WELSH GROUNDHOP
AUGUST 2018 - PART 1
Pac-a-mac: check.
Co-op Thermos flask: check.
NHS Geek 'chic' spectacles: check.
Peter Storm waterproof hat: check.
Foul weather apparel: check.
Heavy rucksack full of crap I don't really need: check.
I am morphing into Duane Dibbley for the weekend again... and heading abroad to watch some football being played on foreign fields.
And to mark the occasion, my better half has bestowed the above items upon me as a series of 'travel essential' gifts, like the piss-taking smeg-head that she is.
Apparently, she was outbid on eBay for the Roy Cropper style shopping bag to complete my 'Anoraky in the UK' dweeb look.
I had been invited to go along with mein spouse, our daughter and our granddaughter on a weekend of culture and shopping in that there London, but quickly suggested it might be more fun if they had a 'girly weekend'... while adding that I am sure I would be able to find something else to do.
Truth be told, the trip to Wales had already been booked and paid for months ago and I was just waiting for an opportune moment to mention it to her. So no harm done and a fair result all round methinks.
Chris Bear... err, Barraz... err, Brazier... err, Laurence Reade and his sidekick Chris Wotisface from Groundhop UK, had organised an all-inclusive eleven game package, including admission to grounds, programmes, travel, three nights single room en-suite accommodation and a big Welsh breakfast for a pittance of a price... so woo hoo! In the mouth round the gums, look out Welsh Wales, here we come!
All kick-off and goal times detailed below are 107% approximate and were merely recorded to help me keep a vague track of time across four days of fun, games, thrills, spills and wonderment.
In days of yore, I once attended five games in a single day, but doubt if I've still got the staying power and inclination to ever do such a thing ever again. We all got a certificate for having attended what was apparently a world record for ground-hopping... and believe me, we needed certifying after watching that lot.
The Saturday leg of this whistle-stop tour of South Wales, encompassed four games, which was manageable, but is also probably my limit numbers-wise these days too.
Friday 24th August 2018:
Cardiff International Sports Campus, Lawrenny Avenue - 6.30PM
South Wales Alliance League Premier Division
Canton Liberal (1) 2
Kieran Cotterill 4, 49
Grange Albion (1) 1
Christian Churcher 43
Attendance 189
The foul weather will have deterred a few people from turning out for the opening game of the August 2018 Welsh Groundhop event, that was played at the International Sports Complex, just, across Leckwith Road from Cardiff City's home ground. The angry-looking, fifty-foot tall Neil Warnock, rampaging around brandishing his fist and attacking spruce trees outside the ground was quite off-putting too.
Charlotte Church and Ryan Giggs were both born in Canton, however, neither of them turned out tonight.
But Giggsy always did pick and choose his games, while it is unlikely that Mrs Powell, the married name of Miss Church (real name Charlotte Marie Reed) since 2017, would have been able to resist going to the adjacent KFC instead.
The referee on this most prestigious occasion was Mr Wayne Tregonning, whose party piece is challenging the visiting skipper to an arm wrestle before the game... it's probably best to look like you're trying your damnedest to win but actually let him beat you, in case he holds it against you later on.
In total, there would be fifty two goals scored across this
years eleven game schedule and the very first one of them all (and the third) was netted by Kieran Cotterill, who actually scored in the fourth minute of both halves, according to my (possibly ever so slightly inaccurate) un-calibrated, almost reliable Accurist watch and calculations in the margin of my notebook, while Christian Churcher levelled things up, for a short while at least, just before the interval.
Albion's Matt Phillips put in an accomplished display and could probably cut it at a higher level than the South Wales Alliance and Jack Kane proved to be a proper handful around the host's penalty area, as did Chris Quick at the opposite end. All told, it was a fairly even game, just shaded by the 'Libs', who would've won by a slightly higher margin had Gareth Nott not blocked Phillips' late effort with his feet.
There was an element of 'feist' about the competitive nature of this contest at times, but with this game being, geographically speaking, a most local of local derbies; that element of the night's entertainment, was mainly mischievous and never overly malicious because the vast majority of the players from these two respective sides obviously knew each other and will no doubt be hot-footing it together towards 'chip-pan alley' in the city centre; once they've had a shower and compared each other's bruises... boys will be boys, isn't it!?
FT: Canton Liberal 2 v Grange Albion 1
The fully railed pitch at the Lawrenny Avenue enclosure is immaculate, but as regards spectator comforts, pretty much in keeping with the grassroots game across South Wales, there aren't any... but the worse of the rain had passed around kick-off time and the game was a well contested and lively enough contest to whet the appetite,
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| Mischievousness |
in anticipation of the fun and games, the weekend ahead had in store, as our two coach tour party ventured into the unknown, along with plenty of other travellers who had made the journey to the principality via other means.
A good number of our tour party headed for the Otley Arms, a real ale pub in close proximity to our digs in the University of South Wales halls of residency when the coaches got back to Treforest, but I was knackered after
the four-hour drive down from East Retford upon Idle earlier in the day and soaked to the skin after taking a stroll around Canton before the game to check out the local delights (there weren't any), so a hot shower and an early night in a warm (double) bed, with some bespoke reading material, were the options that I chose.
