About Barnstoneworth United FC
Background on the team and the origins of the team name
Barnstoneworth United is named after a fictional football team that was the subject of a classic Ripping Yarns episode called "Golden Gordon". Ripping Yarns is a British television comedy series, shown on BBC 2 during the seventies. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. This is the plot outline (Thanks to Wikipedia):
Plot: Barnstoneworth United is a small football club, once playing in the top leagues, now losing every game. One of their fans, Gordon Ottershaw (Michael Palin), who has named his son Barnstoneworth United (John Berlyne), comes home after every lost match and smashes the furniture in fury. His wife Eileen (Gwen Taylor) quietly accepts this. She keeps trying to tell him that she's having a baby, but he seems not to notice. After an 8-1 defeat by an elderly team ("Eight One - Eight bloody One! - And even that were an own goal!"), it is decided that the club be sold to a scrap dealer. The upcoming match against Denley Moor (the scene of The Testing of Eric Olthwaite) will therefore be the last. Gordon visits the owner, Mr. Foggen (Bill Fraser), and tries to persuade him to keep the club alive. Foggen refuses. But Gordon has another idea. He starts visiting the players from the great 1922 team, reassembling them for the last match. The day of the match it looks bad for Barnstoneworth. They have only four players (and three pairs of shorts), whereas the captain of the Denley Moor team is the famous Eric Olthwaite. At the last minute, Gordon arrives with the old team, who defeat Denley Moor. Gordon arrives home and the family smashes the furniture together in happiness.
"Golden Gordon" (and the rest of Ripping Yarns) is on YouTube. It lasts about 20 minutes so make a cup of tea first. Here are the links:
About HFA
Information about the Houston Football Association
Created in 1978, HFA is a soccer powerhouse in Texas. HFA is a member of the Texas State Soccer Association, South and is affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation. HFA is a non-profit organization and has a permanent office with a staff Adminstrator to assist the membership and to administer the league on a professional basis. HFA has grown to 98 teams representing more than 70 nations.
The regular season kicks off mid-September and runs through the end of April or May with a break during the holiday seasons. HFA's Memorial Cup runs through the course of the season with the Final being played the first weekend of June. All teams participate in the Memorial Cup, a single-elimination competition. In the 2010/11 season, we added the HFA Shield for teams that lost in the opening round of the Memorial Cup.
HFA boasts nine divisions with 10 teams in each division and more than 2500 players.
The Premier division competes on Saturday and Sunday evenings at Bayland Park. This division promotes the highly skilled player at the professional, national and local levels. This division also prepares Under 19 players for their collegiate career. Games are designed to promote high level competition and sportsmanship while also serving as a roll model for the youth players of tomorrow. Some of our players have progressed to play in the Major League Soccer (MLS) as well as the State Select Team program, earning scholarships to colleges across the country. Premier is also the home to many former MLS players to continue their post-professional soccer careers. Premier games are free to the public and are well attended.
All other divisions play at Bear Creek Park, located at 15115 Clay Rd., between Hwy 6 and Eldridge. Map
The Championship and first divisions are very competitive and teams aspire to join the Premier division. The second divisions also maintain a fast pace and competitive standard. Third divisions and Fourth are somewhat more recreational, but this only designates players with a wide range of skills who are unable to dedicate a lot of time to their game because of professional and personal responsibilities.
HFA hosts an Annual Soccer Tournament at Bear Creek Park in late March/early April, which is aimed at providing challenging competition from across Texas and the Southwest.
HFA enjoys a close relationship with the various soccer organizations in Houston. Many of its players coach or train youth teams professionally, and youth players traditionally advance to HFA teams when their youth careers are completed. There are no upper or lower age limits on players in HFA, but we don't recommend the league to anyone younger than 15 or 16.
Barnstoneworth United is named after a fictional football team that was the subject of a classic Ripping Yarns episode called "Golden Gordon". Ripping Yarns is a British television comedy series, shown on BBC 2 during the seventies. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. This is the plot outline (Thanks to Wikipedia):
Created in 1978, HFA is a soccer powerhouse in Texas. HFA is a member of the Texas State Soccer Association, South and is affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation. HFA is a non-profit organization and has a permanent office with a staff Adminstrator to assist the membership and to administer the league on a professional basis. HFA has grown to 98 teams representing more than 70 nations.
