Lot's wife comes to tea

I had been wondering what to say about the visit of Witton Albion to Prescot at the weekend, when a quick bit of butterfingers on the keyboard provided a start.

I put in a draft title for the post, thinking of the salt mining heritage of the town of Northwich (Witton is the historic name for the centre of the town, reflected in the name of the parish church, St Helen's Witton), and the Biblical tale of Lot's unfortunate wife, who disobeyed the instruction not to look back when fleeing the Cities of the Plain, and was turned to a pillar of salt as a result. Such tales are not confined to the Bible, many places with natural rocky pillars have a legend of a notorious local person who came to a suitably solid end.

I then started the post, with a capital P. Well, that was the intention, but instead of shift, I pressed Ctrl+p. In most applications, that brings up the print dialogue box, but in Blogger it publishes your post.

Phil Cooney has had to stop playing again due to work commitments,

Phil Cooney in his last game of his current spell, against Salford City

which is bad news for the team, as he has made a significant contribution in the few months he has been able to play, but reduces the scope for accidental posting. Once I had posted the title, I was stuck with it: although it is possible to change it after it has been posted, it is not advisable, as it will start to appear in searches, and lead to an error message when people follow the link.

Stephen Longrigg makes a save

The game was a closer in the play than the 3-1 scoreline suggests, with all the Prescot players putting in a good performance, especially after Liam Hollett was shown a rather harsh straight red towards the end of the first half.

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

A Tale of Two Cities

My main clubs have the good fortune to have a unique name: there is only one Cables, and one Hamlet. It is different in Finland, IFK is a network of clubs in Sweden and southern Finland, although I am not aware of the name being particularly associated with one club outside its own location. I have some sympathy for clubs with a name ending in United or City, as the media take the view that these names refer to one club, based in Manchester. This must be especially annoying when your club is in the neighbouring City of Salford, which, in the middle ages, gave its name to the Hundred covering the whole of south east Lancashire.

At the time of Prescot's fixture against Salford City a couple of seasons ago, I was working at Salford Quays. One of my colleagues, Liam, was a Manchester City supporter (an allegiance inherited from his father and grandfather, so we can let him off). Chatting about the weekend, he mentioned he was watching City. I did not have the quick thinking to come back with the riposte that, on the contrary, as we were in Salford, it was I who would be watching City.

On my way to the same fixture, a tourist got on the bus and asked the driver if he went by City's ground. It was tempting to assist, but that would have been mean. There were no such challenges on the way to this game, although First added to the Bank Holiday fun by choosing that day to change the fares, so passengers took twice as long to board, as they rummaged for change. They were mostly loaded with shopping, so I am not sure how they did not find out about the new fares on the way in to town.

I therefore arrived at the game a few minutes late, as Salford's goalkeeper was about to leave the field with a rib injury. Steven Tames took advantage of the stand-in finding his feet (a necessary precaution even for a draw, as we have not kept a clean sheet this season). He has missed a couple of times recently when it seemed easier to score, so hopefully a good goal like this will increase his confidence.

 For the photographer, the first half was in the low angled light of a bright day at this time of year.

For the second half, the lights cast a good light in the middle of the pitch, and in the goalmouth, which is often surprisingly dark. All grounds have their quirks, and Salford has a large perimeter, with the pitch in one corner, so the perimeter fence is close to one touchline and one goal line, but 6 or 7 yards away on the other two sides. It is not as large a gap as a running track, but it can make a difference to the available range if, as I do, you restrict the use of the focal length of the lens under lights to obtain a better aperture. The quality of the light made up for the distance, and I was able to catch action in both goals.

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

Gary Ablett R.I.P.

Along with many people involved with football, I would like to express my condolences to the family, friends and former team mates of Gary Ablett, the former Liverpool and Everton defender, who died at the weekend. I would especially like to extend my best wishes at this time his son Fraser, who has featured in these pages playing for Prescot Cables this season.

Foreign parts

Prescot Cables' Boxing Day fixture against Skelmersdale United had all the elements for a surprise result.
- Boxing Day - tick;
- high flying local rivals, managed by our former manager Tommy Lawson - tick;
- visiting supporters expecting us to roll over - tick;
- last game in charge for our manager, Dave Ridler, with the lads wanting to give him a good send off - tick.

