No.16 - Sat. 17th October 2009; Suffolk Junior Cup Round 1 2.15pm at Harp Lane, Clare, Suffolk.
Matchday images (15) >view> Clare Town (0) 0 Sudbury Athletic (1) 3 It's definitely a case of deja-vu!
On Saturday morning it crossed my mind that Clare Town is one of those teams with a girl's name in its title! I imagine whilst reading this you can think of a few that you've come across over the years and by that I mean football teams (not girls)! For the anorak in you, compare your short list with mine when you reach the end of this report. Now there's a hopping good challenge! Today we headed towards another beautiful Suffolk town, only a short journey through the sticks from racing HQ, for our footy fix. Standing on the north bank of the River Stour, the town is also within easy reach of both Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds. According to most historical records the place name derives from the 'clear' water flowing through the river. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror gave his cousin, Richard Fitzgilbert, the Manor of Clare. Richard then started building Clare Castle on the banks of the Stour. It is now part of the Clare Castle Country Park which has the distinction of containing the only (now decommissioned) railway station built within a castle in the UK. The station was built by the Great Eastern Railway on the Stour Valley Railway and closed in 1967. The ruin of the castle’s stone keep, which was built to protect the surrounding land, still remains today. There is a spiral path around the motte leading to the castle’s keep where a beautiful view of historic Clare can be seen. The Clare World Music Festival is an annual one-day event hosted in the grounds of Clare castle offering a variety of performances from local and international bands attracting crowds in excess of 1000. However in recent times the festival has not been organised on the same scale due to a lack of sponsorship. Clare Priory, founded 1248, is the mother house of the Augustinian Friars in Britain. The Friars returned in 1953. The religious community of Friars and lay people provide religious retreats, both day and residential and the priory is the parish centre for local Catholics. The grounds and ruins are open to the public. Another popular site is Clare Common a place where the former Manor of Erbury which, following demolition of the extensive manorial building many centuries ago, has been used continuously as grazing land. It was given to the people of Clare by Catherine of Aragon (the first of Henry VIII's six wives) to be used as a Common Pasture for poor people. It is now administered as a local charity. Clare Ancient House, one of the oldest houses in Suffolk, became the town museum in 1979. The House is notable for its superb pargetting (a decorative plastering applied to building walls) which is still practised today. The museum illustrates the history of Clare and offers records, viewable on computer, documenting the histories of Clare houses and families from 1550. Travellers visiting the town today will appreciate the scenic architecture with many thatched buildings taking pride of place along Bridewell Street. There is also a wide range of shops, antique outlets and high quality local cafes and pubs including The Bell, a delightful half-timbered coaching inn dating back to the 16th century, found here. It really is a delightful sight to behold! Clare Town Football Club is situated on the Cavendish Road as you head out of town towards Sudbury. The ground in Harp Lane on your left can be clearly seen as you approach. A steep grass embankment slopes from the driveway and car park down onto the large playing field below. There is room here for two pitches and these are separated by a cricket square. The main pitch, on the right, is the larger one and is bordered along its entire length by a row of trees. There is a brook running along and behind the goal at the far end. This causes endless problems for the groundsman who attends all home games as he is often kept busy retrieving stray balls from the water. However he has now managed to do this with the aid of a ladder and a bit of ingenuity. The local hero, as he has become, is now so fed up with losing his balls in the murky depths that he has hand-crafted a specially adapted long metal pole with a hoop firmly attached to it. This is used very efficiently to cradle the ball out of the fast flowing waters below. He's got it down to such a fine art now that he can scoop out any miscued ball and return it to the field of play in the time it takes to say Football Grounds In Focus! Travellers looking to attend a game here in wet weather should make a precautionery note. The pitches here apparently don't drain that well. Locals told me that after a few days of continuous heavy rain towards the end of last year, the whole field was completely submerged in water leaving it totally unplayable. After a couple of days of sunshine it soon dried out but the club, as a consequence, was left with a backlog of fixtures to play in May. Having a council owned pitch also means that youngsters frequently come on to the field to practise their skills. On the plus side having a brook behind the goal deters them from 'shooting in' at this end but means that both goals at the other end (next to the pavilion) need to be put up before and taken down after each game in order to prevent the goal area from getting worn out. I suppose you could say this is all to do with the nature of grass roots football! The club is fortunate in having a superb new changing pavilion on site. This was built in 2008 with the help of a Football Foundation Grant (at a cost of £170K) provided by St Edmunds Borough Council; Clare Parish Council and the The Friends Of Clare Playing Fields Association. It's definitely a joint community project. Apparently the original plans were rejected when it was discovered that, amongst other things, the referee's changing room was 1 metre short in length! The error was rectified and application was successful. Apart from several changing rooms there is a function room and a kitchen from where a range of hot drinks (served in mugs) and snacks are available at half-time. The service here is terrific and I couldn't believe it when the daughter of the lady serving the refreshments added up my tab (correctly) within a few seconds. Not bad when her mum told me she was only seven! Einstein look out. By coincidence the cup game today was a repeat of last week's Essex and Suffolk Border League fixture when the sides shared a 3-3 draw here. By all accounts there had been a bit of trouble concerning one of the club officials who, according to one local, was 'watching a different game'. Hmmm. Despite this information divulged before this regionalised first round tie (which started earlier than normal with a 2-15pm kivk off) I imagined that a close contest was in prospect. After all it was a bit of a derby and Town had a point to prove. In reality it didn't work out this way though! The hosts, missing a couple of key players (including their leading goalscorer), looked second best for most of the game and struggled to match their opponents. Athletic, wearing a predominently black kit, opened the deadlock when Bryan Mills (32), turning on the edge of the box, broke free of his marker and placed a low drive past outstretched 'keeper David Dixon. A terrific strike to leave the game 0-1 at the break. Athletic soon took control of matters when they increased their lead midway through the second half with a goal courtesy of the 'tricky Twyman's' with Danny putting in a low cross for his brother Jordan to side-foot the ball from close range at the back post. Incredibly the pair were involved again. This time it was Jordan (86) who set up Danny to score from a tight angle making the it 0-3. Now that's sibling rivalry for you! Sadly the home assistant referee waved his flag for offside (not for the first time) but the goal, rightly in my opinion, stood. With only a few minutes remaining Nathan Copsey tried his luck and immediately shot from the re-start to catch 'keeper Nick Marlow off his goal-line. The giant stopper, built like the proverbial brick out house, quickly peddled back to push the dipping ball over his cross bar. The home fans standing next to me drew breath, thinking that this near-miss would have been a superb consolation! As the full-time whistle sounded the Athletic players celebrated their victory which sent them into the second round and on the road to a possible final place at Portman Road! It had certainly been a game of coincidences. For the record the game, played on a well grassed pitch, was attended by just over 30 spectators. Although I was poised with my camera, close to the brook, waiting for a photo 'hoppertunity, the ball amazingly ended up in the water just once during the entire afternoon! There's a law about that. I would just like to express my thanks to referee Dean Ricci who controlled the game superbly, clearly explaining his decisions to the players and keeping up with play at all times: who said officials aren't fit enough?! He not only gave me a copy the team line-ups before the match started but sent me an E-Mail during the following week asking to see the match photos. Cheers Dean! By the way he is officiating again at Clare Town this coming week. Can you believe it? What is the plural of deja-vu? Although the club doesn't issue programmes don't let it put you off making a visit here. Everyone at the club is very friendly and will make all 'hoppers really welcome. A visit here is highly recommended. And finally, back to those girl's names...how many did you come up with? Well apart from Clare, my (tenuous) shortlist looks like a bit like this...Chelsea; Crewe Alexandra; Crystal Palace; King's Lynn; Leigh Genesis; North Leigh; Witney United; St Margaretsbury; St Helens Town; Abbey Hey; Ivybridge; Bovey Tracey; Heather St John; Daisy Hill; Kimberley Town; Ottery St Mary; Melton St Audrys; Leiston St Margarets; Haslingden St Marys; Beverley Town; St Agnes; Mold Alexandra; Bethesda Athletic and Ruthin Town. Perhaps you could add a few more of your own...maybe one day Zoe Wanderers and Kylie Rangers could feature on the list. Who knows? The joys of 'hopping in beautiful Suffolk towns continues... FGIF Match Stats Scorers: (H) N/A and (A) Bryan Mills (32); Danny Twyman (68) and Chris McMahon (86) Attendance: 34; Admission and Programme: N/A; Match rating: 4/5; Ground rating: 3/5. Links (incl map) - edited 23/10/09
