Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire
Nottingham Outlaws v Batley Boys
Never say never, but I think the 2016/17 football season might be over. I didn't fancy a third consecutive Saturday in Scotland, and the only other options were the Durham County FA U18's Saturday League final, or Sandbach United versus Crewe Alexandra Legends, which was equally unappealing, so it was time to draw a close on the 227 games watched over the course of the year.
A look at other sports, and I was drawn by it being the first round of the All-Britain Hurling Shield, so it was off to Nottingham with a number of other sports leading up to the big event in the evening.
It was the 0757 off Sowerby.
I was taking this through to Leeds for the direct Nottingham service from there. However, at Halifax we passed a London bound Grand Central service, which was being worked by one of the ex-Great Western class 180s on its very first outing with its new owners. So here is some first group upholstery, passing Mirfield.
I was off at Wakefield, after the guard had announced 'we appologise for the confusing stickers, but we only bought this train last week'.
The cut across to Wakefield actually meant I could get a Sheffield service half an hour earlier than planned, and to take in an another missing letter from my favourite corporate signage.
A man of steel move at Sheffield meant I made a -1 connection onto the Norwich bound East Midlands Trains service, which took me to Nottingham.
The days activities were starting with a session and a half of Notts v Derbyshire in the cricket, so it was south from the centre, through the ever lovely Meadows estate, which is named after local film maker Shane.
Over the Trent, and a chance to confirm the often used fact that Nottingham hosts the two football clubs who's grounds are closest to looking like light industrial units. Forest's City Ground on the right, and County's Meadow Lane on the left.
But I was carrying on over the bridge, with the floodlights of my destination ahead.
That destination being here, for this.
Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire, County Championship - Division 2
Notts were formed in 1841. For one of the bigger counties, they are only joint seventh in the number of championship wins, with six to their name and a handful of one day titles. The clubs glory years were in the 1980s when a team led by Richard Hadlee,Clive Rice and Derek Randall gained two championship wins, a feat matched in the 2000s with Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Taylor and Samit Patel. They are now however, a bit shit and were relegated from division 1 last season.
Derbyshire were formed in 1870 and have done pretty much nothing except lose ever since. They did somehow win the County Championship in 1936, and the second division in 2012. However, apart from a couple of one day cups, their biggest achievement has been that in the only time panini did a cricket sticker album in 1983, they produced one of every sticker and then about 4 million Kim Barnets, of which I think I got 3,999,999.
So, Trent Bridge, home to Notts since 1841 and hosting test matches since 1899. It was previously shared with Notts County but they moved across the river to Meadow Lane in 1910.
The largest structure is the Radcliffe Road End, which is also one of the biggest in UK cricket. It was opened in 1998 and has seating on three tiers, separated by hospitality boxes. Is the middle is the media centre, which is in the process of being rebuilt.
Next is the Fox road stand, which was eventually opened in 2002 after a prolonged fight to get planning permission due to it being much larger than its predecessor, mainly due to the aeroplane wing inspired roof.
On the opposite side is the latest addition, on what used to be the Parr stand, but after redevelopment in 2008, was creatively named the New Stand. It is now named the Smith Cooper stand, which I like to think is as a result of joint winners of a 'name your favourite Tommy' competition, though more likely it is sponsorship be a local 'accountancy and business advisory firm', who sound like incredibly interesting people. Anyway, the stand has 3,500 seats on a single tier, and a roof who's purpose is more about shading the late setting sun from fielders at mid wicket than it is to shelter the occupants from rain.
These are the members stands. On the right is the 1993 Hound Road Stand, which is where the more distinguished spectators (ie the most vocal bigots) congregate. On the left is the Larwood and Voce Stand, which is a members only facility, with an open wedge of seats with their pavillion at the top. The trees behind are the embankment that carried the old Great Central Railway, which was a main line from Nottingham to London, which cunningly avoided anywhere else of importance.
All the ground was open, which was good to see as at many of the bigger venues, only certain stands are opened during championship games.
Nottinghamshire were somehow making Derbyshire look good, which was quite an achievement, as the latter haven't won a county championship game for almost two years.
Notts had scored 229 after being put in, and Derbyshire were now 160 for 2, with Madsen and Godleman on a century partnership.
However, the South African decided to hit out once he'd got past his 50, and was trapped LBW by Brett Hutton, who was the other Worksop College 2006 cricket scholarship Alumni, along with Joe Root. This signalled lunch, at the increasingly decrepit looking pavilion, made famous by Ricky Ponting's rant at Duncan Fletcher in the 2005 Ashes.
Another welcome sight was the opportunity for a game on the outfield during the break. This is one of the most enjoyable parts of the day, as there is always one parent fastidiously trying to teach their kid how to play a grounded square cut between gulley and point off an inswinging yorker, yet the eight year old is more interested in leathering the tennis ball indiscriminately to cow corner, much to the ire of the increasingly frustrated parent, who is watching his dream of a retirement spent in the players families section of England test matches, slowly fading.
Good work with the super-spongers, which, already quite mean looking, have been pimped with some mechanical artwork.
If I had my way, these would just say 'Sit the fuck down you weak bladdered twats'.
