LPOSSA

So who are LPOSSA? Well the sign on the main road outside the ground gives it away.



I was at the LPR Club, Sudbury, Middlesex on Saturday 17th April for a Cherry Red Books Middlesex County League Division One West match between London Post Office Sports and Social Association Fc & Greens United. It even got a write up on the Football Association webite!

It was an 11.00am kick off, & another of the excellent Middlesex League morning hop games. The football is entertaining enough for such a low level of the pyramid, & it gives people like me the chance to see football in this league, which we would not otherwise attend.
I look forward to going to a couple more next season, & thank whoever it is who organises these early matches.



As to be expected at this level, there is a nice club building, but nothing else spectator wise.



The visitors' minibus, with a website address on it that no longer exists.



Here we are inside the sports ground, with a patio area outside the clubhouse, which is where the programmes were on sale for £2 each. not worth £2 really, but admission is free, so it was like paying two quid to get in, & rasing maoney for the home club, who I expect produced a programme sepcially for this match. So not a bad price after all.



Groundhoppers in the bar before kick off, tea bar in the corner.



Here is a shot of the bar itself.



herecwe look across part of the sports ground. There was three full size football pitches, a couple of small sided children's ones; & a rugby pitch.



For some it was vital to get the full team lists noted.



I stood on the far side of the roped of pitch for most of the game, from roughly this spot.



I still do a circuit, snapping away, even though there are no stands or terracing. Here we see behind one of the goals, where you can see the club building in the background behind the tree.



This is the side I was standing on, where most of the groundhopping spectators stood.



Set back behind the goal to our left, which we just looked at, were these boats, by the cricket net & ground maintenance equipment. Maybe for very wet winters, instead of a tractor?



From behind the goal, as we start in a clockwise circuit, we look down the 'popular' side.



Game in progress, as we see the other side of the pitch.



Here are some of the spectators behind the goal.



The only 'shelter' was under this tree, set back from the goal.



Another view of the pitch at this end, a few yards behind the rope.



Now we're looking down the other touchline, what is a little unual is that the pitch rope is set back a little more than usual from the pitch markings.



There are no dugouts as such, but pub garden style table 'improvise'!



This was the home one, the box being the one from where the programmes were sold, outside the bar, earlier.



This is the visitors' one.



You won't see any beer in the dugouts at Premiership games! This is true grassroots football! ;-)



Moving on we look back down this touchline, & you can see what I mean about the rope being set a bit of a way back.



Nothing to see really, but I'll still do a 'corner flag' shot!



Still roped off behind the goal at this end, but a bit more deserted.



A better view to be had on the sidelines.



Well there's always one...



A bit more match action...




Back on the busy side now, behind the crowd.



there was also one table on this side, the 'main stand', so to speak!



Another shot of some of the 85 strong crowd.



This snapper is a good friend of mine, Dave West. Who actually won't see it, as he doesn't have a computer!



A few more action shots...





Back behind the goal, looking down the full length of the pitch.



No wonder the Greens & their keeper look gutted. This is way into stoppage time & they've just conceded the winner. Game over, time for me to dash back across London for the game at Champion Hill.

Worthing

I've always liked Worthing. You usually can't go wrong with a seaside trip. But throw in a nice ground, welcoming fans, & the fact they've also got a really friendly supporters' team, & it's up there with the best of them in the Isthmian League!

I first visited here at the beginning of the eighties, I think it was, when still at school. They were a fairly new club to the Isthmian, & had a home league cup tie on the August Bank holiday Monday. We had a nondescript home tie at Champion Hill, & I fancied a day out to somewhere new, & Worthing were two divisions below us. I chose them not just because they were at the coast, but I never thuoght we'd ever meet them in a league game! Oh the naiveity of youth!

I took these pictures on 23rd January 2010, when Dulwich Hamlet visited for a Division One South match.




These gates, with the club intials on, are the first thing you go past, on the way from the nearby Worthing train station.



This is the clubhouse building. Presumably the A2B Worthing Stadium is some sort of sponsorship tie up. No problem with that, as it brings money in, but it will always be Woodside Road to me, no matter how you dress it up.



At the end of that building are the turnstiles.



Here is a close up of them.



Inside now.



Raffle tickets on sale.



And programmes from this hut.



Some signs and benches on the patch of green behind the covered terrace at this end, and in front of the bar.



Going straight in front from the turnstile you see the pitch directly in front of you.



