Luke Bowen
“Port Talbot Town 3-0 Caersws – Welsh Cup 4th Round – 5th February 2011 by Mark Pitman. Attentions turned to the Welsh Cup for Welsh Premier League side and last season’s finalists Port Talbot Town as Cymru Alliance opponents Caersws arrived at The GenQuip Stadium. Manager Mark Jones has built a young and talented squad at Port Talbot and their latest test would be against a Caersws side guided by experienced manager Mickey Evans and featuring a number of players with a wealth of Welsh Premier League experience.” The Ball Is Round

“The last time I was over for the match, smoke bombs were let off during the game, as has become increasingly popular during the brief history of our club. Whereas in the past the effect of flares and smokebombs had looked ace (view based on anecdotal evidence from messageboard comments and friends, as well as my own views), and had even received positive acclaim from some unlikely sources (ESPN’s commentary of the Brighton FA Cup replay described our support as colourful whilst showing footage of the flares. Shoot Magazine featured a photo of the flares at the Rochdale game and commented on the tremendous atmosphere directly underneath that photo), the effect on the 22nd January was however slightly underwhelming.” FCUM A.D.

“As you dear readers will know, a few weeks ago we popped down to the Keith Tuckey Stadium to take in a game at one of the most newsworthy sides in the Non Leagues, namely, Croydon Athletic. Unless you have been living in Ignorance, Texas then you will have seen the recent take over of the club by a Danish organisation called Fodboldselskabet A/S. My superb Danish skills can tell you that the literal translation is Soccer Company. And that is essentially what they are. A limited company formed to invest and run a football club. Many questioned their potential involvement in English football, so we went round the corner from TBIR’s Copenhagen office to speak to Morten Madsen, Communications Manager for the club and ask him Vad är poängen?” The Ball Is Round

“Gav Stone is the editor of Les Rosbifs – a fantastic site dedicated to English footballers playing overseas. You can follow him on Twitter @LesRosbifs .. Here is Gav’s favourite goal (it’s No.1 at the end of the video below)…” Ghost Goal

“It’s time, then, to wind down with our weekly selections of non-league highlights from the last seven days. Our first match this evening comes from Twerton Park, and it’s the Blue Square Premier match between Bath City and Wimbledon. Wimbledon are still chasing a place in the Football League and needed three points from their trip to the west country from this match. Bath, however, may still harbour hopes of a place in the play-offs at the end of the season and provided a stiff test for the team that has spent much of the last few months at the top of the table.” twohundredpercent

“It is not often you walk away from a football match counting how much money you have left in your wallet and thinking that you must have had a hidden £20 in there. Admission, programme, beer, plate (yes PLATE) of chips and still change from a tenner (almost) is a bargain in anyone’s book irrespective of the twenty two players running around a muddy pitch.” The Ball Is Round

“It’s time for a bit of a non-league round-up (as is our wont at this time of the week), with highlights of three matches from the last couple of weekend’s worth of matches. First up, we’re taking the opportunity to catch up with one of the matches from the weekend of the 15th of January, with the FA Trophy Second Round match between Blyth Spartans. To people of a certain edge, hearing these two names together will send a shiver down the spine. Blyth Spartans, of course, made the Fifth Round of the FA Cup in 1978 and the Quarter-Finals of the FA Trophy in 1980 and 1983 (beating Altrincham on the way).” twohundredpercent

FCK v Brondby
“For those of you who know both Danny Last and I you can confirm that we are not one and the same person. There has been talk on certain online forums that we are actually multiple personalities of a northern chap called John, who goes to watch Vauxhall Motors with a Tesco carrier bag and a flask of Campbell’s Vegetable broth. But we are not. We are often seen in the same place at the same time, standing on “The Jungle” at the Dripping Pan, or propping up the bar in the Rook Inn. But we do share some of the same philosophies in life and both have a passion to write about it.” The Ball Is Round

“Over Christmas we finally managed to get a game in after the weather decimated the fixture programme. The one game we managed to get to was the local derby between Carshalton Athletic and Sutton United. This wasn’t just a game of local pride, nor was it the chance for the home team to get one over on the league leaders, but it was also the first return to Colston Avenue for a previous legend for the Robins – striker Richard Jolly.” The Ball Is Round

“Let’s Kick Racism out of Football – January 2011. December was a really good month for us. We had a 100% win record for the month, and the fact that we only played once is not going to take that away from us. Going up to Carlisle for our longest journey of the season and winning meant that it was a great day out.” The Ball Is Round

“Andorra versus England was always going to be one of those games that was destined to be a disaster. From the moment the two teams were drawn in teh same qualifying group, 99.9% of the population of the tiny principality (or is it a country?) sandwiched in the mountains between Spain and France, wanted nothing to do with the game, and couldn’t wait to see the game moved elsewhere. That other 0.1%, the Andorran FA only saw cash. Cash that the traveling English fans would bring to the country. Sod the fact their national stadium was in worse shape than Welling United’s (no disrespect Welling) but with a capacity of less than 2,000 it was never going to be played there.” The Ball Is Round

“After a couple of weeks off, we’re bringing back our weekly round-up of non-league videos. Yesterday saw the Third Round of the FA Trophy, and our first two matches come from that competition, kicking off with AFC Wimbledon’s match against Woking. Wimbledon dropped two points against Luton Town during the week and were looking to regain a little momentum. Woking may be a division below Wimbledon, but they have won the FA Trophy three times and took Brighton & Hove Albion to a penalty-shoot-out in the First Round of the FA Cup. The second match, meanwhile, is the match between Ashford Town (Middlesex) of the Zamaretto League Division One Central and Dartford of the Blue Square South, a match which saw one of the biggest crowds in recent years at Ashford’s Short Lane.” twohundredpercent

“Few people would know that there are actually two teams in Leyton, London E10. Or there was until Friday 14th January 2010. That day could be long etched on the history books for non league football as the day a nail was put in the coffin of Leyton FC.” The Ball Is Round

“Prestatyn Town 1-1 Port Talbot Town – Welsh Premier League – 15th January 2011. Often associated with the seaside, Prestatyn Town welcomed the worst elements of the beach to Bastion Road for this Principality Welsh Premier League match against Port Talbot Town. A strong wind and sand covered playing surface did little to inspire any football purist in attendance and their concerns were proved correct as both sides struggled against the conditions in this scrappy yet surprisingly entertaining match.” The Ball Is Round

“The January transfer window has been a bit of a damp squib to date, with the exception of Manchester City’s big money purchase of prolific Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko, but rumours of possible signings abound. Perhaps surprisingly, one club that has featured prominently in the feverish press speculation is Birmingham City, who have been linked with a series of attacking players in an attempt to resolve their goal scoring problems, including Kenny Miller and Robbie Keane, and have signed David Bentley on loan.” The Swiss Ramble

“Sometimes the slow death of a movement means that it is difficult to define when something is definitely gone, and some kind of crystallising moment is necessary, writes guest author Jamie Cutteridge. For example, the freshness of New Labour seemed to disappear somewhere around the beginning of this century, but the death of the movement was confirmed when Ed Miliband of the old left was elected leader last year.” twofootedtackle

“The brand new Unofficial Football World Champions book, released this month, is now in stock at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. It’s starting to pick up some really great reviews. And if you’ve already bought the book, today you can access some exclusive bonus content.” UFWC

“You would own a collection of bruised fingers if you clapped every quality article that appeared on the pages of the delightfully named football blog In Bed With Maradona. Not many days go by with some form of mutual backslapping and high fiving between European Football Weekends (EFW) and In bed with Maradona (IBWM). This is a mutual appreciation society (MAS) that borders on the lunacy (BOTL).” European Football Weekends

“The word Thamesmead normally drives fear into the heart of South East Londoners. The town was seen as innovative when it was constructed in the late Sixties on the old Royal Arsenal site by the GLC. Flooding had been an issue in the area so the initial developments were built so that the flats were on the first floor and linked by a series of walkways and bridges. Sounds idyllic right? Well not quite. Mismanagement of the whole project that initially was planned for 100,000 was rife from the start. Promised transport links never materialised (even today with 50,000 residents there is not train station), instead replaces by a dual carriageway that dissects the development, a sewage works and of course Belmarsh high security prison.” The Ball Is Round

“The year of the blog? Very possibly, especially with the current batch of outstanding sites out there which have grown, improved, developed and cross-pollinated in recent time. Aided by social media, an increasingly specialised selection is out there, waiting for you to wade through and bolster your knowledge of the game, and I thoroughly recommend losing yourself in as many of the following as possible.” Guardian

“Soccerlens interviewed the nominees for the 2010 Soccerlens Awards – you can read all the interviews (and vote for your favourite sites and writers) by following the links below…” Soccer Lens Awards

“Start talking about legislation and most people will more than likely switch off. I realise it’s not the sexiest of subjects, or even a particularly interesting word. But it’s one that football fans should take a good deal more interest in, or at least the bits that refer to them specifically. You see, football supporters in the UK are amongst the most heavily legislated-against groups in our society.” In Bed With Maradona

“This week’s non-league matches of the week come from a variety different competitions. As the weather started to return to something approaching normal, the a near-full schedule of matches was played, including matches in both the FA Trophy and postponed matches from the FA Vase. Our first match is the FA Trophy match between Wimbledon and Braintree Town.” twohundredpercent

“You might remember this map – showing the walking routes of the Apollo 11 astronauts superimposed onto a standard-sized football pitch. On MTMG previously… The original map is actually taken from one of NASA’s own excellent sites – here – but still everyone treated it as something of a joke.” More Than Mind Games

“While football may have been initially organised and codified on English soil, the tactical and theoretical development of the game has historically been cultivated in other pockets of Europe, most notably the inter-war bourgeois societies of the Danubian region. From Vienna, to Budapest, to Prague and beyond, football was met with a deeply philosophical and sophisticated approach to the game which resulted in a distinctive style of play emerging from Central Europe. The social driving force behind this development was, of course, the coffee house.” The Equaliser

Odysseus on the island of the Phaiakians, Peter Paul Reubens
“From what I can tell, it’s awards season in the football blogging fraternity. The Soccerlens awards, the WSC Web Awards and the NOPAs, to name just three. I’m not going to lie to you – GhostGoal didn’t get a single nomination from any of them. Did they not hear about my piece in November’s When Saturday Comes that one reader in the letters page described as ‘not letting the facts get in the way of a good story’? Actually maybe they did and that’s the problem..” Ghost Goal

Web watch: 2010 Web awards
WSC

“The last two weeks have been ones of significant travel delays for The Ball is Round team. Not only did we travel to the arctic wastelands of Northern Denmark to bring you all the action from Randers v FC Copenhagen, but we then had to endure Easyjet at its worst with a 5 hour delay long into the middle of the night, and finally closer to home we have had to suffer the ineptness of SouthEastern railways. But all of this time spent waiting gave us a chance to catch up on some long overdue reading and some new games on our iPhone.” The Ball Is Round

“If the kids are united, they will never be divided. Not the kids or the fans this time, a retrospective look at unity from professional players. Here’s Andrew Thomas.” In Bed With Maradona

“We try and avoid the mainstream games as much as we can here at TBIR. You can pick up any newspaper and read a million different views on Carlos Tevez’s strop with Mancini, or that Arsene simply “didn’t see it”, but it is a bit harder to find the real details about the games that count. And that is why we have moved heaven and earth to sign up Mark Pitman to TBIR who will be bringing us the inside view on Port Talbot Town in the Welsh Premier League.” The Ball Is Round

“With December looming, an array of reading matter will be flooding the shelves of your local bookshop. But what to pick? We had hoped to attract Richard & Judy to IBWM but they didn’t answer the phone. Iain Macintosh did though, so we gave him a book. Look what happened.” (In Bed With Maradona)

“Today’s football had been planned for week and was due to coincide with a nice family lunch as a starting point. CMF wanted to spend some of my money on Christmas presents and I had no intention of venturing into any of the 21st century cathedrals we have built in the South East of England. So I agreed to drop her off at Lakeside and pick her up afterwards, leaving me with a 3 1/2 hour window. I hate to say that I was turning my back on Lewes, who were playing at Ship Lane against Lakeside but there is only so many cars you can count on the M25 there. Instead I had two options. Billericay Town and Concord Rangers. So I went to the God of all decisions. Twitter. I asked which one I should go to, and within minutes I had my answer.” (The Ball Is Round)

“Zenit St Petersburg have emerged as one of Europe’s most recognisable clubs, but it has taking a while to get here. Domm Norris charts the rise of a Russian powerhouse.” (In Bed With Maradona)

Earlsmead
“For what I am about to write may the Lord forgive me. Every so often I make bold statements. ‘I will not use my Blackberry after 7pm at night’, ‘I wont use my laptop in bed’, ‘I will have a weekend without watching any football’. What, can you repeat that last one again? I WILL NOT WATCH ANY FOOTBALL FOR A WEEKEND. Yes, in a mad moment some months ago I agreed that I would not go to any games for one weekend in a year.” (The Ball Is Round)

“In March 1947 in the small Kent village of Langton Green a game was invented that literally changed the past times of millions of children around the world. A chap there called Peter Adolph created a set of plastic footballers that he wanted to market in a game called ‘Hobby’. Unfortunately he could not get a trademark on such a generic name so he settled for the slightly similar Falco Subbuteo which was a bird of prey also known as the Eurasian Hobby (see what he did there…).” (The Ball Is Round)

“European Football Weekends is an absolute treasure trove of away days around Europe, from the San Siro to the Dripping Pan. The man behind it all, Danny Last, speaks to Dave Hartrick…” (In Bed With Maradona)