My Matchday - 285 Withdean Stadium

Brighton & Hove Albion 2v3 Huddersfield Town

League One

Saturday 30th April 2011

When a club play their final match at a home stadium, the occasion is usually met with a touch of sadness, retracing memories of matches past can bring a tear to even the most hardened of supporters. There is however one exception to the rule, as Brighton & Hove Albion aren’t just celebration winning League One, but also leaving one of the most unpopular grounds to have ever graced the Football League.

Brighton & Hove Albion left 95 years of history behind at the Goldstone Ground in 1997. The ground was sold by a bunch of former wanksplat board members in an attempt to clear the club's mounting debts and avoid bankruptcy, without any thought or dialogue with the club’s supporters .

My only ever visit to the Goldstone Ground was in 1983 when Second Division Newcastle United faced The Seagulls in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.

At the time Albion were at the foot of the First Division, so there wasn’t too much between the sides, so we travelled to the south coast in optimistic mood.

I remember that trip well, we left at midnight, stopped off in London early doors, then headed down to Brighton at 11am. On the day United played well but fell behind to an Andy Ritchie goal on 56 minutes. The Magpies rallied for an equaliser and it finally came on 72 minutes with a right foot drive from Terry Mac, earning a replay which we all arrogantly thought would be a formality at St James Park the following Wednesday

Brighton’s FA Cup exploits of 1983 are well remembered for Jimmy Melia’s shoes, the team travelling to Wembley by helicopter and of course the immortal commentary quote of “And Smith must score” however none of this would have becoming part of FA Cup folklore if it wasn’t for the incompetence of one man, step forward - Mr Telford Mills(Rotherham, South Yorkshire)

Referee Mr Mills became the Geordie public enemy No.1 (one of several throughout the decades) after disallowing not one, but two legitimate looking goals from Varadi and Keegan in the last five minutes of the replay denying United a place in the 4th round of the ‘83 cup.

Brighton won the game courtesy of a goal on 62 minutes by Peter Ward, his final goal for the club which set up a home tie with Manchester City on route to the twin towers of Wembley. Keegan was quoted afterwards, saying “I’m as sick as a Skegness donkey” Well we know how he felt, as we’ve had that nauseous feeling annually for the last 28 years.

(Video evidence HERE)

Peter Ward Soccer Star picture courtesy of Nigel’s Webspace http://cards.littleoak.com.au/

Brighton ended up at the Withdean after a failed attempt to lodge at Fratton Park with Pompey before arranging a ground-share 71 miles away in Gillingham.

Albion played at the Preistfield Stadium for two seasons and after another unsuccessful ground-share bid at Worthing they returning “home” to the only available option in Brighton at the home of the local athletics club.

The Withdean Stadium is named after its location in the Brighton suburbs, built in 1936 on the site of Marshall’s Playing Fields and originally used for lawn tennis.

The stadium currently has a capacity of 8,850 and during the club’s 12 year stay the record attendance was 8729 for a League Cup tie with Manchester City in September 2008.

The North Stand is the only permanent fixture, originally at the stadium before the club took residence and will be the only stand left when they leave, The stand provides the only cover, running pitch length and decked out with light blue seats. The stand is open at the back, apart from advertising hoardings so you can clearly see The Sportsman pub which sits behind it.

The other three sides are made up of temporary stands with green seats, The largest is on the South Side which runs pitch length and in a previous life appeared as temp seating at The Open golf tournament with a capacity of 4,500.

The East End has two large stands one of which is a Family Stand and there’s also a small section of seats and disabled section below the cabin which has the digital clock on top.

Away supporters are designated the West Stand which, due to the surrounding running track, look so far away from the action they could be in a different postcode! Changing rooms and hospitality facilities are provided by portacabins in the north west corner

In October 2005 Deputy Prime Minister at the time John Prescott, gave permission for Albion to build Falmer Stadium The project was delayed due to opposition from Lewes Council and local residents in Falmer, until permission was once again granted in July 2007 by Hazel Blears, the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Preliminary work finally got underway in November 2008 and the new stadium will open in July in readiness for The Seagulls 2011/12 campaign in The Championship.

As you may expect another canny-hike meant an early start, leaving Newcastle on the 0635 to Kings Cross, then catching the tube to London Bridge for my connection south, eventually arrived at my destination just before 11.30.

The city is the major part of Brighton and Hove on the south coast of East Sussex. The ancient settlement of Brighthelmstone dates before the Domesday Book,developed during the 18th century as a health resort for sea bathing and a popular destination for day-trippers from London.

