BOOK REVIEW: ‘A Brief Guide to the Football Grounds of Kent and South East London’ by Mike Floate (Newlands Photographic 2012, £14.95).

IF you are motoring through the Kent countryside, or riding on a train, do you sometimes glimpse a set of goalposts behind a hedge, or catch sight of a football match being played on a distant pitch?

If so, and you wonder to yourself: “Which team plays there?”.

Mike Floate is the man who can answer your question.

Mike’s latest book in his splendid ‘Football Grounds Frenzy’ series has information and superb photographs of nearly 200 different football grounds in Kent and the south east London metropolis.

All the big town grounds are there, and Mike doesn't hide his reverence for “traditional, old-style” Non-League football grounds like Bromley FC and Ebbsfleet United that he feels should never be lost to us.

“They should remain as museums!”

New grounds under construction give Mike some eagerly-taken photo opportunities.

For example, Dartford FC’s new home at Princes Park that opened in 2005.

And Mike’s book is bang up to date topical with the front cover boasting a fine colour photo of the brand new Gallagher Stadium filled to the brim when opened by Maidstone United in August 2012.

But Mike is sparing in his praise of football clubs that have taken the expedient option of installing featureless, identikit modern stands that provide functional seated accommodation for spectators, but no soul.

Mike’s praise is reserved instead for clubs such as Holmesdale and Rusthall for their inventive touches of ground-building or improvement that should be cherished for their individualism.

And as a resident of Crockenhill village, he naturally has a fond word for all the committee members and supporters who have kept the Crocks going at Wested Meadow when so many other clubs in Kent have folded.

If you twist Mike’s arm I suspect you’ll get him to confess the small, out-of-the-way rural football pitches are his number one labour of love, and the biggest inspiration behind this meticulously compiled book.

No football club is too lowly in status, nor its ground too small or obscure or isolated in location to escape Mike’s roving camera, the more so if Mike can find a delightful leafy setting with an elevated view across Kent’s luscious Garden of England.

You are trawling the very lower levels of Kentish football if you find your way to the likes of Borden Village FC, Bredhurst Sports, Headcorn FC, Wittersham FC and Old Boars FC (yes, really!).

But Mike insists you will be entranced by the scenery that is there and his book contains a superb selection of atmospheric black & white photos to prove it.

Mike has not forgotten to offer the ‘old’ as well as the ‘new’.

His book presses the nostalgia buttons with a generous sample of long-gone and sadly missed Kent and south east London football grounds which had especially picturesque settings or unique pieces of architecture.

All in all this is a great book for the football fan's Christmas stocking.

It may entice you outdoors to find, see and enjoy for yourself all the currently existing grounds that are featured.

Alternatively if you want an armchair trip down memory lane, you can revel in the excellent archive photographs that Mike Floate has mined from his extensive historical collection.

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