Category Archives: A

Runes

03 Monday Aug 2026

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Saturday 5th June 2026 ko 13:00

Division 2 Södra Svealand

ÄNGBY I.F. 1 (Kotiram 69p)

TÄBY F.K. 0

Att 137 at Ängby IP

Entry 80sek

The Swedish Hop cost £360 which included all transport from and to Arlanda Airport and between games, 2 nights bed and breakfast, and any admission fees.

Mornings on the Swedish Hop do tend to be relaxed. A buffet breakfast, why do meatballs seem so appropriate here but nowhere else? Some pickled herrings, why not? Then all aboard the minibus for some fairly random football matches, even by our standards!

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On the Buses

28 Tuesday Jul 2026

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Tuesday 19th May 2026 ko 19:00

Guildford & Woking Alliance Premier Division

UPPER HALE 1 (Stuart 85)

FARNBOROUGH NORTH END ATHLETIC 0

Att 42 at Traco Club, Aldershot

Free Entry

I remember just over 25 years ago, I didn’t really understand the sheer magnitude of the hobby. I went through a phase of trying to do one club in each division which is of course the start of a slippery slope. Some App now tells me I’ve completed 35 divisions… so when a league I’d never heard of popped up I was more than a little intrigued!

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Saintly

14 Sunday Jun 2026

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Saturday 14th March 2026 ko 19:30

East of Scotland League Premier Division

ST ANDREWS UNITED 3 (Sneddon 69 Dunn 88p)

McManus sent off 59 (2nd booking)

SAUCHIE JUNIORS 1 (Elphinson 38)

Columbine sent off 67 (2nd booking)

Att 374

Entry £11

Programme FREE/ £3

4 game days are always tough, and with St Andrews being substantially further north than the other 3 games, we felt under pressure, particularly with a coach driver light. I understood all too well the East of Scotland League’s desire for the extra game- when else could we head to northern Fife?

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Free Fallin’

11 Monday May 2026

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Sunday 1st March 2026 ko 11:30

North West Counties League Premier Division

ATHERTON LABURNUM ROVERS 2 (Bacon 5 Obasoto 73)

EUXTON VILLA 0

Att 593

Entry £6

Programme £2

Sunday dawned, or more interestly St David’s Day, and the groundhopping tradition of buying my wife Robyn Daffodils. Robyn is from Bristol, and since we visited Albania and our friend Ditmar famously said, “Bristol, isn’t that nearly in Wales?” she’s been teased about being “Welsh” ever since! It’s not often a girl from Bristol walks round Atherton with a bunch of daffs is it?

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Explosive

05 Thursday Feb 2026

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Friday 31st October 2025 ko 19:30

Southern Combination Division 2

ALFOLD 2 (Penalver 33 Massey 67)

RUSTINGTON 5 (Harris 7 90+3 De Gruchy 12 25 38)

Att 185

Entry £4

Programme £1.50

It was a little awkward. About a week before the Sussex Hop I was invited on to a podcast to talk about the forthcoming weekend. It turned out that my interviewers had also seen a few games on the Kent Hop too. They described it all as a little flat, which with a couple of exceptions wasn’t inaccurate, but I did have a lot of hope for the Sussex. Yes I am aware that Alfold is in fact in Surrey- such is county boundaries slightly uneasy relationship with English football!!

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Alexander

25 Sunday Jan 2026

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Wednesday 22nd October 2025 ko 19:45

Women’s National League – Championship North

WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0

BURNLEY 1 (Ravening 11p)

Att 95 at Alexander Stadium, Perry Barr

Entry £6

Programme £2

It was Swedish Groundhop organiser Kim Hedwall’s last evening with us, and I was on the lookout for something a little different. Now if you’ve ever driven north along the M6 just north of Villa Park and Spaghetti Junction, in recent years I’ve little doubt you’ve spotted the huge floodlights on the left.

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Furness

09 Sunday Nov 2025

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Saturday 23rd August 2025 k0 11:00

West Lancashire League Division

ASKAM UNITED 0

CROOKLANDS CASUALS 1 (Armstrong 19)

Att 374

Entry £3

Programme £2

With my duties for the West Lancs Hop mainly adding up to driving I felt the sense of anticipation keenly. Craig, Robyn and I formed the GroundhopUK advance party ferrying boxes of programme packs for those ticket holder who’d opted to miss the Wren Rovers game but also to offer help where needed. Truthfully, I don’t remember anywhere that needed our help. Glorious redundancy is a good thing sometimes!

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Cricket?

10 Thursday Jul 2025

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Thursday 24th April 2025 ko 18:30

Witney & District League Hughes Supplementary Cup Semi-Final

ASTON RESERVES 3 (Harper 18 Wain 53 Pawar 60og)

SHERBORNE HARRIERS 0

Att 30 at Stanton Harcourt Cricket Ground

Free Entry

I know I’ve said it before, but I do think every football fan ought to go and watch the Sherborne Harriers at least once. I was honoured to take 120 or so hoppers there during the days of the Witney Hop and the day turned into something far more than a fundraiser, important though that is at grassroots.

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Wee Help

06 Tuesday May 2025

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Saturday 15th March 2025 ko 10:45

Lowland League

ALBION ROVERS 0

BO’NESS UNITED 0

Att 379

Entry £11

Programme £2

Sometimes I do worry that people forget one of the points of the organized groundhop. Yes, part of it is to allow groundhoppers to tick off multiple grounds over a weekend, but it’s just as much there to act as a fundraiser for the host clubs, and perhaps never before has that side of these events been so important as here.

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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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