Alvsby IF v Bergnasets AIK 2, Wednesday 17th September 2025, 7.30pm

September 22, 2025

It was time for my monthly trip to Lulea, but as the nights are drawing in and most of the nearby teams are in the lower tiers, the general lack of floodlights at their grounds meant that I had very few games to choose from. Alvsby are in the sixth tier Norrbotten Sodra, but their Alvakra IP sports complex is big enough to have lights and so that’s where I went. Alvsbyn is a small town of around five thousand people, but it is on the east coast train line, so reasonably accessible, even in mid-winter.

I didn’t need the train as I had a car and managed to do the forty-five minute journey in the daylight, accompanied by my workmate Steve. He’s a Wolves fan, so was quite happy to take his mind off their Premier League woes with some Swedish groundhopping. There were roadside signs for moose, but disappointingly we didn’t see any.

What we did see was some snow on the running track at the ground. Steve reckoned that it must have recently fallen, but I like to think that it was the remnants of a forty-foot-high pile, cleared from the pitch back in March.

We got chatting with the lady taking the gate money. When he heard that we’d travelled from Lulea she offered to let us in for free. As she’d only just told us about the role that the club played in the community, particularly for some of the less well-off kids, it didn’t seem right to accept her generous offer though and we handed over the recommended four quid admission fee.

The gate lady also told us about the respective teams. This was the penultimate game of the season for both sides and the final home fixture for Alvsby. They would finish between fourth and sixth in the table depending on the results in those two fixtures, but promotion was out of reach.

Visitors Bergnasets were a development side but apparently would often strengthen their team with first team players. She’d heard that for tonight’s game they would be fielding mostly youngsters, giving her hope that Alvsby might come out on top.

Her hopes materialized with the home side taking the lead in the first minute. Bergnasets equalized, but in an open first half where either side could have scored five, the teams went off at the break with Alvsby two-one up.

I liked the ref. He was willing to overturn a penalty that he had awarded after a chat with the lino and then later on after mistakenly brandishing a red instead of yellow, he acknowledged his error when he saw the colour rather than brazening it out by sticking to his decision.

The temperature off the field dropped quite a bit in the second half and the game could have gone either way. Alvsby finally clinched the points with a third goal in the last minute. There were no moose on the way back either.

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Preston North End v Middlesbrough, Saturday 13th September 2025, 12.30pm

September 15, 2025

I hadn’t planned to see the Boro this weekend. In fact, I’d arranged a weekend over in The Lakes long before the fixtures were released. I’d spotted a Boo Hewerdine gig near Kendal and booked two nights in a 1958 vintage Airstream caravan just twenty minute’s walk from the Staveley Pavilion venue.

The airstream was an interesting experience. It was very stylish but the toilet was so cramped that when having a dump I needed to extend my feet into the kitchen area.

The gig was good. Boo was performing by himself, albeit with two support acts. It was a sold-out capacity of around sixty in a hut also used by 1st Staveley Scouts. Tea and coffee was free if you made it yourself and alcohol was available from the pub across the road, as long as you took your own glass.

My plan had been to look out for a lower level game in the Westmorland or West Lancashire Leagues, but when checking what was on, I discovered that we were only forty-eight minute’s drive from Deepdale. At that distance, the chance to see the Boro attempt a record breaking fifth consecutive league win at the start of a season was too much to pass up.

I headed down the M6 to a pre-booked parking spot in Sainsbury’s. It worked well until after the game when it took me longer to get out of the car park than it did to drive the rest of the journey back to Staveley. As I hadn’t anticipated a three-quarters of an hour bottleneck, I exceeded my booked time and now expect to receive a parking ticket.

The last time I was at Preston, I didn’t have enough priority points for an away ticket, so Harry and I had to go in the home hospitality section. This time I was one of the 5,700 Boro fans in the Shankly Stand behind the goal. It was a decent atmosphere, or at least it was until Preston scored their opener, but the big crowds always attract a disproportionate number of glass-half empty people who like to make their displeasure known. The applause for Whittaker’s substitution was disgraceful.

I thought we were off the pace in the first half but got better after the break with the staggered introductions of Strelec, Nypan and Hansen. Once we get to a stage where all three are starting, we’ll be quite a force.

It all appeared to go tits up when Preston went 2-1 ahead with just two minutes remaining, but Hansen’s added time equalizer felt like a win. We are top of the league, say, we are top of the league.

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AFC Halifax Town v Middlesbrough U21, Tuesday 9th September 2025, 7pm

September 10, 2025

I’d originally planned to drive up to Newbiggin for a Northern League game, but then I noticed that the Boro’s U21 team were playing away at Halifax Town in that competition where the lower ranked teams field their first team against the kid’s sides from those higher up the leagues. I’m sure the rules of the competition spell it out more clearly, but that is the gist of it.

There was a handy and free car park outside The Shay and it was ten quid cash-only admission at the turnstiles. I picked up a steak pie with gravy and took a seat in the main stand, which was the only one that had been opened. The unused covered terraces behind the two goals looked great, a real throwback to how grounds used to be.

Boro had included some players from the first team squad, no doubt to get some minutes into their legs. Lenihan and Edmundson formed the centre-half partnership with Micah Hamilton on the left of the three behind Sonny Finch. The two defenders were withdrawn at the break, presumably having enough of a run out, with Hamilton not far behind.

There wasn’t much of a crowd, just 207. I wondered whether it might be the lowest ever for a Halifax game, but a quick online search revealed that just 195 people watched Sunderland at The Shay in this competition last year. Clearly, the Boro are a bigger attraction.

Boro didn’t really shine and only Lenihan looked to be first team standard. Finch was busy and took his goal well, but it was hard to see any gap in quality between the sides. The outcome could have gone either way until a late Halifax goal sealed a 2-1 win for the National League side.

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Bridlington Town v Mossley AFC, Saturday 6th September 2025, 3pm

September 9, 2025

I wasn’t a cool kid. I’ve never been cool as an adult either, not even in that ‘so uncool that you actually are cool’ kind of way. As a thirteen year old and when my cool mates were listening to punk and new-wave, I was listening to The Beatles, Mott The Hoople and Darts. Yes, Darts, a doo-wop revival combo.

They were the first band that I ever saw live. Possibly because The Beatles and Mott The Hoople had already broken up. It was at Middlesbrough Town Hall in June 1978 and, as it was half-term, I even popped along to Debenham’s in Stockton for a signing session earlier in the day. The nine Darts members signed my album and singles and didn’t complain when I rejoined the queue and got them to sign a paper bag as well.

Forty-seven years and three months later, Jen and I went along to Cottingham Civic Hall where I saw Darts for a second time. They played all the songs I’d liked as a thirteen-year-old. Four of the nine who had signed my Debenham’s bag were on stage, two others were dead and three had moved on from their doo-wop revival days. It went well. I doubt I’ll see them for a third time, but it was an enjoyable evening of uncool nostalgia.

Cottingham is close to the start of the Yorkshire Wolds Way and as we were staying in the area we took the opportunity to begin yet another of the National Trails. We recently finished the Cleveland Way, a mere thirteen years after starting it, and currently have Hadrian’s Wall and the West Highland Way in progress.

We set off from Hessle and over the course of two days covered fourteen miles walking to Welton and back. The wildlife highlight was a vole that was so fat to be virtually round. I’ve no idea if they hibernate, but if they do, it looked ready.

There were plenty of options to see a game in the eleventh tier Humber Premier League, but instead I chose to drive forty minutes north to Bridlington for a First Qualifying Round tie in the FA Trophy. Bridlington Town of the eighth-tier Northern Premier East Division were taking on Mossley AFC, who play in the equivalent West Division.

