football rambles

Note on photos top to bottom: The travelling Worthing fans. Worthing on the attack. View of the main stand from behind the goal

Now I have to be careful here, as I believe that there is no such thing as a good place or bad place, but that your experiences shape the way you view a place. It is especially disappointing when you go to a place you are looking forward to and then find out that it doesn't live up to your expectations. Cambridge City's City Ground on Milton Road was one of these places. I was expecting a happy and friendly community focused club, but what I found was a miserable bunch of bastards. On the plus side the ground is fairly attractive and easy to get to as the bus to Ely stops outside the ground, the game was fairly open and City could feel hard done by that they didn't manage to win the game, as they had oodles of chances and the only real chance Worthing had was the penalty that they put away. The players were all sporting despite Worthing, who have the nickname 'the Rebels' having participated in the game with a record number of red cards in the previous week. On the

Notes on photos from top to bottom: The dugouts Nadiya and Sean join in Action from the game The main stand, as viewed from behined the dugouts The terraced section

The first weekend in Ely gave me the opportunity to visit a number of games. I could have gone to Soham V top of the table Leamington or Cambridge City v Bashley. These games yielded 5 goals each with Leamington winning 3-2 and Cambridge City beating promotion hopefulls Bashley 5-0. However, I witnessed a 1-1 draw between Ely City and Harwich and Parkeston and I can't say that I regretted the decision. First of all Ely is a pretty friendly club and its fans include pensioners, young kids and vocal support from teenagers. Although the walk from my house was a bit of a nightmare as most of it was along the A10 and close to the ground are also a tennis court, a golf course and several rugby pitches, which makes the narrow road to it a bit of a traumatic journey and not something to relish when the weather is worse and they have a midweek game on. That said the programmes cost 50p, they have Greene King IPA in the clubhouse and there are some nice views of the cathedral, and it has a s

Well I finally have the Internet here in Ely and the last 2 weekends have seen me take in Ely City v Harwich & Parkeston in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division and Cambridge City v Worthing in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup. Both games involved a team in black and white stripes play a team in all red, in both games the home team could easily have felt hard done by and both games involved teams from Cambridgeshire take on teams from the seaside. However, there were also a lot of differences between these 2 games, which I am about to expand on

That brings to an end the Fens Football Focus for now, I'll be adding more teams as I come across them and actually visit their grounds. I'll be moving to Ely on Wednesday and don't know when I will have an Internet connection. I have to buy a computer first! Anyway, hopefully all will go well and I'll be back posting soon, although obviously I might even post something tomorrow if I have the chance or anything to say.

Histon Institute were formed in 1904 and although they have long dropped the Institute from their name they are still known as 'The Stutes'. Histon have played in the neighbouring villages of Histon and Impington since they were formed and their first playing field was originally a rose field, hence the rose on the badge, that was given to the club by John Chivers of the local Chivers jam factory. Their early history is in the local leagues of the area and in 1960 they joined the Delphim League, which disbanded 3 years later, when like many of the other clubs in this league they joined the Athenian League. In 1966 they joined the Eastern Counties League where they remained until 2000. At this time their main rivals were Ely City, so it shows how meteoric their rise through the non-league structure has been over the last decade. Now their reserve team play in the same league as Ely and the Stutes are now in the Conference National, where their local rivals are Cambridge United a

Rocester beat Oldbury 4-1 at home and then managed to beat Sutton Town 4-1 away in the FA Vase, so expectations were high for this game. Although the manager, Swaney urged precaution there was a general optimism around the club, which had been missing for a while. The optimism was short lived. Coventry Sphinx, who have been buoyed by closer connections to Coventry City reversed the scores of the previous 2 games by beating Rocester 4-1 in what was quite a bad tempered game. To be honest, the officials did really well in calming things down and injecting humour into the game. Some of the tackles going in looked to have the intent to harm the opposite player and the back chat and appeals of both teams, although mainly from Sphinx players seemed unreasonable. Not surprisingly this fixture led to both clubs being heavily fined last year when fighting broke out among the players, so hats off to the officials for keeping control of things today. That said, they had to be eagle eyed as they w

I always think of Cambridge United as a league club, which they were from 1970 to 2005, however they came from humble beginnings and their existence has been aided by a number of personalities who have been involved with the club over the years. The first club to be known as Cambridge United were formed in 1908 and in 1912 a club that would later be known as Cambridge United, Abbey United was formed. However, World War 1 interfered with footballing business and both of these clubs were disbanded during the conflict. Abbey United were re-formed in 1919 and this has been taken as the official date of the foundation of Cambridge United. Up until World War 2 Cambridge United, or Abbey United, as they were known until 1951 were a minor force in local football and were firmly in the shadows of Cambridge Town, who saw Ipswich as their rivals rather than United. That was all to change though when in 1949 United signed their first professional player and set on their journey that would take th

I actually stayed just opposite the club's ground on Milton Road a couple of weeks ago and it perhaps says how knackered I was or how unassuming the club are that I didn't notice it. I have to say that I am looking forward to my first visit to this ground, as the walk from the bus stop to it takes in the historical centre and the picturesque Jesus Green, as well as going past several decent looking pubs. Cambridge City at the moment play in the Southern League Premier Division after being demoted (notice the word demoted and not relegated) from the Conference South at the end of last season due to a failed ground inspection by the FA. This brought an end to 22 years in the 2nd tier of non-league football for the club and added to this it was discovered that the former directors had been robbing the club blind. The club is now a club 'ran by the fans for the fans', and it perhaps goes to show how unassuming the club are in that it's the kind of story the non-league p

