Author Archives: laurencereade

Island of Sheep

14 Tuesday Jul 2015

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Thursday 9th July 2015 ko 19.45

Europa League 1st Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC 0

SKONTO RIGA 2 (Sorokins 37 Karasavkas 59p)

Skonto win 4-1 on aggregate

Att 2,345

Entry €15 (c £10.59)

Programme €3

St Pats have their own seagull. That’s right, a seagull and she sits atop a floodlight casting a beady eye on proceedings below, and isn’t adverse to attacking visitors who she thinks are threatening her nest in the stand. Richmond Park is in the Inchicore (in gaelic “Island of Sheep”) suburb in the west of Dublin, and is named after the former British army base here. Nearby is the preserved Kilmainham Jail where several members of the 1916 Rising were executed. Continue reading →

Sphinx

13 Monday Jul 2015

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Tuesday 7th July 2015 ko 19.00

Pre-Season Friendly

COVENTRY SPHINX 3 (Thompson 51 Evangelinos 80 Jayes 90)

RACING CLUB WARWICK 0

Att 41 at Pitch 3, Sphinx Drive

Entry FREE

Programme FREE

I have to confess that I tend to read “Sphinx” and think of “Carry on Cleo” and the appalling joke, “Why the sphinx in Egypt? That’s because they have no drains.” The unusual suffix is due to the ground being the former Hawker-Siddley Motors works ground; the Sphinx was the firm’s badge. Continue reading →

Khalsa

05 Sunday Jul 2015

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Saturday 4th July 2015

Khalsa Football Federation Shaheedi Football Tournament

9.00am Division Two First Round – Pitch 5

GURU RAVIDAS 1 (7)

SMETHWICK RAIDERS 2 (62 74)

Att 10

10.45 Division One First Round – Pitch 4

NUNEATON FC 2 (51 54)

GNP SPORTS COVENTRY 5 (6p 13 22 43 90)

Att 11

12.30 Premier Division First Round – Pitch 2

GNG LEICESTER 4 (42 52 57 85)

SINGH BROTHERS DERBY 4 (23 49 64 90p)

No extra time Leicester won 4-3 on penalties

Att 53

14.30 Division Two Second Round – Pitch 1

SIKH HUNTERS RESERVES 2 (3 33)

B.N.J.S. 3 (5 25 49)

Att 18

16.30 Division One Second Round – Pitch 7

SHERE PUNJAB WOLVES 0

SINGH SABHA BARKING 4 (23 51 56 73)

Att 14

At Sinfin Moor Park, Sinfin Lane, Derby

Entry FREE

Programme FREE

Vegetable Curry and Chapatti FREE

The Khalsa Football Federation exists as means of uniting Britain’s Sikh community through football, and its flagship event is a series of two-day football tournaments hosted in areas where there is a significant Sikh community. This was the 3rd of 5 tournaments, the next being in Kingswinford on 18th and 19th July. More information is on the KFF’s website.

Continue reading →

The White Mark

02 Thursday Jul 2015

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The White Mark, Hill Road, Watlington, Oxfordshire.

About two years I paid Watlington Town FC a visit and in my sloppy way I looked up the small town’s claim to fame afterwards, missing out on a great photographic opportunity. Because Watlington’s claim to fame is the White Mark, and millions of people have passed close by without either seeing it, or learning its secret. Continue reading →

Shapes of things

28 Sunday Jun 2015

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Saturday 27th June 2015 ko 15.00

Friendly

BEESTON FC 3 (37, 39, 48)

SHERWOOD COLLIERY 8 (19,35,41,68,72,73,83,85)

Att 36 at Trent Vale Road

There’s been a few changes on the Notts side of the border with Derbyshire this close season. One of those has seen Beeston AFC merge with fellow Notts Senior League outfit Boots Athletic, to form Beeston FC. They’ll play most of this coming season, including their hop game at the nearby Hetley Pearson Ground, but the plan is to renovate here at Trent Vale Road, and call this place home. Continue reading →

