Shocking green grass and a red ball

I spent last weekend in London, watching Dulwich Hamlet, and claiming my free pint from my friend John from the Southwark News for supplying a photo for the paper. The paper has a feature on their site that allows readers to purchase a PDF of a single issue of the paper, at a similar price to the print edition, so I can get a copy to see my handiwork in print without needing to take out a subscription.

London and the Home Counties have been enjoying (if you are out in it), or enduring (if you are trying to grow anything) a long spell of dry weather. This weekend was no exception, with bright sunshine, directly towards the Dog Kennel Hill end in the first half, giving the usual problems with haze and backlighting. We have looked before at how to compensate for the players being backlit, and the haze can be eliminated in the same way as fine rain. However, I sometimes find this leaves some of the colours over saturated, particularly the grass.

Take this shot of Dulwich's Dean Carpenter, firstly as it came off the camera (only cropped). The grass is already looking a bit lurid.

We can get rid of the haze using Levels, and adjusting highlights and shadows.

This, however, leaves the grass looking even more saturated, even after I have used the "less saturation" option. Working in jpeg, there is not a lot more I can do. Working in raw format would give more control over the white balance, but would also take more time, which is a consideration when producing a slide show for supporters whose interest in pictures of this game will wane at the point they set out to attend the next one, and for gentlemen of the press with papers to get out on Monday or Tuesday.

Kalvin Morath-Gibbs plays the red ball

Once again on a trip to Dulwich, I find myself commenting on the colour of the ball. As this was the weekend closest to the Sport Relief charity fundraising events, Ryman, the League sponsor, supplied a red ball. It is not universally popular, visibility can be an issue on a cloudy day, and some people feel it bounces higher than the regular ball. One supporter thought it was lighter - as the permitted weight for a football is 14-16oz (410-450g), this is quite possible, and would explain the bounce. Although the red ball has been used to support Sport Relief and Comic Relief for a number of years, another supporter (Pink Panther from the club forum, who has  a good memory for facts, and experience tells me is likely to be correct) said he has never seen a goal scored with it.

As only one ball is supplied, it inevitably ends up somewhere it is inconvenient to retrieve and is replaced by the regular ball, as happened a few minutes before half time. Almost immediately afterwards, Dulwich's Sol Pinnock scored the first goal.

Sol Pinnock moves towards goal with the regular ball

I normally leave pictures of the ground to the excellent Grounds for Concern blog, run by Mishi, the uncle of Kalvin Morath-Gibbs, but when someone points something out...

A few years ago I worked in Manchester with a Carlisle United supporter (who, like me, was from south east Surrey) during Carlisle's season in the Conference. It was clear quite quickly they were only going to be with us in the non League game for a year, and he seemed to have occasional difficulty adjusting to the facilities. He came away from a couple of away games complaining they did not have any toilets - for the avoidance of doubt, they are a requirement of all levels of FA ground grading, down to County League level. He would have no such issue at Dulwich, as we seem to be starting a small collection of signs to send people in the right direction (best counted in full screen).

Anyone know the way to the lavs?

The second half was much easier, nice warm sun on my back, the regular ball, and near-perfect lighting for the game, so I hardly needed to make any changes to the lighting when setting up the slideshow.

Francis Duku identifies a target for his free kick

I normally select about two thirds of the slideshow from the first half: when I come to the second half pictures, they are often very similar to the first half, and I have a few shots of most of the players. In this case, because of the lighting issues in the first half, the proportion was reversed.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

The possum is flying

The motto of Garforth Town, who Prescot Cables were visiting at the weekend is "Possum si volo". I tapped this in to Google Translate, which assumed the phrase was Italian, and came up with our airborne marsupial. Trying Latin, it offered me "'Appen I can if I want to", which seemed more likely. Indeed, "'appen" was not actually offered, but this is Yorkshire.

