04/19/24
November 04, 2007
Pyramid passion: One man's odyssey around the lower reaches of British non-league football. Lots of quirky reading about such luminaries of the game as Staveley Miners Welfare and Gala Fairydean. Much photography of various ramshackle grounds and the supporters who half-fill them. You can almost smell the Bovril.
Excellent. Bit of OCD happening there, methinks. BTW, if you want a good read, and you haven't already read it, try Harry Pearson's 'The Far Corner', about football in the northeast. It's hilarious, as well as informative about the history of the lower leagues.
posted by owlhouse at 03:33 PM on November 04, 2007
Cool link, Abiezer.
posted by tommybiden at 06:16 PM on November 04, 2007
On The Far Corner: my friends and I have concluded, together, that should the north-east of England be somehow destroyed, it could be rebuilt from that book alone. (I give you Billingham Synthonia: the only team named after an agricultural fertilizer.) (I've been here a few times, as well. There's something to be said about the a potential giant-killing match in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup, when one of the high-flyers of the Conference South is the opposition.) Non-league support is quirky: some parts of the country just don't have professional sides (the west of England, or Kent outside Gillingham); other non-league teams just manage to retain a loyal but meagre following that provides a connection to the club and players you don't get in the top leagues. One thing for Americans to understand: the ubiquitous high school stadium, with bleachers and floodlights, doesn't really have a British counterpart. Even university grounds aren't that flash.
posted by etagloh at 11:46 PM on November 04, 2007
the only team named after an agricultural fertilizer That's not true! What about Man Ure? Groan Funnily enough, my few regularish non-league haunts don't make his ground guide; but I see he accepts submissions so I must take the camera next time I'm back.
posted by Abiezer at 12:00 AM on November 05, 2007
What a great site! Nice find.