Match Information
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AEK-Boco 3-2 Bristol Telephones
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When: Boxing Day - Monday 26th December 2022
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Kick-off: 3pm
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Where: Greenbank Recreation Ground, Greenbank Road, Hanham, Bristol BS15 3RZ
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Competition: Western League Division One
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Attendance: 114
I have always loved my Boxing Day football. It provides a chance to get out of the house and sample some fresh air after over-indulging on Christmas turkey.
This year saw heavy rain in the days beforehand so I had to plan carefully where I was going.
Therefore just in case my chosen game suffered a late postponement, I needed to identify a back-up match which would definitely be going ahead on an artificial 3G pitch.
Having weighed up the options, I decided to head for AEK-Boco FC confidently knowing there was a guaranteed alternative at Longwell Green FC’s plastic surface a mile down the road if a last minute deluge occurred.
In the end, it didn’t matter at all as the grass arena at AEK-Boco was perfectly playable. Another interesting ingredient on the day was that I was fascinated by AEK-Boco’s highly unusual name.
It doesn’t reflect the Hanham area they play in so where does it come from? Well I discovered the club was formed in 2003 from the merger of two well-established amateur outfits – AEK Rangers FC and Boco Juniors FC.
Legend has it AEK Rangers originally came into existence after a founder member went on holiday to Greece, saw the team name of AEK Athens and took a liking to it!
Apparently this innovative chap was Scottish so he added the ‘Rangers’ part for good measure.
As for Boco Juniors, their title was a tribute to the world famous Argentine club of the same name from Buenos Aires (although the ‘A’ in Boca has been replaced by an ‘O’ to make Boco).
So to sum up, the current AEK-Boco FC have past influences from Greece, Scotland and Argentina! Apart from their four men’s teams and two ladies’ sides, they also cater for nearly 500 children playing football at various youth levels.
A perfect illustration of how important Non-League clubs are within their local communities. With all this in mind, I set off on a 300 mile round trip to Hanham. This is a suburb of Bristol containing 6,000 residents in the south-east of the city.
Ground Description
Neat and tidy. A three sided arena as the entire touchline housing dug-outs is out of bounds for spectators. The main feature overall is an impressive clubhouse facility straddling the halfway line.
Included is an elevated covered overhang where most spectators watched the game from as they took advantage of easy access in and out of the club bar.
I liked the attractive roof gable complete with the lettering of “AEK-BOCO FOOTBALL CLUB”. The building is only five years old and cost £780,000.
Further along towards one goal is ‘The Paul Withey Stand’ which was installed in November 2021. It is a prefab model providing four rows of green seats for 100 supporters.
On the whole, decent facilities then for a team that only moved up to Step 6 football in the Western League Division One last season having won promotion from the Gloucestershire County Football League.
Programme Details
On sale at the main entrance gate for £1.
An attractive glossy cover depicted a group photo of the home team plus matchday details. There was wholesome reading material inside too.
The Match
A hard fought local derby between two clubs who are less than five miles apart as the crow flies. There were some really eye-catching goals.
AEK-Boco edged a captivating ding-dong affair with strikes by Jack Ball 2 (8, 54 minutes) and Joe Beardwell (40 mins). The marksmen for Bristol Telephones were Nathan Gore (31 mins) and Archie Dark (86 mins).
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 31st December 2022
