Sheffield, Sweden And Sunshine

 

As my bus trundled into Sheffield town centre around 6:15pm, it was clear there was an extra element to the usual Saturday night fever along West Street as, alongside the regulars were dotted large pockets of yellow and orange as supporters of both Sweden and the Netherlands enjoyed the sunshine, the fanzone and the bars ahead of their Women's Euros opener at Bramall Lane.

Me, my son and his friend got off the bus, as it became bogged down in traffic, and walked down to the ground, the atmosphere building as we got ever closer.

There has been plenty of discussion as to whether the choice of venues for the tournament has been ambitious enough, and also whether the geographical spread is right but the counter-argument has been that local authority buy-in and a willingness from clubs themselves was needed and that was evident on that walk to the ground, from the road closures to the volunteers to the signage and branding that had transformed Sheffield United's ground.

Our choice of who to support was going to be dictated by which fans we were sitting alongside and as we first turned into John Street it seemed as though Holland would be our team as we walked into an orange mass but a couple of turnstiles further on we went and it turned out that our seats were in amongst the Swedish contingent.

Having been persuaded that the kids really needed a couple of big, foam, pointing hands from the official merchandise stall, we settled down to an entertaining game and constant support from the Swedes towards their team, chants we didn't understand but joined in all the same, as they had the better of the first-half and took a lead into the interval before the Dutch came back strongly to earn a share of the spoils that both sides will probably be happy enough with as a tournament opener.

At £30 for the three of us I felt it was good value and a real occasion to remember, perhaps the 8pm kick-off would have put off a few with younger children but very enjoyable all the same for a record crowd for a game not involving a host nation at a Women's Euros.

Here We Go

Last weekend saw a handful of pre-season games being played but the start of July surely marks the official beginning of the new 2022/23 season.

Saturday is very busy with matches and so many clubs, despite the increasing costs that they face, are offering free admission, 'pay what you want' or football for a fiver.

I've tried to retweet as many as possible @affordablefooty but if you're looking for fixtures, here are some sites that have proved invaluable to me over the years.

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.

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 magazine also has a website with features, stats and regular fixture updates covering all levels of the women's game in the UK with Scottish Women's Football a great source of information north of the border.

Staying north of the border, if there is a game on then Scottish Football Fixtures will have it listed, similarly Kentish Football for the garden of England.

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 and there are many similar sites covering leagues up and down the country.

And, for the pleasure of having the fixtures actually in your hand, the Non-League Paper is published every Sunday and still costs just £1.80, an incredible achievement. As well as comprehensive coverage of games played the previous day, and the non-league scene generally, they have detailed fixture lists at the back of the paper.

Opening Day At The O's

You don't often see clubs putting on a ticket promotion for the first game of the season but it makes sense in many ways, the weather is more likely to be good and optimism should be in the air for a good campaign ahead.

Leyton Orient are doing just that for the League Two opener against newly-promoted Grimsby Town on Saturday 30 July, match tickets when they go on sale in a couple of weeks will be half-price.

As the club themselves say, it is 'the perfect opportunity to introduce friends and family to Orient' and with the main source of ticket income for the O's perhaps more likely to come from season cards then it is not really a gamble to reduce individual prices in the hope of converting a few more people to what looks to be a friendly and inclusive matchday experience.

Who Gives You Extra?

I do like clubs who at least try and give their season ticket holders a sense of ownership, something a little bit extra when they have made a real financial commitment for the upcoming campaign.

It doesn't have to be much but it can foster a bit of goodwill that takes buying a season ticket beyond just being a straightforward financial transaction, increasingly one that happens online rather than down at the ground.

Something like the upcoming open day at Barnsley FC fits the bill...three different Reds sides will be in action on Saturday 16 July, culminating in the first team on the main Oakwell pitch at 5:30pm, the opposition yet to be confirmed but with admission free for 2022/23 season ticket holders.

Add in a funfair, Fan and Kids Zones and more and it should help give everyone a bit of a lift heading into the League One campaign after relegation last time around.

Cheaper Football At Crawley Town

New owners, new manager and a new start for Crawley Town this summer with WAGMI United having completed a takeover of the Sussex club in April and with Kevin Betsy recently installed into the managerial hot-seat.

I'm not going to pretend I know much about WAGMI's business of cryptocurrency and NFT's, and there have been some doubts voiced as to how things may play out but one of the first moves of the new owners has been to bring down the cost of watching League Two football in this coming season.

That means a reduction of up to 34% on season tickets and, more relevant to this blog perhaps, a drop in matchday ticket prices which now start at £15 for an adult on the terraces.

More accompanied children can now go free following a change to the age limit on such tickets from  under 11 to under 16.

Co-chairman Preston Johnson told the official club website: "We want the matchday experience to be as vibrant as it can possibly be. 

"To help make that happen, we want to make it easier for families with kids to come down to the stadium and make a day of it."

Early sales have been good, with Johnson telling the Crawley Observer: “It has been positive and just great to meet many of the fans coming into the club the last few days as well."

I have plenty of sympathy with those people tasked with making League Two clubs both financially sustainable while making progress on the pitch.

It's a level where clubs have lots of regulatory burdens which prevent them from having the easy-going feel of a day watching non-league football while also being squeezed from above, certainly by the Premier League where the broadcast income allows for policies such as the price cap on away tickets.

WAGMI had previously shown an interest in buying Bradford City and their success in selling season tickets has continued this summer with over 14,000 already gone.

Elsewhere in League Two, Salford City have held their matchday prices which means a maximum of £15.

A Football Pioneer

The Egri Erbstein Tournament, to be held this summer at the home of Corinthian Casuals, celebrates the Hungarian coach who masterminded the great Torino team of the 1940's after surviving the Holocaust, before being killed in the Superga air crash of 1949.

Erno Egri Erbstein's former club Budapesti Atletikai Klub were reformed in 2018 and, together with the Casuals, formed the tournament to honour him.

Both clubs will be in action on July 23 and 24 together with the world's oldest club Sheffield FC and Fall River Marksmen of the USA.

More details at the tournament website.

Tickets for the weekend, covering all four matches are priced at £15 for adults, day tickets cost £10 for adults, £5 concessions and just £1 for under 18's.

A Century of Football

Having first hosted a game in August 1921, a centenary of football at Borough Briggs will be marked later this month as Elgin City host a pre-season tournament featuring themselves, Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Inverurie Loco Works.

That first fixture was a Highland League one and the line-up for the tournament has past and present members of a league that has endured just as successfully as Borough Briggs.

Both Elgin and Peterhead moved up from the Highland League to the Scottish Football League in 2000 and remain there, Peterhead in League One and Elgin in League Two, although the tournament hosts endured a nervy 2021/22 season as they finished one place off the bottom of the table.

Filling that final position were Cowdenbeath who subsequently lost their league status to Bonnyrigg Rose, Lowland League champions and victors over their Highland League equivalent Fraserburgh in the promotion play-off.

That leaves Fraserburgh looking to retain their title and have another shot at promotion, although the three b's, Brora, Brechin and Buckie, will have other ideas.

Inverurie, meanwhile, will seek to build on an encouraging seventh place finish.

The tournament takes place over the weekend of 25/26 June, a beautiful time of year to be in the Highlands, with tickets available both for single days (family £20, adult £10 and concessions £7.50 for ground entrance) and the whole weekend (£30, £15, (£10).