Author Archives: laurencereade

The Running Theme

02 Monday Oct 2023

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Saturday 23rd September 2023 ko 11:00

West Wales Premier League

PONTARDDULAIS TOWN 1 (A Jones 35og)

ROCKSPUR FC 6 (Griffiths 2og Price 18 Williams 24 Keefe 45+4 66p C Harris 54)

Morgan sent off (foul & abusive) 74

Att 260

Entry £3

Programme £2

I’d argue we found the true nature of the West Wales Premier League on the Saturday of the hop. Whilst the visit to Cwmamman United was enjoyable, the fact was it was at a club and ground that had recently played two tiers higher. These next 3 games saw me comparing GroundhopUK’s experiences in leagues such as the Gwent Premier and the South Wales Alliance, who do operate parallel to this one.

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The Premier

29 Friday Sep 2023

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Friday 22nd September 2023 ko 19:00

West Wales Premier League

CWMAMMAN UNITED 6 (T Smith 28 C Davies 59p Rees 61og Wickham 63 E Smith 67 77)

AFC GLAIS 3 (Gregory 12 Smith 35 Robb-Gregory 49)

Bowles sent off 73 (second booking)

Att 242

Entry £3

Programme £2

When the West Wales Premier League approached GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai to invite us to organise a hop for their league, I was more than a little intrigued. For a start I’m more than aware that the restructure of Welsh club football has rather passed this site by- for example I haven’t watched a single Tier 3 Ardal (Regional) League game so far! Then the pandemic got in the way of things, and to add to that a new league was created for the West of Wales.

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The Rail Traction Company

19 Tuesday Sep 2023

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Saturday 16th September 2023 ko 14:30

Aberystwyth & District League

CORRIS UNITED 4 (Vaughan 2 Kohler 42 Roberts 51 Jellett 78)

LLANILAR RESERVES 1 (Ashton 75)

Att 60

Entry & Programme by donation

I’ll admit to have been feeling jaded. I was more than aware that I should have been leading a group of 100 or so groundhoppers around 5 grounds in the Witney & District League. That didn’t happen due to us not being able to find a club willing to host in the Saturday morning slot. The irony therefore of getting up at 6:30am for this one was not lost on me! As my regular reader knows, I have a bucket list of places I’d like to visit that are a little unusual. Or putting it another way, if the fixture is the kind that pops up on an App when you’re near it, then it’s not on the list! More than anything else I wanted to head somewhere far away from football admin.

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Leisure

18 Monday Sep 2023

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Tuesday 12th September 2023 ko 19:45

Eastern Counties League Division One North

STANWAY PEGASUS 5 (Booth 6 Kabongu 14 Griffith 35 81 Ager 73)

CORNARD UNITED 0

Att 156

Entry & Programme £7

Roughly speaking I reckon there are three reasons why a groundhopper visits a new ground. One is simply because it’s there, another its because it’s known to be superb, and the third is you need it to complete a league. There can be little doubt the reason I was at Stanway School was the third reason….

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Lungs

15 Friday Sep 2023

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Saturday 9th September 2023 ko 15:00

Somerset County League Division Two

IMPERIAL 5 (Miles 20 Morgan 60 69 78 Sanders 83)

WELTON ROVERS RESERVES 0

Att 22 at Imperial Sports Ground, Brislington, Bristol

Free Entry

I’d been foisted by my own petard. As my regular reader knows my wife Robyn is from Knowle West in Bristol’s southern suburbs so I do tend to see quite a lot of the area visiting family. On such as visit I’m mused that I must have visited every single ground in the city with a set of floodlights? Our nephew Jack immediately commented, “Have you seen a game at Imperial then?” No, I hadn’t…..

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Coast

13 Wednesday Sep 2023

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Monday 28th August 2023 ko 15:00

National League, Premier Division

AFC FYLDE 3 (Haughton 58p Omotayo 79 Davis 90+9)

Haughton penalty saved 58

ALTRINCHAM 3 (Linney 33 Angus 35 Conn-Clarke 87p)

Att 1,819

Entry £16 (home terrace)

Programme £3

Teamsheet FREE

Robyn and I were at a loose end. With the Welsh hop and its replacement in the Central Midlands Alliance cancelled we were in the unusual position of having August Bank Holiday sat at home in Oxford. So when the pieces didn’t fall into place, I simply dipped into that imaginary pot of grounds I wanted to visit.

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Threads

07 Thursday Sep 2023

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Saturday 19th August 2023 ko 15:00

EFL League 1

BARNSLEY 1 (Cole 69)

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Brannagan 8p Williams 53og Goodrham 87)

Att 11,753 (620 away)

Entry £23

Programme £4

Official car park £5

These Robyn revisits are proving to be interesting. It had been the best part of two decades since I’d visited Oakwell and back then I’d taken the Oxford United supporters’ coach straight in and out. This time out I hankered after finding more about the South Yorkshire town than just the football. And yes, I have been to Athersley Recreation!

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Low Flying Aircraft

05 Tuesday Sep 2023

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Tuesday 15th August 2023 ko 19:45

Wessex League Division One

FLEETLANDS 2 (Wrapson 37 38)

HAMWORTHY RECREATION 3 (Deem 12 Rosenwald 42 Cooper 68)

Att 72

Entry £6

Programme £2

When you’ve completed a league sometimes keeping it that way can be something of a chore. I’d completed the Wessex League in almost indecent haste once the groundhop project foundered, so the last couple of seasons I’d got mostly out of the habit of heading south down the A34. In fact Robyn and I stumbled across Fleetlands’ Lederle Lane home en route to another Gosport-based club – Solent Devils Ice Hockey!

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Marriage Guidance

31 Thursday Aug 2023

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Wednesday 9th August 2023 ko 19:45

EFL Cup 1st Round

BRISTOL CITY 5 (Cornick 15 Knight 35 47 Naismith 62)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Bodin 30)

Att 9,616 (1,201 away)

Entry (Atyeo Stand) £10

Programme -officially none, but the fans are producing an unofficial programme “Cider Reds” for £4 available from underneath the Atyeo statue. It’s rather good!

Robyn and I have been together 7 and a half years, and married for 3 and a half, so the only real surprise is that it took this long for our two sides to meet. I’ve been an Oxford United season ticket holder since the mid-80’s and Robyn was a season ticket holder at Bristol City when we met. And let’s face it, her name is Robyn!

There are a couple of caveats, the women’s teams have met twice in that time, in 2016 and again last season. The male teams did also meet in a behind closed doors friendly a few weeks ago- I imagine both clubs played that game with more than half an eye on this game!

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New (ish!)

30 Wednesday Aug 2023

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Tuesday 8th August 2023 ko 19:45

Eastern Counties League Division One North

HAVERHILL ROVERS 2 (Greenslade-Cross 18 42)

WHITTON UNITED 1 (Thrower 30)

Att 111

Entry £7

No programme

Ever had one of those grounds that irks you? Not in the sense that the place itself annoys you, rather that your failure to get the place visited irks you. I’d visited Rovers old ground Hamlet Croft back in 2007, they moved to the New Croft in 2010, and somehow I contrived to fail to visit the new ground.

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