Sunny Sunday

Family in London for the day, so used the opportunity to enjoy the sun and knock off a couple of local grounds/pitches - tend to only watch Sunday football once or twice a season.

1030am

Shotley Rose 1 Golden Hind 2

Ipswich Sunday Morning League, Premier Division

Rose Playing Field

A rarity , a pub football team that actually plays at a pub! Shotley is a small village outside Ipswich, along the River Orwell, the pitch is in a field behind the pub, alongside a Bowls Club, hedges on 3 sides give it an enclosed feel,. Concrete dugouts also in place.

Both teams had some good footballers, with the young Golden Hind captain very impressive but I also remembered why I avoid Sunday football with a couple of players on each side ruining the game by play acting, fouling, arguing and time wasting. Even with 3 or 4 players trying to ruin the game, we did see some decent football, the Hind going 2 up after scoring in the 15th and 40th minute but in the second half it was Shotley Rose who were on top, scoring after 67 minutes but even with plenty of added on time they could not convert all the pressure they had on the Golden Hind in the second half to an equaliser. 

2pm

AFC Kesgrave Veterans 1 Bury Town Veterans 2

Norfolk and Suffolk Veterans League, South Premier Division 

Kesgrave War Memorial Community Centre

Another reason that Sunday morning football is struggling is that Veterans football is on the rise, not just hitting Sunday football with a local Senior Saturday side quitting last season only for most of the players to remain with the club to play for the veterans side. Veterans footballs seems more organised ( even if both teams turned up in all blue strips today) and far less arguing and moaning, 

We even have a Veterans team in Ipswich that has a player signed on, who played in the World Cup Finals. Even today, the visiting side, Bury have an ex-England Youth, Ipswich and Exeter player on their books, he was not in the team today.

No football furniture (portable dug outs were still in the equipment cage. The site includes a community centre, a sports hall and the football pitch is between the community centre and the cricket pitch, with a cycle speedway track behind one goal.

Home team started on top but somehow manged to fluff a few easy chances, Bury then got on top and went ahead after 38 minutes. They added a second right at the start of the second half. Kesgrave then took control, got a goal back in the 74th minute and had another goal disallowed towards the end of the game, with Bury hanging on to get all three points.

The road to Wembley starts near a forest in Norfolk - with plenty of (first half) goals!

Sunday 30 August 2015, Thetford Town 3 Bury Town 5, FA Cup Preliminary Round - Mundford Road

With the poor current form of Thetford, a Bury win was not a surprise and we also expected plenty of goals and withing 20 minutes it looked like we were right as Bury rushed into a 4 nil lead but what we did not expect was the spirited comeback of Thetford.

By halftime Thetford had pulled it back to 3-5 so we grabbed a quick cuppa and tool our seats ready for further goals - and we got none! what we did get was scrappy hafl of poor control, niggle fouls and all under a dark cloud as the rain threatened to start. in fact you may have wondered if both teams had completely changed teams at half time. A very strange match!

Ground share and a nice white fence!

Wednesday 25 September 2013, Grays Athletic 4 Bury Town 3, Ryman League Premier Division, Mill Field, Averley FC

What is it about Thurrock, East London and this part of Essex? Clubs come, go, share grounds, share names, merge - but still some fans stay loyal. Over 100 Grays’ fans attended this home match- but not played in Grays but down the A13 in Averley - but closer to Grays than their previous home in Romford!!

The ground has seen better days, but a massive pitch, concrete path all the way round and a great wooden grandstand - with quaint white fence! Not all great as a poor clubhouse, expensive hot dog but visit if you can as Averley plan to move to a new home only a stone’s throw away. But as with many other clubs in this area- all dependent on selling their current home to developers- could be a long wait!

The game itself? Brilliant, seven goals, booking and a missed penalty!

Passion missing?

Tuesday 14 May 2013, Bury Town 2 Lowestoft Town 0, Suffolk Premier Cup Final - Portman Road

A few years ago a match like this would have been played in front of a packed crowd at a non-league ground on a sunny bank holiday Monday - ( does not happen anymore, and not just on about sun on a bank holiday)

The final then moved to Portman Rd, still full of passion and often over the top aggression as local players got a chance to play at Portman Rd and bragging rights as crowned top team in the county.

But this year, a low crowd and no passion but some good football - why?

Possible because a large number of players from both sides used to call Portman Rd home- at least 3 having played in front of 20,000 crowds for ITFC. But maybe it comes at the end of a season where both clubs have played each other twice, Lowestoft suffered play off defeat (again) and Bury had not played for a few weeks - but I still think the final should stay at Portman Road.

From the train

Tuesday 20th November 2012, Witham Town 2 Bury Town 4, Ryam League Cup, Round 3 - Spa Road Witham

The ground you can see on the train from or to London, always thought it would be easy to catch a game there - and it was.

Not only was it easy to get to, I managed to see a good game of football, it seemed no team wanted to go to the dreaded penalty’s - so the last 15 minutes were end to end football with Bury getting two goals in last few minutes.

The ground is basic but a roof on all 4 stands is a luxury at this level. Witham also have the noisiest fans- well three of them who you would have thought they were in a crowd of a few thousand rather than about 50!

A win, more rain and a large crowd

Bury Town 0 Ipswich Town XI 1, Pre Season friendly - July 28th 2010



For many the cathedral at Bury St Edmunds is the most famous sight but for football fans it is Ram Meadow and the Sugar Beet Silos - when you see these you know it is not far to Ipswich, and home!

24 Hours after a match at Leiston in the rain, I now find myself at Ram Meadow, home of Bury Town - in the rain again. Ipswich fielded what was probably 80% of what will be the starting line up when the Championship season starts. A good passing display but again we seemed unable to score. A good crowd of over 1,000 at a club who are on the up. The ground may still need some work on it but it can easily cater for 1,000 plus though more seats may be needed. Boxing Day will be the a big game for the club when they take on fellow Suffolk side Lowestoft Town to see who really is Suffolk's second club!



Jimmy the Rattle stand - best named stand in football?