On a cold day that is sunny you can see long shadows as the sun sets. Watching Molesey V Ramsgate today in a scrappy though enjoyable 1-1 draw a few photos that show that ghosts can and do watch Bostik league football. My favourite is the Ramsgate player with a ghostly hand on his shorts.
Live football is a great game and can be easily distinguished from the reality TV nonsense that so often represents the fare delivered from the Premiership. Skill levels may be greater in the Premiership but nothing beats seeing and smelling the action from close up. Things that would seem an anathema to stewards in league football happen weekly in the non-league arena. To put it simply, the rules are sensible. Fans can stand and drink beer on the terraces, fans can often bring well behaved dogs on a lead, fans can purchase good quality food at reasonable prices .
This is football played ny normal people and watched by those who genuinely love the game. To anyone with a camera there are many photo opportunities to observe all manner of real life at football.
Although I often go to non-league football games to watch and photograph the actions and the players, there are also some great images to be had from the fans and officials alike. Here are a few shots taken from the Ryman South game 2nd January 2017 Chipstead v Carshalton Athletic.
One of the features of non league football is that it is real football played by real people and relies heavily on officials taking charge of matches. Sometimes the officials can be a photogenic part of the afternoon. This random shot of a linesman yawning was shot by chance.
A cold afternoon that ended up little over freezing at the end saw an interesting and entertaining game which either side could have won. Carshalton missed a few good chances and also contrived to miss two penalties rather badly. Good value as always for £9.It is always easy being a football critic of course but the difference between the two sides and maybe the chance of Carshalton reaching the play offs, is taking your chances and taking them at the right time. Carshalton played the better football but the scoreline mandates that Chipstead played the more effective football and certainly looked better than a team that was 20 points below Carshalton.
A reasonably entertaining game but one which the hosts won too easily and the result was never in doubt.
Sometimes when you photograph a game you get lucky. The game is exciting, or there are spectacular goals. Sometimes though you just get a series of quite unintentional photos. Here are a few photos from a Preliminary Round game in the FA Cup 2016 Carshalton Athletic v Farnham Town.
The keeper is punching the ball at the precise moment the shot is taken
Trail left on a 3G pitch
Two things I like about this shot. The sign saying “no ball games allowed” and the photographer here imagining nothing interesting will happen.
Tommy Bradford, a Carshalton forward seems to have become a dwarf
The guy in the background leaning onto the pitch and gesticulating gives the impression of being not only Voldemort but also a pony tail for this Farnham Town player
In a month when the cost of football has been high on the agenda of fans with Liverpool fans voting to walk out of a game in protest against a potential £77 ticket cost for next season, and some championship clubs such as Sheffield Wednesday charging away fans £36, it is good to see a non league initiative to pay what you want. Building a fan base takes time but one has to start somewhere and Didcot Town are starting this saturday.
Empty Grounds. Walton and Hersham
Football is an exciting sport generally and live matches bear no comparison with sanitised TV games. Many fans would consider going to games weekly but there is little incentive or collaboration between teams to make this happen. A few non league teams in recent years have given discounted entry to season ticket holders of league clubs, Hampton and Richmond are one example.
Looking at some of the crowds in the lower echelons of the Ryman league for example. On March 8th at a midweek game Haringey Borough attracted a crowd of 22 which was lower than their crowd of 35 last saturday, and last saturday in Ryman North 6 of the 8 games with reported crowds had under 100 spectators. In Ryman South a few crowds were also fairly dire with Chipstead attracting 48 spectators and a similar number at Molesey.
There is clearly room to increase the fan base at many of these clubs. Didcot v Bashley deserves a decent crowd.
An excellent opening goal for Woking from Bruno Andrade
The game was fairly end to end and both goalkeepers were kept busy.
Maybe the linesman also wanted a piece of the action? And a little maybe of Halifax rugby league also?
And finally other action shots
Despite the fact that Vanarama National League is a mere step below the football league is miles away in terms of its customer friendly approach. Where else might one see a lady with a dog on the terraces?
Where else do stewards take the word of a paying customer as to what exactly is in a bag they are carrying in? Where else do Northern football fans, well Halifax ones from Yorkshire wear shorts to football matches in the winter?
This and a multitude of other curious spectacles were observed at the Woking v Halifax game this weekend.
Even the ground at Woking is an eclectic mix of five very different stands/terracing. Behind one goal is a huge stand, all-seater, that dominates the ground and from the road gives the impression of a large league ground.
Then along side one side of the pitch are two small ancient looking stands that I am sure were there 50 years ago, looking quaint but maybe not fit for purpose really being honest. 
Normal covered terracing behind the other goal is matched with low level terracing along the other side of the pitch. It is almost as though no one can decide which decade the ground lives in nor which level of football it is fit for. A nice surprise was that there was no segregation with Woking and Halifax fans mixing freely. Banter was heard though it was difficult to make out easily much of what the Halifax fans were saying. This for me is good though. I prefer the lack of segregation which encourages a normal approach to football instead of treating each game like some kind of warfare.
The only matter of concern is that £18 seems a lot to pay for entry to any level of non-league football, especially when the entrance to Ryman level games is often around £10 or less. The worst crime though was £4 for a burger.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 