Captain White sticks ground hopping adventures

at queenswood drive, home of Kirkstall Education cc,  for the waddilove cup final. played for by teams in the airedale and wharfedale cricket league. where rawdon, 3rd in the 1st division take on poole in wharfedale, 2nd in division 2. rawdon beat div one table toppers salt aire in the semi final, whilst poole vanquished top flight opposition in addingham. rawdon warmed up for this one with a  278   run win over beckwithshaw yesterday, racking up 412 for 2 in the process,  with ben morley casually  smoting  237 not out off 165 balls. rawdon batting first. excellent crowd in exess  of 700.  into the 2nd innings here at queenswood drive. rawdon racked up an impressive 339 for 7 off their alloted 50 overs. man of the moment ben morley taking  his weekend's run scoring aggrigate to 436, unluckily ran out on 199, going for a 3rd run to bring up his double tun. george myres myers next top score with 52. poole have made a promising start however,  and are 70 for 1 in the 14th over. ben mo

at west bromwich and dartmouth cc, for minor counties division 1 east action, or the national counties as they are now called. staffordshire vs lincolnshire. 5 teams in the eastern and western divisions, with the winners of each playing for the minor counties championship trophy in august. these are 3 day matches, with 120 overs on each day. each team can only bat for 90 overs before their innings has to come to an end. this is day 2. stafs 388 for 6 declared, 140 for alex mellor, and 96 for mohammed malik. linçs were 78 for 2 at the start of the day,  but are now 103 for 6. needing another 135 to avoid a the possibility of being forced to follow on. 

at a glorious nunroyd park, for aire wharfe 2nd division action. green lane, 5th, vs poole in wharfedale, 4th.   new rover look to have   secured the 1st promotion spot, being 29 points clear, but today's adversaries are hanging onto the coat tails of horsforth hall park, and tong park eshault, in 2nd and 3rd,  with poole being 11 points behind, and green lane 18 behind with 3 games to go.    poole have already reached the waddilove   cup final, and ran 1st division title challengers rawdon close. lane batting  first on a glorious day in north leeds. Result from nunroyd park. and green lane win an excellent game by 29 runs. batting first, a superbly paced total of 285 for 5 with contributions all down the order of 89, 77, 57, 45 and 43. the writing looked to be on the wall for poole who slid to 127 for 6, before an 84 run partnership between sam o'sulivan and will cooper before the former fell for 37. and when cooper went for 81 and was next out with 52 still to get, that seale

at town street. home of carlton cricket club. for bradford league t20 finals day. this is the competition for 3rd and 4th division teams in the bradford league. sandal, in their 3rd final in 4 years take on jerr lane, currently top of division 3. sandal lost last year's final to north owrham fields. they beat heckmondwyke and carlinghaw in the semi final earlier on today here at this venue, racking up 207 for 5, farrak hussain, a magnificent 125. and skittled out their opposition for 116 Result from town Street. And an excellent T-20 final goes the way of jerr lane, who won by 4 wickets with 2 overs to spare. this looked to be a one sided final for a long time, with lane being on top for long periods. sandal, made it to 40 for no loss in 6 overs before a steady procession of wickets fell. Leaving  them on a seemingly below par total of 108 for nine. With the wickets shared out amongst the lane bowlers. Lane set off like a train, taking 24 off  the first over with  man of the moment

at ilkley road, for airedale and wharfedale 1st division action.  addingham, 9th, vs bilton in 6th. very much a mid table clash, with both teams being way of of contention to chalenge rawdon or salt aire for the title, and both also being well clear of the 2 relegation spots, occupied by olicanian and horsforth. bilton batting first under cloudy skies. C result from ilkley road, and addingham win an exciting and fairly low scoring encounter by 5 wickets with 6 overs to go, but this does not tell the whole story. bilton were cruzing at 168 for 3, but folded by like the preverbial deck of cards to lose 7 wickets foe for 28 and finish on 196 all out with 4 overs left of their innings. jamie bryant, 67 top scoring, suplemented by knocks of 38, 31, 28 and 20. ricky palacio, 5 for 65 and daniel ellis, 3 for 22 doing the damage. addingham set off like the preverbial train, but slid to 124 for 5, before an unbroken 6th wicket partnership between ben brialy, 21 and edward croft, 46, saw them ho

