EpiLOGue 2012-13

Well that's me done for another season, thanks for keeping in touch and reading about my ground-bagging exploits over the last 10 months and I hope I've provided some useful information to all you googlers out there.

My season stats
Matches Attended 101
(12 leagues and 16 different cup competitions plus 10 friendlies)
Goals 322
(average of 3.18 per match)
Biggest Winning margin
7 - Kimberley Miners Welfare 7 Keyworth United 0 (20th April,Notts Senior League Senior Division) 
Most goals in one game
9 - Birtley Town 6v3 Sunderland West End (21st July Pre-season Friendly)
8 - Hebburn Town 1v7 Darlington 1883 (9th February Northern League Division 1)
New Grounds visited 35
(Euro 4 FL 1 ScotLg 5 NL 24 ScotNL 2)
and finally...
New JD 'Spoons visited 36

My Matchday - 351 New Dundas Park

Bonnyrigg Rose 4v1 Hill of Beath Hawthorn
Fife & Lothians Cup Quarter-Final
Saturday 18th May 2013

For my 100^th match and my last trip of the season, I kept the tradition of my final new ground being a Scottish tick. The Junior fixtures are a closely guarded secret with details released on a weekly basis, so it wasn’t until last weekend that I could select which match to attend. After weighing up the options and consulting with Edinburgh based Squad #155 James Little, we decided to plump for Bonnyrigg Rose v Hill of Beath Hawthorn in the Fife and Lothians Cup.

Bonnyrigg is a town in Midlothian, found eight miles south-east of Edinburgh city centre. The town has been known as Bonnyrigg since the 1850s, but early maps show different spellings. In 1766 a village called "Bannockrigg" is shown in the locality, then the spelling changes to "Bannocrig" in 1815 which remained for almost 40 years, then for reasons unknown it changed again to the now familiar Bonnyrigg.

The town merged with the fellow burgh of Lasswade in 1929, becoming Bonnyrigg & Lasswade until the burgh was abolished in 1974. Bonnyrigg was a mining village until the 1920s, while its main industry was carpet making until the factory closed in 1978 after over 100 years in the business.

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic F.C. was founded in 1881 from Bonnyrigg Swifts who trace their origins back to 1874. The Rose have a long proud history of winning honours within the Junior ranks, mostly notably winning the Scottish Junior Cup on two occasions in 1966 and 1978, including a joint record winning margin of 6–1 when they defeated Whitburn in the ‘66 final.

The club won their first league title in the Edinburgh & District League in 1937–38 and again in 1963–64, before going onto win the East Region Division One in 1975–76, 1976–77 and 1984–85. They currently play in the SJFA East Region Super League and are the current holders, winning their second league championship following on for their initial success in 2008-09.

The Rose have also added a stack of cup honours, winning their first piece of silverware in the East of Scotland Junior Cup in 1898, which they've achieved a further five times, the last of which in 2006. The club have also won the Brown Cup (8 times) East Junior League Cup (5 times) and the Dalmeny Cup in 1923.

In September 2009 a new community club was formed - Bonnyrigg Rose Football (Sports) Club.  The new club involves the amalgamation of Bonnyrigg Rose Boys Club, Bonnyrigg Rose 'A' U21s and Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic Junior Football Club.  The boys club was formed in 1995 and since the merger has grown into one of the biggest clubs in the Midlothian area with teams of both sexes aged 8 - 16, with approximately 250 players registered.

Bonnyrigg Rose had a world famous star amongst their former players, a 6’ 2” right winger who wore the red and white hooped shirt at the beginning of the 1950s. The former number 7 was apparently good enough to earn a trial with East Fife and actually knocked back an offer from Sir Matt Busby at Man United to concentrate on acting, so "who ish thish famouish shtar?" – his name is Connery, Sean Connery.

Full detailed article can be read here; http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/sjfa/scottish_football.cfm?page=1711

New Dundas Park was originally purchased by the Trustees of Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic F.C. from Sir Hendry Dundas and his mother Dame Jean Hood for £500 on the 10th June 1953. The main features are all found at the ground entrance side. The popular standing area has nine terrace steps fully covered running half pitch length, with a smaller open terrace in the centre facing the dugouts opposite. Behind the central terrace are four cabins; a hospitality room, refreshment bar, referees room/toilet block and a club shop. The changing rooms and a clubhouse for members & seasons tickets holders are to the left of the half-way line. The left side has terrace steps directly behind the goal and on the right hand side is a partial shelter in the corner next to the main admission entrance. The far side has grass banking with three red crash barriers on the steeper side of the dugouts. The ground also has a distinct slope running across the pitch towards the dugout side.

New Dundas Park is a neat little ground which has greatly improved in recent years since the old pavilion was burned down in September 2009, a really nice ground and a smashing club which is well worth a visit.

