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Post by jmgull on Dec 18, 2013 21:49:58 GMT
Did you know that he actually played for Torquay after injury curtailed his first class career? Or am I mixing up my DHs and my DVs? A very chirpy wicketkeeper Brian.....as if  I was the skipper (and chirpy keeper) for Torquay that day, our captain at the time Ian Coulton had missed most of the season with busted fingers if I remember. I remember Torquay getting "Sid" Lawrence in for the 2nd half of the season as relegation loomed large. His 1st game was against Exeter and I met him off the train opposite the ground, with hands like shovels, you really didn't want to shake his hand, jeez what a handshake....I can see still the bemused looks on my team mates when I introduced him to everyone before the game and he made a point of crushing virtually all their hands...with a big smile. He was a real larger than life character....built like an absolute brick shithouse but a very nice guy at heart. When he took the new ball, I can remember feeling totally overawed by him, he looked mean and hungry...I mean the guy was quite a recent Test player....but how do you set a field to him? Do I leave it to him? So I just went with....."err...anything in particular....Sid?" "Yeah 2 short legs....don't care about the rest, that kid looks scared" 1st ball....he cleaned him out with a yorker! In many ways it was sad to see him in the state he was, he had not long broken his kneecap in that freak accident for England, the operation had only obviously a partial success, he ran in with a pronounced limp. He was great one week and terrible the next....at times he could still bowl mighty quick, his presence alone meant that we stayed up quite comfortably. Good memories of playing against Brian(Keyberry).... |
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Dec 18, 2013 23:54:53 GMT
Good memories of playing against Brian(Keyberry).... Had any decent breakfasts lately, Justin? |
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keyberrygull
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Post by keyberrygull on Dec 18, 2013 23:56:12 GMT
A very chirpy wicketkeeper Brian.....as if I was the skipper (and chirpy keeper) for Torquay that day, our captain at the time Ian Coulton had missed most of the season with busted fingers if I remember. I remember Torquay getting "Sid" Lawrence in for the 2nd half of the season as relegation loomed large. His 1st game was against Exeter and I met him off the train opposite the ground, with hands like shovels, you really didn't want to shake his hand, jeez what a handshake....I can see still the bemused looks on my team mates when I introduced him to everyone before the game and he made a point of crushing virtually all their hands...with a big smile. He was a real larger than life character....built like an absolute brick shithouse but a very nice guy at heart. When he took the new ball, I can remember feeling totally overawed by him, he looked mean and hungry...I mean the guy was quite a recent Test player....but how do you set a field to him? Do I leave it to him? So I just went with....."err...anything in particular....Sid?" "Yeah 2 short legs....don't care about the rest, that kid looks scared" 1st ball....he cleaned him out with a yorker! In many ways it was sad to see him in the state he was, he had not long broken his kneecap in that freak accident for England, the operation had only obviously a partial success, he ran in with a pronounced limp. He was great one week and terrible the next....at times he could still bowl mighty quick, his presence alone meant that we stayed up quite comfortably. Good memories of playing against Brian(Keyberry).... Thanks for taking the bait Justin and its good to see you posting again on the TFF... |
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Post by jmgull on Dec 18, 2013 23:58:09 GMT
Good memories of playing against Brian(Keyberry).... Had any decent breakfasts lately, Justin? No mate...sadly been on a diet and hitting the gym. it was time:) |
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Post by jmgull on Dec 19, 2013 0:03:43 GMT
Brian.....as if I was the skipper (and chirpy keeper) for Torquay that day, our captain at the time Ian Coulton had missed most of the season with busted fingers if I remember. I remember Torquay getting "Sid" Lawrence in for the 2nd half of the season as relegation loomed large. His 1st game was against Exeter and I met him off the train opposite the ground, with hands like shovels, you really didn't want to shake his hand, jeez what a handshake....I can see still the bemused looks on my team mates when I introduced him to everyone before the game and he made a point of crushing virtually all their hands...with a big smile. He was a real larger than life character....built like an absolute brick shithouse but a very nice guy at heart. When he took the new ball, I can remember feeling totally overawed by him, he looked mean and hungry...I mean the guy was quite a recent Test player....but how do you set a field to him? Do I leave it to him? So I just went with....."err...anything in particular....Sid?" "Yeah 2 short legs....don't care about the rest, that kid looks scared" 1st ball....he cleaned him out with a yorker! In many ways it was sad to see him in the state he was, he had not long broken his kneecap in that freak accident for England, the operation had only obviously a partial success, he ran in with a pronounced limp. He was great one week and terrible the next....at times he could still bowl mighty quick, his presence alone meant that we stayed up quite comfortably. Good memories of playing against Brian(Keyberry).... Thanks for taking the bait Justin and its good to see you posting again on the TFF... Ha! It was a trap eh! You could always rely on me sticking it down long on's throat;) Guess I just got out the habit after Dave pulled the plug....I still lurk now and then. I shall endeavour to post now and then. P.S Where's your dead team? |
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Dec 19, 2013 0:07:23 GMT
You can tell he's an English cricketer, can't you? Just set the field and wait. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2014 17:10:22 GMT
An eclectic mix of matches and grounds for me over Christmas and New Year. I was due to be at Dagenham but a pre-Christmas expensive rail fare and dodgy weather forecast conspired to put me off. Instead I saw a game at the magnificent flea pit which is Redditch United. If you like strange football grounds that's one for your collection.