Brighton experienced rapid population growth at the turn of the sixties, but its biggest claim to fame in the 20th century came in 1974; the Brighton Dome the venue when ABBA triumphed with Waterloo in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Brighton always reminds me of the 1979 movie Quadrophenia, based on The Who’s Rock opera of the same name which formed the backdrop to some of the pictures main scenes

I recently seen the film on ITV4 and was astounded by the number of times the line “Uwe going darn to Bry-tin at the weekend?” was used in the first half of the film and watching it now compared with over 30 years ago, except for a few redeeming features its basically not that good.(It’s bobbins!…Eddy)

On arrival I was greeted by Squad#77 Danny Last from the multi-award winning European Football Weekends blog. Our meeting was a bit of a Frost/Nixon moment and I would describe Danny as the James Brown of internet football journalism ie; “The hardest working man in blog business” I’ve knew Danny for a few years, but only via cyberspace, through text message, email, Facebook and Twitter but we’ve never communicated the old fashioned way via the art of chat, so it was great to finally but a voice to the face.

We called into the Brighton club shop then had a quick bevvy in 'The Evening Star' before heading to ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’ to meet up with the rest of Danny’s mates, or as I like to call them - “The Fred Perry Appreciation Society“ (I fitted right in with the correct attire)

The pub has a suntrap beer garden at the rear, so we stayed for a few pints until catching the 1407 train to the ground.

Prior to kick-off I confessed that I wanted Huddersfield to win, mainly due to the Geordie connection of ex-Mags Lee Clark and the aforementioned Terry Mac as well as ex-Heed striker Lee Novak. I also would love to see the Terriers clinch the second automatic promotion spot ahead of Southampton, as I’m not too chewed on The Saints after an unpleasant visit to St Mary’s a few years ago. Daniel Ward scored a late winner in a thrilling 3-2 win which meant I did get the result I wanted but maybe not the eventual outcome.

Benik Afobe fired Town ahead early on with a neat finish before Liam Bridcutt went close for the Seagulls with a header which smacked the crossbar.

Ashley Barnes levelled early in the second half, scoring the rebound with a diving header when his penalty was saved after a foul on Elliott Bennett.

Afobe capitalising on a defensive mix up to regain the lead but it was short lived as Matt Sparrow levelled with a great finish with a low right foot drive, before Ward fired in deep into injury time to win it for the Terriers.

Only goal difference separates the two sides battling for second spot but Southampton have a better goal difference as well as a game in hand.

Post match the Brighton team were presented with the League One trophy, with manager Gus Poyet leading the chorus of “We Are The Champions” The Seagulls supporters trooped out of the Withdean for the very last time, without any guilt or regret about leaving behind a stadium, that even through its unpopularity, it has witnessed four trophies of sorts in 12 years.

I also trudged away from the ground for the long journey home delighted to have picked the perfect occasion to visit the stadium, being the last Seagulls game, seeing the trophy presented and being a lovely sunny day, the perfect conditions for such an open stadium.

I would like to thank Danny for making it possible by “calling in a favour” regarding the match ticket and being a perfect host and I look forward to returning to Brighton early next season at their sexy new Amex Stadium in Falmer.

Matchday stats

B&HA 2(Barnes 47,Sparrow 69)HTFC 3(Afobe 8,61 Ward 90)

att.8,416

Admission £25

Programme £3

Ground no.285 Withdean Stadium - Matchday Web album (31 pictures)

Birds of Cerro Azul Meambar

 Oh, that cooperative collared trogon. What a beauty he was. The first painting I saw that made me want to be a bird painter, that made me think I could really do it, was by my friend Alex when I was a freshman in college. It was of a collared trogon. So, while appreciating the bird, I blasted back in memory to that moment, seeing the way he'd laid a shadow across its tail, and realizing I could probably do that, too.

A lot has rolled out from that little epiphany.

There were some mighty fine smaller birds at Cerro Azul, too, and we had nice sunshine and drier air to enjoy them. Here's a golden-hooded tanager, Tangara larvata. 

Let's have another look at that little beauty.

He was eating some tiny green fruits, balancing on the hair-fine twigs.

One of the big attractions of Cerro Azul Meambar is its hummingbird feeding station. Feeders are rigged up under the eaves of the visitor center. And we parked ourselves there and feasted our eyes.

Byron snaps a long-billed starthroat at close range.

