Travels with my Ostrich ....

[Ally]

Honestly Ossie - if you stop writing these reports I will personally come and thump you! I love them!

I'll forgive you the 2 muffins and Mrs O need never know.

I know Brum like the back of my hand but that New Street had me most confuddled on my last visit.

As I was caught up in the throng of people trying to escape (aka leave ) the station I overheard an elderly lady asking a station attendant the way to platform 7.
I did laugh when said attendant muttered, "you'd be better off getting a bus to your destination love."


Enjoy your next match Ossie.

[Kaz]

Love it

[TheOstrich]

Tuesday 08/09 – West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division (Step 6)
Wolverhampton Sporting Community 2 Stone Old Alleynians 3
Admission £2.50, programme £1*, J20 and dry salted peanuts £2.80, chips ‘n curry sauce £1.50
Attendance – 27

* - not available on the night; "they're still at the printers". They are obliged to produce one by the League, so I left my details and crossed their palms with both gold and silver, so we'll see what arrives in the post ....

My first visit to Wolves SC’s new home at Hazel Lane, Great Wyrley. I believe it’s pronouched “whirly” rather than “wire-ley”. Anyway, it’s just off the A34 by Cannock and tonight I journeyed round a moderately busy M6 Toll (£5.50 ! ) to the Churchbridge exit, thus avoiding the end of the Greater Birmingham evening rush hour, and it’s only 5 minutes or so drive from the exit roundabout down to the ground.

Stone Old Alleynians are ranked at No.16 on my 25-team hit list this season. Newly promoted to the West Midlands Regional League, they have the perennial problem of do they play in a northern-based league, with trips to Manchester and beyond, or a midlands-based league with trips as far south as Herefordshire. Bit of a dilemma if you’re only a small club hailing from just south of the Potteries. They were founded by the old boys of a local grammar school, which unusually for an old boys club, didn’t convert to rugby union.

Wolverhampton SC started life as Chubb Sports, the works team for the Chubb lock and safe factory in that city, but when the works closed (and they lost their associated ground), they renamed themselves Heath Town Rangers. However, in 2010, they decided that they had achieved all that they had set out to achieve under that name, and reinvented themselves as Wolverhampton Sporting Community FC. I’m not quite sure of the logic behind that, but anyway! Another strange facet of the club is that, like the Great Australian Tectonic Plate, they are gradually shifting north-east. From the original Heath Town base, they first relocated to Amos Lane, Wednesfield, and they are now, at Great Wyrley, even further away from Wolverhampton. At this rate, in 20 years’ time, they’ll probably be playing somewhere near Lichfield!

I understand that the Hazel Lane ground, having last been used back in 2008, was pretty much derelict when they managed to acquire a long lease on it earlier this year, and I must say, if that was the case, they have done a fantastic job on it in a short space of time. Onsite parking is at a bit of a premium at Hazel Lane and there were only a couple of spaces available when I arrived at 7:00, although cars seemed to be both coming and going from the car-park. Otherwise folk were parking outside, down the lane. There’s a pay-station to enter the ground by the side of their extremely imposing brick-built clubhouse with its large bar / function room upstairs, over the changing rooms on the ground floor. The usual range of football fodder was available at half-time from a hatch in the bar area. The clubhouse is branded as Wolfies Bar, and from the small upstairs balcony, you can look down the length of the pitch.

There’s a small covered stand with bench seating between the pay-station and the corner-flag, and you can walk round and down the right-hand touchline on hardstanding, passing the dugouts. Behind the far goal is a mini pitch / training area, and the whole complex is surrounded by trees, giving it very much a country feel. Indeed, there was an owl audibly hooting in the trees during the first half. It’s a neat, attractive little ground.

Stone looked dangerous from the start and more likely to do something than a slightly lethargic Wolves. It wasn’t a great surprise when Thomas put the visitors ahead on 18m with a shot through a phalanx of players, and Stone doubled their lead on 26m when Dibden converted a Thomas cross. At that point, Wolves belatedly woke up and took the game to the opposition, but didn’t help their own cause when Cooper received a yellow for a fairly innocuous-looking foul, said something he shouldn’t as he walked away from the referee , and was called back for a viewing of a straight red.

Wolves continued to press Stone but always looked susceptible to a breakaway goal, which duly arrived straight after the break, Didben neatly chipping the ball over the home keeper (46m). That was really cruel, the home team certainly didn’t deserve to be 0-3 down at that point, but they continued to harry the visitors, and pulled a goal back with Healey curling a beauty over the keeper on 60m.

The rest of the game was frantic end-to-end stuff with Wolves notching their second goal on 81m following a speedy right wing run and shot by substitute Sarmento, but just failing to get what would have been a deserved equaliser. At the other end, only some inspired, often last-ditch defensive work kept Stone from increasing their tally. A thoroughly entertaining game from start to finish.

My late night return journey was cross-country through the lanes to access the B4154 by the Wyrley and Essington Canal, followed by a quiet mosey southwards through Pelsall and Rushall back to Birmingham. At least it saved another £5.50 on the toll (lower rates don’t kick in until 11:00), and that effectively salved my conscience over the food and drink bill at the match!

[Ally]

£5.50 for the toll?!

Great reading again Ossie.

Just one problem. I now want/need/must have/would kill for a packet of dry roasted nuts!

[TheOstrich]

Saturday 15/09 – Midland League Division 1 (Step 6)
Pershore Town 3 Nuneaton Griff 2
Admission £2, programme £1.50, bacon bap £2.20, chips £1.50
Attendance – 75

Today’s match report comes from the 2020 Solar PV King George 5th Stadium, no less! What is it with stadium names these days? The answer is sponsorship. Clubs have to raise money and a stadium naming package is very much in vogue. In fact, Wolverhampton Sporting Community, according to their programme which duly arrived in the post yesterday, (good move on their part as by a quirk of fixture-planning I’m due back there on Tuesday, and a fluffy benign Ostrich is better than a ruffled one who hasn’t received his paperwork ) are offering a “bespoke stadium re-naming package” for a “negotiable price”. So, we could all chip in a fiver and ask them to call it the Vocal Voices Stadium.

Possibly the wackiest stadium renaming of recent years came after Clay Cross FC in Derbyshire raffled the renaming rights to local businesses back in 2012. The winner was a tattoo parlour and the stadium, formerly Mill Lane, officially became “The Devil Made Me Do It Ground” !!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-de ... e-18786163

Anyway, a pleasant journey down the M5 to Junction 7 Worcester South, with views of the distant rain-shrouded Malvern Hills, then cross country to Pershore. Northbound, the M5 was virtually at a standstill round Droitwich, so my precautionary route back was via Evesham and Studley. The rainstorm duly arrived at Pershore about 15 minutes after I did!

Plenty of parking at the ground, which is an attractive little affair just at the back of the town centre, with a view from the stand across the pitch and training pitch to the River Avon, which featured a number of narrowboats and small cabin cruisers moored up alongside. The training pitch is built on an old tip and the whole ground is liable to flood as photos in the bar dating from the summer of 1997 proved. A pay-station at the entrance was run by a couple of jolly old guys with a good line of banter which certainly set the scene at what seems a very friendly and welcoming club. Down one side are the changing-rooms and spacious clubhouse / function room complex, with the food hatch just inside the lobby, and a bench-seated grandstand for around 200. Dugouts also on this side; the rest of the ground is open aspect. Pershore Abbey is visible from the ground, and tinckly chimes marked each hour.

Reading the programme, which contained a 20pp advertising shell, the Ostrich’s mouth watered at the sight of a large luscious display of award-winning pies from the local butchers and available from the Retail Market. Walking round the ground, I suddenly realised the said Retail Market was actually just across the road. 12 minutes to kick-off!! The Ostrich hared out of the ground with a garbled explanation culminating in “I’ll be back …” and six minutes later returned clutching a Huntsman’s Pie (£4.20), much to the delight of the pay-station attendants! And (the three of us here having shared it for a late tea) it was indeed delicious!

http://www.pershoremarket.com/categorie ... chers-meat

So, to the football, and a bit of a game of two halves, this – the first 45 was a fairly frustrating affair, partially due to a somewhat pedantic refereeing display that eventually led to a couple of bookings for dissent, one on either side. Pershore, under new management, had taken the lead on 12m when Roche hit a 25 yard direct free kick virtually all along the ground and into the bottom left hand corner of the net, the Griff keeper remaining static. Griff pressed forward, but hardly looked like an attack that had notched 39 goals in 8 league games.

The second half was a cat-and-mouse affair with both sides probing for openings. Thankfully the referee had lightened up somewhat and the game flowed more evenly. A Griff equaliser always looked on the cards, and duly arrived on 52m when the home defence failed to cut out a Barnett run and cross, and Shorthouse converted it from close range. Griff were now in the ascendancy and took the lead on 64m with a similar close-range goal from substitute Moore – his first touch of the ball after coming on.

But to give Pershore due credit, they kept plugging away and equalised on 76m with what was announced as an own-goal by the keeper following the corner. My reading was the keeper punched the ball against one of his own defenders from where it rebounded into the net, but it was difficult to be sure exactly what happened. Then on 87m, Pershore won the game with a flowing move out of defence, up the right wing, for Carter to cross and Speak to force the ball in.

So, rather an upset for the form books, and three welcome points for the home team, who go one to host the famous Hereford FC in the Midland League Cup on Tuesday. That promises to be a money-spinner for them. In the meantime, I suspect Nuneaton Griff’ll probably be having a bit of a post-mortem about this one …

[Ally]

Great read again Ossie....although I now find myself eagerly awaiting the by-line of the food report!

Thanks for posting. x

[miasmum]

This last one was my favourite, bacon bap AND chips

[TheOstrich]

Just to set the scene for the Ostrich's next match report, a quick word from our sponsors .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPHeJd2T12M

It is rumoured that the Ostrich will be performing similarly outside the clubhouse in Wassell Grove Lane this afternoon if he finds sausage butties aren't on sale .....

[TheOstrich]

First, a quick preamble on the constitution and organisation of the Rugby Football Union competitions. Don’t worry - I'll be very quick!

At the top, Levels 1 and 2, you’ve got the (Arriva-sponsored) Premiership and the (Green King IPA) Championship, just like soccer. They are at the pinnacle of a pretty watertight pyramid, with promotion and relegation between all the lower divisions. Levels 3 to 5 are the National Leagues, National 1 covers all England, National 2 is split into two divisions regionally, North and South, and the National 3 divisions are split four ways, London & South-East, North, Midlands, and South West. All very neat and tidy.

Below the National 3 divisions, everything is again strictly regionalised. Let’s look at the Levels under National 3 Midlands, which is the Ostrich’s sphere of operation. Mind you, if you have a ship’s compass tucked away somewhere, now’s the time to get it out. Level 6 has two divisions, Midlands 1 West and Midlands 1 East. Feeding into Midlands 1 West are Midlands 2 West (North) and Midlands 2 West (South), and feeding into Midlands 1 East are Midlands 2 East (North) and Midlands 2 East (South). And so on down the Levels until you arrive at, for illustration, Midlands 5 East (North), in which you will find playing teams like Meden Vale, Woodhouse Giants and Creswell Crusaders. It’s very much social rugby at this level.

The Rugby Football Union in Twickenham wields a fairly iron hand over allocation between divisions. Occasionally teams on the borders of regions do need to get shifted laterally to balance numbers. For example, Nuneaton Old Edwardians tend to keep oscillating between Midlands East and Midlands West divisions. And I recall chatting with a Northwich RFC supporter at Barkers Butts (Coventry) a few seasons back. “So what brings you down to the Midlands, weren’t you in one of the North-West leagues last year?” I asked. “We didn’t want to, but we were told ….”, he replied, gloomily.

So, to today’s game, which is between two sides, unbeaten Old Halesonians, who had a good league campaign last season, also winning the North Midlands RFU Cup final, and Old Northamptonians, newly promoted from Midlands 1 East and struggling ….

[TheOstrich]

Saturday 19/09 – National 3 Midlands (Level 5)
Old Halesonians RUFC 41 Old Northamptonians RUFC 3
Admission £5, programme included, excellent cornish pasty £1.20, ham bun £1.30
Attendance – 174

Trying to drive across or around the Birmingham city conurbation is a nightmare these days with roadworks at Spaghetti Junction and in the city centre itself, and today was no exception as extremely heavy traffic saw me taking 45 minutes to travel just 5 miles to access the motorway system at Great Barr. Once on the M5(S) however, things were much more straightforward, and by 2:00, I was meandering down the narrow lane that takes you from the A456 Kidderminster road, at the top of Hagley Hill, to Old Halesonians’ rather remote ground in the shadow of the Clent Hills, a local beauty spot I remember well from my childhood, and also the location of a couple of good restaurants which Mrs O, myself and my S have been known to frequent! Here's one (it's gone a bit upmarket, mind you, since the 1970's when Mrs O and I used to go there after tennis with our church youth group (that was back in the "chicken in a basket" era) :
http://www.thefountainatclent.co.uk/

Wassall Grove is a big complex, 23 acres in all, so parking is plentiful, and it’s pay at the hut as you drive in through the gates. Admission is by programme, I presume because they’re a charity, and it’s a typical rugby union production – a 36pp glossy advertising shell, which actually contains a welcome article, club history and player / staff picture profiles (many clubs don’t bother with such fineries), and 4pp glossy match-specific insert, which also contains, as the pay-station official was at some pains to point out to me, a raffle number, which would be drawn in the bar after the match, but only after everyone had sunk a pint or two …

On one of the side pitches nearest the clubhouse were a row of tents neatly laid out in lines – not Syrian refugees, which was my first thought, but a holiday sports camp for local kids. Old Halesonians are a community club, as indeed many rugby clubs are, and have a thriving junior section. The clubhouse – changing rooms below and bar / committee rooms above – is large, spacious, and festooned with old photographs and mounted club and international shirts mounted on the walls; indeed, there’s a signed New Zealand shirt on display. In the bar, there’s two widescreens showing Ireland vs Canada, a “buy a brick and get a plaque” commemorative wall, and in one corner, quite a large kitchen but only a limited range of hot food. On buying the ‘am bun, I was asked “do you want one with onion?”, said yes, and was duly presented with a large dish of diced red ones and told to help myself!!

The main pitch alongside the clubhouse isn’t floodlit, but does have a 125 seater elevated stand giving perfect views not only of the action but also the nearby wooded rolling hills and, to the right, just over the road, the imposing Wychbury Obelisk, which has an interesting history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wychbury_Obelisk

As for the game, it was slightly blighted by a somewhat over-fussy, whistle-happy referee, whose specialist subject seemed to be obtaining the perfect scrum. Old Northants took a 4th minute lead with a penalty following a scrum infringement, and Old Hales equalised on 13m in similar fashion, although Northants compounded their felony by back-chatting the referee and Hales received the 10 yard advantage, the first of more than a few such awards this afternoon.
The game finally burst into life with Hales’ first try on 18m; a beauty, the ball propelled like a missile down the back line, Oxford rounding the back of the defence and down the wing like a hare; caught just before the line, but he managed to get the ball away inside as he went down for Hooper to take the catch and dive over. Hales’ second try on 27m was a plunge by Field, after sustained pressure by the pack, who consistently out-muscled their opponents all afternoon. After that, Hales dominated and added a further 4 tries without reply before the referee blew full-time on 79m following a (hopefully not too serious) injury to an Old Northants player.

Three yellow cards were issued in the second half, the last two certainly for reasons that astounded the players despatched to the sin-bin. The Old Halesonians’ club motto is “Ut filii lucis fiatis” which translates, according to Google “as children of light” ..... not too sure how that refers to a hulking 16 stone prop-forward with evil intentions …..

So a reasonably entertaining start to my rugby union season which went with the form book – Old Halesonians go to the top of the table tonight and should have another good season, while Old Northants might well struggle a bit at this level, but it’s still early days.