Indian Gymkhana

Another very lowly venue for me, Indian Gymkhana, from the Middlesex County League Premier Division, but not just a new ground for me to tick off, but also for well over a hundred groundhoppers, for another of the Middlesex League early kick offs.
As to be expected for this rung of the pyramid the ground, if you can call it that, is basic. No more than a roped off pitch. Not exactly photogenic, but there were the spectators, and planes overhead from nearby Heathrow Airport every few minutes. So while there's not much for me to describe as we walk around the sportsground, I've taken a number of snaps of the 'hopping fraternity', just for fun. Maybe those of you who have looked in from the Tony Kempster 'family' will spot themselves...enjoy! ;-)



As you enter the ground the clubhouse is ahead, I didn't actually get a decent shot of it for some reason, but the changing rooms are on the ground level, and the bar was upstairs, with a balcony area, looking over the pitches. There were two pitches here, & it's also used for cricket in the summer.



The club crest is engraved into the glass doors of the bar area.



Here's the inside.



With a packed cabinet covering football, hockey & cricket.



Here's the view across the grounds from the outside balcony.



Programmes were on sale from a table, a bargain at two quid each, which included admission, so I hope everyone bought one!




Beyond the table was a large shed, which was the refreshment hut, doing a roaring trade in teas, soft drinks and sandwiches.





Here's another,fuller view of it.





These hoppers do like to note things down! ;-)







Obviously local hoppers, if they've cycled here!





The Marsh Rangers players come out for the start, they've featured in a number of these early kick off fixtures, so should be used to the big crowds by now.







In the red & white stripes are the Indian Gymkhana hosts.





And-despite what many hoppers think-the most important people at a game are the match officials. Without them we wouldn't have anything to watch. They rank higher than the programme editor & sellers! ;-)





The ground is a simple roped off pitch, well roped off on one side, and a little way behind one of the goals. The only 'structure' are the dugouts, and the anti-racism banner between them.





As you can see there's nothing behind the goals, you'll find a number of shots in this set of the game, which is unusual for me. Part of the reason for including them is either because there's the crowd as a backdrop, or planes in the picture. Plus one or two I've included kust for the sake of it, becuase I can! ;-)

From here on you won't find too many comments, as we stroll around the pitch. If you were at the match see if you can spot yourself...































Was this the 'serious hoppers' VIP enclosure? ;-)





I don't think much of that dugout 'extension'!









There's the regular 'one man & his dog' in there somewhere! ;-)

















The 'main stand!'






















If anyone from the Middlesex County League happens to stumble across these photos may I say a big thank you for them continuing to arrange the occasional Saturday morning matches!

Dulwich Hamlet-in the snow 2/2/2009

I took these photos of Champion Hill afte,r the heavy overnight snowfalls, on Monday 2nd February. I posted them on Blogger with no problem, but they disappeared a few days later, so this is my second attempt! I have no idea where they went to!

I have already covered Champion Hill on this site, and don't usually repeat photos, & if I do I include it in the same post. But as a Dulwich Hamlet fan I suppose I'm entitled to include these separately as a posting in their own right! ;-)

I'm not including that many words, as I've already described the ground in the first set I took, and these are just for show in the snow.



Locals enjoy making a snowman in the car park!



Before we go into the stadium we're going to go round behind the far end, to see what the all-weather pitch is like...



No seven-a-sides for a while I think!







And back round to the car park end, & into the ground.

Molesey

I took these photos of Molesey on Boxing Day 2007, again not the best set of snaps, but hopefully you'll get the flovour of the ground. This was for a Ryman League Division South match versus the Hamlet, but they are now in the Combined Counties League Premier Division.

I first visited here in 1979, for an Isthmian League Cup tie, when I was still at school, and got in free! Back then I proudly kept a scrapbook of Hamlet match reports, along with my programmes & own notes, & I sat in the stand with it the week before. He started talking to me (I was 13, & nowadays would've rung Childline!) & he read my folder. Turned out he was the Molesey chairman on a scouting mission before the cup tie, & he wrote me a note to give to the gateman to get me into the game free! Thankfully my 'dossier' wasn't as good as those of Don Revie, and we still one, despite his 'inside information'!




Here are their turnstiles. now I know that it's their initials, but I'm sorry, to me 'MFC' will always be for Millwall! It's a Sarf Lunnon thing ;-)



Once inside you see the club shed & table.



Unfortunately I messed up this photo of the main stand, very fuzzy, but at least you get an idea of what it's like. Whoops! hopefully I've improved since I took this!



Walking round in a clockwise direction, we go past the 'tunnel', that's the Hamlet, in our away kit of all red.



Here we look up to the elevated balcony of the main stand.



On the halfway line, we can see the cover on the far side.



Here are the dugouts.



That's better! A not so blurred snap of the main stand.



Now we're looking towards behind the far goal, where there's a small, but decent, bit of cover.



As we move round there you can see a good stretch of terrace and the cover.



And from behind the goal we get a shot of the main stand, I personally think it looks a lot better from a distance.



I didn't walk round the far side for some reason, and retraced my steps to go up the other end for the second half. As you can see here this end is open, with just one step of terrace.



Another look at the main stand, this time through the net.



Moving along we look at the open end from the other corner.



And here is the far side, where you can see the cover in the middle, and a couple of steps of terrace.



Another one of my 'corner flag' shots!



And finally at closer look of the cover down the side, through a floodlight pylon!