Author Archives: laurencereade

‘Ommer ‘Em!

12 Thursday Sep 2013

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Wednesday 11th March 2013 ko 19.45

West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division

CRADLEY TOWN 2 (Hill 85 Devlin 87)

BEWDLEY TOWN 0

Att 40

Entry £3

Programme £1

If like me you’re 40-plus and from Oxford, the Black Country town of Cradley equals Speedway. I remember watching the likes of Erik Gundersen, Lance King and Gert Handberg at Dudley Wood Stadium and being vaguely disturbed by a poster of former great Bruce Penhall in the bath, with far too few bubbles to preserve his modesty! Continue reading →

Taking the King’s Shilling

08 Sunday Sep 2013

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Saturday 7th September 2013 ko 14.30

Anglian Combination Division Two

BUNGAY TOWN 11 (ELEVEN) (Flint 8 Barnes 19 27 Ling 20 87 Mirner 24 52 89 Wilby 32 Andrews 76 Hammersley 86)

BRANDON TOWN 0

Att 88

Entry -5p

Programme 50p

Burger £2.50

Once a year Football has, ” Non League Day,” when an international weekend means there’s no Premier League and Championship games scheduled. Fans are encouraged to support grass roots football, and the smaller clubs try their best to entice new supporters to come and visit them. Last year, I ended up at an iconic ground, Northern League Crook Town http://wp.me/p1PehW-1dV, but this year I wanted a fresh approach, so I decided to pick the club with what I thought was the best marketing gimmick. And Bungay won that battle by an absolute mile. Continue reading →

Threesome

08 Sunday Sep 2013

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Tuesday 3rd September 2013 ko 18.15

North Leicestershire League Premier Division

KEGWORTH IMPERIAL 0

GREENHILL Y.C. 4 (Morris 3 Mason 49 Nelson 52 70)

Att 49

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

Sometimes I can sit there with a copy of the Football Traveller and there isn’t a fixture that grabs me. Its daft, a weekly magazine with around a thousand fixtures in, a case perhaps of Bruce Springsteen’s “57 channels and nothing on..”  In the end Newhall United secretary Dan Bishop suggested this one, after I asked for something low level. Dan never, ever lets you down….. Continue reading →

That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice

08 Sunday Sep 2013

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Saturday 31st August 2013 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Constable 24)

ROCHDALE 1 (Lund 50)

Att 5,260 (203 away)

Entry – Season Ticket

Programme £3 (including free Oxford Mail)

With the plethora of organised groundhops (too many to tell the truth) this season, this was my first visit this season to Grenoble Road. A lot has changed since last season, especially on the playing side with over a team’s worth of players released, and replaced, some from the youth team. There’s been some high-profile recruits, Continue reading →

Reunion

06 Friday Sep 2013

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Friday 30th August 2013 ko 19.45

FA Cup Preliminary Round

WANTAGE TOWN 2 (Claydon 60 86)

DIDCOT TOWN 3 (Webb 3og Ferriera 37 Haysham 70)

Att 321

Entry £6

Programme £1 (poor, far too many adverts)

After the excesses of the weekend, I’d felt rather footballed-out. There were no lack of options on Tuesday and Wednesday, but save for a little writing the urge to jump in the car had been absent. But on Friday, a nice local game beckoned, and an FA Cup game too. It was time to get back in the swing of things, and on arrival I wasn’t the only one to have thought along the same lines. There were a good 20 hoppers, many of whom had been touring around North Wales with Chris and I. There was North Berkshire League representation too, with fixtures secretary Charlie East, and Treasurer Mike Panting casting an interested local eye on the proceedings.

However the reunion had a far more significant member, Continue reading →

Lead Zeppelin

05 Thursday Sep 2013

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Monday 26th August 2013 ko 18.00

Welsh Alliance Division Two

MELIDEN 2 (Moss 34 Cassidy 84)

ST ASAPH 0

Att 323

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

It seems like the end of an era writing this, the last game of the Welsh hop marathon. A few things have happened since this game, the main one being that Chris attended a league meeting where a full debrief was held on the hop, the first in the league. The good news new that we’ll be back next season, and that the planning has already started.

Yet despite the magnum opus nature of the hop it didn’t feel like we were stretching the joy too far as we approached the mining village of Meliden. Yes, people’s feet still hurt, and there were tired bodies on show, but what we saw as the coaches reached the Mine lifted the soul. Continue reading →

Creamery

04 Wednesday Sep 2013

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Monday 26th August 2013 ko 14.30

Welsh Alliance Division One

LLANDYRNOG UNITED 1 (J Davies 4)

PWLLHELI 1 (M Williams 40)

Att 232

Entry £4

Programme £1

Its only about 3 miles from Central Park to Cae Nant but in terms of the feel of the place, it felt a lot more. From the urbane Denbigh, Llandyrnog seemed….well asleep! The coaches and cars drove through the deserted village to what seemed the only place alive, the football ground Cae Nant! As we sorted out somewhere for the coaches to park, the club had earmarked the local Creamery, but that was too far from the ground, many hoppers had found the local pub The Golden Lion, and convinced the landlord it would be profitable for him to open. From what I’ve learned he made a fair bob, and we’re glad as organisers to have helped the local economy!

I was a little nervous about the fixture, Continue reading →

Central Perk

04 Wednesday Sep 2013

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Monday 26th August 2013 ko 11.15

Welsh Alliance Division One

DENBIGH TOWN 4 (Lundstram 27 Pierce 30 72p 75)

BARMOUTH & DYFFRYN UNITED 0

Att 285

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Back in Chester as I woke I carried out a mental inventory of how I was feeling. Legs – sore, feet – swollen, and face- sunburnt! In truth I was pleased this was the last day of the hop, there is a limit on how much football you can watch, both physically and mentally. Over breakfast, notably quieter compared to the other days, I pondered the very first Northern Counties East hop when we’d planned a 14-game 5 day hop over Easter. We’d received many emails telling us it would be too much, Continue reading →

People Watching

02 Monday Sep 2013

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Sunday 25th August 2013 ko 18.15

Welsh Alliance Division One

LLANRWST UNITED 0

BODEDERN ATHLETIC 0

Att 370

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

As organiser you love to see good decisions made without you having to prompt them. We were part of a huge convoy leaving Glan Conwy on the A470, and heading into Snowdonia, and I was day-dreaming on how the A470 eventually goes right past the University of Glamorgan in Treforest, the base for the first Welsh Groundhops. Neil our coach driver suddenly turned right, with Colin in the other coach following with the rest of the convoy carrying on along the main road. I asked why the detour Continue reading →

Truncated by the Authorities

01 Sunday Sep 2013

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Sunday 25th August 2013 ko 15.00pm

Welsh Alliance Division One

GLAN CONWY 1 (Knight 51)

NEFYN UNITED 1 (C Jones 4)

Att 305

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

The journey from Llandudno Junction was a short one, so short in fact that the backdrop remained the same, it was just a different facet of Conwy Castle that faced us!

One way another Glan Conwy seems to have been truncated by the authorities! The village’s full name is Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, or in English Church of St Ffraid on the bank of the River Conwy, but the name was shortened by the railway to the more usual Glan Conwy. The village’s raison d’etre used was Continue reading →