Friends

22 Wednesday Jul 2026

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Saturday 16th May 2026 ko 18:30

North Berkshire Cup Final

BERINSFIELD 3 (Holdsworth 33p Palmer 49 Hinkin 64)

COMPTON 0

Att 215 at Abingdon United FC

Entry & Programme £5

I can’t pretend I couldn’t see the demise of the North Berkshire League coming. When I left the league’s committee 2 years ago the league was down to 2 divisions from 5 when the league was at its peak. Like just about everyone involved in football in the Shire, I’d heard the rumours about a mass exodus to the Oxon Senior League, but hoped that it was either an exaggeration or that the league might find replacement clubs.

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Mynydd y Gaer 

21 Tuesday Jul 2026

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Saturday 9th May 2026 ko 14:30

Ardal North West

CPD LLANNEFYDD 3 (Salisbury 4 Owen 30 Edwards 90)

MYNYDD ISA 1 (Beck 36)

Att 58

Entry £5

It has to be said that Robyn my wife does come up with our best ideas. She fancied a weekend in North Wales so we spent a few days exploring Snowdonia from a base in Llandudno. For me it was a chance to revisit a lot of the places we visited in the days of the Welsh Alliance Hops and introduce Robyn to some seriously long placenames. But somehow we ended up at one with quite a short name really….

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The Drawbridge

21 Tuesday Jul 2026

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Monday 4th May 2026 ko 15:00

Midland League Division 2

WAKE GREEN AMATEUR 1 (Kelly 56)

Kelly penalty saved 29

NORTHFIELD TOWN 6 (Halpin 8 32 73 Ward 31 Forbes 54 Parker 84og)

Att 71

Entry £5

I know why I found myself in Solihull’s environs- local football at the lower divisions is a lot of fun and there”s plenty of it. So much so that I’ve been heading to this part of the world for the best part of twenty years, and I’m still turning up interesting grounds, Wake Green being a case in point.

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The Oldest Club in… well….

17 Friday Jul 2026

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Saturday 2nd May 2026 ko 15:00

Shropshire County League Premier Division

LLANYMYNECH 1 (Thomas 46)

WHITCHURCH ALPORT 1946 5 (Jones 24 Milburn 25 Hailes 48 Owen 66 Cadman 87)

Att 21

Free Entry

Back in medieval times the border between modern day English Shropshire and Welsh Montgomeryshire must have been fairly porous. Even hundreds of years later there are still towns with Welsh names in England such as Trefonen and vice versa. But none managed to be quite as odd as Llanmynech the village that manages to be both English and Welsh!

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Coleridge

16 Thursday Jul 2026

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Saturday 18th April 2026 ko 15:00

Somerset County League Premier Division

CLEVEDON UNITED 1 (Morgan 63p)

CLEVEDON AFC 1 (Wilcox 5)

Att 327

Entry, Badge and Ticket (in advance) £7

I’d been impressed by the organisation at Congresbury but I also knew a hop game at Clevedon United came witb its own challenges. The ground at Coleridge (of Rime of the Ancient Mariner fame) Vale is both open, there is no boundary fence or wall, and the football pitch is adjacent to a rugby ground, and there would be a game taking place there at the same time as the football! It certainly looked a challenge!

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Zumerzet

13 Monday Jul 2026

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Saturday 18th April 2026 ko 11:30

Somerset County League Premier Division

CONGRESBURY 0

WORLE 0

Att 211

Entry, Programme, Bacon Roll, Badge £10 (if bought in advance)

On the day entry £4, Programme £2

From pretty much the moment that Bristolian Robyn and I became an item 10 years ago the Somerset County League has been a favourite destination on my regular visits west. There’s no secret that I’d like to see more organised groundhops at Step 7 and below, variety is the spice of life after all. GroundhopUK did speak with the league about an event for Somerset, but organising an eighth event in a season would have been too much for us. Our offering ended up being the West Lancashire League Hop in August, and the Somerset County League opted to organise their event for themselves.

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Bold as a Sergeant Major

12 Sunday Jul 2026

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Tuesday 14th April 2026 ko 19:30

Combined Counties League Division One

OXHEY JETS 1 (Mosca 59)

HILLINGDON BOROUGH 0

Att 89

Entry £8

Teamsheet FREE

After the exertions of the Northern Hop both Robyn and I took a little time to ourselves. I concentrated myself in Oxford United’s vain attempts to stay in the Championship, and watched with growing concern at what was going on in the North Berkshire League- I’d been on committee there until 2 years ago, but still maintained an interest from afar. But then Robyn fancied an evening game, and there was more than a touch of tragedy about heading here.

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North West

08 Wednesday Jul 2026

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Monday 6th April 2026 ko 14:30

Northern League Division Two

SUNDERLAND WEST END 2 (Benali 14 30)

SUNDERLAND RYHOPE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 4 (Forster 7og Knight 74 79 Dumba 90+8)

Att 475 at Ford Quarry Sports Hub

Entry £5

Programme £2

When the Northern League emailed over the line-up for the Easter Hop over to GroundhopUK, I did what many other groundhoppers would do, and that is to see how many new ground “ticks” I’d be clocking up. And if that is the limit of your emotional involvement you’ll have an enjoyable weekend, but as organiser you’ll never be that divorced from it all.

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People’s March

07 Tuesday Jul 2026

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Monday 6th April 2026 ko 11:30

Northern League Division Two

JARROW 2 (Barber 64 Hardie 74)

BOLDON COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 2 (Laidler 45+1 Devlin 90+3)

Whitfield (assistant manager) sent off 56 (serious foul play)

Att 507

Entry £5

Programme £2

The Northern Hop’s last day has all the feel of trying to reintregrate outselves into the real world after 10 games in 4 days. Robyn and I were tasked with taking “Welsh Football” editor Dave Collins to Darlington Station- unfortunately Bank Holiday Monday and trains to Cardiff don’t mix!

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One From The Ladies

03 Friday Jul 2026

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Sunday 5th April 2026 ko 18:30

Northern League Division Two

DURHAM UNITED 4 (Kay 28 87 90+3 Dixon 55)

ESH WINNING 2 (Jowett 57 Cherrie 81)

Att 382 at Maiden Castle

Entry £6

Programme £2

Around 2 and half years ago Robyn and I were planning our route home to Oxford from a trip to Carlisle United and decided to make a game on our way home. Our options were Sunderland Women playing at Eppleton CW or Durham WFC at The Graham Sports Centre, Maiden Castle. We picked Sunderland, mainly due to Eppleton’s history in the Northern League. Since Durham United also use Maiden Castle it, unwittingly turned into a good choice!

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