The Giant Killing Adventure

Monday, 2 December 2019

The games on the 30th November and 1st December… 2nd Round Proper

Saturday 30^th November

The GKA had no idea how close or easy it would be to get to Oldham Athletic Football Club. The weather was clear and so were the roads and it took 47 minutes to arrive.

And I parked on this street… because it was close to the junction and I followed other fans like a sheep.

From the car is was a 3-minute walk up the street.

Towards this excellent old-school stadium.

And home to Oldham Athletic.

The Latics School of motoring seemed to be attached to the stadium as I continued towards the designated turnstiles for my pre-bought ticket.

This took my down a precariously looking slippery path towards entrance points 29, 30 and 31.

The ticket had cost me £15.

Stadium costs so far – Men v Women

Men £79

£1 Women

Inside it took me directly to ‘Wrights’ and their sign stated that Match Day was Pie Day.

So, how could I resist – It cost £5.50 for a coffee and a steak pie (the coffee came straight out of a ‘draft’ tap on the bar).

I entered the ground it was a lovely day; the temperature was 4 degrees and I had bought a fantastic seat on the half way line – this makes watching football so much easier as you can see the whole game.

Unless you tried to see what was happening in the Burton Albion goal mouth.

Deacon Blue’s ‘Dignity’ was playing over the PA and I noticed that the Latics are sponsored by a Manchester based company called Wakelet – these guys are friends of mine, so check out their Website https://learn.wakelet.com/ (shameless plug by the GKA).

The game kicked off and the atmosphere was quiet. People in the stadium were chatting and not watching the match.

Behind the goal to my left were the other home fans and I could hear drumming and singing, but this would often go quiet.

Boundary Park has a capacity of 15,513 people and 2858 fans attended this game – perhaps a smaller attendance in a larger stadium affects the atmosphere.

On the 23^rd minute, Burton Albion scored and the crowd behind their goal erupted with sound.

In a half that was mainly dominated by Burton Albion, I could hear people’s conversations throughout. One guy was complaining that his wife was making him buy a Christmas Tree (Merry Christmas everyone) and others were quietly complaining about the game.

Fan 1 – ‘There is something missing on that left wing’.

Fan 2 – ‘Yeah, a player’.

Fan 3 – ‘Do we have to have a tree?’

Various fans – ‘Why is there no one in the middle?’

We wound up to half-time and it was still a larger attendance than the GKA has seen in the women’s route.

Attendances – Men V Women

Men 15,079

306 Women

Highest Number of Fans

Notts County	5,729 (4^th Qualifying Round)
Blackpool FC	5,371 (1^st Round Proper)
Oldham Athletic FC	2,858 (2^nd Round Proper)
Belper Town FC	528 (3rd Qualifying Round)
Rushall Olympic	259 (1^st Qualifying Round)
Rushall Olympic	249 (2^nd Qualifying Round)
Sheffield FC	184 (Preliminary Round)
Avro FC	150 (Extra-Preliminary Round)
Liverpool Feds LFC	109 (1^st Round Proper)
Stockport County Women	75 (3^rd Qualifying Round)
Sunderland West End Ladies	54 (1^st Qualifying Round)
Curzon Ashton Ladies	44 (Preliminary Round)
Mossley Hill Ladies	24 (2^nd Qualifying Round)

A recent BBC article had stated there has been a 60% rise in the number of fans watching women’s football this season. However, this only seems to be affecting the Women’s Super League.

During half time, ‘Don’t you forget about me’ by Simple Minds blasted through the PA and I took my usual stroll and corner flag photo.

I noticed a stadium dog that had been enjoying a large bowl of food.

And I found this sign amusing because it’s the title of a 1986 Bon Jovi Album (minus the caution).

The second half kicked off; the flood lights came on; a crescent moon appeared above the opposite stand; and most importantly, Oldham Athletic actually turned up and gave Burton a game.

Oldham gave as good as they got in the second half and this woke the crowd. They seemed to get more animated and angrier at every decision that the referee made. The language was tame compared to most games I’ve attended as no F-words or C-bombs were dropped.

