Author Archives: laurencereade

Liking it Beside

23 Thursday Mar 2017

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Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 16.00

Carmarthenshire League Premier Division

SEASIDE 2 (Rogers 31 66)

CARMARTHEN STARS 0 Howells sent off (dangerous play) 86

Att 175

Entry & Programme £3

As any groundhop organiser will tell you the psychology is that you look to the clubs that have the best plans. Chris Berezai and I both knew that Evans & Williams our previous hosts simply hadn’t had the time to host as either they or we would have liked, so we looked to a club with absolutely rock-solid plans, and Seaside certainly came up trumps. Continue reading →

Wagons

20 Monday Mar 2017

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Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 13.30

Carmarthenshire League Premier Division

EVANS & WILLIAMS SPORTS 0

TROSTRE SPORTS 1 (Waters 22)

Att 134 at Pitch 3 Penygaer Playing Fields

Entry FREE

Programme £2

I remember when Chris Berezai and I first discussed how we were going to organise GroundhopUK’s entire run in the Carmarthenshire League. It was never going to be difficult to sell somewhere like Abergwili to the hoppers, but the Penygaer Playing Fields in deepest darkest Llanelli was another matter entirely! It is the typical unlovely council facility with 5 pitches and a tired looking changing room block resplendent in anti-climb paint and barbed wire. Perhaps it was no bad thing that we only headed there at the very last minute! Continue reading →

The Black Cats

16 Thursday Mar 2017

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Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 10.45

Carmarthenshire League Division Two

KIDWELLY TOWN 3 (K Griffiths 21 G Griffiths 37og R Jones 68)

DREFACH AFC 1 (Amos 8)

Att 154

Entry £3

Programme £1

So, off to West Wales for the sixth straight year, and would you believe the nay-sayers still haven’t worked it out! “It’s all fields, ” and “It’s a low level of football” get bandied around as if its the first time GroundhopUK have ever tried to run an event like this! So, once again I’ll answer those two questions, are you ready? Continue reading →

Traffic

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

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Friday 10th March 2017 ko 19.45

Welsh League Division One

RISCA UNITED 1 (Williams 46)

MONMOUTH TOWN 3 (Lewis 38 43 Kareem 56)

Att 147

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

Our coach left Castell’s depot at Caerphilly, and took the best part of an hour to reach Sophia Gardens in Cardiff where most of its occupants where waiting our arrival at a pub. I did find myself question the wisdom of scheduling of a rugby match at the Millennium Stadium to clash with Friday night rush hour in Cardiff. Continue reading →

Copthall

05 Sunday Mar 2017

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Wednesday 3rd September 2008 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League- Premier Division

KENTISH TOWN 1 (Donoghue 68)

BRIMSDOWN ROVERS 1 (Farrell 87)

Att 48 @Barnet Copthall Stadium

Entry & Programme £4

Here’s one from the archives, or to put in another way, the “Before” shot as the ground looks radically different these days. And unusually for this blog, it’s the ground that’s more the subject than the club playing there. Continue reading →

Child’s Play

03 Friday Mar 2017

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Wednesday 1st March 2017 ko 19.00

Annual Challenge Cup

KINGS SCHOOL 3 (Rees 13 Hall 17 Newton 79)

ROYAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2 (Hughes 25 Saunders 27p)

80 minute game

Att c1,100 at Sixways Stadium, Worcester (Worcester Warriors RUFC)

Entry £5

No Programme

I do like a fixture that tests groundhoppers’ self-imposed rules. I’m certain that if this had been billed as a youth team game then I’m sure more than the 10 or so travellers here would have paid Sixways a visit. And let’s make one thing absolutely clear, those who decided to miss this missed out on a real treat. Continue reading →

Old Money

02 Thursday Mar 2017

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Saturday 25th February 2017 ko 15.30

Bundesliga

FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN 8 (Arturo Vidal 17 Lewandowski 25p 42 54 Alaba 56 Coman 65 67 Robben 87)

HAMBURGER SV 0

Att 75,000

Entry €70 (c£60)

Programme €1.50

Pin Badge €3.95

I remember exactly when I decided I simply had to visit the Allianz Arena. I was part of a party staying in Regensburg and we decided to take in an early morning Kreisklasse game in Munich one Sunday. En route to Viktoria München’s second string we passed through Fröttmanning on the autobahn and the space-age vision transfixed me. The question was how, and when? Continue reading →

Outlaw

27 Monday Feb 2017

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Wednesday 22nd February 2017 ko 19.30

Notts Senior League Cup- Quarter Final

RAVENSHEAD 0

NEWARK FLOWSERVE 2 (Potts 46 51)

Att 119

Entry FREE

Programme £1

It goes without saying that Rob Hornby was the reason I was there. The Notts Senior League registrar spotted that a highly unusual game under lights would draw the groundhoppers, and even more so if there was a programme was produced. He took charge of magazine production, and without doubt added 100 on the gate. The only doubt in my mind was what exactly was I watching? Continue reading →

Little Pleasures

21 Tuesday Feb 2017

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Monday 20th February 2017 ko 19.45

Hellenic League- Premier Division

BINFIELD 0

BRACKNELL TOWN 1 (Bohane 13)

Att 289

Entry & Programme £6

About 1,500 grounds ago I was enjoying hopping the non-league grounds of London. Week after week I visited a different ground and became very taken with the same group of older men I encountered every time I visited the capital. They’d worked out that with a little planning you could watch a game of football every day of the week, and so the clubs that played on the unusual days did rather well out of these “floating” fans.

Continue reading →

Recreationists

19 Sunday Feb 2017

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Saturday 18th February 2017 ko 15.00

National League North

GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 1 (Jarman 32p)

GLOUCESTER CITY 1 (Avery 67)

Att 477

Entry £12

Programme £2.50

If you want to visit a club with history, you, really do need to head over the River Trent, and over the border to Lincolnshire. Gainsborough Trinity’s Northolme ground is claimed to be the oldest football ground in use by one club, a claim I’d imagine based around Hallam’s Sandygate Ground being used by Crookes WMC and Fulwood when Hallam went into abeyance in the 1930’s. But with all due respect to the second oldest football club in the world, there’s far more to enjoy at Gainsborough Trinity. Continue reading →