✔501 - Greenwich Avenue

Basford United 2v0 Chasetown

Evo-Stick Division One South

Tuesday 26th January 2016

 Basford is a suburb in northern Nottingham, which lies close to the River Leen, a tributary of the River Trent.  The place name comes either from Old English "the ford near the home of Bassa" or French le bas ford, 'the lower ford’. (Population over 17,000)


Basford United formed in 1900
Notts Senior League - Division One winners in 1997-98.
Joined Central Midlands League South, winning the league at the first attempt in 2011-12, followed by repeating the same feat the following season in the East Midland Counties League. Played one season in the Northern Counties East League, before joining the newly formed Midlands League Premier Division, winning a third championship title in four seasons in 2014-15. Making their debut in the Evo-Stick Division One South this season.

Greenwich Avenue
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG6 OLD

Capacity 2000 with 150 seats
English Non-League grounds visited 246 
Current Northern Premier League (Evo-Stick) 26/68

The club moved a short distance along from the Mill Street playing fields in 1991.
Entrance in corner with clubhouse, changing rooms and 2 separate meccano type stands joined together down one side. Covered seating behind goal, next to clubshop with a covered enclosure for 150 spectators on the dugout side. Open hard standing behind the far goal.

Basford United (5th) v Chasetown (8th)
Evo-Stick First Division South Matchday 26/25
Weather:Dry first half, raining second.
Att.119

1-0 Rob Darkin (23’) 
A header from Courey Grantham came back off the crossbar, followed in by Darkin from close range.

2-0 Ruben Wiggins-Thomas (77’)
Good effort from Dixon was saved by the “keeper but the number nine was on hand to fire in from a tight angle into the left hand corner.

Entertainment:6/10
Top Bloke - Kyle Dixon (Basford United)

Spondoolicks
Admission £6
Programme £2
Pin badge £3

The Gadabout. 
153 Miles door-to-door
Headed down to Houghton to meet Katie & Lee for a 3pm pick up. The Wetherspoons of choice this week was the William Peverel in Bulwell. We arrived just before six o'clock so plenty of time for food and a few drinks before the 2 mile journey onto Basford. (Just a pity I'm having a self imposed ale ban!) Return trek home went without a hitch, so back home for 25 minutes past midnight.

Matchday Web Album (22 pictures from Greenwich Avenue)

✔500 - Park View

Fauldhouse United 2v5 Bo'ness United

East Region Superleague

Saturday 23rd January 2016

The Gadabout
151 miles door-to-door
Via A1, A720 Edinburgh City By-Pass and A8.

Today’s plan was to tick off another ground for my book project, with Whitburn Juniors as first choice and Arthurlie as back up. I arranged for Lee & Katie to be at mine for 8.15, then my plan was to drive straight to Livingston, to tick off the 2 JDW’s and from here we’d find out if the Whitburn game was on. If it was postponed then it was a further one hour drive to Barrhead for the Arthurlie game. I was delighted to learn that Whitburn’s opponents Blackburn United had confirmed the match had past its 9.30 pitch inspection and also Robert, who does the Twitter feed for Whitburn, posted pictures of Central Park looking in good nick.
We arrived just outside the ground at 1.20, and I had just got out of the car when I was told the match was off, coincidentally it was Robert who I had contacted on twitter that broke the news. He knew who I was and how far I had travelled, so he felt bad having to inform me that although the local referee passed the pitch earlier, when the match ref arrived he wasn’t happy with a soft patch in and around the corner flag of around 5 square metres, which he deemed unsafe for the players.
I remembered the previous evening when I was looking at the East Region fixtures, I recollected that Fauldhouse were at home and I knew it was somewhere in the vicinity of Whitburn. I asked Robert where it was and he told me it was about 7 minutes away and gave me precise directions to their ground. So we raced up the hill towards Longridge, then a sharp left along to Fauldhouse, so we arrived a good ten minutes before kick off. We didn’t have any idea who they were playing, so we entered the ground and saw there was already a decent crowd gathering as the Hoose were hosting Bo’ness United. 
Although I was disappointed that yet again another chapter of my book has been put on hold, I really enjoyed my visit to Park View. The ground is quite charming, plus we witnessed an entertaining and very competitive game, played in a good and sometimes hostile atmosphere. 
The return journey home went smoothly so I pulled up outside 100FgC HQ just after half six, with my 500th ground behind a Scottish Junior ground, which I was pleased about but it wasn’t the one I anticipated.

