Leatherhead

Leatherhead FC is a non league football club from the town in Surrey of the same name, which is located on the River Mole just south of the M25. The club was formed in 1907 as Leatherhead Rose, playing in local league competition. Another club also existed in the town; Leatherhead United playing at Fetcham Grove.

Following World War Two the two clubs joined forces and became members of the Surrey Senior League for the 1946-47 season. After being crowned champions for four consecutive seasons ‘The Tanners’ moved to the Metropolitan & District League for the 1950-51 campaign. However, after just one season Leatherhead became founder members of the Delphian League.

1958 saw another change in competition with a move to the Corinthian League, where the club won the title in 1962-63, before the league was disbanded meaning joining yet another league. The Athenian League expanded to two divisions with Leatherhead winning it at the first attempt, winning promotion to the Premier Division.

The Tanners cup pedigree was born in 1970-71 as the lost 3-0 in the semi final of the FA Amateur Cup to eventual winners Skelmersdale United at Burnden Park, Bolton. A year later the club moved to the Isthmian League, before reaching the last four in the last ever Amateur Cup in 1974; this time losing to Ilford by the only goal at Millwall. Nobby Skinner was the goal scoring hero of that era, but he was to be outdone soon after.

The 1974-75 season would see Leatherhead make national headlines. After seeing off Croydon, Hornchurch, Dagenham and then Walton & Hersham they reached Round One of the FA Cup, where Bishop’s Stortford after a replay and then Colchester United were beaten at Fetcham Grove. A trip down to the coast resulted in a 1-0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion with Leatherhead rewarded with a tie against top tier Leicester City.

The star of the show was the charismatic goal scorer Chris Kelly who was christened as ‘The Leatherhead Lip’ as he willingly talked up his team. The fourth round clash ws moved from Fetcham Grove to Filbert Street where a crowd of 32,000 as well as the Match of the Day cameras turned out. Leatherhead went 2-0 up and Kelly had a goal bound shot scrambled off the line to make it three, before Leicester eventually wore down the non leaguers resistance to go through 3-2.

To see Kelly’s solo goal at the Goldstone Ground, click on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSsVZiMTspg

Further conquests in the FA Cup followed including another second round appearance, but the 1977-78 campaign finally saw Leatherhead reach Wembley Stadium. After defeating Spennymoor United over two legs in the semi final, The Tanners lined up against Altrincham, but lost out 3-1 in front of the Twin Towers.

Gradually the team dismantled before Leatherhead were relegated for the first time in 1982-83. A further demotion came seven years later. In 1996-97 the club returned to Division One but went back down four years later. Serious financial concerns hit the club in 1999, but supporters rallied to secure a new long term lease at Fetcham Grove.

Following league re-organisation Leatherhead were placed in Division One South for the 2002-03 season, before going on to reach the FA Cup first round for the first time in twenty six years before bowing out to Torquay United. In 2009-10 the team lost out to Folkestone Invicta in the play offs.

However, The Tanners were not to be denied for much longer as they went up in May 2011 in a dramatic play off final against Dulwich Hamlet. Leatherhead were 3-1 down going into injury time before Kevin Terry scored twice to take the game to extra time. Terry completed his hat trick in the additional period as the club won promotion to the Premier Division.

Unfortunately their spell lasted just one season before the club returned with Richard Brady as boss to try and win promotion from Division One South. Leatherhead suffered from terrible flooding in January 2014, but soon pulled together to get the show back on the road.

Leatherhead FC will play in the Isthmian League Division One south in the 2013-14 season.

My visits

Friday 3^rd November 2006

With the weekend off work and heading to Droyslden v Scarborough the following day I decided to get out and about and see some new places and football clubs on a bright winters day.

After calling at Dorking’s Meadowbank ground I caught the no.465 bus to Leatherhead. I found the ground easily enough as the bus went past the lane to the entrance. The ground was open so I could go inside and take some pictures.

Fetcham Grove was a smart venue, though a little less underdeveloped for what I had expected. Two low stands with seating and standing accommodation ran down the length of one side, with the clubhouse and changing rooms behind. There was another small cover behind the near end goal but the rest of the ground was open hard standing with grass, some of which sloped towards the pitch, beyond.

Once I’d finished I walked to the railway station and took a bus westerly to my next port of call; Chessington & Hook United.

Leatherhead 2 Horsham 1 (Wednesday 26^th February 2014) Isthmian League Division One South (att: 245)

I’d had my eye on heading to Fetcham Grove for some time for a game. Just a couple of weeks earlier I’d been thwarted by the weather as the match had been called off because of a waterlogged pitch. The club had been terribly hit by flooding at the turn of the year, so they’d done really well to have any games staged for some time.

