Base of the Pyramid
  • Home
    • About
  • Blog
  • Hops, Stats & More
    • Ground Hops
    • Match Details
    • All Time Hop Stats
  • Programme Notes
    • Programme Notes - Index

At The Hop

27/7/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
​A sporting event at 7pm on a Friday evening in July. Not just any Friday evening. The Friday after what has been the hottest week on record for many places across the UK and Europe. Making the long, arduous journey North-East from a starting point near Slough to my destination just to the North of Stamford, Lincolnshire. Cricket you may think? No. Bowls perhaps? No. The reason for my 3 hour journey was, in fact, the first league game of the 2019-20 football season. Yep, football in July and I'm not talking qualifying rounds of the one of the European Greed Leagues. I'm talking proper football. Having said that, with one of the teams being called Peterborough Polonia, an outsider could well have been forgiven for thinking it was a Europa League tie.
What I was really here for was Stamford Lions v Peterborough Polonia, the opening game of the Peterborough and District Premier League season and the first game on the United Counties League & Peterborough District Football Groundhop 2019. 

PictureGoing Dutch
​The Ground
Lions play their games at the Borderville Sports Centre on the Northern reaches of Stamford. The pitch is directly behind Stamford AFC's Vic Couzens Stadium which, it has to be said, looked in perfect condition for the start of their season in a couple of weeks time.
Lion's ground doesn't have the stands and plush dugouts that The Daniels can offer. However, they do have grass banks behind both goals which make for great viewing spots, adding a great grassroots feel to the place. They also have a couple of gazebos set up for dugouts. I've never seen this before but I think it could catch on at this level. There are constantly reports of vandalism to small grounds and the dugouts quite often bear the brunt. With a gazebo, you can just take it down and lock it away after the game. Great idea.

Picture
Grassroots vista
​The Background
Last season saw Lions finish in a creditable fourth spot. Polonia, in their first season of Premier League football, were stranded at the foot of the table. The sides met three times in total, twice in the league with Stamford winning 6-0 at home and 2-1 away. In the Peterborough Senior Cup meeting, also played at Polonia's Candy Street home, Stamford again came out on top, this time by 5-0.

Looking at the player lists from last season's meetings compared with the team sheet from today, it was clear that Polonia had made some major squad changes over the short break since the season ended and, if I'm not mistaken, have had something of a Lithuanian take over (at least based on the squad list). Of course, the North-Eastern corner of Poland shares a border with Lithuania and, in days gone by, that border has been somewhat fluid I believe. My father-in-law was born in that part of Poland, which is why the possible connection piqued my interest. I'd love to know more about the history of the team and the possible Lithuanian connection. Maybe I'll have to take in a home game at some point?
PictureVic Couzens Stadium
The Match
Thankfully for the players, the stifling heat of the previous few days had dropped a little by the time we got to kick-off. It was Lions, kicking up the slight incline, who started he stronger giving Kavaliauskas, resplendent in what looked like a Dutch national shirt, plenty to think about in the Polonia goal.
Several efforts had fizzed either at the Polonia keeper or narrowly wide of his goal before, on 19 minutes Stamford broke the deadlock.
Some superb work from Showler on the right flank, twisting his defender inside out before sliding the ball into the path of Duffy-Weekes for the simplest of tap-ins. 1-0.
That should have been the signal for the floodgates to open but Stamford just couldn't turn their dominance into any more goals.
Credit to Polonia. They were being pinned back for the majority of the game but never resorted to just hammering the ball downfield. At every opportunity they tried to get the ball down and play out from the back. You had to admire the way they stuck to their principles of play.

HT Stamford Lions 1 Peterborough Polonia 0. Lions have had the share that their name indicates. However, they've not made the most of their dominance in terms of goals and, at 1-0, Polonia are still in this game even though they have rarely threatened their opponents goal.

PictureDistant gazebos
The second half started with a brief resurgence from Polonia, who probably spent more time in the Stamford half in the first ten minutes of the second-half than they had in the entire first-half. However, the game soon settled back into the pattern of the first 45 minutes, with Stamford well on top but constantly failing to take advantage due to either a sloppy final ball or good defending from Polonia.
As we approached the hour mark, Stamford had a couple of gilt-edged opportunities that went begging and you started to wonder if they woudl live to regret their profligacy. Sure enough, as if on cue, a rare Polonia raid led to the away side being awarded a penalty after Pentney fouled Puzara. Lukas Bielskis calmly sent Swales the wrong way and it was suddenly 1-1.

The goal gave Polonia belief and for a few minutes after the equaliser it looked as if they might go on to snatch an unlikely there points. However, Stamford regained their composure and started to press for a winner. Their cause was helped on 85 minutes when Vladicka was sent off for a second yellow card offence. However, Lions could not take advantage of the extra man and Polonia saw out the final few minutes to take a share of the spoils.

FT Stamford Lions 1 Peterborough Polonia 1. The away side would, undoubtedly, be the happier. Stamford should really have seen this game off in the first half alone. Still, it's goals that count and they just couldn't add to their tally.
It was great to be back out watching competitive football. Thanks to Stamford Lions for being great hosts - good burgers and decent tea. Good luck to both sides for the rest of the season. Let's hope that the crowds continue to flock to the rest of the ground hop (see below for a list of games). 

