Jeux sans frontières

Welcome to May's Photo Challenge. This month is a full on collision between World of Sport and Grandstand; imagine Dickie Davies in the ring with Frank Bough! Now there's a thought to conjure with. I put a call out for the games people play a.k.a your sports snaps. Indoors, outdoors, I wasn't bothered. Though I might have drawn the line at lycra. And I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but you didn't disappoint (you really didn't.) OK, I'll be the ref. Let's get ready to rumble.

Rol won the toss and gets to kick off: "Hello John, hope things are OK with you. As you'll probably know, I'm not a fan of that inexplicably popular game that involves kicking a spherical object around, but the boy is, so I do spend a lot of time watching it. Two photos for you: one of the boy's team in action, the other taken at the stadium of Huddersfield Town late last year when Sam's team did the guard of honour thing before the game. When Town came on, I was more impressed by the sky. Take care, Rol." Cheers, Rol. You're right, great sky.

Former pro, Ernie Goggins, is all laced up and ready to cross the white line: "Hi John, hope things are on the up for you. In the immortal words of Johnny Bristol, hang on in their baby. To business. This month's humble submissions are: Ludlow Rugby Club pitch and clubhouse in 2008. Unfortunately the River Teme broke its banks just as I was lining up the shot, spoiling it completely. Secondly -  Independence Square, Kuala Lumpur. Where the Union Jack was lowered and the Malaysian flag raised for the first time when the country became independent in 1957. It was originally built as a cricket pitch by the British Resident in the 1890s and cricket continued to be played there regularly until the late 1980s, and the old pavilion is still standing (or it was when I was there in 2017). And finally, part of a crazy golf art installation in the Arnolfini gallery in Bristol in 2013. Holes 5 (designed by Jake & Dinos Chapman) and 3 (Doug Fishbone) Ernie." Thank you, Ernesto. I love all three but I think 'Ludlow' just shades it. 

Next off the team bus is Hawkfall. His Wicked Vicars blog was essential reading for me and many others back in the day; till he sadly folded it in 2020. "Hi John, hope you're recovering well and taking it easy. I've been trying to take part in one your photo challenges for a while now, but could never find a theme that would match any of my photos. Until this month. So I'm sending you a  photo of my local library here in Singapore which looks out into the stadium of the local team, Tampines Rovers. It may be the only football stadium that doubles up as a library since Arsenal moved out of Highbury (boom boom). Anyway, keep up the good work and take care. Cheers, H." Thank you, H. Come back next month, won't you?

Celia from Sun Dried Sparrows will be your croupier tonight. "Hi John, here's a pic of my favourite pack of cards. I wonder if you and a few other readers had them too - they came free with the NME (in instalments of one suit per week?) in 1992 or thereabouts; they do perk up a game of Beggar-My-Neighbour. Loving Mark E Smith as the Joker. C."  Thank you, C. You're like me, you don't throw anything away.

James is currently travelling around Japan with his girlfriend. His mother and I have received several travelogues including some amazing photographs. Here he is at a baseball game. A baseball game in Japan, I hear you ask. I'll let James give you the skinny. "So, while working on internationalisation of our design system in an old job, I came across a Japanese font that paired with our Roman font, so the aesthetic would be consistent. When looking into the font's designer, I found they also made a Japanese sports aggregator app. When idly googling one of the team names on that page, my phone intuited that I might be a fan of that team, so, as it does with every Notts County match, it displayed a live score on match days. Initially I was bemused but then became increasingly invested, began watching highlights, and keeping up with the team. That team was Saitama Seibu Lions." Brilliant, James! Enjoy the rest of your trip.

"Listen to the familiar sound!"

Harry Harrington Harris has moved the goalposts. Twice.

Johnny Legs discovered PLANETJET in Liquid Light, Nottingham.

Claire's on the oche. She calls this '180'.

Miss Turner has a backgammon/chess multi-game set. Every home should have one. Thank you, MT.