at intake lane, home of undercliffe cc, for the priestley cup final, the showpiece of the bradford league cricket season. where townville take on new farnley. along with woodlands, these are the 3 heavyweights of the bradford league, and have been viing for the league title all season. big spending farnley won this cup in 2017, and already have the heavy woolen cup under their belt this term. in a quirke of the fixture callendar, these 2 teams played each other yesterday in a league fixture with townville coming out victorious, and b putting paid to farnley's title aspirations. this is  townville's first priestley cup final, and they are 2nd in the premier division too, so are aiming for a league and cup double. farnley batting first on a cool overcast day. 

an early result from the homestead. home of north leeds cc. aire wharfe 1st division action. the home side in 8th took on otley, in 3rd. otley, being perennial winners of the aire wharfe league prior to the recent transfer of salt aire from the bradford league. north leeds were skittled for a paltry 69 in 17 overs, with the scorecard reading in ascending order, 26, 13, 6, 5, 4, plus 6 ducks and 15 extras. sam kellet 4 for 37 for otley, who romped home with ease, cantering 70 for one after 8 overs. game oveor by 2 15 following the earlier 12 30 September start time. 

at the magical north  marine road, home of scarborough cc, for  county championship division action. yorkshire, going into day 2, are 159 for 5, having bowled out sommersett for 134 yesterday. harry brooke, not out on 79 along with england's forgotten man dom bes are at the crease for the tykes.   matt fisher, 5 for 41, starring for them on day one, whilst josh davey has 3 for 41 for the cidermen. both teams failing to get off the mark in their first game of this group stage, with the cidermen being thrashed by notts, and yaaaaarkshire failing to take hamshire's last wicket for a seemingly nailed on victory. grey overcast day thus far. 4th vs 5th after the first game of the group stage.   2500 here yesterday, and even more here today apparently. harry brooke has just reached a fine century,  the sun is breaking through and real ale is on tap. i fear the davis chest may be making an appearance come early afternoon.

at spen lane, home of spen victoria cc, for the jack hampshire cup final. the knock out competition for 2nd and 3rd division teams in the bradford league. where jerr lane take on east ardsley. both teams have won promotion to the 2nd division this year. lane already have the 3rd division title under their belt and the t20 group b trophy, and are thus aiming for  the treble. east ardsley secured promotion yesterday, so this promises to be a cracker. 40 overs aside. lane batting first on a cool and overcast day. 

 Sweden 146, Norway 124. Sweden get through by 22 runs and go on to play the winners of Spain versus Belgium which is coming up in a few minutes, although unfortunately I have to head off to work now. Unfortunately that means elimination for the Norwegians apparently.

i've just been watching the european cricket league t10 championship from malaga. its on bt sport espn. norway are currently 68 for 4 after 5 overs in reply to sweden's 150 ish. been trying to find a scorecard on cricinfo but can't seem to find one. fabulous stuff. 

at the home of cricket. lords, at the front of the warner stand. for the culmination of the season. bob willis trophy final, day one.  county champions, warrickshire vs runners up lancs. lancs had a thrilling one wicket win over hants in their last game, but the bears polished off somerset to win their first title since 2012.  lancs, its fair to say already in a spot of bother, to to say  the least. 12 for 6. yes. you did read that correctly.  this 5 day fixture, if it were to go the distance, could finish on saturday. meaning the incredibley exciting prospect of first class cricket being played in october. i've just heard my first champagne bottle cork at the early hour of 11-18 am. a sure sign that one is at lords rather than on the western terrace.  about 1000 expected here today, sun drenched at the moment, but the threat of rain later in the day. 