Stamford Lions: Swales, Pentney, Aust, Kelly, Gove, Walton, Dunn, Speck, Edwards (c), Duffy-Weekes, Showler. Subs: Ball, Searson, Hunnings, Collins, Hedley
Peterborough Polonia: Kavaliauskas, Macianskis (c), Pratasas, Venckaitis, Krasuckis, Bielskis, Buzas, Zickevicius, Vladicka, Puzara, Aurikas. Subs: Kolojauskas, Zaburas, Akopian, Stalioraitis, Buivydas

Att: 204
Ground Number: 203
Entrance: £5.00 
Programme: £1.00

Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Hashtag Caversham Cup

22/7/2019

0 Comments

 
PictureThe Caversham Cup
​Fifty years ago, in a field in New York State, a load of like-minded people got together to celebrate 3 days of peace and music. On July 20th, 2019, a load of like-minded people got together on four football pitches in Berkshire to celebrate their love of football. Now I'm not saying that the Caversham Cup was a big as Woodstock but, believe me, it was certainly an event that has made a mark on the world of grassroots football (and the weather was better).

The Caversham Cup was the idea of Caversham United, The Billy Goats, a Sunday league team from just outside Reading in Berkshire. Over the past year Caversham have gone from almost folding to promotion from Division 4 to Division 2, a cup semi-final appearance  and, through their social media presence, over 4000 Twitter followers including the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and AS Roma. They have also struck up a deal with the rather brilliant footballkitbox.com (more about them shortly), designing a fantastic new kit (a signed replica of which I am proud to say I have in my possession).
Add to that an alliance with men's charity Balls To Cancer, the main beneficiary of the Caversham Cup idea, and you can see that it has been a busy but fantastically successful year for the club.

Arriving at Burghfield Community Sports Association site I was initially met by a group of Triumph Motorcycle Club enthusiasts who pointed me in the direction of the football tournament - after trying to persuade me to shell out £4 to join their gathering. Having declined their kind offer I ventured across the car park and towards the distant sound of football being played. The first sight I was met with was a ambulance leaving the ground. Not the sort of thing you want to see. It transpired that the Hashtag United goalkeeper had suffered a fractured Tibia. Wishing you speedy recovery @HashtagJacko.

PicturePaul Behan with my Caversham Cup Kitbox
The first person I met was Paul Behan owner of footballkitbox.com who, on spotting my Base of the Pyramid t-shirt, introduced himself. 
Paul had come over from Galway, where his company is based, to support the Caversham Cup. Paul Gutteridge, Caversham United's Chairman, player, tournament organiser and the brains behind their social media campaign, then came over to give me my signed Caversham United shirt. The kit was designed in conjunction with footballkitbox - who are also the Caversham shirt sponsors - following an online shirt design competition.It's a great example of the kind of bespoke shirts that footballkitbox can provide for teams.  The company's mantra is every team should take to the pitch looking and feeling good. Well worth a look in my opinion. Click on this hyperlink for more details.


On the pitches sixteen teams, from far and wide, were taking part. The tournament format was a group stage followed by two separate knockout phases, the top two in each group going into the Quarter-Finals of the main trophy, the Caversham Cup. The remainder would fall into the Quarter-Final draw for the Goat Milk Cup, ensuring that all teams retained an interest in the day for as long as possible.

Group A - Caversham United (Reading), Harchester Hawks (Reading), Hashtag United (Tilbury), Britannia FC (Telford)
Group B - Calcot FC (Reading), Iver Heath (Iver), White Horse (Sittingbourne), Park Rangers (Telford)
Group C - Hurst Reserves (Hurst), Loxwood Park Rangers (Reading), El Valiente (East London), Rectory Rovers (Southend)
Group D - Watlington Town Reserves (Watlington), Reading United (Reading), Bilbrook Juniors Spartans (Wolverhampton), Stacey Bushes (Milton Keynes)

Picture
Caversham United v Hashtag Uited
​After a number of hours of entertaining football, played in very dry and sunny conditions despite the weather forecast of thunderstorms, it all boiled down to two Finals. Hashtag United defeating Park Rangers to win the Caversham Cup and hosts Caversham United beating Rectory Rovers to lift the inaugural Goat Milk Cup.

Judging by the comments on Twitter during and after the tournament the day was a massive success with many teams hinting at wanting another crack at the winning it next year. Personally, I hope that it does become a fixture in the footballing calendar. It must have been hard work for the organisers, especially Paul who I know put in a lot of hours. The day seemed to run very smoothly but I can imagine there was still quite a lot going on behind the scenes. I also know that there was a late withdrawal from one of the original teams with a replacement hastily organised, a referee pulled out, and Caversham's captain Sadiq Aneal picked up a nasty injury in a friendly the week before the tournament. He still managed to make an appearance in his wheelchair.

It's not possible to do justice to the Caversham Cup in a short blog post. I suggest checking out the @CavershamUnited Twitter feed or searching #CavershamCup to see the pictures and comments from the day. One thing is for certain. If there is to be a Caversham Cup repeat next year I plan to be there form the opening whistle until the final trophy is lifted. It's too good to miss a minute.

Att: 
Ground Number: 202
Entrance: £0.00 
Programme: £2.00
Picture
Caversham Cup in full swing across 4 pitches
0 Comments

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    FA Cup
    Football
    Hellenic League
    Northern League
    Southern League

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly