The Man at the Canteen - Ringwood City/Cairnlea

A huge weekend for me, on Friday night I was in the area and decided to go and watch Ringwood City against Eltham. A win for Ringwood would of meant they would of  been crowned champions heading into this weekend after Melbourne Uni could only manage a draw at Whitehorse on Saturday.

Having not had dinner, I was looking forward to getting to Ringwood and having something to eat. It was my first visit to the new Jubilee Park and it was a trip I had been wanting to do all year.

On the canteen menu were lots of the usual, but burgers were the big ticket item, I went for the Chicken Burger (and it was a burger, not a schnitzel) because of what was on it compared to the regular burger. Lettuce, Avocado, Grilled Red Capsicum and a Garlic and Avocado dressing! Something very different!

The whole lot was a bit on the small side (about the size of a Big Mac), but it was very nice and a good change from the usual.

Saturday I had decided early on in the week to go to Cairnlea as I had also been asked to photograph two Roller Derby bouts in Braybrook ten minutes down the road.

There was a standing offer of a free kebab the next time I went to a Cairnlea match which was gratefully accepted at half time (as well as an extra generous second kebab for the lady in the stands travelling with me for the Roller Derby).

I think the Cairnlea people would be pretty confident with their product, and I have absolutely no problem in saying that it was the best Kebab I have had in suburban football. It was the real deal, all the ingredients were spot on. Better than the kebab van on Ballarat Road I stopped at last time I was in the area! It's just a pity their club isn't open the same hours.

The Man at the Canteen - Darebin United

Fridays at my place of work is the day all the employees get together and order a take away of some description, I was hankering for a Souvlaki, but I was unfortunately out voted and had to settle for Pizza (again).

I made it my mission on Saturday to find a club who could do a good Souvlaki, I was tossing up between a few games to travel to although there was no real stand out for the smaller round of catchup games.

Moreland City's encounter against Sydenham Park was on my shortlist so I started searching around for another fixture nearby. Low and behold Darebin United were at home to Northern Falcons just a kilometre away. Their logo (which features the Greek God Apollo) had Souvlaki written all over it so I was sold.

As the grounds were so close together, I decided to park at Moreland and walk to Darebin. After my quick stroll across the Merri Creek Valley separating the grounds I arrived at the far side of Mayer Park nose high in the air hoping for a whiff of the familiar odour of meat and garlic. Nothing straight away and with little action at the club house on the far side I was a little concerned.

I kept on moving towards to pavilion, still getting nothing on the radar. I had a look at the locals, there were a few supporters from both sides and nobody was eating so I started to formulate a Plan B in my head, until like a shining beacon I saw it, a few of the old boys tucked away in the corner were shielding it from the wind, but I know a spit when I see it.

Excited I went straight to the window and ordered one of their finest, found a quiet unoccupied bench behind the goal and went to work on it. It looked fantastic, a proper souv in a wrap, not a roll, it was a little light on the filling considering it was $8 on the price list, for that price I want it to be jam packed! The Garlic Sauce could of been knocked up a notch or two, but I am a man who loves his garlic, so it might of been perfect for others who don't like reeking of the stuff.

Still it was delicious, it was a pity the match wasn't up to the same standard, but let's face it, this time I wasn't attracted by the football so it was still a win.

Two Days, Two Championships (Part 2)

On Sunday I followed one Championship win with another. Bayswater Strikers won their 6th Bayside FA Championship in 7 years when they hosted third placed Langwarrin at Guy Turner Reserve in a catchup match.

Bayswater had a difficult run home having to play the only two teams that could catch them, Langwarrin again the following week at Langwarrin and then having to travel away on the last day of the season to second placed Endeavour Strikers, it was fair to say Bayswater were pretty focused on getting the three points required and not leaving the door open for either team to have a crack in the final weeks.

Like the match the previous day, the game was a bit of an anti-climax, but this time for a different reason. What must of been an understrength Langwarrin were dismantled by Bayswater. 4-0 up at Half Time and 7-0 up before Bayswater took their foot off the pedal and Langwarrin snuck 2 goals in, before an 8th for Bayswater capped things off.

At the other end of the table, things are not so done and dusted. Although Chelsea are relegated, Mt Lilydale currently occupying the second relegation spot on the ladder (due to a 6 point deduction for playing an unregistered player) will be travelling to Croydon Rangers on the last day of the season in what could be a winner takes all matchup.

Two Days, Two Championships (Part 1)

What a great weekend for football! It was the first weekend of Spring and I was lucky enough to witness one Championship being won and participate in another.

On Saturday I travelled back to Esther Park to (hopefully) witness Mooroolbark get the three points required for them to break their 24 year drought without a title. From the start you could tell that both the team and crowd were a bit nervous, the usually boisterous barkers supporters were quiet on the sidelines aware that they were playing a team seen as a bit of a bogey side and they were not going to take anything for granted until everything was done and dusted.

The quiet atmosphere seemed to affect the players as well, with no clear cut chances being created by Mooroolbark, you always had the feeling Old Melbournians were likely to snatch a goal whenever they went forward. They did have the best chance of the half, but the Mooroolbark keeper was able to react quickly thrusting a big palm in the way of an almost a point blank shot and forcing it over the crossbar.

45 Minutes down and with the score at 0-0 I was expecting the Barkers to come out fired up and looking to get an early goal to settle everyone down. Still it didn't come, Mooroolbark were getting forward but were struggling to find that creative edge in the final third, meanwhile the quiet crowd were still on edge every time Old Melbs went forward.

Now this part was told to me by a person from Mooroolbark after the match, so if my account has inaccuracies, please don't lynch me for it, and anyway, never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

It was told to me that around the 85th minute mark of the match, the Barker WAGS each decided to go one at a time into the ladies room in a vein attempt to invoke Murphys Law.

In theory it was a good plan, I am sure everyone of my four confirmed readers can testify to having missed a goal, a red card or some piece of vital action when answering the call of nature.

With the 94th minute ticking over and all the WAGS having had a turn, Stuart Milne stepped up to the plate. Ever the optimist, he gave a short but inspired speech and declared that he WOULD be the the one to miss history being made as he strutted off into the clubrooms. As they say, the rest is history.

Well done Mooroolbark on securing the Championship and Good Luck in whichever league the FFV places you in next year.

The Man at the Canteen - Boronia

Due to time constraints I was not able to sample any of the food on offer at either Westvale or Cairnlea this weekend, particularly disappointing for myself was reading the twitter updates after the matches and seeing that Cairnlea had 'old school' shish kebab on the menu! Oh well, another time perhaps.

On Sunday however I made my first ever trip to Boronia Soccer Club for the local derby between Boronia and Bayswater. I don't normally get to eat at these matches due to my own participation, but today after the match I was able to sample some of the local food.

As it was an important day for these two clubs Boronia had put on a family day which not only involved the visit of the Bayswater Womens, Reserves and Seniors, but also coincided with the visit of Montrose Soccer Club for a Bayside Div 2, Legends and Junior Fixture.

Boronia started off the day winning the Womens Fixture 3-1 and followed that up with the Reserves also getting up, this time 2-1. Bayswater did notch a win in the main match with their Seniors beating Boronia comfortably 4-1.

However, not all the action was on the pitch, off the park under Boronias expansive verandah the webber was on cooking up a few magnificent roasts for after the matches had concluded!

Served up for the players and fans was a magnificent Lamb & Pork Roast with a coleslaw and baked potatoes. After putting a bit of everything on my plate, I grabbed a few slices of bread and once I inhaled the potato I crammed the rest into a sandwich, threw my plate like a frisbee into the nearest bin and positioned myself on some grass so people couldn't see the mess spilling out from the overloaded bread and landing at my feet. Of course it was absolutely superb.

Now to wash down that absolute feast of food, Boronia again supplied. Their bar is stocked with the best line up of beers I have seen in the Bayside League. As well as the usual local beers, they also had good stock of Grolsch, Stella Artois, Sail & Anchor, Coldstream Cider & Kilkenny. If my memory was better I could name more.

For those that know me, I will always try a beer I have never had before and two bottles from Hopper Whitman immediately caught my eye, The Amber Ale and The Nut Brown Ale both and both went down very well.

All up it was a great day at Boronia, a very hospitable club.

On The Road Again

As we are getting down to the pointy end of the season, I will be picking out the do or die, promotion clinching and great escape matches to go to, this week by stroke of luck I managed to get two in.

In what could possibly be my last trip west for this season, I had singled out the return match of a game I attended earlier in the year, that of Cairnlea and North Sunshine Eagles. On paper it clearly stood out from all the rest. Traditional and local rivals, Cairnlea were on top of the ladder before this match and coming off a defeat last week to Yarraville and looking to make amends for their 4-2 loss at North Sunshine in Round 8. North Sunshine on perhaps 'Mission Impossible', 5 points behind Cairnlea before the match, but with 2 games in hand and an appeal to be heard with the FFV which may still see them lose points or be expelled from the league.

I was a bit stretched for time, with my daughters last game of netball for the year due to finish at 2:00pm, I had tentatively penciled in 2nd placed Westvales match against Geelong only a few kilometres away if I could get in the area within an hour, unlikely I thought.

By some sort of miracle, we happened to get away from Netball a bit earlier than usual, made great time down Alexandra Pde and I managed to walk in the gate at McKenchie Reserve just as the match was kicking off.

Westvale were playing their match on the back park for reasons unknown to me. The main park didn't look unplayable, but it wasn't in the best shape either.

As soon as I was setup and ready to go Westvale took the lead, with their big number 11 cooly slotting home 1 on 1 with the keeper. There was not many clear cut chances in the half with most of the entertainment coming from the animated Westvale keeper. As half time neared, I quietly packed up and moved onto Cairnlea.

On arrival at the relatively new Cairnlea Park, I was greeted by the largest crowd I had seen at non VPL match all year. Both sets of supporters lined the fence on the clubhouse side of the ground with good numbers on the opposite side and behind the goals as well. I learnt that North Sunshine were leading 1-0 at the break so anticipating Cairnlea to come out firing I positioned myself in their attacking half.

It was an absorbing match, North Sunshine were pressuring the ball well and didn't give Cairnlea the time or space to get forward, frustrating them. Most of the action was happening on the other side of the ground so I made the decision to switch sides, which also meant taking shots into the sun.

As I was sneaking behind the goals North Sunshine won a corner, I cheekily asked one of the Sunshine supporters behind the fence which one of their players was going to score from the set play, he replied "The big number 9", I focused on him at the back post and waited for the kick. A Cairnlea defender cut out the kick, but as I was looking to see where the ball had gone it fell to the big number 9 who buried the shot and reeled away in celebration.

The supporters behind me, delighted that they had guessed correctly asked "did you get the shot?" I replied a bit disappointed that I had not, but even if I had I think there would of been too many bodies in the way.

Cairnlea huffed and puffed and tried to get a goal back, but the closest they came was an indirect free kick for a backpass, which North Sunshine scrambled away and another free kick from their captain from a fair way out which was floated into the box and looked to have caught the keeper out as it came back off the cross bar and was cleared away.

It finished 2-0, North Sunshine were worthy winners from what I saw and hopefully they can get another win on Monday night at the Tribunal to keep their improbable dream alive.

On another note, it was great to be recognised by a few in the crowd at Cairnlea, it is nice to hear there is people looking at the photos and appreciating them.

Images from both matches can be found on this website and on my Facebook Page.

First Impressions - Chaplin Reserve

I have never been to Sunshine George Cross's Chaplin Reserve before and I was fortunate to get my chance when the planned fixture I was going to photograph between Avondale Heights and Sydenham Park was moved to the venue presumably due to Avondale's Ground being unplayable.

Sunshine George Cross are probably one of the more recognisable names in Victorian football and have a rich history which includes a stint in the old National League and being able to walk onto a ground with such history was a bit of a buzz.

In hindsight I am glad I left my earlier match before half time, as at the moment, Chaplin Reserve has been surrounded by works due to the construction of the Regional Link Rail Link which has taken up some of the land which I assume was once part of the reserve and in turn made parking an absolute nightmare.

On arrival I was greeted with double parking on both sides of the packed entrance and only a small gap to travel down to the car park at the far end, I travelled down the narrow track, behind the pavilion as far as I could, but a person parked in the middle of the road had blocked the entrance to the small strip of vacant land behind the far goal, so I had to reverse the all the way back out to the road, as there was no room to turn around. I eventually found a spot in a nearby street about 500 meters away from the ground.

The ground itself and the buildings is very old and now thanks to the surrounding work very tightly packed in with the only standing room on the clubroom side of the ground and a small space behind the goal at the Anderson Road end.

The playing area is surrounded by high fences (chin high on me) which I imagine wouldn't be very appealing to the spectators and too high for me to be able to quickly jump over with my camera bag, so I had to find another way to access the pitch.

I walked past a recently built media box (which I assume was put in place as a Premier League requirement and now looks to be used as a VIP box) and towards the main pavilion where I could see a gate and a few marshals. The clubrooms were smaller than I expected them to be for a ground which did host regular NSL games in the 80's, but the change facilities were an even bigger surprise.

*EDIT - After doing some further research, the new media box is because of a fire which destroyed the previous media box in December 2011.

Portable change rooms hosted the home team and referees, while the away team had to settle for part of a converted shed! I was really shocked and these facilities don't look like short term temporary solutions, both had been standing there for a fair while as evident by the plants growing up the wall of the portables. I can only imagine what travelling NSL teams thought of playing there back in the day.

It is very hard for me to imagine the place hosting a few thousand people for a home game against clubs like Adelaide City or Sydney United, or even a local derby against Melbourne Croatia or Footscray JUST (for all I know, the ground could of been completely different back then as well, please feel free to correct me it that is the case).

But as the game went on, you got the sense of how intimidating such a place would of been back then and there was a certain character about the place which grew on me. It is something you simply don't get to experience as a spectator at the newer venues and the open reserves.

I hope George Cross will somehow benefit from the works being done to the rail line or at the very least will get some of the land back which is being used to aid the construction so they can better accommodate supporters as it really is a neat little suburban ground.