To the right is a stretch of open concrete terracing.



Down the side, also to the right, is terracing, a small section of cover, & grass banking.



Opposite that side is the impressive main stand.



Immediately to our left, behind this goal, & the way we shall take our tour, is more terracing, but roofed.



As we walk along it we can spot the club shop on the side.



From under the cover we can see the dugouts over on the right hand side, with the cover behind them.



Another angle of the main stand, as we get closer to it.



Here we look back along the cover behind this goal, as we reach the end of it.



Looking across the playing surface from this corner we can view the front of the stand, as well as spotting the cover at the far end for the first time.



Just past the cover at the end we are at is the tea bar.



Tucked away, right in the corner, is the groundman's 'soil dump' utilising an old club sign.



The first 'corner flag' snap of the day, looking across the pitch.



Now we are along the side, open hard standing leading up to the stand. Notice the sign for another bar, 'Rebels Tavern'.



From the corner we now look back behind the goal, & can see the club intitials on the corner flag.



Here is the club shop, open for business. I now have a book on 100 years at Woodside Road, as well as a scarf.



Still on the side, here a a half time snap of one of their supporters' flags.



Now we're almost at the stand. Note the sign saying there is a 50p transfer. I asked if I go up there for free, as I just wanted to take a few photos, rather than watch the match from up there, & the people collecting the fees happily obliged. Actually, if you walk round the pitch, in the other direction, there's just a gate, & you can just go through it for free, if you so choose, but maybe I shouldn't tell you that! ;-)



In front it's hard standing, with steps going up into the seats. The ground level is the bar, & the changing rooms.



Here we are up in the seats, which replaced an older one, burnt down a fair few years ago now.



From high up here, we look back to the 'entrance end'.



And past that to the open terracing we glanced at as we came in.



Here we look across the pitch.



And lean over the front, also getting the far end cover in shot.



Next up is a snap looking directly across the halfway line.



The centre seats are for directors & visiting officials.



At the back is a glass fronted press box.



This is the view if you are an official.



With the ordinary seats continuing to the left.



Looking down below from this end of the stand we see more open hard standing to the corner.



A glance back along the stand from this end, before we move on.



In the centre, at ground level once more, is the players' tunnel.



Further along, in front of the stand.



I call it the 'main stand', as most people do at football grounds, even if there is only one ( & thus automatically) 'main stand', but clearly more sponsorship is in place for this to be the Argyll Insurance Group Grandstand.



This sign was just inside the tunnel. The last one is one that should be adhered to. There's nothing that annoys me more than seeing players sporting tops or kit bags clearly nicked from their previous clubs.



After that moan it's time to continue are march round the ground. Past an ugly fenced off pylon & hard standing ahead...



Behind us is that gate I mentioned, where you can sneak up into the stand for free.



Bit of a minor junkyard to our left.



And an advert from the excellent Sussex local paper The Argus.




From where we are we look over to the cover behind the goal.



Before we get there it's the next corner flag picture.



And another glance back down the side we've come from.



Three steps of shallow terracing behind this goal, backing onto the garden walls of the houses.



The main stand, from this end.



And here we are at the covered part, directly behind the goal.



The small cover along the other side is see from by the goal, with the Dulwich Hamlet players partly obscuring it!



A similar picture, by the other post.



Past the covered area it's more terracing to the next corner of the ground.



Almost at the corner we look down the touchline, a club with plenty of supportive local businesses, by the look of it.



Turning the corner we see more open terracing leading up to the cover, with the grass banking being 'technically' out of bounds for spectators.



Our third corner shot of the day, this time with the main stand as the backdrop.



As you can see the grass banks look perfectly safe to stand on, but by doing so would be breaking ground grading regulations!



On this side are the dugouts, and this small covered shed.



Here we are under it.



This is the view to the 'entrance end'.



Straight over the pitch at the stand.



And back at the narrower far end.



Continuing past the cover along the side we pass the other dugout, and walk along more open terracing.



Some further 'dangerous' grass banking too!



Almost at the end, we look back, during the second half.



There are quite a few Worthing fans behind the goal.



In this last corner there is another refeshment hut.



Here we look along the touchline, toward the middle of the end where we began.



Behind the goal now, we glance back down the grass banked side.



Here we see the same side, with a somewhat poor attempt at a wonky 'arty farty' shot!



And so we finish with the open terracing, to take us back to the cover behind this goal.