Chatham Town FC (Via the Rochester Sweeps festival)

30th April 2011:
A disappointing day in the life of any Bognor Regis Town FC fans life
Only a point was needed against relegated Chatham Town to gain promotion.
Surely a mere formality?
As I got to the county of Kent early, thanks to the super duper high speed train from St. Pancras, I decided to pop off at nearby Rochester first.
To my surprise and delight they had a festival on in the town, The Sweeps festival, celebrating an old festival where chimney sweeps were to be idolised for a day.
This involved a few morris dancers....

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind if big, hairy blokes want to dress up and skip with sticks around each other, each to their own, in fact, i thought it was quite entertaining actually.

Not that I'd do it myself of course!

After watching a few performances and politely declining some recently smoked herrings I thought that I'd better make my way to the town of Chatham for the footie.
Five minutes later and I was in the town, I had a bit of time to spare so i popped into the actual town.
Well that didn't take long, you can tell why the term Chav comes from Chatham though!

From the town to the football ground is a fair walk, and all uphill too!
But I was impressed with the ground, it looked quite good, maybe in my mind I was comparing it to the town itself?
I don't know if other football fans would agree with me, but I always find something special about first entering a new ground and looking around. You either think "Wow", or "shit, what a dump" and I was quite pleasantly surprised with Chatham.

The Bognor fans were of course in good voice and all were hoping to get that elusive one point required for promotion

Chatham took the lead and that was the only time the BRTFC fans were quietened, but not for long, Jason (I refuse to say "He's on fire") Prior soon equalised and got mobbed for his efforts

The second half was all Bognor, they tried everything

Even inflatable bananas!!

But all to no avail, the game finished 1-1, and news came through the the Met Police had won 1-0 to leapfrog Bognor into first place.

Chatham then had to play Dulwich Hamlet in the play offs, which they surprisingly lost. Ah well, maybe next season lads?

How to get to Chatham Town FC from the railway station:

Turn right on leaving the station and right again you are now on Maidstone road, continue up Maidstone Road (bloody long walk, get a bus if you can!) till you pass a cemetery on the left and the ground (Called "The Sports ground" is next left.