Football recap - September 2023

All the football matches I went to in September. (Numbers continue from previous posts.)

Game 17: Caerau Ely 3-0 Trefelin BGC 

Reason for going: it was a Friday evening cup game, and I hadn't seen an evening game at Caerau Ely since they had the floodlights installed.

Point of interest: the club had printed some programmes because some "ground hoppers" had phoned up and said they were only coming if there was a printed programme. I don't know if the hoppers turned up or not, but I got a programme.

Game 18: Pontypridd United 1-0 Barry Town

Reason for going: one of Barry's closest away games of the season.

Point of interest: I'm not a great believer in nominative determinism, but the referee was called Mr Pratt. He didn't have a good game. Ponty's winner was a contentious penalty.

Game 19: Taff's Well 1-1 Carmarthen Town 

Reason for going: I like going to Taff's Well. They have a proper clubhouse with the walls covered in memorabilia and club history. 

Point of interest: There was a goal scored at both ends of the pitch for a change - I have seen far more goals scored at the top of the fearsome sloping pitch than at the bottom. 

Game 20: Barry Town 1-4 Connah's Quay Nomads

Reason for going: This was the only Barry home game I could get to this month.

Point of interest: Connah's Quay Nomads have always been a hoofball team full of elbows and shoving at corners. Except they have evolved. This was one of the best footballing displays I've seen by a Cymru Premier team and they dominated Barry as easily as the scoreline suggests. Also it was very hot and I think this is the first time I've seen a game halted for a drinks break in September.

Game 21: Shrewsbury Town 0-2 Bristol Rovers

Reason for going: It was my nephew, Zac's, birthday and we went with a bunch of his mates instead of having a party.

Point of interest: This was my fifth game in September, marking a new high point for games in September for me. (The previous record was 4 games.)

I didn't get to any more games in the final two weeks of the month - but I did manage to see the Meadow again, through the train window on the way up to Manchester for a work event at the very end of the month!

A decamonth of football (April 2022)

"Decamonth" is the new term I've coined for a month where I have been to ten football matches. The ten matches included two "twofers" - days where I get to two games in a day. On one of the twofers I saw two teams who were on course to pass each other due to promotion and relegation. I saw Barry Town play at home three times in eight days. And I even got to watch a football match on my birthday!

The first game in April was my birthday game. Barry struggled to beat Cefn Druids who were adrift at the foot of the table, finally scoring the single goal that won the game through a moment of brilliance by Rhys Abbruzzese. Rhys's emergence into the first team has been about the only bright spot in a dismal season for Barry. 

From an unappealing fixture, here's a photo of several Barry players appealing for a throw in.

That was the Saturday. On the Tuesday it was back to Jenner Park for Barry's sixth and final meeting of the season with Cardiff  Met. Barry beat them for the first time this season. It was 1-0 to Barry again, this time thanks to a penalty, and suddenly Barry's Cymru Premier status didn't seem quite so tenuous.

The next Saturday, Barry's game was moved to a 5.15 kick off as S4C decided it would be the most interesting game of the weekend and wanted to show it on TV. That meant I could turn it into a twofer and so I went to Pontyclun FC v Treharris Athletic Western before the Barry game. A friend from work was there watching his son who plays for Treharris, so I spent a very enjoyable almost two hours chatting to him during the game.

Treharris (in red) take an interesting approach at kick off, possibly borrowed from rugby.

I was impressed by the set up in Pontyclun. There is a lovely new clubhouse. The pitch was very well-maintained. And, like to many places in Wales, if the game wasn't capturing the imagination, there were some nice hills to look at.

Although Treharris took the lead, Pontyclun came back and won 3-1. After the final whistle I bombed it down to Barry to watch their game against the Connah's Quay Nomads. 

Things seemed to be going well for Barry when the Nomads conceded a first half penalty and had a man sent off. Barry were winning at half time, but really needed all three points. However, their efforts in the second half against ten men were extremely frustrating to watch. The Nomads scored from their one attack and then were satisfied to defend in depth to take an away point. Barry, as so often happened this season, could not break through and score, so it finished 1-1. 

