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.

The Man at the Canteen - Keilor Park

This week I made the long trek west again and into the unknown quantity of Keilor Park Soccer Club.

For those that like a bit of plane spotting while watching local Football, Keilor Park should be on top of your list of favourite destinations. Situated directly below the flight path for planes landing on the main runway at Tulla, it is quite spectacular and unique to see the jumbos flying so close to the ground, particularly for someone from the other side of town who is used to the distant buzzing of twin props going to and from Tooradin Airport.

The club itself has a fantastic setup, based at the back of a reserve which includes a council depot, AFL/Cricket, Baseball, Basketball & Athletics facilities the soccer club boasts five full size pitches (six if you count the middle of the Athletics track) and two of those grounds are synthetic.

The clubrooms are a sight as well, it's great to see a club with so much history having it proudly on display for all visitors to see. It was quite impressive.

Onto the Canteen which is situated inside the clubrooms. Having a quick glance at 'Today's Menu' it had all the usual fare, but I was after the big ticket item which was the burger with the lot.

It took a few minutes to make, but that isn't a complaint when it is made to order and of course the wait was worth it, the burger was very similar to your typical corner fish 'n chip shop type of burger, with Bacon and Egg being included as "The Lot" alongside the mandatory Lettuce, Tomato, Onion and Cheese.

After I ordered I noticed a second menu stuck to the wall on the side of the Canteen which also offered Steak Rolls and Chevapi Rolls, but thankfully I didn't regret my decision.

The Man at the Canteen - Mooroolbark

As I was already in Mooroolbark on the day, it was a no-brainer for me to head to the top of the table clash in State League 4 East between Mooroolbark and Riversdale at Esther Park. Aside from the match itself the other drawcard was trying out their Scotch Sausage.

The benchmark for me in regards to Scotch Sausage is the Dragons from Seaford United, now retired unfortunately, so I need to find a new favourite and the offering from Mooroolbark looked the goods.

Fortunately I had the foresight to take the above photo, as I inhaled the lot in record time which is an indication of how much I enjoyed it.

The roll was fresh, the sausage was a bit crispy and everything else was pretty much spot on. My only complaint was that it left me wanting more! Fortunately the good people at Mooroolbark provided and a big thanks goes out to them for the second lunch provided at half time.

I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the menu but I believe Mooroolbark also do toasties as well, hopefully if I can get back there I'll put them to the test as well, but only after I have had another Scotch Sausage.

Casey Soccer Hub

Under the heading 'Political Play' Soccer took to the front cover of my local paper the Cranbourne Star Community News.

For those unaware, Casey Council have had plans to add a soccer hub to it's impressive Casey Fields sporting complex, but this is the first time I have seen solid plans being made and news of funding being discussed.

As usual, soccer will be one of the last sports to take up residence at Casey Fields with facilities already in place for Cricket/AFL, Athletics, Rugby, Tennis & Cycling but, it could very well be worth the wait as the most recent plans put forward look rather impressive.

3 Synthetic 'Community" Pitches, 1 Grass 'Community' Pitch as well as a Grass Feature Pitch/Stadium estimated to accommodate 4,000 spectators with a 500 seater grandstand. As well as a Regional Sports house which sounds exciting.

"The Regional Sports House is designed to accommodate state and local sporting associations, industry bodies, sports related education, sports science, service delivery providers and multicultural youth officers.

The Sports House would have a 50 seat lecture theatre, four internal offices, a 20 seat open work plan area, three meeting and board rooms, overflow social rooms for programs, functions and events and kitchen and amenities."
Now judging by the article the Feature Pitch (and I assume Regional Sports House) will be shared between all rectangular sports (Soccer, League, Union & Gridiorn), which begs the question about how use of the facility will work for local clubs.

News on the grapevine suggests that the closest club to the new facility Casey Comets have already ruled out a move to Casey Fields when it was first put on the drawing board some years ago in favour of developing their current facility in O'Tooles Road, perhaps time may have changed that stance?

With the new NPLV also on the horizon, I wonder if it means a new club may be born to make use of the facilities with current local clubs taking a back seat if none have made an application to be part of the new competition.

Hopefully this facility will get the funding required as it has already been knocked back by the Regional Development Australia Fund, but with an election on the horizon anything is possible.

Read the full article here with images of the planned development...

http://cranbournenews.starcommunity.com.au/news/2013-07-04/political-play/

Consistently Inconsistent

I was at an Under 13 match today (Peninsula Strikers -v- Seaford United), the young ref who was assigned to the match had a local assessor with him taking notes about his performance.

In light of this it was an interesting observation by all on the sidelines to see the match kick off with the Peninsula goalkeeper wearing a plain yellow shirt which clashed with the all yellow shirt of the Seaford outfield players.

A few things were muttered on the sidelines, but the general consensus by all was that it was an Under 13's match and it was no massive deal.

Halfway through the first half the Peninsula coach informed the ref that they had two players with a number 14 shirt on the field, but he would rectify that at half-time, again, no problem from all on the sidelines.

However, at half time, it did come as a surprise by all of the Seaford parents and the coach when the referee walked over and asked all the Seaford players who had yellow electrical tape over their black socks to remove it as it was a 'clash'. Yet, Peninsula lined up again with their keeper in yellow and one of their players who had a shirt with the number 14 crudely amended to a 44 with the addition of white tape when the rest of the number was in yellow.