Fauldhouse is a town in West Lothian, known since the Middle Ages and up until the 19th century was called Falas and later Fallas. It is situated 11 miles west of the major town of Livingston and 4 miles south of Whitburn (Population just under 5,000) 

Fauldhouse United - The Hoose were founded in 1919.
Winners of the Scottish Junior Cup in 1946 beating Arthurlie 2-0 in the final.

East Region South Division champions in 2007-08
Won the Edinburgh & District League in 1945-46, East Region Division One winners in 1982-83, 1992-93 and won Second Division title on 3 occasions.
Cup honours include Fife & Lothian Cup in 1993, the East Junior League Cup four times, Brown Cup twice and also the East of Scotland Junior Cup twice.

Park View

Fauldhouse

EH47 9JS

Capacity 2,000

(Scottish Grounds visited 70 Scottish Juniors Grounds 24)

The ground has a covered terrace enclose central behind the dugouts, known as the "Coo Shed". Along this side in the corner is the tea bar, changing rooms and the clubhouse called “The Howff” which was opened in 2014. The car park is behind the goal and just last year another vehicle appeared with a stand within a lorry trailer with around 80 seats is parked directly right behind the goal. The rest of the ground is open with grass banking down one side.

Fauldhouse United (14th) v Bo’ness United(2nd)
East Region Superleague Matchday 15/18
Weather:dry
Att.250.est

0-1 Ross Philp (26’)
Played a neat one-two inside the box and placed a precise shot into the right corner.
0-2 Darren Gribben (38’)
Swerving shot from 25 yards wrong footed the ‘keeper. 
1-2 Michael Browne (58’) Penalty
Foul on Brian Ross in the box saw Browne converted the spot-kick
2-2 Jordan Love (69’)
A quickly taken free kick caught the visitors napping, as Jason Deans squared the ball to Love who fired through the ‘keeper's legs from close range.
2-3 Will Snowden (71’) Penalty
A slight trip on Michael Gemmell resulted in Snowden firing in the penalty.
2-4 Ross Campbell (88’)
Corner kick from the left was met with a good header from Campbell.
2-5 Nicky Walker (89’)
A cross from the right from Sinclair was slid in by Walker from six yards.

Entertainment 8/10
Top Bloke - Nicky Walker (Bo’ness United)

Spondoolicks
Admission £5
Programme:none
Tea £1

Matchday Web Album (28 pictures from Park View)

✔499 - Malton Community Sports Centre

Brooklyn FC 1v2 York Railway Institute

York Football League Premier Division

Saturday 9th January 2015

Brooklyn FC formed out of the Brooklyn Community Centre. The junior team set up a senior side, which joined the York League in 2013. After two season in Division One they were promoted into the top division for this season.

Malton Community Sports Centre
Broughton Road
Malton
YO17 7BP

English Non-League grounds 246 
York League Premier grounds 3/14
The Centre opened in February 2011 and amongst its facilities is a standard 3G caged pitch with dugouts at one side.

The Gadabout
I wasn’t expecting to see any football this weekend. I was staying in Thornton Dale just outside Pickering for the weekend, for the occasion of Uncle Malc’s 60th Birthday Bash. A few days before heading down to Yorkshire I checked the local fixtures and found Brooklyn FC were at home. The club are based in Malton, so it was just a quick 15 minute drive from our cottage and they also have a 3G pitch, so it couldn’t have worked out any better. Even though there was only 20 in attendance, there was still someone I knew at the game, as Michelle, one of the nicest people on the groundhopping circuit had found a game at the third attempt.

Brooklyn FC(12th) v York Railway Institute(9th)
York Football League Premier Division Matchday 13
2pm k.o.
Weather:dry, chilly
Att.20hc

0-1 Leigh Dutton (48’)
Ball in from the left fumbled in by Dutton via a deflection from eight yards.
1-1 Mickey Brown (61’)
Long ball from the left picked out Brown in the inside right channel, who finished well with a right foot effort into the far corner.
1-2 Danny Gray (78’)
A shot from Dutton was saved by the ‘keeper but the rebound fell into the path of substitute Gray to side foot home.

Top Bloke:Josh Coulson(York RI)
Entertainment 7/10
No admission or programme

✔498 - Pavillions

Runcorn Town 0v1 North Shields

FA Vase 3rd Round Replay

Monday 4th January 2016

 Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Metropolitan Borough of Halton in Cheshire. (Population 70,000) In early Anglo-Saxon references it is spelled "Rumcofan", meaning "a wide cove or bay". This word is derived from the Old English words "rúm" ("wide" or "broad") and "cofa" ("cave" or "cove")

The home of the Silver Jubilee Bridge which crosses the Runcorn Gap, the lowest bridge crossing of the River Mersey and BBC “ comedy” show Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.
The birthplace of loads of ex-professional Rugby League players, some bit part footballers, the ginger lass from girl band Girls Aloud, plus Popstars winner and Corrie actress Kym Marsh.

The club formed in 1967 as CKD playing Sunday league football.
Changed name to Mond FC in 1970, joining the Warrington & District League(1974-1984) amalgamated with Premier Division team ICI Weston in 1975, becoming Mond Rangers. 
Finally became Runcorn Town in 2005.
West Cheshire League(1984-2010)
North West Counties League(2010-present) promoted to the Premier Division as Division One runners-up in 2010-11.

Pavilions

Sandy Lane,

Weston Point,

Runcorn

Cheshire

WA7 4EX

English Non-League grounds visited 245. Current NWCL grounds 4/40

Sections of covered standing each side of the dugouts, the largest of which is next to the clubhouse. Seated stand on the opposite side made up of three rows of red flip seats, with another covered standing area in the corner next to the tea hut. Open hard standing behind one of the goals with the far goal section out of bounds.

Runcorn Town v North Shields
FA Vase 3rd Round Replay (after 1-1 draw AET 16th December)
(NWCLP 5th v Northern League D1 10th)

Runcorn :1Q Litherland Remyca(H) 4-2 2Q Barnton(H) 4-1 R1 Abbey Hey(H) 2-0 R2 Garforth Town(H) 3-0
Current holders North Shields received a bye to R2 beating Ashington(H) 3-0.

Weather:Dry with a light rain shower near full time.
Att.178

After a scrappy first half the match was settled just after the hour mark, when Richardson squared the ball from the left to the incoming Holmes to fire in from six yards.
0-1 Dean Holmes (62’)
Top Bloke: Ben Richardson(North Shields)
Entertainment 6/10

Spondoolicks
Admission £5
Programme (sold out, limited print £1.50)
Pin badge £3
Sausage sarnie £2.50 (clubhouse)
Coffee £1
Steak & kidney pie £1.50(tea hut)

The Gadabout
172 miles door-to-door
Travelled with Katie & Lee, so the usual bus down to Houghton-le-Spring to get picked up at 3pm. Travelled south via the A1/M62/M60 route, then on to the M56 into Runcorn. A crash on the A1 at Leeming Bar meant a detour through Bedale, so we lost a total of an hour travelling time because of heavy delays. We finally arrived in Runcorn at 7.15pm for the swiftest of swift pints at The Ferry Boat. 
Got to the ground five minutes before kick off and at the game conversed with 100FgC #196 Graeme Holmes, plus Affiliated Members Tony Morehead, Anders Johansen and Peter Ford.
Afterwards the return trip was a bit of a nightmare -  it took us ages to get out of Runcorn as we searched for a petrol station, then the M62 was closed so another detour this time around Bradford to get onto the A1. This extension of our journey home meant I was finally back home at 1.45am.

Matchday Web Album (18 pictures from the Pavillions)