My stamina merchant and party animal days are mainly in the past tense these days if indeed I ever was ever qualified to be called either of these things.
The bespoke (and THE66POW recommended) bedtime reading material can be obtained via - Website: www.welshfootball.net - Twitter: @CollinsWFM - E Mail info@welsh-football.net, or by post, from: David Collins, 57 Thornhill Road, Rhiwbina, Cardiff, CF14 6PE
Saturday 25th August 2018:
Longbridge Field, Risca - 11AM
The Autocentres Gwent County League Division 1
AC Pontymister (0) 3
Gavin Thomas 54, Neirun Davies 72, Liam Kidman 86 Pen
Blaenavon Blues (1) 2
Kai Burton 27, Matt Cuff 76 OG
Attendance 238
Risca United play their home games in Pontymister, while Pontymister's Longbridge Field ground is actually in Risca, although until very recently, they also used to play in the village itself at a ground that we visited briefly because the coach driver had the old sat-nav directions keyed in, but we still arrived at the right destination in plenty of time.
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| Lord help Cardiff's notorious'Soul Crew' if they turn up today with these time served troops waiting to ambush them. |
The Risca Industrial History Museum stands just across the road from the railed pitch and changing facilities that are shared with the adjacent rugby club...if you wish to visit it on your travels, admission is free, but be aware that it is only open once a week, from 10AM 'til 12.30PM on Saturday's, so there wasn't really enough time to nip in today, but the weather was nice, the setting was tranquil and there was plenty of aesthetically lovely and very photogenic scenery around to feast your eyes on, before, during and after the game.
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| Melys a diniwed |
Seeing as the opening match of the day was starting at 11AM, it was safe to assume that the vast majority of people in attendance would've already eaten a hearty breakfast elsewhere en route, and it was too early for dinner just yet, hence the home club wisely opted to provide more of an elevenses/coffee morning type menu, with an eye-popping array of cakes and biscuits on offer at rock-bottom prices, to provide sustenance for the travelling hordes during the late morning 'snack gap' window.
Both sides went close during the opening exchanges, which was fairly indicative of how the game was going to pan out, i.e. an end to end, no holds barred, up and at 'em affair, played out in a manner akin to that rumble in the jungle legendary game of yore that appears around the midway point of the 1971 Walt Disney Productions British musical fantasy film 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'.
And believe me, that isn't meant in any way, shape or form as a criticism... I actually enjoyed the spectacle and would go so far as to say, it was one for the 'grassroots purists'.
Played switched quickly from end to end as Blaenavon cleared the resulting corner and Lloyd Jeffries rattled the crossbar amid a goalmouth scramble in Greg Phillips' area.
The deadlock was broken in the twenty-seventh minute when Jeffries cut into the right-hand side of the area. before playing the ball sideways to Kai Burton who drilled it past Phillips from ten yards out. The ball ended up on the adjacent rugby pitch from Burton's strike and somebody was quickly summoned to put a couple of extra pegs in along the back of the net, to prevent any further 'spillage' incidents.
The toing and froing continued with Powell hooking a shot high and wide at one end, while Jeffries couldn't keep his shot down and cleared the bar at the other.
Gavin Thomas equalised for the Aces nine minutes into the second half, heading past Jones from close range, after Adam Morris' cross was headed against the bar by Powell and rebounded perfectly for the home sides number three to add the finishing touch.
The Blues had two chances to regain their lead, with Burton having a close-range effort saved and Jeffries heading over before Neirun Davies hooked a shot on the turn from just outside the area past Jones to put Pontymister ahead in the seventy-second minute. Davies is the first person called Neirun that I have ever seen score a goal in all of my five and a half decades in this mortal coil.
In actual fact, he is the first 'Neirun' I have ever even heard.
However, the advantage was short-lived and Blaenavon drew level four minutes later after Matt Cuff could only help the ball on it's way over the head of his own keeper, after Craig Harris' ball across the area from the right, looped off of the unfortunate defender and dropped under the bar beyond the reach of Phillips.
Both keepers were involved as the game trundled on towards it's conclusion, with neither side shutting up shop and settling for a draw... and with just four minutes remaining, the referee spotted a handball infringement by a Blues defender in his own area and Liam Kidman emphatically finished from the resultant spot-kick to give Pontymister a narrow win.
FT: AC Pontymister 3 v Blaenavon Blues 2
Before we moved on towards the next game at Rogerstone Welfare, the home side went out of their way to thank the tribe of football travelling nomads for descending upon their beauty spot of a ground, with even the players who were taking the nets down offering their best wishes, which was greatly appreciated by all concerned, as was the platter of homemade 'Welsh Cakes', that the club generously gave Chris Breezy (approximate spelling) to share with the passengers on our coach.
You'd have to go a long way (and we cerainly had) to find a club as friendly as AC Pontymister.
