1pm 2 July 2023
Bankfoot Cup, Group Stage at Hudson Avenue Rec Ground, Bradford
Bowling Eagles 4 Peacock Bar 0 (att 20)
Pre-season is perhaps the time to make mistakes, even when groundhopping. I headed to Bradford intending to watch a Bradford Summer Cup game at Clayton rugby league ground.
Had I checked the cup's Facebook page, instead of relying on the Full Time website, I'd have known the game was off. As it was I arrived to find no evidence of a football match.
But about half-a-mile away I'd passed a recreation ground where a game had either just ended or was soon to start (or both), so it crossed my mind that the Summer Cup fixture might have been relocated there.
It hadn't, obviously, but I was in time for a game in the Bankfoot Cup. I confess it's a competition I'd never heard of previously but, like the Summer Cup, is a pre-season tournament open to both Saturday and Sunday sides.
Bowling Eagles play on Saturday mornings in the Yorkshire Christian League, while Peacock Bar are in the Bradford Sunday Alliance. Internet research revealed one other game in the cup today, an 11am kick off that, it turned out, had been played on the same pitch, serving as a neutral venue.
I'm told this year's competition has a group format, with five teams all playing each other once ahead of semi finals for the top four. Today was the opening set of games.
Bowling Eagles looked the better side from the start, although it took until close to half time before they went ahead. A second goal came five minutes into the second period, and a third not long later. They finished with four, and could have had more, but Peacock Bar played their part in an enjoyable game.
There's a single pitch at Hudson Avenue Recreation Ground, with banking behind the near goal that leads up to the main road (fortunately for me or otherwise I'd never have spotted the game).
I'll end this (now edited) blog post with a word of thanks to Bowling Eagles who, via Twitter, helped me with some of the details of this year's Bankfoot Cup.
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