Following up on AFC Emley's good win over promotion rivals, Pontefract, it was time, last night, to go to the other extreme, seeing off a bottom of the table team in Grimsby Borough. Matches like this are a real, to use a cliche, banana skin. Fail to win and you look a proper nana!
So, we fired up the Berlingo and set off for the Welfare ground in perfect conditions. Dry, no wind (amazing for Emley) and four degrees on the slightly dodgy external thermometer on the car. (I've had it at -39 degrees in the middle of summer on it!).
The first job was to distribute the Jaffa Cakes. Give them to the wrong person (you know who you are Kenny and Ingy) and the rest of the team just see the empty packet. So, having safely given them to Rolly to take into the dressing-room, we wandered to our place. We know our place because it is next to the piece of the stone wall where the top is SCREWED to the rest with three screws. I hasten to add that that is the only part of the wall screwed in place.
Evidence that the Jaffa cakes had reached the dressingroom and been divided up was borne out by the fact that the younger Jerome took his place on the bench with, at our estimate, three of them in his mouth. Somehow, I can't see his brother doing that at Carrow Road!
Teams like Grimsby, at the bottom of the league, tend to have problems. This was evident from the fact that, with fifteen minutes to kick-off, Grimsby only had seven players warming up. Luckily, the others arrived and, with five minutes to go, they had a full team, but only one substitute.
Having said this, full marks to the lads that did turn up. Grimsby have taken a few drubbings this season and it must have been very tempting to stick with Holby City and Masterchef, rather than driving the 270kilometres round trip to, possibly, be on the end of another football thrashing.
Basically, the match was almost all Emley. Grimsby's tactics became obvious fairly early on- pack the box and hope to hit the opposition on the break. It is interesting that, of the two teams we have gone to work on this season, Lincoln and Grimsby, they both had very good goal-keepers. Maybe it's the practice!
Two goals from Max Leonard, one of which, in the common vernacular, left the keeper grasping at air, a penalty from skipper, Paul (Syko) Sykes, and a header from the returning from injury, Doran Jordan sealed the points.
News filtered, or twittered, through of the lights going out at Worsborough ten minutes into the match with rivals Hemsworth and the defeat of AFC Mansfield on the slopes of Hallam FC. At the end of the march, the 113 in the crowd applauded both sets of players off. The referee, who can be described as erratic, received good-natured boos.
The spooky thing is that home matches this season against the bottom two teams, Lincoln Moorlands and Grimsby Borough both had crowds of 113!)
Eyes will be on the Pontefract-Shirebook clash tonight (a draw would suit Emley, please) and then, it's off to sunny Rossington on Saturday.
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Monday, 9 March 2015
The history of AFC Emley has been a typical one at our sort of level.
The new club, set up to bring football back to a small West Yorkshire village, was set up in 2005. After a season of establishing the club, they were admitted to the Northern Counties East division one. Since then, it has been a case of setting out at the start of each season, trying to get the the relative promised land of the Premier Division and just falling short. The main problem is that clubs are set up at this level fairly quickly and some, with the resources to fund a promotion push, tend to do well.
This season, the division is much more open with a number of teams having a good chance of hitting the top two spots.
Saturday was a top-of-the table clash against our local rivals, Pontefract Collieries. We visited Pontefract on a cold and wet January Wednesday evening when a 0-0 draw reflected the stalemate between the two sides. The most memorable incident that evening was the request from Daz, the manager, not to shout abuse at the referee while standing next to the dug-outs in case the ref thought it was him shouting.
AFC Emley approached Saturday's show-down fresh from a 2-3 win at local rivals, Penistone Church. It was an interesting match but I was more interested in the surroundings. Penistone is a team new to the league this year and, in true ground-hopper fashion, I went there in November when they played AFC Mansfield. Not only could I not see the church, I struggled, because of the thick fog, to see across the ground!
Anyway, my daughter and I decided early last week that a trip to Emley v Pontefract clearly outweighed Huddersfield V Rotherham United.
We got to the ground early. The parking area behind the stands has suffered from the weather and parking can be a bit tight. The first thing that struck us was the shiny new floodlight on the half-way line to replace the one which dived in the January storms. This one sways but then again, you would in the wind that was blowing across the ground. The good thing about it was that Saturday was a bright and shiny day and the pitch was dry.
The match was sponsored by a guy from Ayr in Scotland whose name is .... Emley. The joys of google! Actually, the old Emley sold two players to Ayr United in the 90's so there is a link between the two areas. The crowd was 221, second at this level of the leagues.
Once inside the ground, I bought my lottery tickets. One pound to win a big Emley breakfast. Having been lucky enough to win a couple of years ago, I can state that it is big and it is a breakfast! A wander around the ground brought a series of chats, including our secretary telling me he had been in the Isle Of Man last week. Sadly, it was not to bank our gate receipts but filming with Adam off Countryfile (the joys of stardom!).
The game was settled by a Reuben Jerome goal after five minutes. Whether he caught it lucky or whether it as intended, it was a goal his brother, Cameron, would have been proud of. The lack of a second goal meant that the half-time was 1-0. Nick Handley from Pontefract was saying as he walked off att half-time that Emley were thinking of refunding the money paid by spectators. No need, a second-half performance against a Pontefract side throwing everything at us, and aided by a strong wind, made my entry-money well worth while.
So, the three points put us top but with seven teams covered by seven points, the race for the title is still on.
And I was 200 tickets out from the big breakfast. Oh, well, always next time!
Tuesday night, Grimsby Borough at home. Can't wait.
The new club, set up to bring football back to a small West Yorkshire village, was set up in 2005. After a season of establishing the club, they were admitted to the Northern Counties East division one. Since then, it has been a case of setting out at the start of each season, trying to get the the relative promised land of the Premier Division and just falling short. The main problem is that clubs are set up at this level fairly quickly and some, with the resources to fund a promotion push, tend to do well.
This season, the division is much more open with a number of teams having a good chance of hitting the top two spots.
Saturday was a top-of-the table clash against our local rivals, Pontefract Collieries. We visited Pontefract on a cold and wet January Wednesday evening when a 0-0 draw reflected the stalemate between the two sides. The most memorable incident that evening was the request from Daz, the manager, not to shout abuse at the referee while standing next to the dug-outs in case the ref thought it was him shouting.
AFC Emley approached Saturday's show-down fresh from a 2-3 win at local rivals, Penistone Church. It was an interesting match but I was more interested in the surroundings. Penistone is a team new to the league this year and, in true ground-hopper fashion, I went there in November when they played AFC Mansfield. Not only could I not see the church, I struggled, because of the thick fog, to see across the ground!
Anyway, my daughter and I decided early last week that a trip to Emley v Pontefract clearly outweighed Huddersfield V Rotherham United.
We got to the ground early. The parking area behind the stands has suffered from the weather and parking can be a bit tight. The first thing that struck us was the shiny new floodlight on the half-way line to replace the one which dived in the January storms. This one sways but then again, you would in the wind that was blowing across the ground. The good thing about it was that Saturday was a bright and shiny day and the pitch was dry.
The match was sponsored by a guy from Ayr in Scotland whose name is .... Emley. The joys of google! Actually, the old Emley sold two players to Ayr United in the 90's so there is a link between the two areas. The crowd was 221, second at this level of the leagues.
Once inside the ground, I bought my lottery tickets. One pound to win a big Emley breakfast. Having been lucky enough to win a couple of years ago, I can state that it is big and it is a breakfast! A wander around the ground brought a series of chats, including our secretary telling me he had been in the Isle Of Man last week. Sadly, it was not to bank our gate receipts but filming with Adam off Countryfile (the joys of stardom!).
The game was settled by a Reuben Jerome goal after five minutes. Whether he caught it lucky or whether it as intended, it was a goal his brother, Cameron, would have been proud of. The lack of a second goal meant that the half-time was 1-0. Nick Handley from Pontefract was saying as he walked off att half-time that Emley were thinking of refunding the money paid by spectators. No need, a second-half performance against a Pontefract side throwing everything at us, and aided by a strong wind, made my entry-money well worth while.
So, the three points put us top but with seven teams covered by seven points, the race for the title is still on.
And I was 200 tickets out from the big breakfast. Oh, well, always next time!
Tuesday night, Grimsby Borough at home. Can't wait.
An everyday tale of football folk- Part 1
It's getting to the stage where everyone has decided to have a blog. You are no-one if you don't put you thoughts down on paper (well, on the screen, actually). So I thought, why not? Give it a go.
I, like many other blokes, follow football. I actually watch football, at a ground, or two.
I follow two teams.
I have, for my sins, a season ticket at Huddersfield Town and, when I'm not watching them, I follow AFC Emley in the Northern Counties East Division 1. Neither of my teams will ever be in the Champions League but hey, if that was all the mattered, we would only support the Manchester clubs or Celtic.
Most folk have heard of Huddersfield Town. Championship club, three times winners of the First Division in the 1920s, John Smith's Stadium, Denis Law. This season, like we expected, we are bumbling along in the Championship, one week looking like relegation fodder, the next week, looking safe for another season.
AFC Emley are different. Most football fans have heard of Emley- twenty years ago, holding West Ham to a 2-1 at their place in the 3rd round of the cup?
Well, this club is slightly different- a sort of "son of Emley". The original club, Emley AFC, moved to Wakefield, became Wakefield and Emley, then Wakefield, and just died a death.
AFC Emley was formed in 2005 to bring back a football club to the village of Emley. We must be one of the easiest clubs in the country to find. How many clubs have a huge television mast about a mile from the ground which you can see from miles around? Aim for the mast and then the village are the directions to our place. It's also a useful aiming point for free kicks playing uphill at the ground. Aim for the mast and then hope the ball dips at the last moment!
AFC Emley is a typical club at this level. The players are local lads who want to play football and then enjoy their Saturday nights. Most of the players who play at this level will have come through professional clubs and been cut at an early age and now play for fun. They also ate mates with players on the opposing side and, after playing against each other, will be down the pub together later.
The fans are the usual mixture of folk at this level. Some have followed this type of football for years, never needing the expense of watching at a higher level. Others, like me, are two-team followers, watching a league side some weeks and a "second" team on others. There are no illusions here. AFC Emley are never going to rise to the dizzy heights of the Conference. That isn't the beauty of following a team like this. The joy is in the intimacy, the sense of being a part of an organic (for want of a better word) organisation.
I mean, at Championship, or even league level, how many fans know the players, get a hand-shake from the manager at every match, and provide Jaffa-Cakes for the players before the match?
Referees and linesmen are left in no doubt over the individual fan's thoughts on their decisions and have been know to join in the banter-
Saturday afternoon:
PA: "A pair of glasses have been found in the stand"
Linesman: "Before anyone asks, they are NOT mine!"
Of course, it's not all sweetness and light. Facilities tend to be basic. If you don't get wet from the rain, it's a posh ground! Lionel Messi's are a bit thin on the ground but moments of skill do happen. AFC Emley scored a goal this season with 20 seconds elapsing from the goal-keeper throwing the ball out to it hitting the opposition's back of the net. But it's cheap, at £4.50 a match and it's fun. Banter between fans happens. It's a bit difficult to avoid if you are standing shoulder to shoulder with them!
Anyway, that sets the scene.
I'll put bits and pieces on as they crop up.
I, like many other blokes, follow football. I actually watch football, at a ground, or two.
I follow two teams.
I have, for my sins, a season ticket at Huddersfield Town and, when I'm not watching them, I follow AFC Emley in the Northern Counties East Division 1. Neither of my teams will ever be in the Champions League but hey, if that was all the mattered, we would only support the Manchester clubs or Celtic.
Most folk have heard of Huddersfield Town. Championship club, three times winners of the First Division in the 1920s, John Smith's Stadium, Denis Law. This season, like we expected, we are bumbling along in the Championship, one week looking like relegation fodder, the next week, looking safe for another season.
AFC Emley are different. Most football fans have heard of Emley- twenty years ago, holding West Ham to a 2-1 at their place in the 3rd round of the cup?
Well, this club is slightly different- a sort of "son of Emley". The original club, Emley AFC, moved to Wakefield, became Wakefield and Emley, then Wakefield, and just died a death.
AFC Emley was formed in 2005 to bring back a football club to the village of Emley. We must be one of the easiest clubs in the country to find. How many clubs have a huge television mast about a mile from the ground which you can see from miles around? Aim for the mast and then the village are the directions to our place. It's also a useful aiming point for free kicks playing uphill at the ground. Aim for the mast and then hope the ball dips at the last moment!
AFC Emley is a typical club at this level. The players are local lads who want to play football and then enjoy their Saturday nights. Most of the players who play at this level will have come through professional clubs and been cut at an early age and now play for fun. They also ate mates with players on the opposing side and, after playing against each other, will be down the pub together later.
The fans are the usual mixture of folk at this level. Some have followed this type of football for years, never needing the expense of watching at a higher level. Others, like me, are two-team followers, watching a league side some weeks and a "second" team on others. There are no illusions here. AFC Emley are never going to rise to the dizzy heights of the Conference. That isn't the beauty of following a team like this. The joy is in the intimacy, the sense of being a part of an organic (for want of a better word) organisation.
I mean, at Championship, or even league level, how many fans know the players, get a hand-shake from the manager at every match, and provide Jaffa-Cakes for the players before the match?
Referees and linesmen are left in no doubt over the individual fan's thoughts on their decisions and have been know to join in the banter-
Saturday afternoon:
PA: "A pair of glasses have been found in the stand"
Linesman: "Before anyone asks, they are NOT mine!"
Of course, it's not all sweetness and light. Facilities tend to be basic. If you don't get wet from the rain, it's a posh ground! Lionel Messi's are a bit thin on the ground but moments of skill do happen. AFC Emley scored a goal this season with 20 seconds elapsing from the goal-keeper throwing the ball out to it hitting the opposition's back of the net. But it's cheap, at £4.50 a match and it's fun. Banter between fans happens. It's a bit difficult to avoid if you are standing shoulder to shoulder with them!
Anyway, that sets the scene.
I'll put bits and pieces on as they crop up.
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