This is not a trip to make in the rain - the ground is a little over a mile from the station, on a route that bypasses the town centre, with no pubs en route, and the only shops being a sandwich shop that had just closed, and a chip shop that was not yet open. The main feature of the ground is the main stand, of impressive height, although I doubt the effectiveness of the cover on a windy day, the design seems to offer the opportunity to get wet from front and behind. This is the only cover, and the fence was the regulation minimum 6', so little shelter there. Fortunately, the forecast showers only arrived after the game, so this was not put to the test.

The main stand

A trip to Yorkshire is not complete without sampling the local beer, so a group of us went by train to Leeds, and adjourned to the excellent Hop (which could nonetheless have done with a couple more staff), owned by the Ossett Brewery, just yards from the southern entrance of Leeds Station. Unfortunately the southern entrance to Leeds Station is not due to be built until 2014, necessitating a longer walk.

The Transpennine posse - photo by Garforth's gate steward

It was a scrappy game, and a poor Prescot performance, which is never easy to photograph. The purpose of the photos is to showcase our players, which is not so easy when the opposition are winning the ball in most of the challenges.

In the first half, Prescot had a shot inches wide and another that hit  the crossbar, but it was a day of defensive errors, opening up opportunities for the smallest player on the pitch, Garforth's David Brown, who featured in these pages causing us problems visiting Hope Street with Harrogate Railway Athletic.

Garforth's David Brown and Prescot's Gerard Kinsella, watched by Harry Boydell, David Williams and Dennis Bellairs

Here Cables' Gerard Kinsella is holding David Brown at bay, although the main figure of interest is the gentleman with the white hair watching play. Harry Boydell is, as far as we know, Prescot's oldest former player, having appeared for the team in the 1940s and 1950s. Harry celebrated his 83rd birthday a couple of weeks ago, and continues to serve the club in the role of Boardroom Host. With him are Matchday Announcer David Williams, who recalls watching Harry when he first came to Hope Street as a boy, and Board Member Dennis Bellairs, who also takes photos for the club, and when capturing the action has a rather better eye for goal than I possess.

The mood of the travelling support was depressed further when Liam Hollett was carried off injured towards the end of the game.

Manager Shaun Reid watches Liam Hollett take a free kick

The rest of the pictures from the game are available here.

Distinguished guests

I was reading a blog post about a game at TPV, a club in the Finnish city of Tampere, describing the groups of regular supporters one could find in the ground. One of those identified was the local Member of Parliament, sitting in the main stand with his friends and associates, and occasionally indicating his support by sonorously and slowly intoning "Tavoitteet, TPV", i.e. "Goals, TPV".

He of course hit the nail on the head, as Prescot Cables must have thought at the end of their game at home to Mossley at the weekend. Sustained pressure in the first half did not result in a goal, although Mossley's goalkeeper looked as though we were making him as warm as when we visited Seel Park on a hot day at the beginning of the autumn.

Mossley goalkeeper Martin Pearson

We do not usually play in the presence of a Parliamentarian, although George Howarth, the MP for the part of the town in which the ground is located has mentioned the club in Parliament.

However, we were in distinguished footballing company, as the game was watched by Peter Reid, Football League and FA Cup winner as a player with Everton, former manager of, amongst others, Manchester City, Sunderland and the Thailand national team, and brother of Prescot Manager Shaun Reid. Peter most recently managed Plymouth Argyle, where he showed great principles in dipping in to his own pocket to ensure the club's bills and the players' wages were paid. I did not get a picture, as he took advantage of the view from the main stand, although he was happy to pose for pictures with supporters and sign programmes and memorabilia before and after the game.

He was not the only person happy to pose for a photo, James Thomas was on the bench, but did not want to miss out on a picture.

James Thomas

The Reid family were represented on the pitch as well, with nephew Michael Reid joining from Skelmersdale United, and putting in an excellent performance.

Michael Reid

Not an entirely new face, but making a welcome return was Fraser Ablett.

Fraser Ablett

As for the game, things started to look up in the second half with a goal from Steven Tames, who may soon disappear from these pages for the right reasons, as he has had interest from Southport, and has trials in the coming weeks with Accrington Stanley and Sheffield Wednesday. I managed to capture the goal - another of those pictures that made it in to the collection on the "goal is a goal" principle.

Steven Tames heads the first goal

Mossley equalised with a penalty for handball, although the contact seemed more with Liam Hollett's shoulder, and then went ahead. Michael Grogan restored parity: once again, the picture gets in because it is a goal. Anywhere else on the pitch I would have dropped it as Michael is almost completely obscured, but when the goalkeeper is only able to watch as the goal goes in, it redeems the other deficiencies of the picture.

Michael Grogan scores Prescot's second goal

Not having converted the pressure of the first half into goals took its toll when Mossley scored the final goal.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Only here for the beer - or staying vertical

Don't you hate it when you remember on Monday evening that you used the rain cover for the camera on Saturday, and it has been sitting in the bag ever since? Excuse the niff.

This blog enjoys adjourning to a local Good Beer Guide pub after an afternoon's snapping. On Saturday, I did not need to, as the home game against AFC Fylde coincided with the Prescot Cables Beer Festival. I got along early to start on the beers, from an excellent selection, with just the right balance across the strength range. Not that I had any concern about the pictures being at a jaunty angle, as that is easy to correct when cropping. It is a familiar task without a beer festival, I have a chronic inability to hold the camera in a completely horizontal position.

Take this example:

We can see in the background that I have been holding the camera at an angle, especially in the uprights of the windows. We can see it more clearly if we put a grid over the picture.

It is best to use part of a building for a guide: a perimeter fence may slope because of the slope of the pitch or the terrace behind it. The tops of these windows are of limited use as a guide too, because of the shape of the roller shutters.

I wanted to crop the picture just to show the players, with the ball in the top corner - we can also take the chance to rotate the selected area. In Photoshop Elements this can be done by clicking outside the crop tool and dragging it to the desired angle.

Here is the final result after adjusting the lighting.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Wild Rovers

This is an unusual report for a photo blog, with no photos from the game I am talking about. The reason is, of course, the ground regulations: -

19 Save as set out in paragraph 16 above, no person (other than a person who holds an appropriate licence) may bring into the Ground or use within the Ground any equipment, which is capable of recording or transmitting (by digital or other means) any audio, visual or audio-visual material or any information or data in relation to the Match or the Ground. Copyright, database rights and any other intellectual property rights in any unauthorised recording or transmission is assigned (by way of present assignment of future rights to the Club and The Football League. You further agree (if and whenever required to do so by the Club and/or The Football League) to promptly execute all instruments and do all things necessary to vest the right, title and interest in such rights to the Club and The Football League absolutely and with full title guarantee.

I think we can all agree that is quite comprehensive. The paragraph 16 allows mobile telephones provided they are not used to disseminate audiovisual material from inside the ground. It is a different world from that in which we move, a brand to be protected, rather than depending on supporters to provide the publicity the club needs to survive.

Prescot Cables were playing at Prenton Park, the home of Tranmere Rovers, in the semi final of the Liverpool Senior Cup, having been reinstated in the competition due to Southport's having fielded an ineligible player in the previous round.

I started watching Prescot Cables 20 years ago, when my friend Roger drummed up support for the club by bringing his friends from University along. Today, this function is fulfilled by Phil, who got together a group of us to go to the game by the Mersey Ferry, pausing for a pint (but not a haircut) in the excellent Gallagher's Pub and Barbers in Birkenhead.

Tranmere accurately anticipated the crowd of 273, as they had opened an area of the main stand with, I would estimate from the small number of empty seats, a capacity of a little over 300, with a good view of the pitch. This was just as well, as we were treated to an excellent game, especially as they had only charged £3 admission. As Tranmere were fielding some first team players, I thought a good result would have been to keep them to two or three goals, and to score a goal ourselves.

To say our team exceeded these modest expectations is putting it mildly: not only did Prescot score, but we scored the first goal; when Tranmere scored the anticipated couple in reply, Prescot came back again; when Tranmere put the game to bed in the 90th minute, we ensured extra time with a goal in the last few seconds of injury time. The EvoStik League website listed the time as 95 minutes, rather than the customary 90, which may have been accurate, but will have left the casual observer wondering how we came to be playing extra time. Coming back from behind again in injury time meant penalties, with both teams' efforts all being on target, but one from Prescot being saved.

Going to a Football League ground, although it is a big day, can sometimes feel like a bit of a bind, with no pictures, restrictions on what you can take in - I sometimes wonder if I am to be parted from the rolled up newspaper for reading on the way home. This is especially so when the expected defeat materialises, but there are times an amateur  team like ours can produce a turn up for the books and hold a fully professional team, which makes the exercise worthwhile.

The report would not be complete without a couple of pictures (from the next game, obviously). It seems almost unfair to only show a couple of players, as it was first and foremost a team performance, but here are our goal scorers, Steven Tames, who scored a hat trick, and Michael Grogan, who scored the goal to ensure extra time.

Steven Tames

Michael Grogan

In reserve

With Prescot Cables having no first team game at the weekend, and with no rugby union fixtures (they sensibly leave a couple of weekends free at this time of year to play any weather affected fixtures from earlier in the season), I was looking for a game to watch.

Lee Owens, who does an excellent job publicising Prescot Cables Reserves games, posted on the forum that the Reserves were playing at Ashville, in Wallasey. Reserve team matches are often at the same time as First Team games, and the ground at which they play their home games is not convenient for me, so this was a good opportunity to take some pictures of the hard work the Reserves put in.

Lee Owens

The function of a reserve team at our level of football can sometimes appear somewhat nebulous. Some clubs use them to provide a stock of players in the event of a replacement being needed in the first team, or allow first team players to regain match fitness after an injury. That is probably the case at a minority of clubs: whilst players can and do progress from the reserves to the first team, in many cases the first team and the reserves can seem to operate as completely separate entities, and some clubs have dispensed with a reserve team altogether.

Shaun Reid seems to be making more use of the Reserves than his predecessor - he attended the match, and has called up a couple of players for a chance to prove themselves in the First Team. Liam Hollett was playing, to regain match fitness after a month's suspension. Not that he did anything heinous, it was the usual "suspended from all football until Prescot Cables have completed three First Team matches" for a red card at the beginning of January: unfortunately two of the three matches were four weeks apart.

Liam Hollett holds off the opposition

The Reserves are self financing, so the players pay to cover the costs of playing, so to keep costs down, only a referee is supplied by the league, with the two managers acting as assistants. Non neutral assistants only adjudicate on throw ins, leaving them free to manage.

Prescot Cables Reserve Team Manager, Joe Gibiliru

As this was a one off occasion for me, I tried to get a picture of all the players. I took a position at the side of the pitch, firstly because my usual position at the end can mean I miss our defenders, and there was a lot of space for the ball to go at the M53 end, so I thought I might find myself spending a lot of time retrieving it with 4lb of camera kit flapping in the breeze.

The players seemed to be happy with the results, I had a couple of appreciative comments when I posted the pictures on the web forum. You can see the results for yourself here.

After the game, it was off to the Cheshire Cheese, where they had Higsons Best, revived to the original recipe by the Liverpool Organic Brewery, and the second half of England v Wales rugby union on the television. Wallasey has one of the curses of being at the bottom of a hill, every chimney bristling with television aerials pointing in multiple directions, most to the North West transmissions from Winter Hill or Storeton, but a few deciding the best signal was the Welsh transmission from Moel-y-Parc, a proportion that seemed to be reflected in the respective support for England and Wales in the pub.