Pub Football

I must admit that if Darlo are playing live on the telly, I much prefer to watch it from the comfort of my front room - that way, it's less of a journey home if we lose.

However both John Wilson and I got an email from Jamie, landlord of Hoopers Bar in Camberwell, a week or two ago asking if we'd like to watch the Carling Cup game against Leeds United round his gaff?

We've had a few trips to Hoopers over the past few years - it's not exactly local to us but is close if we're visiting Champion Hill Stadium, the home of Dulwich Hamlet FC - and so Jamie knows that we're both Darlo fans.

John was keen - so was I - so we take up Jamie's kind offer and decamp to SE5 for the evening, along with our respective significant others. He's got some decent beer on - an elderflower-flavoured ale from Dark Star which is extremely more-ish.

Before the game starts we bump into Andy, the former landlord of the Gardeners Arms in Lewes. Some DAFTS may remember our memorable visit to this pub a few years ago - so enjoyable it became the first "non-league" winner of the DAFTS Pub Of The Year.

(left) Andy, formerly of the Gardeners Arms, Lewes

Andy is a veritable football enthusiast - he supports Swindon as well as Berwick Rangers (and Lewes FC until recently) and goes to almost all of their games plus various others which last season amounted to to over 160 competitive football games.

Tonight he's off to the first home game of Fisher FC - back from the dead after going into liquidation during the summer - who are playing the mighty Beckenham Town at the Champion Hill Stadium. A visit to Hoopers is therefore an obvious pre-match move.

The pre-match preamble from Sky sees old boy Robbie Blake as one of the studio pundits and he's looking a tad nervous - no doubt he's still showing the scars of being descended on by Neil Johnson during a pre-season tour on the Isle of Man several years ago and wondering if it will happen again. Don't worry son, he's safely ensconced in Norway these days.

The game kicks off and after a nervy start we begin to move the ball around with a little bit of confidence - not much penetration but Lee Thorpe is competing well in the air and Dowson is working hard.

In defence Miller and Foster deal quite well with the threat from Showunmi and Knight generally copes fairly well with all that was sent in his direction. Going in nil-nil at half-time was heartening and was without doubt an improvement over the first 45 mins at Aldershot.

In the second half, Leeds came out and went at Darlo with a purpose and this soon told - a narrow escape as a shot hit the woodwork and then the goal - Knight and Foster hesitated allowing Showunmi to nip between them and prod the ball into the net. Very soft.

Windass came on, followed by young Curtis Main, and it spurred Darlo into action - Dowson slotted the ball neatly past Higgs and into the net but was offside - Windass then wasted a good chance from a free-kick. At the death Bower should have done better with a header from a corner but it wasn't to be.

Overall it was an encouraging performance following on from the opening day of the season - most areas showed some signs of improvement but there is still a lot of sloppiness to be cut out.

Aldershot Already?

And here we are again - first game of the season - something which looked highly unlikely several weeks ago but thankfully we've still got a club to support. Whether we'll actually have much to shout about remains to be seen but for the moment, we're just pleased to be here.

As ever, I met John at Waterloo for the ever predictable visit to Maries for the first pre-match breakfast of the season.


The No 7 and chips was as good as ever - just look at that plate of greasy goodness.

(left) Look away if your arteries are squeamish

Trevor popped along to join us there but clearly had already had his breakfast - he simply makes do with a cup of coffee as he watches us defile our bodies.

On the train to Aldershot, we bump into Quentin - an Aldershot fan we've made the acquaintance of during the past couple of seasons and a regular of the White Lion. He's trying to play down their chances today but he simply can't compete with our tales of woe.

Unlike last season's visits to Aldershot (for Darlo and Rotherham games), it isn't raining and we have a pleasant walk to the White Lion, which is the brewery tap for the Triple fff brewery.

Good to see that their full range of their beers are available today and even better the fact that my favourite, Moondance, is on special offer at £2 a pint. Result!

It isn't long before Millie, the pub terrier, has her little eyes on our group as prospective playmates.