I dropped a couple of levels for my next game, which was at a ground I had not visited before: the Riverside Ground in Radyr in Cardiff, home of the Cardiff Corinthians. They were playing Llanrumney United in the South Wales Alliance Premier Division, which is the fourth tier of Welsh football.

It was an evening game. The Riverside ground is surrounded by trees and with the low sun, so the game was played in a lovely dappled shade across the pitch.

The Corries, as they're known, had their half time team talk out on the pitch. I took a photo as I walked past them on my way to the bar for a cuppa at half time. 

The points were shared at the end of the game, with the 1-1 scoreline a fair result. The Llanrumney coaches were quite vocal and, although it's probably not really acceptable behaviour for an official, I can't criticise the referee for shouting "Oh, f**k off!" after a loud ridiculous appeal for a free kick. He had my sympathies really, because everyone was gobby. 

By the time Easter Monday had rolled around, Barry's situation had deteriorated following a defeat away at Haverfordwest on Good Friday that left them in a relegation spot. The last home game of the season at Jenner Park was against Aberystwyth Town, the only team left within reach of Barry. Again, S4C decided this was the game most worthwhile of broadcasting so it got moved to a 5.15pm kick off. Which meant I could do a twofer again.

I opted to go to Pontypridd Town v Cambrian & Clydach BGC in the Cymru South, mainly because Ponty were the team most likely to finish second in division and therefore be eligible for promotion...if the club got its licence to play at the top level. The chaps on the gate were very friendly and told me where I could park for free, and then told me they thought the licence would be denied because the authorities wanted to keep Barry in the Cymru Premier. I felt that was highly unlikely. But it just proves my point that every club feels the world is biased against them.

Before kick off I spotted a lone paraglider high above the hills opposite.

Ponty play in the University of South Wales sports park right next to the A470. I somehow ended up sat surrounded by the junior team who were mascots for the day. That was quite fun and one of the kids in particular was excited about everything that happened in the game! Everything! "Look mum, my player got kicked!" "Wow! The ball went right up in the air!" And so on. It did make me consider at what point fans become so jaded we lose the wonder. 

Pontypridd won the game 2-1. They dominated the first half. Cambrian came back into it second half and pulled a goal back. Both sides looked well organised and confident when they attacked. A marked difference to the second game I watched that day.

Barry went into the "must win" game and were a goal down after less than 5 minutes. And despite huffing and puffing and trying all sorts of desperate ways to get back into the game, that's how the scoreline stayed. (And by desperate, I mean, the captain got sent off for diving to try and win a free kick on the edge of the area.) I mentioned the half-time controversy involving song choices in my blog post about relegation. That about sums up the event. 

That result meant Barry were relegated, except they weren't until Pontypridd's appeal for the top level licence was heard three days later. I've described this as the VAR version of relegation. With VAR, you celebrate a goal then wait several minutes for the video assistant referee to give the nod that the goal should be awarded. This was similar. The club were relegated but had to wait three days for it to be confirmed. 

I'd watched the game from the east stand, which is normally in all my pictures at Barry games. This time I got a picture of the 'famous arches of the west stand' and the houses on Gladstone Road. 

The following weekend I was in Shrewsbury staying with my Mum. That made it easy to get across to Cefn Mawr near Wrexham for the 12.45 kick off in Barry's last Cymru Premier game for at least a season. I took my nephew Zac with me and we borrowed my Mum's Barry scarf for him to wear. 

As a spectacle it looked exactly like the two worst teams in the Cymru Premier playing each other. Cefn had a lot of chances in the second half that somehow they didn't score. Eventually, on 88 minutes, the Druids got the only goal of the game, which typically had to be an own goal following a scrappy scramble in the box.

Zac's verdict was that both teams were rubbish. It was hard to argue with that. He enjoyed being sat near the Barry drum and thought it very amusing when the drum skin broke and one of the fans started wearing the drum carcass around his waist. He said he would like to come with me to more football games... "but maybe not Barry again." He might not have much of a choice there. 

