Monthly Archives: August 2013

Thinking About The Lions

15 Thursday Aug 2013

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Tuesday 13th August 2013 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League Division One

FC BROXBOURNE BOROUGH 1 (Hussey 6) Bashkal sent off 90 (2nd booking)

WELWYN GARDEN CITY 0

Att 76

Entry FREE

Programme £1

Whilst I enjoyed my Saturday in Cumbria, I’d found it slightly bruising. I like to see all of these events go off as flawlessly as possible, so after digesting the lessons learned, it was good to get back to simple, solo groundhopping, and a nice easy one at that.

The Borough of Broxbourne is probably best known as being where Tesco’s head office is based, in Cheshunt, but there’s News International’s Park Plaza, Waltham Cross to consider also. It’s the world’s largest printing plant, printing the English editions of The Sun and The Times amongst others. It can produce 86,000 newspapers per hour on each of its twelve printing presses. It cost £350 million and replaced the News International press in Wapping, the scene of a strike and civil disobedience when it closed in 1986.

The club play on the outskirts of Cheshunt, and that’s where the fun starts. Continue reading →

The Learning Curve

12 Monday Aug 2013

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Saturday 10th August 2013 ko 19.00

Northern League Division One

PENRITH AFC 2 (Rigg 35 71)

NEWTON AYCLIFFE 4 (Earl 19 21 Owens 59 86)

Att 380

Entry £5

Programme £1 (?)

Team Sheet 20p

The trip east from Whitehaven was memorable for the views of Bassenthwaite Lake, and given that I arrived at Penrith AFC a good hour before kick-off I wish I’d stopped for a few photos.

You are now in the Eden Valley, just north of the River Eamont, and since you’re less than 3 miles north of the boundary of the Lake District National Park, the view from the main stand at Frenchfield Park is spectacular! Even behind the goal, the cows took an agricultural, if slightly dismissive view of proceedings. Continue reading →

Rum

11 Sunday Aug 2013

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Saturday 10th August 2013 ko 15.00

Northern League Division 2

WHITEHAVEN AFC 2 (Donald 23 64)

CHESTER-LE-STREET TOWN 1 (Grant-Soulsby 77)

Att 208

Entry ?

Programme £1

Badge £2.50

It was very much a case of “Gentlemen start your engines,” as the match finished at Celtic Nation. The road out from the ground was narrow and congested, and I knew from experience that Carlisle city centre can be a nightmare to negotiate. Hop organiser Harvey Harris looked frustrated. sat in the courier seat of the coach as a stream of cars passed by, his coach blocked in by a single pesky, inconsiderate car. He finally got away about 10 cars behind me, but once out of Carlisle it was a straightforward enough drive west to Whitehaven.

The coastal town is possibly best known for being the most complete example of planned Continue reading →

What’s in a name?

11 Sunday Aug 2013

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Saturday 10th March 2013 ko 11.00am

Northern League Division One

CELTIC NATION 1 (Allan 86)

BISHOP AUCKLAND 1 (Moncur 24)

Att 409

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

The hobby of groundhopping owes the Northern League and General Secretary Mike Amos a debt of gratitude, as it was they in 1992 invented the organised groundhop, staggered kick-offs over a day or days to attract the groundhoppers. The idea has grown, and this season there are set to be at least 11 such events, including 3 more where it all started, in the Northern League who are celebrating their 125th anniversary. Or put another way, after 17 years, the Northern League Hop is back on the calendar!

The first game back was an intriguing one. Celtic Nation are based at the former Railway Club in southern Carlisle and used to be called Gillford Park. They played at the ground next door to the Rugby League club, Carlisle RLFC. When the rugby league club were merged into Barrow RLFC following the introduction of summer rugby and Super League, the football bought the ground and moved in. More machinations were to follow when Gillford Park gained sponsorship from Frank Lynch, an American millionaire with the idea of setting the club up as a team for the Irish and Scots community. The name was changed and Celtic FC’s strip of green and white hoops adopted.

Its obvious that significant investment has occurred. Many at the game were convinced that Celtic are now Continue reading →

McGlide

11 Sunday Aug 2013

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Wednesday 7th August 2013 ko 19.30

Pre-Season Friendly

DIDCOT TOWN 0

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Marsh 13 71 McGlade 27)

Att c150

Entry £6

No Programme

I like visits to Didcot Town’s Loop Meadow Stadium, as unlike at least one club local to me the welcome is always fulsome, and the they work at the little things that add up to great customer service.

This game proved the point well. The press area required the line-ups, so the club knocked up a team sheet at zero notice. It wasn’t pretty, but it did the job and was much appreciated.

It did seem odd recording this as a Continue reading →

De-Merit Town

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

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Sunday 28th July 2013

Adinkerke, Belgium

Tonight my game has been cancelled, and it’s too late to find an alternative. So I’ll write the article I’ve been promising Splodge for a day or two.

It’s about our trip to Belgium a couple of weeks ago, and the inevitable stop along the way. If you take either the Channel Tunnel, or the ferries to Calais or Dunkirk, then head north towards Belgium, the first town you’ll reach once you’ve crossed the border is Adinkerke.

Its part of a conurbation with the coastal town of De Panne, and during both World Wars the town saw significant action including many casualties during the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940. There’s a military cemetery on the outskirts of the town, and the pontoon-style bridge does hint at its military past as you enter the town from the road past the oddly named Plopsaland Continue reading →

Flight of Fancy

05 Monday Aug 2013

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Sunday 4th August 2013

Faringdon Folly

Entry £2

If you drive along the A420 from Oxford to Swindon, you’ll spot a hill on your right just before Faringdon.  Its not the largest hill you’ll ever see, or the most prepossessing, but the turret that pokes out of the top of the Scots Pines gives a clue as to its interest.

The hill’s history massively pre-dates the turret, as it was fortified by supporters of Matilda sometime during the Anarchy (1135–1141) – her campaign to claim the throne from King Stephen – but was soon razed to the ground by once he’d won the war. Oliver Cromwell fortified it again in his unsuccessful campaign to defeat the Royalist garrison at Faringdon House, during the English Civil War.

It wasn’t until 1935 that the turret, or tower if you’d prefer was built, and that dear reader is where the fun really starts! Continue reading →

The Neighbours

04 Sunday Aug 2013

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Saturday 3rd August 2013 ko 15.00

Combined Counties League Premier Division

WESTFIELD 1 (Williams 15)

CHESSINGTON & HOOK UNITED 0 Gilbert sent off 83 (2nd booking)

Att 103

Entry £6

Programme

To the beginner groundhopper the name Westfield or Westfields is a recipe for confusion. There’s Westfields, based in Hereford, and Sussex-Leaguers Westfield too. See the problem?

To avoid any doubt, this Westfield calls Woking home, but my confusion was complete when the sat-nav brought me to the Kingfield, Woking FC’s ground! I wasn’t too far wrong, Woking Park is only 150 yards away!

The place is futuristic, a feature of a 2011 building project, that turned Woking Park into something of a hub. Apart from the football, there’s boxing, and various Scout and Guide troops. I shouldn’t have been surprised at the looks of the place, Woking after all does have Continue reading →

Sleepy Hollow

02 Friday Aug 2013

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Tuesday 30th July 2013 ko 19.00

Stewards Cup

HAMBLEDEN 0

HENLEY TOWN 5 (Sawyer 18 Rann 50 Cripps 64 65 74)

Att 30

Entry FREE

No Programme

If ever there was a contrast with my last game, this was it. For the avoidance of doubt, this is HambledEn, near Henley-on-Thames, and not HambledOn in Hampshire.

Its best approached from the Stokenchurch turn on the M40, and you drive along narrow lanes down in the valley through the most bucolic villages. I used to live in Henley so the area is known to me, and with a connection or two to the former Brakspear brewery I knew most of the pubs too! And how could you not love The Frog pub when it’s in a village of Skirmett!! I wonder if Jim Henson stopped for a pint! Continue reading →

The Moon Extinguishers

01 Thursday Aug 2013

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Sunday 29th July 2013 ko 20.30

Belgian Pro-League

YELLOW RED KONINKLIJKE VOETBALCLUB MECHELEN 0

ROYAL STANDARD DE LIÈGE 2 (Mujangibia 56 Batshuayi 84)

Att 10,402

Entry €20 (terrace)

Programme FREE

Firstly, lets abbreviate those club names, its KV Mechelen versus Standard Liège. I’m all for getting things recorded correctly, but there is a limit! Continue reading →