Bonnyrigg were up against Hill of Beath Hawthorn in the quarter-finals of the Fife & Lothians Cup, another prize Rose have added to their honours list, having won the trophy in 1982, 2005 and 2007.

The hosts dominated throughout but as we reached the later stages of the game a penalty shoot-out looked on the cards as Rose continued to waste several gold glinted chances. The deadlock was finally broken in the 70^th minute when Sean Grady headed home a lovely left wing cross from Gemmell, then a cracking chest and volley combo from Kris Renton on 82 minutes appeared to have booked a cup semi-final place. However two minutes later the visitors replied, when sub Ross Allum latched onto a loose ball in the box to fire home and put Hawthorn back in the tie. This proved to be a temporary relapse as the impressive Renton added his second, firing a deflected assisted shot from the edge of the box in injury time. The victory was giving added gloss when a clumsy trip on Gemmell in the box saw Paul Currie convert from the penalty-spot, the fifth goal in a hectic last quarter of the match.

I left home at 8am and got a thorough soaking in the torrential rain just walking to the bus stop. When I arrived in Edinburgh I couldn't believe that the downpour was just as bad, so all day I looked like a drowned rat, finally feeling warm and dry on my return home twelve hours later.

On arrival I did my usual route of breakfast on South Bridge and visiting a couple of record shops, my bad mood with the appalling weather was boosted after purchasing some much sought after vinyl at bargain prices.

I arranged to meet James outside Waverley Station at 1245, expecting to be greeted with news that our game was off, but apparently there was only one postponement in the area. It’s common knowledge that as well as collecting football grounds I also like to bag Weatherspoons pubs, so on our way to Bonnyrigg we stopped off in Dalkieth to visit the only ‘Spoons in Midlothian ‘The Blacksmiths Forge’ then after the game we returned to Edinburgh via Musselburgh to tick off the impressive ‘The David Macbeth Moir’ the only JDW in East Lothian.

Although it was a rotten day weather wise I can’t really complain, a new ground, two new ‘Spoons and some new additions to the vinyl vault, so all and all not a bad matchday trip to finish off yet another enjoyable season of groundhopping.

Matchday Stats
BRAFC 4(Grady 70 Renton 82 90+1 Currie 90+3pen)
HoBHFC 1(Allum 84)
att.150.est
Admission £5
Programme:none

Ground no.351 New Dundas Park - Matchday Web album (24 pictures)

My Matchday - 350 Albert Park

Hawick Royal Albert 1v1 Burntisland Shipyard
East of Scotland First Division
Saturday 11th May 2013

It was on this corresponding Saturday last season that I last took a leisurely drive over the border for an East of Scotland fixture. Last year my destination was Selkirk and today I headed over to Hawick (pronounced Hoy’k) in Teviotdale. The Scottish Border town is in the historical county of Roxburghshire, which is is one of the furthest settlements from the sea in Scotland, found at the confluence of the Slitrig Water with the River Teviot.

Hawick has distinctive architecture, with many sandstone buildings having slate roofs. The Common Riding is an annual event celebrated in Hawick, which commemorate past times when local men risked their lives to protect their town and people. The town is historically renowned for its knitwear industry, with the first knitting machine brought to Hawick in 1771 by John Hardie.

Hawick folk are known as "Teries", after a traditional song which includes the line "Teribus ye teri odin" which is believed to have been the war cry of the men of Hawick at the Battle of Flodden Field.

Hawick Royal Albert formed in 1947 by Harry Weir and William Bunton, originating out of Hawick Railway FC. The “Royal Albert” name derives from Larkhall Royal Albert, the hometown club of Bunton, a club founded in 1878 by a mine-owner who also owned a ship called “Royal Albert”.

Hawick won their first silverware as Border Amateur League Championship in 1947–48 and have won the East of Scotland Premier Division on three occasions in 1966-67, 1967-68 and 1973-74.The Royalists have also won the Kings Cup three times, the last time back in 1984, but over recent years they’ve been frequent strugglers at the foot of the EoS First Division.

The club’s original home was at Wilton Lodge Park, before moving to Albert Park in 1963, officially opening with a friendly against Hibernian. Shortly after their relocation, The Royalists became full members of the Scottish Football Association which offers automatic entry to the Scottish Cup. The club also applied to join the Scottish Football League in 1966 and 1975, losing out to Clydebank and Ferranti Thistle respectively.

Looking towards the neighbouring Rugby ground.

Albert Park is found in the north-east of the town on Mansfield Road, next to the rugby ground on the bank of the River Teviot. The stand at the ground was constructed from the steel remnants of the Wilson & Glenny woollen factory, which had been destroyed by fire in 1959. It has nine rows of wooden bench seats which are painted blue, with the stand divided by the players tunnel and a separated seating area for directors and press. The stand has a con-iron peaked roof with some Perspex side panels and along the top of the stand is a cracking clubhouse which looks out onto the pitch which has bar & refreshment facilities. The dugouts are the precise old fashioned type, being dug out in front of the stand with a pitch level view.

