The game is only half the story

TThere is something rather wonderful about a Saturday spent watching football somewhere you've never been before.

The train journey, the unfamiliar town, the pub you've stumbled across, the walk towards a ground you've only ever seen on a map. The turnstile, the programme, the smell of the pitch and the first whistle. Perhaps a pie at half-time, a few pints afterwards and the journey home with a result to discuss.

It doesn't really matter whether the football is particularly good. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it really isn't. That's part of the charm.

Somewhere along the way, football has become increasingly associated with the biggest clubs, the biggest stadiums and the biggest competitions. It's understandable. That's where the attention, the television cameras and much of the money are concentrated.

But there is another side to the game. One that is perhaps a little harder to find, but every bit as rewarding.

It's there in the towns and villages, on the terraces and in the clubhouses, at grounds tucked behind industrial estates or hidden at the end of residential streets. It's in the clubs that have been part of their communities for generations, and in the supporters who turn up every Saturday because that's simply what they do.

I wanted to make The Second Ball because I think there's a brilliant opportunity to bring more people into that world.

The idea is straightforward: to help people discover interesting non-league football matches and turn them into great days out.

Not simply a list of fixtures, league tables or results. There are plenty of places to find those already. Instead, somewhere to discover a match worth watching, a town worth exploring and a few good places to stop along the way.

Where is the ground? How do you get there? Is there a decent pub nearby? What's the town like? What makes this particular Saturday worth spending there?

Those are the sorts of questions The Second Ball hopes to answer.

It is intended for the committed groundhopper as much as the occasional football fan. For the person who follows a Premier League or Championship club but fancies doing something different one weekend. For a group of friends looking for an excuse to get out of the house. And for anyone who thinks a good Saturday should probably involve a train, a couple of pints and a football match.

There is also something important about the places themselves. Non-league football is woven into the fabric of British towns and communities. Its grounds are often imperfect, its facilities occasionally questionable and its histories frequently extraordinary. They are places with character, where football still feels close to the people who make it happen.

I don't think that needs dressing up as nostalgia. This isn't about pretending that football was better in some imagined past. It's about appreciating something that is still very much alive.

We'll be exploring grounds, towns, pubs, journeys and the people who make these clubs what they are. There will be recommendations for upcoming weekends, stories from the road and the occasional detour into the history and peculiarities of the game.

We'll start close to home and see where things take us.

Ultimately, The Second Ball is an invitation to look beyond the obvious. To take a chance on somewhere unfamiliar, to discover a club you might never otherwise have visited and to remember that the best part of a football day out doesn't always happen on the pitch.

The game is only half the story.

See you on a Saturday.