To be honest I'm not even sure if Newmarket is in the Fens, as it the town which is more famous fore horse racing is in Suffolk, but even so it's pretty close to where I'll be living, so I'm including them in this feature. Newmarket Town are known as the Jockeys and play at cricketfields road, which could be used as an excuse for their confusion last season when they were relegated from the premier of the Eastern Counties League to division 1. However, this wasn't the worst season that the jockeys have faced, as they finished bottom of the league 3 times in a row after World War 2 and in 1952 lost every single game and finished with a goal difference of - 151, which led to them being relegated to the Peterborough and District League. It's not been all doom and gloom at the club, who were formed in 1877, though. Early honours include winning the 1920 Cambridgeshire Senior League Cup, the Bury and District League in 1927 and the Suffolk and Ipswich League in 1932

Unfortunately I can find very little information about Soham Town Rangers on the Internet, so hopefully I'll find out more when I get down there. They were formed in 1947 and joined the Eastern Counties League in 1963. They won the Eastern Counties League last season (see above picture) and are now competing in the Southern League division 1 (Midlands), whichisn't bad for a town with a population of less than 10,000. Other honours include winning the Peterborough and District League 3 times and the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup 4 times, other than that it was harder to find information about them even more than some lower league Ukrainian Clubs, although at least I have been able to obtain the fixtures and directions to the ground.

Ely City will soon be my local team and I hope to lend them my support when I can. Like most smaller clubs they suffer from the nations obsession with sky sports and the Premier League and also from the bigger clubs of Cambridge United and Peterborough United being not too far away. At the moment they play in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, which is level 9 of the English League system and is contested between clubs from Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex for a place in the Isthmian League or the Southern League. They are the oldest football club in Cambridgeshire having been formed in 1885. The club were originally known as Ely St.Etheldreda Football and Cricket Club, after the founder of the city and spent the first 90 years of their existence at the Paradise Ground before moving Unwin Ground, which is named after Doug Unwin who was involved in the club in different capacities from 1924 until his death in 1999, when he was still the president. The club's fir

I'll shortly be moving to Ely and although this means I'll probably have limited Internet access for a period of time I thought I would take the opportunity to have a look at who the local teams are over the next few weeks.

I didn't go to a match on Saturday, as getting anywhere from Rocester on public transport is a nightmare at the best of times. The deluge of rain over the week also meant that a number of games were threatened with being postponed, I had decided to try to go to Matlock Town's home game or Belper Town's, so it was probably just as well that I didn't bother, as Matlock's game was off and Belper's ended in a 0-0 draw. On Sunday I went to Oldfields Sports and Social Club in Uttoxeter to see a memorial match for local hero Roger Croft. The game was between Uttoxeter Town Old and New, and Roger's All Stars ( team of ex and current professionals). Captaining Roger's All Stars was his son Gary Croft, who played for England's Under 21s and was at one time transfered to Blackburn from Grimsby for 1.7 million pounds. Other pros and ex-pros included Tony Mowbray, the West Bromwich Albion manager, Graham Fenton who won the League Cup with Aston Villa and now who

I expected Rocester to struggle against Oldbury on Tuesday night, as they have really been playing quite badly of late. Matches between the two clubs also have a reputation of being closely fought affairs, although the first meeting between the clubs in 1988 in the West Midlands Regional League ended in a 4-0 defeat at home for Rocester. On Tuesday they got their revenge for this and beat Oldbury 4-1. Oldbury went ahead on 23 minutes when Max Bissell put the visitors ahead and for most of the first half it looked like Rocester would be well beaten. However in the second half we saw a very different Rocester who ran Oldbury ragged and dominated the game. The Romans drew level when Chris Sleath, who signed last week from Gresley Rovers, was fouled in the area and Paul Millward scored from the spot. On 69 minutes Sleath scored to put Rocester in the lead and then it was the turn of Lee Bagley, who had only just come on as a substitute to score on 80 minutes and then again in stoppage time

Oldbury United are playing Rocester up the road tonight and with nothing much else to do and being a glutton for punishment I will be at the game. Oldbury, despite their name and the age of most of the clubs in the Midlands Football Alliance were formed as late as 1958. They joined the Worcestershire Combination, which was later called the Midland Football Combination, in 1966. In 1982 they moved up to the Southern League Midland Division, where their highest finish was 3rd, however in 1985-86 they finished bottom and went into the West Midlands Regional League. In 1993 they won the Championship and in 1994 they became founder members of the Midlands Football Alliance. Their highest finish in the MFA has been 3rd, but last season they narrowly avoided relegation when they finished 21st. They weren't helped though by having to play the first half of the season at Pelsall Villa's Bush Ground when there was a legal dispute over the use of their 'The Beeches' ground in Tivi

I was reading about the Turkish Derby between Fenerbahce and Galatasary last night and, although I tend to have more sympathies for the Cim Bom than the yellow cananriesI was again interested to read that Ataturk was a Fenerbahce fan and it reminded me of a Fenerbahce badge I bought in Istanbul a few years ago with a portrait of Ataturk on it. on the 10th August 1928 after Fenerbahce's 3-3 draw with Galatasary, Ataturk is supposed to have said to 3 Galatasary fans and 2 Fenerbahce fans 'We are 3 and 3 here because I am too a supporter of Fenerbahce' . He also wrote in the guest book at Fenerbahce previously in 1918 that ' I was informed of the admirable activities of the club Fenerbahce and I was doing my duty to visit and congratulate the club. The visit has been made on this day and I can save my honour and congratulations' It has also been noted that when Fenerbahce's club building burnt down on 5th June 1932 Ataturk was the first to donate towards its rebu