It was my day off, but my adventures at the Carshalton v Dulwich game the night before had left me extremely jaded. Eventually I dragged myself up and got to Waterloo to take a packed surface towards the Surrey commuter belt for the second night running.

I’d read that Chapeltom, another regular poster on the invaluable Non League Matters Forum (http://nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum/gforum.cgi?) was heading to the game. His posts also revealed he enjoyed a real ale or two, so I got in touch with him by Twitter. We ended up meeting in the rather posh Wetherspoons Assembly Rooms in Epsom, where my Sambrooks Wandle Bitter was in top order.

We arrived at Fetcham Grove after negotiating several awkward crossings in a town where there didn’t appear to be a speed limit. Because of the backlog of fixtures, Leatherhead reduced admission to a very welcome £5, with the decent programme setting me back another couple of quid.

Tom headed round to the grass bank on the far side while I went in search of much needed nutrition. The two ladies in the snack bar were surprised as to the size of the queue, which meant a bit of a wait, but they sorted it with good humour. The cheeseburger and chips were excellent for £4.

Following the food I had a look along the main side. The three covers had been cleverly placed so that everyone including those in the seats, had a full view of the pitch, which had a few yards of turf up to the wall at the front. The rooms either side of the toilets showed terrible signs of the floods. The cleaning process had begun.

The atmosphere created by both sets of fans was friendly but they also got behind their side. One home fan gave a resigned groan as the referee pulled over The Tanners manager Richard Brady for his feedback. I got the impression that this was not an unusual occurrence. Predictably enough, the ref gave the away side most close calls and who could blame him?

Horsham deservedly took the lead as they were making a mockery of the league table. The Hornets were towards the bottom of the table. I’d seen them concede five at Worthing a couple of weeks previously. Leatherhead were in second place and hoping to put pressure on leaders Peacehaven & Telescombe.

The goal came through some fine football on eighteen minutes as Jamie Cade gave and received a return ball before smashing home. The Hornets created plenty of other scares to go with it and missed a really good opportunity to double their lead, while Leatherhead huffed and puffed without getting too far.

I met up with Tom who’d kept a close eye on proceedings. His impression was that the game was of a good quality, but lacking in goalmouth action. At the interval we walked round and took up a position on the covered terrace near to the end the home side hoped to attack.

Brady made a couple of smart half time changes; in particular bringing on Theo Fairweather-Johnson up front on the right. He immediately livened up play and gave the Horsham rearguard something to think about.

The equaliser came on sixty three minutes as Fairweather –Johnson exchanged passed with Kev Terry to fire home from just inside the box to the joy of the ageing locals alongside us. Soon after he scored what would turn out to be the winner as his first touch set him up to send an angled volley past Kieron Thorp in the visitors net from the edge of the box.

Horsham nearly snatched a late leveller but defender Jerry Nnamani hooked the goal bound effort off the line. The full time whistle was met with cheers as The Tanners closed the gap at the top of the lead to just one point.

We headed into town for a post match pint in Wetherspoons Edmund Tylney outlet, before dashing off for the train back to the metropolis. It had been a decent night out for the second evening in a row, again enhanced by being in good company.

Thephasadin Stadium (Bangkok)

Thephasadin Stadium in central Bangkok is part of the National Stadium complex, which also includes gymnasiums, an indoor pool and next door; Suphachalasai Stadium.

The stadium was built in 1965 and was originally called Hockey Field, as it staged hockey matches for the 1966 Asian Games. In 1983 it was renamed to its current title in honour of of Sanan Thephasadin na Ayutthaya, the Father of Thai Football, and Nak Thephasadin na Ayutthaya.

The stadium was home to BEC Tero Sasana for a few seasons until 2013 and also BCC (Bangkok Christian College) Tero.

My visits

April 2008

I was on holiday in Thailand and had been attending the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes. Back in Bangkok I found myself with a day or two to spare while staying in Minburi with Steve Walker. He was busy at work, and despite the relatively sketchy information available at the time, I decided to go and have a look at Rajamangala Stadium and the old National (Suphachalasai) Stadium, which was at the city end of one of the Skytrain routes.

Little did I know before I arrived, but I came across the Thephasadin Stadium, which was built on one side the main arena. There was a kid’s sports day taking place inside, but no-one seemed worried that I was taking photographs.