She offers her tennis ball to us so it can be thrown and retrieved though she occasionally forgets to bring it back and then just looks at us forlornly. That's dogs for you.

(right) Millie wondering how many pints went into that?

Eventually Millie decides she's going to sit with me much to the bemusement of John and Trev though she occasionally jumps off to greet pub regulars as they come in.

We notice that one such regular bears a marked similarity to Paul Weller in his dodgy two-tone barnet phase - and so we're not totally surprised to later see him drive away in a van which suggests he's part of the Wellalive tribute act.

More DAFTS join us - John Bell and his mate Rod, Paul Brown and Iain Swalwell along with his son Robert on one of his rare visits to a Darlo game.

Quentin pops in too and during our conversation we discover that we're both keen Hawkwind fans (well I knew I was and he knew he was...) and that we're both off to see them for their 40th anniversary gig later in the month. How nice it is to find someone else with such taste. Cue a long chat on various space-rock nonsense not fit for you mere mortals.

Eventually it's time to leave for the big kick-off. We trudge up the slope to the away end through the trees and find one Darlo fan has collapsed before they've even got in - luckily St John Ambulance are in attendance.

There's a bit of a queue at the turnstile - only one of which is open - and by the time we get in they're halfway through the minute's applause for Bobby Robson.

By the time we've got ourselves settled on the paddock and checked out the many new faces in our squad, we're already a goal down. Damn and blast!

(left) Gavin on the bottle already

The first half doesn't improve and soon turns into a repeat of last season's visit when Aldershot put us under the cosh for long periods - the defence looks frail and new keeper Knight looks very unsure of himself (and not very tall from where we're stood).

In fact it's Knight's mistake in failing to gather the ball that leads to the Shots doubling their lead - the Darlo fans shake their heads, shuffle their feet and start to fear that a rout is in the offing.

Up front for Darlo, Thorpe wins quite a lot of headers but none of them go in the direction of Dean Windass who looks a bit lost. In midfield, it's Mark Convery who makes most of the forward running but we don't create any clear chances until almost half-time when one of the Smiths fires in smartly only for the ref to rule it out for a foul of a defender - looked very soft to us and we feel we're not getting the rub of the green from this ref.

If the disallowed goal suggested that we were getting back into the game, our hopes were dashed when Aldershot took a 3-0 lead just minutes after the restart. A breakaway on our right flank- where their player looked blatantly offside - lead to the ball rolling across our six-yard box before it was neatly slotted home past Knight.

A number of subs - Convery and Thorpe off, Dowson and Chandler on - come on in the hope that we can create some chances. We do look a bit busier - we soon get a free kick on the edge of their box - Windass takes it and forces a very good save out of their keeper.

We're still under the occasional bout of pressure and Knight makes one very good save to show us that he does have some talent, certainly as a shot-stopper.

(right) Trev can't watch

In addition Steve Foster was visibly tiring and getting left behind by the their nippy forwards. The only cure for this is more games under the belt.

Darlo then breakaway as a clearance from Miller reaches Windass who neatly flicks through the ball through for Dowson to smash home past their keeper - something positive for the 214 Darlo contingent to cheer even if it is a case of too little, too late.

It's clear that the team have a long way to go before they're playing as a unit and it is a waste of breath to be negative after this performance - things are going to be tough and I'm sure there'll be some more poor performances - however we're just going to have to hold our tongues and try and be positive (although I may not be able to stop myself having a go at the alice-band wearing Smith).

After leaving Trevor at Waterloo, John and I retire to the Wheatsheaf at London Bridge for some post-match chilling - a pint of something-or-other from Phoenix and then an excellent pint of Patrick's Porter from Brysons of Lancaster (even if John though it tasted like the bottom of an ash-tray!).

GBBF 2009....

...is now over for another year.

As it traditional at this time of year, I've spent three afternoons at the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court - apparently the biggest pub in the world if you believe the adverts.