It was more like this: -

Fan 1 - ‘Get up, you stupid Trollope.’ **

Fan 2 – ‘Get up, you Pansy.’ ***

Fan 3 – ‘Do I really have to get a tree?’

Various fans in unison – ‘The referee’s a wanker.’ ****

5 Yellow cards were awarded in this game.

Penalties and Cards – Men v Women

Penalties - Men 1	2 Women
Yellow Cards – Men 26	3 Women
Red Cards – 1	0 Women

Despite the increased support and the much-improved Oldham performance, the game ended 0-1 and I had a great afternoon at Boundary Park. By the end of the match it had got a little chilly and I was happy to be home 45 minutes later.

The GKA wishes Oldham Athletic good luck for the rest of the season and Burton Albion won £54,000 in prize money.

Prize Money – Men V Women

Men £136,390

Women £2,935

Prize Money Leaders

Burton Albion FC	£54,000 (2^nd Round Proper)
Blackpool FC	£36,000 (1^st Round Proper)
Notts County FC	£18,750 (4^th Qualifying Round)
Belper Town FC	£11,250 (3^rd Qualifying Round)
Rushall Olympic	£11,250 (1^st & 2^nd Qualifying Rounds)
Sheffield FC	£2890 (Preliminary Round)
Litherland Remyca	£2250 (Extra-Preliminary Round)
Brighouse Town Women	£1450 (1^st Round Proper +3^rd Qualifying Round)
Mossley Hill Ladies	£1,035 (1^st Qualifying Round+ Preliminary Round + Extra Preliminary Round)
Stockport County Ladies	£450 (2^nd Qualifying Round)

Route Men’s

Avro Fc 3	4 Litherland Remyca
Sheffield FC 2	1 Litherland Remyca
Rushall Olympic 3	1 Sheffield FC
Rushall Olympic 2	0 Gainsborough Trinity
Belper Town FC 2	0 Rushall Olympic
Notts County 2	1 Belper Town
Blackpool FC 4	0 Morecombe FC
Oldham Athletic 0	1 Burton Albion FC

This shows a 75%-win rate for the home team.

** Trollope definition – a vulgar or disreputable women who engages is sex promiscuously (not a very accurate description of what happened in the game).

*** Pansy definition – Wuss, weak or gay (I’ve not heard this term since the 1970s and apparently back then, it was the ultimate insult to a person’s manhood).

**** Wanker definition – I’ve not getting involved in this one!

Sunday 1^st December

The GKA was ready on Sunday for the 2^nd game of our men’s/women’s FA cup bonanza weekend.

However, blog guest Mr Tops informed me that the Chorley Women V Brighouse Town Women game had been postponed due to a frozen pitch. The is the 2^nd women’s game that has been postponed since our adventure began (Mossley Hill Ladies had a match re-arranged for a water-logged pitch – no men’s games have been called off so far).

To be fair to Chorley, it was -2 degrees all day and this dropped to -4 in the evening. They confirmed on their Twitter feed that the game would be re-arranged, most likely to be next Sunday 8^th December.

The women’s third Round Proper Draw has already been made as this was broadcast live on Talk Sport 2 at 11.30am this morning (02.12.19) – Chorley or Brighouse have got a home tie against Barnsley Women.

In the GKA original men’s route on Sunday, Northampton Town beat Notts County 3-1.

The men’s draw for the 3^rd Round Proper is on BBC tonight (02.12.19) at 7.00pm.

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Thursday, 21 November 2019

The FA Cup 2nd Round Proper – Oldham Athletic V Burton Albion and Chorley Women V Brighouse Town Women

The GKA has noticed that this blog can be a bit sweary at times and I’m hoping that it doesn’t offend adults or stop kids from reading. However, the reality is that footballers and football supporters swear during games – this is because of the emotion and passion of players and fans. When you go and watch a live game, you’ll hear many f-words, especially as crowd sizes increase, and the GKA only reflects the atmosphere of the games.

Okay, enough of this s##t, let’s f##king get on with it…

Saturday 30^th November, 15:00, Oldham Athletic V Burton Albion - I’d like to welcome Oldham Athletic to our blog

Oldham is a town in Lancashire in the North West of England and 7 miles Northeast of Manchester.