The stadium had one covered stand and an open seated stand opposite. Both ends were undeveloped. It was a fairly basic stadium, but one with an excellent location and transport links.

I went on to have a look inside the National Stadium and then managed to buy some Thai League team shirts nearby, which was a real bonus before heading back to meet up with Steve and some of his colleagues for a couple of nights in Pattaya.

Monday 28^th October 2013

With the day to myself following a brilliant couple of weeks in Thailand and the Cricket Sixes complete, with my travelling companions heading home I decided to fill in the day before my evening flight home.

After a fine lunch and catching up with the papers in the convivial surroundings of the Biergarten I took the Skytrain to National Stadium. I wanted a proper look around the complex with time on my hands.

The pitch at the stadium was being replaced and signage was still up from when Thailand staged the 2012 Futsal World Cup. There was also an empty shop from the time BEC Tero Sasana were tenants at the ground.

I took my new set of snaps and headed for the major stadium next door.

Whitehawk

Whitehawk FC are a non league football club from the Whitehawk district of Brighton on the Sussex coast, who were formed in 1945 as Whitehawk & Manor Farm Old Boys FC. The club joined the Sussex County League in 1952-53.

The club finished as league runners up in three consecutive seasons before they changed their title to Whitehawk FC in 1960. ‘The Hawks’ lifted the league title in 1961-62 and regained it in 1963-64 after the previous campaign had been abandoned because of bad weather.

Whitehawk suffered relegations to Division Two in 1967 and 1977, but won that league in 1968 and 1981 to regain their top flight status. A third league title was secured in 1983-84, although for many seasons The Hawks were the leagues’ nearly men as they finished as runners up on no less than five occasions and also had a couple of impressive FA Vase runs for good measure.

A fourth Sussex County League win was completed in 2009-10 with promotion to the Isthmian League coming as a reward. In their debut season in new surroundings Whitehawk were denied promotion as they went out in the play offs to Leatherhead at the semi final stage with former Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham winger Darren Freeman in charge of team affairs.

However the 2011-12 campaign saw the Division One South title being secured as well as a Sussex Senior Cup triumph, as money was spent at the ambitious club. Whitehawk applied to use Withdean Stadium for the following campaign, but their application was blocked.

On the pitch the team completed back to back promotions, this time to Conference South while The Enclosed Ground had temporary seating from Withdean installed and an application was made to change the clubs name to Brighton City FC for the 2013-14 season. The FA turned down the request.

Further finances were spent on the playing squad with Craig Brewster, a former Scottish league forward and manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee United came in as Assistant Manager to Freeman. 

The club was embroiled in controversy as former players Michael Boateng, Hakeem Adelakun and Moses Swaibu were charged with conspiracy to defraud as part of an investigation into match-fixing around Christmas 2013. Freeman was dismissed as manager in January 2014 with the team in the relegation places.

Whitehawk FC will play in Conference South in the 2013-14 season.

My visits

Thursday 25^th September 2008

It was a lovely September early morning with Yorkshire playing Sussex on day two in the County Championship and looking in real bother with relegation a real possibility. I headed down to the coast and decided to have breakfast at the Wetherspoon outlet, The West Quay. It was a delight to sit and overlook the sea and put me in good form for the day.

My other reason for my choice of location was the chance to visit Whitehawk for some photos. The walk up to Wilsons Avenue was longer than I thought. The lane down to the ground was certainly a surprise, with the steep banking and pitches of East Brighton Park on one side and the hills of the South Downs on the other. Brighton Racecourse was at the top of the hill looking down on proceedings.

The gates to the ground were locked, so I continued past the camp and caravan site and eventually found a way in at the top end. The Enclosed Ground was a basic venue, with one stand containing seats in the middle, either side of the players tunnel, and standing flanking them.

The rest of the ground had a hard standing walkway around it. The side opposite the stand appeared to be out of bounds. The clubhouse was down in the far corner. The pitch sloped down to that end and again in the corner.

I made my way back and caught a bus to Hove, where David Wainwright and Adil Rashid performed a miraculous comeback batting for Yorkshire, eventually declaring on 400-9 after been 80-6 at one stage! The sun shone, I got a deckchair and the bar sold real ale from the wood.

It was a perfect day!

Whitehawk 3 Staines Town 3 (Tuesday 7^th January 2014) Conference South (att: 126)

The weather was so different to my previous visit to Whitehawk. My list of possible fixtures was diminishing one by one, so I had a decision to make. I’ve never shirked away from an opportunity of a ride down to Brighton, and with me having the week off work and Twitter confirming the match was definitely on, my mind was made up.

I took the train from West Hampstead and changed at Kings Cross for a fast service to the coast. The rain that was blighting the area had stopped and it wasn’t too cold. The evening’s entertainment got underway in the Evening Star near to Brighton station. The Hophead was excellent as ever, but steep at £3.30. The pub, while good, was heading up in the pretentious stakes – in my humble opinion anyway.

I decided to change scenery and take a bus down to the Marina. I was armed with my CAMRA Wetherspoons vouchers, offering me 50p off a pint of real ale. I considered this offer at £23 a year, with £20 returned in beer vouchers to be wonderful value, and I never tired of using the discounts!

However, there is a down side. The West Quay is a grand pub, but it was busy with shoppers and those down there for pre entertainment refreshments. There were not enough staff to deal with the hordes, so I left after just one pint to seek out the clubhouse at The Enclosed Ground instead.

The lane down to the ground was unlit, so I had to use the torch on my phone. The turnstiles seemed extremely narrow as I paid my very reasonable £10 entrance fee. Well either that or Christmas excess had caught up with me? I headed straight to the bar to read the reasonable £2 match programme. The bar had a selection of bottled real ale. I ordered a Snecklifter from the cheery barmaid, which cost £3.40.

A decent gathering of Staines fans had made the journey south to cheer on their side, making themselves heard all evening. A few minutes before kick off it was time to go outside to survey my surroundings.

The Enclosed Ground had received some poor reviews the previous season from visiting Isthmian League clubs as temporary seating was installed, but I wanted to see it properly for myself. Many a bitter fan over the years has been unfair after seeing their team defeated.

The original stand was now all seated, but still stood back from the pitch. There was hard standing nearer the pitch on either side out in the open. The far side was still banked and out of bounds to fans, but offered great potential in the future. Both ends had great semi temporary banks of seating previously used at Withdean Stadium, when Brighton & Hove Albion had been in residence. The clubhouse end had some covering over the centre, but the scaffolding holding up the roof restricted some views. The far end had a gap between the two sections. The structures had seen batter days, and the floorboards creaked badly in places. It did the job, but looked really strange. This added to the severe contortions and undulations of the pitch made it look like a venue that Picasso would have been proud to design.

The playing surface was OK, but it cut up at an early stage. The rain that began to fall after around thirty minutes added to the already slippy surface and added to the errors and excitement.

Whitehawk started the game in the relegation zone, but showing signs of recent good form. Indeed they started the evening in fine style against mid table Staines. The home side took charge in the first sixteen minutes as goals from Tommy Fraser and David Da Silva put them 2-0 up. It could and should have been more as the Staines defence looked in total disarray. The home fans were cheered on by half a dozen fanatics behind the goal open to the elements, including one blowing a hunting horn.

From the dry at the other end I saw big striker Louie Theophanous score with a fine finish after some good close control to reduce the arrears. This signaled the time for me to get some nourishment. I had intended to eat at the pub, but the queues were just too big. I settled for a bacon cheeseburger, which was nice but overpriced at £4.20 and a Bovril.

After taking photos up the far end I settled for a seat in the Main Stand near to a fella who looked very much like a coach or scout from another club. The game was a cracker for the neutral as Whitehawk continued to pour forward in search of sealing a vital three points. They continued to miss opportunities, while Staines gradually got into the game. Their boss Marcus Gayle made a couple of smart substitutions.

With ten minutes remaining Theophanous nipped in at the near post to finish a free kick to draw the teams level, to many groans from the home support. Me and the coach laughed and reflected how typical that it was if you continue to miss chances. The away fans really had something to celebrate a few minutes from full time as substitute Bajram Pashaj fired home, to complete a remarkable comeback.

My bus back for a fast train was due so I departed as the game headed into stoppage time. I missed the equaliser as Sam Gargan rescued a point for Whitehawk. Surely they would have still have been disappointed with just one point from a game that they generally dominated?

I climbed the hill past the East Brighton Park pitches and caught a bus that took me on a tour of the area and past the racecourse to bring back some happy memories before dropping me in the town centre. The rain was getting heavy as I got my train back to the capital after another fine evening out in a town I had a lot of time for.

Eastbourne Town

Eastbourne Town FC is a non league football club from the seaside town of the same name in East Sussex. The club were formed in 1881 as Devonshire Park FC becoming the oldest club in Sussex, playing where the tournament tennis courts later stood, before moving to The Saffrons five years later. 

