It's coming home, It's coming home... It's
coming; .... footballs coming home....its coming home ,
its coming home la di da la di da its
coming....<br>Too much Vodka redbull maybe, but seriously there is
a newsltter being sent out in the next few days
which gives details of pre season etc.<br>Should I
reproduce the newsletter on the web ??<br>As long as you
all have e-mail it will cost the club nothing, does
anyone want it reproduced here ?<br>Nylesy

Raj & all, It has not been arranged yet, I'm not
get a lot of interest from the site so spread the
word to the other lads. Raj don't worry you'll get a
game, there is still a long time to the new season, you
don't want to peak to soon, do you?<br><br>Ian

whats happening with the pre season friendly Fletch? get back to me please, many
thanks!!

I think it normally starts after AGM which is end of July. We can do training at
Ludgrove as there is more space.

After discussing the subject of training last
night with several other members, does anyone know
where, when or if training has been planned for the pre-
season. If not, I know Kieran is willing to arrange and
needs to know what night would be best, Wednesday is
proposed, and where? outside our clubhouse if allowed! I
know several of us are keen to lose the 1 or 2! extra
pounds we have put on, so when & where is it going to
be. Hope you are all enjoying the summer & see you
all soon.

Always available but not sure I want to play a team that is Div 1 try a lower
side and I may be interested!<br>Getting to old to chase my shadow around!

After all the kind words you said to me prior to
the Dinner how can you now decide to give it all up.
Can you not here the call of the trophies! in the
fifths. There is always a place for semi retired old
buggers there!

Thanks yr message but i am not playing for the club this season and will not be
available for <br>friendlies. gd luck

The Cricket Club are hosting the Annual Summer
barbeque on Saturday 15th July at the clubhouse.<br>There
will be a Disco, Raffle & late bar all for £ 3
entrance fee. (juniors free).<br>Allcomers welcome - 8pm -
12pm......<br>The only drawback may be my cooking !

If any one is interested in playing a pre-season
friendly against a McMullen Div 1 team, please contact me
via e-mail or through this site. Tell your friends
and colleagues who do not visit or use the site about
the game.<br> <br>Happy training.<br><br>Ian

Colin e-mail with your e-mail address you can do this by going to members
tools-options-contact founders. Cheers.

Give me a contact number and I will ring you we play every tuesday and some of
our people can not make it every week.

If you had given us a bit more warning I would have been there, nevermind ring
me next time.

Is anybody interested in playing football tonight at 8pm @ Southgate School Gym
Sussex way. If so could you ring me on 020 8922 9322 asap

All members are welcome to come to the Club to
watch the Footie on 17th June and 20th June, when Mike
has offered to open the bar to all comers.<br>If
England get through, then he will do the same on 24th
June (though one game is at 5.00 p.m.<br><br>The bar
is open every Sunday lunchtime if you would just
like a drink.

The clubhouse welcomes you and will be open for drinks, get together and
hopefully a good victory night.<br>Come one, come all for the 'craich'.

The final league tables are wrong, the league
reported our last game as a 2-1 win to Albanian.<br>I have
e-mailed the results chap after seeing the same tables at
the League dinner.<br>On the same subject our cup is
in the cabinet at the club and the pennant is above
the bar.

For some reason Old Woods think the 5's lost 2
games - I thought it was only 1.<br>It is worth getting
it checked so that the league handbook for next year
shows it correctly.<br>And as Dave ??? of Old Woods is
a high ranking SOL league officer (chairman/????)I
would have thought it had been checked to the official
league final tables.

I was looking at the final tables on Old Wood
page and it appears we only just won the league. I
thought we had won it by 3 clear point as we only needed
a draw against Hale End but it appears we needed
both points on the final game to win it. Lucky we did
not know or I might not have let in two goals!

