Category Archives: Sport

May 31 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

Fishing in the Hebden Water

Saturday 30th May 2026, 2.30pm (day 5,392)

Fishing, Hebden Water, 30/5/26

This being the first Saturday since 7th February (when I was working in Dubai) that I did not have a football match to go to, I needed other entertainments. Not that I joined in with whatever these two were up to. My lifetime’s participation in the sport of angling (if sport it is) lasted about two hours, when I was about fourteen years old. I’ve spent more time potholing, in fact (about three hours in 1991): which also involved wading around in undesirably cold water for most of the time.

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May 24 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

Victory celebrations

Sunday 24th May 2026, 1.35pm (day 5,386)

Cup winners, 24/5/26

The players and hangers-on of Andreou’s FC (it’s a bistro in Arbroath, apparently) celebrate their lifting of the Angus & Mearns Amateur Football Association Cup, and if you think it’s rather sad to get so excited about such a local thing, well, you didn’t live through their remarkable 7-5 win over Kirriemuir Thistle this Sunday morning. It was 3-3 at 90 minutes, and on a warm day, the period of extra time was characterised by some rather knackered defending, but I didn’t care and, evidently, neither did they. Well done to them.

I have been to 95 football matches this season — a new personal record — but today was the last. For a few weeks, anyway.

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May 17 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

Leicester City have a huddle

Saturday 16th May 2026, 1.00pm (day 5,378)

Leicester huddle, 16/5/26

Lengthy huddles are a feature of women’s football, in fact it seems they are obligatory for teams at every level. Not that this particular huddle helped Leicester City very much in their match at Everton this afternoon: already bottom of the league and facing a relegation play-off, they lost 1-0. I choose the shot because the palate is pleasing: the pink of their shirts seems matched by the coverings on the seats behind. Everton’s men’s team left the historic Goodison Park at the start of the season for their new stadium on the dockside, and the women now occupy it as ‘the biggest dedicated women’s stadium in the country’, which is nice for them but does mean there was a lot of empty space: a couple of thousand people were in attendance.

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May 05 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

The Cup Winners

Monday 4th May 2026, 4.55pm (day 5,366)

OK, so it’s only the Macron Cup, the league cup for the teams in the North West Counties League (situated at the 9th and 10th levels of English football): but after beating West Didsbury and Chorlton 3-1 at Accrington Stanley’s ground this afternoon, AFC Liverpool have won more trophies this season than their senior city cousins are going to. So some celebration is well deserved.

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Apr 29 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

Out of sequence

Tuesday 28th April 2026, 7.40pm (day 5,360)

Blue seats, 28/4/26

At some point in the future — and it may be next week, next year or whatever — there will come a day on which, at the end of it, I will be forced to admit to myself that I have taken no photos worth publishing. Today was nearly that day. Blue plastic seats (specifically at the West Riding County FA headquarters, on the edge of Leeds) won’t raise it for most people, artistically or spiritually. And even if there’s a certain interest in the repetitive pattern my shadow spoils the composition.

But enough apologies! Look, the numbers are in a random order. Which is why I took the shot in the first place, I suppose…

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Apr 18 2026
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Daily Post, Portrait, Sport, Stranger

People dressed as chickens

Saturday 18th April 2026, 3.20pm (day 5,350)

Ashington chicken fans, 18/4/26

Why the fans of Ashington FC turned up at today’s game (at Brighouse) dressed as chickens is a story I was told, but in some ways it is far too tragic to relate here: let us just say that it was to do with a practical joke from the past that may have gone wrong. Beyond this you do not want to know, trust me. Connection corner: this is the second time Ashington FC have made it onto tbe blog and, as the visiting team on both occasions, they were just as successful as last time — this is also the second time that, at Brighouse, there has been a picture of a grown man dressed as a chicken. What this says about me, Brighouse Town, and non-league football generally, I know not.

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Apr 12 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

Play-off semi-final

Saturday 11th April 2026, 4.35pm (day 5,343)

Beverley Town crowd, 11/4/26

Some leagues get themselves wrapped up early, like the Northern Counties East League, which has already reached its play-offs. These are fans of Beverley Town, the home team. There are about 10 minutes to go on the clock at this point (though what they don’t yet know is that the ref is going to keep things going for about 20) and the 1-0 lead is going to be retained, don’t worry folks — although if you ask me most of them are looking at their phones at this point.

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Mar 07 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

Where’s the puck gone?

Friday 6th March 2026, 9.40pm (day 5,307)

Never let it be said that I am closed to new experiences, particularly not when they are suggested by the wife, so behold — my first ever ice hockey game. Manchester Storm, in the dark kit, beat Dundee Stars 5-1.

I chose this shot because it illustrates one basic characteristic of the sport, at least from my perspective as a rookie spectator. For a significant slice of the playing time I wasn’t completely sure where the puck was, partly because the sightlines from our seats meant one whole side of the rink was obscured and partly because it just zips around without much pattern or relationship to how the players are moving. I acknowledge the skill, balance and athleticism of the players but based on my having seen some games on TV in the past (particularly in Toronto, where it’s kind of unavoidable) I have previously described ice hockey as ‘like watching a bunch of wasps buzz around in a bottle’. My first experience of watching it live has not changed that opinion.

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Mar 05 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

The lights have gone out

Wednesday 4th March 2026, 9.05pm (day 5,305)

Floodlight failure, 4/3/26

Five minutes into the second half of tonight’s game at Brighouse Town, half the lights went out. At that point, this picture was taken. About a minute later, the remaining lights went out too, and the game was abandoned: as a football fan, my third ever abandonment, one of them because of a serious injury, one because of rain (at Accrington Stanley) and now tonight. Brighouse have been rather inept on the pitch lately, so perhaps this off-pitch ineptitude is all just part of the bigger picture.

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Mar 02 2026
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Daily Post, Sport

Watching the ball

Sunday 1st March 2026, 12 noon (day 5,302)

Saville Park football, 1/3/26

One could speculate as to just what it is that drives these two guys out on a Sunday morning to spend 90 minutes watching unimportant sporting events but, of course, these days I am just like them. In the background, Wainhouse Tower, apparently the world’s tallest folly, makes its fourth appearance on the blog, allowing this shot to be pinpointed to Halifax. No one was coping all that well with a strong wind, which is why this latest cross has gone over harmlessly and miles off target.

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