The first session was Tuesday afternoon - the trade session, fewer members of the public but more of the brewing trade and the beer press/bloggerage fraternity - and I had fully intended to just spend a couple of hours wandering round, trying the odd beer and taking it easy.

However it transpired I spent most of the afternoon leaning against the foreign beer bar, chatting to other enthusiasts and barstaff as well as trying a variety of great beers, my favourites including :

- Heintje from the De Prael brewery - a steady wheat beer from the Amsterdam brewery and a great first beer of the day - a shame they didn't bring their Johnny as well though

- Foederbier from Bockor (Belgium) - a lambic beer not normally available in this form as it is used as a base for Bockor's other brews such as the Jacobins fruit beers - very tart but quite soft

- Bloed, Zweet & Tranen (Blood, Sweat & Tears) from the De Molen brewery in Holland - a smokey, stout-like beer - at 8% it's a good sipping beer

(left) Takeaway beers

- Woodwork Series beers from Revelation Cat (Italy) - this is a combination of New Zealand hops, Munich malts, and champagne yeast - there are four versions based on the barrel used (French Bordeaux, US, acacia or local wood).

These and a few more decent brews meant I left an hour or two later than planned - I woke up at Barking tube station, a few stops further on from home than I would have liked and had to double back. Still, that's a good day in my book.

On Wednesday I meet up with Richard, my old chum from Northallerton, plus occasional DAFTS compatriot and fellow football/beer enthusiast, Geoff Luke and his mates.

During the day I bought a wonderful book which was being launched at the GBBF - Played At The Pub is produced by the Played In Britain team who aim to document the sporting heritage of this country and who have produced some wonderful books on football stadia, lidos and specific books on sporting venues in places such as Manchester and Birmingham.

From a brief skim though it, it looks to be a cracking read and includes a few pages on Darlington Quoits club. The author, Arthur Taylor, was there to sign it too.

Also in attendance was Simon Inglis, perhaps best know to football fans for his seminal book, The Football Grounds of Britain, but who is the series editor for Played In Britain. Simon and his partner Jackie once visited Feethams, one of his favourite grounds, where Simon gave a talk and it was good to catch up with them both.

Later in the day we were joined by Liz - spoilt for choice at the massive cider stall - and then a horde of London Millers descended upon us, keen for beer.

(left) Richard and Liz

As we were sat near the North East bar I spent most of my time drinking beers from there - most of them I've tried in the Quaker House before but all worth drinking again. No chance of a dodgy beer here!

Quite predictably, London Miller Paul Martin rushed off to what he called the CAMRA Crap shop - one of those stalls selling glasses, beer towels and the like - so that he could add to his never-ending collection of pewter tankards (assuming he can sneak it past the memsahib).

(right) Paul Martin can't resist the lure of pewter

The Thursday afternoon session was a slightly more sedate affair - I met up as usual with Trevor, my mate from the Macc festival, and the usual posse of folks who all meet up on this day.

Also in attendance was Robert, Liz's younger bro and one of the western London Millers, who comes along as part of the Gloucester CAMRA mob.

Later on, I bumped into a couple of folk from Darlington CAMRA, Nick and Brendan, by Bar Nouveau. Brendan was able to give me the good news that the Quaker House is no longer for sale and is in safe hands. Excellent!

A pleasant afternoon's drinking and chatting but I must be getting old as by 4:30pm I was looking forward to getting home and having the remnants of Tuesday night's curry.

Still, it was an enjoyable three days and I'm sure I'll be back next year (not difficult when I work in Hammersmith though). After all, it is the perfect way to prepare for the opening day of the season.

Played At the Pub cover image used with permission

Aby Days Are Here Again

Following our trip down to Gillingham last month (and subsequent wander along to Rochester for some beer), Liz and I are finally in receipt of the latest additions to our household.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the brother and sister Abyssinian act, Devin and Perry...

Aren't they scrummy?

Devin - on the left and named after the Strapping Young Lad guitarist Devin Townsend - is the able-bodied member of the duo - and being the only male cat in the household, he's making early moves to be the boss and is starting to annoy longstanding cat-in-residence Emma.