at a wet and windy recreation park. for Scottish league division 3. Alloa Athletic, 5th, won 3 drawn 2 lost 3, vs cove rangers, 3rd, won 4, drawn 2, lost 2.  athletic have, over the years predominantly plied their trade at the 3rd level of Scottish football, but were in the championship last year, but were relegated from wence they came. the upwardly mobile cove, however, narrowly missed out on 3 back to back promotions last term, finishing 3rd in this league. they won promotion to the Scottish league in 2019 from the highland league. their greatest achievement thus far apart from their league success being that they reached the Scottish cup 4th round in 2008 when still amateur.  ft from recreation park, and cove go top of division 3 with a 3 won victory.  the game got off to the worst possible start for the wasps, when they had a man sent off after 25 seconds, for a kick in the chest on a rangers player. rangers took the lead after half an hour, but alloa equalised at the start of the

wel here we are. just when you thought my cricket reports had finished for the winter. at a sun drenched arthington park, or the a c g. for  the last match of the arthington cricket festival. it has been taking place for the last 25 years with cricket being played on consecutive days for 3 weekends following the completion of the regular season. the latest recorded date for a game here at the a c g is the 21st of october. arthington, located 3 miles from otley won the nidderdale league this year. their fresh from a 75 run win yesterday over st george's church. today, they take on cambridge methodists. home side batting first and are 55 for 1. 40 overs a side. mid day start. .  incredibley excited... and so,  the curtain comes down on the cricket season here at the a c g.  arthington, 234 for 4 off 40 overs. cambridge methodists, seemingly in a hurry to get to  even song, subsiding to 4 for 4, before finally succumming for 133 all out.  and, whilst the last cricketing action is alwa

at saville park, for the yorkshire leagues semi final. castleford, champions of the yorkshire premier league north, who take on richmondshire, champions of the north yorks and south durham league. this is the competition for  the 4 champions of the 4 ecb accredited   leagues in yorkshire. winners will play either appleby froddingham yorkshire prem south champions, or woodlands, bradford league champions, who play today at brumby hall near scunthorpe,  at headingley next weekend to determine the champion league cricket team in yorkshire.  castleford batting first where the sun has just broken through in sunny cas vagus. result from saville park. and what a tense and nail biting finish. castleford batting first mustered 180 for 7 from 50 overs, a seemingly below parr total. ex derbyshire batter chezney hughes, 33 and liam hide, top scoring with 38. sam wood, the pick of the richmondshire bowlers with 3 for 34. but shire found the going equally as tough when batting. they lost wickets sti

at stockham lane, for northern premier league div1 west action. step 4. game of the day in this league pits 2nd vs 4th.  Runcorn Linets vs Bootle.  home side in the 1st of the 4 play off spots, and 12 points run away leaders Leek Town.  bootle just 3 points behind them in 4th.  £10 entry on a cool and cloudy day. 3pm kick off. home side formed in 2006 following the collapse of Runcorn fc, who actually won what is now the national league in 1982 but weren't elected to the football league.  a local derby of sorts with the teams just 22  miles apart large crowd expected. full time from yesterday and a one nil win for bootle.  they scored mid way through the first half and virtually parked the bus for the entirety thereafter.  runcorn had  several half chances in the 2nd half, but bootle stood firm they remain in 4th, whilst runcorn slip down to 3rd behind prescott cables. crowd 611.

at the magical post office road. rugby league chalenge cup 4th round action. the 5 towns derby between featherstone rovers and wakefield trinity. separated by just 6 miles.  rovers missed out on prmotion to the super league last year" for the 3rd time in a row and are very much in a rebuilding phase with many star names from their squad since having departed, whilst trin were relegated themselves from the top table last term.  3 pm kick off and a damp and drizzly day. 12 super league teams join in the 5th round. Yesterday‘s full-time from post office Road. And a dramatic  chalenge  cup fifth Round tie goes the way of featherstone. In tricky, wet conditions, they established a 10 points to nil first half lead. But Trinity came roaring back to level the game at 10 points apiece. The teams could not be separated, so it was golden point extra time territory. Wakefield coughed up the ball, And featherstone player ran  60 yards to touch down,   and to to send the home fans Into ecstasy.

