Stuart...
Retford United supporter, turnstile operator, club volunteer and club flag designer (amongst other things) ... Stands proudly with the flag that he designed and paid for himself ...
Competition : Northern Counties East League - Premier Division
Result : Retford United 2 Scarborough Athletic 3
Attendance : 221
Cannon Park
Only the floodlights are visible from Leverton Road... in rural Nottinghamshire.
Cannon Park
"Home Of The Badgers"
"Today's Teams"
Teamsheet pinned onto The Badger's Sett (ClubShop)
Rudy Funk
Scarborough Athletic Manager
Jennifer & Teddy The Dog
The Home Dug Out
"The Back Pitch"
Ball Boys slip through a hole in the back of the terrace wall to retrieve any mishit shot or clearance.
The Back Pitch II
An autumnal golden sun lights up the training pitch at Cannon Park as storm clouds gather in the distance.
"0-2 down .... "
"Seadogs", that's the nickname of Scarborough Athletic, not a description of these Scarborough Athletic supporters I may add, have seen it all before. Their club, 0-2 down after just thirteen minutes.
"Half-Time Raffle"
Winning the meat raffle may console the Scarborough Athletic supporters after an abject first half performance. Little did they know what was to follow in the next forty-five minutes!
"Half-Time"
Retford United players walk off 2-0 ahead, the Scarborough Athletic players knowing what's going to happen in the dressing room ...
"Rudy... Roberto.."
Scarborough Athletic manager, Rudy Funk wearing the Seadogs colours, has a "word" at half time with the match officials.
"A Reflective Sunset"
Movember with Jon Knight
Jon Knight
Retford United club photographer ... see link to the match photographs.
Golden Sunset Over Cannon Park
Migrating birds ... as The Seadogs tear into The Badgers and go level at 2-2
Golden Sunset Over Cannon Park II
"Food For Thought" ...
For this Scarborough Athletic supporter ...
Home Shirt, Pie and NCEL Club Badges...
"Clank"
residing in Retford, follows The Badgers and The Blades.
Reminisced about the days of Len Badger, Tony Currie, Alan Woodward, fell out the Football League direction and now regularly attends Cannon Park and Retford United away games.
Prophetic words ... "The reason why the Football League clubs don't publicise the local non-league scene is simply because of fear. A fear that stems from the belief that once "their" supporters taste the non-league football scene, they'll stay there and won't return to highly inflated admission prices, pampered celebrity, front page tabloid footballers, because what they see at non league, is honest football, played for little or no financial rewards. You can stand at Retford, have a drink in the clubhouse, smoke on the terraces, things that the working class supporter has done for years at football grounds up and down the country on a Saturday afternoon from 3.00pm onwards"
Stuart & Peter
*****
Match Reports
Photography from Jon Knight - Retford United FC - Official Photographer
All Photography : ©fotografica137
Website Links To Both Clubs In The NCEL Panel At The Side
Click On Any Photograph To Open A Slideshow
Bravo! Great article.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the words of "Clank" ..
ReplyDeletevery true, certainly a reflection of how I feel..
Darren Norton
via twitter
Disagree with clank's view. They are some who watch both pro and semi-pro football. The ones who don't either don't have the time or have the view that non-league football is amateurish and badly run. In some cases this is true. There are a few clubs in the Evo Stik and NCEL that are poorly run and in some cases, slightly embarrassing for the rest of non-league.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when you go a bit deeper, there are some good players out there now. Players who used to play professional.
Finally, it is not the job of the Football League clubs to publicise NL football. It is down to us and the clubs. Newspapers do their best, but all clubs need a good website and in 2012 that is one of the best ways to draw people in.