THE MUDDY, laced ball, resembling Barnes Wallis’ bouncing bomb, rolled into the net, careering over worm-casts and divots. A gaggle of schoolboys, wearing their Gola or Co-op boots, tried to kick the ball back in play from behind the goal. … Continue reading Park football: Whatever happened to Ockendon United?
STEVENAGE and Crawley Town are both members of the Football League, albeit the lowest division. Neither are what you might call “traditional” clubs, although football in Stevenage dates back to 1894 and Crawley 1896. When the game was in its … Continue reading New town football – successful, after all
STEVENAGE and Crawley Town are both members of the Football League, albeit the lowest division. Neither are what you might call “traditional” clubs, although football in Stevenage dates back to 1894 and Crawley 1896. When the game was in its … Continue reading New town football – successful, after all
GRAYS Athletic play at a very nice stadium. Brand spanking new, great facilities and a football-friendly artificial surface that performs very well. The only problem is, the club is ground-sharing at Aveley, a town of 8,000 people some four miles … Continue reading The trials of a nomadic existence
THURROCK is a borough full of football people, but many of them prefer to watch the likes of West Ham, Tottenham and Arsenal. In the 1990s, teams from the area started to acquire some ambition, not altogether unrelated to the rise of clubs from Billericay and Canvey Island. Grays Athletic, which was always considered to be Thurrock’s leading club, until Purfleet (later Thurrock) came on the scene, had a golden period in the early years of the 21st century. It almost looked too good to be true and indeed it probably was, but Grays had a three-year spell where they … Continue reading The Non-League 100: Grays Athletic 2004-06 – a kind of boom and bust
WHETHER you like it or not, TV programmes like X Factor and Britain’s got talent are very popular and watched by millions. The audience participation aspect of these programmes is quite contagious, if sometimes rather contrived. Audience engagement in football doesn’t always get treated in the right way. I cannot help feeling that some football authorities adopt a kind of “games for the chimps” approach, throwing balls into the crowd for fans to bounce around, the synchronised chanting counting down to kick-off and other patronising gimmicks. But how about fans selecting a team? In some ways, it’s a throwback to … Continue reading X marks the spot for United London
