Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the tag “ryman league”

30 Dec 2012

Reflections on Non-League football and social Media opportunities. Missed by Tooting FC . From a Non-League photographers perspective. Facebook and Twitter for non-league clubs.


In a life of a football fan and especially a non-league photographer a day of hideous weather such as yesterday, is not wanted. Most games were called off and the challenge was to find a game that was actually on. For me this would have represented a challenge to the management of a club that wanted to boost their attendance by getting the word out there that the game is on, or even off. Some clubs did this very well. Respect due to Sutton who even replied to my humble tweet to them about if the game was on. A club that did badly on all counts was Tooting and Mitcham FC. I could find no social media nor internet site to answer my question. The websites attributed to Tooting seem to have been last updated months if not years ago. No Twitter account. No Facebook page. I might add that all these media are freely available and indeed free. Many other clubs did well to update their fans. Lets throw some praise around. Walton and Hersham have both twitter and facebook and their fans knew the night before that the game was off. Horsham regularly tweet game updates during the game.

I belong to a closed group on Facebook related to non-league photography and from the multiple postings there it was clear that our little coterie could have been driven to any game probably on, hence boosting attendances by a few, but multiply this up and clubs could have done themesleves a real favour.

Having guessed correctly that the game might be on I arrived 2.20pm at Tooting to find no information available. Was the game on or off? Turnstiles all locked. No signs. No clues. No programmes. A few stewards appeared, mostly young lads, doing a grand job I must say, of about 13-14 years, who appreciated the issue and went away to solve the problem. Turnstiles duly opened at 2.40pm. A thin paper based programme was on sale from a cheery gentleman for 2£. In all honesty the poorest non-league programme I have seen for some years. I do not exaggerate but I could have printed this off from my computer in far better format. Little to no food was available in the snack bar. A wait for 10 minutes led to a burger. Priced at the not so cheap price of 3.50£. Entrance to the ground was 10£.

The pitch was not in bad condition at all considering the rain .

I will stop my social media rant here, but what opportunities are being missed by clubs who want to boost their crowds. Each week we read that non-league football needs larger crowds but clubs must promote themselves a little better to get new fans. Tooting missed this opportunity big time yesterday.

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Small Crowd at Tooting

Small Crowd at Tooting

 

IMG_7965

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15 Dec 2012

Carshalton 0 Canvey Island 2. Ryman Premier


On a damp day 208 souls turned up to watch an entertaining game which until Canvey scored their second goal could have gone any way. Carshalton are currently bottom of the league and the second goal deflated them as did the sending off of one their players for a rash and bad tackle. the first half saw Canvey score in the 3rd minute and by half time Carshalton should have at least equalised , missing 3 relatively easy chances. But a good game with good banter from the crowd. For the remainder of the season? Carshalton will struggle. their defence was not solid and they did not take chances in front of goal, but their effort levels were high and a run of decent results could get them out of trouble. The run needs to start soon. Canvey looked a strong and solid side who will be in the top half of the table. Carshalton also do an excellent burger and Chips. Thanks to Parcelforce however there were no programmes today.

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01 Dec 2012

Walton Casuals 0 Leatherhead 2


Not many games to watch today. The fixture list was not kind to me, so it came down to a few to choose from and having not been to Walton Casuals this season, this one was the selected game. Friendly little club, easy parking, only 8£ to get in, nice burger, cup of tea. Altogether a decent experience. Crowd was low, guess less than 100 and half seemed to be from Leatherhead. The game was no-contest really and Leatherhead won despite being down to 10 men for two thirds of the game. They played the better football, were more skilful, had the luck but also had the better keeper. Wlaton might think they were unlucky to have a goal dissallowed for offside but in all honestry this was a one way game. This is going to be a long season for Walton Casuals.

Before today they sat bottom of Ryman South with a negative goal difference  of 15 and it showed. I hope they get out of trouble but frankly at this stage cannot see how.

A few photos from the game including one of the Leatherhead players who decided to pull down his shorts during the game!

 

Pants down but why?

Pants down but why?

Free Kick

Free Kick

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20 Oct 2012

South Park FC. A football club in the combined counties football league


I had never heard of South Park until 2 weeks ago. they play in the Combined counties League which sits below the Ryman league and I think is hailed as Step 5. Put more simply they need 5 promotions to be in the football league. they have  a small ground on the outskitrs of Reigate. Small floodlights. Small clubhouse. Fenced off pitch surrounded by concrete standing and a small stand that holds maybe 100. A nice compact ground. Friendly too.

A few photos to show you what their existence is like. Some more will be found on my website http://www.footballgroundz.co.uk

 

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20 Oct 2012

South Park 0 Met Police 3 FA cup 4thQualifying round


South Park sit high up in the combined counties league just below Ryman. Today was their chance to make it to the first round proper of the FA Cup. The reality was that they were totally outplayed by a decent Met Police team who had some very competent players, especially in defence where Jay Lovett stood out despite looking double the age of some of the younger players.

SouthPark have a small ground that is essentially a fenced off playing area, with concrete to stand on and a small 100 seater stand behind one goal. a neat ground with plenty of off road parking nearby. Nice clubhouse with nice burgers and rather oddly an ice cream van in attendance in the autumn with chilly temeperatures.

South Park almost took the lead early on with a shot that hit the post but from then on it was really Met Police’s game. They looked two divisions above in many regards but especially their defending. Despite saying all that both keepers had equal amounts of work to do but the second goal just after half time killed off the game in reality.

 

james wastell

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13 Oct 2012

Carshalton AFC 1 Hastings 0


A first win in the league for Carshalton since Easter monday and well deserved. Things have been a bit chaotic at Carshalton this last few weeks with many senior players departing, the manager changing and only an interim manager in place. So the fact that a young side was even competitive was impressive. There were actually three good goals in this game but according to the linesman, two of them were offside. Good atmosphere and good burger. The other bonus is that this was non-league day and Carshalton did everyone proud by allowing in free of charge anyone with a League club season-ticket or local residents. A moment of amusement when the girl on the turnstile had no idea that such a club as Brentford existed! I had to spell that one out. The person before me was a West Ham season-ticket holder.

Anyway the game was fast-paced and played in good spirit. Nick Hamann the Carshalton keeper was man of the match in my view making some impressive saves, suggesting that he could perform easily at Conference level if not in the league. But carshalton deserved the luck and in fact should have been 3-0 up by half time. This is a club well worth visiting. The fans are friendly and the football always interesting.

 

Carshalton football Club

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10 Sep 2012

Windsor Football club


In the midst of madness there still exists some sanity. Windsor are a small club that arose from the ashes of Windosr and Eton who became bancrupt, defunct, whatever you wish to call it, a few years ago. They had a humble existence in the leagues maybe three levels below the football league. Crowds were maybe 200.  They reformed and now play in the combined counties league, and were/are strongly tipped for promotion, at least until last saturday. The chairman , a man called Keith Stott decided immediately to withdraw the entire playing budget. This makes great sense. non-league football would be so much more attractive without elegant sponsors crawling in, donating crazy sume of money to small sides, then whe their business goes wrong or they lose interest, the club folds. Plenty of example of this.

I have only been to their ground once a few years ago and saw a cup tie there. I recall a nice small ground and decent burgers, the ground sits next to windsor Great Park. Lets hope this trend continues. Many/most non-league clubs have crowds less than 200. This effectively means gate money around £1500 every fortnight. This does and should fund a club. If there is none left for “wages” then thats the right decision. Truro football club will be the next to fold, and guess what happened there.

 

This below is copied from their website. Spread the news

 

Windsor F.C. Refocuses on Stag Meadow Regeneration & Self-Sustainability

Windsor F.C. today launched a new initiative to reinvigorate its primary objective of creating a self-sustaining Football Club and Community Stadium at Stag Meadow. The campaign which will be run under the following theme…

Inspiring the next 50 years of footballers!… was inspired by Founding Director Kevin Stott’s personal experience of the London 2012 Olympic Games. He said, ‘I was lucky enough to attend 2 Gold Medal winning events by Team GB. What struck me most of all was not just the performances, but the importance of creating a legacy from the games by, as the organisers put it, ‘Inspiring the next generation of athletes.’ As I drove home I realised that as a club we had lost our way a bit and where in danger of becoming a little too focused on the first team at the expense of our primary objective of creating a self- sustaining football club. This will not only allow us to inspire the next generation but the next 50 years of footballers in Windsor and the surrounding area.’

There are now 36 teams playing under the Windsor F.C. badge from the age of 6 upwards and the Stag Meadow regeneration plan could see all of them playing at Stag Meadow with the intelligent installation and utilisation of the latest artificial playing surfaces.

Stott continued; ‘As you may recall when we started the new club last season, we set a competitive first team budget on the back of a business plan that showed self-sustaining income streams being generated by October last year through the installation and hiring out of artificial 3G Pitches. Despite everyone’s best efforts we still have some way to go before we can realistically expect these pitches and income streams to be in place…

… I committed to fund the new club’s start-up costs and playing budget for the first season only because we were determined not to re-create a club reliant on a ‘benefactor’ for its future. Whilst we have made good progress in terms of the plans for the regeneration of Stag Meadow, it’s proved much more time consuming that we at first thought and the club is still someway away from being able to comfortably support a progressive self-sustaining playing budget.

We have taken the view that our management and financial resources would be best spent at this time on the regeneration of the Stag Meadow in order to create the self-sustaining income streams. Once this is achieved and our legacy is in place we can then revisit the plan to create a flagship first team that will also help inspire the footballers of the future.

