AFC Liverpool 2 West Didsbury 2 North West Counties League (06.11.2013)

So still staying over in Liverpool and the night after photographing Albert Docks I was back on the more familiar ground of Non League football with a trip to watch AFC Liverpool host West Didsbury,AFC were founded not as a protest club like FC United of Manchester but as a home for Liverpool fans who were finding the price of modern football to much,footy for a fiver was how press officer Alan Harrison described it as.
So AFC don't have their own ground but share with their landlords Prescott Cables,the ground is one one of those faded but homely places that is one of the reasons so many of us follow non league

The downside of the night was the weather the incessant rain that lasted until about 10 minutes from the end of the match but to the great credit of the players it didn't stop them putting on a highly entertaining match

 From the start of the game AFC as per their higher league position were the more dominant side but it took a while before their dominance paid off and they took a 1-0 lead,by some miracle your photographer actually got a shot of the goal and the celebrations

I was actually not the only visual media there as AFC sport like my own club AFC Wulfrunians a photographer and videographer,quite a rarity in non league football from my experience,both guys like everybody else at the club extremely friendly.

So  half time arrived with AFC only 1-0 up and I was invited into the board room for refreshments,told you these guys were friendly, and a very nice spread it was as well.

And so to the second half and AFC continued their dominance and doubled their lead with a quite superb strike from some 20 yards,I think at this point most of the crowd thought that was game set and match,it was actually the start of an amazing turnaround as within minutes West Didsbury had pulled a goal  back  with an even better strike from at least 30yards.This inspired the visitors who took almost total control and it was no surprise when they drew level from the penalty spot

After that although Didsbury posed the greater threat both sides could have claimed all three points but with honours even after 90 minutes West Didsbury were obviously the happier side

So despite the weather a very enjoyable evening and another fine example of the friendly family that is non league football

A Stroll Around Liverpool Docks with Graham

Staying up in Liverpool on business I was not far from my colleague Graham Seaman  and the initial plan was just to have a pint,however as it was a nice evening and Graham knows I never go anywhere without my camera so he suggested a night photography session.
The night didn't get off to a good start as the Anglican cathedral usually floodlit was in darkness as there was a film crew inside.so off down to the docks area.

Well I'm not a great night photographer but you really cant go wrong here because there were images demanding to be captured right from the start

Liverpool has a wheel as well as London

You also get attractive young Irish ladies who

forgot their cameras wanting you to take photographs of them,annoyingly so did their Partners.Brothers.fathers and Uncles

  Also by the wheel is a sculpture musically inspired and dedicated to John Lennon and it was crying out to be photographed

Moving around to the Albert docks you get more mundane objects that you would ignore from a photographic point of view in daylight but they take on a completely new identity in the artificial light of the night

Before ending the evening with the pint that was the original plan Graham insisted that photograph the 3 Graces ,that is The Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building, hopefully I have done credit to these beautiful structures that dominate the Liverpool waterfront

So a pint at the Pump House and the evening was over,well not quite,I still had to prove what every tourist knows only to well.there's always a bloody photographer getting in the way of what you want to photograph

First Look At the Toolstation Western League 9th October 2013

Sorry for the delay in posting a bit about my trip to Westbury v Bradford Town but its been a bit hectic recently.

Anyhow a whole week at my head office in Trowbridge gave me the chance to visit a ground and a league i'd not seen before,Westbury Utd were hosting league leaders and local rivals Bradford Town,I must say in my defence that due to the incompetence of the Tamron service department i have been missing my 70-200 f2.8 for 6 weeks and so was restricted to the Tamron 17-50 f2.8,not exactly a sports lens.

On a pleasant evening I and a couple of colleagues travelled down from Trowbridge,got slightly lost when a closed road confused the Sat Nav but parking right outside the ground was easy and we found a pleasant little ground awaiting us

 Although as I have said previously it was a very pleasant evening one of mu colleagues had forgotten her coat so despite being half my size she borrowed my rather unflattering coat

From the kick off Bradford showed their title credentials by dominating play and itb was no surprise when they took the lead after about 20 minutes,their players unlike my lads were generous enough to celebrate on my side of the pitch rather than running off into the distance as is my usual experience

As the game wore on Westbury had a few half chances but never really looked like drawing level and it was no surprise when soon after half time Bradford scored a second and really just ran down the clock to collect 3 well deserved points

A couple of amusing sights were firstly the cafe culture seating in front of the "Stand behind their goal and secondly the arrival  of the local cycling club to watch the second half from behind the goal

All in all a very pleasant evening at a welcoming club,i would say that Step 6 in this area is slightly below the standard of Step 6 in the West Midlands but it was an entertaining and pleasant evening

The Joys Of Transfer Deadline Day

So another transfer deadline day is over and Talk Sport and Sky Sports presenters can stop at least until the weekend shrieking in hysterical tones as if the transfer of Frederico  Bollango from Verona to Hull city was the greatest event n the planet since the birth of Christ.

If ever there was something that expresses the madness of modern football at the highest level it is the end of the Summer transfer window, dont get me wrong  have no problem with the window as a concept, at least it stops all the tapping up and tedious press speculation during the rest of the season but there are some major problems.

1) Why does it not end before the season starts to stop the panic buying at the end of August just because a team has not won their first 3 or 4 matches 10-0

2) How can major teams leave it so late to sort out vital staffing decisions that will affect their performance and success both sportingly and financially in the year to come, in the case of Manchester Utd,  Arsenal and Everton leaving it until the final few minutes. Surely they would have identified their needs soon after the end of last season and planned their feasible targets rather than going off on unachievable wild goose chases for the likes of Fabregas and Suarez.

This particular last day has of course highlighted the greatest obscenity of modern football that being the chasm between the haves and the have nots, on the day that Gareth Bale moved for gazillions Kettering Town went out of business for the amount of money Bale will earn every 36 hours, there has to something seriously wrong with a sport where that can happen.

And then back to where I started and the broadcast media hyping the whole day up to a ludicrous extent and often getting it wrong, this years gem was Stan Collymore on Talk Sport all but staking the life of his entire family on Romalu Lokaku going back to West Brom on loan (Don’t get me going on season long loans especially between EPL teams) ,sadly he was not on air when the Belgian signed on the dotted line for Everton.It must be time for radio and TV to employ qualified journalists rather than some footballer recently retired who can just about put a sentence together without going You Know

Getting People Through Those Non League Gates

I have just been reading an article in When Saturday Comes about the opportunity  Non League clubs in Coventry have to swell their attendances as disenfranchised Coventry City fans who don't want to travel to Northampton look for somewhere to go,its not however the likes of Coventry Sphinx who need to look to attract more fans of League clubs/

I would guess that the majority of fans of League clubs are homers,I certainly was years go when I followed Wolves, with the exception of Vila,Blues and Sandwell Town I never went away so every other week I had a free Saturday and many of those free Saturdays before I started playing were spent watching Dudley Town which was only 10 minutes walk from my front door.

So how do Non League clubs especially at the lower levels look to attract these "Homers", well fans at my own club AFC Wulfrunians have recently walked the streets of the locality doing a leaflet drop to try to attract fans and , I have seen on Twitter another MFA team Boldmere St Michaels  offering discounted entry to Villa season ticket holders for certain games,no doubt across the country there are many other clubs doing similar things Is there even a possibility that the "Big" clubs themselves do something to support lower level Non League by being approached to advertise in their programmed  about local non league clubs that their "Homers might like to go and watch?

So if we do manage to get new fans through the door how do we keep them, well without being arrogant I don't think that  will be a major problem,we have a good "product" with lots of competitive games and not a small amount of skill on display, in addition if my experience at many grounds across the country is anything to go buy new fans will be made very welcome.

So lets hope with inventive thinking we can get new fans through the gate even if they re only every other week because every bit of support and every penny counts

Its Not Just All About The Players

So pre season friendlies are in full swing the anticipation of  new season mounts and the prime concern for many in the non league game is
Who have we signed ?,
Who have we let go?
 and have we improved the team to build on last seasons successes or improve on last seasons failures.

Questions that are less often asked are
Do we have the same match secretary?
Has the weather hindered the groundsmans work ?
Do we have enough people to man the gate on matchday?

We all know that it is the players and mangers that are of vital importance to any club and its the guys who cross the white lines that the fans pay to see but in an era when even players at Step 6 can command 3 figure match fees we need to remember those behind the scenes who give up their own time for free and without whom the club just wouldn't be able to function.
Maybe the word club needs to be emphasised more ,it is a Football Club a combination of Players,management and behind the scenes organisers and it is only when all three come together that you get a really successful club

So although the match secretary wont get a standing ovation for handing the team to the ref on time and nobody will applaud the gateman for giving them the right change remember their part in the overall picture when your captain lifts the League Trophy or your recently signed centre forward gets the goal that saves you from relegation,it is a team game and that the team is more than just the guys with numbers on their backs

Football Travels Start Again

What you I hear some of you shout not that bloody football season already, well for those who don't appreciate the beautiful game I realise it may be a shock but pre season friendlies are up and running, as with last season when staying away on business I am trying to get to see a local Non League team and in this case  it was a visit to Champion Hill to see Dulwich Hamlet,last seasons Isthmian League Champions take on League 2 opposition in Dagenham and Redbridge

Now pre season friendlies take many forms and this was one of those games of 2 halves with multiple substitutions and giving trialists and new signings a chance to start attaining match fitness along with the seasoned regulars

The Daggers had the best of the first half as befitted their loftier league status and deservedly lead 1-0 at half time,the second half changes however benefitted the hosts more and 2 goals lead to Dulwich ending the match as 2-1 winners,the result is never really important in these games as its a way of bedding in new signings and regaining match fitness for the travails of the next 9 months

More importantly from a personal point of view was the chance to meet for the first time some members of the facebook Non League Of Extraordinary Photographers group namely Mishi Morath, Laraine Bateman and David Purdey who were all there in varying capacities,as with others of the group I have met they were really nice people who like me shared a love of photography and non league football.

Champion Hill itself is a modern ground built in 1993 adjacent to the local Sainsbury's but very pleasant with a loyal and very vociferous following , the club itself is much older celebrating it's 120th anniversary this year,catering is well catered for with 3 refreshment stall around the ground and I must  say that the burgers were as good as I have had at any football ground.

So a very pleasant start to this years football travels and I hopefully will return to Champion Hill one day to see a competitive match