• About this humble little website

Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Popular

30 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in B

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Attenborough, Burton Joyce, Football, G, groundhop, groundhopping, Notts Senior League, Rob Hornby, Roscoe Easom, Ryan Easom, The Poplars

Saturday 25th April 2015 ko 15.20

Notts Senior League- Senior Division

BURTON JOYCE 3 (Buckle 5 Ryan Easom 67 Smith 82) 

Clements missed penalty 4

Roscoe Easom sent off 85 (DOGSO)

ATTENBOROUGH 3 (Nice 9 Elliker 30 61)

Att 279

Entry £3

Programme £1

Was I the only one who thought the hop needed a boost when we parked up at the Poplars? Certainly one goal in two games wasn’t what four clubs, the league and one organiser would have wanted, but even if the game here hadn’t had served up a 6-goal thriller, the boost Burton Joyce gave the event was based on far more than just football. Continue reading →

52.984605 -1.040264

So near….

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in N

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Netherfield Albion, Nottinghamshire FC, Notts Senior League, Rob Hornby, Teal Close, Victoria Park

Saturday 25th April 2015 ko 12.50

Notts Senior League- Division One

NETHERFIELD ALBION 1 (Riley 84)

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 0

Att 292

Entry £3

Programme £1

I was a little puzzled when we set off for Victoria Park, as hop organiser Rob Hornby’s instructions had the club in Teal Close, Gedling, and checking on an online mapping service I couldn’t see a ground there. The answer came when we passed Carlton Town’s ground and encountered a huge queue of traffic! Continue reading →

52.961716 -1.064631

In Defence Of The Nil-Nil Draw

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in B

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bingham Town, Football, groundhopping, Hop, Notts Senior League, Rob Hornby, Ruddington Village

Saturday 25th April 2015 ko 10.10

Notts Senior League- Senior Division

BINGHAM TOWN 0

RUDDINGTON VILLAGE 0

Att 387

Entry £3

Programme £1

Breakfast-in-a box £3.95

I hadn’t paid much attention to Rob Hornby’s schedule for this hop, but when I received my ticket (It always pays to pay in advance for these events) my eyebrow raised a millimetre. Trying to take in 4 games in a day is normal, but achieving the feat with not one of the clubs having floodlights isn’t. It’s been done before, the South Wales Amateur League Hop in 2005 saw a start at Rhydyfelin and a finish at Cwmaman Institute for example, but it does require the clubs to be close together. Still 4 games is always good for value-for-money, and the early finish gets everyone home at a reasonable hour. Continue reading →

52.956349 -0.953903

The Start Of It All

27 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ashland Rovers, Kirkby Town, Newark Flowserve, Norway Trophy, Notts Hop, Notts Senior League, Rob Hornby

Friday 24th April 2015 ko 19.30

Notts Senior League, Division One

ASHLAND ROVERS 3 (Allen 7 Dunn 86 87)

NEWARK FLOWSERVE 3 (Charlton 45 Boddy 50 72)

Att 297

Entry £3

Programme £1

Apart from really not wanting to organise a fourth hop in 8 weeks, having Rob Hornby’s annual jaunt around the Notts Senior League is a godsend for me. Apart from simply becoming a spectator only on a hop, I and everyone else can attend the games knowing that Rob will always make sure his event is run properly. He’s been doing it a long time, across the Central Midlands League and this league, and some of his ideas are now the staple of any hop worthy of the name. If like me you regard, for example, programme packs as the mark of a properly organised event, then thank the genial Mansfield resident. We talk, we co-operate and the events get better and better. Continue reading →

53.095222 -1.246357

Long Walk To Football

27 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in P

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cwm Welfare, Griffithstown, Panteg, Panteg House Sportsgrounds, Pontypool, Welsh League

Wednesday 22nd April 2015 ko 18.30

Welsh League Division Three

PANTEG AFC 4 (Sweeny 9og Probert 43 Dyke 55 Ryan 68) Hicks sent off 87 (foul and abusive language)

CWM WELFARE 0

Att 19

Entry £3

Programme “Sold Out”

I suspect that many British schoolchildren get sent to an outward-bound centre for a week at least once during their education. If, like me, you’re from Oxford that was in Wales, to Glasbury near Ross-on-Wye, and I’ve visited the one for Wales, Gwersyll Yr Urdd for football. But what does that have to do with the Panteg House Sportsground in Pontypool? Continue reading →

51.683037 -3.027590

Treading Caerphilly

26 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in S

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Leading Drove, Peterborough & District League, Pitch 2, Sawtry, Stilton United, Yaxley FC

Tuesday 21st April 2015 ko 18.30

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

STILTON UNITED 0

SAWTRY 4 (B Smith 30p 44 61 Ablitt 55)

Att 24

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

A few years ago, I visited United Counties League side Yaxley at their Leading Drove Ground. The car park was full so I parked at a pitch opposite and a little further along the road. I marvelled at how little there was there, literally just a pitch, two dugouts and two goals surrounded by flat fields all the way to the East coast main line in the distance. The highest structure in the place is the two crossbars! I found out that Stilton FC played there, logged the place for future reference, and completely forgot about the place for 3 years! Continue reading →