However in a month or so he'll be off to the vets for you-know-what and we'll see if he's quite so cocky after that!

Perry - not named after anyone (but with a nod to Kathy Burke's character) is more a reaction against the current annoying use of "pear cider" - was born without her left front leg.

No one is sure exactly why this happened but it's proving to be just a minor handicap in her life as she hurtles around the house.

Choosing names is always a problem and early on we decided against any names involving anything to do with Darlo or Rotherham as that would have been too cruel - Quaker and Miller are not good names for animals and would seem to predispose them to a lifetime of misery.

Apologies in advance to those that know us and who we'll probably bore rigid over the coming months as we describe their latest antics. Normal service will be resumed eventually.

DAFTS Go Dutch

As we have done for several years now, Liz and I went for our summer break to Amsterdam recently and on this trip we were joined by DAFTSmiester, Steve Duffy, and his other half Cath.

A nice early start from London City - a great little no-nonsense airport and just ten minutes from home - meant we were on our houseboat in the east of Amsterdam shortly after midday. Steve and Cath weren't too far behind us and without losing too much time unpacking, we headed out to our first port of call.

The Ij brewery (or Brouwerij 't Ij to give it it's proper name) is basically a brewery with a tasting room (or Proeflokaal) attached - both housed within one of Amsterdam's few remaining windmills.

(left) Ij brewery

Liz and I have been coming here since the mid-1990s after first reading about it in Hugh Shipman's Serious Drinkers Guide to Amsterdam and it remains my favourite bar in Amsterdam.

It's such a simple set-up - just their range of beers plus wine (red or white house only), soft drinks and a few basic snacks - which all means there is minimal fuss and bother.

The brewery tap is extremely basic in decor although the bar has been extended in recent years and there is now an extensive outside terrace - for those that like such things - but we're content to sit indoors and enjoy a few beers, some pindas (peanuts) and the occasional hard-boiled egg.

The beers are fairly varied from the lighter, refreshing taste of the Pilzen and Ijwit at 5% each through to the heavier, sipping flavours of the Columbus and Struis, both hitting the scales at 9%.

(above) Steve and Cath enjoy the Pilzen

Although this bar is outside the immediate city centre, it has the advantage of keeping prices an euro or so cheaper than more central bars, especially for off-sales (12 bottles for 14 euros - a bargain!).

The opening hours are quite limited too - from 3pm to 8pm - but that serves to focus the mind so that you concentrate on the beers. If you can manage a five hour session here, you're doing very well.

Although we visit the Ij three times during our stay, we do find time to sneak in a couple of visits to another of Amsterdam's finest bars - the Arendsnest.

This is another bar we've been visiting for many years and we've seen it change from a good bar serving mainly Belgian brews to a great bar serving Dutch-only beers.

This latter manifestation took place under the guidance of Peter van der Arend who will be shortly opening Amsterdam's first American beer bar - should be interesting.

(right) Arendsnest

The Arendsnest can be found on the gentile banks of the Herengracht on the edge of the trendy and slightly bohemian Jordaan area - well away from the red-light area and those bars with pictures of Bob Marley (whatever that means!).

The bar has an impressive 30 beers on tap which along with a multitude of bottled beers means there is something for everyone here.

The third bar we frequented during our stay was the Engelbawarder - the Guardian Angel - an unassuming looking pub on the edge of the Red Light area but mercifully free of the usual stag-night numpties and dope tourists which dominate some nearby bars.

This place used to be a literary cafe about 30 years ago but now concentrates on beer and food.

What raises it above most other bars in the area for me is the draught Rodenbach - a beautiful sour red beer from Belgium. Very tart and surprisingly refreshing.

(left) Engelbawarder sign points to earlier orientation

There is an odd old bloke we keep seeing here - he always seems to sit in the same seat in the window each day, reading his papers and mumbling away incoherently to himself (or that could be just Dutch). Woe betide anyone sat in his seat.

He was here last year when we dropped in and he's here again on both of our visits this year.

