Back home, against a new club (with some old habits)

Saturday 21 July 2018, Holland 5 Clapton CFC 0 - PSF, Eastcliffe

A memorable day, Holland back at Eastcliffe after 3 years at Clacton and the opponents a new fan owned club - Clapton Community FC. After a number of years being in dispute with the owners, the fans decided to start their own club.

May be a new club but same old habits - kick off was 30 minutes late, my third Clapton away game and none have started on time. They did bring over 50 fans down from East London, plenty of singing a couple of flags and a drum!

Holland have a good new set up and the pitch was in great condition when you think how little rain we have had. They were also much better on the pitch, young fit and should be pushing for promotion this season.


Clapton struggled but it was their first ever game, they will improve and should also be looking for promotion from their division.

Dobra the star of 10 man win

Thursday 19 July 2018, AFC Sudbury 0 Ipswich Town Under 18s 2 - PSF, King's Marsh

Played the whole second half with 10 men, but result was never in doubt.

Manager a bit happier?

Tuesday 17 July 2018, Crawley Town 0 Ipswich Town 1 - PSF, East Court (East Grinstead Town)

OuR new manager wants to change our style of play, to focus on a pressing game - rumour has it, it did not go to plan at Braintree on Saturday.

So I made the drive down to Sussex to see if his public criticism of the players had worked, plus it gave me a chance to get my first new ground of 18/19 season.

Good news is we won, the new winger looked good and it was a nice new ground to visit - other than that, the jury is still out.

Cycling - Suffolk knows how to entertain

Wednesday 13 June 2018, Women's Tour, Stage 1 - Framlingham to Southwold via Ipswich

If you want a stage race run well, in particular the first or last stage- Suffolk is your place- no wonder British Cycling keep returning.

Another great event - and all free!

CONIFA - Manx men not happy

Sunday 4 June 2018, Barawa 2 Ellan Vannin 0 - CONIFA Group A match - Haringey Borough, Coles Park

My second day of CONIFA football, and another match to remember - all the three games I had seen were on G4 pitches but the first two were at modern and very new stadiums, the pitch at Coles Park was new but the rest of the ground still has a great tatty inner city feel to it.

Barawa were actually the tournament hosts, a small port region from Somalia  and those living in London had setup their own FA, not sure how many of the players actually had Somalia roots but they were certainly good footballers , but Ellan Vannin (Isle of Man) were obvious a very professional set up, and they dominated the first half but could not get the much needed first goal. As the acme progressed, Barawa improved and in the end took a much deserved win.

Then the fall out! Only two teams qualified from the groups and the Manx men ended up in third, we left the ground thinking that was it but the Manx FA decided to appeal, questioning how many Barawa players had links with that part of Scalia but it just seemed sour grapes and the appeal was thrown out, and the Isle of Man then decoded to sulk and head back across the Irish Sea.

 

 

CONIFA World Cup - shows the real power of football

Saturday 2 June 2018, United Koreans of Japan 0 Kabylia 0 - CONIFA Cup Group D match, Bracknell Town - Larges Lane

Panjab 0 Western Armenia 1 - Group D match, Slough Town - Arbour Park

I decided a while ago to try and see some of the CONIFA Games plus grab three new grounds, and I am glad I did - football was not great at times but it was just the obvious love for the game from the players and the love of their small countries from the supporters.

Bracknell, and the game was there for the Koreans to win but they never had the killer instinct, however it was the Kabylia supporters who stole the show, a small part of Northern Algeria but the supports were part of the Algerian diaspora from London, supplemented by a bus of Kabylia supporters who had driven over from Germany.

My appetite was now wet and I looked forward to the second game in Slough, here I expected some passionate supporters with many of those who were support Panjab coming from the large Northern Indian population that lives in West London. I was not disappointed as the Indians had turned up in numbers and included an Indian drummer.

What had been quite noticeable about the first game was the god spirit the game had been played in, at times the teams and officials were so respectful to each other it had an almost 'friendly' game feel to it, that certainly was not how the second match was played!

Armenia were on top from the start and did take the lead but in the second half they were willing to sit back - and tackle (or foul) when needed , and both teams were keen to argue with the officials over any issue.

But that did not matter, the tournament was up and running and the supporters were loving it.

GAME 1

GAME 2

Summer sport and shock! It was sunny

Sunday 20 May 2018, Suffolk CC (192 - 7 - 49.4 overs) beat Buckinghamshire CC  (191 all out - 46.2 overs) - Unicorn KO Trophy, 1st Round, Ipswich School

A summer sport and for once in England the sun shone! It looked like it would be over early when Bucks lost 3 quick wickets but they survived to post a decent score but one that Suffolk should reach easy.

But for what ever reason, Suffolk never got going, they di eventually win it but only with a couple of balls to spare, but a nice day, scenic venue and exciting end to the game.