Tim has got strong game game (if you know you know): "Hi John, here’s some ‘games we play’ material. We kick off with UNO accompanied by an Old Fashioned holiday rules mean my usual craft beer tipple can be replaced by a cocktail). Next up Trent Bridge under lights, although not the pure old school version of the game an impressive arena for slogging. Then to counterbalance the an ‘all weather wicket’ at Newstead Abbey. As a former opening bowler these were great for fearsome lift. Talking of ‘bouncers’ the old pic is me in action at Plumtree in I’d guess the early 80’s. Closer observation shows the ball pitching around half way down. I favoured a ‘strong intimidation game’ back in the day. Finally a brace from Hucknall Town where I spend a fair few Saturdays: in both, the players seem rather unsure about the round object that the game is based on. Anyway, looking forward to the (way) more creative offerings your other contributors provide. Cheers Tim." Thanks a lot, Tim. If you like Uno you'll love Skipbo.

David Cooper has been drawn away from home. "Hi John, I certainly didn’t struggle to find photos to submit unlike last month, although having plenty of photos to choose from presented its own difficulties. I’ve gone for these three. The iconic San Siro in Milan, Italy The most scenic cricket ground in the world(?) in Dharamshala, India And finally, the most recent ground I visited, earlier this month, the Freethielstadion in Beveren, Belgium. David." Cheers, Coops. I had a feeling the San Siro would make an appearance. I went in '97 for the Milan derby - Paul Ince was playing for Inter at the time.

Thrilled to have Jo Shreeve from Cornwall back. "This was taken at Tanglewood near Penzance. A nice game of chess by the lake!" (I'll let you make the first move, Jo! x)

"And old style games at Dunstan Castle in Somerset. Still play them now - they don't age! x.'' 

Pete Zab has lobbed these over the net for me. "Hi John, I've got four very different pictures for you. Table tennis in the park, this was taken during lockdown so there was nobody about. Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, this was taken last year, I was there for an exhibition being held about an aunt's role in women's cricket. Took the opportunity to have a wander around the place. A goal and bins, this was taken in Forest Fields, I can't remember the street. Basketball - taken a couple of days ago, in the skate park, in Broadmarsh, Nottingham." Cheers, Pete. You're a sport. 

Kate looks like she's waiting for a Grand Master to turn up: "Chess board in the grounds of a monastery in Chiang Mai." Thanks, Kate

The Swede's all revved up and ready to go: "Hi John, as you know, I operate in a reasonably sports-free zone these days, though twas not always thus. Speedway was my passion as a kid, Dad & I travelled to hundreds of meetings across London and beyond throughout the 1960s/70s, aboard his trusty Honda 90. One day in the Autumn of 1969 we happened to visit a school fete in Leytonstone, where we found a stall charging sixpence (that's 2½p kids) to sit astride a real speedway bike for a moment and have a photo taken. As luck would have it, my photo ended up on the front page of the local rag, where it was cut out and annotated by Mum. We subsequently ordered a print of the photo, but I'm glad to still have the heritage media original 56 years later." Than you, TS. A lovely story.

Adam: "Hi John, iIn 1983 I first went to this place, aged 13, to see Manchester United play Brighton (the game finished 1-1). It looked quite different then. This picture was taken last weekend, the ground bathed in Easter Sunday sunshine. The less said about the team and game the better." I can see why Old Trafford is a shrine for so many. I totally get it, Adam. 

"This picture is the other end of the football scale, taken from a minibus while driving through Morocco to the desert recently. A shale pitch, 2 goals (you might need to zoom in) and some Moroccan kids kicking a ball around. Football has its faults- money, greed, club owners, the people that run the game etc but its universal nature is still something remarkable. Wherever you go, there are people on a rectangle of ground playing football."

Adam's right - looks like there's two games going on here. If there was grass growing you'd call it proper grass roots football. Cheers, Adam. Lovely stuff.