I'm not sure how fine a spectacle the Boxing Day match against Bristol Rovers proved but I bet it was more entertaining than that day's truly dire clash between Sheffield United and Oldham Athletic. Tranmere's visit to the Lane on the following Sunday was headed the same way until United impressively upped the ante in the second half.
In between I was at Sutton Coldfield Town (3G pitch and all) where the main item of architectural interest is the lovely stand that was purchased second-hand from Manchester City in 1956. Worth a look - as is the marvellous Sutton Park - even though the football is modest fare. 5-1 to the hosts against Brigg Town who have three player-managers. On the basis of what I saw, it may not be working.
To King's Lynn Town on New Year's Day which I guess was a more pleasurable place to be than behind the goal at Home Park. This time I was sat in a hulk of a stand that was constructed in 1956. That was when Lynn had Football League aspirations making seven successive applications between 1956 and 1962. Nobody loved them and they barely got a vote for their efforts. Hardly a surprise with the thrusting Peterborough United across the Fens.
Then on Saturday it was the FA Cup: Barnsley v Coventry. £15 entry; 7400 in attendance with 2600 from Coventry. Some of these cup games really are quite bizarre.
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bbcgull
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Post by bbcgull on Jan 9, 2014 23:37:12 GMT
SO great to see the regular updates on here.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2014 20:19:02 GMT
A fair amount of football at Bramall Lane and Hillsborough for me recently so not much in the way of fresh grounds. Save, that is, Rugby Town which I visited for a robust, energetic derby against Kettering Town. With a crowd of nearly 800 - including 300 from Kettering - you'd be mistaken for thinking it was a Conference fixture. Decent facilities too. But the reality was that it was three grades lower in the Central section of the Southern League.   I was at Hillsborough for a lunchtime under-21 game against Huddersfield. A number of overage players are allowed and Huddersfield entered into the spirit of things by fielding a 42-year-old goalkeeper. Always interesting at such games to spot whom was there scouting or merely keeping up appearances. Indeed, one or two "faces" in the comfy padded seats which we would all most definitely recognise.  Chesterfield v Rochdale during the week and a pre-match visit to the North Sea Fish Bar which has been previously championed on another Torquay United website. "Whale and chips" is one description I've heard. And with good cause:  Disappointment, it could be said, etched into the faces of these Chesterfield supporters after their team had conceded two agonisingly late goals to Rochdale:  Oxford v Torquay United on Saturday. A walk in the sun along the Thames path to Sandford Lock. Then the weather declined as the wind and rain set in culminating in a veritable Halftime Tempest. In truth a desperately poor game and not one to be remembered.  Plenty of interest for this neutral at Sheffield United v Fulham today. Good grief, I think George Best played in the only previous fixture I've seen between these two clubs. All adult tickets were £15 today and I was right behind the directors' box. Around me there was considerable interest in the presence of The Beast from something or other called The Chase. I'd no idea of his fame but he turns out to be a good old Deb'n boy.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2014 21:03:10 GMT
An interesting and varied selection Barton. Always nice to see what you've been up to. You may have had ' The Beast' with you up in Sheffield today, but we have 'The Sinnerman' down with us in Exeter this coming Thursday. LINK- Paul Sinha - The Chase |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2014 21:34:07 GMT
An interesting and varied selection Barton. Always nice to see what you've been up to. You may have had ' The Beast' with you up in Sheffield today, but we have 'The Sinnerman' down with us in Exeter this coming Thursday. LINK- Paul Sinha - The ChaseHappy to oblige, AJ. I note the continuation elsewhere of your clever interpretation of recent events at Plainmoor. To that effect you may be interested to learn that a former Sheffield Wednesday (and Tow Law) player - no doubt held in considerable esteem by yourself - is likely to have been subject to a personalised dissemination of one of those intensely conflicting ideologies. And in the comfy seats to boot. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2014 10:46:43 GMT
My odyssey around the smaller grounds of the north and midlands is nearly over. Take out several Saturdays ahead watching Torquay United and there's not too much left to explore between now and May. I've enjoyed it - still enjoying it - but it seems to be reaching its' natural conclusion. Not so many ground visits to report this time. There's been plenty of midweek - and Sunday - Sheffield football to watch with more to come. Intriguing and rewarding enough, a succession of excellent games against good opponents, but no likelihood of me wishing to support either or both clubs. I remain an observer. Chesterfield, of course, was my shortest away trip of the season. A spick and span new ground but not the most photogenic. Mind you, this splendid hat caught my eye:  On the culinary front there are those who rave about the North Sea fish bar on Sheffield Road. Rightly so in my opinion, but I'll also put in a shout for the steak and potato pie at the market cafe in the centre of Chesterfield:  A week prior to Chesterfield, I went to Bamber Bridge which is close to the M6 south of Preston. When I left Preston in 1988 the club were in the Preston & District League. Eight years later they won the league which would have ordinarily gained them entry to the Conference. Irongate grew with the club; I have no recall of it from my time in the area. There's a tidy main stand, handy for sheltering from a southerly howler, and a large social club. One end is covered, albeit ramshackle in places. The crowd was around 200 and I watched with a mate from Preston (who has brief childhood connections with Brixham but not the accent to match) who has become an "occasional" at some of our games in the north west. He also claims to have been part of Bamber Bridge's record crowd when they played the Czech Republic in 1996. A handy Czech team too as it happens.     This weekend it was Bedworth United, a club that knocked around the Southern League for over forty years. Then, at the end of last season, Bedworth were relegated and are now playing "northern" football for the first time. This means playing predominantly North Midland clubs with the furthest trip to Bridlington to face Scarborough. That's probably not such a big deal for Bedworth given the town's proximity to the M6 and M69. Saturday's opponents were Leek Town who had an ageing, slow and hefty striker who looked as if he should now be playing at a far lower level. He huffed, puffed, mistimed most things and got both goals in Leek's 2-0 win. Bedworth, for the uninitiated, is a former mining community between Coventry and Nuneaton. It has a magnificent row of almshouses and a superb Victorian water tower but that's about it for the culturally-aware Lonely Planet traveller. The football ground is surrounded by the Miners' Welfare Park and is known as The Oval. By the looks of things there was once a running track around the pitch. Bedworth play in green and white which gives the proprietor of Deb's Shed, the club's tea bar, plenty of opportunity to bring home Devon flags from her frequent trips to the south west. She bought the one hanging outside the tea bar in Westward Ho! and apparently there's a full-sized version emblazoned with "BUFC". Midlanders, I told her, are probably Devon's most loyal tourists.       Lastly, a mystery ground out in the country near a small town. Any idea?  |
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Post by Jon on Feb 23, 2014 19:15:18 GMT
The pie itself looks very nice. The fact that the chef had a few too many creme de menthes the night before and threw up over it would put me off. Mind you, I am a soft southerner. Northerners are made of sterner stuff. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2014 23:59:08 GMT
A gripping game at Hillsborough tonight between what were actually two rather ordinary teams. And before the game, up in row 42 of the North Stand, there'd been plenty of talk of how Wednesday were set to silence the Bramall Lane crowd the weekend after next. They had it all planned which, as we all know, is rarely wise.
