and white sleeves made it look like a Chelsea v Arsenal clash, but without the fannying about brand of football or a big daft centre forward falling over as if someone as much as farted next to him.
The winning goal from Thackley’s number 10 had the stamp of a legendary Arsenal number 10. Nicky Matthews picked the ball up 25 yards from goal, weighing up his options before deciding to go it alone, going past three defenders with ease, before coolly slotting the ball wide of the ‘keeper in the style of one Dennis Bergkamp.
Thackley had chances to seal the three points but the Pikes had chances of their own. In the dying minutes Fox had an effort cleared off the line and then in injury time Pickering almost snatched a point, Higginson pulling off a fantastic save from a Aziz shot, tipping his ferocious effort over the bar.
Overall the visitors deserved their win and as a neutral I enjoyed an entertaining encounter.

The trip to Ryedale was a pleasant one. After visiting Kirkbymoorside earlier in the day, the short trip along to neighbouring Pickering took less than ten minutes.
The journey back home was another story, travelling through the North York Moors in the dark, not knowing the twist and turns in the road and heading back down Sutton Bank in the pitch black was a life threatening experience!
My driving skills saw me through and once I navigated my way onto the A19 the journey back north flew by, arriving home by 6.30pm, content with the satisfaction of ticking off two new grounds on the same day.

PTFC 0 TFC 1(Matthews 60)

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Admission £5

Programme £1

Ground no.237 Mill Lane - Matchday Web album (13 pictures)

WSC 2009 Web Awards - 100FGC wins Bronze Award.

I received news last night of my humble little blog winning a prestigious award.
The 100 Football Grounds Club website is honoured to have achieved a Bronze Award in the 2009 When Saturday Comes Web Awards.

I’m trying my best to be modest and nonchalant above the honour, so I won’t write a long drawn out speech filled with self gratification. What I will say though, is a huge thanks to those of you who regulary read my ramblings and have shown your support, which is very much appreciated.

So all that’s left to say is…thank you friends, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you!

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Also amongst the medals was European Football Weekends which is writing by 100FGC squad#77 Danny Last and friend of 100FGC - Tom Dunmore, who achieved a Gold Award for the excellent Pitch Invasion. Well done lads!

http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/4195/38/
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My Matchday - 235 Genix Healthcare Stadium

Garforth Town 2v4 Colwyn Bay

Unibond Division 1 North

Saturday 5th December 2009

Garforth is a town in West Yorkshire within the City of Leeds. Originally a coal mining area, the town expanded during the 17th and 18th centuries when local landowners the Gascoigne family ran several coalmines in the region.
Garforth is now more of a commuter town, with its close proximity to Leeds city centre with the A1, M1 and M62 motorways close by.

The club originated as a Sunday morning pub team when formed in 1964. The Miners Arms had to play home games on the Welfare Ground in nearby Swillington as there was no pitch available in Garforth.
The team switched to Saturday football in 1976, gaining a place in the West Yorkshire League and acquired a ground of their own in the town, on a former rubbish dump on Brierlands Lane. A small covered stand and changing rooms were build at a cost of £3,000, but further progress was held back because of the refusal of installing floodlights because of nearby houses. (lights were eventually erected in 1995 after a petition to the local council)
In 1978 they accepted a place in the 3rd Division of the Yorkshire League, although a name change to Garforth Miners was required as the league didn’t accept pub teams. The club continued to progress, becoming members of the newly formed Northern Counties East League in 1982 after the merger of the old Midlands and Yorkshire Leagues.
Another name change to the present Garforth Town came in 1985, which coincided with winning promotion from Division 2. The club remained in Division 1 until winning further promotion in 1998 to NCEL Premier Division.
Success in both the League Cup and West Riding Cup followed, as well as relegation and again promotion until finishing runners-up in the Premier Division in 2006-07 which gained entry to the Unibond League.
The Miners finished 10th then last season 16th in Unibond Division 1 North, and regained the West Riding County Cup beating Bradford Park Avenue 5-4 on penalties in the final.

