'This is definitely a case of what I would call football hopping deja-vu! It's only been three days since my last foray from Racing HQ and I'm literally re-tracing my steps (or should that be tread marks) again for my fix today this afternoon. Indeed all but the last eight miles of my journey involves using exactly the same route as I did on my way to watch Dereham Athletic play Dereham Taverners in a high-scoring derby match in the Central & South Norfolk League on Wednesday night. In fact I almost go past the ground in Beetley as I head a bit further up the B1146 towards the Norfolk market town of Fakenham for my chosen game at Colkirk Football Club, another tick in my quest to complete the league. 

I must say at this point that I am indebted to the ever helpful C&SNFL secretary John Turner who only a couple of hours earlier had confirmed the match details over the phone. His parting words to me warned that the ground is literally in the middle of nowhere!! With this in mind I follow the narrow, winding Dereham Road into the village with some caution. After turning down Whissonett Road my trusty Garmin satnav informs me that I have reached my destination.

With few clues as to the location of the ground entrance, I come to a stop alongside some other cars at what appears to be, for want of a better description, a rather overgrown lay-by. Thankfully it's not too long before a couple of young lads carrying sports bags walk past the Wraymobile and make their way through a narrow gap in between two hedges before disappearing from sight. I quickly grab my stuff, get out of the car and follow them along a narrow track which runs beside a farm. Within half a minute I am relieved to say that the playing fields come into view and I can see several players are already kicking a ball about over on the far side of the field.

This ground, to be perfectly honest, is a fine example of grass roots football seen at its best. Set in a large enclosed field with little else apart from a wooden pavilion in the near corner it is basic but homely. Two doors (one at the front and one at the end) allow players from each team to use a separate entrance to the changing rooms. Worthy of interest are a couple of conjoined old wooden dugouts fashioned from a by-gone age found outside the end of the building on the left. The only (unroped) pitch is marked lengthways some 100 yards from here.    

Hosts Colkirk, sporting a smart green and white strip, come into the game on the back of a fine 4-2 victory over Northwold in a league fixture played here last Saturday and find themselves in third place in the twelve team table. For visitors Swanton Morley Cockers this turns out to be the club's first game of the campaign after losing out on Wednesday when their match against Walsingham was postponed late on following heavy rain which had fallen in the area for most of the day. 

For the record, the hosts prove to be the much stronger side and run rampant scoring seven goals before the break and four more after to run out 11-1 winners (I shouldn't tempt fate but this result now means I've seen no fewer than twenty five goals in two games...now that will take some beating. What's the chances of the next one being a 0-0 draw?!). Although the scores suggests otherwise, the visitors, to their credit show great character and never give up during the entire ninety minutes. Notably young striker Jamie Starman scores a hat-trick (including one goal taken from the penalty spot) and deservedly takes the coveted man of the match award for his tireless efforts. Credit also goes to the match referee Alex who was asked late on to take up the whistle. As a neutral I thought he did a brilliant job!

A crowd of seventeen (including a fellow snapper who seems before kick-off to be taking pen pictures of the visiting players) is in attendance for the game played in warm sunny conditions on a difficult playing surface. Sadly it had been left with loose clumps of grass scattered over large areas of the top surface after it had been recently cut. Kind and helpful club secretary Kayleigh Hall (who amongst her other duties had been marking the lines out down here earlier in the morning, no less) was left most frustrated by the state of the pitch. She also explained how the club in particular and league in general suffers from the lack of officials who are appointed for games but then moved (often at the last minute) to officiate in other matches such as those in the Anglian Combination League. Kayleigh also told me that the football club, founded about ten years ago, was first accepted to play in the C&SNL in 2006-07. After gaining promotion from Division Four this will now be the fifth season that they have been members of the Third Division. Most of the players are local lads with many living in and around the surrounding area close to Fakenham, some three miles away.

Colkirk is one of a growing number of clubs in the league that publishes its own website (see link below). This complements the excellent C&SNL site which really is an outstanding resource to both clubs and travellers alike. It not only provides plenty of statistical information in terms of fixtures, results and tables but gives a useful list of club grounds (including post codes) to help you find your way. There's even a couple of pages devoted to matchday photos with, dare I say it, some contributions coming from FGIF. Thanks again go to John Turner who does a really terrific job regularly updating its pages.

A visit to Colkirk Football Club certainly comes highly recommended to all travellers. Although you won't get a programme or perhaps a cuppa you will definitely get a warm welcome from everyone concerned. The joys of watching football in this cracking little competition continue...have fun wherever you go...