The Baseball Break.

10/07/2010 by leo.

Two whole days on my trip without a football match – so just what I am to do? Well, I am travelling by car, and obviously there is some scope for sightseeing as I drive north back from Los Angeles, with no plan until a 7 a.m. flight off San Jose. I started by driving up the Pacific Coast from Santa Monica to Ventura. It was not as interesting as I thought it may be. Picturesque in places, certainly – but no more so than 100 stretches of European coastline. As was a grey overcast start to the day, and there were good waves for the surfers visible at every public beach, but it was also amazing how many people were picnicking in cars overlooking the beaches, or in some cases on the other side of the four lane highway! I left the coast and drove through a place call Ojai, where I stopped and brought a Turkey Club Sandwich – I thought I would be able to eat it while driving along – but it was over four inches thick. The drive over a mountain pass was quite spectacular, taking me quickly up from sea level to over 4000 feet, and then down almost all the way, and just as quick – leaving me on a wide plain littered with the nodding donkeys used to pump up oil. Driving up the plain, I ended up at a sizable town called Fresno.

Near the centre of Fresno is Chukchansi Park, home of both the Fresno Feugos soccer team, (playing in the PDL), and Fresno Grizzlies Baseball Team. The stadium was originally called Grizzlies Park, but has taken on its current name, thanks to a sponsorship deal. The name comes from a local tribe of native American Indians, while the sponsorship comes from a casino on their lands.

As you can see from the picture, this is a decent sized stadium, with a decent sized crowd, although I found the official figure, over 8000 – difficult to believe. If the figure is correct, and a baseball match can attract a paying crowd of around 8000 a time – and play the same opponents in a series that runs for three or four successive evenings, it is easy to see that this has the requirements for a successful professional sport. And Fresno is not part of the MLB – Major League Baseball – for which the scores are easily found in England. The Grizzlies are in fact a Triple-A rated Minor League team. This is the top level of the Minor League, but of course, there is no promotion for the best teams to the major league – a franchise can only attempt to buy a franchise at the higher level. The players, of course are awaiting their chance at the top level. The Grizzlies are an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, which means that most (might be all?) of their players are actually under contract to the Giants, as well as the coaching staff. The Giants have another five affiliated teams at lower levels of the minor leagues, with these players hoping to move up the rankings from the lower teams to the double or triple-A from where it is possible to jump up to the major league roster.

I arrived in Fresno barely before the scheduled start time, and found quite a queue outside the ground. As a result, by the time I had bought a ticket (US$10) and entered the ground, the first innings had been completed, and worse still the visitors, Colorado Springs Sky Sox were 4 runs to nil ahead. The next couple of innings were somewhat dull, but were over quickly. There was hardly a ‘hit’ in these innings. (This is when a batter hits the ball far enough to run to the first base before they fielders can get the ball there – the ball must be in play (not behind the foul lines), and it is out if the ball is caught before bouncing. If the ball is hit directly into the crowd (not behind the foul lines), then this is a home run – allowing the batter to complete a run around all the bases, and all those already on the bases to get home – so a home run can score 1, 2, 3 or 4). The game turned on the fourth innings, when the home side suddenly started hitting the ball correctly, (perhaps the pitcher was tiring), and ran in six in the innings. Unlike Cricket, an innings does not involve every member of a team having a turn to bat, but a rotation of players ending when three men are out. The fifth and eighth innings involved both sides scoring one run, and the game finished after Colorado Springs failed to score in the ninth (and final) innings. The home side always bats last, and as there is no actual limit to the number of runs that can be scored in an innings, there is technically, always hope. The final innings does not happen if the home side is already ahead.

After the game, I looked around the town briefly – there was no one about, even a few minutes after the game, and I felt better being in the car then I would have done walking. I could not spot any pubs or bars, and the only open store fronts appeared to be bail bondsmen – of which there were a surprisingly high number. I counted at least six! I had a three hour drive to San Jose, stopping a couple of times on the way, once for a coffee, and once for an hour or two of sleep. I parked the car just after 4 in the morning, fine for a seven o’clock flight. A small, but full plane took me up to Portland, and after a short time testing the routes between airport and football stadium, I headed north to Seattle. Seattle is a more pleasant city, and is lively in the centre – there were plenty of people walking about, and plenty of bars and restaurants. It did not suddenly get quiet after dark. It is typical of America, with a combination of older blocks (around 100 years old) in the centre, and the tall new skyscrapers. Some of the older buildings have a few flourishes, and I was quite taken by the Walruses on the frontage of one

Naturally, I was in town to see the baseball – and mindful of the delays the previous night, I headed to the ticket office early – buying a top tier ticket for US$17. From the car park, I had to walk past Qwest Field – normal home of Seattle Sounders, (and also the American Football team, Seahawks). To be honest – the early ticket buying here was not required – there was no shortage of available seats, and no crowd around the ticket booths just before the start. As a bonus, if I had waited, I could have dealt with a tout, and bought a ticket significantly below face value!

Close by the football and baseball fields, I found a couple of bars selling local ales. America is not a beer desert – wherever one goes there is a selection of lagers, light ales, and almost always a stout and a Hefeweizen. Dark Ales are a little less common. When I asked at one of the bars in the centre about the next morning’s World Cup semi-final, he suggested not watching at the bar I was in, but heading instead to an area called Fremont. This is a recommendation that was well worth the effort, although the extremely busy “British Pub”, the George and Dragon was too busy – meaning watching in the open air in a very hot courtyard, and I switched at half time to another bar, still busy but with room to sit down and watch from inside, (cooler, darker).

As for the baseball, the Seattle Mariners are in the middle of a bad run, and were playing four games against the Kansas City Royals, and were then going to follow with games against the New York Yankees. In may game, Seattle went ahead in the third innings with a home run, but then Kansas pulled themselves ahead by degrees scoring singles in the fifth, sixth and eighth. Seattle also scored in the eighth, pulling back to 3-2. This led to a tense final innings, as the home fans willed their team to score (in vain). It was however clear – even to the untrained eye, that the better team on the day won. In fact, the better team continued to win, as Kansas had a clean sweep (winning all four), and New York have won twice since as I write. Still, the claimed attendance for my game was over 17,000 (the stadium holds at least twice this). Seattle did a monthly magazine, which features on all the teams visiting the Safeco Field (no prizes for realising this is a sponsor’s name) in the month, while Fresno did a smaller programme which dealt with a single series of games and one opponent only.

I noticed that from my seat (and for that matter any seat), it was almost impossible to say whether a pitch was good or bad. There were a few people nearby who had extraordinary powers of vision and claimed to know a ball was good (generally pitched by Seattle) or bad (pitched by Kansas), but these must come from the same group as those who can judge offside from behind the goal at the wrong end of the field. The only pitches I were certain of, could be said to be “very bad”. The decision therefore rests entirely with the umpire behind the plate. What was very noticeable is that there was hardly ever and dispute, and absolutely no analysis or criticism on television. The pitch may be replayed, but it is never analysed to see if the decision was right. Although the big debate about video referees was repeated on American TV – with the overwhelming opinion being in favour, and the suggestion that not having video evidence could harm the progress of the game in America; Soccer was never compared to baseball in this regard. I was told that baseball officials did not want to break up play with the delays. But we had a delay at one point in each game, when the group of umpires decided they needed to discuss a point. There was time for a few beats of music (trying to get a response from the crowds, which in both games tended to watch quietly) before any pitch; and the game came to a stop every ten minutes or so at the end of the innings. At Fresno, these breaks were almost always filled with some other “action” on the field, whereas at Seattle, most of the “entertainment” was on the scoreboard. Most of the items at Fresno involved kids on the field of play, but one of the few I appreciated involved the pitch sweepers (who come on to smooth the dirt between innings) doing a dance routine. It is also obvious that the crowd is always in motion at both games. Very few people go to a ball game and see every pitch. The concourses behind is lined with stalls and concessions, selling food, club merchandise or just advertising goods. Once I took my seat at Fresno, I stayed in it until the end, whereas at Seattle, I went for a comfort break and a sausage about half way through the game, but starting at an innings break, I missed only about two or three pitches.

Incidentally, apart from the larger crowds the main difference between the Major and Minor League is accuracy. Far more pitches in the Major League game were good, and far more were hit. Of the balls that were hit, the ball went in the correct direction more often, whereas the Minor League players struggle to control the ball with a round bat. My guess is that if there is such a thing as amateur baseball, it would be almost unwatchable, unless the pace of the pitching was significantly reduced to increase accuracy.

I guess I could get used to baseball, although I imagine that spectators that watch every game of the home series are rare. After all, a baseball season involves around 80 home games. From what I could gather, a season ticket was not an admission ticket, but a discount card. The distances in America being what they are, away fans are a rarity in any sport, (although I saw Seattle fans in LA). Still, the next day would bring me back to soccer.

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California Dreaming.

08/07/2010 by leo.

So, as at least one friend asked when told I was heading this way, “Do you know the way to San Jose?” The answer ought to be simple, all you do is “Get on board a Westbound 747” – except in my case it was an Airbus A320 for four and a half hours, and then two more hours on a 737.

During my last trip to the USA, in 1999; I had seen San Jose Earthquake’s predecessor, San Jose Clash playing at Chicago Fire, then at Soldier Field. It was the only game I have ever been to, that used a shoot out after a draw. On the same trip, I saw DC United, then the dominant team (champions in 1996, 97 and 1999; they also won in 2004, but not since). Of course, the MLS uses a play-off system to decide the title after the regular season, and this has not always favoured DC, who were top of the regular season rankings in 2006 and 7, but both times lost the title to Houston Dynamo. San Jose (they have been Earthquakes, rather than Clash ever since the end of the 1999 season) were champions in 2001 and 2003, but left the league after the 2005 season. The owners of the franchise decided to move to Houston, creating Dynamo – but the league called this a new franchise, allowing the Earthquakes name to return, under new ownership and at a different stadium in 2008.

The Buck Shaw stadium is part of Santa Clara University, and lies close to San Jose airport, (you could walk it, but you would get odd looks from people driving past). It is not the ideal stadium, and holds only 10,500. None of the seats are under cover (but then, surely it never rains in Northern California?), and there are quite large sections with no spectator accommodation. The longest stand completes one side, goes around the corner and finishes about half way behind the goal. The seats are bench seats, but renovations mean they are aluminium, whereas the pathways between them are planks of wood, and look quite old as well. These sides are built over a solid banking. The opposite side, is taller, but only fills three quarters of the side – this side is of a scaffolding construction. The lower section of this has blocks of individual plastic seats, while more benches are above. The pitch is natural grass, and looked to be in remarkably good condition. The temperature at the start of the game was around 28°, but it cooled after the sun went down midway through the second half. There are plans to move to a new stadium, but this is not likely to happen until at least 2013. Occasional big games have been played at the Oakland Coliseum, home of the Athletics Baseball team, but this is really too big a stadium for their crowds. 10,304 were at the Buck Shaw, which means the stadium was close to full.

