Author Archives: laurencereade

Irk the Purist

21 Saturday Jun 2014

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Sunday 15th June 2014 ko 11.00

Utveckling Elit Division 2 Västra Götaland

VÄNERSBORGS I.F. 2 (Hellqvist 35 Kriezu 79)

ALINGSÅS I.F. F.F. 2 (Wahlin 27 Rusid 82)

Att 33

Entry FREE

Programme/Teamsheets FREE

Coffee FREE

It had been a distinctly non-standard Saturday evening on the Swedish Hop. The tradition is for the veterans to take organiser Kim Hedwall out for a meal, but he’d rather trumped that idea, by organising a hot buffet at the hotel, a real bargain at £15 a head. In fact the only issue was that there wasn’t a dessert available, so half an hour after the event there was a short queue at the petrol station next door for ice creams, and we sat in the hotel’s veranda exchanging silly stories. You can take the hopper out of England…..

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Slayer

19 Thursday Jun 2014

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Saturday 14th June 2014 ko 16.00

Division 1 Södra

QVIDING F.I.F. 1 (Zhubi 90)

ÖRGYRTE I.S. 1 (Pangop 46)

Att 1,275

Entry & Programme 100 SEK

NB On the Swedish hop, the £270 cost covered entry to all games, programmes, coach travel and two nights Bed and Breakfast.

About 3 months before the Swedish hop, I received an email from organiser Kim Hedwall. It had the outline line-up for the hop but the line-up included a trip to the Gamla Ullevi to watch second-tier G.A.I.S. I responded by asking whether there was an alternative to it, this hop is there to show-case Sweden, and the grounds that you wouldn’t visit normally. After all, its not difficult to book a flight to Gothenburg and do the Gamla Ullevi under your own steam. When Kim came back to me with the news that Qviding were at home at the same time it was an easy decision to shift our attention to Valhala IP, but the influence of the Ullevi was never far away. Continue reading →

Wooden Heart

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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Saturday 14th June 2014 ko 13.00

Division 3 Sydvästra Götaland

VÄSTRA FRÖLUNDA 2 (De Sousa 8 Hermansson 72)

LAHOLMS FK 2 (Sulejmani 83 Morad 85)

Att 95

Entry, & Teamsheet 60sek

Badge- Comp

NB On the Swedish hop, the £270 cost covered entry to all games, programmes, coach travel and two nights Bed and Breakfast.

The morning saw the hop party continue to turn heads in the IFK Gothenburg team coach as we went on a sightseeing guide of Gothenburg. Its times like these having a local driver, Ebbe, was invaluable as he negotiated the traffic restrictions and tram lines to the Masthuggskyrkan, or High Hill Church for a truly spectacular view of the city and Göta älv, or Göta river, with the huge container and cruise ships setting sail for distant locations.

From there, we headed into the centre and enjoyed a coffee and cake at Eva’s Paley, a famous Swedish cake shop started by Hungarian émigrés in 1945 and it was the perfect place to watch the Gothenburg tradition of running heritage trams on a Saturday. Continue reading →

Tjörn Again

17 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Friday 13th June 2014 ko 19.00

Division 4 Bohuslän/Dalsland

SKÄRHAMNS IK 2 (E Johannessen 17 79)

STIGEN/ELLENÖ 0

Att 76

Entry 100 SEK (£8.88)

Programme included

Pennant- Comp

Hot Dog and Coffee- Comp

NB On the Swedish hop, the £270 cost covered entry to all games, programmes, coach travel and two nights Bed and Breakfast.

So, picture the scene, the 3 of us had arrived at Gothenburg coach station from Oslo, and were waiting for Kim Hedwall and the hop coach to arrive. Clearly there were no lack of coaches coming and going but which one was the one with Kim? The answer became obvious and I laughed out loud as the IFK Gothenburg team coach pulled in to a lay-by. From then on wherever we went people stopped and stared and in some cases even took photos. I tried not to imagine their disappointment when I exited…..

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Fjord Focus

16 Monday Jun 2014

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Thursday 12th June 2014 ko 19.00

Tippeligaen

LILLESTRØM 3 (Fofana 6 Knudzon 35 Høiland 71)

STRØMSGODSET 0

Att 5,315

Entry 270 NOK (£26.52)

No Programme

Teamsheet- Comp’

If it wasn’t for the Swedish Groundhop, I simply wouldn’t have been at this game. For the last 2 years organiser Kim Hedwall has taken the event away from Stockholm, and this year decided to move for his most radical move yet, moving the whole event to Gothenburg. That brought, at least to my eyes, Norway into my equation, with a coach service available from Oslo. Of course that was for the Friday, I just needed a game for the Thursday. I spotted that top-flight Lillestrøm were at home, and then to my extremely pleasant surprise I had company in the form of Sim, who’d been on the Scottish tour that included Neilston and Stuttgart’s very own Andreas whose help I’ll never forget on the German border after a trip to Banik Most. Continue reading →

