Wednesday 6 December 2023

Bournemouth FC - Victoria Park


Bournemouth FC
Victoria Park
Namu Road
Bournemouth
Dorset 
BH9 2RA








Ground Number: 1250
Tuesday 5th December 2023
Bournemouth 2-3 Sherborne Town
Wessex Premier








BOURNEMOUTH FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was founded as Bournemouth Rovers in 1975.  In 1878 the club participated in one of the first floodlit matches when they played under experimental electric lights at Dean Park for "a grand exhibition of the new electric light". In 1888 the club moved permanently to Dean Park and changed their name to Bournemouth Dean Park. The club changed its name again to Bournemouth F.C. in 1889 when the club amalgamated with local side Bournemouth Arabs and moved grounds a season later to Victoria Park. In 1896 the club became founder members of the Hampshire League. The club won the West Division in 1905 and 1910, this time playing at their new and current home in Namu Road with them retaining the Victoria Park name. It was given to the club in 1908 by Mr. Jack Joy, a local landowner and former member of the club. A year later a grandstand was erected and formally opened by the Mayor. The Poppies had more success in the early years becoming County Division Champions on either side of the Great War in 1914 and 1922. However, in 1929 the club was relegated to the newly formed Division Two but were promoted back to Division One as champions in 1932.  In 1974 the stand that had been erected in 1909 was destroyed by fire and a modern replacement was built. They continued around the Hampshire League with varying degrees of success for many years. In 1986, they became founder members of the Wessex League. Whilst the league remained a single tier, their best finish was 2nd in 1995 as they lost out to Fleet Town. In 2004, a new division was introduced with Bournemouth dropping into Division 1 after a poor finish. They would only remain in the second tier for a couple of seasons, winning promotion back with a 7th place finish in 2006. 3rd place in 2019 was a rare highlight for the club as they have tended to finish in the lower half of the table in recent years.

Bournemouth have reached the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup on three occasions. The latest came in 2011 when they beat Hamworthy United, Totton & Eling and Newport IOW before taking Conference South side Truro City to a replay, losing 3-2 down in Cornwall. That season also saw their best FA Vase run as they beat AFC Portchester, Hartley Wintney, Torpoint Atletic, Barnstaple Town, Royston Town and Billingham Synthinia before going out to West Auckland Town in the Quarter Final. Local cup wins include the Wessex League Cup in 2011, the Hampshire League Shield in 2014, three Hampshire Intermediate Cups and two Bournemouth Senior Cups. Their record win of 14-1 came against Tadley Calleva in 2010.


MY VISIT

I decided on my game for this day on Sunday. Eastbourne United had been on my list for a long time with it being my one remaining ground in the Southern Combination Premier. I'd had it pencilled in several times for FA Vase games but was thwarted by bad weather. Though it was not bad value on the train, there wasn't a huge amount in Eastbourne that piqued my interest as I'd already been to the Wetherspoons when I went to Eastbourne Town on the Windsor FC team coach for an FA Vase tie. Therefore, the sensible option would be to do it in the car. I initially had it planned for Boxing Day and the derby against Eastbourne Town. However, with the weather unpredictable, I thought it would be better to do it sooner rather than later. This Tuesday I had options at, Blidworth, Whitchurch Alport, Dearne & District & Pelsall Villa in the North. However, the temperatures were borderline for the pitch freezing. Therefore, I had options in the South at Eastbourne United, Bournemouth & New Milton, choosing the former.


Fellow hopper Colin would be joining me and he'd suffered quite a lot of inconvenience this weekend. Firstly his matches at AFC Fylde & Oldham Athletic were called off, the latter when he was already at the ground 90 minutes before kickoff. Thankfully, he found a game at Avro which was on. Then on Sunday, he was let down for a lift home after another hopper Daniel pulled out at the last minute. This was due to the crap weather but the game still went ahead. I had the same quandary when going to York on Friday. It didn't look very likely at one point but went ahead. I took the view that the feeling of missing out when I had bought a ticket and hotel would be worse than the feeling of having a wasted journey if the game was called off. I was rewarded but not before a frustrating journey. He got home eventually in the end but generally, I think of Sunday as a wasteland of a day with little to do. I wasn't too fussed about working but it was extremely due to lots of families having their weekly day out at the supermarket. At least the people were pleasant enough, which has become better recently.


