Friday 25th October 2024 ko 19:30

Southern Combination Premier Division

ROFFEY 3 (Chedzey 20 Kyle 40 J Pearse 52)

AFC VARNDEANIANS 1 (Bukleb 19p)

Att 307

Entry £8

Programme £2

On reflection there aren’t many worse places to be jaded at than in the middle of a traffic jam on the M25 on a Friday night. I knew why I was; we’d come off the back of a Kent Hop 3 weeks earlier that had seen catering that with the exception of Sutton Athletic had failed to inspire. I’d spent most of that weekend metaphorically swerving burgers! Then there was the Sussex Hop to consider; I’d worried that at GroundhopUK we were promoting two hops in October at both a similar level, and part of the UK.

Last year’s Sussex hop had seemed like an experiment, and one that had hadn’t produced the results anyone wanted, due to purely to the weather. We’d lost the Pagham game, saw the Wick game abandoned, and were lucky to have had the Billingshurst game take place at all. The upshot from my perspective was that if any first year in a new league is a trial run, then so was this. Or putting it another way, this year’s event had to work, and I was more than aware that this year’s clubs hadn’t had much in the way of seeing how other successful host clubs had done it. Sat in that jam I wondered what, if anything Roffey had learned from being at VCD’s hop game 3 weeks’ earlier?

I got my answer the second I arrived at Chennels Brook, at the end of Bartholomew Road. I’d visited here previously on Christmas Eve 2011, when the club were surprised at the volume of groundhoppers that were taking advantage of an unplanned staggered kick-off starting at Roffey and moving on to Dorking Wanderers, then still at West Humble Playing Fields. The club have come a long way since those days in the intermediate Sussex County League Division 3.

When you look at GroundHopUK’s events the facet I find remarkable is how we give every single club the same hosts’ guide, and watch them produce wildly differing results. That and that by and large the smaller clubs are the best hosts. But even in the here and now Chennels Brook isn’t the obvious place to produce groundhop excellence. The ground lies tucked away at the end of a cul de sac, and space does come at a premium. We knew their plans looked good, but what they did was extremely clever, so let’s use them as a blueprint.

It started with the car parking, there simply isn’t enough at the ground, so cars were diverted away to street parking. That freed up space to expand the gate operation. So many clubs make the mistake of trying to funnel 300 plus patrons through one turnstile. It doesn’t work so watching a club move to two gazebos, one for prepaid, and one for pay on the day was wonderful, and it got folks into the ground and spending money!

The impact as the sun set was to give the area between the clubhouse and the pitch the feel of a grotto, with the lights strung up between the trees. With the floodlights on the whole scene took on an ethereal beauty. You can well see why the ground is nicknamed “The Theatre of Trees,” although Loxwood I’m sure would argue that Plaistow Road could also lay claim to the title.

My view has long been that a host club should as a minimum, try to get each customer to spend what they did at the gate, all over again. The way to do this is by catering, and I don’t mean the normal staples of pies and burgers- who wants to eat 6 games times 6 burgers? So it pays to be imaginative, cater for those who don’t have to eat meal with every meal. Finally understand that the Venn Diagram of groundhoppers who like real ale and cake is close to a single circle. Truthfully I ran 3 Witney Hops pretty much on that last premise!

And Roffey got it right in spades, from the locally produced “Firebird” real ales, to the homemade cakes, to the chilli con carne, veggie curry, and pulled pork, all served in different areas, meaning more people could be served in that “Golden Hour” before kick-off. They separated me from £30 without me thinking about it and now multiply that figure by the crowd. If I hear, “We’ll just do the normal burgers” ever again, I’ll metaphorically cry….

Needless to say Roffey made no end of friends that evening, and unless you are involved at AFC Varndeanians I think everyone enjoyed Roffey’s win. And if you are from the visitors, then you’ve had a wonderful steer on how to host on next year’s event. As for that matter, any future host club on any future organised hop.