After a series of less effective attacks, including one which had the ball in the net, but disallowed for offside, the Earthquakes opened the scoring on 15 minutes. Ike Opara latched onto a loose ball after a corner was headed down. Former Reading winger Bobby Convey shot wide in the 22^nd minute. It was more than half an hour into the game before DC managed an attack worthy of the name. The first of these ended with an offside, but the Earthquakes were forced to defend a 37^th minute chance. From their second corner, DC got a header on target, which Convey cleared from the line.

These moves appeared to be a blip though, and the half ended with San Jose on the attack again. Earthquakes continued to have the better of the early second half, so it came as some surprise when DC levelled the scored after 54 minutes. Stephen King was being shepherded away from the danger area, but was then given space to turn and cross the ball to the far post, where Andy Najar slipped past his marker to level the scores. Two minutes later, home keeper Busch had to get down sharpish to stop a long distance shot from Pontius. The action soon moved back to the other end, but while San Jose had most of the ball, they did not make the best of their chances. DC United should have gone ahead with fourteen to play, the home defence failing to deal with a long ball, giving Santino Quaranta a chance, which he ballooned over the bar – at the other end, a cross from Wondolowski should have given substitute Arturo Alvarez a chance as he had space inside the area, but he failed to connect. A 25 yard strike from another substitute, Cornell Glenn tested the DC goalkeeper, but did not find him wanting. San Jose really should have found the way on 88 minutes, when a cross from Alvarez went past everyone, except Omar Jospeh, whose short was deflected wide for a corner. DC were clearly happy with the draw delaying the play with substitutes in the final minute, and in injury time. The last player to enter the field was former Australian international, Danny Allsopp. (I am assuming the word former, Oz coach Pim Verbeeek described him as “absolutely useless” after his last appearance, 17 months ago). With that, the game finished at 1-1.

Although the 16 team MLS has 30 games, and a standard play everyone home and away format, it is still divided into two Conferences, East and West. In practical terms, the top eight are likely to make the play offs, with the rules demanding this includes a minimum of two from each side. With this point, San Jose are fifth on the Western side, but have the eight best record to date, so may just be in line for the play offs, (the season is less than halfway through). DC United have disappointed their fans, and are 7^th in the East, one of four teams on 11 points at the foot of any combined table. Top of the table is LA Galaxy, and this was my next port of call.

Before I headed south, and interesting finish to the evening. I had been traced on the internet by one Michael Hoenig – and although he lives in Colorado, well away from the route for this trip, it turned out that his brother, Bruce lived in San Jose. Anyway we arranged to meet, and he came over to meet at the motel and then, along with Bruce’s daughter Jessica and her friend Anna, we went out for a Pizza, (a bar was out of the question, as the legal drinking age in California is 21, and the girls were 19 – and they check ID, I had to show mine to get a beer at the airport). Turned out that the Pizza shop had a selection of beers, including a summer ale very similar to some golden ales in the UK. I have never met anyone called Hoenig before, with the exception of my immediate family. My general assumption is that Bruce and Michael are not blood relations, but Bruce has done a lot of research into his family tree and it appears that his family originates from the same areas that mine does. Another co-incidence, both Bruce and I have Chinese wives! Should there be a word for this type of meeting, maybe the Gorman moment?

The drive from San Jose to LA was more straight forward than I thought. Most of the route was a straight road across a wide plain. There was little scenery, and not even many towns on the route. The general colour was yellow, with much of the land being grassland, now dry due to a lack of rain. Bruce had told me that there are two basically two seasons in California, a dry season and a less dry season. At the moment we are in the middle of the dry season. There were areas of greenery, where crops (mainly fruits) were being grown, thanks generally to irrigation schemes. Water is an issue, as signs next to the road suggesting a changing certain members of the house of congress requested. Clearly, with more irrigation and more water, the farmers could easily grow more – but no doubt this is not the whole issue – as water does not simply fall out of the sky, (well, not here it doesn’t).

On a warm evening, many people had arrived at the stadium early, and when I arrived, grass banks at the edge of the car parks were filled with people enjoying their picnics. If arriving early enough to get a place by the bank, then it appears the family will always settle immediately behind their own car. When driving past the beaches the following day, I also noticed that this desire of many not to stray too far from their vehicle. In some cases, this meant parking on the opposite side of the four lane roadway to the beach, and then not even crossing the road before setting up the picnic.

Don’t venture too far from the car

The Home Depot Centre Stadium is in Carson City, south of the central LA, and not far from Long Beach. I would say it is the best of those I have been to so far. The lower tier is uniform all around, and consists of at least 30 rows of seats. These are individual plastic seats along the sides, but metal benches in the corners and behind the goals. The main walkway is above the seats, always a better option when it can be accommodated. The walkway level is the same height as the surrounding ground – so the pitch is at a generally lower level. Above this, the situation is different on each side. On the West side, there is a row of executive boxes with a central section above this for the media. To the south, there are a few executive boxes, with what appears to be a restaurant on the higher level. There is a small patio above one of the boxes at the end of this. The east side has a second tier of seats – the only side with this. Most unusual is above the north side, where a steeply sloping grass bank rises above the seats, to a semi-circular top fence and pathway. Many members of the crowd had set themselves up, sitting on blankets during the game, while more gathered here at the end, to await the after match firework display. The roofing was of the membrane type – a good lightweight solution for providing more shade than rain protection. It sits above all of the long sides, and turns the corner to also provide cover over most of the south side – although there is a gap in the centre. There is no cover above the north side.

LA could have had an early goal when Michael Stephens, shooting from the right hit the post, but the ball rebounded into Kasey Keller’s welcoming hands. This was the start of a series of attacks for Galaxy, who dominated the open stages, although after this first chance, the attacks were blocked by Seattle defenders and the best LA achieved was a corner. Keller dealt with a long shot in the 18^th minute but then fumbled the resulting corner, and Buddle almost got on the score sheet. This was put away for another corner, and this time Donovan’s corner was firmly headed into goal by Buddle.

A gap in the home defence could have allowed an equaliser in the 33^rd minute. Steve Zakuni was allowed to progress unchallenged down the right and send a good cross in, but Pat Noonan failed to connect properly. Even then the Galaxy defence failed to boot the ball away, allowing Noonan a second bite, this time blocked. On 40 minutes, a Donovan free kick was deflected for a corner by a defender less than five yards away from the ball when kicked. The referee waved aside (only slight) protests, Donovan took the corner, and Buddle again got a header in. This was cleared back to Donovan who tried a shot from a tight angle, which was comfortably saved by Keller.

Galaxy opened the second half with a second goal – Stephens had advance down the left and found his route blocked, so he turned and passed back to Juninho, over 30 yards out. He took a touch, and finding himself without challenge, launched a thunderbolt which went straight into the far corner, catching Keller completely unaware. Incidentally, Juninho is a 21 year old, on loan from Sao Paulo, not the former Middlesboro player

Buddle advanced into space after another defensive failing in the 56^th minute. Cutting in, and looking for a player to pass to, he went down under the challenge. It all looked innocent, but the referee awarded a kick against Buddle. This was Buddle’s last meaningful contribution, as he was replaced by Alan Gordon soon afterwards. Seattle pulled a goal back on 66 minutes – Zakuni received the ball and went on a run, ghosting past two LA defenders (who appeared not to notice), before slotting the ball home. On 74, Freddie Ljungberg, who had been basically a passenger up to then, came close to levelling the scores. It seems to me that there are a number of ex Premier League players in the MLS, who are picking up their cheques more thanks to their name and reputation than current ability – (and Thierry Henry is expected to join New York next season)

Catching the defence flat footed, Alan Gordon advanced down the right in the 77^th minute. His cross was too short to reach the only attacker, but he was helped out when James Riley managed to beat his own keeper and give Galaxy their third goal. Soon after, Tyrone Marshall was cautioned for bringing down Juninho. The Brazilian took the free kick himself hitting the ball narrowly wide from about 25 yards. Again Keller appeared bemused. Juninho was then replaced by his compatriot and fellow loanee Alex Cazumba. Cazumba’s first action was to get himself booked, leading to a similar free kick, which Seattle forward Tristan Bowen hit well over the bar. An injury time save by Donovan Ricketts stopped Mike Seamon from pulling a goal back, and while Nate Jaqua got his head to the resultant corner, his header went well over the bar.

Two sections of the ground were saved for “singing fans”, with the two fan groups called the Angel City Brigade (behind the goal to the North), and the LA Riot Squad (South East Corner). I reckoned the brigade was ahead on noise made. The North West Corner had a small group of Seattle fans. At the start of the game, and whenever a goal was scored, the sky was filled with small pieces of yellow, blue and white paper, which fluttered slowly to the ground, ending up by littering areas of the pitch.

After the game, we were treated to a fine fireworks display, and the playing of a series of patriotic tunes and military marches (well it was July 4), much of the crowd of 27,000 stayed around to see this. Demonstrating that some clubs can do better than others – despite a bigger crowd than Toronto, and more travelling by car, (well the car park is bigger) – but there was no queue of cars leaving the ground when I left.

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Canada Days.

04/07/2010 by leo.

In England, the habit of putting up the St. George’s cross is reserved for when England are playing in a major football tournament. While Americans have not taken to flying flags from the sides of their cars, the flag is more prominently displayed in front of houses and houses, and of course, the national anthem is played before sports events, even with the low attendance for matches such as the PDL, (indeed, at Kalamazoo, both US and Canadian anthems were played). Crossing the border to Canada, one still sees national flags that I would guess are always displayed, plus an increase as people get more patriotic as Canada Day (1 July) approaches. There are even some cars that are flying small Canadian flags, but there are just as many flying other country’s flags for the World Cup. Most popular among these is the Portuguese flag, with Germany a distant second. Indeed when I entered the country, the customs official asked if I was escaping after England’s poor performance. When I said, yes – but Canada did not even come close to qualifying – he replied that he was Portuguese, and would be coming off shift before they played Spain.

I wanted to keep on the road, so I drove about two hours from the customs post to the City of London before stopping an quickly finding a sports bar, watching most of the Portugal-Spain match. There were a group of rowdy Portuguese supporters in the bar, and a smaller (and quieter) number supporting Spain. The early game I did not see live, but saw a replayed evening transmission when I stopped for a meal. Still, ,most of the afternoon and early evening was spent on Highway 401 which runs from Windsor (connected to Detroit by toll bridge) up the north side of one of the lakes and up to Montreal. The only traffic problems I encountered were around Toronto. The odd thing about the Canadian motorway is that I spent my first two hours on a fairly quiet road, but the traffic kept in the main to just a smidgen over the speed limits. As I approached Toronto, the traffic became busier, but the speeds became faster. My theory is that on the open road, it is relatively easy for the police to pick on a speeding motorist, but there is safety in numbers, so cars feel safer to go fast in a group, knowing the police cannot stop them all. Safety is of course a relative term, as tiredness and boredom is more likely to set in while driving slowly (well 70 mph, the speed limit is 100 km/h, or 62 mph) on an open road, while one needs to concentrate in a busier area.

