Author Archives: laurencereade

The Saga

29 Monday Jun 2020

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Tuesday 23rd December 2008 ko 19.45

FA Cup 2nd Round Replay

DROYLSDEN 2 (Newton 31 55p)

CHESTERFIELD 1 (Lester 35)

Lester sent off 84 (violent conduct)

Att 2,824 

Entry £5

Programme £1

On one level I knew exactly why I was at the Butchers Arms Ground in Manchester’s eastern suburbs. Leaving aside the groundhopper’s insatiable urge to collect football grounds I was happy to escape a Milton Keynes office, and the kind of job where you inwardly measure every minute you’re on duty. So to Droylsden I drove, and all because any FA Cup tie is interesting and a potential upset involving a Conference North club against a League 2 outfit looked attractive. However, if you know what had happened in the month prior to the tie you’ll know just how much of an understatement that last sentence is! Continue reading →

Dancing In The Streets

27 Saturday Jun 2020

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Saturday 9th May 2009 ko 15.00

Scottish League Division Two

RAITH ROVERS 0

ARBROATH 0

Att 4,426

Entry £14

Programme £2

Its the oft uttered line isn’t it? “They’ll be dancing in the streets of Raith tonight!” is often described as “Colemanballs” even if it was the BBC’s Sam Leitch that said the line. Of course Raith Rovers are from Kirkcaldy, Fife. Raith isn’t a specific settlement, it refers to the area between Kirkcaldy and Loch Gelly. But the famous error wasn’t the first time someone called Leitch had an impact on Raith Rovers. Continue reading →

Crossing St George

25 Thursday Jun 2020

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Saturday 3rd January 2011 ko 14.15

Western League Division One

ROMAN GLASS ST GEORGE 1 (Mansfield 53)

CADBURY HEATH 1 (Colbourne 24) 

Att 70 at Bell Hill Playing Field, Whiteway Road, St George, Bristol

Entry £4

Programme £1

You may remember GroundhopUK visiting Oaklands Park– the Gloucestershire FA Ground on the final Western Hop. The ground is shared by Lebeq United and Roman Glass St George but since neither club is primary tenant and Lebeq wanted to, they hosted, but what of Roman Glass St George? Continue reading →

Baltic

24 Wednesday Jun 2020

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Saturday 13th June 2009 ko 13.00

Division 5 Norra Stockholm

ROSLAGSKULLA IF 6 (Åkerström 25 80 Fredriksson 66 Ledin 70 Nilsson 85 Makoli 87)

KISTA SC 0 

Ghiasand sent off 67 (Using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures)

Att 73

Entry FREE

In the 13 (so far) editions of the Swedish Hop, there have been no end of highlights – just put “Sweden” into the search bar to the left of this text. But I may surprise organiser Kim Hedwall and those who’ve been regular visitors on the hop. I reckon the best group of grounds were on the 3rd event in 2009. There was however one problem with that hop- the weather! Continue reading →

Cappielow

22 Monday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 31st January 2009 ko 15.00

Scottish League Division One

GREENOCK MORTON 0

ST JOHNSTONE 0

Att 2,810

Entry £16 (seat- main stand)

Programme £2

Can I be honest with you? I wasn’t intending to write about Greenock Morton but such was the reaction from the Ayr United article that I feel honour-bound to put something together, because so many people agree with me, if you want two great Scottish League grounds you head to Somerset Park and to Cappielow Park. Continue reading →

Somerset

18 Thursday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 23rd February 2008 ko 15.00

Scottish League Division Two

AYR UNITED 0 

Lowing sent off 45 (dangerous play)

Williams missed penalty 57

BRECHIN CITY 3 (Weaver 11og Paton 19 N Walker 90)

Att 1,103

Entry (seat in main stand) £14

Programme £1.50

On occasion I get asked which Scottish League grounds I’d recommend, and my answer is always the same two clubs, Greenock Morton, and Ayr United. That’s no disrespect to any other clubs and their stadia, and I’d recommend a trip round the Leitch stand at Ibrox too, but I’d argue that if you love traditional Scottish football grounds, then you really do need to visit Cappielow and Somerset Park. This is all about the latter. Continue reading →

Harry Hill

16 Tuesday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Sunday 27th August 2006 ko 11.00

Hellenic League- Premier Division

HARROW HILL 0

SLIMBRIDGE 1 (C Cole)

Att 268

Entry £4

Programme £1

As (hopefully) the UK slowly emerges from lockdown I’ve started to think about how football will restart. I don’t include the monstrosity that is the beautiful game played behind closed doors with cardboard cut-out crowds and piped in noise. I’ll leave that to the hellish future it deserves. One thing that is clear is that the bigger the potential crowd a league can generally attract the longer it’ll take to get the crowds back, so let’s extrapolate a little. Continue reading →

Taking Stock

14 Sunday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 2nd August 2008 ko 14.20

Scottish League Division 3

COWDENBEATH 1 (McQuade 16)

ANNAN ATHLETIC 4 (Jack 30p 48 Archibald 58 Johnstone 90)

Att 596

Entry £10

Programme £1.50

There are of course no lack of towns that with the greatest of respect to their residents, that you’d never visit for tourism but would for football.  That said I do know one couple where the wife made the rather rash decision to let hubby book their summer holiday. They were due to visit Sunderland this June had it not been for Coronavirus. Cue the complaints from the Sunderland tourist board….. Continue reading →

Exodus

08 Monday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday March 1st 2008 ko 15.00

Conference North

LEIGH RAILWAY MECHANICS INSTITUTE 1 (Carroll 90)

BARROW AFC 2 (Henney 36 Walker 59)

Att 295

Entry £7

Programme £2

Part of me wonders whether I’m the right person to write about this, as this is a time when two paths crossed fairly briefly and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Continue reading →

Cadbury World

06 Saturday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 19th February 2011 ko 15.00

Midland Combination Division Two

CADBURY ATHLETIC RESERVES 0

LEAMINGTON HIBERNIAN 1 (Jahmal Clarke 47p)

Att 52

Free Entry

Now if you were to ask a less experienced groundhopper where Cadbury Athletic play they’d probably tell you at the Triplex Sports & Social Club, Kings Norton in Birmingham. You’d be technically correct but it certainly isn’t the club’s spiritual home- but ticking off the Bournville Recreation does tend to polarise the brethren of the groundhoppers. Continue reading →