Dave is taking up an appointment overseas with the expanding Liverpool International Football Academy network. He started his playing career with Prescot, before going on to a League career with Wrexham and Macclesfield. He returned to Prescot as Assistant Manager in 2009, and took up the reins when Joe Gibiliru stepped down in 2010. Whilst results have not been as good as we would have hoped, and reflect the financial resources available, performances have improved, and Dave has uncovered some good local players.

The biggest improvement has been in discipline on the field. This has been a problem for some time, with frequent bookings, particularly for dissent, with the club near the bottom of last season's disciplinary table for senior football in England. An improvement was noticeable towards the end of last season, and has really taken hold this season. There have been hardly any bookings for dissent, and those picked up in play have dropped too, with teamwork and individual performances improving as a result. Discipline alone will not get results, but we will not get them without it, so I hope this is something a new manager can continue.

Dave's departure will take an interest in Prescot to pastures new. This blog is unintentionally doing its bit, once you put something out on the internet, it can be read anywhere. I get 4 or 5 hits a week from Russia, so I am not sure if someone is looking for tips on managing condensation on the lens whilst watching bandy (basically hockey played outside on ice). I will not have been much help dealing with extreme cold, it is a few seasons since we last visited the East Coast.

A mention of a player can start traffic. Fraser Ablett attracted a number of searches for images from Australia.

That made sense, as he shares a name with a well known Australian Rules player. I am, however, unable to explain the 4 image searches from Norway, prompted by last week's mention of the return of Colin Flood.

The game lived up to the tradition, with a long range goal from Cables' John Couch

cancelling out Skelmersdale's goal (the picture is not of the goal by the way). The Skelmersdale match report suggested the game was "not for the purist". Granted, the scramble for Prescot's winning goal from James McCulloch was not pretty,

... but a goal is a goal, and their goalkeeper looked a bit surprised when it went in.

Prescot had chances to make the lead secure that were not taken, but held on with a sound display in defence.

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

Ee ba gum, it's a bit parky

Between Christmas and New Year, leagues tend to give clubs local fixtures - not like the fifties, when teams could just as easily have a long away trip on Christmas Day, with the return fixture on Boxing Day - I am sure I have read somewhere of Middlesbrough playing Plymouth in the Football League in these circumstances. The same cannot be said for the Saturday before Christmas, where there is often a chance to take a long trip and get well away from Christmas shopping.

This year, Prescot were away to Harrogate Railway Athletic. I like club names reflecting our industrial heritage. The Harrogate & District Railway Athletic Social Club was formed by employees of the London & North Eastern Railway works at Starbeck, between Harrogate and Knaresborough.

I set out from a snowy Liverpool, where we would definitely not have had a home game, with possible alternative entertainment in mind, as I was not completely convinced by messages emanating from Harrogate that the weather was lovely and the game was going ahead. Snow was still on the ground coming in to Yorkshire. This blog uses historic county boundaries for reference, so Yorkshire begins between the parishes of St George and St John the Baptist in Mossley, or for the secular minded, between Mossley FC and the Rising Sun.

Past Huddersfield, the weather reports proved to be accurate, and I got some snaps in Knaresborough, and a pint in Blind Jack's, then headed to the game. We started in good light for December, with the regulars being joined by a couple of new faces, and a returning Colin Flood.

This being Yorkshire, and the middle of December, it was still more than a little cold. I do not find too much problem keeping warm, and my feet do not matter as long as they still move at the end of the game. That just leaves fingers, which need function throughout, despite the body's inclination to cut down the blood supply. Full gloves are fine for the left hand, which only needs to control the zoom ring, but on the right hand lose too much control over the shutter button. Bare hands end up cold and less than responsive, and I have never found fingerless gloves to be very helpful. I have recently tried running gloves, which have been an improvement - they keep most of the wind off, and are thin enough to keep control of the camera.

Not that they are completely effective, by the end of the game (a picture from the last 10 minutes or so above), it was time for the coldest part of the day, when you start moving after standing still for 90 minutes, and all that blood that has been cooling in your feet starts moving to make the rest of you cold, so it was back to Knaresborough and Blind Jack's to warm up.

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

From Caldy's woods and fields

Prescot Cables' home game against Ossett Town a couple of weekends ago fell victim to another wet weekend (or more accurately a full week of wetness), so it was off to watch rugby union again, this time at Caldy, who were playing Preston Grasshoppers.