The East Division is the league that most Northern League teams are allocated to if they achieve promotion, so I was interested in seeing the relative strengths of the teams. It’s no more than a rough guide though, especially since Bridlington are second in their division, whilst Mossley are towards the bottom end of theirs.

I’d read that there was plenty of parking at the ground, but a quick circuit of the car park suggested that we’d arrived too late. There were plenty of spaces in the nearby streets though and we were soon in the turnstile queue for the Mounting Systems Stadium.

It was nine quid admission and, whilst most of the 455 attendees were already inside, there were plenty of seats in the main covered stand.

In addition to a covered stand that ran the entire length of one side of the pitch, there was also a covered standing area behind one goal and a kind of bus stop structure opposite the main stand. Brid, as their supporters seem to refer to them, had a small group of ultras with a drum, whilst Mossley were supported by around forty fans at the far end.

At half-time I queued for a baked potato at the opposite end and was joined by the Mossley fans who had switched locations to stand behind the goal that their team were now attacking. That sort of flexibility is one of the things that I enjoy about football at this level.

Football-wise, Brid took the lead within the first minute of the game. I wondered if we might expect a rout, but the contest was fairly even after that. The early goal was enough though as the home side held on despite nine minutes of frantic added time efforts from visitors.

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Crewe Alexandra v Swindon Town, Saturday 30th August 2025, 3pm

September 6, 2025

I should really have been at the Boro watching our fourth win from the first four league games, but I had to drive down to Portland in Dorset to pick up a couple of antique fires. It’s a seven-hundred-and-fifty-mile round trip which, despite being within the tank range of my diesel Passat, is too far for me to want to drive in a day.

I chose to stay overnight in Weymouth, which is a classic seaside town. I didn’t arrive until close to 8pm but still had time for a stroll along the seafront and some fish and chips.

Part of the reason for my late arrival was that I broke my journey at Crewe to tick off another of the ninety-two grounds in the English top four divisions.

As I approached the Mornflake Stadium I passed the Crewe Arms hotel which presumably is the temporary home of some refugees. There was a small group of protesters with Union Jacks and St George flags, soliciting honks from passing cars. If their protest was against the use of hotels then it would have been better directed at the actions of the previous Tory governments that as a matter of policy allowed to backlog of asylum cases to rise to the extent that the regular housing was no longer sufficient. If the protest was against those seeking asylum, foreigners in general or simply people with a different coloured skin, then they should fuck right off.

Pleasingly, a larger group stood alongside them holding Refugees Welcome placards. Three police officers were whiling away their day keeping the peace at what seemed to be a non-violent protest from both sides. Perhaps the opposing attendees knew each other. Maybe they had even shared cars to get there.

I’d bought a ticket online for the main stand, which dwarfs the other three. The away fans were opposite and there were some vocal Crewe fans in the stand to my right. My seat was next to a wall for the access steps and whilst it didn’t really impact my view, there was a small kid in the seat in front of me who wasn’t tall enough to see more than a third of the pitch.

I had a meat and potato pie before the game which tasted as if it had been held over from last season and at half-time bought a Bakewell tart from a stall at the back of the concourse. That went down much easier.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Conor Ripley turning out for Swindon. It’s fifteen seasons since he made his Boro debut as a teenager and it’s good to see that he has now clocked up more than three hundred senior appearances. I last saw him playing for Morecambe against the Boro in a pre-season friendly where he reacted with a bit more humour than I might have done to some stick from the fans of his former team.

He did well, making some decent saves and, as a senior member of his team, frequently popping over to the dugout to offer advice to the coaches.

Neither side look good, but Crewe were the worst of the two and went in at the break three-nil behind. Swindon eased off in the second half but still controlled the game. There were no more goals and the visitors took the points.

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Askam Utd v Crooklands Casuals, Saturday 23rd August 2025, 11am

September 5, 2025

The August Bank Holiday weekend is rapidly becoming associated, for me at least, with Sea Power’s Krankenhaus Festival. This will be the fifth one that they’ve held at Muncaster Castle and Jen and I have been to them all. The first one, back in 2019, had fewer than four hundred attendees and probably many of them were gatecrashers who had been alerted to the complete lack of security.