52.505170 -0.262992

Through The Round Window

26 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Building, Football, groundhopping, Hamble Club, Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire Premier League, Shell Mex, wessex league, Winchester Castle

Monday 20th April 2015 ko 18.30

Hampshire Premier League- Senior Division

HAMBLE CLUB 4 (Shrimpton 11 Thomson 32 Cox 53 Bull 76)

WINCHESTER CASTLE 0

Att 36

Entry FREE

No Programme

I have a feeling that many will look at my photos of the Shell Mex ground in Hamble-le-Rice and suggest that the new champions’ home isn’t up to much. Yes, the players change in Portakabins, and the tea bar is housed in another. There’s no cover, no hard standing, and the nets behind the goals are a feat of Heath Robinson-style engineering. All of this is true, but pay attention to these pictures carefully, because when you visit, the place will look nothing like this. Continue reading →

50.864975 -1.326938

Cagefighter

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alan Higgs Centre, Allard Way, Barnt Green Spartak, Coventry, Coventry City, Coventry Sphinx, Coventry United, Midland Alliance, Midland Combination, Midland League, Patrick Suffo, The Cage

Saturday 18th April 2015 ko 15.00

Midland League Division Two

COVENTRY UNITED 1 (Stokes 80p)

BARNT GREEN SPARTAK 1 (Semple 44)

Att 98 at “The Cage” Alan Higgs Centre, Allard Way

Entry FREE

Programme £1.50

Badge £2

As the patrons walked across the car park towards the caged grass pitch at the side of the Alan Higgs Leisure centre they walked past a minibus decorated in full Coventry City insignia. It served as a salutary reminder to all on how tenuous a club’s links to its roots can be with City only recently returned after a period in exile in Northampton.

Continue reading →

52.392301 -1.471244

Show me the way

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cheltenham, Cheltenham Civil Service, Cheltenham League, Civil Service, County League, Frampton United, GCHQ, GCHQ United, Gloucestershire County League, Government Communications HeadQuarters, Tewkesbury Road

Wednesday 15th April 2015 ko 18.30

Gloucestershire County League

CHELTENHAM CIVIL SERVICE 0

FRAMPTON UNITED 0

Att 104

Entry FREE

Programme £1.50

In an odd way, the roots of the club aren’t in Cheltenham. The Civil Service suffix refers to GCHQ which used to be based near Swakeleys Junction, Hillingdon. The football club was formed there in 1948 and when the Government Communications HeadQuarters moved to Cheltenham in 1953 the club (and half the team) relocated with it. They moved to their current home at Tewkesbury Road, Uckington, at Cheltenham’s western edge in 1954, and the club renamed itself from GCHQ in 1957 as players from other parts of the Civil Service locally were representing the club. Continue reading →

51.919017 -2.111750

Ambitions

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by laurencereade in S

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

AFC Stoneham, Elliot's, Hamble Club, Hampshire Premier League, Mark Stupple, Pirelli Sports Ground, Stoneham Lane, wessex league

Monday 13th April 2015 ko 18.30

Hampshire Premier League, Senior Division

AFC STONEHAM 1 (Forbes 48)

HAMBLE CLUB 3 (Thomson 5 90 Watts 35)

Att 71

Entry FREE

No Programme

When you visit a few grounds in a particular league, you start to get a feel for that league. And then a club comes along that completely changes that perception and that club for me was AFC Stoneham. Continue reading →

50.960270 -1.380766
← Older posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 6,510 other subscribers

Look for stuff here folks!

Blogroll

  • Damage In The Box Chris Powell’s travels across the UK and Europe. The artist must frequently seen in the pub 0
  • FA Cup Factfile Phil Annets on all things to do with the World’s greatest cup competition 10
  • Football Club History Database Want to know where a club finished in what league and in what year? Richard Rundle’s site is a veritable goldmine! 0
  • Football Hopper “Fast” Eddie McGeown’s erudite perambulations around the nation’s football grounds 0
  • Gibbo's 92 As Atherton Colleries’ programme editor puts it, ” The best trips are random, unplanned and spontaneous.” 0
  • Groundhopping.se Per-Gunnar Nilsson’s trips around his native Sweden, and into Europe 0
  • Grounds for concern The late Mishi Morath’s picture blog. Obviously no longer updated but still a wonderful archive. 0
  • Kate Shrewsday. A thousand thousand stories Not about football, but beautiful writing, Kate can make words dance. 0
  • Modus Hopper Random Graham Yapp’s travels 0
  • Swedish Football History & Statistics Mats Nyström’s curates this site, which does exactly what you’d expect 0
  • The 100 Grounds Club Shaun Smith’s groundhopping football blog. The original internet ground logging website. 0
  • The Football Traveller The bible for every groundhopper. Non-League fixtures magazine delivered weekly. Published and edited by Chris Bedford 0
  • The Intinerant Football Watcher Peter finds the grounds other hoppers cannot reach. Top bloke too! 0
  • The66POW Rob Waite’s travels 0

Your very own calendar!

April 2015
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« Mar   May »

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Football: Wherever it may be
    • Join 494 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Football: Wherever it may be
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar