About BotP
Base of the Pyramid came about after my wife and friends at work said that I should start writing about my visits to non-league grounds around the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire area.
As a disaffected supporter of a Premier league team, I have become increasingly annoyed by the state of high-level football in this country. Many things about the game wind me up. The price of admission, the overpaid players, the inequality of wealth distribution across the game, the way officials lean towards the bigger and more influential teams, diving, cheating of all kinds and the fact that I really don't think the EPL is as good as Sky would have us believe.
My home town club, or as near as dammit, Stourbridge FC, played in the Southern League Premier Division at the time. Luckily for me there were a couple of opponents locally, so I decided that I would try to watch The Glassboys whenever I got a chance.
After visiting Bedford Town to watch a 2-0 defeat and then having the pleasure of witnessing a 2-0 win at Banbury, I realised that I would have to wait a while before I got the chance to see another match. At this point I had also recently subscribed to Groundtastic (if you haven't read this magazine, you need to. wwwgroundtastic.co.uk) and found that I had a real interest in stadia of all types.
I mostly get the chance to watch football during the week because my weekends tend to be taken up with my family. Luckily the British weather constantly causes postponements which means many more evening games in midweek.
I plan to mainly talk about the experience of going to various non-league grounds, the characters, the dedication of the largely unpaid staff and the joy of watching real football. However, it is quite possible that the blog and website may evolve over time.
I am more than happy to publish contributions from anyone relating to their experiences at non-league stadia. I'll be especially interested to hear from supporters from the leagues that I find it more difficult to attend (so, anywhere outside Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Northants, Bucks, Warwickshire).
I look forward to hearing from everyone.
As a disaffected supporter of a Premier league team, I have become increasingly annoyed by the state of high-level football in this country. Many things about the game wind me up. The price of admission, the overpaid players, the inequality of wealth distribution across the game, the way officials lean towards the bigger and more influential teams, diving, cheating of all kinds and the fact that I really don't think the EPL is as good as Sky would have us believe.
My home town club, or as near as dammit, Stourbridge FC, played in the Southern League Premier Division at the time. Luckily for me there were a couple of opponents locally, so I decided that I would try to watch The Glassboys whenever I got a chance.
After visiting Bedford Town to watch a 2-0 defeat and then having the pleasure of witnessing a 2-0 win at Banbury, I realised that I would have to wait a while before I got the chance to see another match. At this point I had also recently subscribed to Groundtastic (if you haven't read this magazine, you need to. wwwgroundtastic.co.uk) and found that I had a real interest in stadia of all types.
I mostly get the chance to watch football during the week because my weekends tend to be taken up with my family. Luckily the British weather constantly causes postponements which means many more evening games in midweek.
I plan to mainly talk about the experience of going to various non-league grounds, the characters, the dedication of the largely unpaid staff and the joy of watching real football. However, it is quite possible that the blog and website may evolve over time.
I am more than happy to publish contributions from anyone relating to their experiences at non-league stadia. I'll be especially interested to hear from supporters from the leagues that I find it more difficult to attend (so, anywhere outside Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Northants, Bucks, Warwickshire).
I look forward to hearing from everyone.