Monthly Archives: February 2022

A Tale of Ian & Nicky

24 Thursday Feb 2022

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Tuesday 22nd February 2022 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One

STUDLEY 3 (Brain 11 46 Donnelly 18)

FC STRATFORD 0

Att 87

Entry £6

Programme £1

There were a couple of reasons why I was a little hesitant about attending this one. Firstly I’d visited Studley Sports & Social Club a number of times, and wasn’t aware they’d moved, albeit the shortest distance possible. Then there was the fact GroundhopUK are organising this year’s Easter Hop with Studley scheduled to host on Bank Holiday 11am. Robyn and I won’t be on the event, we’re finally going to have our honeymoon, just the two years after our wedding- and while we have had to wait, if Covid had arrived a few weeks earlier, we’d have had real problems! But Studley and I go back to 2002, and its all to do with a footballing friendship. Continue reading →

Harry & Maurice

18 Friday Feb 2022

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Tuesday 15th February 2022 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Premier Division

WINGATE & FINCHLEY 4 (Ofori 7 Vasilou 18 45 Kearney 79)

ENFIELD TOWN 1 (Bray 51)

Faal penalty saved 68

Att 247

Entry £12

Programme (online, downloadable) £1

These days a trip to suburban London does have a new consideration, the ULEZ. The Ultra Low Emission Zone has recently been expanded to include everything inside (and not including) of the North and South Circular roads, with the exception of the M4/A4 to the Hogarth Roundabout. What it means is if you drive a petrol car that isn’t up to Euro 4 standards or Euro 6 for diesels there’s a £12.50 daily charge. And for the avoidance of doubt if you enter the ULEZ zone at 23.59 and leave 2 minutes later, that’s 2 days charge and £25.00. There’s a vehicle checking tool on the TfL website. Continue reading →

Broadreeds

14 Monday Feb 2022

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Tuesday 8th February 2022 ko 19.45

Southern Combination Division One

SELSEY 2 (Alman 42 Higgins-Pearce 73)

ARUNDEL 1 (Hawkins 90)

Att 156

Entry £5

Programme Free, online/downloadable

It really wasn’t the plan to make this season all about what I still think of as the Sussex County League. The reality is that 2,300 grounds plus into this groundhopping odyssey I am rapidly running out of opportunities within a 2 hour radius of work. Then there’s a tactical element too; with my GroundhopUK hat on I’m less likely to visit grounds in leagues I’m likely to be couriering a coachload of hoppers to! And for what little its worth we did have a brief chat with the Southern Combination a couple of years ago but at committee level there seemed to be little interest in a organised groundhop. 

Continue reading →

St Wilfrids

03 Thursday Feb 2022

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Tuesday 1st February 2022 ko 19:45

Southern Combination Division One

OAKWOOD 0

Neathey sent off 65 (2nd Booking)

GODALMING TOWN 2 (McAleese 57 Oakley 77)

Att 37

Entry £5

When your opportunities for a new ground to visit midweek are limited sometimes its funny how somewhere so straightforward to get to could have somehow have avoided my attention for all my years groundhopping. Oakwood are named after the district of Crawley they play in, and were formed in 1962 by former pupils of St Wilfrids School, an establishment that preferred the oval ball! Continue reading →

The Rail

02 Wednesday Feb 2022

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Saturday 29th January 2022 ko 15:00

Northern Counties East League- Division One

RETFORD FC 3 (Scott 37 45 L White 39)

CLIPSTONE FC 2 (Bennett 51og Finnernan 70)

Att 137

Entry £5

Programme £1

A quirk of my groundhopping past is that somehow I’d visited neither of the two Retford clubs. A lot of the reason for that is that the older club Retford United somehow managed to evade both the Central Midlands League’s and the Northern Counties East’s organised hops. Given the length of time those two hops ran that is an achievement of sorts. But Retford FC’s reason for never having featured on an organised hop is more straightforward- they didn’t exist until 2015! Continue reading →