Saturday 18 April 2009

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!