Author Archives: laurencereade

Fields

31 Wednesday Aug 2022

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Tuesday 12th July 19:30

Pre-Season Friendly

RISBOROUGH RANGERS 5 (Fox 6 Hercules 54 Coles 70 Read 77 90)

HOLMER GREEN 2 (55 65)

Att c20 at Aylesbury Vale Academy 3G

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Back in the day I used to work in Aylesbury, and was well used to the edge to town being Meadowcroft, the road you turn into from the A41 to get to Aylesbury Vale FC. Nowadays the town has expanded out at least half-a-mile to meet Aylesbury Vale Parkway, and the Aylesbury Vale Academy was built to serve the new community. It was an odd feeling driving along roads that only a few years ago were fields, and if you’ve ever driven on roads too new for your satnav you’ll know the feeling! Continue reading →

Windmill!

25 Thursday Aug 2022

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Saturday 9th July 2022 ko 15:30

Pre-Season Friendly

SHARNBROOK 2 (Griggs 68 69)

SHEFFORD TOWN & CAMPTON 2 (63, 79)

Att 16 at Court Lane, Stevington

It is an oddity of my footballing life that Bedfordshire is a path less trodden for me. Take away the county’s clubs in pyramid football and those that got visited in the Bedfordshire Hops, and my list looks threadbare. Continue reading →

Daze

22 Monday Aug 2022

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Saturday 2nd July 2022 ko 14:00

Pre-Season Friendly

WOKINGHAM & EMMBROOK 1 (17)

KNAPHILL 1 (56)

Att c50 at Emmbrook School

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Just recently I read a thread on Twitter about what constitutes a new ground. Its fair to say that none of the participants had particularly high ground counts- the low hundreds being typical, and with the tendency to include that count in their Twitter “Bio” too. The conversation was around what constitutes a new ground- and that certainly didn’t include 3G cages. Continue reading →

Meaning

10 Wednesday Aug 2022

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Saturday 25th June 2022 ko 15:00

Pre-Season Friendly

LINGFIELD 2 (Redfern 20 83)

CROYDON 1 (Peacock 46)

Att 81, at Coombe Field, Edenbridge (Edenbridge RUFC)

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Football watching takes several forms, even when you break away from the “I follow my team only” principle. Some groundhoppers will only deal in competitive games, others only within certain levels of the the footballing pyramid, and others will look at what the ground looks like before committing. Others, like me will think “Here’s a game on an unusual ground, ” and that will be enough. This was one of those occasions. Continue reading →

Constabulary

04 Thursday Aug 2022

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Tuesday 28th June 2022 ko 19:30

Combined Midland Police League- Daniel Rigley Plate Semi-Final

WARWICKSHIRE POLICE 8 (Dobson 11, 15 43, 80 Moore 74 Stanton 84 Hicks 87 O’Mahoney 88)

LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE 0

Att 10 at Warwickshire Police HQ, Woodcote Drive, Leek Wootton

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Quite honestly I thought that the Sungate game was going to mark the end of my football season. I’d metaphorically put my feet up, a month had gone by but then a game popped up that was entirely out of my experience. I mean who couldn’t fancy a game competed by serving police officers at a Police HQ?  And yes, I did check whether I could attend and take photos! But this site isn’t an exercise in obscurantism, this was also a competitive game at new, and unusual ground. I was always going to interested, and I’m a little surprised more groundhoppers didn’t share my opinion!  Yes, I did check my car tax was up to date before I left Oxford!!!

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Coda

03 Wednesday Aug 2022

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Saturday 28th May 2022 ko 14:00

Essex Olympian League Premier Division

SUNGATE 0

CANNING TOWN 3 (Newson 82 90 Thogo 89)

Att 58 at Ilford Wanderers RUFC, Forest Road 

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After something like 126 games it finally felt like the football season was coming to an end. It wasn’t that there wasn’t a lack of games, it was just that I wasn’t looking in the normal places any more. And the Essex Olympian League is one of those places that does seem to be a go-to league at the end of the season. Continue reading →

Viennetta

28 Thursday Jul 2022

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Wednesday 25th May 2022 ko 18:00

East Berkshire League Premier Division

HYPE TRAIN 1 (Mannion 90)

BRITWELL 4 (Taylor 4 Kelly 15 23 Hartridge 36)

Att 114 at Longfurlong Drive ( Britwell FC)

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On a purely personal level it was good to end my little run of cup finals, even if this one felt like another! The mathematics of it all were straightforward. Britwell needed to win this game to ensure they couldn’t be caught in the race for the title by Old Windsor and they had the advantage of the away tie being switched back to their home ground of Longfurlong Drive. Continue reading →

(Back on) My Old Stomping Ground

21 Thursday Jul 2022

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Saturday 21st May 2022 ko 14:30

South Wales Alliance W John Owen Cup Final 

CARDIFF CORINTHIANS 1 (Withers 90 +1)

LLANRUMNEY UNITED 1 (Rees 90+5)

No extra time, Cardiff Corinthians won on 5-4 on penalties

Att 507 at USW Treforest (Pontypridd Town FC)

Entry £4

Programme (superb) £1

Teamsheet Free

The truth of it is that all reputations are earned. The sheer numbers of groundhoppers at the South Wales Alliance’s Cup Final bore testament to that league’s efforts over many years welcoming groundhoppers, on no end of organised events over the years. As committeeman Phil Sweet put it, “We thought there might be groundhoppers, so we thought we’d do a programme.” They are a league that grasped what the hobby is all about a long time ago and have continued that knowledge throughout my time hopping. 

Continue reading →

Coal Light

13 Wednesday Jul 2022

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Tuesday 17th May 2022 ko 18:30

Coventry Alliance “Peter Toogood” Division Two Cup Final

COUNDON COURT 2 (L Hawthorn 2 J Dixon 30)

CRAVEN ATHLETIC 1 (Dixon 86)

Att c150 at Hawkesmill Sports Club, Allesley, Coventry

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The temptation was to compare this with the previous evening’s entertainment at MK Irish but the only thing the two finals had in common was that they were both divisional cup competitions. The manifest difference was that one was an on-pyramid competition; this one wasn’t. Continue reading →

Monsieur Madeleine

07 Thursday Jul 2022

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Monday 16th May 2022 ko 19:45

Spartan South Midlands League Division One Cup Final

SHEFFOLD TOWN & CAMPTON 1 (Renney 90+2)

STOTFOLD 0

ATT 147 at Manor Fields, Bletchley (MK Irish FC)

Entry & Programme £7

Over the years this blog has explored the where, the how, and the why of groundhopping. Here the where was somewhere I’ve visited several times before, the how the usual short drive, but the why was a first- it was all due to a musical! Continue reading →