The ref was queried about the goalkeeper shirt, but it was simply ignored.

Now I hope the right thing was done by the assessor and the ref was briefed afterwards about the inconsistency as this sort of error with basic rules is what gives refs a bad rap, but I get the feeling that this instruction was issued by the assessor in the first place, I sincerely hope I am wrong.

As a footnote, I will just mention that there was no altercation or kerfuffle that arose from this situation, the question was asked, ignored, then the match when on like normal.

Rectangles in Ovals

A recent observation is the ever increasing number of ovals now having soccer pitches marked in the middle of them.

The most recent venue I have come across is at Mahoneys Road Reserve in Forest Hill on my recent trip to photograph Nunawading City. The ground opposite the sky blues facility used to host Nunawading Football Club, but since the club has moved onto greener pastures the ground and clubrooms are now being shared by Nunawading City and Crossway who play in the Vic Churches League.

It is fantastic to see our brand of football getting hold of some of these venues some of which have some pretty good facilities. I would assume most of these venues would have been occupied by AFL clubs at one stage or another, some might simply be used by cricket clubs with no previous use during winter, but it does make me wonder if this trend of rectangles being put into ovals is a sign of the growth of Soccer at a suburban level at AFL's expense, or if it is yet another example of how councils are ignoring the world game when it comes to funding for new venues with priority continuing to going to AFL clubs?

As a rough guide here are the examples from the few venues I have visited this year. 

Crossway Churches - Mahoneys Road Reserve No.2 (Ex Nunawading FC - MOVED)

Noble Park United - Parkfield Reserve (Ex Noble Park Bears - DEFUNCT)

Maribyrnong Greens - Skinner Reserve (Ex Sunshine VFA - DEFUNCT)
Dandenong Wolves - WJ Turner Reserve (Ex Silverton Junior FC - DEFUNCT)
White Star Dandenong - Fotheringham Reserve (Can't find any history of AFL clubs using this venue)

Skinner Reserve in Braybrook, now home to Maribyrnong Greens.

Harrisfield Hurricanes in State 5 South have also recently been allocated Alex Nelson Reserve in Springvale, previously one of two grounds used by Noble Park Junior Football Club.

Of course the downside to using such big ovals is trying to best make use of the area to mark out a rectangular pitch. Some clubs try to squeeze two pitches into the area given, but unfortunately most venues are only suitable for one pitch, which in the middle of a big oval doesn't endear itself to spectators.

Also, as it is an oval you are guaranteed it will have a cricket pitch of some description in the middle of it, which will be a bug bear for most visiting teams who's home venues are cricket pitch-less.

If I get time and motivation I will try and research some more ovals now being occupied by soccer clubs and post it here.

The Man in the Canteen - Nunawading City

The Man headed to Nunawading City first up this week, a club who has been in turmoil off the pitch recently with their senior coach and club departing ways and several senior players walking as a result. 

It has been a long time since I had been to Mahoneys Road Reserve, if I recall correctly the last time I was there was for an Under 13 'Regionals' match (I scored the winner as well for memory), but that is going back a fair while now, so I was surprised to see that not much has changed.

The pitch is still a pretty decent surface as I remember it, and the rest of the reserve looks much the same as well, with only an extra room being a small addition to the existing pavilion on the hill. It does however look like Nunawading have taken over the clubrooms at the ex-AFL ground on the other side of the carpark with a few people from both clubs opting to sit on the balcony there and watch the match. Another positive sign for our brand of football with a Churches match taking place at the same time on the oval.

Now before I talk about the food, I would like to acknowledge the hard working volunteers at clubs like Nunawading, people who give up their time to work on match days to help out their club. I have worked in a kitchen and cooked food for a club in the past and have copped my fair share of criticism for it, but I hope if the volunteers at Nunawading are indeed reading this, that you see my comments as constructive criticism and don't take them to heart.

A Souvlaki can be a difficult thing for a club to pull off, and I am perfectly willing to accept diced lamb in a roll as a Souv, but today I felt that Nunawading had it all wrong and here is why....

• For starters the roll was a standard soft supermarket hotdog roll, which after sitting in a bain-marie (although I was assured it was freshly made) had a consistency similar to that of a Red Rooster microwaved 'Rooster Roll'.
• The Lamb was fine although personally I think the regular diced lamb would go better than the stuff with the 'Gyros' seasoning coated all over it.
• Mixed lettuce in a souvlaki is a no-no. Stick to the basics, iceberg lettuce is fine.
• No (or very little) Garlic Sauce, perhaps it is because it was the gyros seasoned lamb, but Garlic Sauce on a Souvlaki is a must!
• More is more, a good souvlaki has lots of everything particularly if you are selling them for $7 each!

Now unfortunately for me I had decided to go to Box Hill for the second half as they kicked off at the later time of 3:15pm. They also had Souvlaki on the menu and I wished I had held off for the extra hour as Box Hill had the full spit in operation and it looked and smelt spot on the money!

The Girl in the Stands who was with me opted for the Chicken Schnitzel Roll, which came with lettuce, tomato and cheese. She had no complaints, but it did look like the same quality materials were used and it again cost $7.

FOOD

Souvalaki - $7

Chicken Schnitzel Roll - $7

Hot Dogs

Potato Cakes

etc.

BEER

None at the canteen from what I saw, probably served at the clubrooms across the carpark.