at a bright and sunny solitude, for irish premiership action. cliftonville, 4th, vs glenavon in 8th.  the reds could go above their bitter rivals crusaders into 3rd with a win today, and are only 3 point off the leaders glentoran. the reds are the oldest club in ireland, being formed in 1880. full time from solitude and a late come back from glenavon sees them snatch an unlikely point  with the game  finishing 2 apiece.  cliftonville went into a 2 goal lead with goals on 23 and 61 mins, before a harsh sending off on 79 minutes, which appeared to sparke the  glenavon come back, with goals on 83 and 87 mins.  crowd aprox 1600, with 100 from lurgan. the reds remain in 4th, but loose ground on glentoran who won yesterday. there have now been 30 goals in glenavon's last 5 games, and the lurgan blues 54 goals  in their 13 games so far this season. 

at inver park, for northern irish premiership game of the weekend.  larne in 3rd, vs crusaders in 2nd. both just a point behind leaders glentoran, who thumped larne 4 nil last weekend.  larne have risen up through the northern irish pyramid thanks to the owner of purple bricks, who ploughed his money into the club a few years ago. and although his investment has yet to bare fruit, along with today's opponents, the crues from north  belfast, glentoran, coleraine, cliftonville, and last year's champions linfield,  would now consider themselves to be one of the irish premiership's big 6.  full time from inver park, and the inver men it is who do a hatchet job on the hatchetmen from crusaders with an emphatic 4 nil win. with goals on 9, 15, 17 and 35 mins.  they sat back in the 2nd half and crusaders got a late consolation. crowd just under 2000.  larne move a point clear of glentoran,  who thrashed them 4 nil last week, but the glens have 2 games in hand. the hatchet men remai

at post office road. for semi final to determine who replaces toulouze in the rugby leagve super league next year.  where featherstone rovers take on the battly bulldogs.  2nd vs 5 upon final league standings.  winners to play leigh centurians in next week's million pound game for a place in next year's super league.  'leigh having booked their final place by trounsing york 71 10 earlier on today, whilst batly were victorious over barrow raders last weekend.  had 3 pre match pints with the mum and dad of gloucs cc's josh shaw, who are both featherstone season ticket holders.  josh and james bracey are also watching the game with us having just finished their morning's training at headingley prior to tomorrow's encounter with yorkshire. Yesterdays result from post office Road, and an upset of seismic proportions as part time Batley Bulldogs went through against featherstone Rovers by 32 points to 28.  they are now just one game away from reaching super league and

 at the national speedway stadium, kirkmanshulme lane, for the premiership speedway semi  final. where the belle vue aces, on the outskirts of Manchester, who take on the   Ipswich witches. home side 52 38 up after the first of a 2 legged affair.  my first ever speedway meet.  so, 15 heats. 2 riders from each team face off in each heat, with points scored as 3, 2, 1, and 0, from placings 1 to 4. winners to play either the Sheffield tigers or the Wolverhampton wolves in next Monday's grand final, who have yet to play their first leg. 

at moor lane. home of east kesick cc, located close to wetherby. for the last day of the arthington cricket festival.  this is its 30th year in existence, and is played for 3 weeks at the end of the regular season, to keep the great game going for as deep into Octobers as is humanly possible. arthington, close to otley are taking on sam's 11, a rag tag collection of cricketers just fancying one final cricketing  hurrah before the bleak winter sets in.  arthington's  ground, or the a c g, being unavailable, due to a new pavilion being built. 40 overs aside. live cricket on the 9th of October. lovely stuff.  although a bit too cool for the davis top to come off for one last time thus far anyway. 

my long, magical, and adventurous  road  to wembley starts at the home peterborough sports, lincoln road, for fa cup 4th round qualifying action.   both teams plying their trade in  the 6th tier national league north.  this is the home team, the turbines, first season at this level, having won 5 promotions in 9 years. whilst curzon have survived at this level for 7 consecutive years, despite averaging crowds of roughly 300.  both teams just one game away from joining the big boys from leagues 1 and 2 in Monday’s first round proper draw.  £9000 prize money to to today's winners, and £3000 to the losers. Yesterdays result from Lincoln Road. And Curzon and Ashton go through to Mondays first round draw with a one nil win over Peterborough sports. Game settled by a dubious  57 minute penalty which was dispatched with these. The first half exchanges were mainly played out in the midfield, with neither team able to fashion any clear-cut chances. The second half became more open, with both

