Hive of activity

Saturday 20 July, Barnet 0 Ipswich Town 1, Pre-season friendly, The Hive

Not jus a normal friendly as this was the first official match at 'The Hive' the new home for Barnet FC. teething problems saw a delay in kick off and queues for pre ordered tickets but even with the chaos you could see the staff were trying to make it work. Will the locals support the Bees? Seems there were more Ipswich fans at the ground than Barnet supporters so it may take a while. But they had no choice but to move from Underhill, the local council had never been supportive.

The big question? Why does Edgar Davids have the squad number of 1?

Football back - and Titus!

Tuesday 16 July 2013, Gillingham 1 Ipswich Town 2, Priestfield Stadium, pre-season friendly

A good win for the Town and a good run out - and plus a surprise, local boy/bear - Titus Bramble back in a Town shirt!

First Class to no class at all!

Sunday 30 June, Essex County Cricket Club v England, Chelmsford - Day one of Four

A good idea and one that I liked the sound of, England to play a warm up match before they take on the Aussies for the 'Ashes'. With so much one day cricket being played it was good opportunity for the England team to get some much needed practice in at the longer version of the game.

Essex also seemed keen, first three days sold out and great opportunity for much needed revenue. Then it went all wrong....

I said Essex were keen, well maybe not the playing side - even though the England coach (and batting coach) are ex Essex and the England captain is an Essex player, the county team did not seem so keen, they rested their captain and other key players. At first this did not make a difference and it was two Essex bowlers who can hardly get a game who took most of the plaudits- a spinner getting the wickets and Mills the speedster taking wickets and hitting English players! Then he got injured and by day 3, it was no longer a first class game, with Essex fielding a 15 year old schoolboy and the England 12th man bowling for Essex.

In conclusion a good idea but need both sides to field a full team

Not even July and the new football season has started

Saturday 29 June 2013, Coggeshall Town 0 Ipswich Town X1 6, The Crops

So the season starts and June has not even ended - a good run out for a young Town team and plus a good PR trip for Ipswich

New home of British Cycling?

Pearl Izumi Tour Series, Ipswich Town centre - 14 June 2013

An Olympic Gold medallist (Ed Clancy) and former World Grand Prix Champion (Nigel Mansell) and huge crowds - Ipswich has had the Tour of Britain, The Euro Cyclo Cross championship's and now the Tour Series- what next? The UK Championships?

Football stadiums of Verona

Whilst in Italy for the end of the Giro d’italia, I managed to get a morning to visit some of the football stadiums of Verona.


My two targets were Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi (home of Hellas Verona and Chievo then a bus across town to the home of Seria D team Vitus Verona – the Gavagnin Sports complex.

I started in the morning at Stadio Bentegodi, but could not get in but did manage to get some pictures of the outside of this impressive arena that was used for the 1990 World Cup.

I spotted some other floodlights and found myself at the 3,000 place Olivieri Stadium, home of the Verona ladies team, but a locked gate and a Travellers’ site made getting any closer impossible.



I did manage to get onto the pitch at tow further locations, a pitch that was right next to the main stadium – guess used by the Hellas reserve team and around the corner was a further sports complex used by the junior Hellas teams and shred with the HQ of a local Alpine Mountaineering club.



The disappointments of not getting into the main stadium was soon forgotten when I got to Vitus Verona, an open gate and I was able to even get on the pitch plus gain access to next door baseball ground and rugby pitch.





It was here that I noticed a match poster for a youth tournament that was to have the final played that evening back at the Stadio Bentegodi.



So a few hours later I found myself one a few hundred fans in a large stadium watching the final of a schoolboy tournament - great end to a good day but what I would say is the stadium was far more shoddier looking from the inside than the outside.

No Wiggo but Cav takes the Red Jersey and stage win - Giro d'italia 2013

A few days in Verona enabled me to witness the last stage of the 2013 Giro d'italia in Brescia. I have been fortunate enough to see stages of the Tour of Britain but this was a far different experience. Arriving in Brescia in the morning, being able to walk the route of the last seven laps of the city route and witness the big stands, crowds, free gifts and the Italian love for cycling.



A number of Brits were in town, many in Sky shirts - guessing many had booked early hoping to see a Sir Brad Wiggins win. But Bradley had departed Italy weeks earlier his race ruined by injury and the weather. But there was still plenty for the British to cheer. As Mark Cavendish not only won the stage but also regained the Red Jersey.



So we had come to witness the 'Paul Weller' of cycling, Sir Bradley Wiggins win the pink jersey but ended up cheering the 'Manx Missile' as he won red.



Next year we have the Giro starting in Belfast, the Tour in Yorkshire and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow - 2014 looks like it will be yet another great year for British cycling.