Author Archives: laurencereade

Beginnings

23 Saturday Apr 2016

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Saturday 16th April 2016 ko 11.00

Carmarthenshire League Division One

ABERGWILI 4 (Callegai 50 Binding 57 78 79)

LLANSTEFFAN 1 (Soames 90p)

Att 140

Entry £3

Programme £1

When the previous Welsh Spring Hop finished its run in Ceredigion we thought it would be relatively simple to find a replacement league. After all there hadn’t been a Ceredigion League club that hadn’t enjoyed hosting, so you would have thought that word of mouth would have ensured a speedy set of negotiations wouldn’t you? Continue reading →

Decisions

22 Friday Apr 2016

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Friday 15th April 2016 ko 19.30

Welsh League Division One

GARDEN VILLAGE 2 (Morris 36 Matthews 63)

TON PENTRE 1 (Davis 52)

Att 108

Entry, Programme, and Sausage & Chips- Special GroundhopUK deal £7

Back in 2010 I found myself on a working visit to South Wales, so on the basis that no trip anywhere is complete without a football match I pondered where to head. It boiled down to either Gorseinon-based Garden Village or Mayhill-based West End. I plumped for Garden Village, I’ve no idea why, I haven’t yet got to West End, and so I allowed myself a wry smile when Garden Village became the obvious precursor to the inaugural Carmarthenshire Hop. Continue reading →

Rule Breaking

22 Friday Apr 2016

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Thursday 14th April 2016 ko 19.45

Essex Senior League

BOWERS & PITSEA 3 (Hilton 45 Manor 55 Portway 86)

TAKELEY 0

Att 97

Entry £6

Programme £1

I’m not sure why I made a beeline for a floodlit game in Essex, when there was no lack of earlier unlit kick-offs a good deal closer to home. That’s a tactic I picked up from the groundhoppers with thousands of grounds ticked off. The theory is that there are around 1500 floodlit grounds in the UK, so use those winter midweek evenings making use of those lights. You then visit the unlit grounds during the light evenings and on Saturdays, allowing you to stretch the finite number of floodlit grounds as far as possible. Continue reading →

Metroland

22 Friday Apr 2016

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Wednesday 13th April 2016 ko 18.30

North Bucks & District League Division One

STEEPLE CLAYDON 4 (Wright 6 Davies 10 Gibbs 12 70)

WING VILLAGE 2 (D Farmer 14 84)

Att 19

There are no end of Claydons in this corner of Buckinghamshire. There’s Botolph, East, Middle and Steeple, and the great irony of watching a football match in Steeple Claydon is that you can’t actually see the steeple! But this part of the world has a more obscure claim to fame, that the London Underground used to run here. Continue reading →

Wild Wild West

18 Monday Apr 2016

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Tuesday 12th April 2016 ko 18.15

Bristol Premier Combination Premier Division

MENDIP BROADWALK 2 (Hickery 23 Talbot 43)

HIGHRIDGE UNITED 1 (Hocking 51)

Att c150

Entry FREE

No Programme

Its fair to say that the Knowle district, in southern Bristol is reassuringly working class. I say reassuringly working-class, as despite the Premier League trying (and largely successfully) to price the game out of the reach of normal people, if you look to the working-class areas odds on you’ll find grass-roots football thriving. Continue reading →

Worthiness

18 Monday Apr 2016

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Saturday 9th April 2016 ko 14.30

North Berkshire League Division Two

TURNPIKE SPORTS 1 (Brookes 90)

STANFORD-IN-THE-VALE 1 (McCarthy 8)

Att 24 at Pitch 5, Henwick Worthy Recreation Ground, Thatcham

Entry FREE

No Programme

I remember when Thatcham-based Turnpike Sports applied succcessfully to join the North Berkshire League. It was 2012 and I’m sure one or two others at the AGM like me raised an eyebrow and wondered where on earth they were from! They were formed in 2007, formerly Thatcham Town’s reserves, but splitting away to form their own club. They transferred out from the Reading, now the Thames Valley Premier League to the NBFL and were placed in Division 4 but won two championships in the last two seasons to get where they are now. Continue reading →

Mystery Trip

18 Monday Apr 2016

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Thursday 7th April 2016 ko 18.45

Northants Combination Division Two

KETTERING PARK ROVERS 0

WELDON UNITED RESERVES 4 (B Smith 5 34 Brown 24 Thompson 74)

Att 9

Entry FREE

No Programme

I’d organised to collect fellow hopper Chris from near Milton Keynes, but save for the game being in the Northants Combination, I had no idea where I was going. That didn’t change when Chris gave me the club’s name, Rovers don’t actually play in Kettering! Continue reading →

Formula

11 Monday Apr 2016

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Wednesday 6th April 2016 ko 18.15

North Bucks & District League Premier Division

SILVERSTONE  1 (Henshaw 75)

TOWCESTER TOWN 0

Att 41

Entry FREE

No Programme

Let me let you into a secret, in Silverstone there’s a car racing circuit…Shhh, don’t tell anyone, let’s just keep that fact to ourselves. Okay, yes I am joking yes this is the Northamptonshire village with the Formula One circuit next door, but there used to another circuit next door to the football pitch at the Sports & Social Club. And the beauty of it was that just about anyone could claim to have driven round Silverstone!
Continue reading →

Evening Sun

11 Monday Apr 2016

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Tuesday 5th April 2016 ko 18.00

Banbury District & Lord Jersey League Division Two

CHACOMBE 0

BYFIELD ATHLETIC 2 (Childs 13 Jobbins 75)

Att 21 at Wardington Cricket Club, Thorpe Road, Wardington, Oxon

Entry FREE

No Programme

If you leave the M40 at Banbury and strike north towards Daventry for a few miles you dip in and out of both Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. It’s a peaceful part of England, you can’t help but channel John Milton and dream of “England’s green and pleasant lands.” And in the spirit of cross-county identities Chacombe is in Northamptonshire, but their football team plays in nearby Wardington, which is in Oxfordshire! Continue reading →

My Wembley

10 Sunday Apr 2016

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Sunday 3rd April 2016 ko 14.30

Football League Trophy Final

BARNSLEY 3 (Dunkley 50og Fletcher 68 Hammill 74)

OXFORD UNITED 2 (O’Dowda 29 Hylton 76)

Att 59,230 @ Wembley Stadium

Entry £60

Programme £5

Tea £2

I’m fortunate in that I get to visit Wembley reasonably frequently. It fulfills both sides of my divergent footballing personality. On one hand I’m a traditionalist, for me Wembley is English football’s spiritual home, so when the stadium was rebuilt in situ it was the correct decision. I admit it may well have been entirely logical to build the national stadium in Birmingham, but….. Wembley, is… home isn’t it? Continue reading →