I can't do the local accent in either spoken or written form so I'll suffice with this pithy contribution to the Guardian website. It wouldn't have been at all unbearable but this observation has a certain cheek and charm of its own:
"As a Barnsley fan who has to live in deedarland, the deluded sisters getting themselves all het-up about their fixture would've been unbearable.
T'biggest game in t'ole world, dun't da know? Wednesdeh and Yernightid at t'Lane. Fotty million locked art and three billion watchin' on t'telleh."
Oh dear, another time maybe. Rather like all too rare Devon derbies in the FA Cup.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 12:20:37 GMT
I'm not sure that this site regards itself more or less sensible than other sites. It allows eccentrics to state their views without deleting threads or posts Thanks for this, Stefano, I'll see it as an invitation to continue to post random nonsense on this obscure thread. Where to start? Ah yes, Shaw Lane Aquaforce where I was taken several Tuesdays ago. I say "taken" as I doubt I would ever have made the effort under my own steam. The Shaw Lane in question is the area around Barnsley cricket ground; Aquaforce is a plumbing business based nearby. Shaw Lane Aquaforce are "up and coming" and have been splashing the cash. And, to illustrate their ambition, they recently sacked their manager in order to plug a leak after just a couple of defeats. Mr Aquaforce, if there is a man of that name, was clearly becoming impatient. By non league step 6 standards it's a tidy set-up if a little unexciting. Maybe the sort of place I wouldn't bother with too much unless it was at the end of my road. But, if it was, I'd be happy to spend the occasional evening there. The new manager, as it happens, arrived from two leagues above. A sign, perhaps, of a club that will either float upwards or disappear down the plug hole at the whim of its benefactors.  Last Saturday I was at Oldham Athletic for my first visit since our win in April 2005. A fine encounter too against Preston North End. Oldham gave it a fair go but PNE showed their quality. Good value for my money or, to be more truthful, the season ticket kindly lent me for the front row of the main stand. And is it really thirty-nine years since I first visited Boundary Park in the company of the bloke sat in the next seat? Good grief, it must be: v Bristol City 1975/76. The main feature of interest is that Boundary Park is presently three-sided following the demolition of the Ford Sporting League stand built back in the early 1970s. Bloody hell, I remember it when it was new.    And so to Bramall Lane on Sunday for the FA Cup tie against Charlton Athletic. As usual the Sheffield United programme featured a picture quiz whereby a player (in this case the rapidly-emerging Jamie Murphy) answers a "Who, What, Where?" quiz. Here's the "where?" poser:  A cracking occasion it must be said and the Sunday cup games against Fulham, Forest and Charlton have been a real bonus for me. A memorable sequence, even for a neutral, but also a strange reminder that such occasions aren't quite the same as watching your own team. As much as I show an interest in Sheffield football I remain an observer. Good for United, of course, but the fact remains I wasn't too bothered about the outcome: I really wouldn't have been too adverse to seeing Charlton reach their first FA Cup semi-final since the 1940s. I guess that air of indifference is partly due to me first and foremost being a Torquay United supporter. Also because I can't quite get my head around living in a city with two clubs. An acquaintance of mine - not a Sheffielder I hasten to add - wears blue at Hillsborough; red at Bramall Lane. That's rather sweet and, yes, is probably best done that way rather than in reverse. But it doesn't strike me as anywhere near right. Naturally I could decide choose one of the two clubs to lend my support (albeit on a secondary basis to Torquay). Yet I can't see definite grounds for picking one or the other or, as a consequence, learning or (even bothering) to hate the other. So I'll carry on watching both - mainly on midweek evenings - and concentrate upon getting myself a return ticket to Bristol Temple Meads for the second weekend of April rather than Wembley Central (who, indeed, needs a sem when we're off to the Mem?) Mind you I suspect that, if I was living in certain one-club towns - such as Barnsley or Huddersfield - I could become a trifle more enthusiastic about my (temporarily) "local" team. Lastly, a view of Marsden FC at the head of the Colne Valley not so far from Huddersfield. Not on match day but on a lovely Monday afternoon in March. A marvellous setting but, apparently, an extremely minor and not particularly accomplished football team:   |
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