Author Archives: laurencereade

Caracas

08 Tuesday Apr 2025

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Friday 14th March 2025 ko 19:45

Lowland League

CUMBERNAULD COLTS 2 (Duncan 10og Ross 40)

BROXBURN ATHLETIC 0

Att 375 at Broadwood Stadium

Entry £6

Programme £2

It is always a brutal journey to the Scottish Hop but for me it’s great joy has been watching it’s evolution. From a conversation at Camelon Juniors in 2014, Jamie McQueen’s stirling work while at Whitehill Welfare, Chris Berezai’s marathon driving stints to meet the Lowland League, through to that first game at East Kilbride this event has never come with the huge history of the organised hop south of the border.

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Upper and Lower

06 Sunday Apr 2025

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Saturday 8th March 2025 ko 14:00

Banbury District & Lord Jersey League Division One

ARNCOTT ATHLETIC 2 (Dawistan 16 Davenport 60)

TYSOE UNITED 1 (Gardiner 40)

Att 15

Free Entry

When it comes to the leagues local to me in Oxford, I reckon I know most of them fairly well. Clearly organising hops for the North Berkshire and the Witney & District and sitting on a committee for the Oxfordshire FA helped for the Oxon Senior League, but the Banbury District & Lord Jersey League remains something of a mystery to me.

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Another kind of hopping

02 Wednesday Apr 2025

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Friday 7th March 2025 11:00

National League U19 Alliance-South Division

WELLING UNITED 4 (13 24p 71 90+2p)

MAIDENHEAD UNITED 0

Att 5 at Goals Eltham, Baldon Sports Ground, Eltham Palace Road

Free Entry

I’m well used to explaining my rather odd hobby to people, a starting point is usually “Some folks collect stamps or coins, I collect visits to football grounds” and then the next question is invariably “how many?” and that produces incredulity, to which my response is that there are people who watch far more football than I do! This game was in part to demonstrate that, and try out what some of the more committed hoppers do.

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If You Want Bloods You Got It

30 Sunday Mar 2025

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Sunday 2nd March 2025 ko 14:30

North West Counties League Division One North

DROYLSDEN 3 (Kasali 11 Kattah 27 Van 49)

DARWEN 2 (Bailey 3 Severino 49)

Att 1,184

Entry £6

Programme £2

On one level it was fairly predictable that this game, the last of this year’s North West Counties League Hop would see a huge crowd but perhaps not this large! You could easily argue it was caused by a former National League Premier side facing off against a former Football League one. There were a few nuances though.

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Purple Heys

25 Tuesday Mar 2025

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Sunday 2nd March 2025 ko 11:30

North West Counties League Premier Division

ABBEY HEY 0

PRESTWICH HEYS 0

Bardsley-Rowe penalty saved 81

Bardsley-Rowe sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 610

Entry £7

Programme £2.50

For Sunday’s fixtures on the North West Counties Hop we returned to suburban Manchester and a club who in my eyes we owed a game to. Abbey Hey had been the visitors at Stafford Town, Wythenshawe Town and even featured on the very first NWCL Hop at Maine Road. That was on 2017, so no withstanding the break due to Covid, Abbey Hey were certainly due!

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The History

23 Sunday Mar 2025

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Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 19:30

North West Counties League- Premier Division

GLOSSOP NORTH END 0

WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON 2 (Banister 60 Bass 81)

Lazenbury penalty saved 17

Att 830

Entry £10

Programme £2

If the North West Counties Hop was going to New Mills then it was close to inevitable that we’d pair them with Glossop North End as the “High Peak Twins.” But with all due respect to New Mills they were never a Football League club…

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The Shawcross Redemption

18 Tuesday Mar 2025

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Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 16:45

North West Counties League First Division South

NEW MILLS AFC 2 (Woods 13 Pavley 19)

Shawcross penalty saved 7

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 0

Att 558

Entry £6

Programme £2.50

We moved from Manchester’s environs for the last two games of Saturday’s North West Counties Hop. The scene moved from the urban to the countryside of the Derbyshire High Peak, as we approached New Mills.

The town was built around coal, spinning and calico printing, and was also a centre for Methodism. That fact partly explains why sweet manufacturer Swizzels Matlow are based here, taking over an old mill in 1940 and sweet treats such as Refreshers and Parma Violets are still produced in New Mills today. Confectionery and Methodism do seem to go hand in hand, Fry Club in Keynsham and Cadbury Athletic in Bourneville are other examples.

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The Alternate Revisit

17 Monday Mar 2025

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Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 13:45 (but delayed to 13:55)

North West Counties League Premier Division

STOCKPORT TOWN 0

Schofield sent off (DOGSO) 26

CHEADLE TOWN 1 (Delaney 15p)

Att 435

Entry £6

Programme £2

For me and a few others a trip to Stockport Sports Village represented something slightly unusual. Back in 2010 I’d paid the place a visit on a cold December day to watch the hosts play Cammel Laird. The catch is it wasn’t Stockport Town! Woodley Sports used the ground, later to be Stockport Sports, but they folded in 2015, in no small part to Stockport County’s own financial troubles.

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The Feast of George

12 Wednesday Mar 2025

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Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 11:00

North West Counties League-Division One

STOCKPORT GEORGIANS 3 (Wych 48 McFadyen 65 81p)

SANDBACH UNITED 1 (Greenop 52)

Att 532

Entry £5

Programme £2

Part of me wished we were in Wales, it was St David’s Day after all, and GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai is Welsh after all. But it wasn’t Chris that was given daffodils over breakfast in Bolton, no that was Robyn my wife! She’s from Bristol and the joke started when she visited Tirana and our friend Ditmar commented, “Bristol, isn’t that nearly in Wales?” That was 2 years ago and the joke has well and truly stuck..

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Rammy

04 Tuesday Mar 2025

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Friday 28th February 2025 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Premier Division

RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 2 (Whyte 48 Hoyle 56)

FC ST HELENS 3 (Barker 59 Spiers 74 90+1)

Att 551

Entry £9

Programme £2

So back on GroundhopUK duty and despite this being, I believe, the only hop game ever to have taken place in February I was comfortable with what we were doing, and although noone mentioned it, the weather forecast looked kind.

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