Orpington v Bridon Ropes
Tonbridge Angels v Canvey Island
A reassuringly wet day, just the weather for towels, heading east for a couple of games in north Kent.
Passing through Didcot and new build kettle 'Tornado' was in steam on the demonstration line at the railway centre.
And last nights London bound sleeper service, still at Reading having broken down overnight.
Into London Paddington.....
....and a jaunt round the Circle line took me to Victoria, where there was the inevitable stop off at the international Cheese Centre.
Then on a South Eastern Electrostar heading for Ashford International.....
Across the river.
.....with the chance to partake in the chorizo and Gruyere roll, two mini saucisson and cheese portions from earlier. There was an epoisse that stank the coach out.
Sat across from me were two suit clad youngsters. On a Saturday, this means that either they are 18 year olds from Minesota, trying to persuade you to be or a Mormon, or they were students using match official fees to assist them through university. The lack of name badges pointed towards the latter, and they went on to discuss their excitement at stepping up to conference national next season.
My destination was Swanley, for that is where Orpington play.
It took many attempts to confirm this was where the game was being played, as the various teams play at three different grounds. This was the only news update on the website.
The evocative image of Kent is the garden of England, with hop fields and oast houses. The walk to the ground didn't fit in with that perception. First of all along a dog shit ridden pathway, sandwiched between brambles and a spiked palisade fence.
Then a piss soaked low underpass below a dual carriageway.
On reaching the ground, it bore security that the Pentagon could learn from. A tall wire mesh fence, topped with razor wire....
...scale that and you are faced with a moat…..
…..and then a steep embankment.
I chose to walk all the way round, finally reaching the end of the path, marked with a memorial to all those who lost their lives making the same journey.
Green Court, I'm pretty sure, is the old Alma Swanley ground. They were a pub side who rose up to the Spartan and then the Kent league, before giving up in the mid 1990s.
It has long been my conviction that football clubs use architects who normally design shower blocks in caravan sites, to design social clubs at non league grounds. This is the deluxe offering.
In a change to the norm, the turnstile was a bloke sat at the and of the bar eating a sausage sandwich, asking if we were going to the game or not. £6 for entrance and a programme, we were in,
Orpington's first incarnation was as long ago as 1880, but they only played locally before folding in the 1920s. They restarted just as WW2 broke out, in played in the South London Alliance, before promotion to the Kent County in 1998, jumping between the divisions, but were right place, right time when the Kent Invicta league was started in 2011. IT seems to be run by a small number of very dedicated individuals, and was a friendly setting.
Bridon Ropes formed in 1935 as a factory team for the then British Rope Company, in Charlton. They played in the Greater London League, before progressing to the Spartan league in 1975. This merged with the South Midland league, but because it was mostly North London and Bucks/Herts teams, they moved to the Kent County, and then Invicta league. The company renamed itself to Bridon in 1990, with the football club following course.
Here are some examples of the ropes they make.
The ground itself was a beauty.
Facilities were down one side, with this stand....
....and perhaps the smallest terrace I have ever seen, nicely turreted by a couple of trees.
The far end overlooked the railway and then building material recycling centre, enabling the spectators to watch a corner and at the same time, re-I forced concrete being crushed.
The stand and dug outs were strangely off set from the half way line.
Behind the near goal was a picnic area....
....and a five a side pitch who's AstroTurf resembled the baseball ground in the 1970s....
...and a wide reaching varied selection of agricultural clutter.
Anyway, the teams entered the proceedings through an extravagant arched construction.
Again, the kits were mono-prime coloured, this time, only a rod through their pancreas away from being a table football team.
Double dud on towels.
Orpington were 16th, with Bridon in 6th, and the form book was reflected in a 1-3 victory for the away team.
Next move was to re-trace my path back to the station, risking the chance of being sacrificed in some gang initiation ceremony. On to a Thamesink service from Swanley, which seemed to be driven by Miss Daisy, as it crawled along on green signals....
....which turned a +7 connection at Seven Oaks into a -3, which was somehow made, and I was into Tonbridge.
A bus ride up the hill, with match posters on display…
…..took me to a very busy looking Long Mead....
....for this.
Tonbridge Angels 2 v Canvey Island 0, Isthmian League, Premier Division
Tonbridge started life post WW2 and were immediately elected to the Southern league. They played at the former Kent CCC Angel ground. They were a mainstay of the Southern league, but were relegated to the Kent League in the late 1980s. By this time they had also lost the Angel ground, which the council sold in the 1970s, giving them the land for the current Long Mead home in return. They returned to the Southern league in 1994, also formally taking on the Angels moniker. They switched to the Isthmian when the Southern dumped their Kent clubs in 2004, and were briefly in the Conference South before relegation back to the Isthmian a couple of seasons ago.
Canvey Island started life in the mid 1920s, playing in local leagues before a gradual rise up the Essex senior from the mid seventies. However, all was to change in the nineties when local caravan park owner, and multiple millionaire, Jeff King took over the club as owner, chairman and manager. They rose through the pyramid, and after a series of failed promotions, made it into the conference. I saw them quite a few times in this period and they were a particularly unpleasant side, epitomised by King and his touchline antics. King lost interested and the club were kicked out of the conference, dropping down to the Isthmian, where they have been ever since.
Tonbridge have always enjoyed good crowds and the ground is well developed.
The main feature is the pitch long stand on the far touchline, which was brought across from the Angel ground and had seats installed in the late nineties.
Behind each goal are identical covered terraces.
The near touchline has two extremely curious stands.
This tiny little director’s stand.
And this even stranger wooden folly with a tiny scoreboard.
The club were admirably keen on stopping offensive behaviour
But may stop certain WSC matchday updates with this one.
Tonbridge scored late in the second half, by which time I was in the clubhouse….
….enjoying a Tonbridge brewery special edition.
Ron Saunders, Gerry Francis, Malcolm Macdonald. All the Emblem family.
Tonbridge managed to score another before half time, and that was it for the game, finishing 2-0.
Afterwards, it was a more leisurely walk down the hill into town, stopping off at the off-guide George and Dragon for a Tonbridge – Golden Rule and to watch the end of the cricket.
And then the Guide Whetherspoon, the Humphrey Bean, named after a forme landlord, for a Rockin Robin – Reliant Robin, and a Revisionist (ie Marston’s) Irish Peat.
It was then back to the station, for a return move via Redhill and the North Downs, to Reading then Swindon.
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