I made my overnight stop about an hour’s drive beyond Toronto, with a meal and a beer first, so it was late when I settled down. In the morning, I was not quick starting and then took some time to drive off the motorway. The motorways are full of traffic, but coming off the main road does not help to explain where everyone is going to. The secondary roads are remarkably quiet – not many people take the alternative, and the road itself is slightly disappointing. Despite running parallel to the edge of the lake, and the St. Lawrence river, there are few scenic opportunities to stop and admire. Some of the small towns have marinas, full of pleasure craft, but the river, when you get to spot it is clear of traffic. The towns are all of a muchness, pleasant enough places with small malls and plenty of parking. Not many people around though. As you drive in and out of these towns, most of the housing is wooden fronted, standing well back from the road with a perfectly manicured lawn in front (no fences at all – Canada is not part of the land of picket fences). All the lawns seem to be cut to a uniform size, leading one to wonder whether the residents cut their own, or if someone cuts the entire lot in a broad sweep. If everyone cuts deals with their own, then the question is who inspects the mowers, to make sure all the grass is the same length, and is there a National grass cutting day – to make sure it is all cut at the same time. Oddly, considering the schools are out and it is a holiday weekend, there were no children on these lawns - in fact, there were no people on the lawns at all. I do not feel I would make a good Canadian, with my unkempt garden wilderness lying untended back home.

Shortly before arriving at Montreal, one crosses from Ontario to Quebec province. The road number changes, the quality of road surface deteriorates badly, and when you stop, people speak to you in French first. Often they keep on speaking French even after you have spoken in English. As in France, I just ignore them unless I am trying to pick up some information. The French speakers, (whether in France or Montreal) seem to stick to the same policy, jabbering away even when it is clear they are not being understood. They do not even take on the English habit of speaking slowly and loudly to get the message across.

Montreal is an interesting city, with a contrast between the older parts (which of course are not much over a century old) and modern buildings. The older buildings sit like slabs of stone, with ostentatious touches. The new buildings, like any modern city are a mixture of the mundane, and those trying to stand out. If you venture away from the main road, the backs of the buildings are the domain of graffiti artists with fire escapes hanging in the air, and large waste containers huddled against the walls, waiting for the garbage trucks. In the end, it was disappointing that I had not allowed more time here, (I was over an hour later than I planned in arriving anyway, having spent longer on side roads, and then the traffic into the town being difficult). Naturally, the only rain storm so far on the trip came as I tried to explore a small central area of the city.

The Saputo Stadium is on the Olympic Park, next to the Olympic Stadium. Montreal staged the Olympics in 1976, but the stadium was only completed in 1987. It now stages Baseball, American Football and the occasional soccer game, (AC Milan have played there recently), but with a 76,000 capacity, it is still considered a white elephant. The stadium is known either as the big O, referring to its doughnut shape, or the big owe, referring to the bills that the city have only just paid off for its construction. By comparison, the Saputo stadium is a modest affair. Behind one goal and all along one side, there are large banks of seating, built up on a steel and aluminium construction – and without a roof. The main stand is slightly lower, with more concrete in the construction and a roof that will protect the crowd if the wind and rain is from the North, but not from Southerly storms. Unusually, the main stand is the Northern side of the stadium. At the back of this stand, there are a number of boxes, some given over to media, the others for sponsors. There are a number of other areas reserved for those people who have either paid a premium for the tickets, or got them from free from a company paying for the hospitality. Behind one goal, there is no stand, but a series of small marquees, and at both ends of the main stand there were terraces with people eating and drinking in restaurant fashion. The tables had individual seats, and bar umbrellas. The pitch was 3G artificial, and played well. The bounce was normal, there were no clouds of the black dust seen on some artificial pitches, and the ball did not speed away to the sidelines.

The crowd for the match was just shy of 12,000. How much of the much some of them saw was uncertain. Despite the match being advertised as 7.30, and actually kicking off at 7.47, people were still swarming around the entrances for at least 20 minutes after the game started, and the last paying customers did not arrive until near enough half time. Meanwhile, the path at the front of the stand was a constant highway, with people heading back and forth to the concessions in the corners of the stadium. Ticket prices were generally from C$20 up to C$50. All prices were available on the night. I had looked at the on-line sales process, and this added a total of C$10 to the price, a service fee, and C$2.50 simply for them to deliver the ticket to the stadium for collection, (the only option available if booking from outside Canada).

The name Saputo stadium comes from the club’s owner, Joe Saputo, who operates Canada’s biggest dairy products concern. I am fairly certain though that the stadium is owned and was built by the city.

This is the fourth time the teams had met this season (twice in the league, and twice in the Canadian Championship – a tournament between Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto to select a contender for the CONCACAF champions league). The teams play in a 12 team, 30 match league and will meet twice more later in the season. All three previous meetings were drawn.

Montreal made a good start when in the third minute, Leonardo Dilorenzo took a free kick on the right hand side, floating it in for Tony Donatelli to head home, and in the ninth minute came close to repeating the feat, this time Byers heading wide from a free kick delivered from the left. Montreal continue to dominate the first half, and many people in the crowd thought they scored again on 30 minutes, when Byers went past the goalkeeper, but hit the ball into the side netting. Vancouver made a substitution at half time, and came out with a more attacking formation. This paid off with Vancouver now having much the better of the play, and deservedly getting level in the 66^th minute, the ball being worked in with close passes from the left until it reached Janicki, who turned the defender and placed a low shot beyond the keeper. This at least woke up the home side, who had been dozing through the second period. The thought they had restored the lead when first Byers, receiving the ball from Philippe Billy forced a fine save, and then the ball was returned via Billy to Byers who crossed this time for Dilorenzo to put into the net. Unfortunately, Byers was off side when he received the ball for the second time. This turned out to be a rare play for Montreal in the second half as they produced little else, and it appeared the game would end in a draw, until Luca Bellimisomo turned and shot from just outside of the area in the first minute of injury time, and gave Vancouver a surprise win. On the first half performance, Montreal should not have lost this game, but they only managed a single goal in this period, and never really competed after the break.

More than five hours of driving from Montreal to Toronto, I did around two hours after the game, not returning to my motel until well after midnight. Thursday was Canada day, and clearly the real start of the holiday weekend. Most of the traffic, though seemed to be heading out of Toronto, and I had a clear run, while there were many jams heading east. Still, when I arrived in the city, it was lively. I found the old city, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the “flatiron” building had a pub in the basement – immediately flagged for a visit after the game. Even busier was the lake front area – with more time, it might have been possible to walk all the way to the stadium, but time was limited, and my feet were already blistered, so it was the tram for me.

Toronto has a spectacular skyline, and it may just be that the best view can be had from the upper tier of seats at BMO Field. The stadium is what is known in Canada and the USA as Soccer Specific, that is to say, it was designed with the soccer team in mind, rather than being original used for another sport, or a multi-purpose arena. The four sides are therefore square to the pitch. Three of the four sides are open, and the roof of the main stand is small and high. The stand itself is a very tall affair, arranged in two tiers with a row of executive boxes in between. These boxes extend around to provide the only section where the corners are filled in, but it is not all executive boxes. A small open air terrace near one end box was given to a small steel band, who drummed continuously through the game. While the upper tier has the views, it also has a very steep rake. On the east side, there is a fairly big affair, some 40 rows of seats in a single tier, while behind the south goal the stand rises only about half as high. These three stands are all concrete, with one corner reserved for the “singing section”. Almost all the fans on the south side stand up, even though they all have seats. The north side is somewhat different, with just about four or five rows of concrete. Raised quite high above this for about half the width (central) is a steel and aluminium stand of around 25 rows. The main scoreboard sits above this stand. Each side of it, are low buildings, which I assume are concessions or VIP sections. The one nearer to me had bar type tables outside, whereas the other had quite a few people standing outside. Screens above these showed the match on a relatively small screen, with advertising on a much bigger area.

Both teams lined up in 4-4-2 formation, and both created an early chance – but then the game settled down with neither side having a creative edge, and generally losing the ball with long wild passes. In the 21^st minute, a Toronto long pass found its target – forward Chad Barrett – but he lost the ball when trying to cut inside a defender. It was another 13 minutes before we saw another attempt at goal, this time Dwayne de Rosario, one of the Canadians on view turned and shot over from around 25 yards. Three minutes before the break, we had a move worthy of mentioning, with a short cross cut in by De Rosario, from which Jacob Petersen hit the ball into the side netting. Toronto created another chance just from an injury time free kick. Those last few minutes indicating they might just have an edge. It was, however, the visitors from Houston that made most impression early in the second half, enjoying possession, but not creating much. Brain Mullen put the ball in the net for them on 57 minutes, but he was clearly offside, and the linesman was quick to rule it out. The crowd finally got something to shout about on 62 minutes, when Joseph Ngwenya squared up to several home players, and then almost everyone else ran in to join the melee, Ngwenya and home player de Guzman were both sent off, while another Toronto player Nana Attakora was cautioned. At least after this, the home side started to play football again, forcing a corner from which Barett shot high over the bar. In the 73^rd minute, Houston broke the deadlock when Brian Ching beat his marker and headed in from a corner. It was almost two within a minute when Lovel Palmer’s shot was saved by the home keeper. Toronto managed a series of attacks, firstly substitute Faud Ibrahim crossed from the left, but into a sea of defenders, one of whom knocked it out for a corner. The corner was cleared, but de Rosario picked up the loose ball, beat a defender and shot from 20 yards, resulting in a fine save from the Houston goalkeeper. Then from this corner the ball was hit deep beyond the far post, where it was met by a firm header by Dan Gargan to level the scores, and finally give the home fans something real to cheer. By and large the fans were still hear as well – as unlike the previous night, there was no large scale exodus nearing the end. Still, all Toronto managed after the equaliser was a series of tame long balls that were as easily defended as those earlier in the game, and a raising of temperatures in the area in injury time, resulting in Toronto’s Amadou Sanyang receiving his second yellow card, and Toronto playing the last 25 seconds with just nine men.

Toronto are Canada’s premier football club, but when I looked through the squad lists for the match, I could only identify 7 players of the 36, (6 of the 22 starters) that were listed as born in Canada. I viewed this as not good for football in Canada, but when I asked the local journalists, they found the figure to be encouragingly good, while I thought it was disappointingly poor. Toronto also run an Academy team in the Canadian Soccer League, and their team in that is almost exclusively Canadian – but as I would discover later, the class difference is such that that it will be hard for players to step up.