White-bellied emeralds were confiding and common.

Much as I loved banging away at the feeder hummingbirds, I yearned to capture images of them in natural surroundings. So I wandered off to a patch of verbena and was well-rewarded by a cooperative rufous-tailed hummingbird.

Ahh. There's the shot I was after--feeding at real flowers!

A devilishly quick and difficult bird to capture is the long-tailed hermit, with its spectacular streamers. When it flies by, your brain just can't figure out what you've just seen, with these white dingies streaming out behind it and that scimitar bill before. It really wouldn't need the bandit mask.

But the jewel of Cerro Azul Meambar, the one they all come for, is the spectacular Violet Sabrewing. It comes thrumming into the feeders like a chimney swift, and by some miracle of iridescence it is purple in all lights and at all angles, not that frustrating blackish that so many hummingbirds seem to show.

This is a huge montane hummer, something like 6-7" long. Its wings make a correspondingly impressive low hum, so you know when it's around, and your heart just leaps.

I maneuvered around until I had the violet sabrewing against a soft green background; I wasn't wild about the babypoo yellow of the building as a backdrop for that glittering jewelbird.

Thank you, Violet Sabrewing.

Not far from the visitor's center, we ambled over to see the deluxe guest cottages under construction at Cerro Azul Meambar National Park. They were lovely, and the new lights outside attracted the most fabulous orthopterans and moths, a phenomenon that had not escaped this turquoise-browed motmot. He was cleaning up after the night's luminary siren had called innumerable large insects to bash themselves against the wall.

Mmm, katydid.

 glug glug glug

Works every time. Ahhhh.

The next day, on the way down, I grabbed one of my favorite shots from the trip through the bus window. Catch the ears on that little boy.

My Matchday - 284 Gillford Park Stadium

Gillford Park 0v2 Marske United
Northern League Division Tw0
Wednesday 27th April 2011
I took a leisurely midweek drive along the A69 to one of the two Cumbrian based Northern League grounds that I still needed to tick off.
Gillford Park FC are based in the southern part of Carlisle, formed in 2004 by Mike Linden and Geoff Andrews, managers of a local amateur team, along with former League player Steven Skinner.
The club were accepted into the Northern Alliance Division Two for the 2005/06 season, playing on a shared pitch with Sunday League team Carlisle Spartans. The club won promotion in their first season, finishing runner-up to Whitley Bay ’A’ with a side comprising of locally based players from the Carlisle area.

The following season the team moved across from the second pitch to the main stadium at Gillford Park. The ground is found before reaching the railway bridge on Pettersill Bank Road, access is via a long concrete track off the main road which leads to the Railway Club and stadium.
The ground has a capacity of 4,000 made up of two seated stands. The Railway End Stand is behind the goal next to the turnstiles and has a cantilever roof with a mixture of red, white and blue flip seats. The stand also has a refreshment bar, changing rooms and a window view at the top which houses the PA system and offices.
The stand behind the team dugouts sits on the half way line, having a block of red seats with a light blue con-iron frame and 6 white supporting pillars. The terrace at the opposite side is fully covered and behind the far goal there's no hardstanding with insuficent room for spectators, so isn't used.
The club made rapid progress, winning the Northern Alliance Combination Cup in 2007 and two further promotions in three seasons brought Northern League football to the city of Carlisle for the first time. Floodlights were erected in the summer of 2009, bringing the ground up to Northern League standard.

Gillford Park have had a difficult season to say the least, locked out of their home for the majority of the season by landlords the Carlisle & District Railway Club after signing a 25 year lease just a few years ago. Thanks to the co-operation of their fellow Northern League clubs they had to reverse all their fixtures, playing all matches away until finding refuge in Whitehaven, at the Copeland Stadium in January.
The Carlisle County Court granted an interim injunction to allow the club the use the ground and facilities, so they finally played their first “home” fixture of the season on March 5th against Crook Town. Since then they’ve had to squeeze in 15 of their remaining 17 sNL Division Two fixtures at home, this game against Marske United being their penultimate match of a hectic finale to the season.
The disagreement with the proprietor seems to have extended into the car park. I arrived at the ground at 7pm where two ladies standing outside the Railway Club politely asked me to park further down away from the social club. I drove a bit further before being stopped by a volunteer from the football club who ushered me inside the stadium itself asking me to park behind the stand, before he cursed the annoying neighbours.