It was a drizzly and dull day on the day of the game as you would expect for the time of year. I had a decent night's sleep once, waking up after 8. After having breakfast and getting ready, I walked to town and back, picking up a few things but mainly for exercise. I had around two and a half hours at home, leaving at 3.50 as I needed to stop at Tesco in Amersham for petrol. I could have got it a couple of pence cheaper a litre in Eastbourne but it wouldn't have left much room for error in terms of what was left in the tank. That turned out to be more hassle than I'd hoped, taking longer than expected. The first person at the pump looked as if he was keying his life story into the pin pad rather than his PIN. Then a lady took ages at the pump, came over to me and asked me to push her car as she'd broken down. It turned out to be futile but at least she was out the way. I picked up Colin at 4.20 and we got on our way. For once he was keeping an eye on things and we discovered that the Eastbourne United game had been postponed a minute after leaving his place. I'd rather have saved Bournemouth for a Saturday as it would have been a nice day out. But with New Milton's game cancelled in favour of a County Cup tie, I was glad when we discovered that their game was going ahead. It was a reasonable journey, with us listening to Greatest Hits Radio and the Wycombe Wanderers show on the way.
It was a good job I had filled up with petrol beforehand given the extra miles and we got there at 6.50. It was a bit annoying to have to pay out of the car window upon arrival but at least they took card. As ever it was a friendly welcome. Parking was quite limited and so was the food, only hot dogs. I'd much rather have given money to the club but fancied something more substantial. Google Maps found us a Takeaway called Chinatown and for me, it was a decent Singapore Chow Mein for £7.20. Colin had forgotten to bring cash again, so I lent him some and he transferred the money. It was all too rushed for me and it was frustrating not to have planned for this eventuality. The weather had looked reasonable and Eastbourne Town went ahead but what's done was done. I also like to research a club's history and form before leaving so I get some context of where they are as a club. We were back at the ground five minutes before kickoff, too rushed for me but at least we saw them kick off.
Bournemouth were in 14th whilst Sherborne Town were in 9th. The hosts were in mixed form, having won two and lost three of their last five. Heavy defeats had come at home to AFC Portchester (0-5) and at Moneyfields (0-8). They'd also lost 4-3 at Christchurch but had beaten Hythe & Dibden 2-1 and Laverstock and Ford 3-0. It was a fairly dull start to the game but Bournemouth were on top. They took the lead on 43 minutes, Kyle Graham following up after the keeper had parried up. It was a decent through ball that set up the goal but the second half started with Sherborne well on top. Bournemouth were defending well and Sherborne had a shot cleared off the line. Bournemouth played on the break and they too were denied by a last-ditch clearance. On the hour, it was 2-0, a good low finish from Jake Adams. They looked to have a commanding lead but on 71 minutes Oliver Hebbard pulled a scruffy goal back for Sherborne. I nipped to the toilet after this and managed to miss the equaliser, scored a minute later by Henry Lawrence-Napier. A remarkable turnaround was completed on 78 minutes when Patrick Jenkins headed home from an excellent right-sided corner. Bournemouth gave it a good go at the end for an equaliser but just didn't have the clinical touch in front of goal. They can count themselves unlucky and certainly didn't look like a side that had suffered heavy defeats recently.
The official attendance was given as 82. We had met fellow enthusiast CherryHopper at the game and he was good to talk to. He had done a headcount of 93 people at the game, nearly a third of the 323 that had turned up to see Wycombe beat Fulham U21 3-2 in the Football League Trophy on the same night. A deserved attendance for such a discredited cup. Groundhopping-wise, Bournemouth had been a solid choice with my other six choices all off due to the weather. It was a late finish, with us getting away at 9.50. Thankfully the journey home was decent with me dropping Colin off at 11.40 and getting home 15 minutes later. It took me ages to drop off and I got less than four hours of sleep before my alarm went off at 5. It was a busy day at work too, with me doing three hours of overtime. Getting home was a nightmare too, with roads blocked for some unknown reason and another set of abandoned set of cones and traffic lights. It took me nearly an hour to get home rather than fifteen minutes. I was back at 4 and then had to spend a couple of hours doing this blog.
THE GROUND

I first visited Victoria Park on Saturday 24th January 2009, before Wycombe's game at AFC Bournemouth. This is where the few daytime pictures come from. It had changed little upon my 'proper' visit. It was a mixture of good and not-so-good. The lovely stand was the highlight along with its grass-fronted bar building which was certainly unique. It was also a nice friendly club. The food was quite limited, as was the parking. There was a big patch of grass churned up, presumably by cars and with the damp, it was pretty much impossible to walk on. I didn't check out the bar but hats and scarves were available for £10 each with a pin badge costing £3. Around ten minutes walk away are some shops - these include a Chinese, a kebab and burger place and a Co-Op.
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