Author Archives: laurencereade

George

16 Thursday Mar 2023

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Sunday 19th February 2023 ko 13:00

Kategoria Superiore

KS KASTRIOTI 0

KF TIRANA 1 (Nikqi 90+10)

Hasani penalty saved 16 

Att c1,000 at Stadiumi Kamza

Entry 1000 lek (approx.’ £7.69) for a seat in the stand, 500 lek for the terrace

I must admit there was one small worry on our final day in Albania. It was a combination of two quirks, one is that WizzAir don’t let you check in until 48 hours before your flight, and that in any case online check-ins aren’t recognised at Tirana airport. You produce a document that is headed “This is not a boarding pass” which you exchange for a boarding pass at the check-in desk. I’d not seen it before, and I am grateful to our hotel, Vila e Artё for their help in printing out something that served so little purpose! Continue reading →

Zaja

13 Monday Mar 2023

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Saturday 18th February 2023 ko 19:00

Kategoria Superiore

PARTIZANI TIRANA 3 (Rrapajy 45 Da Silva 46 Hoti 71)

Gueye sent off 1 (dangerous play- VAR)

KF ERZENI 0

Att c 1,500 at Kompleksi Partizani

Entry- Complimentary (tickets in our stand was on sale of 1000 lek – roughly £7.69; opposite was 300 lek)

We’d got back from Vorë with more than enough time for a late lunch. We’d settled in the Tirana suburb of Kinostudio, Ditmar’s home and where the communists used to produce their propaganda films. Since those days the area has seen no little investment, and I suspect the bar we sat in had never known rule by Enver Hoxha.

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Ditmar

09 Thursday Mar 2023

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Saturday 18th February 2023 ko 13:00

Kategorie e Dytë Grp A

VORA FK 7 (Shani 4 Raboshta 12 25 Vrapi 24 71 Bashaj 45 Prengar 82)

KF SHËNKOLLI 0

Att c1,000

Free Entry

We met Ditmar at the roundabout near to Tirana’s New Bazaar. It’s the place you head to if you want a souvenir, fruit and veg or anything you’d find at a flea market; there’s also a fish market next door too! You can also change your currency, buy a cheap meal or have a leisurely coffee. As a result, it’s a hub for much of what makes Tirana tick, away from the tourists, the 4 of us seemed to be the only foreigners there. Continue reading →

Endi

07 Tuesday Mar 2023

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Friday 17th February 2023 ko 11:30

U17 International Friendly

ALBANIA 0

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 0

Marcetic sent off (2nd booking) 63

Att c700 at Arena Kombëtare, Tirana

Free Entry

It is a matter of fact that 9 men went to Tirana in 2019 to celebrate my Stag Weekend, expecting little more than a couple of matches and more than a few beers. We ended up watching 5 games and enjoyed ourselves so much the “Scottish Delegation” bored my wife Robyn silly with all our stories for months afterwards. But that weekend was so much more than beer and football. Continue reading →

Motorway

06 Monday Mar 2023

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Saturday 11th February 2023 ko 14:00

Gloucestershire Senior Amateur Cup Quarter Final

AVONMOUTH 7 (Groves 13 29 30 89 Aldom 35 Pearce 43 O’Donovan 82)

ST NICHOLAS 1 (Slade 56p)

Att 42

Free Entry

One of the great advantages of having family in Bristol is the extra centre of gravity it gives my groundhopping. You’d expect me to have done a lot in around my hometown of Oxford, but 7 years of Robyn and I means regular visits west, and very slowly I’m uncovering some real Bristolian gems.  Continue reading →

Gills not Gills

02 Thursday Mar 2023

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Tuesday 8th February 2023 ko 19:30

Western League Division One

GILLINGHAM TOWN 0

BISHOPS LYDEARD 1 (Willis 58)

Att 35

Entry £6

Programme £2

Perhaps the measure of what differentiates a genuine groundhopper from a general football fan is the Dorset town of Gillingham. My feeling is that a football fan will look at the name as immediately assume its pronounced with a soft “G” as in the EFL club of the same name, whereas the groundhopper sees the name “Gillingham” and wonders which county we’re in? Since this is Dorset, the “G” is hard, so the Gill is what fish have, not the girl’s name! Hope we’re clear on that one! Continue reading →

Robyn

27 Monday Feb 2023

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Sunday 29th January 2023 ko 15:00

FA Women’s Cup 4th Round

BRISTOL CITY 4 (Hayles 45 Hutton 48 Woolley 73 Syme 83)

OXFORD UNITED 0

Att 449

Entry £8

Teamsheet- Free

After seven years together and three years married, its a little surprising that Robyn and I’s teams Bristol City and Oxford United have only met once, again the women’s teams back in 2016 at Stoke Gifford Stadium. So when the two clubs were drawn again, this time in the FA Women’s Cup it was obvious we’d be making a beeline for the game! Continue reading →

Blazing Saddlers

23 Thursday Feb 2023

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Saturday 28th January 2023 ko 12:30

FA Cup 4th Round

WALSALL 0

LEICESTER CITY 1 (Iheanacho 68)

Tielemans missed penalty 48

Entry £20

Programme £4

It certainly wasn’t the plan to have the next instalment of Robyn’s completion of the 92 EFL and Premier League clubs to be at a club who would regard our previous visit as their great rivals. Walsall fans regard Wolverhampton Wanderers as public enemy number 1, referring to them as “The Dingles” a comment on the “Emmerdale” family- the archetypal neighbours from hell! Continue reading →

Colts

22 Wednesday Feb 2023

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Saturday 7th January 2023 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Division 3

KINGSTON COLTS 2 (G Bailey 57 Sam Bailey 83)

WANTAGE TOWN A 2 (Dance 69 71)

Att c30 at Abingdon Road, Kingston Bagpuize

Free Entry

You may remember Robyn and I visiting the Kingston Colts before. Back in 2019 we saw them at their temporary ground at Dalton Barracks, near Abingdon. That was 6 miles from home at Kingston Bagpuize, the exile due to their pavilion back home not being ready. The distance proved to be their undoing as they dropped out of league soon after, with the club retreating to exclusively youth football.

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Station

21 Tuesday Feb 2023

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Monday 2nd January 2023 ko 14:00

Eastern Counties League Division One North

HEACHAM 1 (L Mitchell 42)

NORWICH C.B.S. 0

Att 131

Entry £5

Programme £2

There has been a running theme in my groundhopping for the last few years and that has been the Eastern Counties League. A lot of it is that there is no organised groundhop in that league, so I’m not likely to be helping guide a coachload of hoppers into these clubs any time soon. There’s also the fact that the ECL does seem to have a healthy intake of new clubs each season, to the extent that that without that process I’m certain I’d have finished the league years ago! Continue reading →