S O S A Annual General Meeting May
2000<br><br>Brief points.<br><br>From the football club: Phil
Brewer, Cliff Lovett, Bob Martin & myself i.e. those who
are NOT members of the cricket club. (Gudge was not
there)<br><br>Obviously football club members like Jimmy Grocott, Bob
Morley who are officers of the association where
there.<br><br>1  Jimmy as secretary had noted Gudge’s dinner
speech of “……may be looking for a new pitches AND
pavilion……………”<br>2 Jimmy apologised for the wording of the last
minutes re a reduction of levy for the cricket club…….it
was not supposed to be read as it was. He confirmed
that any levy now or in the future will be PRORATA to
all member clubs not just one.<br>3 It was carried
that there would NOT be any change to the levy up or
down to the “this year”<br>4 The liquidity of the
ASSOCIATION could very easily be spent away and apart from
the needs of the kitchen which all member clubs use
and need, no other major new expenditure was
forecasted for the coming year. The lease on the pavilion
comes up for renewal in 4 years.<br>5 Phil had to do a
smoothing job re Gudge’s dinner speech i.e. it was news to
him and quite a lot of other football club members.
<br>6 Cliff, forever the diplomat, let the Association
know in no uncertain terms that the football club was
looking to improve it’s facilities – on and off the
field.<br>7 The minutes of the AGM and committee meetings are
‘posted’ on the notice board for all to read.<br>8
Financial year Feb 99 to Jan 2000. The bar on a turnover of
30k made 8k surplus. After expenses of the pavilion
and facilities, there was a surplus of 2k. The
accumulated reserves stand at 8k.<br><br><br>It was a pity
that there were not more members from the cricket
football etc. as it could be seen that it takes about 6-8
committed volunteers to keep the pavilion going.<br><br>For
information:<br>Mike Pratt (behind the bar) is a gem of information –
speak to him re THE WALKER GROUND – he has his ear to
the ground of what is happening to sport
locally<br><br>Local informants required:<br>It was Bob Martin who
found Nortel in the first place and Gary Tyler who
arranged it.<br>It was Tommy & Brian Wheeler who informed
the club about Ludgrove.<br>It was Tommy & Brian
Wheeler who informed the club about Trent Park pitches
(Pre Southgate Hockey)<br>It is Peter Fahey who has
started the attachment of Chaseside Youth.<br><br>I might
be ‘out of the loop’ but talking to all, 4th’s 5th’s
Vice Presidents, as well as 1st’s 2nd’s 3rd’s would
not go amiss as well as listening then no sudden
suprises would occur.<br><br>I am not surprised the 1st
team were p***ed off, having just missed out on
promotion, lost in semis of the AFA, lost to ordinary
opposition that day, and then to be told … YOU’re OUT…. but
by the same token, do not surprised that the lesser
mortals are ‘not ragingly interested in Nortel’ because
in the time we have had it, say 5 years, they may
have only played on it 3 or 4 times.<br><br>I have
looked back on my notes re Ludgrove from 1993 -
£3000p.a. for 30 years – that is long term money, long term
player commitment and long term volunteering. I hope
someone has been to see it recently. – Speak to Micky
Lewis he has played there recently.<br><br>As for
trying to join the SAL – that is a 5 year plan – no
matter how good our pitches are / were, no matter how
good the 6 / 7 teams performed in the SOL, we would
STILL get rejected because of the disciplinary record –
Old Parmits were refused on these grounds and they
were top dogs in the SOL.<br><br>Old Woods may have
collected 4 SOL trophies, but their pitches are not of the
highest standard. <br><br>According to L B of Enfield’s
sports web site, in the football clubs list we are on it
but whose telephone number 01707 651453 is it, as the
old lady there did not know.<br><br>As I am away next
week during the EGM, good luck…AND NO FINGER
JABBING<br><br>Well what started of as brief note has turned into a
diatribe…………..<br><br>Malcolm

Well done, I am sorry I could not be there.<br>I
was speaking to somebody I know who has worked for
Nortel (STC before them) for a long time. He plays rugby
and confirmed that the football pitch was going and
Rugby pitch moved over. However he said last time they
did something like this they reinstated the football
pitch. The work is expected to take two years. A point I
think we should consider as any idea of getting
Ludgrove up to 1st eleven standard will take at least that
time.<br>I will see you at the EGM on 1st, Do you know what
happened at SCOSA AGM?

This years league dinner was held at the splendid
venue of the Honorable Artillery Co. (coincidentaly
also Senior 1 winners ).<br>It was extremely sad from
my point of view that only three County members saw
me pick up the Junior 3 trophy in front of some
viciferous barracking from Old Woodhouseians who were out in
force to collect four gongs. Albanians picked up six &
those of us present could only reflect on the
possibility that we could have been there for so much
more....<br>UCL Accademicals were rightly applauded for winning
the SAL Cup & we were mentioned for getting to the
semi-finals..<br> I am currently proactively following up leads to
try & find our first team a pitch for next
year.<br>From my point of view if you think I am simply a
Cricket player who plays football then think again. May I
remind you I was one of the only members of the club who
travelled to Wilsonians for the Semi-final.

Thanks Dazz I forgot how good looking I used to be! I must be getting past it
now!

Check out the new photo from days gone by.

I seem to remember that Gudge tried to get Trent
Park for training but our favoured nights/times were
fully booked. But it would certainly be worth another
try as it is a good facility and would enable us to
have a drink in our clubhouse (rather than a pub)
afterwards.<br><br>I hope at the dinner and then AGM we might be able
to talk about training for nest season. Has the move
to Enfield been a success? I was fairly neutral at
the outset: not much difference in terms of travlling
or facilities and if a Tuesday night was going to
attract more people then I'd be in favour. But numbers
don't seem to have improved - quite the opposite in
fact. And we lose out on the drink afterwards - not a
great pub and people got into the habit of coming and
going ready changed. Anyway, lets talk about
it...<br><br>As for Ludgrove - it would suit us perfectly in
principle if the pitches and facilities could be got up to
scratch. Money would be a problem but we could apply for
some lottery lolly. I remember in pre-lottery days
applying to the Sports Council for Ludgrove funding but
got FA response. But worth another try?<br><br>See
you all Friday. I'll be in the Cock for early beers I
reckeon.<br><br>Chris

