Author Archives: laurencereade

The Village

05 Thursday Mar 2020

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Saturday 25th January 2020 ko 14.00

Mid-Oxon Cup Quarter-Final

BRILL UNITED 2 (Price 5 Boiling 75)

ASHTON FOLLY 1 (McPherson 82)

Att 27 at Whitelands Farm Sports Ground, Bicester

Free Entry

I’d wanted to watch Brill for a while. The village has the distinction of both being in Buckinghamshire and having once been on the London Underground but still managing to be a mere 12 miles from Oxford. The football club has an excellent Twitter (@BrillUtd) account, and there’s an obvious vibrancy about them. Continue reading →

SAD

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

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Saturday 25th January 2020 ko 20.30

Primeiria Liga

BELENENSES S.A.D. 0

VITORIA DE SETUBAL 1 (Guedes 39)

Att 2,012  at Estádio Nacional, Lisbon

Entry – Complimentary

As a tourist in Lisbon, its virtually inevitable you’ll end up visiting Belém, in the west of the city. You’ll take the 15E tram from Cais do Sodré and visit the Belém Tower, the Jerónimos Monastery, and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, all within 5 minutes from the tram stop for the monastery. But before you leave do cross the road at Largo dos Jerónimos and have some grilled sardines at the excellent Flor dos Jerónimos cafe, then discover a hidden piece of Lisbon’s history. Continue reading →

Leões

02 Monday Mar 2020

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Friday 17th January 2020 ko 21.15

Primeira Liga

SPORTING CLUBE DE PORTUGAL 0

SL BENFICA 2 (R Silva 80 90)

ATT 41,017

Entry €65

Robyn and I knew we’d like to spend the weekend after our wedding in Lisbon. We knew they’d be plenty of interest to visit there, and the idea was to use this as a “Mini-Moon” with a longer honeymoon in the summer. The problem was would we want to watch any football? We rapidly agreed on one game, as let’s face it, clocking up an entire weekend watching nothing but football is hardly romantic. Continue reading →

Nicosia

27 Thursday Feb 2020

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Saturday 28th December 2019 ko 14.00

Gloucestershire County League

AEK BOCO 5 (Slocombe 45 52 80 90 Thier 89)

HENBURY 0 Heal sent off (2nd booking) 49

Att c50

Free Entry

Programme £1

Bristol, just like Nicosia is a divided city, and the second Robyn and I started seeing each other part of the fun was seeing just how divided it is. Of course Bristol’s divide is on purely footballing terms, the green line in Nicosia separates Greek from Turkish Cyprus. In Bristol the line is blue….. Continue reading →

Castle On The Hill

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

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Friday 27th December 2019 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One North

FRAMLINGHAM TOWN 8 (Berry 24 66 89 D Smith 30 57 75 Ling 47 Willett 51)

FELIXSTOWE & WALTON RESERVES 2 (Ingram 23 Norman 68)

Att 75

Entry £5

Programme £1

It is difficult to avoid reference to Ed Sheeran in Framlingham, and in any case, why try? The singer/songwriter is Framlingham’s most famous son, and while there doesn’t seem to be quite the same connection with the club that Olly Murs has with Coggeshall Town, the singer has tweeted his allegiance to the club after being spotted at, of all places, Stamford Bridge! Perhaps that’s why Framlingham Town market a replica shirt with Sheeran’s name on the back. Continue reading →

Don’t Fence Me In

24 Monday Feb 2020

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Tuesday 17th December 2019 ko 19.45

Middlesex Senior Cup 2nd Round

BARNET 1 (Chime 9)

STAINES TOWN 1 (Ibe 83)

No extra time, Staines won 4-3 on penalties.

Att 63 at Pitch ATP1, The Hive, London

Free Entry

Online Programme

Team Sheet 50p

“I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
Gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
Can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences
Don’t fence me in.” Gene Autry

I’ll admit I was rather scraping the barrel with this one, but my defence is that I didn’t quite know what I was letting myself it for. What I did know is that The Hive has no end of side pitches, some grass, some 3G and at least one with a stand. Continue reading →

Any Port….

21 Friday Feb 2020

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Saturday 14th December 2019 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance Division Two 

MAESTEG PARK 0

TATA STEEL UNITED 0

Abandoned after 3 minutes-player injury

Att c40

ko 14.30

Cymru South

AFAN LIDO 2 (Parry 35 McCreesh 70)

CAERAU (ELY) 1 (Vincent 46)

Att 103

Entry £5

Programme & Teamsheet £1.50

With Robyn having a wedding dress fitting in Bristol I was faced with my usual set of options when in her home city. Either head to South Wales or head south-west. There’s much to be said for either route but here I had a plan. The idea was based around GroundhopUK’s relationship with Bridgend & District Sunday League outfit Garth Vader. It seems that a fair percentage of their team play Saturday football for Maesteg Park and I had a little history with that club… Continue reading →

The Windmill

19 Wednesday Feb 2020

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Tuesday 3rd December 2019 ko 19.45

National League North

LEAMINGTON AFC 3 (Edwards 16 Mace 57 Carline 77)

DARLINGTON 0

Att 606

Entry £13

Programme £2.50

I think you’d have to have a footballing heart of stone not to have a soft spot for the Brakes. This is the club who lost their old Windmill ground in April 1988 to a property developer and didn’t kick a football in anger for 12 and a half years. A group of fans continued to meet at the Windmill pub close to the site of the old ground and continued to pay the Birmingham FA the fees each year to keep Leamington’s registration going and the name alive. Continue reading →

Life At The Grassroots

14 Friday Feb 2020

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Saturday 30th November 2019 ko 13.30

North Berkshire League Division 2

KINGSTON COLTS 0

LONG WITTENHAM ATHLETIC RESERVES 6 (Crowley 4 27 Bishop 9 24 Hunt 13 Barton 28)

Att 4 at Dalton Barracks, Shippon, near Abingdon

Free Entry

The North Berkshire Hops may be over for now, and despite me being from Oxford I’ll always be a North Berkshire man. It’s a league that put their trust in me to organise a hop when many wouldn’t, and those who really know me knew that back in 2011 I was at a pretty low ebb. I remain on the league’s management committee and will probably do so while they feel I can be of some use to them. Being right at grass roots does give you an insight as to what life really is like at the bottom of the pile. Continue reading →

Claremont

13 Thursday Feb 2020

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Tuesday 26th November 2019 ko 19.45

Middlesex Senior Cup 2nd Round

HENDON 1 (Mitchell 58)

WINGATE & FINCHLEY 3 ( Ruff 17p Ochineng 32 Fleming 68)

Att 110

Entry £6

Programmes sold out

Teamsheet 50p

When Hendon left their crumbling, yet atmospheric home of Claremont Road in 2008 few could have envisioned their search for a new home would lead them to a place the width of Silver Jubilee Park from Hendon, even if the stadium itself is on the western edge of the park, and Hendon itself on the eastern! Continue reading →