YOU HAVE TO PITCH IT RIGHT.

If you happen to be a Hepworth United FC footballer or maybe even a supporter, you might take your "life" in your hands this season if you nip over one of the stone walls surrounding the pitch to retrieve a football. We have been told that it is "trepass" to wade into a largely unused neighbouring paddock, behind one of our goals, to get our ball back!
"We don't want you climbing over the stone wall (there is a stile) onto our land, you might bring it down. We will throw the balls back when it suits us." This was the gist of the kind neighbour's reasoning.

OK that's a grand idea but when will you throw them back? Maybe after the game when everyone has gone? Yes, probably when there are a few lads knocking around the pitch who will love finding a £40 match ball to kick about with (and disappear). Sensible! football pitches can be treacherous.

The Eidi pitch on the Faroe Islands will have a few more worries than us but I bet the neighbours are more generous.

Mind you it's bad enough living in the Faroes! think of the diet!

Talking of fish what about The Sapporro Dome in Toyohira-Ku-Sapporro, Japan. Home to a baseball team and the Hokkaido (that's the big island at the north of Japan) Nippon-Ham Fighters who play in the J2 league (2nd division). Their pitch is retractable and can serve both clubs at the drop of a hat. Its like sliding a credit card into the paying machine! See below.

Igraliste Batarija in Croatia is the home of HNK Trogir and they play with one of their goals nestled against Kamerlenga Castle built during its control under Republic of Venice during the 15th Century. At the other end of the pitch is the Tower of St Marco another fortress built for safety through to the 18th Century. See below for a photo of one end!

And talking about losing balls, then Hepworth has no issues compared to the FC Gspon a small club at 2000 feet in the Alps. Ottmar Hitzfeld Stadium in Switzerland is the unlikely venue for teams playing in local leagues where they can only get to the ground by cable car, needless to say a few balls get hoisted over the nets and into the valleys, the air is a bit thin and its a devil to get the grass pitch in good condition. But the view is great.

OLD CLUB v OLD GROUND x 157

It was the annual match between the oldest football club in the World (Sheffield FC) and the club that plays on the oldest "official" pitch in the world (Hallam FC). The oldest Derby. The Alan Cooper Trophy looks a bit like a bar stool, is made from silver and it is played for annually as a pre-season by these two historic clubs. The Derby was held at Sheffield FC this year, a good crowd turned out in sunny weather and the home side were the better by far, winning 5-1.

Looking at the programme there were a load of players from both sides who have done the rounds locally; Matlock town, Goole AFC, Shaw Lane, Harrogate, the list goes on. A few had spent their time at proper clubs; Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United, Chesterfield and the like but many had done the Non-League circuit.

I got through the turnstile, avoiding the nearby Coach and Horses pub. I remembered to ask for a concession and got my precious programme. Then I headed for the Directors' Clubroom where I was determined to talk to a home club official about the use of the Charterhouse 1st XI photo from around 1863 on their club's website....on the front page... It showed school 1st XI captain, BF Hartshorne and Co at the old Charterhouse in London, by the Cloisters, where they played their casual football games!
http://www.sheffieldfc.com/stadium  see this link to view the Charterhouse 1st XI

Surely the oldest club in the world must have photos of their own past teams? Apparently not, according to the very nice committee member, who allowed me into the hallowed clubroom, where the Alan Cooper trophy was kept. Alan was a Hallam FC member who died prematurely. I enjoyed signing their global visitors book, but not offered a cuppa or a sausage roll. Fair enough.

The match went on, the home team were better with two dribbling wide players who made the difference, something that would have pleased the Charterhouse dribbling footballers from the 19th century. Ben Algar, a left sided player and James Gregory were memorising.

So the 157th Derby was first played on the Hallam cricket ground on 26th December 1860. It goes on from strength to strength and both clubs are in fine fettle. Sheffield play in the Evostick NPL Division One South a higher tier than Hallam who partake in the Northern Counties East Division One.

It was an hospitable visit to Coach and Horses Stadium, much was good about the place although the home coaches' team could take a few lessons from the Victorian gentlemen who would not have used such Anglo-Saxon expletives and shown such little respect for the officials! So much for Respect! But as we were constantly reminded, "it is a man's game".

WEDNESDAY ON A SATURDAY

Well the Cloughy-Dean Saunders story didn't attract too many readers which is a pity because it is a very funny record. So who loses? Not me because I heard it and had a "giraffe".

Today I should have gone to a cricket match somehere locally but it is footy pre-season and Stocksbridge Park Steels (home of Jamie Vardy) were entertaining a Sheffield Wednesday XI (U23s). So I toddled off with a few pence in my little zippy purse and had to pay £8 for the privilege of getting into the Stocksmoor Ground. Doh! I forgot to ask about concessions!
I bought a smart programme (see below), well some soul had made the effort to produce it, so that set me back a £1 and then I had a strip of 5 raffle tickets, which I lost before the draw at half time, during the course of trying to juggle my  and purchase, change, ticketswaterproof (not needed).
I was also holding my cap to keep the sun off my head, had my radio with the Test Match and other pre-season matches tuned in, with headphones dangling around my body and of course the statutory pint of Bradfield Blonde (a beer) in a plastic pot. I looked and felt like an "anorak". Actually I think I am but then it's my age and I'm not standing on a railway station.

Sheffield Wednesday are closely linked to cricket of course and the Wednesday Cricket Club was founded to give the cricketers some fitness during the winter break. They played on a Wednesday as you will gather and this might have something to do with the traditional Wednesday half closing.

The football Club was formed on the evening of the 4th of September 1867 at a meeting in the Adelphi Hotel in the city and there was a formal announcement in the Sheffield Independent newspaper stating this.

The Wednesday football club soon eclipsed the cricket club and it realised that there was already a well established Sheffield FC as competition nearby and then Hallam FC started up soon after.

Wednesday played its first official match against the Mechanics Club at Norfolk Park which the Wednesday won by 3 goals and 4 ROUGES to one. (a rouge of course you would know about-yes? No?) its a score when the ball passes outside the goal but between posts set a yard or so wider....rather like Aussie Rules. Get it?

On February 1st 1868, Wednesday entered the Cromwell Cup, a four team competition, for newly formed clubs in the area (uner 2 years old). Oliver Cromwell (no not him) ran the local Alexander Theatre. Wednesday went on to win the cup in extra time, beating a team from the Sheffield Theatre Royal called The Garrick 10, by what may be considered the first ever "Golden Goal". The match was played at Bramall Lane.

