Author Archives: laurencereade

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 →

Chippy

03 Wednesday 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 19th July 2003  ko 15.00

Pre-season Friendly

CHIPPING NORTON TOWN 0

OXFORD UNITED XI 2 (Beechers 20 O’Sullivan 82)

Att 309

Entry £3

Programme £1

I think this is something of a first, a request of a ground someone would like me to write about! The request came from Bedfordshire Hop organiser Craig Dabbs and he asked to see Chipping Norton Town’s former home Walterbush Road. There was however something of a problem with it. Continue reading →

A Tale of Trelewis

03 Wednesday 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.

Friday 25th August 2006 ko 18.20

South Wales Amateur League Division Two

TRELEWIS WELFARE 3 (D Morris 65 90 Munkley 90)

GRAIG 3 (D Jones 29p Moon 31 Marshalsea 77)

Att 209

Entry £3

Programme £1

For so many people the clubs of the South Wales Amateur League, now the South Wales Alliance were opened up by organised events by the Welsh Groundhop, now GroundhopUK. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have visited without Chris Berezai’s help, Valleys football is hugely enjoyable, but sometimes you just need that little nudge in the right direction! Continue reading →

Old Rowley

01 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 6th October 2007 ko 15.00

United Counties League Premier Division

ST NEOTS TOWN 1 (Garwell 17)

BOURNE TOWN 0

Att 105

Entry £3

Programme £1.50

For the avoidance of any doubt this piece is about the old Rowley Park, as this could get a little confusing! St Neots Town moved from Rowley Park in 2008 to a ground roughly a quarter of a mile away, also called Rowley Park. Now you could look at it was simply a case of a club being at the right place at the right time, but there is more to it than just that. Continue reading →

The Tobacco Factory

30 Saturday May 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 1st April 2006 ko 15.00

Wessex League Division One

B.A.T. SPORTS 3 (Lowther 2 (1 pen), Thorney)

BROCKENHURST 2 (Beck, Burton)

Att c50

Entry £4

Programme £1

I hate smoking, I hate the smell, and that it invariably triggers my asthma. But I do have history with British & American Tobacco. The firm owned International Stores and if my grandfather hadn’t moved to Oxford to manage their store in High Street, you wouldn’t be reading this. I’ll leave you to consider whether that’s a good thing…. Continue reading →