This year the capacity had reached fifteen hundred and that’s as high as I’d like it to go. Part of its charm is the lack of crowds and, whilst I appreciate the need for it to at least break even, it was very full inside the barn for the higher profile bands.

Despite the increased capacity, the festival was still a success. Hamish Hawk was very well received, as he had been last time he appeared. I can’t really understand how he isn’t bigger. There was a short performance from Stewart Lee, prior to him introducing The Nightingales. I wondered if he might struggle a bit as most of his humour relies on slow burning build ups and looping back to previous references. I needn’t have worried, as he nailed it.

The highlight though was Sea Power. It always is. For their Friday night performance, I started off a few feet from the stage, but it got too hot and after being clonked on the head by a surprisingly heavy wooden owl that was being dangled from a fishing rod, I moved to the colder air outside the barn and watched the rest of the set from there.

We stayed offsite, in a small place near Santon Bridge. It was ideal for a Sunday morning walk along a Forestry Commission path to Mitterdale. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife other than a few sheep and I’m not sure that they count. As you’d expect, the views were great. When the path became boggy, we called it a day and turned around, but the six-mile stroll with plenty of ascent was worth doing.

Unsurprisingly, I took in a football game. I’d originally planned to head up to Whitehaven, but their 3pm kick-off would have meant missing Hamish Hawk. For an alternative I found a game that was kicking off at 11am as part of a groundhopping weekend. It was at Askham and involved an hour-long drive down some country lanes that were barely wide enough for one car, never mind two.

It was a fiver to get in and that included a programme and a team sheet, something that a lot of groundhoppers regard as essential to their experience.

Inclusion on a groundhopper tour significantly boosted the attendance. There were close to four hundred people there, mostly blokes on their own and of a similar age to me. The club had pulled out all of the stops to provide facilities and hopefully make a few bob from the day.

There was a small stall with Askam merchandise, including shirts that were presumably last season’s match kits. Further along, someone had two full tables of pin badges. He also had replicas of the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup trophies. Selfies could be taken with the trophies at a pound a pop. An outdoor bar sold cans of beer and soft drinks but I resisted all of the spending opportunities until I reached the food stall where I spent my cash on a bacon and egg roll instead.

The Duddon Road ground doesn’t have any stands or seating, although there were a few picnic tables along one side of the pitch. There are houses along two sides of the pitch and some picturesque views of the sea behind one goal and the hills behind the touchline with the picnic tables.

It was a grass pitch and after the summer that we’ve had was mainly yellow and in need of some rain. It would have benefitted from some levelling too, with one section in particular sloping upwards towards the corner flag.

The fixture was in the twelfth-tier Division One of the West Lancashire League. According to the programme, Askam hadn’t been doing too well so far this season, but they had most of the early possession and better chances.

Crocklands took the lead against the run of play a quarter of an hour in, when a third effort was driven home after the keeper had beaten out the previous two attempts at goal.

Askam stepped up the pace in the second half but despite the pressure couldn’t force an equalizer. Most of the crowd moved on to Dalton for their second game of a three match Saturday itinerary, whilst I headed back up the road to Muncaster with sufficient time in hand for Hamish Hawk’s afternoon set.

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Lulea SK v Bodens BK FF 2, Wednesday 20th August 2025, 6.30pm

September 2, 2025

My second game of the trip was in the sixth-tier, Division 4 Norbotten Sodra. It was another Lulea fixture, this time at the Hertso IP ground and featuring Lulea SK against the reserve side of nearby Boden BK.

I had a couple of companions for this one, as two of my colleagues, Frank and Steve, decided that it might be an interesting way of spending a couple of hours outdoors before we adjourned to the pub.