With a crowd given as over 21,000, there were not many seats available. However, the ticket office was open and it was possible to buy. Still, there were plenty of scalpers in action outside the stadium. I did not go as far as finding out whether they were charging a premium for the tickets, and how much over the top prices went. I am told the Toronto FC have sold 16,000 season tickets, a clear demonstration of the current state of the MLS, and particularly some of the newer franchises. Looking around, two things were noticeable about the crowd, especially when comparing to the situation back home in Britain. Firstly, the mix in the crowd – a city like Toronto is extremely cosmopolitan, and yet I saw no signs of racial tension or of ghetto areas. I may have been lucky in this respect, of course. The crowd at the football was also very cosmopolitan, and this must be an advantage to the club over the situation in Britain, where football clubs fail to appeal to racial minorities. The second factor about the crowd was at appeared to have a young average age. I have heard many comments suggesting that the average age of spectators in England is increasing, and more worryingly, the numbers of new young supporters are diminishing. Toronto is a new young franchise, and appears to have an audience to match. The crowd was in god voice, raising their scarves high when the national anthem was sung at the start of the game (and it was sung, the public address just played the first few bars, and then stopped, leaving the crowd to voice the words unaided).

A couple of post match notes – quite a few fans hang around after the match. I came across a small group, dancing what I first thought was one of the steel drums, but actually turned out to be a rubbish bin. Still they got a good drumbeat going. When I pointed out this was a drawn match, and ask how they celebrated a win, the answer was “you don’t want to know”. A portion of the crowd were stopping to see a firework display for Canada day, - and yet still an hour after the match finished, there were long and slow queues of cars leaving the parking area. I checked out the stall selling replica shirts, they were selling at C$129.99 – just under £90!! And most prices in Canada are quoted without tax, so there may be another 13% on top of this.

And so onto my last day in Canada – which started with a visit to Niagara Falls. The Falls themselves are as spectacular as may be expected, and are well worth a visit, but the rest of the town is a series of tacky tourist attractions, that I just found unattractive. I am told it is worse on the USA side of the border, but I was not crossing to find out. After the match, I made my way back towards the USA, stopping in London. London has two teams, Forest City London, who won the PDL match at Kalamazoo which started my tour, and London City, playing in the Canadian Soccer League. This is the top football league within Canada, although by and large it is restricted to the state of Ontario. Both Montreal and Toronto operate reserve teams in the league, but Trois-Rivieres Attak who are still deeper into Quebec province are taking a year out, despite being defending champions.

London City play at the Cove Road Field, which is part of the German-Canadian club in the city. The venue is basic, around most of the playing area you can watch while leaning on a fence, and standing on grass. There are three small seated areas on the entrance side, each with about six rows of wooden seating on a steel framework. Most of the crowd, which I estimated around 150 used the seats. One of the three sections was claimed by about 20 visiting fans, who were singing and making a racket through the game. The admission price was C$10, around £7, while a free programme came in two parts. A season programme, of A5 size running to 24 pages – mainly advertising but including a club history. In addition a single A4 sheet (printed on the same glossy paper as the programme)gave the two squad lists for the match.

The match took some time to get going – plenty of enterprise in early exchanges, but most were easily defended. The match turned on the opening goal, which are scored by the visitors, North York Astros in the 35^th minute. Mahyar Kohbad, received the ball near the edge of the area, and hit a powerful shot into the top corner. From this point, it always appeared that the Astros were going to win the game, especially as London’s chances, and they had a few, were somewhat softly wasted. Kohbad added the second goal from the penalty spot in the 52^nd minute, and a third goal was added with 10 minutes to play.

Where does this leave Canadian football. I think it has a problem. The big three are doing well enough, and it can only improve things when all three are in the MLS. There clearly is demand for good quality football when it can be provided. But there is nothing at all between the top three clubs and those who are in either the Canadian Soccer League or the PDL – so great parts of the country are left out. The quality of the Canadian Soccer League is quite poor, it is not capable of grooming players who are going to compete at an international level. It may work as an academy level for Toronto and Montreal, but not as a reserve league. The only person I saw that could make the change in grades was Geoff Gamble, who refereed the game for London City, and was also the fourth official the previous day at Toronto.

Posted in The American Game | 1 Comment »

Kalamazoo?

30/06/2010 by leo.

The start of a new season? Football never comes to a complete end, with the World Cup overlapping the start of the European Champions League, and various summer leagues overlapping the traditional winter leagues at both ends. In Britain, we tend to define July 1^st as the first possible date – professional teams tend to start their pre-season training on this date, and the FA have a moratorium against pre-season games being played in June. For me, there has always been a short break between seasons, except back in 1996. In that season, I was working in Indonesia and Malaysia and with both seasons in operation, I was seeing a game most weekends. Then I chose to start my 1996-7 season on 20 July, on 6 days after the last game of 1995-6. The reasoning was that for six weeks I had been in Indonesia, whereas at least I crossed the borders to start again in Malaysia. This season, the opportunity was there for an early start, and while if I had been at the World Cup it would still have been part of the old season, my first match in the USA was after a two week break.

The journey was straight forward, a direct flight from Heathrow to Chicago. It did take almost two hours from arriving at O’Hare airport, to leaving in a hire car – most of the delay was waiting for the passport check. I then drove directly to Kalamazoo using the freeways, (and a toll road near Chicago). I was just a few minutes too late in arriving to see any of the day’s World Cup games. I had pre-booked a motel on the way in towards the town. The place was a little bit run down, but perfectly adequate for my needs. A current US rule is that you state where you are staying, although it is accepted this is only for the first night. Apparently it is advisable to actually make a booking. British Citizens do not need a visa, but must fill in an on-line form before travelling. Hard luck if you do not have internet access!!

Everyone knows that the MLS is the top division of the USA; there are now 16 franchises – but there is also a thriving set up below this. There is no direct promotion and relegation at any of the higher levels in the country. The second level was run by the United Soccer Leagues, under the title USL, Division One –but after a dispute (more in a later blog), it is for one season only being directly operated by the United States Soccer Federation, under the title USSF, Division Two! The USL still had a Division 2, although with only six teams, it is not on my schedule for this trip, while the fourth level is the USL’s Premier Development League, or PDL. This is one of the most wide spread soccer competitions in the USA, (and also in Canada, and Bermuda), with the league divided into four Conferences, and each Conference divided into two divisions. There are no inter divisional or inter conference games, with every team playing an 18 game regular season. Not all of the divisions have nine teams, so some match ups come more than twice, and special arrangements apply to Bermuda, (unfortunately, not playing at home while I am out, so no chance of my picking them up this time).

Kalamazoo is typical of what I expect in small American cities. Not much appears to be going on when I pass through the downtown area. There are not many people around, but not many things to detain them either. On the road between the centre and the freeway, there is a series of low rise retail outlets. Easy on the car, hard on the foot. The Loy Norrix High school is well to the outskirts of the town. It is a sizable school, but I am not certain it is term time – certainly no people around when I passed early in the afternoon. It has two sports fields with stands, floodlights and public address systems, which I think is a concept alien to most of Europe. The signs outside proclaim “Home of the Knights” under the name of the school. The Knights may to be a name given to any team attached to the school, as signs suggest they run both American and Association Football teams under the name. It is the American version that has the bigger stadium. The team run in the PDL goes under the name of Kalamazoo Outrage, for reasons that are not clear. For Soccer, there is a field with a metalled seating area providing about ten rows of seating on one side. No numbered seats, but I would say it can hold 300. Spectators can also stand on this side, (not that many did), but there is no general access to the other sides of the pitch. Opposite the stand are two shelters for the team benches, and an announcer’s box. Above the box is a platform that could be used for filming, but with no cameras in place, it was actually being used by the referee’s assessor – and in the second half, by me as well. There was no programme, but Outrage gave away eight sheets of A4 paper stapled together, which appears to run as a season programme for both men’s and women’s teams, (they have a team in the USL W-League, which I think is the highest ranked ladies team in the nation). For comparison with Britain, it should be pointed out that this is not a college ground, but a school ground – so they various Knights teams are all of under 18 players, and for this they have a soccer pitch with the described stand, scoreboard and PA, while the American Football field can seat at least 2000 in two stands, (no seats under cover, though).

Kalamazoo. The Season starts Here.

The visitors were Forest City London, from the Canadian City of London, Ontario – about a three or four hour drive away. There are quite a few Canadian teams at this level of the USA leagues, as well as Toronto in the MLS, and two teams (Montreal and Vancouver) at the second level – both of which will join the MLS in the next two years. My schedule will not allow me to see a PDL game in Canada, but I will get to a game in the Canadian Soccer League on Friday. This may well be another London team, although if I feel up to the long drive afterward, I could change and pick up a match closer to Toronto.

I counted the crowd around 65 in Kalamazoo, although the official crowd figure was 100. My guess is that this was an estimate, as quite a few of those in attendance did not appear to pay the US$3 entrance fee, (which was only for those 16 and over anyway). Two things struck me about the crowd – one was that I was in a minority of the male viewers by wearing trousers rather than shorts, and secondly the crowd was more than 50% female, with an average age I would put somewhere close to 18. I like this as it gives me something to look at if the football is not up to much, but sadly it is not a two way street. None of these young ladies were giving me a second glance.

Showing the stand. The dressing rooms are back in the school building, so players stay on the pitch at half time, while the block immediately behind the stand includes a concession which sells drinks, sweets, “brats” and burgers. The Brats were an American version of Bratwurst, a standard fried sausage in a hot dog bun.

The game started up quite open, with both teams having early chances. The home side set themselves up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, which really did not suit them – the central midfielder in front of the defence was clearly not up to the job, while the loan striker was a useful player, but needed better support. The wingers did push up, but no one moved forward from the middle of the field. FC London played a conventional 4-4-2, again with good overlapping from the wingers, but also support from the midfielders pushing forward. There are two special rules for the PDL compared to general European Football. Teams name a squad of 18, from a roster that is limited to 26 players. Only 8 of the 26 can be over the age of 23, and also no more than 8 can be foreigners, but there is nothing to stop a team having 8 foreign older players and play them all as starters. Outrage’s oldest player was in fact only 25, and he was not in the 16 man squad named for the match – two of the players are given as foreigners by the wonderful people at Wikipedia, Christoph Kaesler is German, while former Brodworth Welfare player Chris Darby is English. Both ended up being unplayed substitutes, although the rules allow for up to six substitutions, (but not rolling subs, no return to the field). Forest City had nine players listed by Wikipedia as neither Canadian or from the USA, so I guess at least one is actually now a citizen, probably in Canada. Three of the players will have their 23 birthday later this year, and one(not in the 18 named for the game) was 31 years old, but again the players named were overwhelmingly younger.

