Monday 6th July 2026 ko 14:30

Northern League Division Two

SUNDERLAND WEST END 2 (Benali 14 30)

SUNDERLAND RYHOPE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 4 (Forster 7og Knight 74 79 Dumba 90+8)

Att 475 at Ford Quarry Sports Hub

Entry £5

Programme £2

When the Northern League emailed over the line-up for the Easter Hop over to GroundhopUK, I did what many other groundhoppers would do, and that is to see how many new ground “ticks” I’d be clocking up. And if that is the limit of your emotional involvement you’ll have an enjoyable weekend, but as organiser you’ll never be that divorced from it all.

So when Sunderland West End resigned from the league on March 23rd, two things came into my mind. The first was to regret the circumstances- God knows running a football club isn’t easy. The second was to wonder if the league might bump them from the hop, I can think of a couple of leagues that definately would have. For the record I’m glad the fixture stayed put, nearly 500 times a fiver was one good reason, and I’m sure you can think of others.

Yes, I’m sure another club with ambitions to Step 6 football, will take on the Ford Quarry Hub, it is a municipal sports ground after all, but for this hop West End were in possession and there’s no time like the present. And while we knew that the club would make no money from the catering- the hub did all that, we felt there was enough in it for all parties.

Robyn and I collected their advance programmes on Thursday morning, diverting en route to the hop base in Darlington. Robyn walked into a club sceptical as to how many people they were likely to see through the turnstile 4 days later. A groundhopper will understand that the figure was likely to be huge, with West End’s resignation likely to push the figure up, and might even point out the attendances seen at similar events- we publish ours on the GroundhopUK website.

But clubs don’t think like that. They see outlay on things like programmes, badges and the like with no guarantees as to the attendance save for the advance tickets plus their normal attendance- in this case a total of roughly 150. So when someone you don’t know says you’re going to get 3 times that- like I said, I really do understand the scepticism. And as Chris Berezai would say, that’s another reason to buy a ticket- it really does help! In the end it was no bad thing that social media was there to tell the tale as the hop progressed only Durham United saw an attendance of below 400, West End got their warning, in the necest possible way!

We arrived back at the Hub, and had we packed plenty into the intervening 3 days! The chairman made a beeline for Chris to admit our estimate was the more accurate which was very big of him it would have been so easy for him and his club have taken the rewards without any reference to anyone else. In end I enjoyed my afternoon here, over and above the game.

There was time once more to listen to the likes of Mike Amos, George Courtney and others on the Northern League committee- friends all. The format of grounds new to the league since 2008 plus “Greatest Hits” can only be seen as a great success and the scope for the Easter Hops in the future looks exciting, and yes there is scope for improvement too.

I even enjoyed the venue to a point. The view of the Penshaw Monument was an unexpected pleasure. It is folly based on the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, built to commemorate the life of John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham who did much to remove “Rotten Boroughs” from the House of Commons courtesy of the 1832 Reform Act.

The afternoon was enlivened by a good turnout from Ryhope. I was amused by their group of young ultras, until the reports of their language were being fed back. Then when smoke bombs were let off following an away goal, not the most intelligent thing to to do with the league committee there, the miscreants were quickly ejected and well done to the security team for their decisive action.

But all too soon the final whistle went. And twelve games, clubs, grounds, volunteers and takes to tell was over, well unless you were one of the few who found a Wearside League game afterwards. It was a wonderful taster for the Northern League and I’m sure the league has many new fans. On to next year…..