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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Background

29 Wednesday Apr 2026

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Friday 27th February 2026 ko 19:45

North West Counties League – First Division North

DARWEN 0

COLNE 0

Att 895

Entry £7

Programme £2.50

So back on GroundhopUK duty, but the 4 of us have been doing it so long we just slip into our roles without any great effort, and that also goes for the North West Counties League too. That for us adds up mainly as Martin Fallon, who seems to become a groundhopper for the weekend! Robyn and I were particularly looking forward to visiting Darwen, with their background of Football League membership, but the evening was to straddle comedy and the bleakest of tragedy in the space of minutes.

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Where Every Game Is At Home

26 Sunday Apr 2026

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Saturday 21st February 2026 ko 14:00

Bristol Downs League Division 3

PHOENIX DOWNS 7 (Trott 18 30 50 68 Morris-Edwards 45 Hilton 57 Green 66)

HELIOS 0

Att 1 at Pitch 26, Circular Road, Clifton Down, Bristol

Free Entry

Every so often groundhoppers start worrying about what counts. Is this a ground? Or should this be discounted? I have long since worked out that if there’s a football match being played, then its of interest. I’d make two other observations; that you don’t fancy watching something then that’s your prerogative, and that some with the most hard and fast rules often don’t have the experience to back it up. I’d also observe that no-one should act as a gatekeeper as to what does or doesn’t count; it’s your hobby with your rules.

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Van Diemen’s Land 

22 Wednesday Apr 2026

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Tuesday 12th February 2026 ko 19:30

Central Midlands Alliance-Floodlit Cup 2nd Round

MELBOURNE DYNAMO 2 (Bickerton 45+1 Goodband 66)

Peverley sent off 66 (2nd booking)

FC SUNNYHILL

Att 89

Free Entry

It seems a million years ago since the days of the Central Midlands League Hops (the last was in 2012) and these days the league is now the Central Midlands Alliance following a merger with the Midlands Regional Alliance in 2023. Melbourne is a small town in Derbyshire, close to Castle Donington Race Circuit. It is perhaps best known as being the birthplace of Thomas Cook of package holidays fame.

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Pillgwenlly

20 Monday Apr 2026

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Saturday February 14th 2016 ko 14:00

Gwent Premier League, Premier Division
PILL AFC 1 (Simmons 38)
P.I.L.C.S. 1 (Jayne 24)

Att 25 at Pill Harriers Sports Club, Newport

Free Entry

You may recall the Welsh Hop paying Pill YMCA at Mendalgief Road a visit back in 2018. It was during Pill’s fairly brief merger with Newport YMCA; Pill AFC moved back to the other side of the Transporter Bridge to their spiritual home of Pill Harriers Sports Club soon after out visit. I’m not sure why they did, but unquestionably you do get a better view of the bridge!

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Six Towns

16 Thursday Apr 2026

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Saturday 24th January 2026 ko 15:00

Midland League Premier Division

HANLEY TOWN 8 (Middleton 33 Porter 35 80 J van der Laan 38 52 60 T van der Laan 75 87)

STUDLEY 0

Att 84

Entry £10

No programme

Groundhoppers do like to complete leagues it seems, but why not try for other things to complete? I’ve done the Stockwood treble in Bristol, and the Lenton Lane triple in Nottingham, that sadly is no longer possible. But here’s another, Stoke is famously the UK’s only polycentric city, consisting of the six towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton so why not try for football in each of them?

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La Passione

14 Tuesday Apr 2026

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Sunday 11th January 2026 ko 20:45

Serie A

INTERNAZIONALE MILANO 2 (DiMarco10 Calmanoglou 72p)

SSC NAPOLI 2 (McTominay 26 81)

Antonio Conte (manager) sent off 71 (foul & abusive)

Att 72,567 at Stadio Guiseppe Meazza, San Siro, Milano

Entry €69

I remember the first game Robyn and I watched together, we got thoroughly soaked in suburban Cardiff, and I remarked how lucky I was to have a girlfriend that loved football. That was 10 years ago and Robyn is now my wife, but even after travelling all over Europe (and a visit to Morocco) she decided to celebrate the anniversary by surprising me with a trip to Milan to visit the San Siro. I’ll say it again- I’m a lucky boy!

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Gorgonzola

10 Friday Apr 2026

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Saturday 10th January 2026 ko 14:30

Serie C Girone A

A.S. GIANA ERMINIO 0

A.C. RENATE 1 (Karlsson 33)

Att c600 at Stadio Citta di Gorgonzola

Entry €10

Robyn and I were in Milan for the weekend, and true to form this wasn’t a trip that involved wall-to-wall football. We’d visited the stunning La Scala Opera House, and the equally beautiful Cathedral- the Duomo di Milano but stood as we were in the piazza outside, we looked at each other and decided we fancied watching a game.

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Ram

08 Wednesday Apr 2026

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Sunday 4th January 2026 ko 15:00

EFL Championship

DERBY COUNTY 1 (Brereton-Diaz 34)

WREXHAM 2 (Smith 25 James 48)

Att 29,939

Entry £37

Programme £4

Sometimes you go groundhopping for others. It was the end of the Christmas break, and with our friend Andreas over from Stuttgart, we let him pick the game. He’s nearing the completion of his 92 but needed Port Vale, so I booked tickets for he, Robyn and I, and set off only to lose the game due to a waterlogged pitch when we were roughly an hour north of Oxford.

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