Extra Time

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

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Saturday 20th June 2015 ko 13.30

Extra-Time Project

AC WOLLATON 6 (Pietraforte 59 Todd 81 88 94  109 Burke 102)

RUSHCLIFFE DYNAMO 5 (Firth 47 Brown 55 Walker 90p 113p Rudge 101)

2 hour game

Att 14

Entry FREE

Programme- By donation

As far as I’m concerned this is Rob Hornby territory. As I exited the M1 at Kirby Muxloe and headed north-east I began to pass the villages whose clubs he’s featured on his hops. I saw a Metropolitan line train on the Old Dalby test track, and found myself reminiscing over a hard fought contest at Keyworth United. From there is wasn’t far to the Rushcliffe Leisure Centre, with the Nottingham Football Centre tucked in behind it. Continue reading →

Together, Stronger

22 Monday Jun 2015

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Saturday 13th June 2015 ko 15.00

South Wales FA Play-Off Final

STM SPORTS 4 (Reffell 12 Graham 48 Worsley 57 84)

PONTLOTTYN AFC 1 (Colbourne 32)

Att c600 at Cardiff City Stadium

Entry £3

Programme £1

Groundhopping and the amateur game go back a long way, back to the days of 4-game Saturdays in the South Wales Amateur League, and those hops only ended when we finally ran of clubs to visit! Back then we all wondered why there was the odd position of two leagues, the Amateur Leaguer and the Senior League occupying the same footprint and the same level, the fifth tier? Continue reading →

Another Way of Looking At It

21 Sunday Jun 2015

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Stockholm June 2015

One of the fringe benefits of watching obscure football matches all over the world, is that you inevitably end up seeing a country and its people as they are, not as the tourist guides try to present it. Over the last 9 years Stockholm has signposted many significant times in my life; I jump on plane and 2 hours later there it is, welcoming me back. But until now I’d failed to take the short-cut and visit all the touristy bits. Continue reading →

The Wedding Present

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

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Sunday 7th June 2015 ko 16.00

Division 6 Västra Uppland

MORGONGÅVA SK 2 (Magnusson 2 Folkesson 17)

ÅSUNDA IF 1 (Holmberg 76) Mahmood sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 94

NB The Swedish hop’s cost of £280 included all entry fees, programmes, two nights bed and breakfast, and coach travel between the games and Arlanda airport.

Entry FREE

Teamsheets FREE

The final game in this year’s Swedish hop took the party back towards Uppsala, and the pretty agricultural district of Heby. In so many ways Ramsjövallen was exactly the kind of ground we like to feature. Its isolated, pretty, and if it wasn’t for Kim Hedwall organising this annual event the coach party would never of even heard of it, let alone paid it a visit. A closer look also shows the other side of organising a groundhop too, the benefit to the club. Continue reading →

Catalina

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

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Sunday 7th June 2015 ko 12.00

Division 4 Norra Stockholm

VIGGBYHOLMS IK 3 (Persson 20 Sten 49 N Jonsson 63)

FF TÅBY CITY 1 (Higgs 89)

Att 129

NB The Swedish hop’s cost of £280 included all entry fees, programmes, two nights bed and breakfast, and coach travel between the games and Arlanda airport.

Entry & Programme 20sek

From our base in Uppsala, we set off due south towards Stockholm before striking out east into the outer reaches of the archipelago. We reached the municipality of Tåby most famous for the large numbers of Viking runic stones found here, and less so for being the home of DJ and producer Eric Prydz.

House music seemed a million miles away as the coach pulled into the small town of Viggbyholm nestling in Stora Värtan, an inlet of the Baltic Sea. There are beaches and boat clubs, and the area was opened up in no small part by the opening of the Roslagsbanan, a 891 mm narrow gauge railway running from Stockholm Östra station out north and eastwards. Continue reading →