The Cromwell Cup is the second oldest cup comeptition recorded, the first being the Youdan Cup which is being held in Sheffield this weekend as youth clubs from home and abroad come together to compete in small groups and then in a knock out trophy. I'm going to see some of these games on Monday. SO THERE IS A POINT TO ALL THIS.

ITS RAINING-I LACK A TOPIC-HERE'S A CLOUGHY STORY

Today Nigel Clough Jnr is given permission by Burton Albion to talk to Nottingham Forest.
He will never match his dad over transfer business. This is a cracker recounted by Dean Saunders.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/brian-clough

THE OVAL: HOME TO OVAL AND ROUND BALL AS WELL AS CRICKET AND........

Like much Common land in England, local sports were commonly played on them and in Kennington that is what happened on the land that eventually became the Oval. An early "official" cricket match between London and Dartford was played there in June 1724. Today the test match between England and South Africa is the 100th test match to be hosted by the Kennington Oval.

Once an area of market gardening, eventually the ground was leased to play cricket and Surrey CC started there in 1845. In 1868 an England XI played An Aboriginal Touring side, the first touring side to play there. Indeed this was the World's second "foreign" or test match played after the first ever at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

With "the father of football" CW Alcock secretary of SCCC, it was no wonder that football was played at The Oval and so it was that the first FA Cup Final was played there between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers on March 16th 1872.
I attended a 140th anniversary match between the two clubs in 2012 and the match was played on the hallowed outfield in front of the main stand.

A "Gymnastic Society" played regular football at the ground, probably being the first ever football club and between 1950-63 the famous amateurs, the Corinthian Casuals treated the Oval as their home ground.

The first football international between England and Scotland was played there in March 1870 and the FA Cup Final continued using the ground until 1892. England played rugby v Scotland there in February 1872, the second ever international match (the first held at Raeburn Place) and in 1877 the ground hosted the first Varsity Rugby Match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
In the picture-football or rugby?

The Oval and Bramall Lane were the only grounds to host both England football and cricket internationals and FA Cup Finals.

In 1882 the famous Australian victory over England's cricket team led to the formation of the Ashes (ironically public executions took place there with public hangings occuring around 1844).

In 1889 the ground became the first illuminated sports' ground, lit by gas lamps.

In 1972 Aussie Rules match between Carlton and an All Stars XI was played at the ground and there has been hocket when the game was played on grass, before the astro era.

FROM DRACULAR TO THE SAMI

Ok, Whitby is quite far East but Ostersunds is way over there! In fact it's quite east but also in Arctic Sweden, the most northerly club in the top Swedish league.

Jamie Hopcutt left the warmth and charm of Whitby, Dracular's den, to ply his footballing trade amongst the Sami people (the indigenous tribe of northern Scandinavia) in Northern Sweden.

He was last subbing for Whitby Town and six years ago his career was taking a down turn. York City had told him he was no longer needed he played a bit at Tadcaster but last week Jamie scored a stunning goal for the Swedish "minnows" Ostersund FK, in their first leg, Europa League 2-0 win against the Turkish side Galatasaray. The second leg resulted in a 1-1 draw giving a 3-1 aggregate victory for the Swedes in the Turks'  notorious stadium, the Ali Sami (a coincidence) Yen in Istanbul.

Tomorrow Hopcutt's team play Luxembourg's Fola Esch in the 3rd Qualifying round, at what will be a sold out stadium (around 6,000), the Jamtkraft Arena.
This is a place where temperatures plunge to below freezing later in the year but at the moment Jamie should be playing under the warmth of the Midnight Sun.

Along side Jamie are Andrew Mills, an English goalie, last with Macclesfield and Woking and Curtis Edwards, a midfielder, also from England.

Jamie went to a trial day held at Warwick University and he scored a hat trick in his game. He was invited for further scrutiny by Graham Potter, an ex-York man, who is managing the Swedish side. Potter played for Birmingham and Stoke briefly, as well as for Southampton. He has led a "revolution" at the club, promoting Ostersunds from the fourth tier to the first tier in Sweden, playing along side Malmo and Goteburg.

Ice hockey and biathalon are the favoured sports in the city but now crowds are taking notice. 10,000 turned up to watch on a big screen, the away leg against Galatasaray and a huge crowd waited for the team to return to their home airport.

Jamie is being mobbed in the streets, as his team has won promotion to the Allsvenskan (top tier) and won the Svenska Cupen (the national cup) but more importantly the club is making their players join in cultural activities including performing in a full ballet production of Swan Lake in front of local connoisseurs in the city's theatre. Painting lessons have followed on from this and some players have published written works as well as enjoying lessons about the indigenous Sami people. (are you watching Fortitude?)

Hopcutt sees these challenges as things that you have to have a go at, like trying to perform on the pitch from day to day.

RESPECT! FA AWARDS 2017

The Respect awards, first given in 2008, selected by the Football Association have been announced and whilst I did submit the Hepworth United Club for an award, we were amongst the thousands of nominees and I dont know where we came but I did get a thank you from the organisers for letting the selectors know of our hard work over the challenging last season.
It has not been easy trying to run a "united club" without a base and against considerable opposition!

So here are the winners for 2017:
The Bobby Moore Award: Kevin England of Bedfordshire for his attention to hearing and visually impaired football. Moore's wife Stephanie was on the committee that choose this main award winner.

Club: Sherwood Colliery Ability FC-Nottinghamshire
Coach: Ahmadou Seye-Jolof Sports from the Amateur Alliance
Committee member: Amanda Borrino-Layton Jnrs Lancashire
Grounds: George Georghiou Frenford Seniors-Essex
League: Surrey Youth League
Official: Jawahir Roble-Middlesex FA
Parents: Ross Junior Royals-Herefordshire
Supporter: John Shannon-Amateur Alliance
Volunteer: Mohammed Waheed-Alpha Utd Juniors-West Riding

AV's JT v BT U6s

In 1960 the UEFA General Secretary decided that a match between the European Champions and the winners of the Copas Libertadores would be an excellent idea. In 1960 Real Madrid beat Penarol playing in Montevideo and then in Madrid. Santos from Brazil with Pele on board thrashed Eusebio's Benfica. Unfortunately as the competition wore on violence seemed to be the order of the 1970s and eventually Ajax refused to play after Cruyff had his ankle demolished by an Independente tackle and so European champions declined the invitation. The cup was re-instated in 1980 with a one off final in Japan sponsored by Toyota. It was last played for in 2004.