I have not been to Caldy before, although not for want of trying. The club play near Thurstaston on the Wirral, a pleasant walk from West Kirby through the village from which the club takes its name. Unfortunately, on that occasion, what I thought was a short cut turned out not to be, so I ended up using my long lens to take some pictures of the local woods, which started my Walk in the Woods series.

The club play at the foot of the sandstone outcrop of Thurstaston Hill. The soil looks to have good natural drainage, which will allow them to play when others are likely to have problems with excess water. To illustrate how dry the pitch was, this picture is from the end of the game - remember I was not watching football 10 miles away due to a waterlogged pitch.

The hill adds to some of the pictures...

The club attracts crowds a bit larger than Prescot Cables, and a club of this size in football would be subject to a whole series of ground requirements, such as a wall round the ground, to prevent the game being viewed from outside. If anyone wants to watch the game across half a cricket field standing in a busy main road, I suppose they could do so, but I am glad they are not required to spoil their setting when it is not necessary.

The main pitch was missing the equipment that has most effect on my activities, floodlights (although there were lights for the training pitch). With rugby union mainly played once a week, with midweek games only used to clear fixture congestion at the end of the season, it makes sense not to have lights, and move the kick off to 2pm or 2.15 to allow the game to finish in daylight.

I was surprised at this level (National League 2 North, the third level of the club game in England) that the only cover in the clubhouse: a football club with a similar crowd and admission price (£8 including a programme), for example, in the EvoStik League First Division, is required by the FA Ground Grading Rules to have cover for 300 spectators, with at least 150 being seated.

Having said that, the seats are often sparsely occupied, and it needs to be raining quite hard to drive me under the cover if I can get a better vantage point in the open. However, if the forecast is for heavy rain, I might cross Caldy off my list of venues for the day - I have never been a fan of umbrellas at the best of times, and I have never tried to combine holding one with photography. Or, I could just wear a hat with a brim.

There is a balance to be struck for all community sports clubs between spectator comfort and the cost of facilities. I sometimes wonder whether the FA's approach may be a little too prescriptive, and it may be better allowing the clubs more leeway in this area, and make their own balance between the cost of cover, and any lost revenue from those who may stay away because of its absence. I think clubs can trust their supporters to have some idea how to wrap up on a cold day.

Picking up the ball and running with it

Prescot Cables' game at home to Mossley at the weekend was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, caused by torrential rain falling on already wet ground. So, it was time to find a sport with a relaxed attitude to mud (or where a safe and meaningful game can be played in wetter conditions than football).

I therefore made my first trip for some time to Waterloo FC, who were playing Sandal. I have been an occasional visitor to Blundellsands if Prescot Cables have not been playing or I have not wanted to go to an away game. Since I have been taking pictures for Prescot, I have been more inclined to travel away, so my visits to Waterloo have been even less frequent.

P.G.Wodehouse had Bertie Wooster describe rugby (union) thus, "Rugby football is a game I can't claim absolutely to understand in all its niceties, if you know what I mean. I can follow the broad, general principles, of course. I mean to say, the main scheme is to work the ball down the field somehow and deposit it over the line at the other end. In order to squelch this programme, each side is allowed to put in a certain amount of assault and battery and do things to its fellow man which, if done elsewhere, would result in 14 days without the option, coupled with some strong remarks from the Bench." Fortunately, we will be staying on the sidelines with a camera.

Both codes of rugby present a different photographic challenge to football: players are usually holding the ball when running with it, passing is by hand, and offside is simply being in front of the ball, which makes for a more structured flow of action. I usually watch from the side of the pitch rather than my normal football location behind the goal. I have never tried watching rugby union from the end of the pitch - I have with league, and got some good pictures of players running, but missed out on a lot of tackles.

Running and tackling are of course common to both union and league. Union, however, has its own photo opportunities: contested scrums (observe the nice straight feed in the example below),

and line outs, which seem to take a bit of time to organise, but are worth it from the photographer's point of view.

Another photogenic part of both codes of rugby is passing the ball - in union the best shots often come after the ball emerges from a scrum, ruck or maul.

For once at this time of year, I have not been talking about floodlights, as, in common with many rugby clubs, Waterloo kick off at 2.15 in the winter, allowing the game to be completed without adding to the electricity bill.

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