Southgate Olympic

It's very rare I delve into AFA football. But with Southgate Olympic having a 75th anniversary game I thought 'why not'? Football in the AFA is more about fair play & sociailising. So there's very rarely any spectator facilities, and sometimes the pitches aren't even roped off. But at it's top level there are sides more than capable of holding their own if they switched over to 'regular' county leagues.

Southgate play in the third division of the Southern Amateur League, & are based at the Clowes Sports Ground, in N21. If you are a 'dedicated' groundhopper it's a ground to 'tick'. But, thankfully I'm not one myself, so am fortunate enough to have plenty of built up stadiums to choose from, if I'm not supporting the Hamlet. That's not to say there was anything wrong with the place, or the standard of fare on offer, it just wasn't very 'photogenic'! ;-)



A chap came up to me & asked if I was Mishi. Replying in the affirmative he introduced himself as the man behind this site, & I had a very pleasant hour & a half chinwagging away!





This is the view of the changing rooms & clubhouse from the road.





Prsumably a council ground, maintained by the London Borough of Enfield.





A superb 16 page souvenir programme was on offer for a pound. A bargain & most unexpected!







As I said it's the social side that matters, & they're clearly proud of their history here.





With all the results up to date on the noticeboard.





Presumably these are some of those 'groundhopping' types! ;-)





Nice corner flags.






The Representative team took the leagie from the penalty spot, & finished comfortable 6-1 winners. Clearly much stronger, what was nice was they never once 'showboated', nor did Olympic give up trying.





A glance at some of the crowd down the touchline.





The Olympic number nine, clearly a veteran, played a large part of the match. I wondered to myself whether he had played in the 50th anniversary match a quarter of a century earlier!





Wating for the final whistle, not long to go, but why they're all behind the net itself I have no idea!





A look across the pitch, at the end.





Mustn't forget the corner flags!





Game over, nets down, looking over to the pavilions.





Not wuite lined up properly (whoops!) this is the Southgate Olympic club crest.






A pleasant morning, at an unusual venue, for me. the only 'disappointment' was the teams never lined up for team photos on such a historic occasion.

Norsemen

I wasn't looking for this, another AFA ground. But saw this sign as I was walking through the area, & recognised the Norsemen name. Their First XI are in the second division of the Southern Amateur League.





A slightly(!) blurred snap of their crest from a sign.





Here is a view of their sports ground. There are two football pitches on it.





This is the other one.





Presumably the changing room area.





And looking across from the first floor balcony of the bar area.





Which you can see here.





Inside you can take a trip down memory lane.





As always AFA clubs are proud of their heritage.





With the club scoreboard on the wall too.

Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Enfield

This is the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, in Donkey Lane, Enfield. Not too far from the old site of Enfield Football Club, in Southbury Road, now housed over. There is renewed talk of this athletics track venue being redeveloped & used a home in Enfield for the football club. Whether that be Enfield 1893 (in effect the 'old' Enfield); Enfield Town, currently at Brimsdown Rovers ( the team set up by the old Enfield fans to bring the town team back into the Borough of Enfield); or a merger of the two no-one seems to know. It is all speculation. Having been in the area recently I took the chance to try to look at the site for a possible future non-league ground.

There appeared to be faded rugby pitch markings on the grass, presumably used by the local rugby union club, until the stadium was closed down by the council.



The sign is fading away.






And this small sign on one of the doors tells you it's shut!





Here's the pavilion from outside.





Once inside, at first glance, it's looks half decent.





But on close inspection it's clearly run down, and in a vety bad state. I would be surprised it you got any change from at least a million quid to bring it up to basic Isthmian League standard.





Rather than 'walk & talk' you round the stadium I'll just let you look around without my comments. It's in such a state there's not really much to be said is there?







































Next to the stadium is this clubhouse for Enfield Ignatians RFC. Presumably they previously played in the stadium?





Next door is a large open space, called Enfield Playing Fields, with well over a dozen football pitches, and a couple of rugby ones. A, sort of, 'mini-Hackney Marshes'. This poster, on the park noticeboard, clearly shows there is a local determination to save the stadium.





I suppose you could phone the council on this number to find out more!





Football posts stretch way across the park.





with this one, at the far end, particularly poignant. For those houses are built on the site of the old Enfield football ground.





I briefly wandered round the development, looking in vain for any mention of the previous footballing occupants. A terrible shame the local authority can't even erect a plaque of some sort to commemorate the famous old club that brought such pride to the name of Enfield. Guilty conscience perhaps at 'losing them'?