After seeing the eternal journeyman Godleman make his century, I headed off, past the least menacing looking Nottingham biker gang, since this one.
It was back through the Beverley Hills of the East Midlands.
And onto the NET, which is the Nottingham tram network.
This was taken down one of the new extensions to the network. This one heading for the park and ride at Toton, with me alighting at University Boulevard, which sounds more like something Milton Keynes would have.
However, it is home to the University sports complex.
First off was a bit of hockey.
In the absence of any @nonleague_train, it was instead @hockey_trams.
If I had concerns at the increasing levels of petulant abuse the officials are getting in non-league, this paled into insignificance compared to what was going on here. A horrible, niggly game was made worse by constant vitriolic criticism of the referee, who didn't seem to be doing anything wrong apart from calling fouls for deliberate kicking or smashing a stick in an opponents face. Both teams were adamant the ref was the most bias they had ever seen, though biased against them.
The game was settled from a penalty corner.
With both teams storming off on the final whistle.
Flying balls and persistent whinging.
There are a load of football pitches across the site, one of which is railed off and hosts the University first team who play in the BUCS Midland 1a, a division below their rivals at Nottingham Trent, who are in the BUCS Premier North.
However, my game was on the main rugby pitch.
Nottingham Outlaws 22 v Batley Boys 30, Yorkshire Men's League - Premier Division
Rugby league started in Nottingham in the 1960s with a team in the South East Merit League. After petering out, a team reapeared in the late 1980s when expansion club the Mansfield Marksman relocated to become Nottingham City. The 1990s saw them drop out of the professional structure and into the conference, and then cease playing altogether. However, they had spawned an amateur side, Nottingham Foresters playing in the Mansfield and Nottingham Amateur League, which eventually became the Midland League. On Cities demise, they carried on but as Nottingham Crusaders, and stepped up to the Yorkshire League. Seeking to get a more senior team, in 1998, a group of Crusader's players, aligned to Nottingham Trent University, started the Outlaws, playing back in the Conference. They had a strong decade or so in the various forms of the Midland conferences, before joining stepping up to the Southern Premier in 2012. However, this was disbanded last year and the Outlaws were placed in the top division of the Yorkshire league, as it was felt to be of a higher standard than the Midland conference.
Batley Boys is a prolific youth rugby set up, having been around since the 1940s. More recently, they have formalised links with Batley Bulldogs, the professional club in the area. This has seen a mens team added as there was no conference level club in the town, by comparison neighbouring Dewsbury having four.
The ground is a railed off pitch right in the centre of the complex.
A large modern clubhouse overlooks the pitch.
With the older training rooms now relegated for football use.
The tram line runs right down one of the touchlines.
Batley were top of the league but it was Nottingham who took the lead.
But Batley soon came back with some scores of their own.
I progressed to the clubhouse balcony in time to see Batley take the lead, with the hockey still underway in the back ground.
A fair sized crowd was present, and they got to see some exchanges of scores.
As did the passengers on this city centre bound tram.
In fact the tram bashers got a fair amount of the play.
In the end, the game went with the league placings, as a few late scores saw Batley win 22-30.
I was off promptly, as I had another game to go to. Though a few minutes were wasted trying to work out what sport these were the markings for?
It was onto a community bus that undertook a circuitous route around the suburbs.
This passed the cycling track at Bilborough Park, which is of formula 1 style distances, as it winds its way around two football pitches.
My destination bus stop was chosen for proximity to my next event, rather than the architectural merit of the accompanying buildings.
St Barnabas v Roger Casements, All-Britain Hurling Shield
St Barnabas formed in the 1950s as a Gaelic football team. The East Midlands had quite a large Irish ex-pat community and therefore were able to have a decent GAA league. However, for some reason, in the 1970s the Irish in the midlands seemed less inclined to promote their background, and the league petered out, as did St Barnabas. However, the 1980s saw the football team revived, and in 2012, a hurling team was added, competing in the all Britain shield as well as friendlies. They are based at one of the Catholic schools in Nottingham, where the sport is played and hence a hurling pitch is in situ.
Roger Casement was a civil servant, foreign office worker, diplomat, humanitarian activist, and poet. Which makes him sound like the dullest man on the planet. Or else the type of person a hurling team from Coventry would name themselves after.
It was near game time but the ground was eerily deserted, but there were a few players present. I made my way over and it transpired the away side hadn't left the West Midlands yet as they were still trying to get a team together.
From my dealings with domestic tradesmen, I deduced that the chances of rounding up 15 ex-pat Irish and them all finding there way to the same place 60 miles away, all in the next two hours, were somewhat remote, so left the home side to continue their hopeful warm-up. Indeed the game didn't take place.
So instead it was a city centre bound bus.
Which was taken through to the station.
For a Norwich-Liverpool East Midlands Trains.
Off at Sheffield.
Onto a Leeds bound Northern unit. However, the Calder Valley line was knackered so I got a Selby-Huddersfield service which got me as far as Halifax.
By now, the Sowerby buses are hourly, and having just missed it, instead it was onto one to Norton Tower, which is right at the top of the valley. It is a 20 minute walk down the hill but it is downhill and also, the sun and clouds were doing some funky things in the distance. Either that or Oldham was on fire, which isn't beyond the realms of possibility.
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