The Girls in Green - A Trip to Dublin

 

Ireland Women 3 Georgia Women 0 – Tallaght Stadium – 29/11/2024

A half term trip to Dublin with the family just happened to coincide with the second leg of the Euro 2025 play offs, which saw Ireland take on Georgia at the home of Shamrock Rovers FC in the south of the capital city. With the winners facing one more play off game after this before they’d be guaranteed a spot at the big show next year. As it turned out Ireland had won the first leg 6-0 in Georgia the previous Thursday, but I was still happy to be seeing an international game at a new venue for me.    

As soon as the tickets went on sale I logged on to Ticketmaster Ireland and picked two up for my son and I. For some reason the Irish site was much easier to use than it’s UK counterpart and it was all done very smoothly. I then messaged Bartley the Finn Harps and Ireland fan who I had been in Twitter contact with for a few years now. I knew would be going to see where he was sitting and he managed to get the ticket next to us.

Tallaght Stadium is right at the end of the red Luas Tram Line that serves the Dublin area, it took just over half an hour from O’Connell Street in the city centre to take us there and the return ticket for the two of us was just over 5 Euro. It was standing room only on the tram with a mix of commuters and people decked out in Ireland gear going to the game, but it asl ran very smoothly.  

Once we got off the Luas you could see the stadium just the other side of a retail park, with four massive floodlights beaming down on the fairly new home of Shamrock Rovers FC and it only took a few minutes to find our way over to the entrance.

At the start of the century I was a regular visitor to Ireland with my Dad and we took in a lot of League of Ireland games on our travels, back then Rovers were homeless and I saw them play ‘home’ games at Tolka Park and The Morton Athletics Stadium. After a nomadic existence around Dublin they eventually returned to the south of the city and to a new home ground owned by the local authority in 2009. It initially had three sides with the fourth added more recently taking capacity up to 10,716. The stadium is really nice with four separate seated stands, a superb playing surface and training pitches outside, there is also still room to expand if required.

Shamrock themselves were facing one final league game on the Friday still with a chance of winning the league if Shelbourne (managed by Damien Duff) slipped up away at Derry City. They will also still be competing in the Europa League despite the domestic season coming to an end, as it runs from March to November in the Republic of Ireland.  

After picking up some food from the chipper inside the stadium we made our way up to the back of the stand behind the goal and the view was really good. Although we had to move down a row later on as I didn’t realise there is a row Z and a row ZZ behind it! Mikey was suitably impressed with the ground and the food for that matter and just as the teams were warming up Bartley joined us. We spent the entire game chatting about football in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere.   

Despite the result the previous week Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson went in with a strong line up, including local girl Katie McCabe, the Arsenal star getting an extra cheer every time she touched the ball.

From the kick off the game had the look of a training ground exercise of defence V attack, with Georgia pinned back in their own half and Ireland trying to find an opening. Within three minutes Julie-Ann Russell scored the opener, Kyra Carusa added a second on the half hour, but not before McCabe had missed a penalty, firing over to an audible gasp from the 8,745 in attendance. We may have jinxed this because I took the picture below as the kick was struck!

McCabe did get on the score sheet early in the second half with a well struck shot that beat the keeper at the near post to make it 3-0 on the night. There was a small pocket of Georgia fans in the main stand and fair play to them for sticking with their team and getting behind them despite the scoreline. Like them the team never gave up putting their bodies on the line at times to prevent any more goals going in.   

As the game ended we said goodbye to Bartley, planning to meet up again next time either of us are in Dublin or London and headed back to the city centre on the Luas. It had been a really enjoyable night and the game was watched by a record attendance for a women’s game in Ireland.  

Let’s hope the Girls in Green can get the job done against Wales later this month and qualify for Euro 2025.

Col.

                

JUNIOR CROOKS – R.I.P - A BROMLEY LEGEND

This article was originally publish in Two Footed Tackle Fanzine Issue 21 - February 2002  

JUNIOR CROOKS – R.I.P - A BROMLEY LEGEND

On 13^th December 2001 former Bromley legend Junior Crooks died of a heart attack at the age of 50.  Most of you will have been too young to have seen him play, but believe me he was truly a gifted footballer and lit up Hayes Lane whenever he played there.

He was playing for Bromley the first time I went to a game in October 1977 and was a feature of John Biddle’s successful side that eventually gained promotion to the Isthmian Premier Division. It was Junior himself who scored the winning goal in the Kent Senior Cup Final that season and he also hit a spectacular goal against Finchley that secured our promotion in April 1981. Swindon Town were rumoured to have put a bid in for him after his display against them in the first round of the FA Cup, which he turned down!

