Marsh Rangers

The Hillingdon Athletics Stadium is the home of Marsh Rangers, & these photos were from my visit there for a Saturday morning game in the Middlesex County League Premier Division, in February 2008. I've never been a fan of athletics stadiums hosting football, but despite that there is not doubt that this is a very good venue for this level of football. The photos aren't the best set I've done, I should have concentrated on the 'crowd' a bit more, rather than the soulless multi-sport venue, but I guess I wasn't as 'brazen' with my snappping a year or so ago! ;-)



The grass banking on this side is the only decent bit of elevated' terracing', this is to the left of the stand, which we will see shortly.



From this banking we look behind the goal, he path there a long way from the pitch.



As we move round we look bak to the stand, and the grass bank.



Another angle across the track here.



Open hard standng down the far side.



Looking back to the other side, with the stand & changing rooms.



Down a new path, behind the main pitch, are some all-weather pitches.



Now at the other end of the ground, we look toward the seats, through the athletics cage.



Directly behind the goal, not the best place to watch a match!



At last! A half decent sht of the stand!



The entrance to the changing rooms, from the track.



At the back of the stand is a bar/tea room area. Here a helpful home official, in the hat, reads out the teams to the gaggle of groundhoppers assembled.



Here we look at the pitch, from the seats.



Here I've walked past the stand again, for an almost identical snap of it, this time during the match, with the majority of the crowd in it.



Back in the seats, bit of 'action', if you've got your binoculars!



Looking across the seats.



And my last photo, one I 'sneaked'...groundhoppers have a reputation for being 'sad anoraks'. Well this bag lives up to that image, the wording: "Railway Industry National Timetable Conference" !

Copland

Copland play in Division One Central & East of the Middlesex County League, not a level I've seen football at before, in this league. The reason I was here was simple-another 11.00am kick off especially for 'groundhopping' types by their forward looking league officials.

Copland are a newly formed team this season, the 12 page programme told us. They are made up of past & present pupils from the school of the same name.

The ground itself is in Stonebridge Park Recreation Ground, & is a simple taped off park pitch, with no specatator facilities whatsover. The ground is called 'The Pavilion', & the pavilion itself, changing rooms, cafe area & the like, were opened in January 2007, as part of a huge local regeneration project. It is a tidy set up, despite being in a public recreation ground, & there is the bonus of having the new Wembley Stadium arch as a clear backdrop.



This is one of the entrances to the recreation ground



They are dedicated to a local Stonebridge activist & community leader, Yetunde Bolaji, who died in 2000 at the age of 43.



Here are some of the crowd milling in front of the pavilion prior to kick off.



Here is a full view of the building.



A shot of the match in progress, with the Wembley arch in the background.



Here is the view down one touchline,



Behind the Pavilion end goal,



And down the other touchline.



The rest of the photos you are about to see are a mix of similar angles down touchlines, some action shots, and snaps of some of the groundhoppers who were present. There is nothing to describe of the grond, as it is a park pitch, so the following pictures-unusually for me-are not individually captioned. If you area seasoned groundhopper you may see some people who you know, or if you were at the match maybe yourself!