Kalamazoo had a good start, going ahead after 11 minutes when the forward, Jackson crossed for a Colaizzi to come in from the wing and score. Jackson himself should have scored earlier. The Outrage had recently won for the first team of the season, picking themselves off the bottom of the table. The visitors however, are hopeful of a top two place, which allows them into the end of season play-offs, and they soon showed themselves to be the better team. They should have equalised after a foolish hand ball in the 18^th minute, but McGreal had his penalty saved.

Wearing 00, Outrage keeper Jeremy Clark dives to save Alan McGreal’s penalty. Clark was injured on 40 minutes, and the substitute goalkeeper, Keenan Flynn wore number 0.

The let off for Kalamazo Outrage was short lived, as with Clark stranded on the near post, Carl Haworth heads in the 25^th minute equaliser.

Even before Forest City had equalised, I thought they were well in command of the match, and it was no surprise that former Blackburn Rovers youngster put them ahead before half time. Haworth added another early in the second period, and then Luke Holmes (formerly of Bury reserves) came off the bench and added to more to record a final score of 5-1. Forest City played all six of their permitted substitutions in the second half, leaving only their second choice goalkeeper on the bench. Outrage played only the standard three replacements, with the goalkeeper changing in the first half, and two more changes after the break. They never changed their formation, and left the player who appeared to be the poorest on the field on. I spent the second half with the referee’s assessor, who was very critical of the team for this, but I doubt if there was any chance the score could be different. The result pushed Outrage back to the bottom of the table, while Forest City are two points behind the leaders, with two games in hand.

The referee’s assessor was quite clear about the main issue being discussed in football circles here. That is England’s disallowed goal against Germany. Opinion is divided as to whether it changed the end result, (obviously it could, but no one can say that Germany were not overall the better team). There is an overall opinion in favour of using replays or goal line technology at least for goal line decisions. I think that should FIFA require a new trial period, then an American League such as the MLS may well be willing to be used for this purpose. Whether or not replays should also be used for off sides is more of a question. I myself would like to see it trialled. After all, there are disputed off sides in every game, while many teams can go a whole season without a goal line incident.

As it is not famous for its football, Kalamazoo is well known because Glenn Miller claimed to have a girl here back in 1934. She must be quite old by now! Its best claim to fame is as a brew town, so after the game I went into the town to sample some of the Bell’s breweries best brews. (Bells is a sponsor of the football club). Not a bad way to end a day, which finished over 24 hours after I left home.

Posted in The American Game | No Comments »

Not The Benelux Weekend.

25/05/2010 by leo.

Monday 24^th May was a bank holiday in large parts of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and I could have continued my Benelux weekend with another play off for the Belgium League. However, instead I turned further east and decided instead to go into Germany. When the Third division was created in Germany; the number of Regional leagues was increased from two to three while dropping to be the fourth level of German football. This meant that the Oberliga would be the fifth level, and would lose all lose teams to the new structure. If nothing had changed, then the existing nine Oberliga before the changes would have become the feeders to the new Regionalliga with the nine champions promoted, and three teams relegated from each. But this not fit in with the wishes of all the clubs. Six of the Oberliga remain unchanged in area, and each have one promotion slot. In the North region, the clubs protested at the amount of travelling for a reduced standard of football, and decided to break up the area into five area, Niedersachsen had both an East and West league, Schleswig-Holstein has its own league and the two Hanseatic city states, Hamburg and Bremen have one each. These was the same as the organisation at the next level down. Even with five leagues, there is only one promotion to be had. In the most populous areas of Westfalia and Nordrhein, the distances are not so large, and there are a number of big clubs. These decided not to make the leagues smaller, but to go the other way, and the two Oberliga merged to form the NRW-Liga. This league keeps both its promotion places.

Typically the leagues in Germany continue until the end of May, and some in the East may go on into June. So this holiday Monday is the penultimate round of fixtures in NRW-Liga. SC Wiedenbruck 2000 have already won promotion and the title, while Arminia Bielfeld’s second team lead Germania Windeck by one point for the second place, (there are no limitations on reserve teams getting promoted here). So my destination for the day is the Stadion am Schloss Strünkede, listed as the largest in the division, to see SC Westfalia 04 Herne at home to Windeck.

Only €5 to stand here – the programme was A4 size and quite thin and cost an extra 50 cents. I did not check how much extra it was to sit – the seating area had a separate entrance to the main terracing, and there was no movement between the sections. The stand provides the only covered accommodation available. The rest of the ground has been built up, with around 30 steps of concrete to provide a large bowl. When you enter the ground, you climb a slope that leads you to the top, behind one goal. From here, there is a path at the top of the terracing that would once have led all the way around the ground (with entrances to the top of the stand at each end). The only exception to the ability to make a complete circuit is a gap near where one starts, where there is a cutting to allow the players access to the field.

This ground has been built up from scratch – the pitch is at the same level as both the road one side, and the stream that runs behind the far terracing. You can no longer walk all the way along, as various pens have been fenced off. The few away fans appeared to be in the section between the entrance and the stand, (I saw no one wearing their colours, despite the importance of the game), and the end furthest from the entrance was completely closed and empty. Still, in such a big stadium, the 500 or so spectators rattle around – either sitting or standing in small groups towards the top of the terrace.

There are two reasons for keeping to the high ground. One is that the path is at the top, and you have to step down to you position, while the other one if that a nice 10 foot fence which means that the few is restricted for anyone standing in the front ten rows. Not that anyone was doing so.

Behind the goal, there are a few stalls selling beer and bratwurst, etc., and a souvenir stall where I bought a pen and a postcard. Most of the stalls appeared like hastily erected shacks, while the “VIP zone”, (the blue building overhanging the terrace behind the goal) has the appearance of a portacabin – as far as I could see, it was not in use. The white building you can just see behind the terrace if the dressing room and office block, where they happily handed me a copy of the team sheet on request.

Herne, playing in blue, lose sight of the ball as another attack is easily cleared.

As for the match, it will soon be forgotten. Herne kicked off, held the ball for best part of a minute – Windeck moved it upfield, crossed from the inside left position to Hayer who was left completely unmarked. He headed the ball into the net, and that was it – game over. Despite needing to win the game to have a chance at promotion, Windeck never committed players in an attacking position. They played in a 4-4-1-1 formation, and never allowed both wingers to move forward together. This meant they had limited options, and the defence had an easy day. Herne committed five players to defence – a flat back four with a midfielder playing just in front. If they were to make an excuse for not scoring, then I guess it would be “we are incompetent”. It was soon clear that the 1-0 away win was suitable to both teams, as the game slowed down and both employed time wasting tactics. The referee went along with this – no injury time in the first half, two minutes only in the second – despite several stoppages, and six substitutions. The biggest cheer of the day game twelve minutes from time, when Herne substituted their goalkeeper, Oliver Bautz. This action itself took longer than the total injury time allowed for the half. Bautz left the field to what can only be described as a sitting ovation, (no one got up to cheer him). I assume he is moving on next season, and this was his last home game for Westfalia.

A late free kick threatens the empty terrace more than the goal.

As Arminia Bielefeld II won 2-0 in their game, Windeck will start the final day of fixtures still one point behind in the promotion race

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A Benelux Weekend, Part 2.

25/05/2010 by leo.

Benelux means, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – so having done games in the first two on Thursday and Friday, it had to be the Netherlands on Saturday. The three hours of driving from south of Liege to Rijssen passed without incident. Hidden in the woods on the Southern side of the town is the Sportpark de Koerbelt, home of Excelsior ‘31. I paid my €8 to enter (an “Amateur” game in the Netherlands costs more than a “Professional” one in Luxembourg), and picked up the small A5 programme (free). I then went in search of the team sheets. I found an office where several people were writing official team sheets. They were happy to talk to me, and offered me a coffee when they found I had come over from England – but then when I asked which sheet was for the first team, I discovered that this office was only for the other teams. Looking at the tables, I discovered that Excelsior put out 15 full men’s teams on any given Saturday, plus no less than 43 youth teams. According to those in the office, this makes them the biggest club in the Eastern Netherlands. A signpost outside the clubhouse points you towards the six pitches on site – but this cannot be enough, even with staggered kick off times through the day, they must use other fields as well.

The main pitch has a stand for around 400 people, taking up about half the length of the side, and a few steps of terracing to one side of this. The rest of the playing area has a flat pathway all around. The ground raises behind the goal and in front of the club house. The slope is grassed, except for a steps down the centre, with a few benches placed at the top of the slope, (of course, somewhere down one side there is a ramp for disabled supporters – I saw an electric wheelchair pass by at the lower level, and then pass me again at the top of the stairs). There were spectators sitting on the benches and on the grass. Despite a restricted view, around a hundred people appeared to watch the game without leaving the terrace in front of the club house. It seems to be the rule that you cannot take your beer with you down the steps. Well, it was a warm afternoon, so who is to blame those who stay close to their beer?

The Teams Enter the Pitch

As teams entered the pitch, not only did we have the banner wavers above, but also smoke flares and firecrackers. I noticed that all of these were set off from outside the playing area – everything is stage managed in the Netherlands, and the health and safety rules here make the UK seem dangerously lax. With the players not entering the pitch until the official kick off time, the match was five minutes late in starting. The match is part of the Zaterdag Landskampioenschap, (aka the Saturday Amateur Championships), and this is the last season it will be played. Currently the Hoofdklasse, the top level below the Netherlands League consists of three Saturday divisions (and three more on Sunday) with the champions playing off in a round robin, (two home games each) before the Amateur championship final, when the Saturday and Sunday champions finally meet to decide the overall champions. From next season, there will be Topklasse above the Hoofdklasse – providing a national championship for each day, and meaning only one tie is required to decide the overall champions. Barendrecht won group A, Excelsior won group C – but going into this game, the group B champions, IJsselmeervogels held the advantage with a win over Excelsior, and a draw at Barendrecht.

The first half was generally even, with both sides creating chances, but only one being taken – this was by the home forward, Niki Leferink after only 70 seconds of play.

Excelsior 31 are in the Red.

At half time, I managed to get back to the invites only area where I had picked up the teams (after being re-directed from downstairs). More free coffee, and cream cakes as well. The view from the top floor balcony was great, and I might have been tempted to stay if not for the flags.

View from the Top.

The second half changed complexion with 20 minutes to go, when Niki Leferenk was spotted diving in the penalty area. It was so blatant that there was no massive shout for a penalty, even from the crowd – and the referee agreed. But for Niki, the bad news was that he already had picked up a yellow card, so this was his second, and off he went. Still, it was his early goal that separated the teams, and continued to do so. The game moved slowly, as the home side were trying to waste time, and the referee never failed to accept an excuse to allow the trainers onto the pitch, not even demanding that the ‘injured’ players leave the pitch for a minute. With the advantage of a man more, Barendrecht were camped in the opposition territory, but everything they tried was blocked. It appeared to me that their game was too predictable, and that Excelsior were successfully predicting where the ball was going to go. To score a goal, a little pace and some randomness can help, and for all Barendrecht’s fine passing moves, they did not have this.