He started his career at Charlton before moving into Non-League with Cray, this at a time when it was far from easy being a black guy in the world of football, let alone everyday life!

He came to Bromley with manager John Biddle and soon earned the status of crowd favourite.

I can remember him warming up as a sub one Tuesday and as he ran along the touch line the large group behind the goal chanted ‘Junior! Junior!’ and huge cheer went up when he eventually came on to torment the oppositions defence. After leaving Bromley he went to Hampton, Tilbury and eventually finished his playing days in the Kent League with Thamesmead at the age of 40 in 1991.  

I’m not afraid to say he was a hero to me and this was further assured when he gave me and my Dad a lift home from a game one Tuesday night  when he‘d seen us walking back up the Lane and spotted my Bromley scarf. I was too awe struck to speak! A footballing genius and a gentleman.            

I’ve definitely recalled this before but I’ll write it again, when I was in the playground at school all the kids wanted to be Kevin Keegan or Dalglish, I wanted to be Junior Crooks.

 Col.

Junior in the 1981 Bromley Squad - front row second from the right. 

The Cray Wands team from 1970 featuring a young Junior Crooks 

Do You Remember The First Time?

 

Northwich Victoria V Bangor City  - FA Trophy Final – 1984 

 

Saturday 12^th May 1984 was the first time I saw a football game at Wembley Stadium, 40 years ago this year!

 

I’m not sure what made a thirteen year old Bromley fan decide that this was the game to go to, but it’s a decision I’m still happy I made four decades later. Bromley had reached the Third Qualifying Round of the trophy that season, beating Lewes & Boreham Wood in a replay, before losing 3-1 at home to Aylesbury Utd, who were then knocked out by Northwich Victoria in the second round proper on their way to the final. It seemed impossible at that time that The Ravens would ever reach the final, 1949 was a distant memory even then and they’d never really gone through more than a couple of rounds in my time supporting them. With Bromley having been relegated to the Isthmian League Division One at the end of the 1983/94 campaign maybe I just needed a day out to cheer me up!

 

I’d looked up the fixture and found out how much it cost, but understandably my Mum wasn’t keen on me going across the capital from South East London to North West London on my own, but a call to my mate Jon and a hard sell at what a prestigious game Northwich V Bangor was, meant that we were going to head up together, although I have a feeling he didn’t tell his parents where we were going!

 

On the way up from Chislehurst into Charing Cross we decided to go in the Northwich end, one because we liked the green & white colours and two because we thought South London accents may not be that welcome in the Bangor end. By the time we were approaching Wembley Park on the Jubilee line we were both really looking forward to the prospect of seeing the game and then when we saw the twin towers from the tube and we couldn’t stop smiling.

 

The first walk on to Wembley Way is a special thing, the murals on the walls of the different sports hosted at the stadium and arena next door, the stalls selling slightly un-official merch, burger vans, drunk blokes staggering about singing and a the view of the stadium at the end of it. We paid £4 at the turnstile to go on the side of the stadium and sit on the benches among the Northwich fans and the programme was only 40p. I don’t remember if we bought anything inside the stadium to eat or drink, I do remember the catering looked pretty grim with boil in the bag burgers and dubious looking drinks. Fans were still able to take alcoholic drinks into the ground at this stage.

 

We did get there really early and saw the players strolling out on the pitch in their suits, warming up and finally walking out from the tunnel at the end to be greeted by what was only just over 14,000, but felt like a lot more. Bangor fans away to the left at the tunnel end in their blue & white and Northwich at the other and long the right side of the 39 steps. On the benches in front of us were a group of guys that looked like extras from Auf Wiedersehen Pet, they were playing cards while waiting for the game to start, knocking back the over priced lager and telling very rude jokes. They were great entertainment for two 13 year olds, who kept quiet in the row behind.   

 

Bangor City were looking to be the first Welsh club side to win at Wembley since Cardiff City won the FA Cup in 1927 and apparently had been tipped by Jimmy Greaves to win the Trophy on his Saint & Greavsie TV Show, despite having been relegated from the Allianec Premier League (now National League). Northwich, who fiished midtable in the APL, had reached the final the year before losing to Telford Utd and were hoping to make up for that disappointment this time round.    

 

The first half was typical cagey stuff and things didn’t really come to life until just before the hour mark when Paul Whelan put Bangor in front, racing off to the fans at the tunnel end and celebrating with them as they climbed the fence. Were The Vics going to suffer FA Trophy heartbreak two years in a row?  It looked that way until the 71^st minute when a move down the left saw the ball crossed into the box and Colin Chesters met it with a diving header that crashed into the back of the net to send the Northwich fans wild  and level the score. It stayed that way until full time, extra time came and went with no more goals, and the final went to a replay the following Tuesday at Stoke City’s Victoria Ground.   

