This game came about because I needed to pick Jen up from York and Ripon is pretty much on the way. We had plans to walk some more of the Yorkshire Wolds Way the following day, so the logical thing would have been to have stayed over somewhere. That idea was thwarted though by us having Saturday night tickets for Stewart Lee for The Globe. He was very good, as ever.
Next day we drove down to North Newbald for a section of the trail notable only for sheep. Just as well that we didn’t take the dog.
The match was at Mallorie Park, which I understand might be scheduled for demolition. It was the final fixture of the season in Second Division of the York Football League, so that’s tier 13. Ripon City Reserves were at home to Cliffe.
It was free to get in and when I called into the clubhouse for a pre-match snack, they sold me a pork pie for a quid that I think might have been left over from a function earlier in the day. They had the Hearts v Celtic clash on the telly and whilst I’d hoped that Hearts would get over the line, I think we all knew how it would pan out.
I took a seat in the wooden four row covered stand. Most of the people around me were players from Ripon’s first team who had played their match that morning and were celebrating their own end of season. There were a couple of wags and a dog that might have been wearing a Cliffe kit. Other than that, it was the usual mix of family, friends and one or two groundhoppers suffering from the reduction in choice of fixtures.
Cliffe were the better side and rattled in four goals without reply in the first half. They added another soon after the restart. There was some excitement on the hour when Ripon pulled one back with a low shot into the corner that prompted a cry of “Come on boys, we can win this”. It wasn’t to be though as Cliffe added another three for a seven-one away win.
In the final throes of the game, Cliffe sent their keeper up for a corner in the hope of adding an eighth. Their ambition was neither rewarded nor punished with the corner sailing out on the full as the ref blew to bring the season to an end.
Trail of the Lion King 