at newlandsfield park.  for scottish cup 2nd round monday night action on the south side of glasgow. where Pollok fc from the 6th tier west of scotland league take on Annan Athletic from 4th tier scottish league 2.  HOME side are one of the best supported teams in non league scottish football, regularly attracting crowds of 700 for home games.  they were one of the most successful teams in scottish junior football, before deciding to join the scottish pyramid system  last year. Annan were equally successful in junior football, and joined the football league in 2008 replacing gretna, but have never made it out of league 2, although they reached the promotion play offs last season before losing to edinburgh city.  game a complete sell out, and live on bbc Scotland.  Great atmosphere building under the Monday  night floodlights. full time from newlandsfield park and a cracking cup tie goes the way of the underdogs pollok.  they took the lead in 5 mins, only for annan to equalize in 35. bu

at moss valley. for  regional north east division 2 rugby union action. level 6 on the pyramid system. where moortown, 8 wins from 10 and 4 points clear  of scarborough in 2nd take on 6th  placed old crosslians from halifax. old crocs as they are affectionately known are the former club of ex england hooker bryan  moore. 2 real ales on in the bar also.   lovely stuff. full time from moss valley, and mortown go marching on scoring 8 tries to 2 and a 51 15 win over old crocs.  home team stormed out of the blocks with 3 unanswered tries in the first 15 minutes) but, the rest of the first half was fairly even with old crocs spending a large preportion of the game in the moortown half, and it was 22 8 at half time. but this spurred town into action with 5 2nd half tries, with a consolation for crocs at the end. the audio was town's final try, with the voice in the background a rather disgruntled crocs fan. crowd about 60. great club house, nice food and beer and very friendly too. '

at recreation park. for scottish cup 5th round action. darvel, top of of the west of scotland regional league, vs aberdeen, 5th in the scottish premier league. this is step 6 vs step one.  darvel have already disposed of the mighty Montrose in the previous round, whilst the dons from aberdeen are desperately in need of some restorative confidence, having been thrashed by hearts 5 0 last weekend, and also losing to rangers in the scottish league cup semi final in extra time. i left leeds at 9 20, expecting to be in kilmarnock at 2 pm, but am just arriving now, via long stops at carlisle, and dumphreece, both was which, needless to say, were filled by pub time.  game live on the bbc sport website.  the usual 2200 capacity has been extended to near on 4000, meaning a bumper pay out for the junior outfit from east Ayrshire. darvel located a few miles east of kilmarnock.  'with 1200 away fans. yesterday's full time result  from recreation a park and probably the biggest shock ever i

welcome to the land of chocolate, cycling, and head bangingly strong beer. game one of my Belgian ground hop takes me to den dreef. home of fc leuven. situated 15 miles east of brussels. for Belgian jupita league top flight action, where the home team in 11th, take on circle bruges in 9th. leuven are owned by king power, and the current team were formed from 3 3rd division teams in 2002 to crbbte a leuven super power. to that end, they gradually climbed up the pyramid, and obtained top flight status in 2015, but have generally been a mid table side. circle bruges, are the 2nd team in bruges, but unlike their illustrious neighbours, aka club bruges, generally only see home crowds of 3000.  genk are leading the way, 8 points clear of royale union sg, who won the league last year. result from leuven and and an entertaining nil nil draw. a game of 2 halves. circle bruges having the beetter  of the first half exchanges, but the home side doing likewise in the 2nd half. although in truth, ne

from belgium's finest trains, to  belgium's finest buses. i have traveled 20 miles north for more top flight action. westerlo, 6th, vs gent, de buffalos, in 4th.  westerloe have generally pottered around the top 6 of the top flight for the last 20 years, but got relegated last term, but bounced back immediately. gent, have   a more famous and successful  past, having won 4 Belgian cups, and have had  a couple of decent runs in the europa league full time from yesterday, and a 6 goal thriller finished 3 apiece.  gent took the lead due to a misterious penalty that only var appeared to spot but westerlo hit back instantly, only for gent to take the lead and westerlo hitting back straight away — 2 apiece at half time and gent should have put the game to bed. but westerlo bossed the 2nd half, and took the lead only for gent to equalise on 67 mins. crowd aprox 5000 with 6 or 700 very vocal and noisy away fans.

