02 Arena

The 02 Arena is a multi-purpose venue, which I've only been to once. This was for a basketball match on 6th September 2008, for a Great Britain versus the Czech Republic, in a Group D Eurobasket 2009 qualifier. Team GB, an expression I hate, won 87-68.

As I say this was my first, & only visit to the 02, which also stages other sports such as boxing & ice hockey, but for the purpose of this posting I am filing under 'basketball', as this will be the main basketball venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

It was enjoyable enough, as I was with a fellow Dulwich Hamlet fan, Larry, who is a basketball fan, & who got me the ticket, so I could ask him about anything I didn't understand.



The match is advertised on the electronic hoardings outside.



A decent crowd outside, they published the attendance as exactly 7,000.



More advertising the match.



The way in was through here.



As someone who'd not been to the 02 before I was taking a keen interest in the design of this so called 'white elephant'.



I seemed to like these globes!



Another view of the roof, from inside the concourses.



And here we are inside the arena itself. clearly nothing like a full house, but I was surprised by the size of the crowd. This section was to the left of my seats.



Here I am behind an 'end', during an interval.



And, from the same vantage point, we look over to the section I was in.
At this point some jobsworth steward told me to stop taking photos, I asked him what his problem was, as I couldn't see any signs prohibiting it. He then told me to give him my camera, & then grabbed my arm as I walked off! I told him to let or or I'd have him for assault, & then as he was still being bloody rude to me, let forth with a stream of expletives, & told him to call his boss! Which he didn't!



Here I am back in my seat, looking over to the national flags at the other end.



Another shot of the arena.



How on earth do dancers provide entertainment at the breaks. Does anyone actually watch them? Just what is the point of this 'Americanised family entertainment?'



'Deng' is the big star of the Great Britain team, none other than Luol Deng, who plays in the NBL for Chicago Bulls.



A little bit of the action.



More of the game, with the far side, and scoreboard, in view.



I have no idea who 'Cabourn 66' is, but it's not the bloke who was Minister of Sport sitting in front of me! ;-)



One last look across the arena, at the end of the game.



And I know it's part of 'modern arena' but I can't stand this type of annoying advertising!

FC Rouen

FC Rouen currently play at the stade Robert-Diochon, & play in CFA, which is the fourth level of French football. Diochon was a co-founder of the club, & was club chairman for 47 years.
It wasn't a ground I'd planned to look at, I had been to Dieppe the day before, back in May 2007, to watch Red Star, with a couple of fellow Dulwich Hamlet fans.
We were going to a local level six game, & beforehand we were looking for the cemetery where a Dulwich Hamlet player was laid to rest after dying for his country in the First World War. The FC Rouen ground ,by coincindence, happened to be right next door to the cemetery!



This is the ground from outside, as we approached it. At this stage we had no idea if we would be able to get inside.



We walked up to the other end & found a gate open. Marvellous! This is the corner we entered the ground.



Behind the goal at this end is a 'temporary' style open bank of seats.



The town emblem is on the side of the stand.



Back outside here are the ticket booths.



I was well pleased to see this Red Star sticker!



And another!



Here I've walked along to the other corner behind the goal.



This is the superb main stand. you have to remember this is a regional fourth division ground!



A shot looking up at the open seats.



This is the stand on the other side.



From behind the goal, through the net, we look through the goal to the far end. Unfortunately, for whatever reason I don't know, I didn't bother to walk down towards the other goal. Sorry about that!



Another picture of the main stand. modern, but with real character.



So impressed, I even went for this attempt of an 'arty-farty' shot!



This is a fellow Hamlet fan Paul Griffin, taking his own snaps. Well he WAS a fan back then. Now he's 'sold his soul' & gone over to the committee! Last night at horsham YMCA some of our fans were using some of our 'traditional,choice' language. One of their committee passed us, and said he was going to complain to our officials. First one round was...Griff! Telling the 'Rabble' to behave! Oh how he has changed! ;-)



Just outside the ground is the second pitch, a railed off one.



This is a general shot of the St. Sever Cemetery, just beyond the second pitch.



And here is the headstone for Tommy Rose. The scarf won't have stayed long, as I don't think they allow things like that, it was just our little gesture. In the soil by the headstone we each took a moment to bury a Dulwich Hamlet enamel badge, so he will always be remembered. Even though the First World War was a very long time ago, it was a very moving moment, where we could pay tribute & remember one of our own. Tommy Rose rest in peace.

Mole Valley SCR-River Lane, Leatherhead

I've not seen a match here, but decided to have a look at the ground as it's on the outskirts of Leatherhead, on Easter Monday last season, as I'd been to watch the Hamlet play at Leatherhead that afternoon.
This was the home of Mole Valley SCR but in the close season 2009 they were forced out by the local council, for reasons I'm not sure of, & the ground is now apparently leased to Leatherhead FC, for their academy set up.
Which is a same, as it's clear from looking around, that Mole Valley SCR were slowly but surely improving their set up here, and are a small, but ambitious club. They compete at step six, in the Combined Counties League Division One.



The ground itself is on River Lane, which is a narrow turning, not the easiest to spot. The cat gave me directions! ;-)



This is the entrance to the ground. Luckily I found a gap, and squeezed in.



The clubhouse looks recent and smart.



Behind it is a bit of old seating, presumably for 'future use' at the time.



In the ground itself, from by the clubhouse, is this hut, which is where you pay to get in. I must confess that there was a box of old programmes in there, & I did 'arf inch a few! A basic area of scaffold cover is just past it, as you can see. The work appears to be an attempt at taking the club up to a higher level.



As you can see...work in progress!



From here you can see it is open behind the goal.



Supporters aren't supposed to go behind this goal at all.



But as there's not a game on...I ignored that! ;-) Here we look back at the covered area.



Moving on to the far corner we look back over to the main side.



Along the far side is a path, which is railed off.



This is one of the dugouts.



Adjacent is a second pitch, as you can see on the left.



Here we're down at the far corner, & you can see how close the two pitches are. from the two corner flags!



At the far end now, more railed off hard standing, and some pitch equipment!



Very open, as you can see.



Behind this end are a couple of footbridges, over a small stream, presumably the 'river' in River Lane, which leads to more pitches.



Here is the wooden one. looking over to them.



moving on round the ground now, we're looking toward the clubhouse/changing room building. I have no idea what that ugly huge pipe is.



In front of the building some very basic seating has been knocked up on some scaffolding planks.



Here is a view of them, pitchside.



They don't actually look that bad from this angle.



Time to go now, this is the exit, from where we started our tour. I sincerely hope this ground one day has senior non league club as it's tenant. It's simplt 'wasted' on another local non league academy base.