It was the usual 50 Crown admission, but as there were three of us the kids on the gate were happy to accept the 200 Crown note that I’ve been stuck with for a while. There were probably around fifty people there, many of whom I suspected were there as parents of the ball boys.

We initially watched from the open wooden stand on the half-way line and endured ten minutes of light rain before it eased off midway through the first half. The weather, as well as the adjoining forest, seemed to encourage the mosquitos and I soon had bites on my head.

The home side went into the game in second place in the table with the visitors in third. In theory, you’d expect a competitive game, but it didn’t turn out that way. Lulea made most of their attacks down the left and by half-time had taken enough of their chances to go in five-nil up.

Coffee, beer and burgers were available and after buying our snacks we stayed down at that end of the ground for the second half.

The game was not quite so one-sided in the second half. Boden had hooked their right-back at the break and seemed better organized. Despite that improvement, Lulea still managed to add a further three goals for an eight-nil win.

Frank and Steve seemed impressed by the standard of the sixth-tier as I think that they had been expecting jumpers for goalposts. Perhaps they’ll tag along for some future games.

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IFK Lulea Akademi v Infjardens FK, Monday 18th August 2025, 7pm

September 1, 2025

I’m working on a project in Sweden at the moment which requires me to visit once a month or so for some meetings. That gives me the opportunity to take in a game or two each time and my first fixture of this trip was in Lulea, for a match in the fifth-tier.

It’s getting a bit colder in Lulea now and as my luggage arrived two days after I did, I had to add a coat to the list when I popped to the shops for some emergency clothes.

The game was at the Nyabvallen Stadium. I’d probably have walked it from my town-centre hotel if there hadn’t been some drizzle in the air. There was a guy waiting at the entrance collecting money. Presumably he was connected to the club.

Once again, my lack of the Swish App made life difficult and as he had no change for a 200 Crown note, he accepted 20 Crowns instead of the usual 50 Crowns admission fee. He told me that the stadium dates back to the 1970s and it was easy to believe.

There was a large covered main stand with wooden seats. The artificial pitch had a running track around it and there was an electronic scoreboard that fitted perfectly with the seventies vibe. There were woods opposite and to the right and with the weather closing in, the floodlights were on from the start.

There wasn’t a food and drink cabin and the only refreshments available were courtesy of a lady in the stand who had brought a large Tupperware box full of cakes. As I only had a 200 Crown note, I didn’t bother wandering over.

The game was in Division 3, Norra Norrland. Home side IFK Lulea are an academy team, with the visitors, Infjardens, having a more usual spread of age groups within their line-up.

The away team took the lead mid-way through the first half with a cracking volley that revealed the presence of a handful of away fans celebrating to my right. Lulea hit back on the break and levelled a few minutes later before promptly adding a second with a shot driven across the keeper from the left,

Shortly after the restart, Lulea went two up with another goal from a break. It might well have been offside, but the lino was adamant that he’d called it correctly.

There were plenty of chances for both sides, but a combination of good goalkeeping and poor finishing meant that going into the final few minutes, Lulea remained three-one ahead. A late flurry from the hosts added two more goals, the final one direct from a corner for an eventual five-one victory.

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Silsden v Ramsbottom United, Saturday 16th August 2025, 3pm

August 30, 2025

This weekend started off with a drive across to Barnoldswick. It’s a route that I’d taken a few days earlier for a game at Emley and it’s a pleasant enough journey, particularly once you get out into the countryside.

Jen and I were there for a gig at the Music and Art Centre, which sounds quite grand but is actually just the basement of a small bar. Russell Hastings was playing ‘with friends’. He’s the fella who played with Rick Buckler and Bruce Foxton in From The Jam, but these days is keeping the flame alive without them.

It was a good show. He’s clearly a passionate Jam fan and as he pronounces his words much better than Weller ever did, I’ve realized how many of the lyrics I’d got wrong for all those years.