Less violent is the pre-season competition played by Aston Villa in Germany this weekend when they took on MSV Duisberg, Malaga and Hertha Berlin in the "Cup of Traditions" to win an impressive trophy made partly of metal and mostly of gold and silver plastic!

Observant fans have quickly entered into banter revealing that you can buy a replica trophy (just as ugly) on ebay, 10 inches high (much smaller) for about a tenner. It is called XPLODE, so look out for it. YES THIS ONE IS TEN INCHS HIGH.

Another wag showed his U6 team from Beaumont Town FC who won a local tornament and they were presented by the winners' trophy-NOT THE SMALL ONE!! it is the same as the Villa reward!

The Beaumont lads are dwarfed by their winning trophy.

BLACK FLASH CUTS A DASH

I am publishing this one again mainly because only 15 people read it originally and that Laurie Cunningham is the subject of another article by Dermot Kavanagh in today's Sunday Times.

Laurie Cunningham was a pioneer of football and the London Soul scene. He was born in 1956 to Jamaican parents living in Finsbury Park. A new biography " Different Class: Football, Fashion, Funk. The story of Laurie Cunningham" by Dermot Kavanagh (Unbound £20) tells his story and there are four YouTube clips based on the film "Black Flash".

In March 1976 for the first time, a black footballer, Cunningham, was the front cover of the Sunday Times Magazine, at a time when racism was commonplace. Many today will not have heard of him  but at the time he suffered overt racism from English crowds and coped with that with courage and dignity. In 1981 he played against Liverpool in the European Cup Final, losing 0-1. For the next period he suffered from injury after having a toe stamped on and spent the early 1980s on loan, including at Manchester United with Ron Atkinson in 1983, a couple of Spanish and French clubs and then at Wimbledon, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1988.

In 1989 he was killed in a car crash in Madrid, aged 33. Having played nearly 350 games, he was soon forgotten as a star player and quickly named as a play boy or maverick.

Cunningham was well known for his love of dance, vintage suits and spending time pubs and bars in Soho such as Crackers in Wardour Street. Inspired by Robert Redford in "The Great Gatsby", he once found a trunk filled with original war time clothing and had the suit copied by an East End tailor. He also would visit flea markets in the Angel, Islington, gathering authentic fashions. He had style and also a reputation!

His funeral was held in Tottenham in 1989. Recently English Heritage agreed to place a Blue Plaque on his house In Finsbury Park. Here are four episodes of his career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiEk3-3uChs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dCqDbTDG6Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tjc5tVcOks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2JKoSflSjI

Laurie cut a dash in fashion and his 1940s style suit and fedora was not out of place in the London nightclub scene.

ROBOCUP 2017

As the pre-season gets going, our "automaton" professional footballers are honing their bodies and skills in preparation for the new season. In Nagoya, Japan of course, the RoboCup will be in full swing, running from the 27th July through to the 30th.
The point is to draw together various robots and their controllers, scientists and students, to perform in a variety of different competitions demonstrating their developing skills.

3500 and more candidates from over 40 countries are homing in on the Portmesse Nagoya (International Exhibition Hall) with their robots. There are "Humanoid", Standard Platform, Middle Size, Small Size and Simulation classes, each one looking for a "best in show".
https://www.robocup2017.org/

The future aim is to pit a team of robot soccer players against the human World Cup winners in a match under FIFA rules. Let's hope that England don't get robotised otherwise there will be some embarrassing moment I am sure. Maybe this will be at the penalty kicks stage of the game or a dreadful mishap by a goalkeeper robot looking a bit like David Seaman or Paul Robinson.
http://www.robocup.org/news/34

Here some action of the "Humanoid Kid Sized" robots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDz4Ikbq8Yo

Just in case you dont think much of that lot have a butchers at this set of "free kicks in the penalty area" BY HUMANS. Put that in your pipe and smoke it you geeks!

LIGHTNING STRIKES THE GHOST

Lightning might strike more than once, goes the saying and when I was at the Birkdale Open yesterday I thought that this venue would be a perfect spot for a lightning storm to upset a lot of people. Being there was the reason for me disappointing you all by not writing a Blog yesterday. now, let's get down to business, while I show you a horrific clip from a footy match affected by lightning. This is not for the faint hearted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNJRPOltifI

Right so you have got over that. My reason for upsetting you is to prepare you for lightning strike should you happen to be on a golf course or indeed a football pitch or in fact any other exposed area. Don't keep hold of your clubs, don't run to the nearest tree for shelter (or pylon), curl up on the floor in a ball and wait for the storm to pass.

So who has been injured or killed by lightning strike; well today is the anniversary of the death of Johnny White in July 1964 when the 27 year old Tottenham and Scottish international was playing golf with his team mate Dave Mackay at Crews Hill Golf Club, Enfield. A storm started late afternoon (which if you know your O Level (GCSE) Geography or Science, you will know why thunderstorms tend to build up in the late afternoon.....why??) around 4pm. The two golfers took refuge under a tree, a lightning bolt hit the tree and White was killed.

White was slight in build (The Ghost) and a wonderful inside left (number 10) who had much influence on the famous Spurs 1960-61 Double winning side. They also won the FA Cup again in 1962 and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1963 thumping Athletico Madrid 5-1, a game in which White scored. If you watch the video you will see why Spurs won! Who was MOTM?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONrBO_-FXnA

Mackay knew White from Falkirk in the Scottish League and persuaded manager Bill Nicholson to sign the Scot. During his time at Tottenham, Spurs never came lower than fourth in Division One and in fifteen matches that White missed, Spurs only won one.
When Nicholson had found out that White was a cross country champion in the Army, so his mind was made up. White is next to cup (on HIS left)....name the rest of the side.

An entire team, between 20-35 years old, in Kasai, Congo were killed when lightning struck during a match, with their opposition leaving the pitch unscathed.

There are many examples of similar events, the nearest to home being at Highagte United in the Midlands where Tony Allden was killed in an FA Amateur Cup tie v Enfield Town in 1967.

BOYZ ON TOUR

As the Charterhouse School U16s are "on tour" at the Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden, many other schools, unis and clubs are doing the pre-season where various external tour activities might cancel out all the good work done on the practice pitch.

Gothenburg is dangerously expensive for young lads intent on sneaking a lager in the evening and even the coaches might find getting a decent drink limiting. ...especially those who need several to slake the thirst!

The pros of course are under strict instructions to behave with some Yorkshire clubs showing imagination in their tour venues.

Bradford City, Leeds, Huddersfield and Rotherham are in Austria. Hull City, Middlesbrough and Wednesday are off to the sun in Portugal. The Blades are in Spain, Barnsley have two weeks in Hungary and Donny Rovers have cut their losses by touring in Scotland. Here's the SatNav lads, see you there.

The Millers will have early morning,7am, runs in the mountains around Lindabrunn, a double session with late afternoon games and evening classroom stuff. Pencil cases at the ready chaps.

After pre-season warm ups at North Ferriby Utd and Guisley, Leeds are off to the Tyrol with Thomas Christiansen visiting old haunts. A proposed friendly at FC Ingolstadt 07 has been cancelled due to the local police not being able to accommodate what they regard as a risky match! Some Leeds fans may be stranded as a result of this latish news. Borussia Monchengladbach and Spanish side Eibar will provide opposition nevertheless.

Seclusion, isolation and one road in to tour venue, Kleinwalsertal, suited Stuart McCall's Bradford City, a venue recommended by Marc Klopp, son of Jurgen! Let's hope he knows his stuff.

The Terriers are in Kirchberg where early morning runs and late afternoon sessions will avoid the heat of the continental sun. Matches against Stuttgart and Torino will prepare the lads for their first ever Premier League game against Crystal Palace.

Let's hope that they remember Ray Palour, in 1995, being arrested and appearing in court after exiting a Hong Kong night club, tipping his prawn crackers over a taxi and punching the driver.

George Graham's Arsenal in 1987 were in Portugal where the lads met some US Marines, argued with them, so Charlie Nicholas lobbed a vodka bottle at their car and George had a message informing him that "half his team had been arrested for attempted murder".
Niall Quinn and Steve McMahon had a tiff on tour in Italy in 1992 which ended up in a scuffle and McMahon being pushed through a shop window.
Don Hutchison was photographed with only a beer lable to cover his modesty when partying in Ayia Napa. Manager Roy Evans soon sold him to West Ham.
Man Utd went to Iran in 1977 and their players had to have prior cholera injections which laid them low for days.
Peter Begrie in 1991 did not like being locked out of his Spanish hotel (probably a jape!) so he jumped on a motorbike and drove it through a glass window of the wrong hotel.
And then there was Bobby Moore arrested for jewellery theft in Colombia before the 1970 World Cup..never proven! Jeff Astle however had one too many on his plane home and was carried through the airport draped in a cape!
Below, some managers believe in pre-season character building

DICK,LADIES AND CO

It is the big documentary tonight (18th July 2018) on Channel 4 at 10 pm, hosted by Clare Boulding. It is about Ladies Football and particularly Dick, Kerr Ladies a team formed in a Preston munitions' factory (Dick, Kerr and Co) during the First World War. Letting women play raised morale, especially when they lpayed against the men!

Women's football has been part of my blog series and several references have been highlighted in the past; here they are.
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/women-are-useless-at-playing-it.html
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/women-to-fore-at-last.html
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/locked-out-or-locked-in-with-and.html

The 2017 European Women's Championship have begun, with England playing Scotland tomorrow.
The Dick, Kerr Ladies football team and their free scoring teenage centre forward, Lily Parr, basked briefly in the type of publicity that our modern women enjoy today.
Have a look at Lily's "history".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_Parr

The team existed between 1917 to 1965 playing 828 games, winning 758. Their first match was against the Arundel Coulthard Factory at Deepdale on Christmas Day 1917. 10,000 saw the Kerr Ladies win 4-0.

All money raised went to military charities. The Daily Post stated that the ladies suffered less from stage fright than their opponents (men) and had a better understanding of the game.

These pioneers were so popular that in 1920 they played St Helens Ladies in front of 53,000 at Goodison Park.

So POPULAR were they that the FA banned women's football the following year, stopping them from playing on the FA's affiliated pitches on the principle that football was "unsuitable for females".
Money and politics suddenly took over and one doctor announced that "the kicking is too jerky a movement for women. The hard knocks on the football field are bad for future mothers."

There was a "first international" against France in 1920 at Deepdale (2-0), then games at Stockport (5-2), Manchester (1-1) and Stamford Bridge (1-2). There was a return tour to France

Clare Boulding gets her gander up over the the "way of putting women back in their places". In the kitchen perhaps?

Where would our ladies have been today if the ban had not slowed down progress. The ban lasted until 1971 and the FA "recognised" women's football eventually in 1993.!

Gail Newsham, an ex-footballer, is the author of Dick, Kerr's official history, "In a League of their Own".

SEADOGS FIND THEIR SEALEGS ON TERRA FIRMA

Scarborough Athletic FC play in the Evostick Northern Counties East Division One. The club formed in 2007 and has played its home games at Bridlington FC, 20 miles away, sharing the ground because they had no home of their own.

The Seadogs formed when Scarborough FC when out of business in 2007 with debts of £2.5 million but inevitably lost the old club's home ground at the Athletic Ground, later known as the McCain Stadium, Seamer Road, which was sold to help cover the debts. Lidl now occupy that plot after the old stadium was demolished. Some of the stands were "sold" and transported to be rebuilt at Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Club and the main gates were re-erected at the new ground.

The reformed club, Scarborough Athletic FC, is jointly owned by 350 supporters and is occupying a new ground at the Flamingo Land Stadium, Weaponess Park and Ride. A £50 million development has taken place there, providing an Olympic sized swimming pool, fitness centre, the 3G stadium, a University Technical college and Coventry City's University, Scarborough Campus, which will boast 2,000 students when finished.

The club, presently in the Evostick Northern Counties Division One North, intends to serve the community fully and will allow all its junior teams access to their 3G pitch for matches and practice, a massive advantage for the local footballers.

During this week, the Seadogs entertained a Sheffield United XI, a friendly, pre-season match they lost on the pitch but gained on the terraces as the place was packed with attendance money rolling in.

Scarborough FC was formed in 1879 and played in the Football League from 1987 until 1999. It was the famous Jimmy Glass goalkeeper's goal for Carlisle United that put Scarborough out of the Football League on May 8th 1999, the club's first ever relegation.

There were more relegations as the club slipped away and was dissolved in 2007. Athletic took over and a smaller club, Scarborough Town also formed.

THE JOY OF SIX- A SECOND YOUTH

Its a "substitute" isn't it? Yes football is, especially when the blood doesn't flow a fast as it used to. I'm not going to bang on about the Penistone Church FC Walking Football team that won the Etihad Over 65s 6-a-side tournament, it's Star Sixes that is in the news today.

Twelve countries are playing a "Veterans' Six-a-Side Tournament" in London's best Indoor Arena, the O2. The final is played this evening and it has been on the telly; rivetting viewing for some.... compared to the tennis, test match, F1, England U19s?

This wasn't a knock about, kick around but like our Walking Football, deadly serious and teams wanted to win. It was played in good spirits with no hanky panky, respect and skill. Neil Bailey is the CEO of Star Sixes and the director of business development at Pitch International, a sports' marketing agency. His firm also deals with Royal Ascot, Brazil Football, the ECB, Six Nations and so on. They know what they are doing.

Crowds have been good at the O2, 15,000 or more, over 100 countries are watching on TV or over the internet. There is scope for more events and perhaps a "World Cup" later. It's not testimonial stuff, it is ex-pros, fit and motivated. Its not just reliving the past, its playing in the present, with immaculate skills from Pirlo, the free-kicks of Carlos, Owen's scoring and Ballack and Puyol and Gerrard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlawfZMjrVs
Indoor leisure suits a wide audience, this is PR friendly, there is much for social media to latch on to and its quick and complete. More people are playing 5/6 a-side, men and women, 5 to 65 years+.

T20, ATP finals, Golfsixes have the same appeal.... they are comfy and accessible. There is an American style to all these events and the latest Champions League Final confirmed the influence of the USA in providing all round entertainment.

Then there is Hashtag United, a Sunday League team formed by a YouTube gamer. They have a huge shirt sponsorship deal, thousands attend their games and Star Sixes have tried to pitch into this culture by pitting a team against Hashtag United.
http://hashtagunited.co.uk/
The F2 Freestylers, heard of them?? They do their stuff on Soccer AM on Sky and  have their own kit deal and 42 million viewers on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DZ2rDFMB3g

There are lots of legends games and more to come. It's a second youth.  As far as Walking Football is concerned, my doctor may not agree.

THREE STADIA UNDER A BLANKET

You could throw a blanket over the three main sports' stadia in Nottingham. All three are within a stone's throw of the River Trent. Trent Bridge is on the TV now as England try to catch up the South Africans at cricket on a ground used since the 1830s. The ground was named after the Trent Bridge Inn whose proprietess's husband was William Clarke, the captain of  the All England cricket team.

The cricket ground hosted Notts County FC  matches in the 1860s (the oldest professional club in England founded 1862) and the club also played at Park Hollow in the Castle grounds and shared with Forest at the City ground. They played at Trent Bridge regularly from 1883.
The ground hosted an England international v Ireland in February 1897, which England won 6-0.
By the turn of the century it was clear that the club would have to find its own ground as they often clashed with cricket at the beginning and end of the season.

By 1910, County moved to their own ground, Meadow Lane, around 300 yards from the City ground where Forest played. The two stadia are the closest league stadia in England, but not as close as the Scottish Dundee clubs.

County had to develop their ground which they leased from the council. A temporary stand was floated from Trent Bridge to Meadow Lane across the river and in the Second World War the ground suffered bomb damage.

Nottingham Forest, note no use of the "s" as in "Notts County", which suggests that the County club is in Nottinghamshire ie outside the city boundary. Forest therefore is in the cityand was founded in 1865.

The club first played at the Forest Recreation Ground, then at Trent Bridge and then the Town Ground, which was named after the Town Arms pub. The City charter was set in 1897 and Forest have been at the City Ground, West Bridgford, since 1898, sited near the old Town Ground.
The ground originally was open on three sides and on August 24th 1968 during a game v Leeds Utd a fire started amongst a crowd of 31,000 fortunately there were no casualties.

WILL TAKES ON THE GALS

I do like the Windsors, a knockabout series about the Royals and naturally when ever the Royals get involved with football I raise my eyebrows and remember the princes playing football (soccer) for Eton against Charterhouse in days gone by. What else would young lads do when they are bored at home-get a ball, stick one of the servants in goal and have a kickabout on the lawns of Buck House.

As so it is that William, as President of the FA, has been hosting Women's football at his "place (palace)" for a good cause, as will be revealed in this link which has a video below.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/13/prince-william-scores-penalty-against-england-womens-team/

It has been Girls' Week and the FA has rolled out a campaign to double participation and attendance at women's football by 2020. Baroness Sue Campbell announced that eight new "High Performance Centres" have been established at Universities around the country giving high quality facilities for improving the ladies' lot.

Centres are at: St Mary's London, Gloucester, Chichester, Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Northumbria, covering the country quite nicely. Some universities in bigger cities are sharing the load. Local hubs have been formed and you might find one by delving through the links below.
https://forgirls.thefa.com/

The Women's Euros begin July 16th through to August 6th.
https://forgirls.thefa.com/en/Article/Euros-Celebration---For-Girls

THE FIRST WORLD CUP

Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the first World Cup in 1930. I did make reference to this momentous occasion before and you might find some of the idiosyncasies in this past blog amusing.

http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/keep-your-draws-on.html
FIFA chose Uruguay for the first ever World Cup finals over Sweden, Italy, Holland and Spain. The entire competition was played in one city, Montevideo, using three stadia, occupying 13 national teams. Eight teams came from South America, the USA was there, the rest were European but not England where the FA deemed the WC not to be part of their plan!

The nations were put into 4 groups, one of 4 teams and 3 of 3. Needless to say the hosts were in a small group! Argentina, Chile, Mexico and France were unfortunate and played in a group of 4.

Some of the matches were poorly attended,  the opening tie, Romania v Peru for example, only attracting 300 people. In a tense match the Peruvian captain, Placido Galindo was the first player to be sent off in a World Cup match.

Only three players played for clubs outside their home country....much different from today of course.

At the same ground the day before (13th July), was scored the first World Cup goal by Frenchman Lucien Laurent  against Mexico after 19 minutes. It was his only World Cup goal of that tournament, scored in front of 1,000 people.

Hosts Uruguay were watched by over 190,000 during their semi-final (v Yugoslavia 6-1) and final (v Argentina 4-2) matches.
Apologies for the quality of the film but it is 1930.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4ZkR-US3e8

Uruguay were also Olympic champions in 1924 and 1928. Pedro Cea was the first person to score a goal in both the Olympic (1924) and World Cup (1930) finals.

EQUALITY ROOKS FC: MEN=WOMEN; A CAN OF WORMS

Good old Lewes FC. I wrote about the Rooks recently and today the news hit national headlines that the club is going to pay its men and women equal wages, flagging up a massive gender equality statement with the "banner" Equality FC. Sounds like a genuinely sensible idea.
Here is a link to show you what that means:
http://equalityfc.com/

Lewes 1st team Men play in the Isthmian Division One South and the Women play in the FA Women's Premier League South Division. They play against teams such as Huddersfield Town Ladies.

Lewes Director Jacquie Agnew has brought about a "level playing field" at the Dripping Pan, so the club provides equal resources for coaching, conditioning, equipment, facilities, investment for both teams. They are raising awareness so others might follow suit.

Darren Freeman, the Men's manager, says that they use the same pitch, balls and so they should be treated equally.

CURIOUSLY the Women's team manager JOHN DONOGHUE is delighted of course but......he's a man.

Here are the Lady Rooks playing Town!

Considered sponsorship and money raising by Lewes FC has enabled the club to do this although money cpming into the club for both teams is very different; the men get a gate average of  about 500 watching them in a standard league match and the women might raise 100 at best.

What about clubs like Manchester City? Should they pay equal wages to their two gender teams when there is such a massive difference between the two in terms of "value"?
Gate receipts. sponsorship, TV rites, shop sales etc etc.
Do cricket players get equal pay? Tennis? Open that can.....

HAVE THE ROOKS OPENED A CAN OF WORMS?

UNDER 19s

http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/apr/13/euro-u19-draw-130417

The link will take you to the FA website where the recent news of Youth success is timetabled for you. The England U19s have beaten the Netherlands and Germans recently and Bulgaria. To reach this stage the Young Lions cruised past Norway, Spain and Belarus, before getting to the tournament in Georgia. Playing in two groups the remaining European countries are nearing the end of their international tournament with semi-Finals on the 12th and the final on the 15th.

France are the current holders and that was their 8th win. Spain have won the tournament 10 times. England  hosted the first tournament in 1948 and won it. They have hosted in 1963 and won it, hosted in 1983 coming third hosted in 1993 and won it. Wins also occurred in 1964, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1980 and have been runners up 5 times. 54 nations began the tournament.

The Women's U19 tournament reaches its climax in Northern Ireland in August. England are grouped with Italy, Metherlands and France. Northern Ireland as hosts play with Germany, Scotland and Spain. The final is on the 20th. 

This is the Northern Ireland host mascot, Sweet Caroline.

IT'S IN THE CAN

It has been a normal day! Nothing unusual; a car to Dodworth, bus to Barnsley, train to Sheffield, express choo-choo to St Pancras, travelling with a lovely American man who was carrying bone marrow, yes bone marrow in a refrigerated "can" to his home in the USA for his ailing daughter. He has found a match in England, Sheffield I guess? and so he was on his way home quickly. A perfect match!

I then walked through the northern streets of inner London to Smithfield EC1 and the Charterhouse where I helped with a documentary film directed by the charming Nick Fitzherbert, an Old Carthusian, who wanted to make his mark in Charterhouse history, as if he hadn't achieved that already! The film is about the development of football from its early roots.

The boys at the school midst the grimness of the meat market and central London, played a form of football in the Old Charterhouse cloisters; very much an indoor game, dangerous, but with many attributes associated with the modern game. There were two teams, with numbers dependent on who was free to play. The teams tossed a coin to choose ends and had to change ends when a goal was scored.

If the ball flew out of the cloister windows, the first boy to touch the ball threw it back in, presumably to the advantage of his own side, hence "touch". There were defenders, goalies of a sort, dribblers and an untidy ruck like rugby. The skill was to get the ball out of the "squash" or ruck and dribble down to the opponents goal (a door at the end of the cloister).

On occasion the game spread out onto the nearby recreation grass or Green. Here the game changed to a more modern form with more space, there was offside (three men not two) playing you onside. This of course changed to two eventually. Throw ins were more like the rugby line out, goal kicks occurred six yards out from the goal line, fouls were penalised and in stead of a door, there eventually were goalposts.

We went through the history of the Charterhouse football, a game that led the Old Carthusians being foremost in Association Football in the late 19th Century. They made their mark on soccer, as did many other schools. I came across several schools such as Harrow, Eton, Forest School in Snaresbrook that had contributed to the great game in differing ways, but also lesser known scholarly places such as Donington Grammar School in Lincolnshire and Ockbrook School in Derbyshire.

CAP THE WAGE.

Professional football was "accepted" in 1885 and the amateurs went their own way. needless to say the northern clubs led the way with lesser known players earning 4 shillings a week and  star players earning as much as £10 a week. Footballers were paid more than general labourers and by 1890 four times as much. As the popularity of the game grew wages increased at a fast rate.

Win bonuses were common, with "extra payments" and expenses added to the wage packet. Over the close season wages were reduced and it would be common for players to get another job.

In 1893 the movement of players between clubs were controlled without the permission of the initial club and this was known as "retain and transfer". This enabled a club to retain a player against his will, at the end of his contract, even though he wanted to move.

A maximum wage cap was introduced which encouraged players such as John Cameron of Everton and Jimmy Ross of Preston to form the Association Footballers Union in 1898. It quickly gathered 250 members but was not recognised by the FA or the FLeague. Despite the AFU being in existence the maximum wage was capped at £4 per week (equivalent of £230 pw now) in 1901.

In 1961 Jimmy Hill called out his professional footballers if the FLeague did not abolish the maximum wage set at £20 in the winter and £17 in the summer. Tom Finney was known as the Preston Plumber and that was his job in the close season to supplement his income.