Gillford Park’s opponents Marske United went into this game knowing a win would clinch the third promotion slot along with Newton Aycliffe and Guisborough Town.
The first half produced very little, Marske United played like a team in a hurry, trying to get the required victory as quickly as possible and came close to breaking the deadlock through Karl Charlton, but his effort agonisingly hit the foot of the post.
The Seasiders were more patient in the second half, taking the lead on 55 minutes when Charlton pounced on a loose ball to sweep home from the edge of the box and with a quarter of an hour remaining Chris McGill got on the end of a right wing cross, to produce a sweet volley that clinched victory and sNL Division One football next season.

So after originally finishing the Northern League clubs 3 years ago, due to promotion and relocations I still have one ground left to again complete the set - much further west through Cumbria to Whitehaven. However I may have to do Gillford Park again if the dispute with the stadium landlords isn’t resolved. The football club are “very confident” that Gillford will be at the Railway Club next season, but after that who knows, I wish “Carlisle’s Non-League Team” the best of luck in their efforts in finding stability, be it at their current home or elsewhere in the town.

Matchday stats
GPFC 0 MUFC 2(Charlton 55,McGill 76)
att.TBC

Admission £4

Programme £1



Ground no.284 Gillford Park Stadium - Matchday Webalbum (24 pictures)

My Matchday - 283 Dean Court

AFC Bournemouth 2v1 Bristol Rovers
League One
Monday 25th April 2011
The third and final leg of my Easter treble finishes at Deans Court with a day spent in blazing hot Bournemouth.
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort in Dorset, founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, The town’s growth coincided with the arrival of the railway, becoming a recognised town in 1870. Originally part of Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974.
Bournemouth's location on the glorious south coast has made it a popular destination for tourists and was once surveyed as being the happiest place in Britain to live.

AFC Bournemouth originated out of the remains of the Boscombe St. John's Lads’ Institute F.C. in 1890, playing matches at King’s Park. The club became Boscombe F.C in 1889, competing in the Bournemouth and District Junior League on a pitch in Castlemain Road, Pokestown, before a return to King’s Park.
In 1910 the club was granted a long lease for a new ground on wasteland next to King’s Park by their president Mr. J.E. Cooper-Dean. The ground opened in December 1910, named Dean Court after the club benefactor who was instrumental in the club’s relocation.

The Cooper-Dean estate contained numerous cherry orchards, this as well as the team’s red jerseys gave the club the nickname of “The Cherries”
In 1923 the club changed their name to Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Football Club and were elected to the Football League. Around this time the ground had only a small wooden stand, then in 1927 the club purchased turnstiles and a steel framework from the Wembley Empire Exhibition. The frame was used towards the building of the Main Stand. The stand held 3,700 seats with dressing rooms and offices and a standing paddock, all at a total cost of £12,000.
The South End covered terrace opened in 1936 followed by the extension of the west terrace, known as the “New Stand” in 1957, financed by a record attendance of 28,799 against Manchester United in the FA Cup.
In 1971 the club moved to the top of Football League, but only alphabetically, changing their name to AFC Bournemouth, but ground wise nothing changed until the club purchased land from the Cooper Dean estate to built a new stand on the north terrace. The project came to a standstill due to rising costs, so by 1984 the club abandoned the idea, demolishing the structure and building 27 houses instead. The properties were sold at a profit of £500,000 which helped eased the clubs financial worries.

The ground was completely rebuilt in 2001, with the pitch rotated ninety degrees from its original position, moving away from the aforementioned north end houses. The Cherries ground shared at Dorchester Town for eight games until the stadium was complete. Originally it was rebuilt as a three sided stadium with open corners. Each stand is of a similar size and style decked out in red seats, with the East and Main Stands having AFCB picked out in white. The Main Stand is located on the west side and differs slightly having a row of executive boxes at the rear.
Temporary seats were placed on the undeveloped south end of the ground in autumn 2005, which are rarely used.

Cherries’ legend Steve Fletcher came off the bench to grab a late winner and keep Bournemouth in the League One play-off picture against struggling Bristol Rovers.
Wayne Brown latched on to a long ball before slotting the ball under Jalal to give the visitors an early lead, but they were soon down to 10 men after David McCracken needlessly elbowed Adam Smith as they prepared for a corner kick.
It was soon 10-a-side as Danny Hollands saw red for two bookings just before half time as Bournemouth struggled to make any impression on the game.
Rovers looked likely to hold on until substitute Mathieu Baudry headed the equaliser on 84 minutes then four minutes later Ings capitalised on a mistake by keeper Conrad Logan to tee up Fletcher to score and send the bumper Bank Holiday crowd at Dean Court wild.
AFC Bournemouth remain in sixth place in the table with a three point cushion over seventh-placed Leyton Orient with two games left to play.

