6.30pm 25 May 2019
Berwick Charities Cup, Group A
Berwick Seniors 1 Crusaders 5 (att 85)
Thanks to Kinnoull and Forfar Albion bringing their kick off forward an hour to 1.30pm I had time for a leisurely drive south and back over the border into England to visit one of the country's more unusual football grounds.
The Stanks is a pitch hemmed in next to Berwick-upon-Tweed's historic town walls, and only becomes a football ground in spring and early summer to stage matches in the the annual Berwick Charities Cup.
Competing teams are a mixed bag of established clubs and sides put together just to take part in the tournament, which is held on a round robin group basis before the knockout stages are reached. All games are played at The Stanks.
Both these sides had lost the opening fixture, and Berwick Seniors had conceded nine in the process. They looked set for a similar reverse when Crusaders went ahead well inside the first minute. A second goal followed soon after but that was it for the first half.
Berwick Seniors lived up to their name both by wearing Berwick Rangers kit and appearing to be a veterans' side. They got a goal back in the second half, but a collapse near the end saw a young Crusaders side (wearing Eyemouth United kit) score three in as many minutes.
Having seen games on nearly 4,800 football grounds I don't think I've even been anywhere quite like The Stanks. The Elizabethan town walls loom over one side and one end, with good views and some seats if you climb to the top, while a narrow road, leading to the golf club and the North Sea, encloses the rest.
It was good to see a sizeable crowd out to watch the game, and donations from spectators will have helped the charities the cup is set up to support.
Berwick Charities Cup, Group A
Berwick Seniors 1 Crusaders 5 (att 85)
Thanks to Kinnoull and Forfar Albion bringing their kick off forward an hour to 1.30pm I had time for a leisurely drive south and back over the border into England to visit one of the country's more unusual football grounds.
The Stanks is a pitch hemmed in next to Berwick-upon-Tweed's historic town walls, and only becomes a football ground in spring and early summer to stage matches in the the annual Berwick Charities Cup.
Competing teams are a mixed bag of established clubs and sides put together just to take part in the tournament, which is held on a round robin group basis before the knockout stages are reached. All games are played at The Stanks.
Both these sides had lost the opening fixture, and Berwick Seniors had conceded nine in the process. They looked set for a similar reverse when Crusaders went ahead well inside the first minute. A second goal followed soon after but that was it for the first half.
Berwick Seniors lived up to their name both by wearing Berwick Rangers kit and appearing to be a veterans' side. They got a goal back in the second half, but a collapse near the end saw a young Crusaders side (wearing Eyemouth United kit) score three in as many minutes.
Having seen games on nearly 4,800 football grounds I don't think I've even been anywhere quite like The Stanks. The Elizabethan town walls loom over one side and one end, with good views and some seats if you climb to the top, while a narrow road, leading to the golf club and the North Sea, encloses the rest.
It was good to see a sizeable crowd out to watch the game, and donations from spectators will have helped the charities the cup is set up to support.
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