Monthly Archives: April 2015

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30 Thursday Apr 2015

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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 →

So near….

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

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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 →

In Defence Of The Nil-Nil Draw

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

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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 →

The Start Of It All

27 Monday Apr 2015

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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 →

Long Walk To Football

27 Monday Apr 2015

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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 →

Treading Caerphilly

26 Sunday Apr 2015

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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 →

Through The Round Window

26 Sunday Apr 2015

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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 →

Cagefighter

19 Sunday Apr 2015

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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 →

Show me the way

19 Sunday Apr 2015

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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 →

Ambitions

19 Sunday Apr 2015

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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 →