Monthly Archives: June 2019

Something On It

30 Sunday Jun 2019

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Saturday 18th May 2019 ko 14.30

South Devon League Division 4

ILSINGTON VILLA 0

GALMPTON UNITED 0

Att 66

Free Entry

Sometimes circumstances mean the cards fall neatly in your favour. Robyn and I knew we’d be visiting friends in Plymouth so a game on the way made sense. The issue was that in mid-May a lot of the leagues local to Plymouth or on our way would be finished so I looked more in hope than expectation. But then then I spotted something….

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Passing By

26 Wednesday Jun 2019

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Wednesday 15th May 2019 ko 18.25

East Berkshire League- Premier Division

FC BEACONSFIELD 3 (Peddle 39 76 Howell 76)

OLD WINDSOR 0

Att 12

Free Entry

A few years ago you could add your own points of interest to SatNav’s. That was handy, as you could add all kinds of things useful to groundhoppers such as football grounds, petrol stations, pubs and so on. I even knew one hopper who had a Little Chefs download!  My non-league football grounds download died along with my old SatNav but I remember the little football icon that I spotted every time I passed under the bridge on the M40 approaching Beaconsfield from Loudwater. As my OCD invitably takes me I always fancied visiting, but I had no idea who played there!
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The Four Timer

25 Tuesday Jun 2019

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Saturday 11th May 2016 ko 18.00

North Berkshire Cup Final

DRAYTON 1 (Dennis 87p) 

SAXTON ROVERS 2 (Stanley 7 Parry 19)

Att 469 @ Abington United FC

Entry & Programme £4

I sat having a meal in the Boundary House with the rest of the NBFL’s committee before heading over the road to the Northcourt. As ever it was a convivial hour or so before the job in hand, making the final and most important game of the NBFL season run like clockwork. Continue reading →

The Light Blue Side Of Things

23 Sunday Jun 2019

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Thursday 11th April 2019 ko 19.30

Cambridge University Association Football League- Cuppers Final

FITZWILLIAM 3 (Saunders 40 Ellis 103 Burrows 110)

PEMBROKE 1 (Ireland 69)

After extra time of 10 minutes each way

Att c300 at Grange Road (Cambridge University RUFC)

Entry & Programme FREE

If you haven’t scrolled passed this, and headed straight for the pictures you may be wondering what the appeal was here? You might assume that since I’m from Oxford that I was looking at this through some sense of rivalry but unless you’re involved at either city’s university there is no rivalry at all. As I blasted along the M11 the sense was far more about this being a “Cradle of the game” job. Continue reading →

The Hoovering Up Exercise

19 Wednesday Jun 2019

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Saturday 4th May 2019 ko 14.30

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

MERTHYR SAINTS 5 (James 4 30 55 75 Randall 65)

GRANGE ALBION 2 (Howard 8og Jeremy 78)

Att c30

Entry FREE

I know what you’re thinking, didn’t I visit this one with GroundhopUK? Merthyr Saints have the distinction of being the very first club visited on the very first GroundhopUK hop in August 2002, although the organisation was Chris Berezai then living in Swansea, and styled “The Welsh Groundhop.” Merthyr Saints lost to Bridgend Town in front of 164, but I wasn’t there, my first Welsh Hop was 3 years later, and it wasn’t until 2009 when I became Chris’s deputy. Doesn’t time fly? Continue reading →

Plumb Line

18 Tuesday Jun 2019

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Tuesday 1st May 2019 ko 18.45

Midland League Division 3

COVENTRY PLUMBING 1  (Gardner 2)

CONTINENTAL STAR 3 (Smith 25p 33 84)

Att 42

Entry £2

Programme £1

It would appear that Westwood Heath Road in Coventry is something of a footballing hotbed. There’s the ground formerly known variously as Kirby Corner, and the David Sinclair Sports Ground, and was home to both Coventry Sporting and more recently Coventry Amateurs. Just a few hundred yards down the road is the University Sports Ground, that apart from being the first ever entry in this blog, was home to the now defunct Coventry Spartans, themselves a splinter from Coventry Amateurs.

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Uppaddus

14 Friday Jun 2019

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Tuesday 30th April 2019 ko 20.00

Gwent County League Division One

YNYSDDU WELFARE 4 (Price 47 53 62 Watkins 72)

WATTSVILLE 2 (Roch 24 79)

Att 43 at Pontllanfraith Leisure Centre

Entry FREE

Programme £1

As a groundhopper you find yourself questioning your sanity on a fairly regular basis. You take a psychological step back from what you’re doing and in this case wonder why you’re travelling from Oxford to South Wales, through evening rush hour traffic to watch a game on a plastic pitch in a cage at a leisure centre the local council are trying to close. But if there was one club I simply had to write about this season it was Ynysddu Welfare. Continue reading →

The Gas Man Cometh

13 Thursday Jun 2019

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Monday 22nd April 2019

11.00 Hellenic Premier

BISHOPS CLEEVE 5 (Watts 30 56 Iddles 48 Davidge 59 Johnstone 82)

SHRIVENHAM AFC 1 (Ballard 65)

Att 231

Entry £7

Programme £2

14.15 Hellenic Premier

TUFFLEY ROVERS 3 (Bloomfield 19 29 Alder 73)

FAIRFORD TOWN 0

Att 221

Entry £5

Programme £1

18.00 Hellenic League Division One West

THORNBURY TOWN 2 (Brock 52 Wormwell 90+8)

NEWENT TOWN 2 (Marquis 7 Jones 61og)

Att 295

Entry & Programme £5

So the Hellenic Hop reached it’s final day and we’d been fortunate in so many ways. Firstly the weather had been kinder than it had been to Phil Hiscox and the South West Peninsula League the previous Easter, and the clubs in the most part had covered themselves in glory with some excellent hosting. The coach inched its way out of the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel, and I relaxed as Robyn managed her usual trick of falling asleep as soon as the coach started moving… Continue reading →