RETURN TO FOOTBALL - THE MIDDLESEX FOOTBALL FAMILY

[petethegreek]

9 hours ago, Rhodes said:

I didn't want to resurrect a thread from ten years ago as Enfield Til It Died would soon come out of the woodwork however who read the article about former SSML Club Sport London e Benfica on The Cold End's Blog recently. It was an interesting piece and included an old interview from 2009 with then Manager Jose Viana, the so called 'Special One', who I recall always stood absolutely statuesque on the touchline through out the entire ninety minutes of a game and literally didn't move a muscle. I wasn't aware that the Club still had a team plying their trade in the Middlesex County Sunday League Division Five and have somehow managed to get a pitch at the Middlesex FA Rectory Park complex however what an embarrassing fall from grace for the once proud Club and Jose Viana in particular who in The Cold End's interview said 'we hope to have our own ground within five years, be playing at a superior level to the Spartan League together with a strong youth structure with teams going throughout the ages':

https://thecoldend.blogspot.com/2020/11/looking-back-to-2009-when-sport-london.html

 

Sport London e Benfica have a team in the Greater London Women's Football League. 

[Rhodes]

1 hour ago, petethegreek said:

Sport London e Benfica have a team in the Greater London Women's Football League. 

Yes, I saw that but didn't think it was worth mentioning. I know you officiated on a number of Sport London e Benfica fixtures back in the day when they were a SSML Club, what's your abiding memory of them and Jose Viana, he wasn't exactly Tony Pulis was he.

[petethegreek]

18 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Yes, I saw that but didn't think it was worth mentioning. I know you officiated on a number of Sport London e Benfica fixtures back in the day when they were a SSML Club, what's your abiding memory of them and Jose Viana, he wasn't exactly Tony Pulis was he.

They were not that organized from what I can recall. Jose didn't say too much during games.

[Rhodes]

10 hours ago, petethegreek said:

They were not that organized from what I can recall. Jose didn't say too much during games.

Sport London e Benfica used to play a lot on Monday evening's and I recall you had them towards the end of their SSML days in a Division One fixture at Brache Sparta, that must have been exciting for you with Brache Sparta finishing bottom that season and Sport London e Benfica second to bottom:

SSML Division One - 2009/10
 Pos  Name                            Pld    W    D    L   GF   GA  Pts
   1  Holmer Green                     40   28    9    3   95   31   93
   2  Hadley                           40   28    6    6   90   34   90
   3  London Colney                    40   28    5    7  107   40   89
   4  Hoddesdon Town                   40   23    9    8   98   46   78
   5  A F C Dunstable                  40   24    5   11  108   69   77
   6  New Bradwell St Peter            40   22    6   12   96   70   72
   7  King's Langley                   40   21    7   12   84   60   70
   8  Crawley Green Sports             40   21    5   14   80   59   68
   9  Bedford                          40   19    8   13   90   72   65
  10  Bedford Town reserves            40   19    4   17   84   65   61
  11  Cockfosters                      40   17    9   14   82   75   60
  12  Harpenden Town                   40   15    6   19   65   73   51
  13  Ampthill Town                    40   15    4   21   61   85   46 *
  14  Sun Postal Sports                40   12    9   19   70   84   45
  15  Stony Stratford Town             40   11   12   17   67   82   45
  16  Buckingham Athletic              40   12    5   23   58   78   41
  17  Amersham Town                    40   10    7   23   49  100   37
  18  Tokyngton Manor                  40   12    3   25   61   94   36 *
  19  Cranfield United                 40    7    8   25   29  103   29
  20  Sport London E Benfica           40    6    5   29   42  121   23
  21  Brache Sparta                    40    1    6   33   27  102    9
* - Ampthill Town & Tokyngton Manor each 3 points deducted

[Savagebee]

16 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Sport London e Benfica used to play a lot on Monday evening's and I recall you had them towards the end of their SSML days in a Division One fixture at Brache Sparta, that must have been exciting for you with Brache Sparta finishing bottom that season and Sport London e Benfica second to bottom:

SSML Division One - 2009/10
 Pos  Name                            Pld    W    D    L   GF   GA  Pts
   1  Holmer Green                     40   28    9    3   95   31   93
   2  Hadley                           40   28    6    6   90   34   90
   3  London Colney                    40   28    5    7  107   40   89
   4  Hoddesdon Town                   40   23    9    8   98   46   78
   5  A F C Dunstable                  40   24    5   11  108   69   77
   6  New Bradwell St Peter            40   22    6   12   96   70   72
   7  King's Langley                   40   21    7   12   84   60   70
   8  Crawley Green Sports             40   21    5   14   80   59   68
   9  Bedford                          40   19    8   13   90   72   65
  10  Bedford Town reserves            40   19    4   17   84   65   61
  11  Cockfosters                      40   17    9   14   82   75   60
  12  Harpenden Town                   40   15    6   19   65   73   51
  13  Ampthill Town                    40   15    4   21   61   85   46 *
  14  Sun Postal Sports                40   12    9   19   70   84   45
  15  Stony Stratford Town             40   11   12   17   67   82   45
  16  Buckingham Athletic              40   12    5   23   58   78   41
  17  Amersham Town                    40   10    7   23   49  100   37
  18  Tokyngton Manor                  40   12    3   25   61   94   36 *
  19  Cranfield United                 40    7    8   25   29  103   29
  20  Sport London E Benfica           40    6    5   29   42  121   23
  21  Brache Sparta                    40    1    6   33   27  102    9
* - Ampthill Town & Tokyngton Manor each 3 points deducted

 

 

Rhodes what were your Tokngton Manor highlights for that season?

Melford Simpson banged in the goals that season right? And with the last 4 home games not being played how many more goals would have the SSML Giant ended up scoring?

Edited November 21, 2020 by Savagebee

[Rhodes]

2 hours ago, Savagebee said:

Rhodes what were your Tokngton Manor highlights for that season?

Savagebee - Well how long have you got, it was a great campaign despite the Club only finishing in eighteenth spot, it should have been much higher, one of the highlights for me was beating Sport London e Benfica by the same 4-1 scoreline both away at Coles Park, where they groundshared (see below), and at Reynolds Field, where we groundshared, in November:

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Spartan South Midlands League Division 1

Sport London e Benfica 1 Tokyngton Manor 4

In what was Sport London e Benfica's first fixture at their new ground, which they share with Premier Division Haringey Borough, Manor were able to make the most of the wide open spaces of Coles Park however things didn't go to plan early on when Manor's custodian Jon Cardy upended Ivo Barroso in the penalty area, following a delay in play Barroso went off injured and Referee Mr Gale pointed to the penalty spot. The resulting kick by Bruno Mondlane was hit centrally however Cardy stood his ground, rather than diving left or right, and he saved extremely well and acrobatically. Manor then then took the lead through Dan Owen who slotted the ball home clinically after an accurate cross from the left. Owen, who stands at 6 ft 5", appeared to be a foot taller than the whole of the Benfica back four, dominated the home defence for the first half an hour of the proceedings before he had to leave the field of play with a head wound following a high accidental tackle, he returned shortly afterwards having been duly 'patched up' by Manor physio Candice Sumner. Gino Sufi then proceeded to make the score 2-0 to Manor with an excellent strike from the edge of the penalty box, Ivan Viera in the Benfica goal could only watch in despair as the ball raced passed him and he didn't stand a chance. Up until that juncture it had been a fairly comfortable evening for Manor apart from the early penalty scare, Benfica were not controlling the ball particularly well and too many passes were going astray with their forwards out of sorts. Gino Sufi proceeded to hit a post and the crossbar within seconds of each other following a rebound and was unlucky not to make it 3-0 which would have surely put the game beyond Benfica's reach. As it was the hosts then raised their game and Djibrill Djalo looped a shot from outside the box over a stranded Cardy which rebounded off the crossbar although a linesman had his flag up for an infringement. Afonso Ferreira then made it 2-1 shortly before the break after a cross form the right bypassed a crowd of players, including some stationery Manor defenders, and went into the net at the far post. HALF TIME 1-2.

Manor's Dean Thomas made it 3-1 immediately after the interval following a lapse in the Benfica defence as they were caught cold. There was then a skirmish on the stand touchline involving Benfica's Bruno Mondlane and goalscorer Thomas who were both tall physical players and the scuffle wasn't pleasant on the eye. The Referee calmed the situation and both players received a yellow card although Thomas could not have argued had he seen red. Half time substitute Andy Watson then proceeded to make it 4-1 to Manor after more indecisiveness in the Benfica rearguard and this, despite some twenty minutes remaining, seemed to put the nail into the hosts coffin with their heads dropping and rain beginning to fall from the north London sky. There was still time for Manor's custodian Cardy to see red following an un-necessary scuffle which resulted in an unsavoury pitch invasion by some young spectators behind the goal, fortunately order was quickly restored with Chris Ellis taking over between the sticks for the remaining minutes of play. FULL TIME 1-4.

Sport London e Befica: Ivan Viera, Chez Hayden, Afonson Ferreira, Emanuel Fletcher, James Bonsu, Martin Irungis, Ivo Barroso, Bruno Mondlane, Dani Da Conceicao, William Dos Santos, Djibrill Djalo. Subs: Fernando Seidi, Simon Bisgarda, Andre Morris, Domingos Ferreira, Amir Khan

Tokyngton Manor: Jon Cardy, Russell Chandler, Dao Helmuit, Ben Tomlinson, Dean Thomas, Michael Williams, Gino Sufi, Anthony Bayele, Chris Ellis, Dan Owen, Steve Doreis. Subs: Andy Watson, David Adetule, Simeon Hinds

Edited November 21, 2020 by Rhodes

[petethegreek]

On 21/11/2020 at 02:10, Rhodes said:

Sport London e Benfica used to play a lot on Monday evening's and I recall you had them towards the end of their SSML days in a Division One fixture at Brache Sparta, that must have been exciting for you with Brache Sparta finishing bottom that season and Sport London e Benfica second to bottom:

SSML Division One - 2009/10
 Pos  Name                            Pld    W    D    L   GF   GA  Pts
   1  Holmer Green                     40   28    9    3   95   31   93
   2  Hadley                           40   28    6    6   90   34   90
   3  London Colney                    40   28    5    7  107   40   89
   4  Hoddesdon Town                   40   23    9    8   98   46   78
   5  A F C Dunstable                  40   24    5   11  108   69   77
   6  New Bradwell St Peter            40   22    6   12   96   70   72
   7  King's Langley                   40   21    7   12   84   60   70
   8  Crawley Green Sports             40   21    5   14   80   59   68
   9  Bedford                          40   19    8   13   90   72   65
  10  Bedford Town reserves            40   19    4   17   84   65   61
  11  Cockfosters                      40   17    9   14   82   75   60
  12  Harpenden Town                   40   15    6   19   65   73   51
  13  Ampthill Town                    40   15    4   21   61   85   46 *
  14  Sun Postal Sports                40   12    9   19   70   84   45
  15  Stony Stratford Town             40   11   12   17   67   82   45
  16  Buckingham Athletic              40   12    5   23   58   78   41
  17  Amersham Town                    40   10    7   23   49  100   37
  18  Tokyngton Manor                  40   12    3   25   61   94   36 *
  19  Cranfield United                 40    7    8   25   29  103   29
  20  Sport London E Benfica           40    6    5   29   42  121   23
  21  Brache Sparta                    40    1    6   33   27  102    9
* - Ampthill Town & Tokyngton Manor each 3 points deducted

Not that exciting as I do not recall the game.

[Rhodes]

2 hours ago, petethegreek said:

Not that exciting as I do not recall the game

You must be the only match Official who doesn't keep meticulous records of the games they have been on over the years, surely that is one of the pleasures and then looking back on rainy days and also showing the grand children, I'm also sure many Officials keep a programme from every game with their name 'up in lights', don't you do that either.

[petethegreek]

29 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

You must be the only match Official who doesn't keep meticulous records of the games they have been on over the years, surely that is one of the pleasures and then looking back on rainy days and also showing the grand children, I'm also sure many Officials keep a programme from every game with their name 'up in lights', don't you do that either.

I used to do both but stopped a while ago.

[Rhodes]

23 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Spartan South Midlands League Division 1

Sport London e Benfica 1 Tokyngton Manor 4

Coincidentally The Cold End was also at the game:

The Cold End: RANDOM MIDWEEK MATCHES - THE REAL WHITE HART LANE

[Rhodes]

Savagebee - Not SSML, or Non League for that matter, but I was wondering if you have plans to visit Brentford's new ground, see below from another Forum, sadly it is never going to be Griffin Park and doesn't have a pub on every corner however from the description it doesn't sound quite as bad as the majority of the new purpose built stadiums since Scunthorpe United started the trend and left the Old Show Ground for Glanford Park in 1988 and who I noticed are planning to move again just 32 years later:

Scunthorpe United new stadium - News - Scunthorpe United (scunthorpe-united.co.uk)

Brentford 2 v 2 Blackburn Rovers FL Championship Adm Season Ticket Prog Subscription Att 2000 New Ground Record !
And so we were finally allowed in albeit in very limited numbers to see what the new ground was like. Somehow they have fitted the ground into the triangle of land behind Kew Bridge Station, so effectively the ground's boundaries are the triangle of Railway Lines. Only 2 sides were open today, the South Stand which is the main stand where Henfield Bee will be located when they let him in (Its also the side with boxes etc etc) and the North Stand, the North Stand is very close to one of the railway lines so there is not a lot of room here to queue to get in, Temp checks were being done. There was no catering today so cannot comment on quality or pricing of the catering. The North Stand is not where i will be based, that will be the West Stand behind the goal, my seat today was in row 8 close to halfway and with an unobstructed view which should apply all round, seats have more legroom than Griffin Park, but the taller people might find it a little uncomfortable. To be honest my opinion of the ground at the moment is that it is a bigger and much upgraded version of Griffin Park due to the constricted area in where it has been built and of course we are still close to the pitch, so when the ground has more people in and everything is open we should enjoy it properly.
As for the game, Blackburn took the lead when Rothwell was allowed to run past 3 defenders unchallenged before shooting into the corner. Brentford equalised shortly before half time from a Toney penalty after he had been brought down by Lenihan who got a straight Red card, though as he had been booked earlier for a rugby tackle on Canos, he would still have seen Red. Canos put Brentford in the lead with a fine goal in the second half, but Brentford failed to get the 3rd goal and Blackburn equalised late on, when Brentford failed to clear properly, though why we needed to make 5 substitutions is anyone's guess and didnt help us see out the game.
It will be interesting to see how quickly everyone can get away after the game when the ground is fully open, as at least 3 sides of the ground would appear to have to head in the same direction towards the adjacent Kew Bridge station and even with only 2000 people there it seemed a busy and a bit slow. so we will have to wait and see what happens. Unless i get allocated a ticket for either of our Cup Ties then my next match at the 'Brentford Community Stadium' wont be until Mid January if the crowd remains limited to 2000.