The only way that Barendrecht were going to score was with a move that was so perfect that Excelsior could not stop it, even knowing where the ball should go. It took until five minutes of injury time had passed to produce this. A free kick about 25 yards out, with the Excelsior wall surprisingly close to the ball, but a rocket of a shot from Alex van Dommelen, straight into the top corner of the net. The 1-1 draw was not really wanted by either side, as IJsselmeervogels remain in the group’s driving seat with a home game against Barendrecht on Tuesday. The slow match – late start, nine minutes of injury time (over two halves) and an 18 minute half time period was not to my liking either. It was already gone 4.30 when the game finished; not bad for a 2.30 start. I needed at least ten minutes more if I was to try and get to Gemert, where their Sunday Landskampioenschap game was taking place on the Saturday, at 6 O’clock. I gave it a good try, but it was more than ten minutes after kick off time when I finally reached Gemert. I did not stop, but went straight on in search of a hotel.

For Sunday, it was back to Belgium, and the play offs for a place in the League. I had considered returning to the Antwerp play offs, and seeing the second leg at Houtvenne – but instead chose Herk-de-Stad in Limburg. The simple reasoning was that of the teams at home on the day, this was the one furthest from Calais, and therefore the least likely for me to pick up on a day trip. Most likely, I shall drive a party over and drop everyone else in Herk, and then go off to one of the other grounds I need nearby!! Anyway, I reached Herk easily enough – it is a small town not far from Hasselt. I arrived about an hour before kick-off, and nothing was open in the town, but the clubhouse was already buzzing. Often the clubs are quiet with business picking up only in the last 15 minutes or so before the start, but with a coach load of visiting supporters, this one was busier. It was €7 to enter. No programme and the team sheet was a photo copy of the official handwritten list that has to be given to the referee. The clubhouse takes up more than half of one side, and with windows pitch side, it provides a good viewing area in itself. There is a little shelter erected in front of the clubhouse, but this is mainly to protect the steps up from the dressing room, while a few seats are for officials only. There are two areas of covered standing, a smallish one near the entrance, and a much longer structure diagonally opposite. Both of these have a step or two to increase capacity, whereas the rest of the pitch surround is a typical flat standing. I estimated the crowd around 400.

The fans were in good form, and none of the ‘organisation’ found in the Netherlands. The visitors had brought some smoke flares and firecrackers into the ground, while green and red hats worn by the home supporters (and one or two visitors) gave them the look that they had escaped from some St Patrick’s day parade.

Visiting fans, one wearing home colours on his hat.

Despite the preponderance of black and white shown by their fans, Bievre actually played in a light blue which I wondered how to describe – was it tending to turquoise, or was that an illusion caused by the lime green trims and numbers? Meanwhile a small number of home fans set up a band.

“The Band”

Royal Standard FC Bievre came into the match having finished fourth in the Namur province. They then beat Spy (away) and Yvoir to reach the interprovincial stage – Namur play offs are single games. Herk-de-Stad were second in the Limburg league, and followed this with wins over Koersel and RC Hades – in this case the matches were over two legs. The Interprovincial matches are all to be settled in a day.

Bievre made the brighter start, and seemed well in control for half and hour, although they were finding it difficult to find clear cut chances to force the home keeper to do any work. Herk-de-Stad had lined up a fairly flat five man defensive line, which meant they were outnumbered in midfield, even though one of other of the two forwards kept dropping back to help. Bievre were more standard as a 4-4-2. It was therefore against the run of play when Herk forward Bob Putzeys took a shot from the edge of the area and through the crowd on 31 minutes. The ball stayed low, and the keeper dived too late.

Herk had the better of the play, and looked to be on top early in the second half. I noted that they had pushed a player forward into the more standard 4-4-2 formation and this seemed to suit them better. Just after the hour mark, they had a ’set back’. Kim Claes, the left back brought down an opponent with a violent challenge that earned him a straight red card. Two minutes later, they withdrew one of the forwards in order to bring on a substitute and play on in 4-4-1.

David Beckers misdirects a header, shortly before being substituted.

To be honest, you would not have realised that Herk were a man down – for the next 15 minutes they continued to dominate the game, and were causing considerable problems to the Bievre defence. Putzeys and attacking midfielder Michiel Derwael causing the problems. With 15 minutes to play, it was clear that Bievre needed to change something to get back into the game – so they withdrew a defender and brought on the improbably tall Francois Toussant to create a three man attack. This caused instant confusion, and within two minutes the defence had messed up on marking duties leaving the earlier sub, Tanguy Daouet to level the scores.

Extra time beckoned. I noticed that despite taking a mid half drinks break in both halves, this game reached 90 minutes at least 7 minutes quicker than the previous day’s effort. I also noticed that while the previous day’s match had consisted of only precise passing, that may have delighted the perfectionist, but led to few chances – this match was a mixture of long and short balls – which meant the defenders had to be on their toes, and there was plenty of goal mouth incident. Naturally, once expected the side with a man advantage to be in command as player’s legs tired in extra time, and this appeared true for a while. When Toussant scored a minute before the extra time break, surely the writing was on the wall.

Panic in the Herk defence. Toussant (9) ends up pulling away to the post, where he scores what is almost a tap in to put Bievre 2-1 up after 104 minutes.

If the writing was on the wall, then I guess it was in French (the language spoken in Bievre) and was ignored by the Flemish speakers from Herk. The half time whistle of extra time came immediately after the restart – for the home teams equalising goal. It was the substitute left back, Jelle Verheyen who had pushed up the field for a corner that scored the goal. This rejuvenated the home team, but with only ten men they were never going to regain dominance. Half way through the second period they were awarded a free kick 25 yards out, but it bounced back off the wall, (perhaps the one with the French writing on it?). The loose ball fell the Kristof Pirlet – the player who had started in defence but moved to midfield when Herk went to 4-4-2/4-4-1. Still from around 25 yards he hit a thunderous shot into the roof of the goal. Bievre never gave up, and came close to levelling the scores again. Remembering that three substitutes had scored in Luxembourg, (and two had already scored for Bievre), I got hopeful when the visitors’ third sub was given the final three minutes, but in fact he hardly saw the ball.

The home celebrations at the end of the game were as if they had won promotion. Technically, they have to win another game, (away to Opwijk, the team attempting to avoid the drop) to do so, or win the play-off losers final, as I have heard of one merger that will cause a vacancy in next season’s league. Perhaps there is more I have not yet heard of, and this match gives Herk a place in the higher league?

Meanwhile, I note from the Kaelijne web site that they went on from the home win I reported earlier, to win 3-0 in Houtvenne and hence they are in the League next season.

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A Benelux Weekend, Part 1.

23/05/2010 by leo.

I like to tour Europe after most of the English season has completed. You get a couple of weeks in mid and late May when it is possible to see a match practically every day. This season, though, my work schedule has been uncertain and I have found myself unable to book leave well in advance. I will make up for it by trying to find trips in June and July and adding to my countries total.

An uncertain work schedule is not the same as a full one. We are in the commissioning phase of a project, and I often have to wait while mechanical issues are sorted. The result was that on Tuesday, I was cleared for a full week off. Immediately, I am on the internet, looking at fixtures, flights and other schedules. In the end, I select a Eurostar trip to Belgium. This is not the cheapest option at short notice, but Eurostar is a quick and comfortable way of getting into the nearer parts of Europe. I also book a car for all but my first day, meaning this is not going to be a cheap weekend. I am not travelling in France, and barely touching Germany, so rail, where available would surely be cheaper.

My first question is where to leave the car for the trip. My first thoughts were to use Eurostar’s intermediate stations, either Ebbsfleet or Ashford – but when I look them up, I find they charge £8 to charge at one and £11.50 at the other – per day!! What is the point in putting stations in that are conveniently close to motorways, and then charging extortionate fees to park the car? Anyway, as I also discover, the services to these stations are poor. I want to have the chance to get to a game in England on the day I return, so I decide to look for a place to park to the North of London, settling for a residential road neat Oakleigh Park station near Barnet. A 20 minute ride takes me from here to Kings Cross, meaning I only have to cross the road to pick up Eurostar.

Then it is onwards to Brussels and Antwerp – I have pre-booked a hotel by Antwerp station. I have a while to wait at St Pancras before the train, but I am pleased to discover that not only do they provide a row of sockets to plug in lap tops, but that the Wi-Fi service there is free. Wi-Fi services when travelling are odd, insofar as they are either free, or expensive. I have never come across a service where you have to pay, but the charges are reasonable. The good news is that free services are becoming more common. Wetherspoon’s pub chain is a well known place for free connections, and half the motorway services have added themselves to the list.

The Belgium and Netherlands Leagues have completed their fixtures, but this is still my destination. Both countries go in for numerous play offs to decide promotion and relegation issues. Both also have the curious concept of the period championship – dividing the season into three, four or even six segments and giving the winner of each part season the title of period champions. Then when it comes to the end of the season, any period champion that has not won promotion automatically will have the chance to try via the play-offs, no matter where they finish in the league. Although it must be possible, I cannot find a case of a period champion finishing in the relegation zone to see what happens then. I know of one Belgium team that had been in financial troubles, but still made the play-offs. They were told they would be automatically relegated one division, but by winning “promotion” by the play-offs, they eventually stayed at their starting point! The number of teams in the play offs is fixed, so the highest placed teams that have not won promotion are used to fill the spaces.

Vossevelden, Katelijne, showing the seating stand.

The Belgium League is organised with a national league of four levels, with progressive regionalisation as you go down. The top two divisions are national, with two sections at Division 3, and four at division four, (which for some reason is called ‘Promotion’). Below this, there are nine provinces, each with their own regionalisation as your drop down. The rule in the National leagues, which I think applies down the levels as well is that only champions get promoted, and everyone else takes their chances in the play-offs – although the number of teams competing in any set of play offs differs. In many cases, one team in a play-off series is bidding to hold its place in the higher division. At the bottom of the fourth division, the last three in each group gets relegated, meaning 12 promotion places on offer. All nine provincial champions go up, along with a play off winner from three – Antwerp, Brabant and Oost Vlaanderen. I assume these are the most populous regions. The other six provinces also have their own play off, with the winners going in with those teams finishing fourth from bottom in Division Four, in the Interprovincial play offs.

My first match of the trip was to be in the Antwerp provincial play offs. These are two legged knock out games, and despite lower league positions Katelijne and Houtvenne reached the finals with some ease. From Antwerp, I made a 30 minute train ride to Katelijne for the first leg match, followed by a 30 minute walk from the station. It was €7 to get into a fairly typical Belgium ground. Most of the pitch surrounds being a flat path, with about 100 seats in a small stand, and more covered accommodation provided in front of the club house. There is a also a small stand near the entrance, offset from centre behind the goal line. This is one where the roof extends both sides of a central wall, providing cover for both the main pitch, and a second pitch in a single structure. The importance of the match – a place in the league for the winners brought out a good crowd, around 500 compared to the average of under 100 you might expect in the provincial leagues, or two to three hundred in the lower divisions of the national league. No programme was issued, but a printed team sheet was freely available.

Katelijne in White, Showing the cover behind the goal.

We were treated to an entertaining game – the home side made a break through after 12 minutes, but conceded an equaliser just minutes before the break. It was at this point that the Katelijne full back Jon van Dessel became the hero of the hour – moving up field to head in a corner as the first half went into injury time, and then repeating the feat 17 minutes into the second period. Houtvenne applied pressure throughout the final half hour, and it is difficult to say how they managed not to pull one goal back, but 3-1 remained the final score. I suspect this match is far from over, and will be looking for the second leg result with interest.

Jon van Dessel leaps to put Katelijne 2-1 ahead.

On Friday morning, I got a rare lie in, leaving my hotel at 11.00 to pick up my hire car and head for Luxembourg. I decided not to take the shortest route (round Brussels), but to go via Liege, and try and find a stopover just south of the city, placing me well for the Saturday, while still being able to return to the hotel before midnight. This was easier said than done – even though I was reaching the Ardennes, the bit of Belgium that is not flat and is attractive to the outdoor loving locals, it is not easy to find a hotel, while signs that appear to point to tourist information actually point to town halls. The first hotel I checked appeared open, but deserted. Still it was a three star and looked likely to charge more than I liked. The next was full, citing that this was a holiday weekend and special. Belgium has to bank holiday weekends in a row at this time of the year, so how special? Certainly not for the next one I tried, which was closed completely. I did find a place, slightly further south than I had planned. Considering that 10 km away, all the hotels were full, it appears I may be the only guest at this one.

Once I left my hotel, it was a straight forward drive for about an hour to reach the Luxembourg border – but once one crosses the border, confusion reigns. I entered near the town of Rodange, which m map showed as being on the way to Differdange. However, there were no signs pointing the direction to go forward. One street was lined both sides with about 20 petrol stations, and I thought I would be able to glance at a map in one of the attached shops. No one had a map though, and all I could get were unclear directions. One thing was certain – once past all the petrol stations I entered France, and I knew I had no intention to be in France, so I turned back before I had gone more than a few hundred meters. There is a football ground with a stand right on the border, probably belonging to Rodange, although the signs were not clear enough to show which side of the border it was on, or if it even straddled the line. Eventually, I found my way, passing my second choice ground of the day, Progres Niedercorn en route. Unfortunately, with two teams fighting out for the title on the final day of the season, I had already been to both. Jeunesse Esch starting with a single point lead over F91 Dudelange. Progres were in 11^th place in a 14 team league, which meant they needed to maintain their position to avoid a relegation play off. UN Kaerjeng are otherwise in the play-off spot, while US Rumelange (at Jeunesse Esch) and Mondercange (at Progres) were relegated. That left the question of the other European slots. Obviously whichever team won the league go into the Champions League, and the runners-up into the Europa League, but third place also gets a try at the Europa League (and of course the cup winners, but that is still to come, as both the semi-finals and final are in the next week).

Racing FC Union Luxembourg are in third place, but FC 03 Differdenge are only two points behind, and these two teams were to meet on the final day. The catch for Differdenge is that they do not start the day in fourth, but sixth place. Both Fola Esch and Grevenmacher are a point ahead. Now, quite a few Luxembourg grounds have been modernised in recent years – fortunately, the Stade de Thillenberg is not one of them. This is a gem, one of the most interesting grounds I have visited in years. One approaches the ground up a steep hill, and under a bridge, gaining a glimpse above of a brick wall, (looking as if it may fall down the hill at any moment), and the back of the stand. A corner of the ground is up on concrete pillars, with a ten foot drop below, and then you round the corner to see the entrance gate.

Stade de Thillenberg – the gate.

I do not think I have ever seen anything quite like this. What you can see behind the gates are the pay booths, were for €7, you are given a piece of coloured paper with a pattern on it, but no discernable information. A part if this ticket is perforated and torn off seconds later as you enter the stadium. Also on offer is what appears to be an A4 programme, but on closer inspection is actually a season brochure, with all the details for the season. Pre-printed at the start of the season, it does not include a late change with this set of fixtures being set for 8 days later. Most of the magazine is in French, as are most of the posters and adverts around the ground, and also the language spoken by the locals in this area. The fixture list is given in French (copied straight from an official document, I guess). However, everywhere else, the name of the home club is not in French, nor German, (the other widely spoken language of the country). Instead it is in Luxembourgish, and so FC 03 Differdange becomes FC 03 Deifferdeng. The same goes for the visitors, whose club badge describes them as Racing Football Club Union Lëtzebuerg. Inside the magazine, the home team are describe as a merger in 2003, between clubs known as AS Differdange and Red Boys Differdange. Red Boys provided the away team on my first visit to the Grand Duchy, buck in 1989. The Luxembourg team is also a merger, and even more recent between clubs previously known as Racing and Union – hence the now rather long title to include both names. No wonder most people abbreviate it to RFCU.

Showing the large scale of terracing.

The ground has been built by re-shaping the side of a hill, and on the hillside is a magnificent terrace of about 20 quite steep concrete steps. They show some sign of age, but are in general good condition. While this allows anyone who want to stand to do so, most people sit on the concrete – often with a beer bottle close at hand.

But without doubt, the feature that makes this ground is the main stand. This is mainly of wooden construction, with a steel superstructure and is something special

Deifferdeng, playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation took the lead on 15 minutes, when their lone striker, Pierre Piskor scored. The first half was a close affair, and the decisive action came just before half time. It was not another goal, but a serious foul perpetrated by RFCU’s Damir Muhovic. As a result, the injured player, Ibraham Diop was not to return to the pitch, while Muhovic was given the red card he deserved and also left the action. Within three minutes of the restart, Piskor scored again, and then only some luck saved RFCU from another goal (for a short time), the hat-trick being prevented by first the goalkeeper’s foot, and then a narrow miss minutes later. When Deifferdeng did score their third goal, on 69 minutes, it was the substitute, Aurelien Jochim who scored. Jochim added another on 76 minutes as the game turned into a rout. Piskor finally completed his hat-trick a minute later, while Alessandro Alluni and Jean Wagner (both of whom had come on as substitutes) added late goals. Wagner getting the 7^th and last from the spot

Unfortunately for Deifferdeng, despite doing their own bit, and finishing a point above RFCU, the other results did not all go their way. Fola Esch could only draw at Dudelange, which sent the title to Jeunesse, and also left Fola outside the Europa League placings, but Grevenmacher won 3-1 at Etzella Ettlebrück and took third place. Still there is something left in the season for Deifferdeng. On Tuesday night they play Etzella in the cup semi-final, while Grevenmacher play Fola Esch. The eventual cup winners take the remaining Europa League place. For Deifferdeng, this provides to chances – they are in Europe if they win the cup, or if Grevenmacher do so. It is a pity though that even for a qualifying round match played in front of not many more than the 420 given as the crowd against RFCU, UEFA will deem the ground as unsuitable, and force it to be played elsewhere.

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Maldives Picture Gallery.

17/05/2010 by leo.

I have been very tardy in writing up my trip to the Maldives, but here are some of the best pictures

Downtown Male.

A Modest Presidential Palace

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Highland Odyssey Part 2.

17/05/2010 by leo.

After the lengthy travels of the previous day, getting from Inverurie to Banff was a short run on country roads. The 26 miles took about 40 minutes. Banff is a bigger town on the coast, and has a small but picturesque harbour. The prevailing grey stone is still the norm, so often covered with a very unattractive pebble dash finish. Still, the town is more impressive with a few grand buildings. There was no early morning bustle about the place though, and both the centre and the harbour side seemed very quiet.

 

Banff is at the mouth of the river Deveron, and it is the river that gives the name to both the town’s football clubs. The Highland league club, Deveronvale was founded by a merger between two clubs, Banff Rovers and Deveron Valley in 1938. Their greatest successes though have been in recent years, with their only two League titles coming in 2003 and 2006, with a Qualifying Cup success in 2002. Arriving in the town from the south, and over the Deveron bridge, the ground is directly in front of me before I enter the town. It looks impressive with the main stand sitting up high. Indeed this is one of those higher stands, with around a ten foot drop below the lowest seats. The area in front of the stand is narrow, and is not open to the public, but both team benches are here. The stand incorporates the dressing rooms downstairs, and a boardroom and supporters ‘ club bar above. The bar is not well advertised and I only found it by chance while looking for team lists, (they readily found me one in said bar). Outside, spectators can stand on a concrete path only on the side with the stand, the other three sides of the ground have grass surrounds, with just a slight banking.

The match was between the teams placed fourth and second in the league, but visitors Cove knew that no result could move them either up or down from second position. The homesters could not drop a place, but rise up to third with a win – a position they keep only if Fraserburgh lose to bottom club Rothes next week. The match had an end of season feel to it, played without a great deal of pace, but on a fine lush surface, ‘Vale were shown to be a good footballing side, with some fine passing moves finding spaces for players on both wings. A tendency to be caught offside, and poor finishing were more at fault for keeping the score down then and defensive abilities on the part of Cove. Steven Gauld put ‘Vale ahead just before the break, and then added a second with fifteen minutes to play. Two minutes later, Graeme Webb added a third to complete a surprisingly comprehensive scoreline. Cove were down to 10 players for the last 18 minutes after left winger Dean Lawrie went off injured.

From Princess Royal Park, the walk to Canal Park, the home of Deveronside is quite easy. One exits the ground, turn right and wait until you are clear of the first ground. Canal Park is a railed off pitch, next to Princess Royal Park. There is a dressing room block well behind the goal, and this has a veranda area which provides a little cover – if rather a distance behind the goal.

While the games in the Highland League were not over physical, this Junior match was a foul a minute, and after an initial spell of leniency, the referee sprinkled yellow cards around, but somehow managed to keep all 22 players on the field. This was something that did not happen in any of the Highland League games, with two red cards and a late injury to reduce the field. The visitors, Islavale defied their lowly league position and ran out comfortable 4-1 winners, both sides scoring a penalty, and the second goal for Islavale being an own goal, pictured below

In the home side line up, one of the players had earlier came on as substitute for Deveronvale in the last five minutes of the earlier game. I had thought that there were rules about Junior players playing for Senior teams, resulting in the familiar name “A. Trialist”, on many Scottish League team sheets. It appears that the Junior FA has relaxed its rules, the wording now being “A player registered by a club in membership shall not take part in Senior games or matches unless he has the written consent of the Secretary or other official of the Junior club for which he is registered for each game”, which I take it as meaning that if the player concerned was a Deveronside player, he could play for Deveronvale with written permission for each game (he has been substitute on several other occasions), but as far as I know, players with Senior clubs still have to go through a re-registration process to rejoin the Juniors.

