Mad Birds and Cornishmen

[Kaz]

Ally

[JoM]

I'd be very nervous there Ossie, in case the local Tesco is all out of Romanian Chickens!

Yes, the decision to postpone all games this weekend hasn’t gone down well, especially in a season that’s already going to be disrupted for the best part of two months for the flippin’ World Cup. Not just that though, the calling off of kids games at the other end of the scale too.
No surprise though that Eton apparently defied this and played a game against a team from another public school.

For the record, you could’ve heard a pin drop during the silence at Old Trafford on Thursday night.

[JoM]

And now the game between Man Utd and Leeds is off on Sunday too, due to GMP having to send officers to London…..but the derby between Brentford and Arsenal is still going ahead in London on Sunday, yet Arsenal’s Europa League game v PSV is postponed on Thursday due to policing issues.
I can’t say what it’s like at Arsenal but I’ve never been to a European tie, apart from one v Liverpool, where the away support hasn’t mixed in well with the home support both before and after a game with no trouble at all.

[TheOstrich]

Yes, the decision to postpone all games this weekend hasn’t gone down well, especially in a season that’s already going to be disrupted for the best part of two months for the flippin’ World Cup. Not just that though, the calling off of kids games at the other end of the scale too.
No surprise though that Eton apparently defied this and played a game against a team from another public school.

Sheffield International, a small club in a minor league in the Sheffield area, was due to play at home last Saturday. When the FA imposed a blanket ban, which obviously affected them as it did all other grassroots soccer, they decided to go ahead and play the same away team as scheduled but call it a Friendly. Unfortunately, they put this on social media; as a result, the whole wrath of the FA has descended on them, and both teams have now been charged with "bringing the game into disrepute" .....

Eton played Rossall School, a public school based in Fleetwood, Lancs. Their defence is that the game didn't fall under the FA ban. I don't think that's going to wash because (as I understand it) both schools are members of the Independent Schools FA, which is itself under the FA.

Now it will be interesting to see if Eton and Rossall are also charged with "bringing the game into disrepute" .....

And now the game between Man Utd and Leeds is off on Sunday too, due to GMP having to send officers to London…..but the derby between Brentford and Arsenal is still going ahead in London on Sunday, yet Arsenal’s Europa League game v PSV is postponed on Thursday due to policing issues.
I can’t say what it’s like at Arsenal but I’ve never been to a European tie, apart from one v Liverpool, where the away support hasn’t mixed in well with the home support both before and after a game with no trouble at all.

Rangers vs Napoli has been moved from tomorrow to Wednesday night (presumably because of pressure on Police Scotland resources). No Napoli fans will be allowed into the re-arranged match. Might affect around 600 Italians. As a quid pro quo, no Rangers fans will be allowed into the reverse fixxture in Napoli. Reputedly, thousands have already booked flights ... Napoli are very unhappy with UEFA's decision.

[cromwell]

My local force is sending 300 officers to London.

[TheOstrich]

To Shaftesbury on Thursday for a mooch around the town, something we used to do quite frequently, but this was only our second visit since Covid struck. We were going to go early, but just as we stepped outside the house, the guy wot does our central heating boiler annual service rolled up – four days early! Confusion in everybody’s diaries, it seems; anyhow, we invited him in to do the deed. Discovered the central heating doesn’t work and we need a new pump – that’ll be another £220 …..

When we eventually got up to Shaftesbury, we first visited the Oxfam bookshop and donated a few items before having a browse in-store; Mrs O emerged with a couple of Kate Atkinson paperbacks and the Complete Works of William Shakespeare in two volumes! The Ostrich, whose literary tastes are far more highbrow , bought a Clive Cussler and a sci-fi paperback by someone he’d never heard of.

It turned out to be Market Day in the town so we next inspected the various stalls. There’s “Susie”, an old converted Citroen van called “The Truckle Truck” which sells gourmet cheeses and Mrs O duly made a beeline for it.
https://thetruckletruck.com/
That photo’s taken outside the Town Hall and Gold Hill is the alleyway showing at the back of the truck. I had a look at the Biltong Lady’s stall, but as nothing was specifically priced , I didn’t linger ….
The tiny St Peter’s Church, on the other side of the Town Hall, was open and a Book of Remembrance for the Queen available inside, so we popped in and signed.

Mrs O then visited Shirley Allum Fashions and Lingerie opposite; that is a store that the Ostrich is not allowed to enter for obvious reasons . In fact, the bird has said he has no intention of setting foot inside the store, as he has heard rumours they do Strange Things with Ostrich Feathers . So instead, he visited Superdrug to try and get his brain around all the various 3 for 2 offers on multivits and cod liver oil with added iron or whatever.

The final visits were to Reece the Bakers for a Wiltshire Pasty for Mrs O’s lunch (£3.75) and the Bagette Shop for my traditional foot-long hot bacon and egg (£5) . A happy morning!

Saturday, and a first visit to St Mary’s Field, home of Bridport FC. I was intending to watch their postponed home game vs Okehampton Argyle last Saturday, so today’s Dartmouth fixture was a suitable replacement. It’s a long drive from one end of Dorset to the other, and there’s certainly no “direct” route (unless you can afford a day and a half to navigate over hill and down dale on rural cart-tracks ), so west along the (very busy) A303 then south through Crewkerne and Beaminster, a 45 mile and 90 minute run. Ground to a halt three times on the A303 going over Camel Hill, which Highways England are now in the process of dualling with an estimated completion date of September 2024!

One thing that links North Dorset, where we live, with West Dorset (which is Bridport) is the fact that the County Council parking meters don’t work properly in either district , so it took us 5 minutes to get a ticket in Shaftesbury from the only (very slow) working machine up at the town car park on Thursday, and on Saturday free parking in the car park outside the footie ground, as neither machine accepted cash. Dorset is truly the County where parking machines come to expire and die, and I have a permanent “Machine Won’t Accept Cash and I Have No Phone” note on the dashboard of the car . I ain’t getting’ involved in they telephone app thingies, not least because I’ve heard enough people say they’ve paid by RingGo or whatever and still finished up with a fine .

St Mary’s is an open, attractive ground alongside the River Brit on the south side of the town, with views of the parish church and Palmers Brewery with its large waterwheel. The bird was slightly alarmed to discover a large Ostrich-Catching net on a pole by the entrance gate , but I re-assured him it was merely to retrieve wayward balls from the river. There’s a small amount of covered standing on one side of the pitch with a seated stand and a refreshments hut on the other side between the dugouts. The rather stark, squat changing room block and the clubhouse behind the far goal look like refugees from the brutalist Birmingham period of architecture , but they don’t detract from the overall ambience.

Bridport are going through bad times at the moment; relegated from Step 5 last season, they’re already looking a potential candidate for Step 7 football next year. They haven’t won a league game at home since August 2021 (Ashton & Backwell United in the Western Premier League). They sacked their manager during the week whilst he was on holiday in Romania (!) but they did manage to pick up their second league point of the season with a 1-1 draw away at Sidmouth on Tuesday.

An impeccable minute’s silence was held before kick-off, but there was rather a lot of ambient noise from outside the ground, not least the adjacent basketball court.

After the first three minutes of the game, in which Dartmouth three times raided down the right wing and got clean behind the home defence, one might have feared the worst, but Bridport settled down and an entertaining first half ensued, chances at both ends but no goals.

There was also an entertaining, shall we say, “interaction” between the Old Boys in the stand and the Dartmouth bench throughout the half, the former loudly objecting to the latter’s effin’ and jeffin’ and constant encroachment onto the touchline . Towards the end of the half, a Dartmouth player went down as if he’d been poleaxed (admittedly after he’d been clattered); the perpetrator was duly booked with another away player being sin-binned for dissent during the resulting bout of mass histrionics on the field. Off the field, the Dartmouth bench went absolutely ape, as did the Old Boys, and given all the posturing, gesticulating and evil-eyed staring going down (the head-on confrontation between one Old Biddy and a Dartmouth Coach was a classic! ), you could easily have billed this as a warm-up to a live WWF event! I hurriedly left the stand before the folding chairs started flying …..

After the interval, things calmed down both on and off the field. Dartmouth gradually exerted control, and got the break-through on 58m when Robbie Chalk converted a 1-on-1 opportunity with the home keeper. That more or less killed the game, as Bridport’s lightweight attack – good on approach work, but easily stifled once they got inside the penalty area - never really looked like being able to pull one back. Dartmouth cemented their victory via a 65m Robbie Bowker penalty after the onrushing Bridport custodian brought down an attacker. He did get to the ball first, as far as I could see, so the award was a bit harsh in my view. Dartmouth then comfortably played out time – they are now second in the table, but I’d hardly call them promotion material on this showing.

So, an enjoyable visit to a very friendly club, and back home for a Mr Lee’s Special (£9) .

17/09/22: South West Peninsula League Premier East
Bridport 0 Dartmouth 2
Admission: £4
Raffle: £1. The winning numbers were all between 120 and 160. Everyone I saw, including myself, had strips of numbers in the 9xx series. As far as I could see, there was only one ticket seller ……
Programme: None available - “The Chairman’s on holiday” . A free A4 sheet with squads for the game was handed out at the turnstile, but I managed to blag an old programme from 2018/19 from a Committee Member as a souvenir of my visit!
Teams: Announced twice over the tannoy. The trouble was, the two versions seemed to differ considerably ……
Refreshments: Burger from the hatch £4.50 (no frills, no onions, but reasonable size), and a packer of Burts Sweet Chilli crisps from the bar £1 (not a patch on Walkers – Burts always seem a tad stale to me)
Attendance: 103

[Kaz]

Excellent report, Ossie! Have to say agree about Burts Well done for keeping your fevvers intact!

[Ally]

Superb read Ossie.

I've never heard of Burts but as it's Lay's over here (which I'm very happy with I can assure you ) and even better, new flavours seem to be making their way down to the Costa, I'll quite happily pass on the stale offerings.

[miasmum]

another in agreement re Burts. A brilliant read as ever Ossie, thank you

[cromwell]

Great read Os.
I'm glad to see that Mr Lee is still going strong.