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No.49 - Tues 24th April 2012; St Edmundsbury League Division 2; 6.15pm at the British Sugar Sports Club; Hollow Road; Bury St Edmunds; Suffolk; IP32 7BB |
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Matchday images (60) https://picasaweb.google.com/footballgroundsinfocus/RFSaintsFC
RF Saints (0) 0 Tollgate Inn (1) 3 Tollgate close-Inn on title... I must admit that I do have a bit of a craving for the brown stuff. By that I don't mean beer but chocolate. I just love the stuff!! Not a day passes without satisfying my addiction for a bar (or two) of Cadbury's milk heaven. You name it, I've tried it. My favourite at the moment is the Twirl bar with a Flake and Maltesers both coming in a close second. Sadly the evidence of my voracious appetite for these sugary products has grown to rather worrying proportions as a combination of these blue and yellow wrappers can be seen all over the house and in the car. My beloved and twin daughters have now taken it upon themselves to hide the multi-packs (which include Buttons - yummy) to give them an outside chance of sharing my passion. You could say that I have a very sweet tooth! After another day of really heavy rain in Racing HQ I thought my hopping chances of taking in a game had been scuppered tonight. However a late decision to attend this eagerly awaited St Edmundsbury League fixture eventually paid off as the precipitation ceased by the time I came off the A14 (at junction 43) and approached the British Sugar Sports Club in Hollow Road. Within five minutes the sun came out just on cue as the players took to the field for this crucial Division Two encounter. What a stroke of luck! Since being relegated from Division One of the competition almost a year ago RF Saints FC have struggled once again this campaign. Currently the club finds itself one place (and one point) better off than West Row Reserves who prop up the Division Two table. By contrast this has been a tremendous season for visitors Tollgate Inn FC who lifted the League Cup only four days earlier beating Division One leaders Garboldisham 4-0 at Ram Meadow. Their league form has been really impressive and they now lie in second place some nine points behind leaders Barons 1985 FC. With seven games still to play (in fifteen days) they not only look likely contenders for gaining promotion but could also go on to win the title. Providing fatigue and injuries don't take their toll (pardon the pun) on the players this feat could be achievable! As expected the result went according to the form book with Tollgate Inn prevailing notching up a comfortable 3-0 victory. Justin Farrow (22) opened the scoring by beating the offside trap and making a strong run from the half-way line before drilling the ball home with a low shot past keeper Liam Shore. Jordan Marlow (54) added a second almost ten minutes after the break when he latched onto a rebounded shot to convert from close range. Nathan Head (56) wrapped things up a couple of minutes later with a very easy tap in from his position close to the goal line to complete the scoring. Expertedly refereed by Scot Gerry Keegan, the game was a great advert for the St Edmundsbury League. The match played on a bumpy and well-drained, sloping pitch in cloudy (but not rainy) conditions attracted some twenty spectators including a couple of unlikely visitors supporting the 'Inn'. Canine fans Izzy (a whippet) and Daisy (a border collie-cross) are regulars at all matches taking up their position close to the home bench!! During the game I got into conversation with the affable Roger Fayres who told me how both he and the Saints Commercial company jointly formed the club some five seasons ago acting as co-sponsors, hence the moniker. After initially playing at the Oakes Road playing fields on the Westley Estate the club have since used the facilities at the BS Club during the last couple of seasons. Visitors to the British Sugar(1) Sports Club will not fail to be impressed by this surreal gem of a ground tucked away behind the massive sugar beet silos and chimneys. Passers-by using the A14 wouldn't even know it existed! The sign-posted entrance off Hollow Road leads to a sizeable car park on the right and a well appointed social club beyond. At the rear a landscaped patio with benches provides an elevated view of the action below. Hemmed in by hedges and fences with the incredible backdrop of the works behind the far goal to the right there's no other ground quite like it anywhere in grass roots football. What a groundscape (as I like to call it)!! A flat-roofed brick-built pavilion provides changing accomodation for players and officials (and the score-keepers when used during the cricket season) close to the half-way line. Tonight a small basic hessian-covered, scaffold-framed stand, erected for a forthcoming mini-soccer tournament, offered shelter for some thirty spectators. From here the bumpy pitch slopes markedly down towards the far side and to also the left half of the field. The slope is most noticeable if you stand on the opposite side and look back towards the pavilion. Unusually due to the location and close proximity of the tall buildings the shouts coming from the players and fans appear to constantly reverberate and bounce off the surrounding walls. I must also report that a visit here comes with a necessary health warning to spectators who should be aware of the pungent smell of sugar beet fumes and chemicals cascading into the air from one of the many chimneys on site!! Pooo-weee!! A visit to this quirky and well-appointed ground comes highly recommended. Should you wish to find out more about the St Edmundsbury Football League, RF Saints and any of the other clubs playing in it click on the links below. The joys of local grass roots footy continue. Have fun wherever you go. I must dash as I need my dose of sugar...there's a Miky Bar with my name on it somewhere in the kitchen!! (1) Note - Bury St Edmunds factory supplies 210,000 tonnes of granulated sugar to customers in bulk or bags each year. The Bury St Edmunds site screens and bags granulated sugar, producing caster, extra fine and granulated sugars in 25kg and 1000kg bags for supply to industrial customers. In addition, the site works closely with British Sugar’s sister company, Silver Spoon, which uses 140,000 tonnes of Bury St Edmunds factory’s sugar at its nearby packaging complex. Bags of Silver Spoon sugar are available on supermarket shelves throughout the UK. FGIF Match Stats Scorers: (H) N/A and (A) J Farrow (22); J Marlow (54); N Head (56) Attendance: 22 Admission and Programme: None; Match rating: 3/5; Ground rating: 5/5. Links http://full-time.thefa.com/Index.do?league=5981576 http://www.stedmundsburyfootballleague.co.uk/ |
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edited on 25/04/12 |