Skewen

11 Wednesday Jun 2014

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Friday 23rd November 2007 ko 19.30

Welsh Premier League

NEATH ATHLETIC 2 (Price 78 Bevan 90)

ABERYSTWYTH TOWN 2 (S Roberts 18 Sherbon 32p)

Att 218 at Llandarcy Park

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

Today’s “Greatest Hit,” is a little unusual. Not only does the ground not exist (for football) but neither does the team either! The roots of the club lie in BP, British Petroleum and their predecessor National Oil Refineries. The club was founded in 1922 as National Oil Refineries F.C as the works team for the new refinery, and played at Llandarcy Park, now to the south-west of the M4 as it passes by Junction 43. Continue reading →

Weegie

10 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Scottish Junior FA West Region Superleague, Premier Division

POLLOK FC 2 (Hunter 41 Diack 89) Aitchison sent off (denying clear goalscoring opportunity) 6

LANARK UNITED 1 (McCluskey 71) McLaughlin missed penalty 6

Att 415

Entry £5

Programme £1 (they issue for every game)

Badge £3.50 but charged £3 due to lack of change

Meat Pie £1.20

Bovril 80p

In early 2011 I wasn’t in a good place. My marriage had ended, and I was sat alone in a house I knew I was destined to leave. Fortunately I am blessed to have a friend in Dumfries in Iain and I was both fortunate and grateful to get a phone call to say,

“Come up (to Dumfries) and visit, and since its you, I’ll let you pick the game.!

Well you shouldn’t ever turn down an opportunity like that, so I travelled up, collected Iain, and at lunch time we parked in the Morrison’s car park adjacent to the ground. Iain extracted a large wedge of cash from the supermarket ATM, and one of my memories of the day was that he found it pretty much impossible to spend it at Newlandsfield Park. Iain, my friend, this is the wonderful world of the Juniors, no rip-off prices here! Continue reading →

Research you understand?

09 Monday Jun 2014

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Saturday 20th August 2011 ko 11.00am

Division 7 Norra Örebro

IFK LINDESBERG II 1 (Fredriksson 90)

HÄLLEFORS A.I.F. 4 (Eriksson 5 Mohammed 45 65 85)

Att 17 at Stadskogsvallen

Entry FREE

No Programme

With the 8th annual Swedish Groundhop starting on Friday, I thought I’d give you a little of the background on the event, and the lengths that the organiser Kim Hedwall goes to make the event a success. I help Kim where needed, mainly as a sounding board, and we’ve developed the hops as being for discovering the kind of ground that is a little more obscure. And let’s be frank, it’s not difficult to book a flight to Arlanda to watch A.I.K. at the Friends Arena, and if you do have difficulties, contact me at this site, and I’ll give you guidance. We use the hop to find places that probably have not seen a British hopper, an example on last year’s hop was Månkarbo where the weather was matched only by the locals’ curiosity! Continue reading →

The Ying and the Yang

08 Sunday Jun 2014

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Saturday 10th May 2008 ko 15.00

Highland League

WICK ACADEMY 3 (Weir 9 Shearer 27 Macadie 73)

FRASERBURGH 2 (Johnston 22 Hale 78)

Att 263

Entry Comp’

Programme £1

Pain is part and parcel of being a groundhopper, it’s the yang to the ying of a wonderful ground and an exciting game. For some the pain is self-inflicted, the hopper who doesn’t count nil-nil draws travelling from Blackpool to Fakenham 3 times for example, but my ground of pain for years was Harmsworth Park. Of course if the place had have been just a few miles from where I was living at the time, Banbury in Oxfordshire, it wouldn’t have been an issue, but Wick Academy are the most northerly senior club in the UK, and a trip here took more than a little planning. Continue reading →

Arrivals & Departures

07 Saturday Jun 2014

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Saturday 22nd May 2010 ko 12.00

Welsh League Division Three

ABERTILLERY BLUEBIRDS 4 (L Lewis 17 Davies 32og Goodenough 64 80)

GARW SBGC 0

Att 126

Entry & Programme £2

So another of my “Greatest hits,” and sadly this is one Valleys ground you can’t see a game at anymore. Bluebirds have just vacated Cwm-nant-y-groes in favour of a 3G pitch at the local leisure centre. The club finished bottom of Division 3 this season, so I would imagine they’ll return to the Gwent County League. The ground isn’t actually in the town, rather than small village outside of Six Bells, and perhaps that’s why the move is so popular with both club and council. The club get a more practical ground, suitable for their needs, and the council save on the costs of maintaining Cwm-nant-y-groes. But of course, sometimes there’s more to it than mere practicalities. Continue reading →