Charnock Who?

The third game of Prescot Cables' pre season programme was away to Charnock Richard, of the West Lancashire League. Like my original home, the village was named after someone called Richard. My village was given its name from the surname of Richard Dereman, eventually becoming Dormansland, whereas one Richard, in the 13th Century, named the village of Charnock that he owned after himself, to distinguish it from nearby Heath Charnock.

I had to wait for a bus in Croston on the way, enough time for a pint in the Good Beer Guide listed Wheatsheaf. Up north, we need to be constantly aware of cold weather, so, even on a hot day in July, the coal scuttle was full and primed to deal with a drop in temperature without the need to go to the bunker in an unexpected blizzard. It's grim up north.

At the ground, I found a party in full swing, which turned out to be their beer festival. If I had known, I might have got the previous bus, easier said than done, as the train to Croston runs to an irregular timetable. More significantly, the festival incorporated a family fun day, involving a bouncy castle on the pitch. I wondered if I had missed the note common in fixtures at this time of year, like "At Trub & Slattocks FC" (those are real places, and really should have a club). As I contemplated alternative sporting entertainment at the cricket club, I spotted the new first team playing facilities across the road, laid out with a view to meeting the conditions for the North West Counties League as funds permit. Our hosts were playing their last friendly before their first competitive match, in the Wilf Carr Memorial Trophy, next week.

Green is a less than common club colour in football - some people think it can blend in against the pitch, although I am not sure myself. However, this was the third match in a row that we have played a team in green (with yellow in the case of Runcorn Linnets).

Jack Phillips

This was the first game of pre season for which a  team sheet was on display, so the process of putting names to faces could begin. A name has to be matched to a number on the player's back, and to a face, which is, to state the obvious, on the front. Sometimes you get both in one view.

Paul Aixon

For others, it is a matter of seeing a picture with a number...

... and comparing the three "B"s - boots (although I am old fashioned, I cannot deny a coloured pair can help identify a player), build, and barnet. We can then identify our player - in this case in traditional black boots.

Stephen Milne

There are easier ways to do it - numbers on the front of shirts, you know they make sense! I was quite happy with last season's kit in that respect.

Another familiar face from last season is James Cairns (who also played in midweek, but came on when the light was starting to fade).

James Cairns

Joining us from further afield was Lee JungHwan from Busan in South Korea. I have not had chance to speak to him yet, but I think he is studying at the University of Liverpool. It may be some time before he is able to turn out in a regular game, as there will be more than the usual international clearance required if he is not a permanent EU resident.

Lee JungHwan

After the game, I went for the bus to Croston. Nextbuses.mobi was working again in Lancashire, although I would not have minded knowing that the train was half an hour late, as, added to the scheduled wait, I would have had time for further refreshment in the Wheatsheaf. Still, the Friends of Croston Station have planted a garden on the disused platform, making pleasant surroundings in which to read the paper. Traveline came into its own: I was keen to avoid the crowds in Liverpool City Centre for the Giants Spectacular, I had missed my planned connection, and it came up straight away with a new one I would never have thought of myself.

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

Final score Charnock Richard 3, Prescot Cables 2 (Prince 2)

Back to the routine

Prescot Cables have an able and willing band of volunteers to handle jobs around the ground, and they come into their own over the close season. For the first pre season game, the ground looks neat and tidy, with a coat of paint here, a repair there. The weather has played its part this year, mainly warm and dry, with rain every few days to ensure the ground is neither saturated nor baked, which has worked wonders for the pitch. The departure of AFC Liverpool and their replacement with our own Reserves means less games, and more control over what we can do in bad weather, which should help maintaining its quality over the season.

Regular users of the 10A bus will not be surprised that, on my journey to the ground, one chap was greeting a number of people, including the driver, with "Alright George, how's your Dad?". They responded, so it is quite possible a larger than average number were called George, and their fathers were known to him.

Our first visitors were Runcorn Linnets of the North West Counties League. For these games, it is usual to bring out kits from storage that would not be used during the regular season due to advertising the wrong sponsors, etc. For this game, Prescot were playing in the rather smart 125th Anniversary kit, from the 2009-10 season - having referred to sponsors, it is worth mentioning that PMB Tools continue to support the club. I prefer a continuation of the pattern all round with a panel for the number rather than a plain back, but the number is enough of a contrast to avoid an accidental pass to the referee.

It is quite normal at this time of year for us to meet last season's players turning out for the opposition, as they are free agents until they have signed registration forms.

Richie Mottram in goal for Runcorn

There was no team sheet, so, although some faces were familiar from Saturday, the process of putting names to them is yet to begin. A couple more familiar faces made their first appearance, including Ciaran Gibson, who was on loan at St Helens Town for most of last season.

Ciaran Gibson

Having led by example in adding himself to the score sheet on Saturday, player-manager Neil Prince conducted operations from the dugout.

After a pleasant evening in the setting sun, we completed the game without recourse to the floodlights, although the exposures were getting a bit dark towards the end.

The first 70 minutes were encouraging, using what I suspect was the first choice of those players who are currently available, to establish a two goal lead. Substantial changes for both sides midway through the second half significantly altered the balance of the game, with the visitors able to score three in reply.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2, Runcorn Linnets 3

It's a fair Coppull

A club's pre season programme will depend in a large part on the manager's preferences and ideas on what makes for the best preparation for the season. So, with Neil Prince, who led Bootle to the Liverpool Senior Cup the season before last, taking the helm at Prescot Cables, there is no repeat of last year's well supported trip to Rhyl, or the rather less well supported trip to Kidsgrove the year before.

There are, however, trips to clubs I have not visited before, the first being Coppull United of the West Lancashire League. This is on the Wigan to Chorley bus route, on which Arriva run their new Sapphire buses, with wi-fi, once I had connected to the right service, not the one from the bus in front; power sockets by the front seats, those in what in my younger days was the smokers' gallery are not trusted with electricity; and an information screen, which told you how bright and shiny the bus was, rather than displaying the next stop. Still, the wi-fi was zippy enough to download Mr Google's maps as we went along.

Coppull have a neat, modern clubhouse and natural cover (trees) on three sides. It is the first time I have seen dugouts with doors.

I am surprised more clubs do not do it - even in a desirable area, a large open space on the edge of the village is a magnet for under age drinking and smoking, so without the ability to close the dugouts, they would probably regularly start their matchday cleaning out cigarette ends and beer cans.

The usual reports and rumours about who is staying and who has gone are doing the rounds, but nothing is certain until people sign registration forms. I would be happy for any of the team from Dave Powell's two seasons in charge to return, but I was particularly pleased to see James McCulloch joining the action: his skill and leadership qualities make him a good person to start with when building any team.

James McCulloch

Other familiar faces were Adam Reid, who I believe has spent a few months playing in Australia (I hope they do not send international clearance by surface mail), Phil Bannister and Joe Evans. Also present was last season's top scorer, Rob Doran, hoping to be fit for midweek.

Adam Reid

Phil Bannister

Joe Evans

Taking up position, I was greeted by an elderly gentleman, who enquired if I was taking photographs for the local paper. When I mentioned the Cables website, he replied "Ah, it's good to have a website - thingumibob used to do a website, I do not know if you know him, he went to Skelmersdale".

The weather forecast promised storms, which had mainly passed by the time we started, and although the rain was heavy, the water soaked in, leaving a good quality playing surface. During the first half, I moved under the trees by the side of the pitch, where I was enthusiastically greeted by the residents - mosquitoes who had not had many visitors over the summer, so happily sunk their fangs in.

The rain cleared up for the second half, so I went back behind the goal, where insect life was more benign, and appropriate for the opening weekend of the Big Butterfly Count. I did not take part, as I would have missed some of the game, but I am also not sure how you know whether you have seen a large number of butterflies, or one or two flying round in circles.

Five goals for Prescot showed an encouraging ability of our players to find the goal, with our manager adding one himself.

Neil Prince shoots for goal

After the game, I headed back to the bus. Travelling to games has been made easier by the internet: a few years ago, I would have turned up in Wigan hoping that there was a bus, and using a street atlas to work out when to get off. Online tools for use on the ground can still be patchy: nextbuses.mobi was missing timetables in the Lancashire County Council area, but worked in Greater Manchester, whereas Google Maps, which I thought used the same data, worked - as long as it is not a bus station, when it does get rather confused.

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

Final result: Coppull United 1 Prescot Cables 5

Los Marineros

Although I am not a fan of televised sport, I followed a decent chunk of the World Cup, and supported Chile when there was not much English interest left in the competition. So, that was more or less from the start, then. In a World Cup year, the football I can go and watch starts in the last week or so of the competition. I wanted to get back into practice taking and editing photos (reflexes can go rusty surprisingly quickly), which is easier with no-one expecting output, so I went to watch Marine entertain Chester FC. I was not the only person who had been following the Chileans.

I took up position behind the goal Marine were attacking.

Believe it or not from the pictures, Chester were playing in purple. I always have trouble with this colour on the camera - there are many times I have taken pictures in the countryside or a park and spotted an attractive lilac flower, only to find when I have got it home it has turned out blue. I could shoot in Raw format and tweak the colour grading, which is all very well for a single bloom, but not so practical for getting 60 sports pictures out whilst people still remember the game.

In the early pre season games, team sheets are not as regularly handed around as in the normal season. Managers may not want to alert the competition that they are trying out a player who has not yet signed registration forms. Not that such things are exactly a secret for long, this is an environment where everyone knows everyone else, and we are a gossipy bunch.