So, Barry's season was over, but my decamonth was not. I went to a midweek game at Cardiff Draconians who were battling against Ynyshir Albions for a play off spot in their league. Ynyshir wore a garish neon orange kit, which really came into its own when the sun went down.

Ynyshir took an early lead, but the Dracs won and converted a penalty. It was the 150th goal I'd seen this season. Almost immediately after equalising, the Dracs conceded again and it finished 2-1 to the visitors. That was mainly due to the young goalkeeper playing for the Dracs who pulled off two outstanding saves to keep the scoreline down. 

Then on the final Saturday in April, I drove almost to the Severn Bridge to watch Caldicot Town play Treowen Stars. My friend Ben has been playing for Caldicot all season and I wanted to go and see him play. However, he had picked up an injury so I was able to sit next to him in the stands and catch up with him. It's the first time I had seen him since way before lockdown, so that made the day even more enjoyable.

We arrived early and went into the clubhouse and watched the Premier League game that was on. I also admired the decor - I find clubhouse walls fascinating. The display of old programmes caught my attention.  

The programmes show quite a mix of games and competitions. History in a frame!

The match itself was quite competitive with a goal apiece in the first half. Caldicot scored early in the second half and ended up 2-1 winners. Treowen had a very striking red and white kit so were the sartorial winners.

And that was the last game in my decamonth. Over the ten games I saw 21 goals. I went to seven different grounds, including three I had not been to before. I watched football at each level of the top four tiers in Welsh football. I saw two teams destined to pass each other in the league structure play on the same day. And I had my first footballing away day with sole responsibility for my nephew. All in all, a cracking month.  

Analog collector in an increasingly digital collecting world

Earlier this year, Topps, the company that currently has the sole license to produce official Major League Baseball cards, launched NFT trading cards. These are "virtual" uncopyable images that can be transferred a bit like cryptocurrency. There's all sorts of lingo that goes along with this like "blockchain" and so on. Digi wonks go nuts for this sort of thing.

This has made me realise that I am an analog boy at heart because I have zero interest in this. To me, it has as much appeal as collecting "baseball cards" by right-clicking save on a Google image search.

Topps apparently get 20% of any sell on fees so every time this gets sold on they get a cut. I can see the appeal although people sell them on eBay to circumvent the official system and avoid the fees. A card can change hands multiple times during its lifetime. The idea that every time it's sold on the manufacturer get a percent cut is a corporate executive's dream.

On the same day that Topps launched their digital cards, a packet of real baseball cards arrived in the post. I'd bought them off eBay and really enjoyed looking through them. I appreciate the tactile feel of cards 'in hand', feeling the different kinds of cardboard, the different finishes, spotting blemishes and imperfections.

I even don't mind cards that have been "loved" and have slightly worn edges and corners. Those cards have a history to them. They have character. I try to take good care of my cards, but I have added a bit of "character" to some of them, myself. 

The digital replacement movement is pernicious. This month I have been going to a lot of football matches (going while I can - who knows if another lockdown is coming!) and on three occasions the clubs have offered a virtual programme instead of a printed one. It's not the same thing. 

A printed programme is a tangible souvenir of an event - a record that something happened that acts a reminder when you see it. A PDF on a hard drive is a poor, ersatz alternative. You can't idly flick through it while waiting for the kettle to boil. 

(I was very pleased when I watched a game at Pontypridd Town this week to discover the club have reverted from virtual to physical programmes!)

I feel okay about realising I'm an analog collector. That's just me being me. Although it does mean I need to find room for all the stuff I acquire!

Artful juxtaposition of photo and sponsor

I've been sorting through my late dad's accumulation of football programmes. (If anyone wants a few hundred Shrewsbury programmes, just get in touch!) As I went through them, I spotted this one where the choice of photo on the front aligns comically with the name of the match sponsor!

I would have thought the Shrewsbury Town Away Travel Club would use a coach, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did go by mower.

We do like to go and see the C side - non-league international football report

I am cruising towards a twenty year high in terms of the number of games I've been to this season. Last week I went with one of my erstwhile footballing compadres, Steve, to see Wales 'C' versus England 'C'. This is an international played between players at the semi-professional level or, if you like, a 'non-league' international. England C have been playing for a while, but this was apparently the first time the Welsh FA has fielded a C team.

