How I watched football: 2015-16

Hundreds of miles from home, fenced in on a crumbling, open terrace. Cold. Soaked through. I’d just watched my team lose 2-0. It was the best night of my life.

In October, Wales qualified for Euro 2016. The only dream I’ve ever allowed myself to have, realised in front of my eyes. In a football sense, nothing that followed was going to come close to topping that, nor frankly, was it going to matter.

Which is perhaps just as well, given seven months on I would end this season watching my club cement relegation with a listless stroll in the May sunshine. With a summer in France to save for, and League One’s clubs largely centred on the M62 corridor, living in London was merciful mitigation for seeing little of the post-Christmas free-fall that dragged Doncaster Rovers into the fourth tier.

Instead I watched the football on my doorstep at Dulwich Hamlet and Lewisham Borough. The latter, bottom of their division for three of the last four seasons, are the worst team I’ve ever paid money to watch. They have no stands and no cover and there are often more people playing than watching. But I can walk there in half an hour, and on occasion, like the freezing cold night in March when their new number nine (so new his team-mates called him ‘nine’) received the ball and, belaying his previous 49 minutes of clumsy ineffectuality, rolled it round one opponent, side-stepped another, then from 35 yards let fly with an outrageous dipping strike that clipped the underside of the bar on its way into the net for the opening goal; there is nowhere else to be.

Sure, it’s a far cry from that night in Zenica, but it’s enough to make you involuntarily cheer and clap for men you’ve no attachment to beyond the 484 bus route.

Glen Wilson

Match 1 | JulyOxford United 2-5 Doncaster Rovers Belles
FA Women’s Super League 2

Match 2 | AugustDoncaster Rovers 1-1 Bury
Football League One

Match 3 | AugustSevenoaks Town 1-1 Seven Acre & Sidcup
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Match 4 | AugustMillwall Lionesses 0-5 Doncaster Rovers Belles
FA Women’s Super League 2

Match 5 | AugustRadford 1-2 Spalding United
FA Cup Preliminary Round

Match 6 | SeptemberCyprus 0-1 Wales
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifier

Match 7 | SeptemberReading Women 2-2 Doncaster Rovers Belles
FA Women’s Super League

Match 8 | SeptemberWales 0-0 Israel
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifier

Match 9 | SeptemberTilbury 1-1 St Neots Town
FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round

Match 10 | SeptemberPhoenix Sports 3-5 AFC Hornchurch
FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

Match 11 | OctoberDoncaster Rovers 2-1 Barnsley
Football League One

Match 12 | OctoberDoncaster Rovers Belles 3-0 Oxford United
FA Women’s Super League 2

Match 13 | October
Bosnia & Herzegovina 2-0 Wales
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifier

Match 14 | OctoberWales 2-0 Andorra
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifier

Match 15 | OctoberFA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
Chesham United 2-1 Enfield Town

Match 16 | OctoberMillwall 2-0 Doncaster Rovers
Football League One

Match 17 | NovemberDulwich Hamlet 4-2 Hendon
Isthmian League Premier Division

Match 18 | NovemberClapton 1-1 Newham
Essex Senior League

Match 19 | NovemberSutton United 3-0 Havant & Waterlooville
National League South

Match 20 | December
Cambridge United 1-3 Doncaster Rovers
FA Cup Second Round

Match 21 | December
Doncaster Rovers 3-2 Crewe Alexandra
Football League One

Match 22| DecemberHertford Town 3-0 Tring Athletic
Spartan South Midlands Premier League

Match 23 | DecemberKings Lynn Town 0-3 Kettering Town
Southern Premier League

Match 24 | DecemberLlandudno 1-2 Bangor City
Welsh Premier League

Match 25 | JanuarySouthend United 0-3 Doncaster Rovers
Football League One

Match 26 | January
Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Stoke City
FA Cup Third Round

Match 27 | JanuaryDulwich Hamlet 1-2 Guiseley
FA Trophy Second Round

Match 28 | JanuaryWhyteleafe 1-1 Three Bridges
Isthmian League Division One South

Match 29 | FebruaryDoncaster Rovers 0-1 Sheffield United
Football League One

Match 30 | FebruaryDulwich Hamlet 2-2 East Thurrock United
Isthmian League Premier Division

Match 31 | MarchLewisham Borough 1-2 Bridon Ropes
Kent Invicta League

Match 32 | MarchAFC Croydon Athletic 0-6 Greenwich Borough
Southern Counties East League

Match 33 | MarchDulwich Hamlet 1-1 Burgess Hill Town
Isthmian League Premier Division

Match 34 | MarchCray Valley Paper Mills 3-1 Corinthian
Southern Counties East League

Match 35 | March
Colchester United 4-1 Doncaster Rovers
Football League One

Match 36 | MarchHanwell Town 0-3 Arlesey Town
Southern League Division One Central

Match 37 | March
Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Blackpool
Football League One

Match 38 | AprilLewisham Borough 1-1 AC London
Kent Invicta League

Match 39 | AprilTooting & Mitcham United 2-2 Molesey
Isthmian League Division One South

Match 40 | April
Sutton United 2-0 Ebbsfleet United
National League South

Match 41 | AprilBirmingham City Ladies 2-1 Doncaster Rovers Belles
FA Women’s Super League 1

Match 42 | AprilLewisham Borough 1-1 Orpington
Kent Invicta League

Match 43 | MayManchester City Women 6-0 Doncaster Rovers Belles
FA Women’s Super League 1

Match 44 | MayDoncaster Rovers 0-0 Burton Albion
Football League One

All pictures taken with an iphone and instagram, rather than a camera.