Marine have a new manager after last season's brush with the relegation positions, and anyway, I had not seen them play for 18 months, so I was not expecting to find anyone I recognised. I did, however, recognise the visitors' Jamie Menagh, who played a few games for Prescot before signing for Chester.

It looked as though the match officials were from the Conference panel, so they were wired for sound, although the can of foam has yet to reach this level.

In the past referees tended to avoid giving cards in pre season games, asking for a player to be substituted, therefore not attracting fines and suspensions. However, the authorities are more strict these days, and Chester's second half goalkeeper Jon Worsnop was sent off for handling outside the area.

The report on Chester First indicated that this will not attract a suspension, which is fair for a technical rather than violent offence. Former Scottish international Chris Iwelumo went in goal, after a few minutes of amusing attempts to find a suitable shirt and gloves.

Not many grounds provide the opportunity for the players to line up with the advertising boards, although I am not sure this ball would clear the bus.

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

Final score: Marine 2; Chester 4.

To arrive is better than to travel hopefully

I let out a sigh when I learnt Lancashire's game against Cheshire in the County Championship for the Bill Beaumont Cup was to be held at Sedgely Park. That is most unfair on the club: I have visited on a number of occasions, they are well run, with excellent facilities including a stand. A visit would be fine if I could just get from home to the ground without having to actually travel between the two.

My main dislike about this trip in the rain that always seems to fall when I go there is the 20 minute walk from public transport, with no pubs or shops in which to shelter along the way. Well, there are, but once you reach them you may as well carry on 100 yards to the ground. I have always got the bus to the start of this walk, but with the aid of Mr Google and the walking routes on his maps, I found it is only a couple of minutes further to the tram, so I could take advantage of the tram's shorter journey time. Users of Manchester's trams will recognise the flaw in this, and even finding the journey time takes some research; they do not publish timetables, so you have to get it by stealth on the Traveline website.

I wanted to look something up in the Library and an exhibition looked interesting in the Art Gallery, so it seemed logical to get a tram from St Peter's Square. Unfortunately, the planned closure of the whole southern half of the system is an insignificant enough event for Metrolink not to put it anywhere obvious on their website, so I walked in the pouring rain to Piccadilly Gardens. The confirm button on the ticket machine should say "You've just missed one, are you sure you do not want to get the bus?", as the reduced frequency on the Bury line, for more engineering works "while we make Victoria Posh", more or less cancels out the journey time advantage.

Having got as wet as I could, there seemed little point using the stand, so I sheltered in the clubhouse porch to get the cover on the camera, then took up position on the other side of the pitch. My friend Jon wondered a few weeks ago whether there might be mileage in a combined monopod and umbrella: I thought the concept was reasonable, but there would be practical issues, particularly how to avoid the water going all over the camera when you put the umbrella down.

It was a grey day, with one side playing in shirts that look grey from a distance.

With the wet conditions, both ball and ground were slippery, so there was a lot of kicking, with associated lineouts and catches in open play.

I did not manage to get a picture of a rare dropped goal, from Cheshire's Richard Vasey. This is probably the most difficult way to score, taking considerable skill with the opposition bearing down on you, so it is usually better to go forward for a possible seven points from a try and conversion, rather than an uncertain three points.

Conditions improved in the second half, as the rain eased off, and I was tempted to put my coat and hat on the perimeter fence to dry. That turned out not to be a good idea, as it started to rain again, and I needed to put them back on, which made me feel even wetter. On the field, the ball looked easier to handle.

At 70 minutes, Lancashire were 12-19 behind, enough for a losing bonus point, which would be needed to stay level in the table with Yorkshire, who had scored a fourth try at Northumberland, with Lancashire's big win two weeks ago giving a superior points difference. However, in the last few seasons Lancashire have made good use of substitutions, and are good at coming back from behind in the last few minutes. It proved to be so again, with tries from Adam Lewis (converted by Chris Johnson) and Warren Spragg putting qualification for the Final beyond doubt.

Now, this blog is quite traditionally minded, so I enjoyed this sequence - it looks very much like a good old fashioned dive pass!

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

Final score: Lancashire 25 (T Rawlings, Lewis, Spragg; C Johnson 2; P Johnson 2), Cheshire 19

Battle of the Vikings

It is not often I attend a game as a genuine neutral. Even at a club I do not usually watch, I tend to support my local team. However, on the basis of an unduly pessimistic weather forecast, I decided not to travel to Scarborough for Lancashire's County Championship rugby union game against Yorkshire, but went to Caldy for Cheshire's game against Northumberland. Both sides lost the previous week, against Lancashire and Yorkshire respectively, so I was not looking for a result to help my side (apart possibly from a highly unlikely low scoring draw).