[Rhodes]

A nice Christmas greeting from the Middlesex FA:

Middlesex FA - Merry Christmas to all our followers

[Rhodes]

Sadly there was quite a bad fire at Rectory Park on New Years Day following the New Years Eve firework celebrations:

FIRE DAMAGE - Rectory Park Football Centre - On the morning of January 1st, at around 2.30am, a group were setting off fireworks by our pitches, they then began to direct these fireworks at our pitches. Inevitably this led to some major damage on our pitch as a fire was set and burnt for around 6 hours before the fire brigade could put it out. Regretfully this has rendered at least a quarter of a pitch unusable for the foreseeable future due to the damage. We will be working with our users to minimise the impact on them:

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Rhodes

[Savagebee]

On 15/10/2020 at 20:53, Rhodes said:

did  you ever get to a game at Uxbridge's previous ground in Cleveland Road that was also known as Honeycroft:

https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/forums/index.php?threads/help-with-uxbridge-fc.2846/

No ?

[Rhodes]

On 16/10/2020 at 14:02, Savagebee said:

No ?

 

Savagebee - Here's a teamsheet from an Athenian League Division Two fixture at the old Honeycroft on Tuesday 10 May 1977 shortly before Uxbridge left in 1978, it's against Tring Town so maybe TringArmy will recognise some names. I gather that Tring Town moved to the Isthmian League Division Two at the end of that 1976/77 campaign on promotion after finishing second and remained in the Isthmian League for many years until being 'absorbed' by Tring Athletic in 2003 and playing in the SSML: 

 

[Rhodes]

On 30/06/2020 at 14:49, Savagebee said:

100% yes went there for many years ? Loved that place.

Supported Hayes FC then Hayes & Yeading United FC but finished with the club when they buried Church Road to play home games at Woking FC ?

Savagebee - This was the last competitive fixture played at Church Road between Wealdstone and Hanworth Villa in the Middlesex FA Senior Charity Cup Final on Monday 2 May 2011, I see that the sandwich brigade are out in force:

MCFA 102nd Senior Charity Cup Final 10-11 | Flickr

[Savagebee]

9 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Savagebee - This was the last competitive fixture played at Church Road between Wealdstone and Hanworth Villa in the Middlesex FA Senior Charity Cup Final on Monday 2 May 2011, I see that the sandwich brigade are out in force:

MCFA 102nd Senior Charity Cup Final 10-11 | Flickr

I was at that game ?

[Rhodes]

2 hours ago, Savagebee said:

I was at that game ?

That's interesting, what was it like to be at the final game played at Church Road, did they make an occasion of it or was it a bit doom and gloom, the attendance was only 380. I see that Ben Furneaux was running the line: 

Wealdstone FC History » Hanworth Villa 0-2 Wealdstone (wfchistory.com)

[Savagebee]

2 hours ago, Rhodes said:

That's interesting, what was it like to be at the final game played at Church Road, did they make an occasion of it or was it a bit doom and gloom, the attendance was only 380. I see that Ben Furneaux was running the line: 

Wealdstone FC History » Hanworth Villa 0-2 Wealdstone (wfchistory.com)

It wasn't the best of games to be honest and knowing the ground was soon to be gone was in the back of most of the club's supporters minds. 

They did play a Hayes FC Legends V Yeading FC Legends game after that game as the great grounds final send off.

Edited January 20, 2021 by Savagebee

[Rhodes]

Savagebee - Were you at Church Road in 1999/00 for the FA Cup Second Round tie with Hull City on Saturday 20 November 1999, it was a thrilling 2-2 draw and Hayes narrowly lost the replay 3-2 at Boothferry Park after extra time almost winning it in the ninety minutes. It was hearbreaking as the draw for the Third Round had been made and the winners were at home to Chelsea ?: