Author Archives: laurencereade

Cards

20 Sunday Nov 2016

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Wednesday 16th November 2016 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One West

HOOK NORTON 0 Eyre sent off 53 (2nd booking) Watkin sent off 87 (2nd booking)

ABINGDON UNITED 3 (Wharton 18 Edney 64 Gila 68)

Att 35

Entry & Programme £5

On the face of it Hook Norton is rather isolated situated in Oxfordshire but only a mile or two from Warwickshire, at the end of a twisting B-class road from Chipping Norton. The village was originally founded on ironstone deposits in the area but is these days a well-to-do village with the Hook Norton Brewery still using steam traction and horse-drawn drays. But it’s well-to-do nature has made  life rather difficult for its football team. Continue reading →

Thorogood the Destroyer

17 Thursday Nov 2016

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Tuesday 15th November 2016 ko 19.45

East Midlands Counties League

ASHBY IVANHOE 7 (Thorogood 7 17 83 Own Goal 28 Cawley 31 L Edwards 39 D Edwards 51)

GEDLING MINERS WELFARE 1 (Slawson 50) C Winstanley sent off (DOGSO) 17

Att 75

Entry £4

Programme £1

It was difficult to channel your inner Walter Scott when the traffic was this bad and the fog this thick. The town in Leicestershire certainly does seem to have an eye for the exotic named as it is Ashby-de-la-Zouch after the Zouch family who were granted ownership of the town following the Norman Conquest. Then there’s the Ivanhoe suffix from the Walter Scott novel set in the 12th Century castle here. The football does have something to live up to! Continue reading →

Pepperinge Eye

14 Monday Nov 2016

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Saturday 12th November 2016 ko 13.30

Dorset Intermediate Cup 2nd Round

CORFE CASTLE 7 (Ricketts 4 10 18 Johnstone 22p 47 Smith 37 Hector 63)

BROADMAYNE 1 (Johnson 54)

Att 28

Entry FREE

Programme £2.50

You really can’t avoid Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck, the A351, and the steam railway to Swanage has to take a metaphorical deep breath to squeeze past! The 11th century castle built by William the Conqueror, one of the first in the UK to be built out of stone found itself on the losing side in the English Civil War in 1649 and was slighted afterwards.

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Comrades

13 Sunday Nov 2016

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Tuesday 8th November 2016 ko 19.45

Wessex League Division One

RINGWOOD TOWN 2 (Vint 42 Samways 83og)

SHAFTESBURY 5 (Colohan 4 10 Finnegan 36 63 Ford 70)

Att 40

Entry & Programme £5

You’re only just in Hampshire here, just the River Avon separates the historic market town from Dorset, and being on the edge of the New Forest the feel of the town couldn’t be any more English if it tried. I’m not sure the fact that the external scenes for “The Brittas Empire” were filmed at Ringwood Leisure Centre quite fits the narrative though! Continue reading →

Wander For Distraction, Travel For Fulfilment

09 Wednesday Nov 2016

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Saturday 5th November 2016 ko 14.00

Hampshire Intermediate Cup First Round

VENTNOR 3 (Urry 10 33 40)

BURGHCLERE 1 (Smith 90p)

Att 21

Entry FREE

If ever there was a game I felt I ought to be at this was it. Burghclere are a club I have a lot of time for, not least as they were wonderful hosts on this year’s North Berkshire League Hop and as a proud committeeman I felt I should be there to support one of our own. You see, other than being the only NBFL club in Hampshire, and so the only club in our league in the competition there was another quirk of the draw. Continue reading →

The K Took My Stand Away

07 Monday Nov 2016

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Friday 4th November 2016 ko 19.45

Southern Counties East League-Division One

K SPORTS 4 (Smith 4 40 Russell 7 Norman 73)

ELMSTEAD FC 1 (Babalola 45)

Entry £5

Programme £2.50

More or less 2 years ago I paid a visit to Kent County League outfit APM Contrast, mainly to gaze upon their wonderfiul pitched roofed stand, a relic from the club’s former guise, Aylesford Paper Mills’ stint in the Kent League, now the Premier Division of the Southern Counties East League. What I and many others who made the journey found was club struggling with the loss of the club’s main source of support, the paper mill and the ground grading realities of regaining their lost status. Continue reading →

Harvey

06 Sunday Nov 2016

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Wednesday 2nd November 2016 ko 19.30

Notts Senior League Premier Division

BILBOROUGH TOWN 2 (Webster 6 Narif 40)

REAL UNITED 1 (Blair 22)

Att 71

Entry £2

Programme SOLD OUT

Coffee £1

With Rob Hornby now retired from the rigmarole of organising groundhops in general, and specifically the Notts Senior’s event, it’s up to the hopper to keep the set of NSL grounds up to date. Arguably Bilborough Town’s new home, at the Harvey Hadden athletics stadium is the most interesting of this season’s new crop. Continue reading →

Station Jim

06 Sunday Nov 2016

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Tuesday 25th October 2016 ko 19.45

Southern League Premier Division

SLOUGH TOWN 2 (Moone 24 Hollis 89)

DORCHESTER TOWN 1 (Walker 11)

Att 589

Entry £10

Programme £2

When Slough Town left Wexham Park after a rent dispute in 2003 few would have bet on two things coming to pass. The first would be 13 years later the Rebels would return to Slough less than a mile from the old ground, and the second that Wexham Park would still be standing, and still recognisable as a football ground. Under the circumstances it seemed entirely sensible to pay the old ground a visit before the new… Continue reading →

Bampfylde

03 Thursday Nov 2016

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Saturday 22nd October 2016 15.00

North Devon League Premier Division

NORTH MOLTON SPORTS CLUB 3 (Phillips 25 35 55p) Body sent off (offensive / abusive / insulting language and / or gestures) 88

BRADWORTHY UNITED 9 (M Carter 13 51 60p 87 G Carter 42 83 90 Clarke 24 73)

Att 14 

Entry FREE

No Programme

As Forrest Gump once commented,  “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” In groundhopping terms that is certainly the case belpw Step 6. Yes, you’ll see your fair share of fields, but you’ll also see the occasional surprising little gem. And half a dozen hoppers at Rocksfield certainly enjoyed their afternoon here. Continue reading →

Mazzard

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

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Saturday 22nd October 2016 ko 12.00

North Devon League Premier Division

LANDKEY TOWN AFC 1 (Phillips 40)

BIDEFORD COMMUNITY 5 (Comerford 2 Morris 26 61 St John 29p Kewley 78)

Att 20

Entry FREE

NO Progamme

On the basis that any double is a good double it made sense to sit in a car for 3 hours to head to a small village near Barnstaple to watch that side play a Southern League side’s reserves. The reason for the early kick off was that the visitors wanted to travel afterwards to watch local boxer Tommy Langford fight in Cardiff that evening. The bout was cancelled, but the early kick-off was kept, and that was enough for half the attendance to have absolutely no connection to either side! Continue reading →