Bly Spartans

Bly Spartans compete in the new, for 2011/12, step six league, the Kent Invicta League. I visited them last season, on a Sunday morning, when their youth team were playing, as I happened to be in the area, staying over at a mates, who lives in nearby Chatham.

The ground was very basic then, I'n not sure if any improvements have been made since, when I was there in November 2010 the floodlight pylons had just been erected.




The club grounds, from the main road.



The sign by the entrance.



This is the only way in, main pitch down to the left.



Hmm...not exactly welcoming! (As it happens they weren't either!)



From the path at the access point you can see the main pitch in the distance.



There is a smaller training area before it.



We will start from the corner of the pitch, as you follow the 'path' to the car park. Straight ahead is the club house & changing rooms.



From this corner we look over the pitch.



Railed off behind the goal, with some mesh netting to provide a 'barrier'. We are going to head round the ground toward this end, in a clockwise direction.



Behind the goal we turn right to the club building.



The other direction is the open dugouts side.



The rail & mesh continues to the next corner.



Another view over the pitch from this corner.



Railed off down the side too, but no hard standing.



Moving behind the first of the two dugouts.



This was the away one, seen here from the front.



Now opposite the bar & changing rooms.



Directly over the halfway line.



Walking on, past the other dugout.



Railed off to the next corner.



Nothing at all behind the goal though.



Turning to see back along the touchline.



And the next 'corner flag' shot.



Personalised corner flags.



Game about to kick off..this is the only 'action' shot I got, as a home official came up to me & told me to stop, as it was "against child protection & FA regulations & they were an FA Charter Mark club, & I would need to be CRB checked". I decided it wasn't worth arguing, even though a woman with a posh camera was taking snaps, but that was ok, because 'she was one of the mums'. Hmmm...wonder if she's been CRB checked? Very much doubt it...



Back along the dugouts touchline, looking pitchside.



Now behind the goal.



And directly behind the net, looking up the pitch, with the building in the background, on the left.



The last corner flag picture.



Behind us,set right back, is a storage shed.



Shale standing down this, the main side, railed off once more.



The path continues all the way along.



The front of the club buildings has an overhang, which constitutes some sort of cover.



Here we look toward it, from the path where the players come onto the pitch.



Club name on the roff of the overhang.



A row of seats under it could be construed as a 'small stand' by some!



Tea bar at the end, hatch closed, but stuff on sale inside the bar.



Moving on past the building, & taking a sideways snap of it.



Ahead, to the end where we began.



The rails goes up to the end, the shale hard standing forming the car park in this part of the ground.

Shettleston Juniors; Scotland

Shettleston Juniors compete in the Central Division One of the West Region of Scottish Junior Football. I had a look at their ground back in late May 2010.



The back of the old club buildings, from the main road.



A bricked up former entrance.



Fixture board seen from outside.



Here we see the back of a covered terrace. The entrance is by the advertising hoarding. We will get in by a gate a few yards along.



Outside the ground is the social club.



From an open gate we are above the pitch, behind the goal.



To the left is a covered terrace, with more buildings and another shed further along.



As we come down the steps from our gate, we look right, to some terracing, and this is the way we are heading, going round the pitch anti-clockwise.



Down on the open terracing you can see it must be quite an old ground.



Raching the corner we look bavk behind the goal, and you can clearly see the steps we have just come down, to get in here.



Along the touchline, the terracing is impressive, under the cover.



About ten steps or so deep.



From the back of it we can see a 'traditional' Scottish football toilet in the corner.



Up to their 'usual' standards north of the border! ;-)



Back under the rofo of the terrace we turn back behind the open goal.



Then right, toward, what I presume are changing rooms, maybe the shutter being for a refreshment hut.



An old patio here, weeds starting to grow through. An old bar area perhaps?



The covered terrace, from on the pitch.



Below the patio is some more terracing.



Then a dugout. Ah yes, the sign says it is a tea bar behind. 'Pies & Bovril' being not just a staple footballing diet in Scotland, but a famous Scottish website.




Moving along the pitch we can see the other covered terrace, past the changing rooms.



The concrete continues above the dugout, to another small bit of terracing in the middle.



Not sure why I did the 'wonky' angle, but there you og!



The players tunnel, unusual in that there are two of them.



Almost over the halfway line, from one of them.



Here's the terrace 'enclosure' unbetween the tunnel & next dugout.



Turning round to see the centre section once more.



Now behind the second dugout, to the second section of cover.



Down behind it are longe since disused 'facilities'.



The next cover, & dugout, from on the pitch.



Not as big as the other covered terrace, but still very good.



With terraced steps continuing past the roofed area.



From the end we see back along it.



Behind the open steps are some disused turnstiles.



Another angle of them, showing how much disrepair they really are in.



Outside they are bricked up.



Behind the goal it's grassed over, just an old rail going along.



With part of an also old pitch perimeter wall behind the goal.



From the next corner we look over the pitch to the covered side.



Nothing at all along the far isde. There is a fair amount of space here though, so I would imagine this side was once built up in years gone by.



Pitch roller in the foreground, by the playing surface.



Down to the last corner now.



And to the open terrace at the clubhouse end.



Starting to move along it.



Behind the goal.



It narrows because of this building.



And time to leave, back up the steps where we came in.