England Back In Town

 

Some pictures from England Under-17's match against Armenia in March last year.

International football is back at the New York Stadium on Saturday 25th March, kick-off 2pm, when England face Iceland in the UEFA U19 EURO elite round.

Tickets are on sale, priced £5 adults and £2.50 for those over 60 and under 22.

Well Worth A Click

The following sites have been invaluable to me in writing this blog and are well worth a visit.

The London Football Guide - James Doe is the man behind Non-League Day and set up TLFG to provide a comprehensive guide to football (at all levels) in the capital and its suburbs. On a weekly basis he runs through all of the fixtures of note and is also happy to answer queries from anyone coming to London and looking to catch a match.

With its focus on a similar patch geographically, The Cold End combines news and match previews with reports, highlights and some great photographs of Non-League football in London, Hertfordshire & Beyond.

Football in Berkshire is an excellent not for profit site that doesn't leave a stone unturned when reporting on football at all levels in the county.

The excellent She Kicks website has features, stats and regular fixture updates covering all levels of the women's game in the UK with Scottish Women's Football performing a similar function in its area.

The official FA site also has an easy-to-navigate fixture list with ticket info and links.

Non-League Matters is a good resource for fixtures, tables and stats from all levels of the game below the Football League and the Forum part of the site has a section where special ticket offers, free and reduced admission and ‘Pay What You Want’ fixtures can be publicised.

The Northern Counties East Football League is my local Step 5 league and the home of Hallam FC who have featured regularly on the site. The NCEFL website is an excellent resource for results and fixtures while many of the clubs in the league feature on the Non League Yorkshire website which has a wealth of news, match reports and opinion from across the county.

I've always enjoyed Neil Jensen's writings in the Non-League Paper (the print edition of which is a great source for upcoming fixtures) but they are just the tip of the iceberg of his wonderful Game of the People website which has features and views on football in all corners of the globe.

The Only Way Is Up

For Gillingham FC after the recent takeover at Priestfield, a number of new signings and Saturday's win in a crucial game against Hartlepool United that closed the gap on their opponents at the foot of League Two.

I've got a pretty bad track record on this blog of offering praise to new owners for their initial burst of communication with supporters, often involving reduced prices or special offers admission-wise.

That reflects, perhaps, certainly at League Two level, how the success or otherwise of a new regime is so often a shot in the dark, for every club, but the general feeling at Gillingham seems positive about the arrival of US-based businessman Bradley Galinson - Haydn Parry reflecting that in a piece for the new issue of When Saturday Comes.

A good atmosphere at last weekend's FA Cup tie against Leicester City certainly came across on the television and the offer of 'pay what you want' tickets for the crucial clash with Crawley Town (talking of the above) in early February were very quickly snapped up this week.

Football And Food Banks

Type these two into your search engine or on twitter and you'll get an idea of the incredible amount of work currently being done, both by supporters' groups and clubs themselves, to support their local food banks.

From the club's point of view, I think it ties into them becoming even more active and vital parts of their local community, from collections for food banks and other charities to simply being a warm, welcoming space this winter.

They may also act as a link, getting the word about a local food bank out to more people who may otherwise not be aware of it.

Abingdon United FC are partnering with the Abingdon Food Bank for all of their Men's, Women's and Under 18 fixtures this month, starting this coming weekend when Newent Town are the visitors.

It's football for a fiver at the Northcourt Stadium with concessions and Oxford United season ticket holders in for £3, under 16s's £1 and under 12's free.

Something For The weekend

Thanks to Harborough Town FC for following @AffordableFooty and for backing emergency service workers with free admission this coming Saturday (7th January) for the Northern Premier League game at home to Stamford AFC.

Blue Light Card holders (NHS, Police, Ambulance and Fire services) can watch the match at no charge on production of ID while Leicester City season ticket holders can come in for a fiver with the Foxes FA Cup tie at Gillingham being shown live in the bar beforehand.