The weather on the south coast this Easter weekend has apparently been warmer than Spain. Since we left Tyneside on Thursday morning the weather has been glorious especially on the Dorset coast in Poole on Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday in Bournemouth. We arrived in Bournemouth around mid morning and the beach was already beginning to get packed with lazy sunbathers, it was hard to believe that we were actually still in England.

This has probably been one of the Smudgers best weekend breaks. We’ve had a fantastic time, everything has gone to plan and I’d say the only trouble we’ve had over the five days is getting people to understand our accents. This happened on several occasions, but the best example of our far far away southern hosts having trouble with the Geordie lingo was at Yeovil, when I asked for a cup of coffee and was handed a hot dog!
As was the case at Torquay on Friday, yet again I need to mention another warm welcome and say a big thanks to the staff at Dean Court for a great afternoon.
To finish the holiday all that was left was another mammoth road trip back home. The busy Bank Holiday traffic meant we finally arrived home at 1230am, “Wor Al” having clocked up at total of 985 miles over the weekend,however the laborious road travel has been well worth it having ticked off the three furthest grounds left in ‘The 92’ in one go!

Matchday stats

AFCB 2(Baudry 84, Fletcher 84)BRFC 1(Brown 4)
att.7,869
Admission PP(£18-£25)
Programme £3

Ground no.283 Dean Court - Matchday Web album (23 pictures)

Corey and the Trogon

 I told you all that I was a real snapshot artist on this trip. Because I am easily nauseated when conveyed in diesel buses on winding mountain roads while fighting dysentery, I usually score a front seat. The cost of not giving me a front seat on a diesel bus on a winding mountain road is steep.

So I amuse myself and try to take my mind off my periodically rising gorge by shooting snapshots out the windshield. It's also a good place to spot birds. On this morning we were headed to Cerro Azul Meambar National park, a fabulous montane forest habitat just full of great birds. First, though, we had to negotiate an extremely steep road that was in the process of being paved. They only pave two tracks, where your tires go. I'm not sure what the advantage is--using less cement? It seems like having to make four forms would cancel that out, but what do I know? These dogs figured we weren't going to make it for awhile, so they were free to rest on the track.

Of course, we got stuck and everybody had to get out and help push the bus. Corey Finger and I had already gotten out to walk up, since we were more interested in birding than sitting on a stuck bus.

I was pleased to see that Homo sapiens var. Bubba  is distributed not only through the American South but all the way to Honduras. Bubbas are attracted to car trouble, and there is a lot of that in Honduras, hence a lot of Bubbas.  Floridacracker, this one's for you. Because it makes me laugh every time I look at it.

The one thing that struck me most about Honduras was that everyone walks. No matter where you are, how far out in the middle of nowhere, there are people gamely walking to destinations unknown. They can't afford cars. The lucky ones might have a horse or donkey, or grab a ride in an overstuffed pickup bed. There are very few cars per capita in Honduras. You'll see commercial vehicles like this truck, but very few personal cars.

There would have to be a street fair going on in the US for a road to be this deserted, peopled only by...people. It is amazing, and I never really got used to being whisked by people patiently walking in the hot sun. I wanted to give them all a ride in our bus.

Especially this man, who was carrying a chainsaw on his shoulder.  Up a mountain. Ye gods. We are sooo soft in America. So soft. Note that he also has a bumbershoot, because he can virtually plan on getting rained on before he gets to wherever he's going. He doesn't even have a pad between the metal and his flesh.

We passed plantations of tropical houseplants, like these red variegated dracaenas.

Children played in the yards, and I wondered where or even whether they attended school.  I'm telling you, Honduras is a whole different scene. It is well worth seeing--it will blow your mind.

Finally we reached Cerro Azul Meambar, having thoroughly enjoyed the sights along the way. The first bird to greet us in the parking lot was a collared trogon! Corey Finger did almost lose his mind. It was his first trogon on his first Neotropical birding trip, and he may be forgiven for jibbering. The collared trogon is a jibberworthy bird.

I caught him pole-dancing with his tripod, trying to get a good digiscoped shot. Oh my.

 Like I said, the sights along the way were worth the trip alone. 

 Less lambada, more trogons and hummingbirds anon.