Author Archives: laurencereade

Aerospace

12 Wednesday Jul 2017

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Saturday 8th July 2017 ko 14.30

Pre-season friendly

COSMOS UK 0

BROMLEY HEATH UNITED 6 (Nolan 15 20 62 Britton 62 Greenaway 72 Mitchelmore 80)

Att 6 at BAWA Club, Stanton Road, Filton, Bristol

Free Entry

The great advantage of an early kickoff was that it allowed a double with just about anything in Bristol. The only issue was that with family there, and a hop in the Western League, there isn’t much I hadn’t already paid a visit to. It needed me to travel to the Cosmos! Continue reading →

The X Factor

10 Monday Jul 2017

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Saturday 9th July 2017 ko 12.00

Pre-season Friendly

NANTYGLO 2 (7 60)

WHITEHEADS RHISGA 5 (16 25 36 72og 78)

Att c10 at Ebbw Vale Sports Centre

Free Entry

The delight of this one was how all the pieces fell into place. Firstly I knew I’d be in Bristol, making easy a trip over the Severn Bridge to probably my favourite place to watch non-league football, the South Wales Valleys. Then when Nantyglo left me know that they’d booked Ebbw Vale Sports Centre for midday, it allowed a visit to a ground -not (yet) used, by a club side, and the chance to double it up with a 3pm kickoff too! Continue reading →

Near to the site that was

06 Thursday Jul 2017

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Tuesday 4th July 2017 ko 19.00

Preseason Friendly

LYNE F.C. 2 (Esperit 6 Holly 62)

COBHAM 3 (Ewam 37 Anderson 69 80) Davies missed penalty 12

Att c20

Entry FREE

It is the lot of the groundhopper that you look through the endless lists of fixtures, and  try to find something that interests, and you can get to. I’ll admit, I’d not heard of Lyne FC, I supposed they’d have to be in and around Surrey judging by Cobham being the opposition. I’m grateful to Lyne, they have both an excellent website and twitter feed, and it turned out there were no end of reasons to pay them a visit.  Continue reading →

The 6 Towns

05 Wednesday Jul 2017

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Sunday 2nd July 2017 tapes up 18.00

National League Speedway

STOKE POTTERS 47 (Burnett 12+1 Davey 10)

CRADLEY HEATHENS 43 (Morley 13+1 Perry 9 +2)

Att c400

Entry £13

Programme £1

I have a theory that if Arnold Bennett were writing about the Potteries in the 21st century, he’d have written about the local speedway team rather than the twin football teams of Stoke City and Port Vale. That’s not to disparage those clubs in any way, 99% of the time this blog is about visiting football grounds, but there’s something about Loomer Road in Newcastle-under-Lyme that evokes Bennett.

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Train Time

28 Wednesday Jun 2017

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Saturday 24th June 2017 ko 14.30

Pre-season Friendly

DENBIGH TOWN 4 (13p 73 77 86og)

C.P.D. LLANUWCHLLYN 2 (82 90)

Att 45 @ Ty Isa, Rhewl. (Rhewl FC)

Free Entry

And Llangollen Railway

Return ticket from Corwen East to Llangollen £15

It was a day of coincidences, another chance to watch a Welsh pre-season friendly in June, and another chance to double it up with a heritage steam train ride. This time the railway was full-sized, although the Llangollen Railway runs on tracks once part of the Ruabon to Barmouth line axed under Beeching. That route included the now Bala Lake Railway which we’d travelled on the previous week! Continue reading →

Added Value

26 Monday Jun 2017

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Saturday 17th June 2017 ko 14.00

Pre-season Friendly

BALA TOWN 1 (Connolly 72)

LINFIELD 3 (Waterworth 22 Burns 39p C Stewart 86)

Att c400

and

Bala Lake Steam Railway 

return ticket from Llanuwchllyn to Bala £11

Entry £6

Programme 50p

If there was one thought that I took home from the Swedish Hop it was the idea of adding value. Event organiser Kim Hedwall managed to do that with every single game we attended and that principle certainly influenced my approach to this game. It was a confluence of ideas, my girlfriend Robyn fancied a trip to a steam railway, and needless to say I fancied a football match! I looked at Bala, remembered my visit around 10 years previously, and quickly put “Steam railways Bala” into Google. Continue reading →

The Watertower

23 Friday Jun 2017

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Sunday 4th June 2017 ko 15.00

Division 5 Sydvästra Skåne

VELLINGE I.F. 7 (Marius Hansson 22 47 C Wreme 34 60 Kruse 43 Lindell 74 Krönström 90)

HUSIE F.F. 1 (Johannsson 66)

Att 68

Entry 40 sek

We began to make our way back to the Øresund Bridge and our flights from Kastrup airport. The 11th Swedish Hop’s final stop was Vellinge, whose claim to fame seems to be that it was once voted Sweden’s second best place to live, history doesn’t record who won though! The other thing Vellinge is famous for is it’s 40 metres tall, 400 million litre vatterntorn, or water tower. And if you weren’t completely au fait with what a huge concrete funnel is for, the clever Swedes have painted the thing in blue stripes! Continue reading →

Easter Eggs

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

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Sunday 4th June 2017 ko 12.00

Division 5 Södra Skåne

KLAGSTORPS I.F. 4 (Dakaj 24 50 A Sheshaee 30 Krasniqi 54) Mullatahiri sent off 48 (violent conduct)

ANDERSLÖVS Bo.I.K. 1 (Lindahl 33)

Att 115

Entry & Programme 40 sek

With carry-on baggage so limited on budget airlines these days I’ve long since learned to take and wear old clothes so that they can be dumped leaving space for souvenirs on the journey back. But this time I decided that my “North Face” waterproof jacket was due for retirement, so there it sat in the hotel wardrobe in Trelleborg, destined to stay there if the weather stayed sunny. My alarm went, I peered through the curtains….. typical…rain! The coat was brought into action one last time.  Continue reading →

Canapes

18 Sunday Jun 2017

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Saturday 3rd June 2017 ko 17.00

Division 5 Sydvästra Skåne

SKEGRIE B.K. 4 (Ljungvist 5 Revesz 38 80 82)

ARLÖVS B.I. 4 (Svensson 11 25 48 Johansson 61)

Att 46

Entry & Programme 40sek

If our previous game at Gylle was sold to the British contingent on the Swedish Hop as a beautiful location, then Snarringe I.P. was at least its equal. The small village near Trelleborg is best known as where some Dolmen, or standing stones were discovered, dating back to Viking times but is now a peaceful idyll in rural southern Sweden. There was one small problem though, actually pronouncing the name “Skegrie!”

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The Cunning Linguists

16 Friday Jun 2017

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Saturday 3rd June ko 14.00

Division 7 Sydöstra Skåne

GYLLE A.I.F. 4 (Mekic 60 79 Sinteus 69 84)

BASKERMÖLLA I.F. 1 (Korac 53)

Entry 30 SEK

Programme FREE

You have to be careful with the language in Skåne, as in southern Sweden the dialect owes much to Danish, even Stockholm resident hop organiser Kim Hedwall discovered understanding the locals’ dialect wasn’t necessarily a given. He speaks standard Swedish, the kind you’d hear on TV, but this isn’t the Swedish you’d necessarily hear down here. On one hand you could see it as like a Londoner having a conversation with a Glaswegian, but there are other differences too. And the name of the 3rd club on this year’s Swedish hop demonstrated the point rather well…. Continue reading →