The Wirral has a strong Viking heritage. Nearby Thingwall includes Þingvöllr, its name in Old Norse, on the signs at the village boundary. Northumberland of course has a Viking connection too, and some players looked the part.

Cheshire had made a good choice of venue for the weather conditions. As it was a bright sunny day, one of the warmest of the year so far, the Dee Estuary provided a welcome breeze.

The comments from the Caldy Chairman in the programme referred to the "open air grandstand", which saw good use.

Some spectators were ready to pounce if the ball came out of play.

The less populated open side provided an ideal vantage point, with the sun directly behind me, so I had no problems with shadows. I did not need to worry about shutter speeds, with the sports mode selecting 1/1600 or 1/2000s. With its also selecting ISO 400, that gave an aperture around f/8. This is narrower than under most conditions, so there is a greater depth of field, which was handy for the pictures illustrating the crowd. In future, I shall try increasing the shutter speed (I can go as fast as 1/4000s) or decreasing the ISO to 200 and see if I can get some shallow depth of field on a bright day.

University players are not common in this competition, not least because of the time of year coinciding with examinations, but Northumberland scrum half Tom Banks of Newcastle University had a good game last week, and looked like doing so again this week, but unfortunately sustained an injury that ended his afternoon after about half an hour.

Being present in a non partisan capacity meant I did not feature one side's players over the other in the final slide show. This is in any event not as clear cut in rugby as in football. In the latter, I concentrate on when our own players have the ball, whereas in rugby a player tackling makes for just as good a picture.

For the individual shots of players running, kicking or passing, my selection was quite even.

Having watched these games for a few years, I recognise some players, although they do not always turn up where I expect them. Qualification for the competition can come from being born in the county (generally following historic boundaries), living there, or playing for a member club of the County RFU. The latter two can change, so, for example, having seen James Smith playing as a replacement scrum half for Lancashire last season, we see him this season fulfilling the same function for Cheshire.

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

Final score: Cheshire 35, Northumberland 31.

Changeable weather

On a train towards Blackpool all human life is there. On this occasion, the carriage on my little Pacer train was populated in large part by two weekend parties. I would say the noise was ear splitting, but it was mainly going straight through my skull without really troubling my ears at all.

Fylde RUFC, who were hosting Lancashire's game against Northumberland in the County Championship for the Bill Beaumont Cup, have some pictures on display of Mr Beaumont playing for Fylde, Lancashire and England. The conclusion to be drawn from them is that there was a lot more mud back then then. Pitch maintenance and the science of growing grass have improved significantly in the last few years, although it has not addressed the amount of water falling from the sky. At the risk of upsetting the Fylde Tourist Board, it seems to rain whenever I am there, not to mention the wind blowing off the sea. Fortunately the worst rain was before the start of the game, when I could shelter in the bar. Well, it was fortunate for me, not for the players warming up in it.

In the last few years, Lancashire have maintained a stable core to the team, not always easy in a competition over four weeks in May. There is significant input from our hosts, combined with young players making their way up. As our game was taking place, two of my favourite former players were playing against each other in the Championship Play Off Semi Final, James Doherty with Leeds Carnegie and Alex Davies with London Welsh.

Northumberland seemed to have warmed up better, as they took the lead before Lancashire seemed to fully get going.

As the rain eased off, to be replaced by the wind, the home side soon started to get things together. Captain Chris Johnson has been useful with his feet in these games for a few seasons, kicking most of Lancashire's conversions and penalties ...

 ... today also kicking in open play ...

... before gathering the ball to put it down for a try.

The rain started again late in the first half, which coincided with another spell of Northumberland pressure, with their scrum half, Tom Banks, giving his team 14 points with two tries he converted himself.

I am not sure what the Lancashire coaches said at half time, but the team simply overpowered the opposition in the second half, and made good use of substitutions - many of the substitutes come from Fylde, so are used to playing together, rather than just being second choices for their position who might not gel when they come on.

Even more rain did not help the visitors.

The sun came out for the end of the game, just as the announcer forgot the visitors' name, referring to substitutions for Northumbria, to the muttered consternation of the gentlemen in Northumberland blazers standing behind me. For Lancashire Steve Collins came on for Chris Johnson who had earned a rest before next week's game against Yorkshire.

Fylde were keen for people to continue to enjoy the bar and catering facilities after the game, so I stayed for a pie - the pastry tasted as though it involved suet, unfortunately not often used in a baked pie. After that, it was off to Taps in Lytham, where I spotted a few more of the crowd enjoying their excellent selection of ales.

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

Final score: Lancashire 57 (T - Riley, Spragg 2, Johnson 3, Taylor, Briers, Brennand; C - Johnson 4, Collins 2); Northumberland 19