Garforth Town have strong links with the Boys from Brazil, wearing both home and away copycat kits. Ambitious owner and now former team manager Simon Clifford bought the club in 2003, clearing the clubs debts. He introduced Brazilian training methods to the club, as part of his SOCATOTS chain of football academies at both home and worldwide.
Brazilian legend Socrates turned out for the side in 2004, while on a one month loan as a player-coach. His debut against Tadcaster Albion produced a record home crowd of 1,385, former international Careca also adorned the yellow shirt of Garforth in 2005-06.
　
Garforth moved to their current ground in 1998, originally named Wheatley Park after the ground’s building contactor Michael Wheatley. It has also been known as The Marston's Stadium, as part of a sponsorship deal with the brewery, then from 2006 local dentists Genix Healthcare took over the naming rights.
The ground is a good 15 minute walk from the train station in the middle of a housing estate on the edge of town. The houses were part of the same development as the stadium and are quite posh, some of the owners have giving their homes individual names with the likes of ‘The Ascot’ and ‘The Woburn.’ I can’t really criticise as I wanted to do the same thing with my own house, calling it ‘Gallowgate View’ but unfortunately the breadknife was having none of it and firmly put her foot down on the idea.
The stadium focuses itself around one stand with open hard standing around the other three sides. The main stand is a beauty, originally known as the 'Safer Roads Stand' then renamed ‘The Norman Hebbron Stand’ in honour of the long-serving club president.
The brick built stand has 238 seats, split into four blue sections with the club initials spelt out in yellow within each section. Access to the seats is via staircases at the back of the stand. Below is a standing paddock behind the team dugouts and the stand is topped off with a distinctive elevated roof.
The clubhouse is called the Mineiros Bar and is decorated with Brazilian football memorabilia including framed signed shirts from Ronaldo and Romario. In between the bar and stand is another room used by club officials for hospitality purposes which forms a bridge between both structures.

Colwyn Bay went joint top of Unibond Division 1 North with three goals in a four minutes burst in the opening quarter of an hour.
They took the lead in the 11th minute, a free kick from the edge of the box was slammed home by Eddie Jebb, his shot finding the postage stamp frame of the goal.
Minutes later Jebb’s corner kick was nodded home at the near post by Ian Sheridan, then the same two players linked up again, Jebb’s cross found the unmarked Sheridan, leaving him with an easy finish.
Sheridan completed his hat-trick before half time, managing to stay onside before racing through on goal and finishing like a natural striker. Sheridan usually plays in midfield for the Seasiders and was playing as a centre forward for the first time. After this outstanding first half performance I’m sure it won’t be his last in a number nine shirt.
Garforth produced a plucky second half performance. They had nothing to lose so they give it a good go with a spirited display with left winger Chris Ovington and top scorer Tom Greaves looking impressive for The Miners. They were rewarded with two late goals which made the score look more respectable. Greaves scored both, the first after latching on the a long ball from the keeper and in the final minute showed good skill to go past the defender and finished well.
This win put Colwyn Bay level on points with Curzon Ashton at the top, but the Welshmen have a game in hand and look good bet for the league title.

I took advantage of a special offer of £6 train tickets to York to pay a visit to the West Yorkshire Brazil. The train journey from York to Garforth is less than 15 minutes away, so after leaving Newcastle at 11.30 and stopping off for in York for a beer break, I arrived in Garforth by 1.15pm.
A quite enjoyable day out which was topped off with a very entertaining match. Whilst in town I naturally stopped off for a few drinks, visiting the pub where the club originated from; the Miners Arms as well as having a Speckled Hen in the Gaping Goose! Which is, in case you don’t know, a quality pint of beer served in one of Garforth’s best pubs and not as it sounds - some kind of poultry porn!

Matchday stats
GTFC 2(Greaves 84,89)CBFC 4(Jebb 10 Sheridan 12,13,35)

att.107

Admission £7

Programme £2

Ground no.235 Genix Healthcare Stadium - Matchday webalbum (14 pictures)

The Football Bog Blog

What better way to commemorate the 100FGC blog reaching a six figure hit last weekend then to honour the occasion with a couple of football ground public conveniences.

The continuous and endless Football Bog Blog, numbers 20 and 21 in a series of…

No.20 The one at Stourbridge This bog picture was sent in by Squad#10 Tim Rigby on his recent visit to Stourbridge’s War Memorial Athletic Ground. He described this toilet as ‘an ornate effort’ I think he meant this as visual description of the bog and not a euphemism for what you may have to do once inside.

No.21 The pair at Station View.

This is yet another one of those portakabin-type bogs, but this is the first time I’ve seen a matching pair for both ladies and gents. The facilities are found in the corner of Station View, the home of Harrogate Railway. These bogs are surrounded with quite a bit of shrubbery and undergrowth, which is handy if the toilets are busy as the bushes could be used as an alternative resource.


If you would like to contribute to the Football Bog Blog then please send any ground bog pics to the usual contact address.