50 miles east of brussels or so, and ground number 3. la stade maurice dufrasne. standard liege, 6th, vs mvk kortrijk.  liege are the most successful team in Belgian footballing history, having won 10 league titles and 8 Belgian cups. their currently 6th, and are managed by ex celtic flop ronnie deila. away side owned  by Vincent tan, ex cardiff city owner.  kortrijk currently, 15th. kortrijk, is locate located 15 miles north east of lille. very much in the french speaking part of belgium, as the stadium name would suggest. Full time and a shok 2 nil win for the away side with 2 2nd half goals. crowd 16897.

a one hour hop from liege across to germany, and i find myself at viktoria koln, who take on rot weis essen. this is 11th vs 13th in the table.  viktoria koln are well backed with money, but have very little recent history to speak of, and not much of a fan base either. essen, on the other hand are the archetypal sleeping giant of german football, having been promoted last term, but have spent recent times in the 4th tier, and have still commanded home crowds of 10000 even at that level.  '3rd tier action. Full time and a drab game goes the way of the home side with a goal mid way through the 2nd half. crowd 4670, with 1500 noisy away supporters.

Yesterday's live action came from gorsey lane. northern premier division, step three. where warrington rylands 1906 took on fc united of manchester.  10th vs 9th.  rylands have enjoyed a Meteoric rise over the past 15 years, And at that time, were Playing in the Warrington Sunday league. They are backed by Paul stretford agent of Wayne Rooney, who is local to the area. however, this was largely a forgettable game with hardly any clear chances created throughout. attendance, 781. four  good beer guide pubs visited to, all with excellent quality real ale. and about 400 vocal fans from Fc.  

at the butts arena, for championship 2nd tier rugby union action. coventry, 3rd, vs hart bury  university, 5th.  ealing trail finders, are blazing a trail at the top of the league, but there is no promotion to the premier league, due to the turmoil surrounding the now defunked   wasps and Worcester. cov were  one of the most successful teams during the 70s and early 80s, before being beset by   financial problems, and thus having to leave their spiritual home of camden road, where they resided for many years they left in 2004, but, evenin their new home, as far back as 2012, trouble was never far away. they  do, however seem to be on more of a secure financial  footing, and finished 8th last term. hartbury were formed in 2012, and are comprised primarily of students from the    university, which seems to be a centre  of sporting excellence, and is located close to gloucester full time from the butts arena, and a convincing 42 19 win for cov.  a  fairly even first half saw both teams tr

at the grove. for game of the day in the step 3 northern premier league midland division. halesowen town, 2nd, and 9 points behind leaders stamford town, take on 6th placed coleshill town.  the home team, the yeltz, won the fa vase consecutively in 1985 and 86 and they finished 3rd last season. top team gets promoted, with 2nd to 5th taking part in the end of season play offs. the colemen from coleshill are just one point outside the final play off birth. a local derby with 15 miles separating both towns. some tremendous thick black country accents on show too. full time from the grove and a 2 nil win for the yeltz over the colemen from coleshill with goals on 53 and 57 minutes respectively.  following a possession based first half with plenty of blood and thunder, but precious little quality. crowd 1105.  stamford's 4 nil victory means they are 9 points clear of the yeltz with 3 games to go, meaning halesowen need snookers to gain automatic promotion and look destined for the play

the long, and dark winter. is over. and here we are again at the start of what promises to be a long and fabulous cricket season. my first live action comes from red lane, home of farsley cc, for heavy woolen cup first round action, where the home team take on the well financially back and cup holders new farnley.  the heavy woolen cup entry criteria is for anyone localed within a 30 mile radius of battley town hall, battley being the historical heavy woolen area.  today's opponents are in the top flight of the bradford league, and the comp comprises of 32 teams which come from the huddersfield, bradford, aire wharfe and south yorkshire leagues respectively.  the competition is older than the fa cup and was first played in 1883. farnley batting first and are 111 for 4 after 28 overs. 50 overs a side with the away team being hot favourites. sat next to gloucestershire's ex spinner ian fisher, now plying his trade for farnley. Yesterdays result from  red lane, and the Cup holders