I can think of another option but I am not sure
anyone will think it a good idea. I think other clubs
locally in the Old Boys League may be struggling. Perhaps
we should consider a merger or take over of a small
less well organised club which has facilities. Perhaps
with someone like Old Minch who are based at Bramley
Road our joint resources may mean we could get pitches
at Bramley road and do the up to a high standard.
The club house at one site, the other could be let to
other people getting revenue. This could also mean that
Cricket side could merge and one of the grounds could be
used as a Cricket Ground ie no Football and the other
could have footbal but also be used as a second Cricket
ground in the Summer. I am not sure many people will
find this attractive but it is how most things expand
"by mergers or acquistions"

This could be one option. When they started the
redevelopement we had been invited to be part of it. But seems
once they got the thing up and running they closely
linked with the Uni or College or Poly which next to it.
It would have been ideal, believe they have 2 fball
pitches and 2 astro which would have suited us for
training. i m sure that they have very good block deal with
the Uni.<br>the pitches are not very good (or at
least last time i saw them abt 1 year ago)<br><br>im
sure its worth investigating again.. <br> <br>the
above is best of my knowledge, Gudge probably know more
than anyone

What happened to trent park. The 2 astro hockey pitches may have replaced the
one football pitch  but it looks as though there is room for 2 soccer pitches

Stuart<br><br>I wholeheartedly agree with
everything that you have written and would like to offer my
support in any way possible. Whilst like you I wouldn't
want to move away from the Clubhouse (we might not be
able to stay drinking until 4am in someone else's
Club!!) I think it is right that we explore all available
avenues. <br><br>I too have enjoyed this season more than
most. Partly because, on the whole, I feel we have done
ourselves justice. I know we didn't get promoted or win
anything but with literally a few exceptions we have not
let ourselves done this season. With the exception of
Ealing away- the games we have lost in the league we
deserved to. Wandsworth away being the most disappointing
as it probably gave them the impetus to go on their
good streak and clinch promotion. Also, I know you
dont agree with this, but I think we would have
struggled in Div1 next year, and I don't think it would
have done the club any favours to have had a homeless
1st XI that was losing every week. This way, we will
all enjoy the rest and look forward to next season
when we have a real chance to win something.<br><br>On
a personal note I think that yet again you have
proved that you have few peers with regard to your
passion and commitment to the club. You have always
received the respect of your team as a player and a
captain, but the difference this year being the long
overdue respect for your commitment to the club and the
game of football itself. I know that sounds a bit w*nk
but I think its an important point. You care and it
clearly upsets you when you think people don't, and this
season must go on record as having the fewest Donkin
spivs ever!! (just the 437..) proving that everyone now
seems to be taking it a bit more serious. I think that
the correlation between our good season and this
point is unmistakeable and a marked impovement, long
may it continue.<br><br>So, here's to a fine season
just ended and loads of beers on Friday night...

Still unconfirmed reports that Nortel will only
have a rugby pitch for the next 2 years. the rest of
the space will be used for temporary car parks. Bad
news - yes ? or maybe its the kick up the a... that
the club needs. I mean its about time we got our own
pitch(es). Not relied on Nortel, Firs farm or Enfield PF. we
need to look to the future, this might mean looking
again at the possibility of Ludgrove. A lot of Money
and hard work would be needed. I would like to thk we
could do it. drainage was one of the
biggest<br>problems - if we could over come this i believe we can get
two good pitches down their with room for training in
the middle / even a youth pitch for chase side youth.
we would benefit from getting the oppo back into our
club house wehere we would gain financially, save on
the cost of hiring pitches. Not been a local i dont
know the area that well where else can we go to ??? we
need to start making enquires NOW, whilst others are
thinking of a break in the season<br><br>Southgate Hockey
club got of their a.... and look what they now have -
new facitilies I'm sure it took a lot of hard work
but i bet its worth it.<br>i wonder if they would let
us move in with them ?<br><br>It might seem like
drastic action but can we find a new home where we would
have our own facilities on site - min 2 pitches / gd
changing/training facilities. If the club is to go forward not just
survive we need action of some sort. <br><br>We need good
facilities to attract good young players... also this might
give us the option to look at entering a new league -
i mean the SAL seems to be well ahead on the SOL.
They have policies on the facilities that allow you to
enter their league - i dont believe we will be accepted
in our current state.<br><br>These comments are
aimed at positive construction, building a better
future for the club. I would imagine they might offend a
few older members of the club but that is not the
intention.<br> <br>maybe we need to have a club meeting to
discuss our future ? I would like to thk that the club
dinner will allow some early discussions.