In the 1920s the wage was £9 and in 1953 only £15 in winter and £13. This did not please Stanley Matthews.

To the consternation of the Pools' Companies, a strike was due for January 21st 1961, but it was averted after various inputs from club owners such as Bob Lord, the Burnley "butcher", who conceded that the maximum wage should be banned.
Near neighbour, Jim Wilkinson of Blackburn Rovers, did not agree and stated that even a maximum wage of £30 a week would cripple many clubs.

Ted Hill, Chairman of the TUC, encouraged the public to boycott matches, but when the super star Stanley Matthews joined the strikers and supported picket lines around the clubs, the League management persuaded the clubs to abolish the maximum wage.

This also eventually saw the end of the "retain and transfer" system after George Eastham, later an 1966 World Cup England international, was not allowed to leave Newcastle United despite being out of contract. Jimmy Hill and two union representatives met at the Ministry of Labour along with Alan Hardaker, the League representative, Joe Richards of Barnsley and Joe Mears of Chelsea. The PFA prevailed and the strike was off.

56 years ago Johnny Haynes at Fulham became the first player in England to earn £100 a week.

Chris Sutton at Blackburn Rovers picked up £10,000 a week.
By 2009 Tevez earned £200,000 and he now earns thrice that with Shanghai Shenhua in China.

Lionel Messi is now earning £1 million a week at least having signed a new four-year contract worth £54.8m pa. Well deserved? Who knows! Ronaldo probably does.

THE ART OF SOCCER

After the dignity of the All Blacks v Lions rugby match ( a hooligans' game played by gentlemen) this morning, I dread to think what the new football season throws up for us, but no doubt the phrase "Soccer, a gentleman's game played by hooligans" might well be appropriate.
It was appropriate perhaps that all Lions' points came from KICKS.

The European U19 Championship carries on in Georgia with England (six points out of six) playing Germany in Group B tomorrow at 5pm (on Eurosport) in Tbilisi.
Less impressive is the outcome of British (+Eire) clubs in the Europa League. Bangor, Rangers, Bala, St Johnstone, Derry (hammered 10-2), Coleraine (smashed 7-0), Ballymena (thumped 5-0) and Crusaders lost on away goals.
Cork and Shamrock Rovers carry on and Aberdeen join in the next round.

But enough of that; why not look up Bob Barker on the WWW?
His work was exhibited at Sheffield United's ground in 2013 to help celebrate its 150 years as a sporting stadium.
https://www.castlegalleries.com/artists/bob-barker#collection

The lad in the painting has set his sights on his "goal". It's worth clicking on Bob's various painting icons and to see other footballing pictures.

GOALIES MUST STAND OUT

Goalkeeping kit through the ages has changed much. In 1909 the FA stated that the goalie had to wear a kit to distinguish himself from the other-scarlet, royal blue and eventually green became very popular. I can remember Bert Williams of Wolves and Gil Merrick of Birmingham City wearing woollen, roll neck sweaters (this must be against Spurs??). International goalies tended to wear yellow.

And maybe they had a pair of cotton green gloves (but usually bare hands!) Nothing was quite as garish as this fashion from Wycombe Wanderers goalkeepers. Goalie coach Barrie Richardson explains why:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/06/wycombe-wanderers-unveil-kaleidoscope-goalkeeper-kit-designed/

and if that isn't enough why not have a look at this dedicated website to goalies!
http://www.goalkeepersaredifferent.com/keepers/getting-shirty.html

Peter Shilton famously wore white in an attempt to look "larger" to opponents.

Grimsby Town goalies will not wear green as this is an unlucky colour around the docks apparently.

Lev Yashin a Russian "god" goalie wore all black....to merge into the back (black) ground maybe? Well, Neville Southall did the same at Everton.

NON-LEAGUE BALLS IN THE BAG TOMORROW

The draw for next season's FA Cup (and FA Vase) is being made tomorrow and will be published on the various websites by lunchtime.

50 years ago it was the 87th season of the FA Cup, the World's oldest cup competition (1872). Even the Charterhouse School inter-house cup  did not begin until 1874!

The new 2017-8 football season soon begins and these cup ties will be played from the 5th August (Extra Preliminary Round) with the First Round Proper on Saturday 4th November when the Football League clubs join in.

On the 9th December 1967 there were a number of notable non-League clubs pitting their wits against league clubs;
Walthamstowe Avenue (best Kidderminster Harriers), Arnold, Nottinghamshire (lost to Bristol Rovers), Tow Law (thumped Mansfield Town 5-1), Falmouth Town  (beaten by Peterborough Utd), Guildford City (drew and then beat Brentford in replay) and Ryhope Colliery Welfare from Sunderland (lost to Workington Town 0-1 who were a league team then) to name a few.
Tow Law then drew with Shrewsbury 1-1 and then lost 6-2 in the 2nd Round. Guildford City lost to Newport County.

As it happened, the weather was atrocious and 2 ties were abandoned on the day and 12 matches were postponed.

The 2017-8 Third Round is on Saturday 6th January by which time the big boys (PL and Championship) will be putting their necks on the block, challenged by those "lesser" teams that have survived.

In the 1967-8 Cup Final, Jeff Astle, the legend of West Bromwich Albion, who was scoring regularly, added to his total season goals in each cup round and especially in the semi-final and final. He put two past Liverpool in the replayed 6th Round and another against Birmingham City in the semi-final.
His winning goal at Wembley against Everton was scored in extra time at 93 minutes. WBA won 1-0. Not a classic! Though Bob might not agree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77ahr3L4q0

12 months earlier Albion had been beaten by QPR (a Third Divsion side at the time) in the first League Cup Final to be played at Wembley.

ZOLA, OMIR, OBE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Gianfranco Zola was born on July 5th 1966. He is 51 years old. Born in Sardinia he began his career with  the local club, Nuorese in 1984-6, scoring 10 goals in 31 games.

He then went to Torres also a Sardinian club (88/21goals) moving on in 1989 to Napoli where he joined Maradona and learned much from him (good stuff that is). He scored 32 goals in 105 appearances for the club but was sold when the club experienced financial problems.