Rogerstone Welfare - 1.30pm
The Autocentres Gwent County League Division 2
Rogerstone (0) 1
Ian McIntosh 90
Newport Corinthians (1) 2
Joe Morgan 30 Pen, Nathan Lewis 81
Attendance 161
All the people. So many people. And they all go hand-in-hand.
Hand-in-hand through their park life. Know what I mean? Hmm, if you do you've probably stumbled across the wrong sort of blog by mistake.
Fortified by AC Pontymister's kindly food offerings on the coach, our posse arrived at the beautifully appointed park land venue that was our next port of call and headed straight for the ladies selling food to buy up her stocks of 'Welsh Cakes', such was their popularity on the way over here.
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| When you hear the noise of the hopper army boys... we'll be coming down the road. |
I went for the healthy option of a nice warm Chilli, that was prepared in the kitchen of the nearby Tiny Rebel public house, which is well worth a visit if you are a connoisseur of either beer or food (or both)... try the Chilli con Carne while you're there; I'm a hard to please misery guts when it comes to food preferences and would give this dish a ten out of ten.
Any road, this is a site dedicated to the beautiful game, not Trip Advisor, the Good Beer Guide or an Egon Ronay manual, so it's high time that I stopped mithering and got back subject.
Sixty yards (or so) away from a cricket match that was also taking place within the parkland boundaries (it's a very boring minority interest sport that you really wouldn't want to trouble yourself with) and in full view of a procession of inquisitive dog walkers, who were evidently surprised to see the invasion of highly fashionable, well turned out and pleasant looking youngsters (or similar), who were gathered along the railings that bordered three sides of the local football pitch and beneath the shade of a tree in one corner, that kind of doubled up as the royal box for certain revered characters in in these ever expanding circles.
At the outset, I was intending to write copious amounts of notes, to provide a blow by blow post match resume, but abandoned the idea after around twenty five minutes of fastidiously scribbling down: this, that or the other Rogerstone player ought to have scored, but went frustratingly close, was denied by the agility of the Corinthians keeper Josh Jones, or in a number of cases shot straight at the Newport custodian.
And of course, as invariably happens when a team fails to take a glut of chances, in a game that could just about be described as a one way traffic affair; the visitors
countered and took the lead on the half hour mark, via a Joe Morgan penalty after the referee had spotted some pushing as the teams jostled for position from Wayne Sterling's right wing corner.
Right on the stroke of half time, Shaun Collins would've doubled the visitors lead, having got onto the end of another Sterling delivery, had it not been for a fine save from Mitch Ryall, whose opposite number 'Jones the Goalie' had probably already done enough at the far end of the pitch to qualify for the man of the match award.
After the interval, the away side came under a deluge of attacks, the tempo and frequency of Rogerstone's attacks didn't let up any, but neither did the paucity of a killer instinct in front of Jones' goal, who was by now leading something of a charmed life... and as a re-run of the first half shaped up, the Newport side duly stuck to the script and scored against the run of play from another counter attack, when Nathan Lewis latched onto a knock forward just outside Rogerstone's area and struck a crisp shot that found the back of the net via the inside of the left hand post.
The home side's flabber, must've been well and truly gasted by this turn of events, but goals win games, not a finite amount of possession and Rogerstone were now on a salvage mission with just nine minutes remaining.
In the final minute of the scheduled ninety, Alex Adams (who'd had a fine game for the hosts all afternoon, out on the left) delivered a corner into the visitors six yard box the hosts captain, Ian McIntosh, met with a towering header to bulge the roof of the net and finally break the Corinthians resolve; but even though the closing exchanges of the game in stoppage time, resembled a cattle stampede towards Jones goal, Newport held on for a win and mobbed their keeper in celebration on the final whistle.
FT: Rogerstone 1 v Newport Corinthians 2
If you ever think that you're having a bad day, then you really should try spending ninety minutes in the shoes of Rogerstone's number nine Dave Ham, who had no luck at all this afternoon, as profligacy in front of the Corinthians goal cost the hosts a deserved win... note, I'm not singling him out, but sympathising with him, and all told, he wasn't the only one who could and should have been among the goals today.
END OF PART ONE
As our circus entourage head off towards Newport for the final two games of the day, at: Villa Dino Christchurch and Pill YMCA, I've already reached my character limit of six billion words per blog post, so will resume this narration of our tour of Southern Welsh Wales territories in due course and cover the remaining eight games of our jaunt when the constraints of time allow.
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| The posts on the left are used for a game called Rugby Union, whatever that is! |
There are still numerous pictures to add (from all eleven fixtures), but alas, even though it's a Bank Holiday weekend in the homeland, there are still only twenty eight hours in a day and nine days in a week, so I will continue with Part Two and the remainder of the 'hop' coverage ASAP, in due course.
Your patience is, as always, greatly appreciated... and in the meantime, here is a Welsh football quiz video, starring the 'Davies twins' taken from one of the greatest films of all time: Twin Town.