The teams line up for the anthems

I have seen Wales and Wales B, so was pretty pleased to add Wales C to my list of teams I've seen play. Cathy asked if there was a Wales Z composed of the country's absolutely worst players. "If you've never played football before, you're in," she said, laughing.

The game was played at Jenner Park in Barry, which given the weather, wasn't going to live up to its Barrybados nickname. More like Brrry, I thought, as I layered up with long johns, long sleeve under shirt, thermal socks and a snood. There was a massive pile of snow by the side of the pitch as we came in through the turnstile.  I was still a bit cold by the end of the night, even with all that clobber on.

The Wales team was drawn exclusively from the Welsh Premier League, given that the game was apparently celebrating the 25th anniversary of the WPL's predecessor, the League of Wales. I saw a League of Wales representative game back in the late 90s, so in a sense only the branding had changed. The England team was mainly from the National League. No Wrexham players were present on either side, which was a bit odd considering they are doing pretty well in the National League. They are probably considered an English club by the FAW, but there must be some Welsh born players in their team and playing elsewhere in the semi-pro system in England.

My dad had asked me to get him a programme. There were no programmes. There was a QR code instead. I would have to download it. Given there were over 800 people there, the decision not to print some programmes seemed a bit odd. I couldn't get the QR code to work as I'd not scanned a QR code in the two and a bit years since changing my phone, so I just went to the website, old-school style, and downloaded it from there. (A couple of days later I found a menu option in the scanning section that enabled me to swap to a QR scanner.)

The teams came out and lined up for the anthems with a surprisingly large number of press photographers taking lots of photos. Laudably there was no booing. There was a comedy moment when the announcer stumbled over name of the England number 11, Fejiri Okenabirhie, and then muttered "I can't pronounce that name" which came through loud and clear over the tannoy.

It was a decent game of football. Both sides tried to play pass and move football. I've had a few conversations recently about how the quality of football at lower levels is so much better these days and this was a showcase for how quality has trickled down the pyramid.

Almost inevitably, Okenabirhie scored the first goal, benefiting from an unselfish pass from the number 9 who had pressured the defence into a mistake and then drew the keeper out. The announcer mangled his name again. The vocal locals who sing all the way through Barry matches were present in force and sang "We can't say your name, we can't say your naaaa-aaaame, Number eleven, we can't say your name." I thought that was amusing.

It was 0-1 to England at half time. Should have been 0-2 but somehow the striker hit the bar and the guy following up headed over from 4 yards out. Wales had had an early chance but didn't look particularly threatening.

Wales were better in the second half but were soon down 2-0 after the spawniest penalty I've seen in a long time. It looked like a clear dive and it looked like it was outside the box. For the first time ever the crowd sang for VAR. But despite the protests and the boos from the stand, the penalty was well dispatched by Okenabirhie. This time the announcer tried to put the stress on different syllables, but that didn't work either and he paused mid-surname, which was cheered by the crowd.

Wales rallied in response to the refereeing injustice, getting a goal back. But then England scored their third goal, which was an absolute cracker from the edge of the area. It also sealed a hat trick for Okenabirhie. The tannoy man bailed and just announced it was "a hat trick for... FEJIRI!" as if he was a Brazilian player with one name. The crowd cheered and the announcer stuck with the one name moniker when Fejiri was subbed later on.

Wales stuck at it and seemed the stronger side as the game went into the last twenty minutes. They pulled it back to 3-2 with a few minutes to go and had two really good chances to equalise before the end, but they just couldn't get the ball in the net.

I'd give Fejiri man of the match. In a game where the overall organisation and quality was surprisingly good, he stood out as a very talented player. He plays for Dagenham & Redbridge, but could probably do some damage at a higher level. He's certainly as good as several players I've seen at League One and League Two level.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable game and I hope the FAW continue with the C International experiment. I thought it was an excellent advert for both the WPL and the English non-league system. However, next time we really need to have proper printed programmes. There are only so many innovations we can live with in football.