Monthly Archives: August 2019

Headquarters

30 Friday Aug 2019

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Saturday 27th July 2019 ko 13.45

Peterborough & District League Division 3

ORTON RANGERS 4 (Harber 30 72 Read 41 Fitzgerald 76)

PARKSIDE ATHLETIC 1 (Hulford 55)

Att 220

Entry £4

Programme £1

GroundhopUK’s visit to Orton Rangers may well have been unique. There’s been no end of times where the organiser has had to change a host club, but I don’t think that’s ever happened without changing ground at the same time. You can see why, normally where a groundshare exists, usually there’s a landowner, or a primary tenant. But Orton Rangers’ relationship with the Nene Valley Community Centre is a little unusual. Continue reading →

Woad

22 Thursday Aug 2019

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Saturday 27th July 2019 ko 11.00

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

FC PARSON DROVE 3 (Davey 18 39 Hamilton 34)

Cawthorn missed penalty 31

Young sent off 90 (violent conduct)

OAKHAM UNITED 0

Att 261

Entry £4

Programme £1

The PDFL’s footprint is one of contrasts, from the urbane to the rural. You’re where the Midlands meets East Anglia and we’ve visited clubs with histories in the Eastern Counties League. The hop coach left Peterborough and headed east as the roads grew straighter and the topography flattened out.

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Borderville (again)

18 Sunday Aug 2019

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Friday 26th July 2019 ko 19.00

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

STAMFORD LIONS 1 (Duffy- Weekes 15) 

PETERBOROUGH POLONIA 1 (Bielskis 65p)

Vladnicka sent off 84 (2nd booking)

Att 204 at Borderville Sports Centre

Entry £5

Programme £1

To some extent GroundhopUK’s season opening event in the Peterborough & District and the United Counties Leagues has long been the most straightforward of our hops to run. Part of the reason for that has been the joint league approach, the sheer volume of clubs to visit is huge and so the in-house experience built up matches it. A good example was this game, both sides had seen a hop game before. The other reason was John Weekes of the UCL, and his loss hit us all hard. Continue reading →

The Saint Returns

15 Thursday Aug 2019

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Friday 19th July 2019 ko 18.30

Pre-Season Friendly

SOUTHAM UNITED 2 (72 85)

CROPREDY 3 (Welch 25 Dineen 35 Reeves 80)

Att 26 at Youth Ground, Banbury Road.

Free Entry

Back in the the day when I lived in Banbury it became something of a tradition for Southam to play near neighbours Leamington at 11am each Boxing Day. It was never likely to be a tradition that lasted, the reformed Leamington were never likely to stay in the Midland Combination for long. Nevertheless I’m sure Southam enjoyed the bumper crowd, and I enjoyed visiting each time, even to the point of me enjoying a plate of bubble and squeak as my ex-wife drove me to Oxford United for their festive fixture afterwards! Continue reading →

Kings

13 Tuesday Aug 2019

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Tuesday 16th July 2019 ko 19.45

Pre-Season Friendly

BINFIELD 0

KNAPHILL 1 (14)

Att 28 

At King’s Academy, Binfield

There are plenty of groundhoppers who don’t like pre-season friendlies, and I completely understand their point of view. My take on it is to try to find something unusual in the fixture; it could be an inter-league match-up or an unusual ground. Here we managed both!

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The Cage

12 Monday Aug 2019

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Wednsday July 10th 2019 ko 19.30

Pre-Season Friendly

DUNSTABLE TOWN 1 (DaSilva 80)

AMPTHILL TOWN 1 (15)

Att c40

At the 3G pitch at Creasey Park

Entry by donation

I spent much of the journey trying to pinpoint exactly when I’d last visited Creasey Park. I know it was for a AFC Dunstable game (they’re joint tenants at Creasey Park) soon after their name change from Old Dunstabilians. That happened in 2004 so I reckon it was around 2005. Creasey Park was a very different place then… Continue reading →

The Can Of Worms

09 Friday Aug 2019

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Tuesday 9th July 2019 ko 19.45

Pre-Season Friendly

AFC WIMBLEDON 2 (Ruscrow 70p Folivi 90p)

BRISTOL CITY 3 (Webster 31 Diedhiou 47 52)

Att c1,500

Entry £10

If you’re fortunate to have Terry “The Badge” Hall as a friend, you’ll be well used to seeing two things on his Facebook page. One is his badge stall outside Kingsmeadow for ever single home game his beloved AFC Wimbledon plays, and just beforehand the inevitable gargantuan all-day breakfast at “Fat Boys” just round the corner from Jack Goodchild Way. I’d first been to Kingsmeadow years ago, in 2002 during the Real Dons first season for a Combined Counties League game versus AFC Wallingford. That season the Dons were destined to finish the league third, behind Wallingford, and can you guess who were league champions? Continue reading →

Drink Up Thy Zyder

07 Wednesday Aug 2019

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Saturday 6th July 2019 ko 15.00

Pre-Season Friendly

NAILSEA & TICKENHAM 1 (Osgood 71)

TUFFLEY ROVERS 2 (James 44 Dowu 90)

Att 22

Free Entry

I know I managed it back in the day but you really shouldn’t visit Nailsea without visiting the Cutler statue outside the Royal Oak pub in the centre of town. If “Drink Up Thy Zider” is the national anthem of the West Country, and since the Wurzels’ founder Adge Cutler wrote the song does that make him the bard of Somerset? My fiancee Robyn would attest to me impersonating her Bristolian accent each and every day of our relationship. Early on she’d comment slightly reproachfully, “I’m not a Wurzel,” but then she took me to watch Bristol City within a month of us meeting and what did they play over the tannoy after the game? Yep, Adge Cutler’s most famous composition! Continue reading →

Royal

05 Monday Aug 2019

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Tuesday 7th July 2019 ko 19.30

Pre-Season Friendly

8TH TRAINING BATTALION ROYAL ELECTRICAL & MECHANICAL ENGINEERS 2 (Auger 52 J Allen 62p)

SHREWTON UNITED 4 (Johnson 17 Utterson 21 Watson 44 Himsworth 65)

Att 6  @ MOD Lyneham

Free Entry

After the Swedish Hop I surprised myself by enjoying some time off from football. I needed the rest and contrary to the beliefs of some I do enjoy plenty of other things other than just football! Gone are the days when my close season was short, and on one occasion less than 24 hours! (Final game of Swedish Hop then Derby Summer League the next day!) In the end I found myself looking for a fixture rather half-heartedly, it would have to be something interesting to make me end my  summer break. Then a game behind the fence at MOD Lyneham popped up! Continue reading →

Making Friends Wherever We Go

02 Friday Aug 2019

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Sunday 9th June 2019 ko 15.00

Division 7 Södra Skåne

HOLMEJA IS 1 (Rosefors 8)

ONSLUNDA IF 1 (Orfawi 36p) L Axelsson sent off (2nd Booking)

Att 69

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £285 included all entry fees, programmes, coach travel, 2 bridge tolls on the Øresund Bridge and 2 nights’ bed and breakfast at the Clarion Magasinet Hotel in Trelleborg.

From Lilla Beddinge the coach headed north, which seemed a little counter-intuitive for a “South” division. Such I suppose are the vagaries of life in the bottom division in Skåne. The irony was despite this game being the last on the 13th annual Swedish Hop, we were close to the wrong airport, Holmeja is close to Malmö airport but the party were all destined to depart from Kastrup in Copenhagen. Continue reading →