Snake Eyes! It's Walter dialling in from Deutschland! "Hi John, Here are some pictures for you. One of many pictures I have of my club (VIB Stuttgart). It's always a fascinating experience when 60,000 people cheer on their club (even if it's currently unsuccessful). Secondly, a board game that we often played in our pub. It was fun at the time to see how the dice fell. Cheers, Walter." Danke schön, Walter!

Riggsby has just shuffled in. "Hi John. A group of pics for this months theme. The commonality is that these are all in the building I work in, some in the common areas, some within our office, including table shuffle boards in both. I find it a nice thought but don’t see people playing them, which I understand. I don’t want to take time for this while at work. Perhaps I need to “chill out”, take more breaks and I’ll have better ideas?" Is the shuffle board the new water cooler I ask myself. Thanks, Richard. Good work.

Dave next. He's just come back from holiday: ''Here's my lads playing darts in Geneva." I'm glad you told me it was Geneva, Dave.

Charity Chic - a walking, talking gazetteer of Scottish fitba. "Cathkin Park home of Third Division Lanark who went bust in 1967."

"Less than half a mile from Hampden Park." (Home to Celtic.)

"And Lesser Hampden - home to Queens Park. But due to some shenanigans going on they're using Hampden at the moment."

"Lesser Hampden is also next to the National Stadium..." Thanks, CC. A splendid quartet.

Matthew has a confession to make: "A bit of a challenge for me as I'm not particularly sporting - unless it can take place on licensed premises. First one - Mr Medd clears the table at a dive bar, Santa Barbara, CA." 

"Next, a rare score in Scrabble indeed, M x." I remember the dive bar well! And yes, not many Scrabble games end in a big fat draw. Thanks, Matthew. Something non-sporty next month, I promise.

Alyson's getting sand between her toes and in her egg sandwiches: "Hi John, I'm on a wee beach holiday 15 miles along the coast - here is the football pitch behind the beach (you can just make out the goalposts). For perspective, if you turn 180 degrees you get the dunes and the beach. And the third pic is the local tennis courts in the town." Thank you, Alyson. Hope you had a heatwave up there.

A few of mine to round things off. When we lived oop North I remember one year attending the National Bagatelle Championships (as you do), just outside York. Two of the day's most fierce competitors were sledging each other something chronic all day. Turns out they were sisters. I often wonder what became of them.

My friend Zak was between the sticks recently for a 6-a-side tournament. He should have spent more time looking at the ball instead of the camera.

I didn't know Matthew was gonna pull that photo out of his locker. This was me at my local pool hall a few years earlier. I think I was playing an exhibition match. Or was I making an exhibition of myself? One of the two.

James was a mascot (and ballboy) a couple of times at Notts County back in the day. Here he is (front, right) before the game looking super excited.

Notts again. I have a thing about floodlights; I love the lights at Meadow Lane.

Notts fell out of the football league for a couple of seasons but in 2023 were coming back and had made it through to the Play Off Final at Wembley. After they won the semi final, despite the abundance of signs asking fans to refrain from running onto the pitch at the end of the game, nobody appeared to see them. 

Another floodlight. This time over the river at Trent Bridge.

We recently went to a 20/20 game at Trent Bridge (or was it The Hundred?) and were royally fed and watered in hospitality. We had a great afternoon/evening. And a sensational view.

No photographs allowed in the Groucho Club, they said. I lost my way coming back from the gents and found this fabulous room; a private room within a private members' club. I couldn't resist a quick snap.

Me as a boy with my old mucker, Lee. Burgh Island, if memory serves.

James again: we were playing Qwixx at a bar in Brighton last Summer and drinking Buckfast negronis. This year we're going to Blackpool.

Playing cards keep me sane. Here's a couple of games that regularly make an appearance at Medd Towers: Sequence...

...and Skipbo.

And there you have it. Some spectacular photographs in there, I'm sure you'll agree. I hope you enjoy perusing them all as much as I did. Come back again next month when we'll do it all over again. Thank you so much for playing along - I'll post the theme for June in the comments section below. Till next time. J x