He was bought by Palma (102/49) in 1993, staying until 1996, then joined the "rising" Chelsea and was part of their climb to fame. He played 229 times scoring 59 goals-some as shown here. He was voted Chelsea player of the year twice and racked up many other awards with them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OngyupOnaIo

In 2003 he then left Chelsea to return to Italy and Cagliari (74 games /22 goals) retiring in 2005.
In his career he played 35 times for the Azurri scoring 10 goals  and was voted in 2007 by Sun readers as one of the Top Ten best foreign "artistic" players. It doesn't get much better than that.

Though he retired as the 5th highest free kick scorer in Serie A-can you name the others voted in the top 6?

Alex Ferguson described him as a "clever little so and so".

His management career has been uneven with spells at West Ham, Italy U16 and U21, Watford, Cagliari, Al-Arabi (Doha) and most recently Birmingham City where things did not go too well; he "sacked himself" in April 2017.

His son play for Grays Athletic in the Isthmian league, having been with the Hammers for a while.

Zola appears in a music video by the Derry band Wonder Villains and was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and the OBE for services to football!!

(ps Pirlo, Baggio, Totti, Del Piero, Mihajlovic)

SHARP, SHORT AND SWIFT

I get about you know. This afternoon we visited the Holmfirth Art Festival which has adopted the town for the week. Lots a pots, paintings and other stuff beginning with "p". It was a pleasant interlude for me between garden clippings and car cleaning.

In the Methodist Hall, alongside the wood prints table was a pleasant lady who lived in Cawthorne, very much a Barnsley posh suburb. She knew where I lived and then mentioned a family she knew in Cawthorne that used to live in my "hamlet" (village with no functions), Carlecotes. I knew exactly whom she meant, it was Duncan Sharp and his family who used to live in the Hall at the top of the hill.

Duncan made his money after football in haulage, not having made enough as a Barnsley "star" professional in the 1950-60s. He was a bright schoolboy who did serious academic subjects at Barnsley GS (School Certificates in Greek and Latin) and his brain enabled him to do well in business so he put together enough money to buy up the 16th Century Carlecotes Hall and associated buildings, with land.

I met Duncan when he strolled down "the village with no functions" for his post lunch constitutional, with a cigar! We chatted about footballers of his era, Matthews, Finney and Wright but it was clear that he was ageing and eventually dementia got him. His charming wife moved him to Cawthorne into a smaller property to help him cope with his illness and then Duncan died.

He had a funeral in Cawthorne and many turned up including Dickie Bird, who was disappointed that Barnsley FC had not made more of celebrating Duncan's career. With 213 games under his belt, many as captain, Duncan played for the one professional club, between 1953-62, retiring sensibly at 29 years old.

He was born in March 1933 and died at 83 years old. The war interfered with his professional career but he made up for the loss of time by defending as one of the "hardest buggers" in the division. He was described as "one of the best defenders to play for the club", and "he always had a smile on his face and ate forrards for breakfast". At 6 feet tall and weighing 13 stone, he was a feisty centre half who had a crunching tackle. The crowd would shout out "was that murder or manslaughter then" as a visiting forward lay on the Oakwell turf.

 When any delivery lad visited his firm there was always a spam special with an egg at the canteen and when they spoke to Duncan, he was soft spoken and good natured.

Duncan Sharp played alongside right back John Short, signed from Stoke City and Colin Swift, a left back. Sharp and Swift came through the club's youth system.

Duncan Sharp is third from left at back

SHORT, SQUAT AND AWKWARD

Home again and I can now insert little goodies in my blogs to keep you interested. Over the weekend my ipad did not play ball.

Last Thursday I was watching our Juniors in their weekly "Just Play" session. A lad known as Nick was playing with the older group although he was a littly and of no age...10?? He never left his attacking final third and kept getting on the end of things. There were overheads, scorpions, tap ins and headers as well a good amount of bravery.

You may realise that I am scratching around for a topic but thinking of Nick, I watched one of the Sky "best ever" films this morning in the gym and Gerd Muller was the subject along the Bayern Munich side that he played in.

Muller as far as I know never scored a goal from outside the penalty area and of course wrecked England's World Cup hopes in Mexico.
Watch this clip of his best goals and spot one and even recognise goals that affected you personally!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOC1TS9A1I

Muller,  "Bomber der Nation" played for West Germany from 1968-74 (62 games with 68 goals) and was 15 years at Bayern, (453 apps- 398 goals) and (66 goals in 74 European Cup games). He is 12th highest scorer in ALL International appearances. European Footballer of the Year in 1970, Golden Boot too, with 10 goals in the 1970 WCup and he scored 4 in 1974.

He began his career with 1861 Nordlingen in 1964 (31-51 goals), went to Bayern Munich until 1979 and then went to Fort Lauderdale Strikers until 1981 scoring 38 goals in 71 apps. Along with Karl Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier the club rose from the Regional Sud division one below the Bundesliga to top the top German league. He played in 4 German Championship winning teams, 3 European Champion Cups and 1 Cup winners Cup.

He was Assistant Manager at Bayern from 1992-2014, a job that was sorted by his fellow professionals to rescue him from alcoholism. The Nordlingen stadium is named after the Bomber.

Messi recently beat Muller's record of most goals scored by an individual in a Calendar Year which totalled 85 in 1972.
David Winner in his book "Brilliant Orange" described Muller as the title above reveals.

Muller was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2015.

RIPE DRIPPING AND ROOK PIE

I am heading to Ripe today with strawberries which seems appropriate in July. Ripe is in East Sussex near Lewes, a town with a football club known as the Rooks. I played there in the 1970s encouraged by my school PE teacher, Ray Smith, to travel by Vespa from my home to practice and play. He thought I could cope with the standard of football in the Isthmian League at the ripe old age of 18. I continued to play for Lewes when I was at university travelling to either Lewes or a London region club at Weekends. We had a decent side, good enough to hold our own in the division and to win the Sussex county cup.

Today, the Rooks play in the Bostick Isthmian Division One, the club owned by the fans after a few years of mismanagement. Lewes is a community club which runs junior and women's teams.
The stadium is known as the Dripping Pan, a ground used for cricket from 1730 and football since 1885.

The "Pan" may have been dug out as a salt pan, Lewes being on a tidal River Ouse or the spoil was used to build a motte and bailey for William the Conqueror. There is a noticeable "mount" and the pitch is surrounded by banking which acts as a natural terrace. The ground has been developed to meet modern standards, limited by planning that protects the listed flint walls surrounding the stadium. Apologies for no pretty picture, I'm having a bit of a problem with my inserts.