After the game, I drove two hours to Inverness, and in the morning a further two hours to Wick, to get to Wick, the most Northerly Senior club in Britain. Before this trip, I had only seen one Highland League game in over 20 years. That game was Inverness Thistle’s final game in the league, before the merged with rivals Caledonian to join the Scottish League. Although the Highland League had lost three clubs, two from Inverness and Ross County, only one replacement was elected. It was a brave decision by the clubs, as the new boys would have to travel just over 50 miles for the closest match, and over 100 miles for every other game. Wick were already known to the Highland League clubs – as a Senior club and member of the Scottish FA, they playing in the Scottish Qualifying Cup. Second in the 1994 poll was Inverurie Loco Works, who eventually entered the league in 2002, transferring from the Junior game.

Prior to joining the Highland League, Wick had over 100 years of history, founded in 1893 and taking the same name as a local Cricket club. The Academy in question is Putteney Academy, and while there was never an official connection between club and school, a teacher from the Academy was elected as first club captain. Wick gained full membership of the Scottish FA in 1911, allowing them to play in the Qualifying Cup, The beat Inverness Thistle in their first ever Scottish Qualifying tie, but lost to Caledonian in the second. Through the 1920s and 30s, as the only SFA club in Caithness (excepting Thurso Pentland 1933-6), they were allowed to sign other local players for cup ties, and were virtually unbeatable at home in the cups for many years. The 1960s bought a problem when the local amateur FA switched to summer football. Wick had to remain a winter side in order to play their cup ties, but for 12 years they only played Friendly games and Cup ties. They then joined the Northern Reserve League, which as its name suggests was mainly for reserve teams. The league later became the North Caledonian League, and still runs with 10 teams. Thurso, (which is north of even Wick) are the current Champions, while Fort William are the only reserve team now in membership.

Harmsworth Park is easily found, as it is on the road as you enter Wick from the South, just as you come into town past the inevitable retail park. Visitors to this part of Scotland go for what lies between the towns, rather than the towns themselves, and Wick is no more inspirational than the other places visited on the trip. The trip up did take me past some quite dramatic coastlines, while out to see, one could pick out the outlines of oil rigs in the distance. The football ground is neat and tidy, with a small seated stand on one side and a much longer stand opposite. This is generally for standing, but there is a single row of seats at the back, many in a very poor state of repair. One assumes this is a remnant from some decision to increase the number of seats – which was poorly carried out as anyone using them would have their views blocked by those standing further forward. From the main road entrance, there is a tarmac path providing a route to post areas of cover, but at the other end of the ground, the pitch barrier is surrounded only by grass. The pitch slopes up slightly, and above the top end, there is a gentle grass slope running back another twenty yards or so. Above this is a much steeper slope with a car park on a terrace at the top. There is a top entrance to the ground allowing access – as there is no sign of this from the main road. I parked on the main road, along with the visitors coach, and some of the other spectators.

I was told by an Inverurie official that with the match kicking off at 1.30 in the afternoon, they had left at 6.30 in order to get here. I was surprised they had agreed to the unusual kick off time, but as it turned out, they had actually requested an early start, preferring this to a late finish when most of their players would have to work the next day. They had to abandon a plan to send mainly youth players up for this game, as Monday was the start of exams for those still at school, but still Inverurie managed to make five changes from the starting XI I had seen two days before, and added four further fresh faces on the bench. Wick has also played on the Friday night, losing 6-1 at Rothes, but made only two changes to the starting line up.

180 people attended the match, (I got to this figure with a head count, and found exactly the same figure on teletext in the evening), paying £6 to enter, and £1 extra if they wanted a programme. Using Leo’s theorem about equal levels of football producing equal attendances, this places the Highland League as a Scottish equivalent to a Step 3 League (Northern Premier, or Southern Premier) in England. This I feel, is about right. The English League’s would not accept the Highland League grounds on the basis of size of paved pathway or number of empty seats, but otherwise they are up to the standard. The football in the Highland League seems to be a more open passing game than the rough and tumble long ball and hope found in England – but I would not bet on the Highland defences to cope with the constant barrage of high balls into the area, whereas for all the attractive passing moves, the finishing was often lacking here. The game at Wick was very open in the first half, with plenty of chances at both ends. Wick took the lead on 27 minutes, and Inverurie faded badly after this conceding a second goal nine minutes into the second half, and being under pressure for most of the rest of the game. The Locos goalkeeper received his marching orders with only two minutes left on the clock for a silly contretemps while waiting for corner to be taken. If you are going to kick out, wait until the referee is not looking. The replacement ‘keeper did not make a save, and rather surprisingly, Inverurie pulled the score back to 2-1 in injury time.

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Highland Odyssey Part 1.

15/05/2010 by leo.

In 1987 and 88, I started my season with trips to the Highland League. The Highlanders started earlier than the English Leagues, and with midweek matches added, I managed to pick up seven grounds on the tours. But since then, I have only been that far north on one occasion, flying up to Inverness to see the last ever game at Inverness Thistle before they merged with Caledonian and joined the Scottish League. Having also done Thistle, plus Elgin and Ross who have also moved into the Scottish League, I have visited only four of the current members of the League.

The reasons for ignoring the league are multiple – I started working in London, which made Scotland a less appetising prospect, but most of all because this was the time I discovered Europe. Keith was my 1000^th ever ground, and the third of four on the 1988 trip. Ground no. 997 was the Parc des Princes in Paris and ever since I have travelled for my holidays. Incidentally, while I don’t think I have ever seen a Frenchman playing in the Highland League, a Scotsman (Eric Black) scored in that first European match.

And so, 22 years after the last time I had driven this far, and sixteen after my last visit, I am back in Scotland for a long weekend. The drive up was a lot easier than last time. Once I had negotiated the local roads to reach the motorway, it was dual carriageway all the way to Inverurie, except for crossing the River Dee onto the Aberdeen ring road. While this short section did not cause me a delay, the ring road itself was the only real hold up on my trip. Inverurie turns out to be end of the dual carriageway, with a traffic jam starting on the main road at the point where I turned off for the town.

Despite it being all dual carriageway (and do not try to count the number of speed cameras between Dundee and Aberdeen), the road network in Scotland is not what is should be – I cannot think of a single other city in Western Europe of Aberdeen’s size, that is not connected to the motorway network, or even has a decent by-pass. If the Scottish parliament is supposed to be counteracting the failure of the UK government to invest in the furthest off regions, then one must wonder if it is doing it’s job?

The Highland League is almost a misnomer – the area it covers includes the Scottish Highlands, especially the Grampians, but most of the teams are in lowland locations between the Grampians and the East and North coasts. Inverurie is just a dozen miles from Aberdeen and appears to be an uninspiring town. The buildings are of the grey granite familiar to those who have visited Aberdeen – there are only a few B&B’s and I was the only guest at the one I stopped at. Notably, there is no mention of anything in Inverurie or close by, in the guides to attractions provided at the guest house.

The local football club, Inverurie Locomotive Works were founded in 1903 and have spent most of their time as a Junior club. One must remember that in Scotland, Junior Football is neither a reference to age group or standard, but has an entire structure rivalling the Senior set ups, including the best semi-professional teams in Ayrshire and the Glasgow area. In the North, though – the Highland League has always provided the best football. In 2001, Locos took the chance to switch to Senior football and the Highland League. This has provided a degree of success, as they have three times been runners-up in their new surrounds, and added the League Cup and Qualifying Cup twice apiece. (The qualifying cup is played primarily to qualify for the Scottish Cup, but the last few teams also continue their own knock out to a final). Somewhere in the mists of time, they have lost the motive from their name and are now officially listed as Inverurie Loco Works.

Hathaw Park. Note both teams play in change colours, while the officials have a garish yellow strip!

The visitors, Formartine United are one of three clubs to have joined the Highland League this season. Like Locos, all of the trio have transferred from Junior football. Formartine have had the best opening season, lying in 7^th place, two above the Locos. Not only are they the closest rivals to Inverurie, but they have a reputation for having more money to spend then their rivals. The management team is ex Locos, and over half the team has also played for Inverurie, many as recently as last season. This has led to a little bad feeling and some accusations of poaching players. But of course, these things are the lifeblood of football, and no doubt helped to draw a crowd of 792 to Hathaw Park.

The Locos home ground is less than a mile from the centre of town and much of the area between the railway station and the ground was once taken up by the said Locomotive Works. Only a couple of sheds remain, with much of the site now given over to a large Tesco’s store. I would guess that the Loco Works was the major industrial site leading to the growth of the town, while now it acts mainly as a dormitory town for Aberdeen. The ground is neat and tidy and has clearly been much improved in recent years. It has relatively small areas of cover on both sides, one given over to seats, and one to standing. The standing enclosure is certainly a new addition. Dressing rooms and a clubhouse are behind the goal at the top end, where the crowd enters and leaves. The ground slopes down a little with a small industrial concern behind the lower goal, and the railway hidden behind this. Much of the fencing is also clearly new. Next to the ground is another pitch, also railed off, with a small amount of cover provided at the entrance to the dressing rooms. The sign announces this as Colony Park, and this club, which is mainly for youth teams, acts as a feeder to the locos.

Colony Park – next door to Hathaw Park, Inverurie

It was £7 to watch the game, and £1 for the programme, which I assume was a reduced size as the printed cover showed a £2 charge. The game quickly became a formality – Formartine opened the scoring after just eight minutes, when their top scored, Barry Somers was given the ball in space on the edge of the area. Two minutes later, the Locos were reduced to ten men as centre half Michael Morrison was given a red card. I assume he went into the challenge studs up, although I could not tell from my angle. The referee applied the sanction without hesitation. The closest the home side came to scoring was on 20 minutes, when they hit the bar, and Formartine scrambled to keep the ball out, but two minutes on, Somers was left unmarked to head in the second goal. Although Locos always tried to make a game of it, Formartine added two more in the second half – a superb strike by Alister Graham (one of the ex Loco contingent), and the completion of Somers’ hat-trick.

Despite the large and assumedly partisan crowd (many were wearing colours representing both of the teams), I thought the atmosphere was quiet and restrained, with no grouping together of fans or chanting.

Those interested in visiting the Highland grounds may want to note speculation in the programme suggesting that the club may move from Harlaw Park to a new ground to be built at the Garioch Sports Centre. The area around the ground is likely to be used for more housing as the town expands.

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