Author Archives: laurencereade

The Rockets

26 Friday Sep 2025

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Saturday 19th July 2025 ko 15:00

Friendly

RAYLEIGH TOWN 2 (Acheampong 44 Philbrick 70)

missed penalty 10

FRENFORD 1 (13)

Att 58 at Rayleigh Sports & Social Club, London Road

Free Entry

To a groundhopper, one benefit of pre-season is that clubs who groundshare during the regular season tend to play “at home”. You may recall me visiting Benfleet well before they got Woodside up to Step 6 standards and you hope Rayleigh can do the same for their London Road home.

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The Conundrum

22 Monday Sep 2025

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Tuesday 15th July ko 19:15

James Chisnell Memorial Cup

EAST THURROCK COMMUNITY 0

GRAYS ATHLETIC 4 (Fitzer 22 Bantick 32 Lukaku 42p Shelvey 51)

Att 130 at Wyldecrest Sports Country Club, Corringham

Free Entry

On the face of it East Thurrock United always were a little unusual. They never actually played in Thurrock, rather in Corringham around 6 miles east, with the name apparently being because the Corringham name had already been taken! I, like no end of groundhoppers saw them at their final ground, Rookery Hill, but they folded in 2023 with owner Alfie Best blaming the club’s demise on “Historic Debt”

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The Lifeboat

15 Monday Sep 2025

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Saturday 5th July 2025 ko 14:00

Friendly

STOURBRIDGE 4 (Shaw 8 Campbell Freemantle 50 Bood 66)

DUDLEY TOWN 2 (Jae 20 Crook 30p)

Att 586

Entry £8

Programme £2

Any student of the non league game will tell you there’s something of a love/hate relationship between Stourbridge FC and their home at War Memorial Athletic Ground. On one hand, it is an icon of the West Midlands sporting scene, but since it is also a cricket ground the start and end of any football season is always an issue; I remember them playing early rounds of the FA Cup at Halesowen around 20 years ago.

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Back On The Normal Weird Stuff

08 Monday Sep 2025

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Tuesday 1st July 2025 ko 19:00

Friendly

STANWAY ROVERS 3 (Mardell 19 63 Nalbant 38)

HALSTEAD TOWN 1 (Travelle 44)

Att 56 at Spring Lane

Free Entry

While the trip to Sweden and Estonia had been both enjoyable and educational it was good to be back home. That said I wasn’t back in my comfort zone, my job had changed and I found myself back on the road with a company car and a fuel card. The Financial Controller was very keen to explain the tax implications, and advised me to make plenty use of both to make it worth my while. I was then asked whether I’d be likely to do much driving in my personal life? My boss has just about stopped laughing…

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Let’s Go ‘Ome

07 Sunday Sep 2025

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Saturday 14th June 2025 ko 12:30

Esliiga B

NARVA TRANS U21 3 (Besirgkis 3 Bahval 41 Reivik 72og)

PAIDE LINNAMEESKOND U21 0

Att 84 at Narva Kalev-Fama Staadion

Free Entry

I’ve always found borders fascinating, and I’ve little doubt that the border between Estonia and Russia is nothing if not interesting. Being based near to Tallinn’s main station, Balti Jaam was more than handy as our train left at 6.15am! The little K-kiosk near the platforms as ever was handy for an extremely early breakfast- there are no buffet cars on Estonian trains.

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Sportland

02 Tuesday Sep 2025

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Wednesday 11th June 2025 ko 18:00

Estonian “Tipner” Cup Round of 64

JK TALLINNA KALEV u21 6 (Lasn 28 Väjlas 60 Kirss 69 Oja 78 Tammepöld 80 81)

RL VANA HEA PUUR 0

Att 27 at Sportland Arena, Lilleküla Football Complex, Tallinn

Free Entry

We’d made good use of the Ühiskaart public transport cards. A combination of tram and bus had taken us roughly 6km north of Tallinn centre to the TV Tower in the village of Pirita. It was a fascinating place, built in 1980 to relay footage of the sailing competition of the Moscow Olympics based nearby!

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Balti Jam

29 Friday Aug 2025

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Tuesday 10th June 2025 ko 17:00

Estonia U19 Eliitliiga Esilliga

TALLINNA JK LEGION 1 (Blinov 82)

TARTU FC HELIOS 0

Att 73 at Wismari Jalgpallistaadion, Tallinn

Entry Free

It was interesting approaching Estonia having arrived from Sweden. I found myself making comparisons with Stockholm rather than the UK. There is a clear Scandinavian influence, but I was most interested in their past as being part of the USSR before their independence was regained in 1991. You’ll hear Russian spoken, roughly a quarter of Estonians speak it as their first language, but that percentage alters massively depending on where you are, as we were to find out later.

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Scenes From A Swedish Italian Restaurant

26 Tuesday Aug 2025

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Sunday 8th June ko 13:00

Ettan Norra

IFK STOCKSUND 3 (Suleiman 31 Perez 54 Lundström 57)

ASSYRISKA FF 2 (Ugwu 10 Fernandez 34)

Att 325 at Danderyds Arena

Entry 100 sek

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £350 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

It seemed unusual to not be packing our suitcases. The Swedish Hop was ending, but Robyn, Adrian and I had booked an extra night in Hammarby Sjöstad before travelling to Tallinn on the overnight ferry on Monday evening. It allowed us the most precious of commodities, time and we managed to make full use of it, but not as a few folks expected!

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The Waterworks

19 Tuesday Aug 2025

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Saturday 7th June 2025 ko 16:00

Division 4 Stockholm Södra

NORSBORG FC 2 (Kelile 6 38)

Baysal sent off 67 (second booking)

IFK ASPUDDEN-TELLUS 4 (Vaitsis 35secs Hassan 15 Tavares 56 Birggersson 61p)

Att 88 at Kärsby BP

Free Entry

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £350 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

The merry band that was the 2025 Swedish Hop continued our tour into Stockholm’s southern suburbs. Norsborg is famous as being for where the capital’s waterworks is based- I’m now wondering whether we could do some kind of Swedish Monopoly Board Hop next year. But moreover Norsborg is also used as the name of a range of furniture at IKEA- is there anything in the world more Swedish than that?

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Ivar Lo

15 Friday Aug 2025

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Saturday 7th June 2025 13:00

Division 4 Stockholm Södra

STUVSTA IF (Labihouton 16)

SKOGÅS-TRÅNGSUNDS 1 (Thunberg 52)

Att 62 at Stuvsta IP

Free Entry

Free Programme (to Swedish Hop party)

The party also received either a mug or pennant each too

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £350 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

Saturday morning dawned as what this Englishman calls the Full Swedish breakfast was in order at our hotel in Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm’s southern suburbs. I’m not saying its for everyone, but the scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, meatballs and chicken sausages were lovely, and if you’re feeling adventurous, you could try a side of pickled herrings on crispbread. I did every time, but then Sweden and I do get along…

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