The rest of the ground is open with grass banking on the far side and the club installed floodlights in 1981, used for the first time in a friendly fixture with Celtic in November of that year.

Down in the south, the one time showpiece of English football was taking place at Wembley and up here in the Borders was another final of sorts. To make Hawick’s end of season fixture with Burntisland Shipyard sound a bit more interesting I’ve giving it the handle of the ‘East of Scotland Wooden Spoon final’.

Going into this game The Royalists sat at the bottom of the table with 2 wins and 3 draws from their 23 fixtures with their opponents just above them, having gained one extra victory this season.

The match was played in bright sunshine but with gusty condition. At times the quality on show was poor, but overall the match was played in good spirit with both teams committed to avoid finishing bottom of the pile.

The Shipyard took the lead on 19 minutes when Gavin Bridges broke from midfield and stayed onside from Brendan Napier’s through ball. He showed great poise to calmly go around the ‘keeper and slot the ball into an empty net.

Just before half time the hosts were level. A corner kick from the right fell into the path of Peter Keenan, who with his back to goal managed to half turn and fire the ball into the roof of the net from close range.

In the second half the game was finely poised and could have gone either way, and with just minutes remaining it looked like we had a winner when Hawick were awarded a penalty. Declan Hogg picked up the ball in midfield and his positive run towards goal was halted with a trip in the penalty area. Keenan took the spot kick and his effort produced a fine save from Mikey Couser, to deny me seeing a rare Hawick win and save his team from taking the ignominy of the unwanted wooden spoon.

On the subject of spoons, me and my son James arrived in Hawick at 1.15pm and found the town a very tranquil place with too few people around. We then entered the local JDW ‘Spoons ‘The Bourtree’ and it was chocka, as if everyone out and about were sat in this pub. We had a splendid day out and really enjoyed Albert Park and would recommend it as one to visit, especially that splendid clubhouse at the top of the stand. I’m not a big fan of driving to matches (That’s because he likes a Bevvy…Eddy) but I do like that run up the A68 towards the Keilder Forest and the Carters Bar crossing, which has fantastic views of both sides of the border. I look forward to ticking off more EoS clubs in this vicinity and hopefully it won’t be a full calendar year before my return.

Matchday Stats
HRAFC 1(Keenan 41) BSFC 1(Bridges 19)
att.31(HC)
Admission £4
Programme £1

Ground no.350 Albert Park - Matchday Web album (23 pictures)

Last visit to Belle Vue

Consett 1v2 Marske United
Northern League Division 1
Monday 6th May 2013

This morning I took the 40 minute bus journey on the X71 from Gateshead Metro to Consett(£6.60 return!!!)to pay a final visit to the Belle Vue ground, which is due to close within the next few weeks.

I arrived in the former steel town at 11am which gave me a good hour before kick-off to tick the local 'Spoons - 'The Company Row' before toddling along Medomsley Road for the game.

The match against Marske United was a typical end of season affair. The visitors took a two goal lead midway through the first half through Adam Wheatley and John Alexander, with the Steelmens grabbing an own goal consolation in injury time.

My main reason for travelling up to Consett, apart from obviously going to Wetherspoons, was to take a full set of pictures, which was something I didn't do on my original blog post - so here are 35 pictures from my final visit to Belle Vue;

Belle Vue - Matchday Web album (35 pictures)

My first visit Ground no.111 (v Newcastle United XI 17/7/06)

Zinio Competition

Thanks to our good friends at Zinio we are offering 10 free magazine subscriptions to 100FgC readers in celebration of the Champions League semi-finals. Winners of the free subscriptions can choose from ANY of the thousands of titles on offer, including Four Four Two, World Soccer and Champions Matchday.

Zinio delivers the ultimate magazine experience for the digital age. From the best in news, politics, technology, art, style, travel and more, connect with the stories that shape history and the magazines that matter to you. Zinio's products include the world's largest news stand and top-rated applications for iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows 8. Readers can store and read full magazines offline, sync libraries across multiple devices and search digital magazine archives. Zinio also enables readers to share their favourite articles through Facebook and other social networks.

You can browse the wide range of magazines here on the Zinio website including their special 2 for 1 and 50% off deals and to win one of 10 free subscriptions just answer this simple question;

At which football ground did the author of this fine blog complete 'The 92' for the first time? 
(I'll give you a clue - It's in the Football League!)

The answer was of course Amex Stadium - Brighton & Hove Albion

The 10 lucky winners randomly drawn out of my Les Ferdinand mug were;

Ann Selby
Charles Richards
Darren Turnbull
James Smith
Julian Frost
Malcolm Selby
Matt Ross
Rod Mills
Steven Charlton
Stuart Forster

Thanks to everyone who took part.