football rambles

Luigi 'Gigi' Meroni is a part of Italian football folklore. He was a footballer who drew a lot of controversy in Italy in the 1960's in the same way George Best did in Britain. However, at the time Italy was a much more conservative soceity, so a lot more scorn was poured on poor old Gigi, who unlike Best was more interested in the artistry of paint and paper than the artistry associated with Best. Like Best he was a winger who played on the wing, but could often cut inside and was known for sublime skills on the field and the ability to score and create goals from nothing. Unfortunately, Gigi's story also helped add to the legend of the 'curse of Torino'. He died at the age of just 24 on 15 October 1967. He was out with a team mate celebrating a win against Sampdoria and was crossing the road to phone a girlfriend when he was hit by a car. Ironically the driver, Atillio Romero was a 19 year old Torino fan, who idolised Gigi to the point that he actually had a p

I know they aren't great, as my footy photos usually aren't, but these were taken with the phone and I was sitting in the stand in agony at the time, so I do have an excuse.

Although I spent a year in Rome and was a regular at the Stadio Olimpico during my stay there (following Roma, although I did sneak off to Lazio games when none of my Italian friends were looking) it was a different band of Romans from my past that I paid a visit to on Saturday when I went to see Rocester take on Friar Lane & Epworth. I didn't know what to expect as the last time I watched the team was a few games at the start of the 2008-9 season when their performances were ropey then to say the least. Neither Rocester or their visitors had been on great form and before the game Rocester were 16th and Friar Lane were 20th in a Midland's Alliance of 23 teams. It wasn't that long ago that Rocester were beaten at home by 7-1 by Coalville, so I was a bit dubious about their ability, however as Coalville beat King's Lynn 3-0 in the first leg of the FA Vase semi final on Saturday maybe I should have given Coalville more credit. That said the heaviest home defeat I have

This weekend it looks like I'll be having a break from the usual thrills and spills of the Eastern Counties League, however I won't be going up the leagues but a sideways move into another Step 5 league, the Midlands Alliance when Rocester take on Friar Lane and Epworth. Friar Lane and Epworth were formed in 2004 when Friar Lane Old Boys joined with their neighbours and fellow members of the Leicestershire Senior League, Epworth. Epworth are perhaps the junior members of the pact, as the team play at Friar Lane's Knighton Lane East Ground. The original idea that had been mooted in 2001/2 was that Epworth would ground share with Friar Lane, but the idea was given short shrift by the Leicestershire FA. In 2003/4 a number of the Epworth personell moved over to Friar Lane and the club finished third in the Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division. Epworth carried on in the division below and also finished 3rd. It was to be the last season that the teams existed as separate

The day started off as a nice Spring's day and I thought that it might be the first nice day of the year for football. However, by the time the game kicked off the storm clouds had gathered (although luckily they didn't break) and the temperature had dropped. Ely were taking on Norwich United and the storm clouds seemed to be a metaphor of what I expected to witness. Norwich United are the form team of the Ridgeons League recently and Ely have been eratic to say the least. I've missed the last couple of games, one away and one at home on Tuesday night, but have been told by the unbiased views of committee members, ex-players and hardcore fans that the Robins were unlucky to lose these games. It didn't look like their luck was going to change yesterday either. The forward line was dilapidated with Mason, Impey and Ebanks-Blake all missing and in defence Ben Lawrence had to withdraw, which left Ely with having to make call ups from the A-Team. For some churlish reason the

Top: Rye 'keeper John Pelling gets ready for a King's Lynn free kick. Middle: Jamie Thurlbourbne takes a corner for King's Lynn. Bottom: King's Lynn players walk back after scoring the equaliser.

Yes, I know it's a bizarre picture, but I thought it was novel that the corner flgs looked like the Ukrainian national flag. I realise that this was probably not intentional.

Not really, but this was the first of three on pitch brawls (handbags) from the King's Lynn v Rye game.

Yesterday King's Lynn took on Rye United in the quarter finals of the FA Vase in front of a crowd of 1,657. Most of the crowd were expecting a one sided affair, after all Lynn hadn't lost since the first week of October and their opponents for prmotion from the United Counties League, the loaded St. Neot's had lost in the last round at the walks. The Norfolk press also pointed out that Rye could easily be struck by stage fight in front of a crowd that was considerably larger in number than what they were used to. The game started off though with both teams looking nervous. There were also signs of tempers breaking as a couple of early encounters between Lynn forward, Jack Defty and Rye defender Shaun Loft. In fact there had already been a bit of a brawl when the two had tousled on 8 minutes, but on 15 minutes Loft was sent off for elbowing Defty. This should have given Lynn even more of an upper hand, however it was Rye who looked more settled and organised and on 34 minute

Pictures from top do bottom: Sean gets ready in the club cafeteria The teams warm up The teams line up

The Walks is an 18th Century park in King's Lynn. It is also the name of the King's Lynn ground and as you can see the ground occupies a corner of the park.

Photos from top to bottom: Top - Nadiya and Asya outside Custom House, which was built in 1685 by John Turner. Middle - Captain Vancouver, the naval officer who was born in King's Lynn in 1757 and who has a city named after him. Bottom - A boat at Purfleet Quay.

Last time I went to a game at King's Lynn their reserves were playing Ely on a bleak night almost exactly 2 years ago, if you want to read about that you can read it here: http://footballrambles.blogspot.com/2009/03/trip-to-lynn.html . The place seemed a bit depressed and obviously there was less than a bumper crowd there. It was to be their last season in the Conference North. After starting the following season in the Northern Premier, they were only there for not making the ground improvements they should have, they then went bankrupt. It seems that they were spending too much on players, but weren't getting the ground in order. Anyway, now they have been reformed and are currently second in the United Counties (this is the equivalent of the Eastern Counties, where their reserves used to play) and after yesterday are in the semi-final of the FA Vase. What follows is a story of our day out in King's Lynn.