In light of the above and after much discussion and no little heartache we have taken the decision to withdraw the footballing budget for the remainder of the season. I had a meeting with the players after Saturday’s game to explain the situation and it’s now up to them if they decide to stay or go. If they stay, they stay we our blessing – if they go they go with our blessing. In any event they have committed to fulfil next Saturday’s F.A. Cup tie against Didcot Town.

I’ve also spoken with Keith (Scott) who has decided that next Saturday will be his last game in charge. I would like to go on record to thank Keith and Jim (Melvin) for their contribution to date. It was no mean feat to achieve the runners up spot in the Combined Counties League Premier Division during our first season as a club.’

The Club has already started the process of recruiting a new Manager who will take charge of his first game at Stag Meadow on Monday 10th September against Egham Town kick off 7.45 pm.

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09 Apr 2012

Carshalton 3 Tooting 0


On the face of it a straightforward game. A routine 3-0 win against a demoralised and dejected and frankly awful looking Tooting side, with a routine hat-trick from Paul vines. The crowd of around 280 was a little higher than in recent weeks that maybe reflects a good run of being unbeaten in now 5 games. But there is a backdrop to all this and as usaul can only give a personal opinion. On arrivial at around 2pm at the ground a leaflet was thrust more than given to me extolling the need for all Carshalton fans to boycott the final home game of the season in two weeks. This as a protest against their manager / owner Paul dipre. A litany of reasons are given on the A3 piece of paper that range from bad results, failure to talk to the fans enough and many more between. When reading Twitter and other social media one reads not about the good run of late but this litany of complaints against Dipre. what I have seen in the 5 games that I have attended this season is a good team that I have chosen to come and watch over other non-league teams, because they play good football and give 100% effort. This is what I saw today, a superb hat-trick from Paul Vines, who also incidentally you will see in one of the photos defending his goal from corners and free-kicks. On the terraces I heard not a single shout against the manager all game? So is this all helpful? In my opinion sadly not. The fans should get behind their team and not effectively penalise them which is what their actions achieve. Furthermore to do this via some silent leaflet and to hear nothing in the ground suggests a little dissonance in their actions. No one can deny that today Carshalton were good. Maybe the fans ought to give Dipre more time and more encouragement. Relationships have broken down and one suspects that for all parties to meet halfway might be the optimum solution.

The game itself. It was clear from the start that Tooting were dejected and well on their way back to Ryman South. It was the worst team I have seen at this level for a while and rarely did they look like scoring. The photos tell the story really.

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31 Mar 2012

Carshalton 2 Hastings 0


sometimes one goes to a football game and it sort of restores ones faith in real football. A chiily day with rain being threatened. A Ryman League premier game that was kind of lower mid-table. Carshalton being one place above Hastings and both potentially in danger of filling the last relegation place unless form improved. Crowd of 203 folks were there. judging by the numbers on the terraces at 2.59 around 202 were in the clubhouse bar. The game was an interesting one. Carshalton throughout were the better side and were well organised. I was particularly interested to see how they played as their owner manager Paul dipre has come under serious critscism in the media. Essentially folks saying that he should walk away from managing and keep to owning the club. The problem is that this is thrid time I have seen Carshalton this season and this is the third win I have witnessed. they looked good and well organised and worked hard. In their main striker Paul Vines they have a good finisher at this level and their keeper nick Hamaan was playing his 100th game for them today, and he is good.

The firt half saw no goals however two goals in the second half both poachers chances from vines won the game. Hastings may feel that they were unlucky as Hamaan made 2 good saves and they saw a goal disallowed for offside. But this was a fair result. The photos below tell only some of the story.

  1. The Hastings keeper was yellow carded for a foul on vines outside the box, and should have been sent off. The photo clearly showed that he did not get the ball and did get the man
  2. Why is a Hastings forward on his face in the penalty area as they take a free kick?
  3. Enough shirt and shorts pulling miseed by the referee that would have warranted a number of cards
  4. Was the referee Paul Scholes in disguise?

Anyway enjoy. For me Paul Dipre seems a decent manager based on what I have seen but I suspect that others disagree.

 

 

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25 Feb 2012

Met Police 4 Horsham 1


Brentford were too far away at Scunthorpe today after 2000 miles driving in the last 2 weeks, so a local game was needed. Met Police V Horsham.  decent enough game. A mere 9£ to get in and 1.50 for programme. Burger and choc bar only 3£. Bargain made even better by winning the golden goal competition and coming home with 20£. Very friendly to watch football here. Recommend to neutrals. Car parking onsite too. The game was mostly one-sided but Horsham did take the lead but could not defend and it is was clear why they had a negative goal difference of 45 before today. They will be relegated. for some of the photos here a sort of ” what happened next” might be needed. Enjoy.

Back Header

Met Police score first goal

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