Friday 18th April 2025 ko 19:00

South West Peninsula League Premier West

WADEBRIDGE TOWN 1 (Harris 80)

CAMELFORD AFC 1 (Bidgood 78)

Att 427

Entry £6

Programme £2

From the crush at Truro the Peninsula Hop returned to a sense of normality at Wadebridge. That said, the rains persisted, and the fact that we’d got a soaking meant I really didn’t fancy another at Bodieve Park.

Those groundhopping longer than me may recall Wadebridge being on one of Phil Hiscoxs’s early South Western Hops. Since then, the ground has been substantially improved with a new grandstand to replace the original wooden one, the installation of floodlights in 2004, and most recently, a project to reduce the slope of the pitch. The banking, particularly on the far shows just how much levelling has taken place.

We arrived to a well organised car parking operation at a school opposite, and once in I dived for the clubhouse only to find it seemed that everyone else had had the same idea! That included YouTuber Jake Topliss interviewing club chairman Steve Cudmore- in the quietest corner he could find! The weather undoubtedly pushed no end of hoppers towards the catering, the ladies there worked as hard as is possible- I trust profitably!

I managed to grab one of the final seats in the main stand, just after managing to obtain the team line-ups from the referee- but from my perspective I just wanted to stay dry! For if this game had been anything other than a hop game, then I’m certain it would have been postponed. It was no bad thing that the organiser was Phil, who has the authority to speak to the match referee, and influence things towards getting the match played.

And despite the deluge it was the organiser’s opinion that held sway, and the game proved to be entertaining due entirely due to both teams and officials deciding to play with the right spirit. Given that, it was probably no bad thing that the game finished as a draw, and we all squelched back to our cars in search of dry clothing, and a pint.

It had been a wet day, but on reflection, a successful one.