A trip to the park

A few years ago, I was visiting a friend from school and his young son. He was an intelligent chap (and still is, I hasten to add), and I was soon on my hands and knees showing him how to shunt the carriages on his train set. I was regaled with how, after I left they went to the local park and played football for a few hours, attracting a large group to join in by the end. Then, one visit, he had a video game. Everything seemed to have changed: "Morning Luke" "Mm", "How are you?" "Ug". I thought all was lost, until, half an hour later, he looked up and asked brightly, "When are we going to the park Daddy?".

Last weekend took me to a local park, or at least a ground in one, with the weather making finding a place to watch sport a fluid situation. The report from New Mills, where Prescot Cables had been due to play, was that much work had been put in to the pitch on Friday, but it was likely to be in vain if the forecast rain fell overnight.

When the game was called off before I needed to set out, the options were rugby at Caldy or Birkenhead Park. Caldy were advertising a 3pm kick off, which seemed odd, as I do not recall their having floodlights. So, I decided to get off the bus (it is the same route to both grounds for me) at Birkenhead Park for their 2.15 kick off against Kirkby Lonsdale, with its guarantee that we would still be able to see what was going on by the end.

Birkenhead Park are one of the oldest clubs in the area, with their socks proclaiming they were founded in 1871.

Note the initials over the clubhouse door.

Rugby was the first football code to take hold in the Liverpool area, with many older clubs in the area carrying the suffix "FC". Liverpool FC were less than amused when the exponents of the non handling game helped themselves to their name without so much as a by your leave, and the merged Liverpool St Helens club maintains the "FC" tradition.

The ground is on the edge of the park from which the club takes its name. The park side terrace has become covered with grass.

In football, FA requirements would insist this be fenced off, but rugby is more inclined to trust their spectators to make their own assessment of the state of the ground. I made my way round, as it was less populated than the street side, and gave me freedom to move up and down with the flow of the game.

As it was a cold, damp day, everyone could see their breath, which, when 16 blokes have been running and gather for a scrum, that means a certain amount of steam, all good for a photo.

The ground had floodlights. Although we could probably have managed without, they were turned on for the second half, which made the camera work easier, such as in this shot about half an hour in, so at about 3.30.

The sun made an appearance in the last few minutes of the game, so after the final whistle, I hopped on the bus to West Kirby to catch the sunset.

When I had uploaded the pictures, I sent a link to the club webmaster, who sent a nice note back saying he had enjoyed the photos, particularly as his son was playing, and that he would put them on the website. He also put the programme editor in touch - I am always pleased when a club has a use for my photos. The club have a Pitchero website, which used to be easy for photo sharing, you uploaded them yourself, and the webmaster then approved them for publication. I do not know if they were getting inundated with images, including spam, but you now need to declare yourself a player, parent or official club member (which of course I am not) in order to request permission to upload.

The rest of the pictures from an end to end game, with the teams never more than one score apart, can be seen here.

Final score: Birkenhead Park 17 Kirkby Lonsdale 15.