I don't know whether that's a sad or wonderful life - depends on your point of view I suppose. I don't think I'd complain about visiting this place every day.

Steve loves the bars here and is now wanting to extend the DAFTS away guide to include Amsterdam and the rest of Europe. I'm not certain when Darlo will make it worth our while...

If you're considering a trip to Amsterdam, you can't do better than check out the Amsterdam Pub Guide produced by Ron Patterson. He'll keep you right.

Eastern Promise

What a glorious day for a pub crawl - warm weather but not as stupidly hot as earlier in the week. Liz and I had got to the Wenlock Arms a little before opening so we had a pleasant sit down in the small park next door.

Following the machinations of the AGM, it was time to sort out the teams for the Pub Crawl Treasure Hunt Quiz Thingy - only four teams in all to take on the course but all as keen as mustard to get started.

Our Plymouth-supporting chum, Geoff, accompanied me as we aimed to wander around behind the teams and check all the clues were still intact. Liz meanwhile went off to buy some prizes from the nearest Pound Shop.

(left) The Marksman


The first point of call for the teams was the Marksman on Hackney Road - a healthy little schlep from the Wenlock via Columbia Road Market - just enough of a hike to generate a thirst.

Geoff and I had wandered there via the nearby Royal Oak to try the cask-conditioned Meantime London Pale Ale but alas it was off.

The Marksman commemorates the death of Nelson and it sits of the corner of Horatio Road and Hackney Road and it currently offers just one cask beer, Landlord. The landlord reckons they can't really run to another handpump but they're doing their best and the menus look extremely tasty. They're also offering the chance to barter for a pint. I'm not sure that will catch on somehow.

When I first came to London this place was an Everards house, one of the few decent places in East London for real ale in those days.

From here it was a short walk to the second pub, the Albion, which is certainly a football pub. The place is a homage to West Bromich Albion and the walls are covered in pennants and photographs from their dim and distant past.

It's just such a shame then that the beer was so lousy. The Pitfield Organic was positively vinegrescent and the Landlord little better.

However it did allow most teams to check out the final quarter of the British Lions victory against SA on the big screen - and even the beer garden had it's own screen - but no one hung around after that once they got the required answers.

Another short-walk then took everyone to Broadway Market with two opportunities for point scoring by the teams.

The Dove a very popular pub - and is the sister pub to the Dovetail in Clerkenwell - and the place was overrun with trendy young things (which is generally everyone younger than me).

(left) Get yer eels here!


A fairly decent selection of 6-8 cask beers with the likes of Maldon Gold and Golden Duck from Crouch Vale, Speckled Hen, Landlord (again), Flowers IPA, Pedigree and Abbot.

There was also a variety of Belgian beers on draught - I opted for the Brugse Zot which is always drinkable - plus a good choice of bottles.

The other place for teams to score points was at Cooke's pie and mash shop just a few yards down the road. Most teams tried the pie and mash but only one team tried the jellied eels as well. Brave boys!

Liz and I had tried out their pie and mash a couple of weeks earlier when checking out the route and the current owner is a real friendly chap and was proud of what's probably the most verdant liquor I've yet seen. However his mash had too many eyes in it for my high exacting standards and the pies were only so-so.

From the bustle of the market, it was nice to get down to the relative calm of Regents Canal towpath and walk to the next pub. Well, it would be if it wasn't for 99% of cyclists bombing along the route as well. Bastards!

The towpath is a great route to take to miss out some of the more miserable roads around here but a pain as you have to have eyes in the back of your head to see these proto-Lance Armstrongs.

(right) Token arty shot

From the towpath Geoff and I had to scale the fence into neighbouring Victoria Park in order to get to the fourth pub, the Approach Tavern.

The Approach is another old haunt of mine from the mid 1980s - it has changed a little internally but offer a decent selection of beers, mainly Fullers but also an Adnams beer. Some decent foreign beers on draught too. Liz and I have been here a couple of other times recently and the place is always busy - the beer is kept well and the food is excellent. And most people sit outside on the terrace so it's nice and quiet indoors.

Whilt Robert, Clarkey and Peter went off to find more answers at the Crown, found at the corner of Grove Road and Old Ford Road, Geoff and I rejoined the towpath and wandered off to the final pub of the crawl, the Palm Tree.

Now the Palm Tree is very well known to Darlo and Rotherham fans as an after-venue for Dagenham and Redbridge games and quite a few on the crawl had been there before but probably not via this route.

The pub occupies an eco-park next to the canal and so can get quite busy with passing walkers and local students - that we have only one person serving a busy bar is not a surprise but which does mean the wait for a beer was longer than we'd want.

John and Bev had managed to join us at this point - unfortunately the lure of domestic duties had meant they couldn't start the crawl but they'd eventually tired of carpet shops and made it in time for the last leg of the crawl.

As ever two cask beers were on offer - the very drinkable Roy Rogers (3.8%) from the Brentwood Brewery and Jake the Snake (4.0%) from Mighty Oak - but by the time we'd got served the latter had all gone - we bagged the remnants of half a pint but found it to be a bit bland.

We eventually persuaded Rob, Clarkey and Peter to leave the Palm Tree a little after 7pm and headed to nearby Mile End tube, eventually arriving back at the Wenlock just after 8pm - in the end we weren't far behind the Three Gentlemen of Norbury who had stopped off for a fish supper.

Liz proceeded to give out the answers to her carefully crafted questions - most of the teams did quite well even if some googling was done for some answers (you know who you are!). And then time for the prizes - quite predictably Liz's brother and his teammates came last despite being the only team to take on jellied eels.

Once the prize giving was over it was time to relax and have some more beer. And listen to the jazz.

One pleasant surprise at the end of the night was bumping into Richard Stedman, or Stedders to his mates, who visiting the capital and who had decided to re-visit a few of his haunts.

DAFTS got to know Stedders very well when he first put together the Football and Real Ale Guides a few seasons ago when we were able to help out with pub recommendations in the lower divisions.

Since then, Richard has spent time running a cracking little pub in sunny Colne but he's now returned to his native Bristol where he can keep an eye on his beloved Rovers.

The Football and Real Ale Guide is now online where it is much easier to maintain and Stedders is always on the look-out for new pub recommendations as well as updates and reviews so that it can kept up-to-date and useful to fans. We'll certainly be doing our best to help out.

London Millers' Pub Crawl

This Saturday (4th July) I'll be crossing over to the dark side and attending the London Millers' AGM upstairs at the Wenlock Arms, just off the City Road.

The main reason for attending is to take part in their Pub Crawl Treasure Hunt Quiz Thingy (PCTHQT hereafter) which follows the completion of their AGM business.

Essentially the PCTHQT sees teams (generally of 2 to 4 people) following clues to find pubs and then using additional clues to find answers secreted somewhere within each establishment.

In the past, the London Millers' Eddie Rowles-alike, Tim, has been organising these events - and good fun they've been too, often visiting parts of the capital I'm not overly familiar with and finding interesting pubs.

(above) a reet motley crew and no mistake

I've tended to just go along in a team and just concentrate on the beer, content to leave the others to wander the pub, examining bric-a-brac and pictures for the answers to the clues.

There is a time-limit for getting round the course - nominally three and a half hours - but teams generally come in a little later than this. Scores are then totted up and prizes awarded. All very sporting.

This year however, Tim has taken a sabbatical and the PCTHQT has been organised by yours truly and her indoors; I've selected the pubs and Liz has come up with the questions (although I do know what they are). I suspect they're not quite as obtuse as some of Tim's questions have been over the years...we're just simple folk.

This strategy will still allow me to wander round the pubs and enjoy the beer whilst having a smug I-know-all-the-answers-nar-nar look on my face.

Hopefully the good weather will continue and a good time will be had by all.

If you fancy joining us, pop along to the Wenlock Arms between 1:30 and 2pm on Saturday...

For those that cannot join us, there'll be a full report next week.