Author Archives: laurencereade

The Oldest Club in… well….

17 Friday Jul 2026

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Saturday 2nd May 2026 ko 15:00

Shropshire County League Premier Division

LLANYMYNECH 1 (Thomas 46)

WHITCHURCH ALPORT 1946 5 (Jones 24 Milburn 25 Hailes 48 Owen 66 Cadman 87)

Att 21

Free Entry

Back in medieval times the border between modern day English Shropshire and Welsh Montgomeryshire must have been fairly porous. Even hundreds of years later there are still towns with Welsh names in England such as Trefonen and vice versa. But none managed to be quite as odd as Llanmynech the village that manages to be both English and Welsh!

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Coleridge

16 Thursday Jul 2026

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Saturday 18th April 2026 ko 15:00

Somerset County League Premier Division

CLEVEDON UNITED 1 (Morgan 63p)

CLEVEDON AFC 1 (Wilcox 5)

Att 327

Entry, Badge and Ticket (in advance) £7

I’d been impressed by the organisation at Congresbury but I also knew a hop game at Clevedon United came witb its own challenges. The ground at Coleridge (of Rime of the Ancient Mariner fame) Vale is both open, there is no boundary fence or wall, and the football pitch is adjacent to a rugby ground, and there would be a game taking place there at the same time as the football! It certainly looked a challenge!

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Zumerzet

13 Monday Jul 2026

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Saturday 18th April 2026 ko 11:30

Somerset County League Premier Division

CONGRESBURY 0

WORLE 0

Att 211

Entry, Programme, Bacon Roll, Badge £10 (if bought in advance)

On the day entry £4, Programme £2

From pretty much the moment that Bristolian Robyn and I became an item 10 years ago the Somerset County League has been a favourite destination on my regular visits west. There’s no secret that I’d like to see more organised groundhops at Step 7 and below, variety is the spice of life after all. GroundhopUK did speak with the league about an event for Somerset, but organising an eighth event in a season would have been too much for us. Our offering ended up being the West Lancashire League Hop in August, and the Somerset County League opted to organise their event for themselves.

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Bold as a Sergeant Major

12 Sunday Jul 2026

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Tuesday 14th April 2026 ko 19:30

Combined Counties League Division One

OXHEY JETS 1 (Mosca 59)

HILLINGDON BOROUGH 0

Att 89

Entry £8

Teamsheet FREE

After the exertions of the Northern Hop both Robyn and I took a little time to ourselves. I concentrated myself in Oxford United’s vain attempts to stay in the Championship, and watched with growing concern at what was going on in the North Berkshire League- I’d been on committee there until 2 years ago, but still maintained an interest from afar. But then Robyn fancied an evening game, and there was more than a touch of tragedy about heading here.

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North West

08 Wednesday Jul 2026

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Monday 6th April 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.

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People’s March

07 Tuesday Jul 2026

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Monday 6th April 2026 ko 11:30

Northern League Division Two

JARROW 2 (Barber 64 Hardie 74)

BOLDON COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 2 (Laidler 45+1 Devlin 90+3)

Whitfield (assistant manager) sent off 56 (serious foul play)

Att 507

Entry £5

Programme £2

The Northern Hop’s last day has all the feel of trying to reintregrate outselves into the real world after 10 games in 4 days. Robyn and I were tasked with taking “Welsh Football” editor Dave Collins to Darlington Station- unfortunately Bank Holiday Monday and trains to Cardiff don’t mix!

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One From The Ladies

03 Friday Jul 2026

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Sunday 5th April 2026 ko 18:30

Northern League Division Two

DURHAM UNITED 4 (Kay 28 87 90+3 Dixon 55)

ESH WINNING 2 (Jowett 57 Cherrie 81)

Att 382 at Maiden Castle

Entry £6

Programme £2

Around 2 and half years ago Robyn and I were planning our route home to Oxford from a trip to Carlisle United and decided to make a game on our way home. Our options were Sunderland Women playing at Eppleton CW or Durham WFC at The Graham Sports Centre, Maiden Castle. We picked Sunderland, mainly due to Eppleton’s history in the Northern League. Since Durham United also use Maiden Castle it, unwittingly turned into a good choice!

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Isn’t it Iconic, Doncha Think?

02 Thursday Jul 2026

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Sunday 5th April 2026 ko 14:30

Northern League Division One

CROOK TOWN 1 (Rose 41)

SHILDON 2 (Posthill 35p Darville 50og)

Att 717

Entry £7

Programme £2

In groundhopping terms there are grounds, and then there are grounds that you drop everything for. As I’m sure dear reader you are aware there are no end of arguments to be had over all kinds of facilities, but if you walk into the Millfield and don’t immediately fall in love with the place, then I wonder why you started groundhopping?

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Billy

01 Wednesday Jul 2026

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Sunday 5th April 2026 ko 11.00

Northern League Division Two

BILLINGHAM TOWN 0

BILLINGHAM SYNTHONIA 2 (Healy 18 Irvine 90+2)

Att 758

Entry £6

Programme £2

GroundhopUk’s first organisation of the Northern Hop was nothing if not ambitious, Easter Sunday is often the most difficult day to get clubs to play on, but while I’m not party to conversations in League circles, we got 3 committed host clubs and when you’re turning up for your 8th game of the weekend that is a godsend!

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Fuel My Fire

30 Tuesday Jun 2026

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Saturday 4th April 2026 ko 18:30

Northern League Division Two

TOW LAW TOWN 1 (Bates 27)

RYTON & CRAWCROOK ALBION 1 (Anderson 31)

Att 509

Entry £5

Programme £2

When any fan of football in the North East mentions Tow Law it’s elevation is always mentioned. It is 997 feet above sea level, and the football ground in Ironworks Road is extremely exposed so the epithet tends to be that it is always cold at Tow Law. On that basis I did fee that my visit there in September 2014 may have been under false pretences. It was lovely and warm, I didn’t even wear a coat! That was unlikely to be the case this time round…

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