Venue: The Old Fire Station ground, Quetlaw Road, Wheatley Hill, Co Durham DH6 3RL
Kickoff: 13:30 Sat 14 Sept 2013
Weather: overcast with sunny spells, dry with drizzly moments, mostly still with occasional light breezes, 13℃.
LOCATION REPORT
FOR SPECTATORS
SatNav: DH6 3RL
Staff: none.
Parking: roadside on Quetlaw Rd and dirt track to allotments (8 spaces max). (Note: edge of residential area, so show respect to residents).
Public transport: #22 (Durham-Hartlepool) bus, stop 60m away on Quetlaw Rd.
Refreshments: nothing, no shop/pub close by.
Toilets: nothing.
Kids: another pitch adjoining, some kids having a knock-about with grandad.
Weather protection, on an exposed hillside:
Rain: zero.
Wind: zero. The handful of trees offer no effective protection.
Sun: zero.
Cold: zero.
FOR PLAYERS
Pitch: grass, freshly-mowed, lovely surface....but an absolutely massive slope!
Both end-to-end AND side-to-side!
Floodlights: none.
Changing: at the WMC 100m down the road! (The goalposts etc are stored in a rusty old shipping-container at pitchside.)
MATCH REPORT
Approx crowd: 30 at highest, of whom 10 were connected to the teams, plus handful of casual passers-by and dog walkers. 2 prams, three women.
A couple of barking gundogs walked by, seemingly returning from a shooting trip?
Full-time [h/t] score (colours):
3 [2] Wheatley Hill (yellow/red stripes, black)
4 [3] Coundon & Leeholm (blue)
Bookings: 1 C&L (backchatting)
Sent Off: 0
[I actually thought the ref might end up red-carding everyone, as it was getting a tad heated at one point, but he let them get away with a lot more than they appreciated!]
Official Match Report:
http://www.durhamAllianceLeague.org.uk/core/teamsReport.aspx?fixtureID=2611
NORVENMUNKI's COMMENTS
First round of the superbly-named Washington Aged People's Trophy, rather than League, so true knockout tournament feel.
It started as an incredibly bad-natured affair. Not a good example of the FA's 'Respect' initiative!
Players and coaches on both sides showing minimal respect for each other, and especially the match officials (ie the sort of 'banter' that gets you an FA hearing in pro footie!). Plenty of industrial language. One player was so naffed-off that he subbed himself!
Got chatting with a local passer-by walking his dog, who bemoaned the poor quality of football on show. OK, it's not the Prem, but this is real football!
After the break, the drizzle fell and I put a coat on for the first time this season...then the sun came back out!!
Occasionally the horse in the nearby field would whinney, as if laughing at the missing of a sitter! The cows in another field, however, were completely impassive!
GBA rating: Not especially. (It was a bit like playing footie in our back-garden!!)
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