The Chronicles of Ostrick ....

[Ally]

It makes me laugh when I'm watching one of the 'big teams' on TV and half the fans are filming the game on their phones and the other half are usually taking selfies. Watch the bloody game ya bunch of idiots...you've paid money to do so!

[JoM]

Yep, we see all that Ally. Joe was once sat at the end of a row and was asked a couple of times during the game to take photos of people who'd walked down the steps to get pictures of themselves posing happily with the game going on behind them.
iPads and selfie sticks are on the list of items banned from Old Trafford, but of course it doesn't stop people using phones but at least a phone being held up is smaller than an iPad I suppose

If you want footage then just record Match Of The Day.

[TheOstrich]

04/02 – do you recall that ancient computer game called “Space Invaders”? One of the first cult arcade video games ever issued, back in 1978 and well before Microsoft, it was developed by a Japanese software engineer, Tomohiro Nishikado and became one of the most popular “shoot-em-up” type games ever. There were serried ranks of alien space monsters that marched across from left to right, then back again, and you had to shoot them down as they got lower and lower, and their movement speeded up, and they dropped bombs on you. Can you picture the screen? If so, congratulations, you now know what a Dorset Dockers RFC shirt looks like! Rows and rows of alien pixels in bands of green, red, blue and yellow on a black background ….

I’d always assumed that Dorset Dockers RFC probably had links to Poole Harbour or somewhere, but had moved inland to find a ground in Verwood, about 15 miles from the coast. Not so! Apparently they started life as a fun, seven-a-side, tournament club and called themselves the Dorset Space Dockers. Then, in 2013, they decided to start “proper” club and applied to enter the Rugby Union leagues. Twickenham were not very happy with allowing a club called Space Dockers into the pyramid (!), so they compromised and renamed themselves the Dorset Dockers. Their other major claim to fame is that in their early years, they somehow managed to defeat Dorchester 2nds by 212 points to nil! In commemoration, they carry “#212” on their shirt sleeves.

Dockers have been on my hit-list this season, thanks to their unusual name, and I knew before setting out today exactly where they played, because it’s at Potterne Park and less than 100 yards from Verwood Town FC, a club I visited back in October, who are conveniently on the same campus. After the problems a couple of weeks back, I kept an eye on Twitter this morning because I was anticipating some rain-related postponements after the deluges of the last couple of days, but once Ringwood Town FC’s game vs. Hamble had survived an 11:00 pitch inspection (Ringwood is only 5 miles from Verwood), I knew I’d be able to find a match on in the area, even if the rugby was off.

It’s a lovely, scenic run over the top of Cranborne Chase and down to Tollard Royal and Sixpenny Handley before meandering across to Verwood, but I must say the B3081 has taken a bit of a pounding this winter, and badly needs resurfacing. It’s not just potholes, whole layers of the top tarmac seem to have washed away in places, so a fair bit of care was needed. I arrived at Potterne Park in good time, about 12:45, and found the rugby match was indeed on, and kicking off early at 1:45 due to the England International. That raised the intriguing prospect of a “double”, racing out of the rugby match on the final whistle and into Verwood Town’s stadium where they were due to play Horndean at 3:00 – however, the soccer ground was deserted, the nets hadn’t been put up, so this match was obviously postponed. Why, I would love to know . I walked round the ground – there was no standing water on the pitch, nor any signs of waterlogging, and it looked eminently firm and playable. Hmmmm …. So anyway, just the rugby today.

The opposition, Walcot RFC, were down from Bath. I chatted with a lady who was watching their squad warm up and asked if she’d come down from there. No, she said, she was from South Africa (an unmistakable accent!) but her 19 year old son was playing for Walcot – “getting some experience, but he usually plays at a much higher level”. That seemed a slightly odd remark, but then she let slip that he was about to start a trial with Premiership side Bath RFC’s Academy …… Well, good luck to the lad - but he was on the end of a pounding today!

Dockers, bless ‘em, are bottom of the league, but that’s because they’ve somehow amassed a 13 point penalty deduction . They went all out for a result today, pounding away at Walcot’s lines, and opened their tally with an unconverted try after just 5 minutes. But when their full-back was sin-binned for blatantly taking out Walcot’s winger on 22m, that allowed the away side back into the match, and they soon levelled the score. Once restored to full strength, Dockers ran in a couple of further tries for a 19-5 interval lead before really cutting loose in the second half. With the score 47-15, 7 minutes to go, and Walcot down to 13 players on the pitch due to injuries, Dockers eased off – and promptly conceded three tries themselves in a somewhat unexpected end phase! An enjoyable high-scoring game.

Southern Counties South (Level 7): Dorset Dockers RFC 47 Walcot RFC 34
No admission, no programme, no facilities to speak of, Snickers bar from the club’s kitchen 75p, attendance just 21.

[Kaz]

Slightest off topic but I was world class good at Space Invaders, but only when drunk - sober I was hopeless

[Ally]

Great facts about the Dorset Dockers Ossie.

Do you know I've never played a computer game of any description in my entire life!

[TheOstrich]

Slightest off topic but I was world class good at Space Invaders, but only when drunk - sober I was hopeless

I was never much good at it, sober or drunk!

[cromwell]

Os, on the occasion of the ascent of the north face of Gold Hill, my wife and I plus baby son were on a weeks holiday staying at - Sixpenny Handley! Gosh, nearly twenty nine years since; where does the time go? It's big sky country down there; it was lovely.

Dorset Dockers! I was imagining a team of rufty tufty stevedores!

[JoM]

Slightest off topic but I was world class good at Space Invaders, but only when drunk - sober I was hopeless

I used to love Space Invaders, my friend Rob and myself were taken to Drayton Manor Park by his parents (before the times when you paid an extortionate amount of money to go in) most Sunday afternoons in the Spring and Summer and while his parents walked around we'd be in the arcade playing Space Invaders.
I've still for an Astro Wars game which still works.

[Kaz]

[TheOstrich]

Os, on the occasion of the ascent of the north face of Gold Hill, my wife and I plus baby son were on a weeks holiday staying at - Sixpenny Handley! Gosh, nearly twenty nine years since; where does the time go? It's big sky country down there; it was lovely.

It is indeed big sky country, Crommers, you've summed it up perfectly. After the flat urban West Midlands landscape, we love being down here - the scenic views alone lift the soul ....

Drayton Manor Park (before the times when you paid an extortionate amount of money to go in)

Quite!!