Tag Archives: non-league

May 30 2021
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Daily Post, Sport

End of season celebrations

Saturday 29th May 2021, 4.55pm (day 3,565)

Padiham celebrations, 29/5/21

Rimington FC, in orange, wait to be presented with the trophy for winning the East Lancashire League’s end-of-season rump competition — what was allowed them after the wasted (and perhaps pointless) months of lockdown. 400 people gathered at Padiham FC’s fine little ground on the edge of Burnley, witnessed a magnificent game of football (4-4 with the winners taking it on penalties), remembering how good it is to come together, and not to stay lonely and apart. The kid sums up these feelings.

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May 18 2021
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Daily Post, Sport

Watching through the dugout

Monday 17th May 2021, 8.15pm (day 3,553)

Brighouse dugout, 17/5/21

A photo of several things. Firstly, the football. Clare insists that the mark on the lower part of the dugout looks just like a sheep. Brighouse manager Vill Powell (with newly-shaven head) makes his second personal appearance on the blog. But most of all it is a photo of a crowd, in a football match, in a proper ground. Finally we can do this kind of thing again. And life is the better for it.

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May 10 2021
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Daily Post, Sport

Spectator accommodation, Sunday morning

Sunday 9th May 2021, 10.45am (day 3,545)

Social distancing not a problem at Sabden FC of the Pendle Charity Sunday League. Actually there were about 30 people watching, and presumably most of them went home happy enough after their morning’s entertainment as the home team won 9-0. The main stand of the Nutter Barn ground is, endearingly, made from a recycled bus shelter. The photographer’s bag makes an appearance to bottom left.

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Apr 22 2021
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Daily Post, Sport

Not the ‘Super League’

Wednesday 21st April 2021, 6.50pm (day 3,257)

Brighouse Sports FC, 21/4/21

In a week when the ‘big clubs’ either took the piss by calling a massive bluff, or finally over-reached themselves with their hubris, it seems apposite to put up a picture of some actual football: you know, the sort where there’s still competition, intimacy, and interest. Plus, a nice background at Brighouse Sports FC of the West Yorkshire League D2 (they’re the ones in yellow, and won 4-0). I find it ‘Super’, anyway.

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Apr 18 2021
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Daily Post, Sport

Embrace the crowd

Saturday 17th April 2021, 4.35pm (day 3,523)

Crowd at Eagley FC, 17/4/21

I decided yesterday’s photo was a misrepresentation, so here is a definite example of a crowd. And if people hadn’t wanted to be there, they wouldn’t have been there.

Before anyone gets too obstreperous I will observe this is a long zoom taken down almost the full length of the football pitch. The vertical white posts are each about two meters apart. As we saw when all this kicked off a year ago, it’s quite possible to use a camera to create the impression of crowding where none exists. But it was still good to see at least 70 people at this match (an entertaining game at Eagley FC in Bolton). In any case, the sooner we start to feel close to one another again, the better.

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Apr 10 2021
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

The other photographer

Saturday 10th April 2021, 2.05pm (day 3,516)

Football photographer, 10/4/21

That’s a big lens. Perhaps he’s compensating for something.

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Apr 08 2021
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Daily Post, Sport

Recovery begins in Dewsbury?

Wednesday 7th April 2021, 7.20pm (day 3,513)

Savile United, 7/4/21

Football is for me a way of exploring the world, including parts of it that lie near my home but which I’ve never previously had cause to visit. So tonight — my first-ever trip to Dewsbury, a largish town lying between Huddersfield and Leeds. The town centre shocked me somewhat: a post-Brexit, post-Covid vision of dereliction, 90% of the old retail units either abandoned altogether or shuttered up until next week, at least (but it all looks more permanently damaged than that). But across the river to the south, some signs of life in the cold winds. It’s only from below that true recovery ever stems.

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Apr 04 2021
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna, Sport

Goalie, pylon, llama

Saturday 3rd April 2021, 3.10pm (day 3,509)

Goalie, pylon, llama, 3/4/21

Now here’s a fairly unique combination: witnessed on the edge of Burnley this afternoon. But as I typed the title of this post, it struck me that it sounded like one of those ‘what 3 words’ geolocation things. So I tried it, and magnificently, “goalie.pylon.llama” does correspond to a 3 x 3m square of land on South Island, New Zealand, to the west of the town of Greymouth — as this page proves. There could be a whole new game in this.

And yes, football’s back. In some ways, anyway.

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Dec 16 2020
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

Watching the game

Tuesday 15th December 2020, 7.05pm (day 3,400)

Watching Steeton, 15/12/20

Bojo the Clown has decreed that it’s OK to get some local entertainment at football grounds that expand beyond just being a pitch in a park somewhere. This gentleman, like the other 85 or so in attendance at Steeton v Brighouse on this Tuesday evening, ponders why the provision of tea, snacks, hell, even maybe a pint of beer or two, would have exposed us all to mass infection in a way that keeping the snack bar closed did not (we assume). Answers on a postcard to 10 Downing Street.

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Dec 12 2020
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Daily Post, Sport

Sowerby Bridge FC

Saturday 12th December 2020, 2.20pm (day 3,397)

Sowerby Bridge FC, 12/12/20

I still proceed with my favoured Saturdays as best I can. Sowerby Bridge FC offer me the chance to still witness an entertaining afternoon’s sport, and despite this being the first ground I’ve seen with power lines extending over the pitch, as seen here. The December gloom was deep and grey, but while this sort of thing can still happen then there remains some light in the world.

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