RETFORD FC (The Rail Ground)

NORTHERN COUNTIES EAST LEAGUE DIVISION ONE, RETFORD 4-2 HARROGATE RAILWAY ATHLETIC, ATTENDANCE: 132

When the first national lockdown began in March 2020, with all football cancelled or behind closed doors, and not knowing when fans would be able to return to stadiums, I became slightly obsessed with the Futbology app, as a means to reminisce of games gone by and to plot in my head future visits to grounds, if we were ever allowed again.

One of those grounds was The Rail, home of Retford. This weekend I was finally able to get across country and make it to Nottinghamshire. A bonus for me today was that, due to the league restructuring that took place over the summer, this was the final ground I needed to complete visits to all of the grounds of the Northern Counties East League.

Retford were formed as recently as 2015, as a means to give local players a chance to play football. They entered the Central Midlands League that same year and in season 2018/19 they clinched the CML North title and with it promotion to the Northern Counties East League.

They initially groundshared with Retford United before establishing their own home at The Rail. As you could guess from the name, it is adjacent to a railway track (the east coast mainline) but the best view of the ground is from the bridge on Babworth Road.

A view from a bridge!

The game was entertaining, but it was the three penalties awarded by the referee that were the main talking point.

Adam Scott gave Retford the lead after 30 minutes before the first penalty of the afternoon was awarded to Harrogate on the stroke of half time, for a ridiculous handball, duly converted by Daniel Thirkell (pictured left).

George White restored The Choughs lead after 57 minutes and there were further chances for both teams but victory for Retford was confirmed when Zach Casburn converted another penalty after 82 minutes. The final spot kick came deep into stoppage time, once Thirkell converted for Harrogate but it was much too late to have an impact on the outcome of the match.

PENRHIWCEIBER RANGERS (Glasbrook Field)

ARDAL LEAGUE SOUTH WEST DIVISION, PENRHIWCEIBER RANGERS 3-0 CAERAU (ELY) AFC, ATTENDANCE: 84 (h/c)

There are many, many grounds in Wales that have stunning backdrops and, having seen many pictures of the Glasbrook Field, this has been on my groundhopping radar for a wee while.

It would have been great to have come here a few weeks back for the big Welsh Cup tie versus Flint Town United, but I was unable to make the journey. Nonetheless I was here at last and I certainly wasn't disappointed!

Penrhiwceiber is a village in the borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff and, like most of the towns and villages in the area, it developed as a result of coal mining. The first shaft of what became known as Penrikyber Coillery was sunk in 1872. At it's height in the 1920's the mine employed over 2,000 men. The pit was eventually closed in October 1985, another closure in the aftermath of the year-long miners strike that took place between March 1984 and 1985.

Prior to the game I visited the Big Pit National Coal Museum in nearby Blaenavon, the tour involved going down a mine shaft 300ft underground. It certainly gave me a small insight into what these men had to deal with. I was down there less than a hour on a guided tour and that was enough for me. I'm not sure I could have coped with working down a pit.

A lasting legacy of the colliery in Penrhiwceiber is the Glasbrook Field,  which was created by the workers on land donated by the owners. It was used for the welfare of the workers and their families and was named after the owners of the original company who sunk the mine, the Glasbrook brothers of Swansea. The Glasbrook Field has been home to Penrhiwceiber since their formation in 1961.

They were initially named Penrhiwceiber AFC before becoming Penrhiwceiber Welfare in 1967. In 1984 they merged with junior club Glasbrook Rangers to become Penrhiwceiber Rangers.

The club's most successful era began in the 1992 when they won the South Wales Amateur League to earn promotion to the Welsh League. They went as high as Division One (then the second tier of Welsh football) by the end of the decade before yo-yoing between the divisions from the turn of the millennium. Penrhiwceiber were the last ever champions of the Welsh League Division Two in 2020, when Welsh Football was then restructured.

This weekend was remembrance Sunday so, prior to kick off, the was an impeccably observed minutes  silence.

It was an entertaining, end-to-end game with both teams creating plenty of chances, indeed Caerau hit the crossbar within 90 seconds of the kick off. Penrhiwceiber scored through Joseph Jenkins in the 4th minute of first half stoppage time to take the lead. The second half continued in similar vein then, on 65 minutes, Penrhiwceiber were awarded a penalty. Caerau were reduced to 10 men when Owain Edwards protests led to a red card for dissent and then Warren Jones stepped up to convert the spot kick (pictured above left).

This obviously swung the game in favour of the homesters and another goal quickly followed, when Jones bagged his second with a superb volleyed finish. Penrhiwceiber should've added to their tally but squandered their chances. In the end it was a deserved victory for the home side but the scoreline was harsh on Caerau who, on another afternoon, may have taken something from the game.

The backdrop to Glasbrook Field is simply stunning and I definitely picked a good afternoon to visit. If you haven't been yourself, then I suggest you put it on your bucket list!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

TÜRKGÜCÜ MÜNCHEN (Olympiastadion)

3.LIGA, TÜRKGÜCÜ MÜNCHEN 1-2 VIKTORIA KÖLN, ATTENDANCE: 1,016

I had a crazy moment this weekend when I decided to have a day trip to Munich to watch a game.  Yes, a ridiculous notion but when the game was taking place at the iconic Olympiastadion, then you understand why.

Since their promotion to the third tier, and in a surprise move, Türkgücü München have been using the ground for home games. I missed out on a visit here as I never started visiting Germany regularly until 2006 when, ironically, a trip to Munich for a World Cup game opened the Pandora's Box.

You could say the seeds for this visit were planted much further back though as,  when I was a wee boy, my beloved Everton played Bayern here in 1985, drawing 0-0, setting up that famous night at Goodison en route to winning the European Cup Winners' Cup. I never attended that match because I was only 10 but, after 36 years, I couldn't let the chance slip away.

The Stadium construction began in the late 1960's and with it's famous tent roof, designed to resemble The Alps, the arena was the centrepiece of the 1972 Olympic Games. Afterwards Bayern, and later 1860, Munich used the stadium for home games until they both moved to the purpose built (for football) Allianz Arena in 2005.

The Stadium has been used for some big games over the years including the World Cup Final (1974) and Euro Final (1988). The ground has hosted three European Cup/Champions League Finals in 1979, 1993 and 1997. The 1979 final was when Nottingham Forest won the first of their two successive European Cups.

After the two Munich teams moved out, apart from the odd match, the ground has been largely dormant for the last 15 years. In 2020 an agreement was reached for newly promoted Türkgücü to play a maximum of eight games at the stadium.  This was now my window of opportunity!

Türkgücü München's origins can be traced back to 1975 when Turkish immigrant workers formed their own football club (Türkgücü roughly translates as Turkish Power). The club spent most of it's early years in local leagues before rising up as high as the Bayernliga in the late 1980's. After missing out on promotion to the professional league in the 1990's the club's star began to fade and dwindling support lead to the club being dissolved in 2001.

From the ashes of the dissolved club, the players formed a new club, Türkischer SV 1975 München, and played in the lower leagues of Bavarian football. Meanwhile, back in 1981, another club with Turkish origins was formed,  ATA Spor München. This club only ever got as high as the Berzirkliga. In 2009 these two clubs merged. In 2013 the club won promotion to the Landesliga and then things got interesting.

In 2016 businessman Hasan Kivran, and former Türkgücü player in the 1980's, invested heavily in the club and this spending of over €1M led to three promotions in three years, the club reaching the third tier in 2020. The club finished in a respectable 13th place in it's debut season at that level.

Prior to promotion, the club had been playing it's home games in Heimstetten but this ground was unsuitable for 3.Liga football. Agreement was made to play at 1860 München's Grünwalder Stadion and also the Olympiastadion.

So that brings us onto this Friday night game. I had spent pre-match in the Augustiner-Bräuhaus near the main hauptbanhof. Over 20 months since my last visit to Germany, those biers tasted amazing! I caught the U-bahn to Westfriedhof and walked the 20 minutes to the stadium.

Viktoria Köln were the visitors and they ran out comfortable Winners, despite there only being the one goal difference.

Both teams began brightly but the first chance fell to Köln when Seokju Hong's deflected effort clipped the crossbar after 14 minutes. However, less than 60 seconds later, from the resulting corner, Patrick Sontheimer drilled home from 22 yards to give the visitors the lead (pictured left).

On 19 minutes Hong had his goal when he headed home from a cross into the box. There seemed no way back for Türkgücü. Viktoria were in complete control and should have added to their total before half time when Hong, through on goal saw his effort saved by Rene Vollath in the Türkgücü goal.

Türkgücü did have the ball in the net through Sercan Sararer but the a flag for offside ruled the effort out but half time came at a great time for the homesters.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Köln in control and happy to play on the counter attack. However chances were few and far between. Türkgücü finally got a goal back after 81 minutes when Boubacar Barry scored with a sidefooted volley. Tremendous technique and a great finish. This set up a grandstand last ten minutes and despite Türkgücü throwing everything forward the equaliser would not come.

I was absolutely knackered after the game and couldn't face the bright lights of Munich so it was back to my hotel to reflect on a fantastic ground tick. It was well worth the effort and indeed, in these Covid times, hassle.

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EDIT: March 24th 2022

https://www.liga3-online.de/tuerkguecue-stellt-spielbetrieb-ein-alle-spiele-werden-annulliert/