Oktober Fest in Millwall Park

The weekend of 4-8 of October saw a Munich style beer festival pop up in Millwall park. There was a fair amount of local controversy about the event being staged in the first place. Tower Hamlet council appear to have recently introduced a policy of allowing commercial events to take place in public parks in an apparent move to raise some revenue much to the chagrin of local residents who believe that they should be exclusively for public events and usage.

Millwall rugby club were particularly aggrieved in that the tented area was only a couple of metres away from their pitches where four games were due to be played that weekend. Despite the council allowing the event to go ahead I believe it only received its licence in the week running up to the event.

Impressive Venue

Anyway, I thought it would be worth investigating and so I dug out my authentic Austrian walking hat complete with feather (there are photos but they will remain with me).  My lederhosen remained firmly in the cupboard as I was thirteen the last time I managed to squeeze into them. It was the first night and only got about a third full but plenty of those who turned up, including a lively German expat crowd, determined to get into the spirit of things, with plenty of costumes and festival regalia on show.


Alcohol prices on the face of it were not cheap at £8.50 for a pint and a half Krug of their own unique German beer (apparently they are not allowed to sell it by the litre!), but you have to remember that entry was free and all the entertainment was laid on.  The health & safety brigade had also paid a visit so all the tankards were made out of polycarbonate glassware and even the wine bottles were decanted out into plastic jugs.  There was also a good selection of German food available to soak up the beer.  You could help yourself at the bar or there was service at the tables.

Fest Beer

The tent had a capacity of 3,000 and was set out in long rows of benches just like a traditional beer hall. The staff were all dressed in traditional costumes to add to the authenticity, dirndls for the ladies and lederhosen for the gents, although a black mark goes to the chap serving us who insisted on keeping his trousers on underneath his lederhosen!

 Traditional Costume

The German band was excellent with the right sort of music to get everyone standing on the benches singing and dancing (think Robbie Williams, Joan Jet and a splash of AC/DC). I was just a bit disappointed that apart from the obligatory "Ein Prosit der Gemuetlichkeit" drinking song which cropped up throughout the evening there was no traditional Bavarian"oompah" music.  The nearest they got to German music was Nina's 99 red balloons and not a hint of Falco all night!

Rocking Entertainment

Just as everyone was getting into the swing of things, at 9.30 sharp the band finished and the music was immediately turned down for the last half hour as what looked like a council environmental officer turned up with his microphone to test the noise levels. It felt like a bit of a let down being turfed out at ten pm, just when it felt like things were warming up but it was perhaps understandable given the location of the tent near to residential housing and on a school night.

Tower Hamlets Noise Abatement?

I haven't seen many reviews and comments of the evening but I hope they are allowed to come back again for what I thought was a most enjoyable evening.




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A Festival of IPAs at the Gun, Docklands

The International break has given me a little time to catch up on blogging about non-Charlton activities which seem to revolve around real ale.

I'd missed out on the Gun's previous ale festival in June and so when I heard about their latest event in September there was no way I wanted to miss this one even though it was raining cats and dogs.  With over 30 IPAs in Cask, keg and bottle format this was a truly unique occasion.

www.thegundocklands.com/index.php/calendar/ale-festival-sept/

Now the Gun is a Gastro pub with a good reputation so while there was no entry charge, the prices were somewhat commensurate with its status but I don't mind paying a bit over the odds for a one off and to sample many beers in one place that I would be unlikely to find in a regular pub.


However, it was good to see that they had prepared a handy booklet on the various beers on offer to give you an idea of what you could expect from each one.  Like any good festival there was also an option to buy just a third of a pint to allow you to sample more and they are to be commended for this sound practice. A separate sheet also showed the alcohol content and which beers were on that evening.

Beers well looked after

I started off with a middle of the road Hand Drawn Monkey IPA which I'd have been happy to drink all evening, but of course that would be rather against the point.  It was only after that I found the 2.8% 1/2 Mast from Siren Craft Brew.  As a rule the taste of the higher alcoholic beers tends to dull the taste buds of more subtle beers and so it is usually not worth going back to a lower gravity beer.  However, in this case I have to take my hat off to Siren as the hops still sang through.

It had been heavily pouring all day and there was no sign of a let up that evening.  However, the Gun was well prepared with a large canopy and decent outdoor heaters, so even though it was teaming with rain all concerned had a good time.

I had my first black IPA that evening, Hop Studio's Obsidian.  There was nothing wrong with the beer but like Porters and Milds it was just not to my taste. This was followed by Franklin's Citra IPA which cleared the palate nicely.

A sample of the evening's ales

We finished off with some of the heavyweights.  No IPA session is complete without a sample from the Kernel Brewery in Bermondsey and their Galaxy HBC291 did not disappoint, although with a name like that I think their creative branding department needs revitalising. I'd previously tried Weird Beard's Hit the Lights (a strong tasting IPA) and so was keen to sample the rest of their range and so a sample of their Holy Hoppin' Hell #2 seemed to be in order, but at 9.7% it was definitely going to be the last beer of the evening!

Friendly & Knowledgeable Staff

Rather a soggy evening in E14

Still hurting...

I've left writing my thoughts on the Millwall derby for a few days to have a chance to calm down and write an objective piece.  I was fortunate enough, in some respects, to have a lot of work to keep my mind occupied over the weekend rather than stewing away in a pub all afternoon on an abject performance.  I know many people were obviously upset at was undoubtedly a poor performance by any standard but I have never left the ground to find a red faced fan opening shouting and cussing the state of our team like I did on Saturday afternoon.

Loss shown live on Sky television adds to embarrassment

The game was not a sell out in either end.  Millwall were some 200 short but a crowd of less than 16,000 was also extremely disappointing.  A combination of tickets not being released on general sale, the game being on Sky, fan apathy over our recent performance or just not wanting the potential aggravation could all be contributing factors.




I had a chat with a few Millwall fans in an East End local on Sunday evening while watching the Manchester derby.  They all concurred that it was a dire game with not a lot to cheer about.  I was even told by one fan that we were unlucky but that is little consolation.  Despite 60% possession, Charlton conjured up only two shots out of six on target.  Millwall fared little better with only three out of twelve shots on target.  Their main talking point was the vast number of police that had turned out on patrol as they left the stadium.

New flag in the West Stand

The bright spot in the Millwall team was Nicky Bailey who effectively controlled the midfield.  I'm always nervous about the threat of old players returning to the Valley.  His story is very similar to that of our own Yann Kermorgant leaving Leicester with a missed penalty in a play off and so it seemed inevitable that he was going to score against us (if anyone is interested, there was a recent article in the Economist that explored the very topic of the performance of former players visiting their old team).  Thankfully it was not to be, but that was small comfort for the home supporters as a McDonald deflected shot wrong footed Ben Hamer and found the back of the net.

Millwall Crowd

I had credited the Millwall fans with a sense of humour when I saw all the inflatable fish in the crowd, thinking it was a reference to our flooded out game against Doncaster, but no,  it was just a good excuse to hurl abuse at Marvin Sordell for the incident against Bolton last season when he complained about being abused by one of their ball boys.  Some habits never tire.







 Our derby day contrasted markedly with the Manchester derby when City played with pace, appearing to have a head start against their red counterparts on every ball.  However, despite all the plaudits no-one questioned why they could not find this turn of pace and agility in their lacklustre performances in their draw against Stoke and loss to Cardiff City.



We now have an extremely tough run of three games in a row against top sides and Charlton fans need to prepare for a rough ride in the next fortnight as we visit Burnley, while Forest and Blackpool stop off at the Valley.  It appears that Cort and Solley will still be out for the Burnley game and Yann is touch and go.

Stadium not full for Derby Clash

On formation tactics, without Yann we are in a pickle.  I would like to see a 4-5-1 to bring in more midfield players and allowing Cameron Stewart into the starting line up for the first time.  His pace and agility very much reminded me of Danny Haynes and I'd like to see him on the pitch for a full ninety minutes along with Harriott on the other wing.  My only concern is that this formation demands a strong striker who can take down the ball and without Yann we just don't have anyone else capable of the role.

We will encounter the same problem with a 4-4-2 formation.  While Joe Pigott was valiant in his efforts on Saturday, his inexperience and lack of build showed.  I have no doubt this will improve over time and have no regrets that he was given the opportunity.  With Church a certain starter that only leaves Sordell, but for me he has to show a pick up in both form and pace to justify his place in the starting line up if Yann is not included. Whichever line up is chosen I am not looking forward to the next couple of weeks but as we saw with Millwall it only takes a game to suddenly turn things around.  I'm waiting for our "game" to turn up.

Charlton: Whingers need not apply

The main sports news on Wednesday was of Brian O'Driscoll's absence from the Lions squad.  The man is undoubtedly a legend in the sport but as a casual observer of the sport, I don't have any strong feelings as to whether this was the right decision or not.

However, what really caught my eye was O'Driscoll's public response to his exclusion.  His statement on Twitter read :-

" Obviously totally gutted at being left out for deciding Test but all efforts go into preparing the boys to see it through #seaofred "

There is no doubt that he was extremely upset about the decision, but he managed to put his own emotions aside to ensure that the focus was all about the team.  I can confidently say right now that even after the game on Saturday, win or lose, any public remarks by the man will reflect this stance.  This is the true mark of a real sportsman.

This is the reason why I'm not a fan of the likes of Michael Schumacher or Christiano Ronaldo.  They both undoubtedly reached the pinnacle of their respective sports, but there's winning and then there's sportsmanship.  These two professionals, in my eyes, sadly are not sportsmen.  Maybe its my British "support the under-dog" mentality but this "win at all costs" mentality, or the throw your toys out of the pram prima donna strops , don't cut it with me and never will.  We all remember Roy Kean admonishing Ronaldo as he lay rolling around the turf like a baby at the Valley following a good chop from Graham Stuart.

This point brings me to Charlton.  We really don't do whingers do we?  We have a squad of dependable workman-like footballers, no prima donnas, and I believe we play better like this.

Now please don't confuse my definition of sportsmanship with not showing emotion or passion.  By showing that he deeply cared about being dropped O'Driscoll displayed his passion for the game.  You can bet your last dollar that he will be watching the last test with gritted teeth, thinking how he would have played the game.  The Charlton team too has passion by the bucket load.  Plenty of Charlton players give their all for their team and are therefore understandably emotional for example when they are substituted during the ninety minutes.  This emotion sometimes shows its self in the form of what might be thought of as petulance but it is no more than the culmination of their passion for the game.  Passion is good and can be highly effective in the game when correctly channelled.

Ben Hamer's outburst at his team for conceding four goals in our epic win over Cardiff is such an example.  Despite the win, as a true professional he was annoyed that he and his defenders had not upheld their part of the bargain, making the job more difficult for the rest of the team.  Yann Kermogant is another example.  The man never stops.  There is no rolling around on the floor for him when he gets tapped.  It takes a good solid tackle to stop him and then despite the gashes and wounds, he picks himself up all wrapped in bandages and soldiers on.  Ronaldo take note!

I was rather worried when Ricardo Fuller signed for us last year.  A big name in a small pond, but prior to his 180 odd games at Stoke he has experienced his fair share of smaller clubs and he fitted well into the squad.


I am sure that there are plenty of fractious issues between manager and players that we don't hear about but the point is that these take place behind closed doors.  On the pitch and in the public eye we are a squad that is united.  So with the transfer window officially open, no star names for us please, we want team players.

There was a fair bit of chat on Twitter today from fans moaning about various things including the fact that we are definitely now going to lose against Millwall as the match is being screened live on Sky.  While football would not be the same without the odd moan, perhaps we as fans could take a leaf out of the attitude of the squad's sportsman like mentality?

I hope to be at Welling on Saturday, camera at the ready, on the look out for a few new faces in the match day squad.  I somehow doubt there will be any Russians investors in the crowd though.

COYR.....

The Millwall team you might just like....!!

With a dearth of news on the Charlton Athletic front so far this summer, I have the choice of creating false rumours or causing a ruckus with a misleading heading - I've chosen the latter.

I bet you thought that you would never hear the day that you heard a Charlton fan say that they also supported Millwall, well I do, what's more I have brazenly worn my Millwall shirt to games at the Valley!  However, before you rush out to call in the medics or the lynch mob let me explain.

To most of us that support the club in SE7, Millwall is a team that plays at the Den down near New Cross.  In fact its history lies in E14 on the Isle of Dogs, when the club was set up by a group of Dockers in the area known as Millwall.  It's still known as Millwall but many people have dropped the name with many preferring to use the term "Isle of Dogs" to describe the area.  I will leave it up to you to decide whether this has anything to do with the connotations with the fans of the club of the same name.  Suffice it to say, the story is that they were so concerned about thick football fans turning up on a Saturday afternoon that they named the nearby Docklands Light Railway station "Mudchute" rather than Millwall.

However that does not stop the area being called Millwall and some teams are still quite rightly proud enough to wrestle back the name to preserve the rich history and heritage of the area and this  includes Millwall Rugby Club.  This fledgling club was set up in 1995 and by all accounts has been well supported and flourished.  They currently have about 200 active members and 800 supporter subscribers, with three men's teams, a woman's team and a number of youth teams.  Having spent a few nights with various members I can also confirm that they are active supporters of the local public house trade!  Always game for a laugh and a pint I have to say that they are a decent bunch of people keen to promote their sport and integrate into local society.  Indeed a friend of mine, who's son played for one of their youth teams was amazed at how many of the older players acknowledged his son and stopped to say hello when they saw him in the area.


So I know the shape of the ball is wrong and they pick it up with their hands but this is a local club which has started from scratch and deserves all the recognition it can get.  So if like me you live in the area come and have a closer look at this community club.  For more information go to www.millwallrugby.com or contact secretary@millwallrugby.com