another of my  many  pilgrimages to the land of sausage, beer and affordable football. ground no. 1. the carl benz stadium, for german 3rd tier action. mannheim, 7th, vs hallescher, 16th.  mannheim, the square city, so called due to its grid system of roads mapped out in squares rather than conventional  streets, is in central germany, between Frankfurt and stuttgart.  whilst hallescher is located in the former eastern germany.  3 promotion places up for grabs, the top 2 automatically, plus the 3rd placed team who play the 3rd bottom placed team of the 2nd division. 3rd currently occupied by freiberg's 2nd team, but this is the highest level that 2nd teams can play at, to that end, mannheim, hoping to catch 4th placed dinamo Dresden, 5 points clear with 5 to play. whilst hallescher are     4 points clear of the relegation places.  home team regularly attract impressive crowds of between 8 and 12000 with a ground  capacity of 25000. full time  from the  carl benz stadium, and a conv

i have traveled 3 hours back up north to the miederrrein stadium, home to 4th tier and regionalle league west team rot-weis oberhausen.  who, in 8th prsition, today take on wattenscheid, in the 2nd relegation position. the home ground is situated next to the rein canal, and ships can be seen passing the ground regularly during play. to win promotion from this level, teams actually have to win this league, and enter a play off with the 5 other regional league winners, and 3 get promotion out of 6.  hometeam nick nameed the clovers. game one of a saturday double header. full  time and a 2 one victory for auberhausen.  they took the lead after 17 minutes, but were pegged back just after half time, but snatched  a victory ten mins from time. no ships spotted passing the ground alass, the canal only being visible from the away end apparently.  crowd 3293.

game no. 2 of my Saturday double header.    the veltins arena.  for top flight bundis ligga action. schalke 1904 vs verder bremen. Schalke have av rich history and heritage, but find themselves currently languishing 2nd from bottom of the top flight. their now 4 points behind the dreaded 3rd relegation play off spot currently occupied by stuttgart, following their 2 one victory today. and whilst their only 4 points from safety, 5 of their last 7 games are against teams from the top 6. bremen are comfortable in mid table 12th position. late late drama at  the veltins arena.  and schalke snatch a much needed victory with a 92nd minute winner. bremen took the lead in the first half, with was largely devoid of incident apart from the goal. but schalke came out all guns blazing following the break, and forced 11 corners to 2. but it took until the 77th minute until they forced the equaliser. then, van den berg, an 18 year old on loan from Liverpool smashed the ball home, to send the 61971 c

at the steigerwalten stadium, in east germany. for regional league north east action". german tier 4. rot-weis erfurt, 2nd and 3 points behind energy kottbuss, take on 2nd from bottom halderstadt.  interestingly, the routes of the club stemmed from a cricket club, which was formed in 1895.  again, to stand a chance of prmotion,, the league needs to be won, and the 6 regional league winners play off for 3 promotion spots. full time  f erfut, and an easy 2 nil victory for the home side with a goal in each half. in truth, the hoasts could have had scored a hat full, but missed numorous glorious chances, where gral difference could be crucial come the end of the season's promotion race. another excellent old fashioned ground with tremendous leaning flood lights, the likes of which have never been seen at a ground before apparently. crowd 5300, 20 away fans. erfurt now top of the table, but energy kottbus, located near the border the poland, have a game in hand tomorrow, with a sup

at marsch park, for german 6th tier action. sc gottingen 05 vs bad harzburg. 5th #vs 2nd bottom.  away side have conceeded 62 goals in 31 games. no other info available. gottingen a university town just over an hour south of hannover. 17 degrees and sunny. great cricketing weather. full time from marsch park, and a 1 nil victory for gottingen. they could have won by 4 or 5. and usually play on a 3g pitch. but a bobley real pitch to ceem to cause problems for them to readjust. crowd 260. they have a up coming derby in 2 weeks and are expecting 2000 apparently.