At this point the club became Eastbourne FC. They became founder members of the Southern Amateur Football League in 1907, remaining there until 1947. In 1920 Eastbourne also joined the Sussex County League until joining the Corinthian League in 1947.

In 1963-64 the Corinthian League disbanded to be replaced by an enlarged Athenian League. Eastbourne were relegated to the second tier in 1966, before adding Town to their title in 1971. In 1976-77 Town rejoined the Sussex County League, going on to win the championship in 1977. The club suffered a relegation but climbed back, going on to lift the crown for a second time in 2006-07 and gaining promotion to the Isthmian League.

Eastbourne Town FC will play in the Isthmian League Division One South in the 2013-14 season.

My visits

Tuesday 12^th December 2007

Always looking to use my days off from work productively, I had booked one of the excellent value Southern Trains Daysaver ticket to allow my unlimited rides for the day on that company’s services. It was a crisp sunny day as the train pulled into Eastbourne from an enjoyable look around Lewes.

The walk to The Saffrons took me past the lovely little area called Little Chelsea and the impressive Town Hall, which looked down on the ground. An ornate gate and brick entrance was open so that I could wander inside.

A wooden fence divided the football ground from Eastbourne Cricket Club, where Sussex used to play each season. The near goal had two sections of a few rows of open terracing. This continued down the Saffrons Road Side, with a cover offering protection to the last third of the pitch. It was neatly rounded off with a few garden benches at the back. The far end offered most of the facilities. A long low stand went all along the goal line, with the changing rooms and board room at the rear. The stand was all seated and had a counter for hot drinks as well as a hot food stand near to the corner flag.

I departed and headed down to the sea front with its wide promenade and lovely views of the chalk cliffs of Beachy Head. My destination was The Oval, home of Eastbourne United at the far end of town.

Eastbourne Town 2 Sittingbourne 4 (Wednesday 8^th January 2014) Isthmian League Division One South (Att: 165)

Having booked train tickets a couple of weeks earlier for the evening during my weeks leave from work, I was relieved the pitch passed a precautionary inspection because of continual rain in the area.

My journey first took me to Brighton for the second consecutive evening where I used my Camra Wetherspoon vouchers on two pints of Acorn Pale Ale in the Post & Telegraph, offering outstanding value. I deliberately set off early so that I found myself in the London & County in Eastbourne to dine out on the Wednesday Chicken Night offer.

There was some excitement when the gents eventually arrived to open the gates into the ground. One local pointed out that it was a long time since he’d seen a queue at The Saffrons! Admission was £8. As I couldn’t fathom out where the clubhouse was and I was still pretty full from my meal I settled for shelling out a quid for a cup of tea while reading the decent enough programme which had cost £1.50.

The Saffrons had not changed since my previous call. I wandered around to keep myself busy as the first half was woeful. There were mistakes galore although the pitch played fine. There was mud in the six yard boxes but nothing too bad. We had a couple of showers throughout the evening, which slickened up the surface. The game was poor, so I followed a couple of older local gentlemen to the clubhouse, just outside the top entrance a minute before the break. Sure enough we missed a goal as the visitors went ahead through Thomas Loynes.

I enjoyed trying Long Man Brewery Blonde, a new beer to me (£3.20) and chatting to the gents about cricket at The Saffrons and the stars who've appeared for Eastbourne CC; Andy Flower, Richard Halsall, Tim Ambrose, Ed Giddins and Peter Moores amongst others. They lamented of bigger gates for Sussex county games than Hove were getting, but how the business arrangement meant the club making a loss.

Unfortunately the chatting got the better of us and missed the first minute of the second half, and also the equaliser! Billy Medlock had netted for Town. I went to the loo and lo and behold Eastbourne went 2-1 up again through Medlock. He stood out for the next ten to fifteen minutes as the home side had a purple patch.

After that Sittingbourne came to their senses and realised Eastbourne weren't too hot at the back as they took control, much to the enjoyment of their loud custodian Adam Molloy who seemed upset that his wild celebrations weren't challenged. Two goals from Joe Taylor, with another from Luke Girt sealed the game.

The home side had a man sent off for retaliation in the last couple of minutes. He was most dischuffed and took some persuasion to leave the pitch. It had been the second time I'd seen Eastbourne in the 2013/14 season. I feared that they may struggle to stay up, which would have been a shame. I quite liked my visit.

I rounded my trip off by enjoying some tremendous Hophead back in the London & County at over a quid cheaper than in the brewery tap in Brighton. My journey back to the capital went quickly!

All in all it had been good entertainment and educational regarding the cricket. I’d met nice people at a tidy set up.