 

We stayed right until the end of proceedings, clapping the players as they did a joint lap of honour, before heading back to the station. Outside one of the merch sellers was selling stuff at cut prices, I bought a green & white hat for a quid much to Jon’s amusement. On the train back south of the river the ticket inspector asked me ‘what team is that that?’ pointing at the hat. Slightly surprised by the answer, ‘Northwich Victoria mate’.         

 

Northwich Victoria won the replay 2-1, I didn’t find out until the Wednesday when the result appeared in The Daly Mirror, but I did send off for the local Northwich paper to get a full report the following week. I think I kept it along with the hat, right up until I moved out of my Mum & Dad’s house.             

Both sides have had a pretty turbulent time since this special day. Northwich Victoria have split into two teams and lost their own ground,  Bangor City sadly folded in 2022.  

A week later I watched Everton beat Watford 2-0 in the FA Cup Final on TV, I think my mate Paul got fed up with me keeping on saying I was there last week, that’s where I was sitting…

 

Col. 

 

There is a six minute Welsh Language documentary about the final and replay on You Tube, the link is below:

 

       https://youtu.be/mE8PGnm3toQ?si=OKKiFtadkJJA_xKr              

Lewisham Borough 3 Larkfield & New Hythe 2

 

Lewisham Borough 3 Larkfield & New Hythe 2

SCEFL Division One Cup Final – 07/05/2024

ATT; 201 - at Corinthian FC.

Two days after the madness of Wembley Stadium and Bromley being promoted to the Football League it was time to get back to the soul of football.

Lewisham Borough taking on Larkfield & New Hythe in the SCEFL Division One Cup final at Gay Dawn Farm home of Corinthian FC. My good friend Nigel had been watching his local team at Ladywell Arena this season along with his mate Petros who was in his first season of following a club and they were both in attendance for this one.

The two sides had met in the promotion play offs a week earlier, with Larkfield winning a penalty shootout 13-12 and going on to secure promotion the next weekend. Lewisham finished fifth in the final play off place with Larkfield coming second, eleven points better off, but still eight pints behind winners Whyteleafe.

With this the final game of the season for both sides, it was a great chance to sign the campaign off in style.

I arrived at the ground around 7:15pm and the car park was almost full then, there were a number of people heading towards the turnstiles in Lewisham colours, the blue and yellow of The London Borough of Lewisham. It was £8 to get in and £2 for a programme, which wasn’t bad value at all. 

I’d seen Lewisham play before, but quite a while ago. A home game with Eynsford back in their Kent County League days and an away match at Holmesdale more recently, but I’d never seen Larkfield & New Hythe.   

Wearing my Bromley hoodie a couple of people came up to say hello and ask about the game on Sunday and what happens now. Nige & Petros turned up a few minutes later having been in the bar to settle the nerves.  

By kick off there was an impressive number supporting Borough including the Mayor of Lewisham herself. They made up more than half of the 201 attendance and made their presence heard. The burger van inside the ground was doing a fantastic trade, I just opted for a can of Irn Bru, but Nige & Petros said the burgers were very good and looking at them I kinda wished I hadn't had any dinner before I left.

The game got off to a frantic start, on what was a fantastic pitch and both sides seem to enjoy playing on it. After sixteen minutes Lewisham got the breakthrough when   Edward Asiamah showed great determination to win the ball in the box and coolly slot it home for 1-0. On twenty three minutes, Larkfield drew level when Matt Day was in the right place at the right time to convert a cross from ten yards out. Two minutes later Bryan Zepo put Borough back in front with an audacious lob from outside the box that caught the keeper off his line and dropped in just under the bar to send the Lewisham fans wild. Lewisham extended their lead on 30minutes when Georgi Steeds converted a penalty to make it 3-1 and they could have scored more as the half went on.  

The Borough fans near we were saying how much the players were enjoying passing the ball round on a good pitch rather than the surface at Ladywell Arena which is surrounded by an athletics track with javelins and discus landing on it all week. Corinthian FC is a really nice place to watch football, along with the lovely pitch there is a unique pavilion in one corner housing the changing rooms, a covered seating area behind the goal and a small raised stand along the side with bus shelter style covered standing dotted around. The far side of the pitch is an open grass bank which is fenced off to spectators and at the top there is some nice looking houses. The whole Gay Dawn Farm sports complex seems very popular for various sports.  

3-1 at the break and as I walked round I saw Mike from KSN and had a quick chat. I also bumped into an old TFT subscriber in Mark who had stopped going to Bromley a while back and was now following Lewisham. It was also good to chat to Petros about his impressions of following a team for the first time and we laughed at when his partner had come to a game and she’d asked him why everybody was so angry!   

The second half was a tale of half chances and lots of stoppages as cramp and heavy challenges took their toll. The Borough fans kept up their vocal support and also tried to wind up one or two of the opposition players. With ten minutes to go the tension rose as Larkfield pulled it back to 3-2 when Jordan Carey connected to a cross inside the box. The yellow and black side had brought on their first choice keeper up front to add an extra aerial option up top. Would Borough hold on? Solid defending and a few well times substitutions saw them keep their nerve and end the season with a hard earned trophy.

At the end of the final, the Lewisham players came over to their fans to thank them for their support and share handshakes and hugs before lifting the trophy to a great cheer as I headed back to my car and tackled the country roads leading back to the suburbs.

I like the spirit and sense of community about Lewisham Borough and I hope they kick on again next season, challenging at the top of SCEFL Division One. While Larkfield & New Hythe begin life in the SCEFL Premier Division.    

Col.      

Oxford Road Revisited

 Bexley 3 Peckham Town 2 - 24/04/2024

For the past few years I’ve always tried to fit in seeing at least one game at Oxford Road, usually towards the end of the season and often an early midweek kick off as teams fit in the games that were postponed earlier in the season. Despite it being 26years since Cray Wanderers last played a first team home game there, the ground located between Foots Cray & Sidcup still holds a lot of happy memories for me. Midweek games at the start and the end of the season with my Dad when Cray played in the Kent League, happy recollections of catching the 51 bus from St Mary Cray and seeing The Wands battering a team down the slope in the fading light of the second half.

 

This years visit was towards the end of April as current tenants Bexley FC took on Peckham Town in the Kent County League Premier Division, the first level where floodlights are not compulsory for a ground to meet the grading requirements. The ground has changed a little since it was HQ to London’s Oldest Football Club, the grass bank behind the top goal has been levelled, the fence around the pitch is now a rope and two sides are virtually in accessible to spectators. The old boardroom has gone and been replaced by storage units, but the changing rooms remain and there was a tea bar, but unfortunately this evening it was shut. The stand is still intact, with some red & black plastic seats and covered terracing to one side. There is still a cut through to the Conservative Club next door who own the pitch if you wish to purchase a beer, but I could never feel right about going in there. Since Cray Wands’ Reserves Team moved out a few years after the first team, a number of clubs have played home games at Oxford Road; Seven Acres & Sidcup, Stansfeld OB, Tudor Sports and Red Velvet to name a few, with Bexley the current club calling it home.

 

The game itself saw Bexley, already relegated, take on mid-table Peckham Town, kicking off at 6:30pm with a shortened half time in order to have enough light to play in. Peckham Town brought a number of fans with them, along with quite a few local football enthusiasts including Mike of KSN, Charlie & Jack of NLC, who I chatted to, boosting the attendance to around 70. I grabbed the last space in the car park at around 6:15. There was no charge for admission or programme on this ocassion.

 

The teams took the pitch with Bexley in yellow & black stripes and Peckham in their famous red & white hoops with blue shorts. Peckham ‘The Menace’ as they are know had a fantastic inspiring documentary made about them on You Tube a little while back and it’s well worth a watch.

 

For the first half an hour the game was not a classic, the pitch was very dry and bumpy and the ball hard to get under control, aside from some hefty tackles nothing really happened. Then from a Bexley corner, a mass scramble in the six yard box saw the home side bundle the ball over the line to take the lead and that’s the way it stayed until half time.

 

The second half saw Bexley double their lead early on, when a clear handball in the area gifted them a penalty and this was dispatched for 2-0. It looked like game over, but then Peckham rallied and by the 63^rd minute it was 2-2! Two well taken finishes at the far end of the ground levelled things up and it was all to play for in the final quarter. Tempers frayed a little as the game went on, but the Referee kept a good hand on things and in the end Bexley took all three points with a superbly taken goal from the edge of the area with around ten minutes left. Bexley’s No16 running over to the Peckham fans and shouting ‘Have that you ****s’ while pumping both his fists, which just made everyone laugh. The Menace pushed everyone up for a couple of injury time corners, but in the end they just couldn’t get another equaliser.

 

As everyone filed out at the end there was a distinct end of season feel to it all, although Peckham still have three more home games to play taking them up to 11^th May. I said goodbye to Mike, Charlie & Jack and I gave Oxford Road one last look as I headed back to the car and then drove up to Sidcup High Street and back to Bromley. It still has a special place in my heart. I hope to be back again next season.

 

Col.