Next morning we moved on to Keighley and spent the morning at East Riddlesden Hall. It’s a manor house dating back to Tudor times. I joined the National Trust recently but hadn’t got around to using the cards before this visit. It was quite interesting, with some well-informed volunteers. There was a decent garden for wandering around in too, and as I get older I find that sort of thing increasingly enjoyable.

After the history lesson we drove on to Silsden for a game in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup. Silsden, of the eighth-tier East Division of the Northern Premier League were hosting Ramsbottom United of the ninth-tier Premier Division of the North West Counties League.

It was a tenner to get in to the Angel Telecom Stadium, which brought home how much of a bargain the similar prices are at the Boro for a Third-Round tie. I bought a programme and we started off in the covered main stand, near to a fella who was doing a radio commentary. That’s got to be a niche audience.

As well as the covered seats, there was also a standing area behind the goal to our left. That was mainly occupied by some baby ultras with a drum. They looked about twelve and spent the game exchanging chants with a handful of Ramsbottom supporters who had taken up a position alongside the stand.

I watched some of the game from nearby and impressive as the fans were, the best thing was a cross-bred dog with the head and face of a pug and the body of a labrador. Hopefully the combination will catch on.

Silsden took the lead after a quarter of an hour when a well-weighted through ball sent its recipient clear. He rounded the keeper and finished cleanly.

At half-time I initially joined a queue for refreshments in the clubhouse only to discover that it was cold drinks only. We later found the hatch for coffees next to a café style area outside. There were plenty of food choices and if there was nothing that we fancied in the café, we had the option of a separate outdoor burger stall or an ice-cream van.

Silsden never really seemed comfortable with the single goal lead and Ramsbottom pressed for an equalizer throughout the second half. Their reward finally came three minutes into added time when a striker beat the keeper to a floated cross and glanced his header home to the delight of the travelling fans.

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Middlesbrough v Doncaster Rovers, Tuesday 12th August 2025, 7.30pm

August 29, 2025

I’ve been doing well for gigs lately and after seeing Weathership and The Undertones on the previous Thursday and Saturday nights, Jen and I nipped over to a Sunday afternoon show in Manchester. It was John Bramwell at the Night and Day Café.

On the plus side, it was Bramwell. Even better, he had his Harmonic Convergence band with him so we got the full versions of new stuff and a bigger sound on classics that he more often than not plays solo. It was also interesting to hear his stories about his time working in the venue and that it features in the lyrics to Over Your Shoulder.

Less good was the number of people who had turned up primarily for a yapped catch up with their mates. He should only play to ‘quiet’ audiences. The shape of the venue was odd as well, with the stage at one end of a long and narrow room. But I suppose you work with what you have. Anyway, it was a worthwhile trip.

Two days later it was time for the second game of Boro’s season, a first round Carabao Cup game against third-tier Doncaster Rovers. I’d got tickets for Tom, Harry and I in the West Stand Lower, which I’d picked partly for novelty value but also so that I wouldn’t have to stand all evening as is the practice in the South Stand.

After Saturday’s win over Swansea, I was hopeful of a good result. Particularly as Boro fielded a strong side, albeit with Hackney, Morris and Fry held back on the bench. Doncaster made a full eleven changes from their league line-up and included Billy Sharp up front. He must be a similar age to me.

It didn’t start well and we were two goals down early on. The fella to my left was a right pain in the arse with his non-stop instructions to the players followed by criticism when they didn’t do as he suggested. I was hoping that he might storm out if a third goal went in.

Events took a turn for the worse in the second half, despite us emptying the bench. Doncaster added a further two goals for an emphatic 4-0 win. It’s just as well that they didn’t bring their first team.

The silver lining to the walloping was that the ground was virtually empty by full-time and so we could get through the underpass without queueing. There’s always a positive if you look hard enough. I also liked the way that Rob Edwards reacted without throwing any of the players under a bus. He hinted that there would be some changes to the squad before the window closed so I suppose we will just have to hope for some players good enough to go straight into the starting eleven.

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