Our opening game of the GKA was in Oldham as Avro FC hosted Liverland Remyca.

Oldham Athletic are a different prospect as they were formed in 1895 with the original name of Pine Villa (they changed to Oldham Athletic in 1899). Until 1923 they played in the top tier of the English Football League and in 1913, they reached the FA Cup Semi-Final for the first time.

In 1992 Oldham were founder members of the Premier League and they stayed in that version of the top flight for 3 seasons.

They reached the FA Cup Semi-final again in 1990 and in 1994 – both times they were defeated by Manchester United.

Oldham play in League Two and are 22^nd with 16 points from 17 games.

I’d like to welcome Burton Albion to our blog

Burton’s best performance in the FA Cup came in 2011 when they were knocked out by Burnley FC in the 4^th Round Proper.

Burton Albion are nicknamed the Brewers and they play in League One (15^th with 19 points from 18 games).

The team is in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire. They have been around since 1950 and up until 2009 they were a non-league side.

Looking at the league form it would suggest that Burton are favourites for this game but it’s the magic of the FA Cup and anything can happen. Tickets were easy to obtain as I went on the Oldham Athletic Website and bought one instantly for £15 (£5 more expensive than the previous round at Blackpool FC).

The GKA will be travelling 55.3 miles from our last men’s game at Blackpool…

To Boundary Park in Oldham…

In the GKA official route, Notts County drew an away tie against Northampton Town. I would not have been able to attend this match at it is being played on Sunday 1^st December at 14:00 – clashing with our women’s match below…

Sunday 1^st December, 13:00 Chorley FC Women V Brighouse Town AFC Women

I’d like to welcome Chorley FC Women to our blog

The GKA has a sneaky confession to make – it (me) grew up in Chorley and got excited when Brighouse Town Women got this draw. Of course, the GKA will be a neutral supporter on the day!

Chorley women’s team have been around in various formats since 1978 – Originally called Cumberland Rangers Ladies they were based in Preston and played in Accrington. It wasn’t until 1983 that they changed their name to Chorley Ladies FC – in 2018 they joined forces with Chorley Men’s Team (the Magpies) and changed their name to Chorley FC Women.

They even share the same stadium as the men, playing their games at Victory park. This was the home to my first ever live football experience when I was around 5 years old. In 1989 my high school played on the famous pitch in a local school’s competition and during the late 1980s the Lancashire Chieftains (later to become Wolverines) American Football Team played at the Stadium (I played for their youth team, the Braves).

The GKA will be travelling 38.2 miles from the Liverpool Feds game…

To Victory Park…

In other news…

In our 1976 route Matlock Town drew an away tie against Mansfield Town. We’ll be comparing that game with the modern day experience.

The GKA has already spoken about Tim Tate's book chronicling the 'Secret History of Women's Football.' We have talked about the women's football ban in 1921 and how the FA tried to claim it was due to the physicality needed to play the game. Tim's book mentioned other factors such as financial irregularities and book keeping during some women's charity matches and a genuine fear (at the time) of openly lesbian relationships - for example Lily Par of Dick, Kerr Ladies football team lived her life openly as a Lesbian. In his book, Tim gives credit to Gail Newsham as being an expert on the Dick, Kerr Ladies team.

Last week, I had a very interesting meeting with Gail Newsham.

Gail is an author, historian, sportsperson and campaigner who wrote a book about the Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club. Since 1991 she has interviewed ex Dick, Kerr Ladies players, organised a team reunion and campaigned to get Lily Parr inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame – Lily was the first women to have the honour (2002).

The above statue of Lily lives in the Football museum in Manchester and Gail’s book 'In a League of their own' is available to buy here – https://www.amazon.co.uk/League-Their-Own-Ladies-1917-1965/dp/1782225633/ref=asc_df_1782225633/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310868039252&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=727429644714601956&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007000&hvtargid=pla-584753053668&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

The GKA will see you for the double header on the weekend of 30th November and 1st December (Christmas is coming)...