The FA Cup. Part 3.

Tuesday, 20th August 2013

 Extra Preliminary Round Replay

St Margaretsbury v Hoddesdon Town

The Recreation Ground

Stansted Abbotts

SG12 8EH

K.O. 7.45pm

Half time 2-1

Final score 4-1

1-0 Michael Cooper  13 mins

2-0 Ricky Light  43 mins

2-1 Jamie Brandon  45+3 mins

3-1 Brett O’Connor  53 mins

4-1 Tom Davis  80 mins

Attendance 116

Miles travelled approximately 10.

Well it came as quite a surprise when I realised that the replay was the following Tuesday (20^th August ) and not a week on Tuesday (27^th August) like normal. This threw up a big problem. I was on holiday with my 12 year old daughter, who hates football. On a positive at least we were on holiday down here and not in Cumbria.

My daughter has been to Wembley for England v Bulgaria, Team GB v Brazil (Female - Olympics 2012) and Japan v USA (Female Final Olympics 2012) also she’s been to The Millennium Stadium for Switzerland v Mexico and Team GB v Uruguay (Male - Olympics 2012) as well as Walsall v Aston Villa for the 125^th Anniversary game in July.

I can truly say she’s given it her best shot. I can’t complain. I also can’t take her to see St Margaretsbury v Hoddesdon Town in a FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay on a Tuesday night. Or can I?

“Can I go to the football please?” I asked my daughter. “Why?” She replied. I then explained what I was trying to do. “If it’s your dream then of course you should do it”, she replied. “I’ll stay at home and watch The Big Bang Theory”, she added.

We decided to do the game and make a whole day of it. We went to the cinema to watch “Planes” then we went off shopping, then Greggs before going to Ware Lido for some fun in the sun. It was stupidly hot and we suddenly started to feel dodgy. Proper dodgy. We decided it was best to go home early. As it turns out, it was the right call to make. We got home and crashed.

I woke up at 6.15pm. We staggered our way over to St Margaretsbury and I have to say we were feeling quite sorry for ourselves. The car park was rammed. We finally found somewhere to dump the car and made our way in.

What a fantastic looking place. The access point to the ground was via the Cricket pitch. It was a warm summers evening. The sun was setting. The Moon was rising. The birds were singing. The bugs were biting.

We made our way in. Richard was taking the money. “Have this one on me”, he said. WOW! What a gesture, I felt like this, http://youtu.be/i9SSOWORzw4 I introduced him to Anna. Programmes were bought and arrangements for picking up tickets were made.

We bumped into Gary Stock (St Margaretsbury Chairman) who asked if we’d got in OK. Hoddesdon Town staff came over and spoke to us. Everyone seemed very happy to see Anna and Myself and made us feel very welcome indeed.

As for the game it was good end to end stuff, but Mark Teasdale (Hoddesdon Town) got himself sent off on 23 minutes and basically it meant it was game over.

Just before half time this young lad walks up to me waves a pint glass full of money at me and says “Half time raffle”, “What do I win?” I asked. “Half the money”, replied a female voice from behind me. “WOW! That’s fantastic”, I said, “You said that without moving your lips… do you do any other tricks?” I guess you had to be there but it was funny.

But it wasn’t the funniest thing that happened that night, that award went to Hoddesdon’s keeper (Jayden Purdue) who on 80 minutes, for reasons known only to him decided to kick a St Margaretsbury player off the ball. The press wrote that he caught him on the follow through. I didn’t see it that way. Here’s how I saw it.

It's the second half. It's 3-1. Hoddesdon are down to ten men. It's nearing 80 minutes or more. The ball is pumped forward towards the Hoddesdon keeper, it’s a nothing ball, it’s lazy, it’s a waste, its giving the ball back to Hoddesdon.

As the ball rolls towards the Hoddesdon keeper, who's jogging towards the ball where he meets it near the edge of the box and puts his foot through it, a St Margaretsbury player doing what all good strikes should do, is chasing down the ball. He's never going to beat the keeper to it, but he's doing the right thing.

Got it? Good. We've all seen it a zillion times before, right. Except what happened next was simply the funniest thing I think I've ever seen at a footy match.

The keeper beats the advancing striker to the ball. Puts his foot through it. The ball sails down the pitch. The striker then runs past the keeper... who for a reason known only to him turns towards the striker and kicks him so hard he floored the advancing striker.

Such was the shock as to what the keeper did that no one questioned it. We all just stood around in complete shock then some of us started to laugh. It was about 4 to 5 seconds before someone shouted towards the Ref, shouldn't that be a foul...

The keeper just looked at the Ref and said "WHAT!?" before walking... Straight red.

After the game, we popped into the bar to say our thanks and goodbyes to everyone who made us feel so welcome.

It’s going to be a long two weeks before the next game.

Noggin xx

The FA Cup. Part 2.

Friday, 16th August 2013

 Extra Preliminary Round

Hoddesdon Town v St Margaretsbury

(Ware FC - neutral ground)

Wodson Park

Ware

SG12 0UQ

K.O. 7.45pm

Half time 0-1

Final score 1-1

0–1 Lee Roberts  01 mins

1-1 Albert Bostock  90+1 mins

Attendance 283

Miles travelled approximately 15.

Well I only just about made the KO. But make it I did. I was very lucky with the route I was given at work, 300+ miles but I managed to avoid the M25 on a Friday evening. RESULT!

I got to the ground around 7.30pm. The car park was rammed, and I mean rammed. I hadn’t expected that. There was already a nice little buzz about the place, which again, I wasn’t expecting either. I know it was a local derby and the FA Cup, but this is non-league football right. Just how spicy could it be? Just how wrong was I?

 I took a quick photo of the ground and made my way to the turnstile, where I saw an envelope with my name on it. I made myself known to the old bloke taking the cash and showed him some ID.

Into the ground and I started to smile like a loony. No, I can’t explain it. I just stood there like a loony smiling my head off. I got myself together. A couple of quick photos and a walk around the pitch to check out the ground from all angles.

I find my spot leaning on the small white fence near to the Hoddesdon Town dug out. The game kicks off. St Margaretsbury promptly go straight up the pitch and score. BLOODY HELL! I’ve back the wrong team here. 45 seconds and its 0 -1.

Turns out, as I read my programme, that Hoddesdon have just been promoted to the same league as St Margaretsbury (Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division) and this is the first time that they have played each other in something close to 8 seasons. The tackles are flying in thick and fast and every player is just getting on with getting on with it. No pulling out. No play acting. No rolling around the floor like Drogba or that buck toothed racist diving cheat up at Anfield. No hassling of the referee either. Why do I bother with professional football?

Anyway, half time arrived a lot sooner that it should have. I bumped into Colin and Jackie (spelling - whose name I got wrong – SORRY!). I asked around to see if I could find Jane Sinden. Eventually someone from Hoddesdon Town’s staff approached me and pointed me in the direction of Jane.

I introduced myself and thanked her for all of her efforts in getting me a ticket.

The second half started and continued in the same spirit, only this time the momentum started to swing in favour of Hoddesdon. What a way to start my cup trail. This is what it’s all about. These guys have just done the same as me. They’ve all been to work today. Been up since whatever time. Had whatever problems in their days to deal with. They then turn up and play football, in a VERY local derby, in the FA Cup and both sets of players were up for it.

As the second half entered into the last 20 minutes it almost became one way traffic with Hoddesdon taking the game to St Margaretsbury. I should point out that Hoddesdon is the bigger town but the smaller football club, but they were giving St Margaretsbury a damn good run for their money. This was no walk over for St Margaretsbury, which is what a lot of people had predicted.

Eventually all the pressure paid off and Hoddesdon got a much deserved equalizer. The St Margaretsbury keeper played a blinder and EASILY stopped the game becoming an embarrassment.

I really hadn’t realised just how much this local derby had meant to people and players alike.

As for the players. It was a good standard of skill. No kick it and rush. Plenty of time on the ball. But neither team had a player that could create time on the ball.

After the game I went into the bar. I met some wonderful characters. The people who run these clubs do it for the love of the game. Bonkers the lot of them. They pour money and time into these clubs, in ways that make your head spin.

I was introduced to the staff of St Margaretsbury, who said that they would have a ticket for me, come the replay.

I bumped into Sean Mynott who was very happy about the events of the night.

But without doubt, the story of the day is this. Allegedly, ALLEGEDLY, someone from Yorkshire phoned up another club in the area, who were also playing in the FA Cup that night, to ask about doing the game. The person from said club said, “Is this going to take long I’m busy?” The person from Yorkshire said “****************” or something very similar and came to Hoddesdon v St Margaretsbury instead.     

I staggered out of Ware FC somewhere far too close to midnight for my own good, as I’d got to get up at 4.30 to go to Cumbria to pick up my daughter.

Noggin xx

The FA Cup. Part 1.

The FA Cup 2013 – 2014

Prelude

Parts 1 to 6 of what you are about to read was initially sent out via an E Mail, the rest went straight on here. I hope that makes sense.

Introduction

Hello people, I’m back, and this year I’m going to try and do every round of the FA Cup.

Before I go any further let me do a little bit of house work and lay down the rules. Just like last year’s Olympic 2012 blog things, I’m going to keep these short and to the point. They will carry a maximum of five photos. They will be a slightly different format, design wise. I’m also going to send them from my “skunkworks” address just in case my E Mail gets battered again – yes I learnt my lesson…

Also, apologies for taking so long in getting these to you, but all of this has clashed with the school summer holidays and spending time with my daughter and she takes priority.

I’ve sent this to you because you’re into football (I hope). If by any chance I’ve made a mistake let me know and I’ll stop sending you the E Mails, or you could just ignore them.

For all the Americans in the room, I’m sending this to you so you can experience REAL football and not that egg throwing stuff you call football. Putting my sensible head on. Really, do you have anything like this on your side of the pond? I’d love to know.

That’s it really.

Peace and Love

The Story So Far

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always followed the team that dumps my team out of the Cup. I’ve always thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great to do every round of the Cup. I never did get around to doing anything about it, until now.

Somewhere near the start of July I stumbled into this,

http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/News/2013/Jul/~/link.aspx?_id=AB0938C460C6489EB15BA32E05736DE5&_z=z

Game No 98 Hoddesdon Town v St Margaretsbury in an Extra Preliminary Round, Saturday 17^th August 2013.

Then I started to think about it. The FA is 150 years old. Walsall FC is 125 years old. My adopted home town is going to be playing the FA Cup. Surely it’s now or never. I started to look into it properly. What are the problems I’m going to come across? Let’s find them now rather than later. Let’s find a solution before I trip over a problem.

Do the dates clash with seeing my daughter? What about replays? What happens if I miss a replay?  What happens when the TV want to move my game? What happens when I get to the First Round and Walsall’s single appearance? Do I stay with the route I’m on or jump to watch Walsall? What happens if I’m ill? What about postponed games? What happens when if I start a new job? How do I get a ticket – especially for the earlier rounds?

Hold on. Saturday 17^th August? That’s rings a bell. Lots of checking of dates and there it was, I’m on holiday with my daughter. Over before it’s even started. Bugger.

Then, by fluke, somewhere near the start of August, I just happened to be looking at the FA Cup dates, for a completely different reason when I noticed that half a dozen games had been moved forward one day to Friday 16^th August with a 7.45pm KO and one of those games was Hoddesdon Town v St Margaretsbury.

I couldn’t believe it. I started double checking the information. It was all true, with the game being played at Ware FC.

That Saturday (10^th August) I popped into Ware FC to find out about getting a ticket. I sort of stumbled into a bloke by the name of Colin. I explained what I was trying to do, he introduced me to Jackie (spelling) who took me into the ground to find Sean. She took me to the bar, no Sean. The Managers Office, no Sean. The Board Room, “Sean, can I borrow you for a second please?” She said interrupting a meeting. She introduced Sean to me and I explained what it was I trying to do.

Sean (Mynott – Ware FC, Club Secretary) told me to contact Jane Sinden at Hoddesdon Town, saying that if she can’t help you then no one can. Which, once I’d got home, is exactly what I did.

While I was chatting to Sean, he told me that they use Walsall FC as an example of how to run a football club. How cool is that. As we parted I wished him good luck for the coming season, which was starting that day, at home against Chatham Town, which they lost, 0-1, so that’s two ways they use Walsall FC as an example… D’OH!

Jane Sinden answered my E Mail quicker than I thought she would and wrote that if I make myself known to a member of staff at Ware FC on the night of the game, then a ticket would be waiting for me.

It was as if the stars had all aligned. I’d gone from dreaming about it, to doing it, to not doing it, to doing it again. It really was now a case of now or never.

All I had to do now was go into work on the Friday and finish in time to do the game, but that’s another story…

Noggin xx

P.S. Here are some dates for your diary...
 

17 August, Extra Preliminary Round

31 August, Preliminary Round

14 September, First Round Qualifying

28 September, Second Round Qualifying

12 October, Third Round Qualifying

26 October, Fourth Round Qualifying

09 November, First Round Proper

07 December, Second Round Proper

04 January, Third Round Proper

25 January, Fourth Round Proper

15 February, Fifth Round Proper

08 March, Sixth Round Proper

12/13 April, Semi-Finals

17 May, Final

 

Introduction.

Hello, my name is Noggin and I've finally been talked into doing this.

Over the next few days, weeks, months, years, I'm going to get around to posting all the silliness that I've been sending to people via E Mails.

Once I've figured out how to use this I will also plonk photo's on here.

Thanks to Chris Dale and Gary Stock for the help and active encouragement (I was told not to write "Bullying" - see what I did there...?).

Lets go and have some fun.

Peace and Love.

Noggin xx