Tag Archives: football

Jan 28 2017
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Daily Post, Sport

Old Spotted Dog stadium (Clapton FC)

Saturday 28th January 2017, 3.25pm (day 1,983)

Clapton FC, 28/1/17

With nothing else much to do while Clare was on her course today I took myself on the latest stop on my recent tour of obscure football stadia and took in a game from the Essex Senior League, Clapton v Barking. Clapton are notable for having a big ‘Ultra’ fan group, but they are a club with a history, having been founded in 1878 and still playing at the same ground they always have done, the marvellously named Old Spotted Dog stadium. The result — Clapton (here in red, white and black) 4, Barking 2. Better than my lot managed today anyway.

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Jan 14 2017
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Deepdale, Preston

Saturday 14th January 2017, 2.45pm (day 1,969)

Deepdale, 14/1/17

I’ve given up trying to get any truly decent action shots at football matches, I can never do it. With this one I was trying for symmetry and to capture that mother-of-pearl sky. Decent day out today — except for the result. Well, I guess our unbeaten run had to come to an end at some point.

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Jan 01 2017
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Daily Post, Sport

South stand, the Shay (and new moon)

Sunday 1st January 2017, 4.40pm (day 1,956)

South stand, Shay, 1/1/17

Watching a game in the sixth tier of English football — the National League North — might seem an unusual way to see in 2017, but Joe, me and 2,509 other people decided it was worth doing today; numbers which help explain the strength of the sport in this country. Halifax Town 2, Darlington 2 was the final score, a good game, quite exciting, though from listening to the home fans around Joe and I you’d think it had been a disaster of Iceland v England proportions. I worry that this shot is a bit messy, but I like the crescent moon visible  to top left, so let’s give it a go. I prefer it to most pictures I get at football matches, anyway, even if it is slightly out-of-focus.

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Dec 13 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post, Sport

Ewood Park, night match

Tuesday 13th December 2016, 7.35pm (day 1,937)

Ewood Park, 13/12/16

Whatever happens to football, and/or to my club, I hope I never lose the simple enjoyment of just going to a match, and that moment of excitement as you see the ground ahead; particularly for night matches when the floodlights pour illumination onto the as-yet-unseen pitch. I’ve posted before about how Ewood Park, Blackburn is a good, old-school ground (one of only three used in the first ever football league season in 1888 that is still used today — trivia fans may note that the other two have also appeared on this blog over the last five years); I like the terraced house which gets into this shot on the right.

That’s three seasons in a row that the ground’s appeared on here but if our clubs keep going in the direction they are doing, it won’t be on again for a while. Blackburn Rovers 2, Brighton & Hove Albion 3. We are top of the Championship tonight…. they are at the other end of the table.

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Dec 03 2016
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Daily Post, Sport

Hampden Park, before kick-off

Saturday 3rd December 2016, 2.50pm (day 1,927)

Hampden Park, 3/8/16

After we visited Hampden Park last year I decided that at some point I wanted to see a match there. Football tourism, why not. Something different to do other than hang around at home on a Saturday. It is one of the world’s great football stadia and I’d never before seen a Scottish league game in my 47 years on this planet. Hampden is home to Queen’s Park FC, the oldest club in Scotland (150 years old in 2017), and the last remaining bastion of amateurism in senior British football. The crowd for their game with Brechin City was a few hundred strong, swelled by Joe and myself, and we saw the home team win 2-0 (despite Virgin Trains’ best efforts to screw up our day trip).

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Oct 15 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Sport, Stranger

Post-match press conference

Saturday 15th October 2016, 5.10pm (day 1,878)

Rochdale FC’s manager Keith Hill takes questions from representatives of the local media, who, for some unfathomable reason, included me amongst their ranks this afternoon. His team had just beaten Bury FC 2-0, but that didn’t necessarily make him the jolliest of interviewees.

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Oct 01 2016
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Daily Post, Sport

Entry way, Hillsborough

Saturday 1st October 2016, 4.00pm (day 1,864)

Hillsborough, 1/10/16

Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday FC, is undoubtedly a grand football stadium, but I don’t like it and never will. It’s miles away from the city, primitive in terms of the amenities offered and I’ve had some bad experiences there. This on top of the events of April 1989 when 96 people were killed there due to police incompetence (not to mention the subsequent — but now thankfully ended — 27-year establishment cover-up). But at least we, that is, Brighton & Hove Albion FC, won there today, 2-1. Go Seagulls. I like the symmetry of this shot of the entry gangway to the away end, but yes, it would be better if it wasn’t for that dark intrusion, the top of a seat I think.

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Aug 27 2016
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Art and architecture, Daily Post, Sport

St. James’ Park

Saturday 27th August 2016, 6.05pm (day 1,829)

St James's Park, 27/8/16

St. James’ Park, Newcastle, is the greatest, and certainly the largest, true city-centre football stadium in England. Capacity over 50,000, and all ten minutes’ walk from the train station — well, 10 minutes to the bottom of the main stand anyway. If you are an away fan you then have about another 10 minutes’ climbing of stairs to negotiate: I don’t think I’ve ever been so high up in the air watching a football match before. Good views therefore; better than anything we endured on the pitch today, a poor performance (Newcastle United 2, Brighton and Hove Albion 0).

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May 07 2016
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Daily Post, Sport

The £170m match

Saturday 7th May 2016, 12.30pm (day 1,717)

BHA v Middlesbrough, 7/5/16

Hard to know what to say about this one. On the one hand, it was an incredible experience to be present today at Middlesbrough v. Brighton and Hove Albion, touted as one of the richest single games of football ever played, and certainly the richest ever played by my lot — £170m was the quoted purse, the prize for the victor being promotion to the Premier League and next season’s big fat TV money payout. If it finished a draw, Middlesbrough would be the ones going up. The atmosphere today was intense, until the very last seconds there was all to play for, and it was amazing that I and Joe were both there.

On the other hand, we lost. Actually we didn’t lose (the result was 1-1) — but of course, in the way that matters, we did.

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Apr 10 2016
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Daily Post, Portrait, Sport, Stranger

Whitehawk Ultras

Saturday 9th April 2016, 3.15pm (day 1,689)

Whitehawk Ultras, 9/4/16

One reason for going down south was to attend a game at Brighton & Hove’s other football team, Whitehawk FC. Why? Why not? They have an active set of Ultras, anti-racist, anti-sexist, a no bad language policy (exemplified by the chant, “the referee’s a… referee”) and the atmosphere put many much bigger clubs to shame. Right result too — Whitehawk 3, Wealdstone 0. Perhaps I have just found my second team.

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