Taking Stock… again!

03 Wednesday Jun 2026

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Saturday 14th March 2026 ko 13:15

Lowland League

COWDENBEATH 0

BERWICK RANGERS 2 (Binnie 1 16)

Att 406

Entry £11

Programme £3.50

You could say GroundhopUK and Cowdenbeath go back a fair way. After all Chris Berezai and I visited Central Park back in 2008 to watch Annan Athletic’s first game in the Scottish League, from then the Blue Brazil’s fortunes rocketed, the club were playing in what is now called the Scottish Championship in 2010. But from that zenith the club’s form plummeted, and by the time we visited Kelty Hearts on the 2018 Hop, Cowdenbeath were back in the bottom tier of the SPFL. The assumption seemed to be that Kelty would swap places with the Fife neighbours.

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Albert

02 Tuesday Jun 2026

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Saturday 14th March 2026 ko 10:45

East of Scotland League – Division Two

LOCHGELLY ALBERT 1 (Donald 7og)

INVERKEITHING HILLFIELD SWIFTS 4 (Vannett 3 Shears 13 48 87)

Att 303

Entry £7

Programme £2

I always look forward to GroundhopUK’s visits to the Kingdom of Fife but sadly on this occasion the news wasn’t good, one of the coach drivers had been rushed to hospital after collapsing at a filling station. His condition wasn’t life threatening, thank God, and his wife was travelling from South Wales to Dunfermline Hospital to be with him.

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The Enclosure Act

31 Sunday May 2026

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Friday 13th March 2026 ko 19:30

East of Scotland League Premier Division

HUTCHISON VALE 3 (Forster 17 57 Wilson-Need 57)

WHITBURN JUNIOR 2 (Nicolson 66 75)

Att 246

Entry £8

Programme £2

In groundhopping terms at least, a trip to Edinburgh’s Saughton Enclosure was long overdue. We’d planned on visiting as the 4th game on the Saturday of the Scottish Hop back in 2018. That was the year of the cold snap- it was bad enough at the Oriam Indoors, so losing the game at the then titled Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale was not necessarily bad news!!

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Scrubs

20 Wednesday May 2026

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Tuesday 10th March 2026 ko 19:45

Middlesex County League- Premier Division

KENSINGTON DRAGONS 3 (Martin 2 Springer 40 Tunc 60)

LONDON FENNECS 3 (Atoub 43p Rouighi 48 Mezaoui 88)

Att 29

Free Entry

Programme £3

It always pays to grasp opportunties when they present themselves so when journalist and QPR fan Tony Incenzo announced a midweek floodlit game in West London I was more than interested. And with a programme too? It would have been rude not to!

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Faerpinga in Middelenglum

17 Sunday May 2026

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Saturday 7th March 2026 ko 14:00

Witney & District League Premier Division

CHARLBURY TOWN 1 (Robinson 61)

HANBOROUGH 1 (Varney 22)

Att 27

Free Entry

I’m sure I’ll never be the kind of groundhopper that’ll be able to say “I’ve completed down to…” or anything specific save for the “92.” There’s too much in my footballing life for that kind of thing, the Oxford United season ticket, GroundhopUK, trips abroad, and a love of football right at grassroots. But there is something fairly consistant about my liking for local football.

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Slightly Miffed Strawberry Blond

15 Friday May 2026

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Sunday 1st March 2026 ko 14:30

North West Counties League First Division North

DAISY HILL 2 (Sheppard 10 Singleton 73)

STEETON 0

Emmerson sent off 90+3 (violent conduct)

Att 478

Entry £7

Programme £2

Things have changed in Westhoughton. We’d become aware of just how much at the start of last year’s hop at Ramsbottom when the attendance at the New Sirs was far higher than ours! Then when we advertised this year’s hop on the GroundhopUK website using a photo at Daisy Hill from a couple of years ago we were told by the club that no, they don’t play at the New Sirs, the ground is now called “The Ginge Power Stadium” as the ground is now sponsored by streamer Angryginge!

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Free Fallin’

11 Monday May 2026

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Sunday 1st March 2026 ko 11:30

North West Counties League Premier Division

ATHERTON LABURNUM ROVERS 2 (Bacon 5 Obasoto 73)

EUXTON VILLA 0

Att 593

Entry £6

Programme £2

Sunday dawned, or more interestly St David’s Day, and the groundhopping tradition of buying my wife Robyn Daffodils. Robyn is from Bristol, and since we visited Albania and our friend Ditmar famously said, “Bristol, isn’t that nearly in Wales?” she’s been teased about being “Welsh” ever since! It’s not often a girl from Bristol walks round Atherton with a bunch of daffs is it?

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Mechanics

05 Tuesday May 2026

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Saturday 28th February 2026 ko 19:30

North West Counties League First Division North

AFC BLACKPOOL 3 (Smith 1 Robinson 16 Bury 74)

HOLKER OLD BOYS 0

Att 405

Entry £6

Programme £2

Is it wrong that I still think of AFC Blackpool as their former selves at Blackpool Mechanics? The club started out in 1947 as Blackpool Metal Mechanics before changing their name to Blackpool Mechanics soon after. They initially played at part of Stanley Park in the town before moving to Jepson Way in 1949.

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Linings

03 Sunday May 2026

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Saturday 28th February 2026

14:00 North West Counties League Division One North

THORNTON CLEVERLEYS P

MSB WOOLTON P

Postponed – waterlogged pitch

14:00 West Lancashire League Richardson Cup 3rd Round

BLACKPOOL WREN ROVERS 4 (Makepeace 15 Hanslip 56 90+2)

ASTLEY & BUCKSHAW UNITED 0

Att 218

Entry £3

17:00 North West Counties League First Division North

SQUIRES GATE 3 (Riley 21 Squires 46 Hawley 55og)

NELSON 5 (Hawley 17 Hughes 32 88 Green 72 81)

Att 482

Entry £7

Programme £3

We got the news as we were about to leave Fulwood Amateurs. There’d been rain but no-one had any inkling that there was an issue at Thornton Cleverleys. We knew how much the club were looking forward to hosting to the point that they’d asked to be involved well before joining the league. That hit us, and no doubt them hard, and hearing stories from folks that were already there makes us uneasy about what happened and why. We are still getting to the bottom of why Cleverleys weren’t at least given time to work on the pitch- we did have wriggle room after all. But for the avoidance of any doubt, Thornton Cleverleys will be on a subsquent hop, either in the North West Counties or the West Lancs- they were completely blameless in all of this. And after all that’s said and done, their floodlights could be useful!

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The Tower

03 Sunday May 2026

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Saturday 2th February 2026 ko 11:00

North West Counties League First Division North

FULWOOD AMATEURS 2 (Lucas 6 7)

GARSTANG 2 (Carter 43 Bajiraliu 45+3)

Att 519

Entry £5

Programme £3

Saturday saw us head back to a familiar stomping ground for the North West Counties Hop- Blackpool, although you could easily include the West Lancashire League too. That proved to be prophetic for our day sad to say. Our first stop saw us in Preston’s environs, to Fulwood and a side spending their first seasonat Step 6 but there was a little intrigue to start with!

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