Category Archives: A

The 100th Final

07 Wednesday Jun 2017

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Saturday 13th May 2017 ko 19.00

North Berkshire Cup Final

BERINSFIELD 2 (D Murphy 23 78)

SAXTON ROVERS 1 (Bloomfield 57)

Att c500

at Abingdon United FC

Entry £4

Programme 50p

I could have got involved in a few leagues over the years, let’s face it the North Berkshire League isn’t the only league I help organise hops for. But I found, and continue to find something incredibly endearing about this off-pyramid village competition. Yes, I still hear a few hoppers’ comments about “Fields” but what’s more important, an “Arena”stand or values like friendship and camaraderie?  Continue reading →

The Imperative

16 Tuesday May 2017

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Monday 14th April 2017 ko 11.00

North West Counties League Premier Division

ATHERTON COLLERIES 5 (Kenny 4og Cover 20 66 73p Bailey 49)

AFC DARWEN 1 (Hepple 80)

Att 478

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

It’s a well-told story, how Atherton Collieries in 2013 helped us at GroundhopUK out by taking on an Easter Hop game on 48 hours’ notice after our planned game at AFC Emley got snowed off.

They moved heaven and earth to accommodate us, secretary Emil Anderson even dragged himself from his sick bed to be there. It took a knock-back or two to get a NWCL hop, but Joe Gibbons, Emil and all the Colls were there pushing to make it happen, so when the idea finally was agreed it was obvious that we’d want them on our first hop. That though would create an issue …. Continue reading →

Onwards & Upwards

10 Wednesday May 2017

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Sunday 16th April 2017 ko 14.30

North West Counties League Division One

ASHTON TOWN 0

STOCKPORT TOWN 2 (Hinchliffe 29p 57)

Att 315

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

If any future host club at a groundhop wants a piece of advice on how best to endear themselves to the organiser I suggest having someone waiting to guide in the coach when we arrive at the ground. It sets the tone for the visit, in confirming competence and in the case of Ashton Town I’m not sure we’d have found the parking spot without help. You couldn’t help but like Ashton Town, tucked away as they are between the houses in the middle of Ashton-in-Makerfield but we all knew they had their own problems over and above coping with a crowd up to 10 times normal. Continue reading →

Shakermaker

09 Tuesday May 2017

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Sunday 16th April 2016 ko 11.00

North-West Counties League Premier Division

ASHTON ATHLETIC 2 (Smith 10 Vaughan 63)

SQUIRES GATE 1 (Nobley 2)

Att 298

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

It seemed odd to be starting a new hop when traditionally we’d be recovering from a 3 day, 7 game blast. But let’s face it the Northern League’s whole of Easter event a couple of years ago changed everything. For a start it proved that running games on Easter Sunday was popular amongst fans and it reinforced some work that Chris Berezai and I at GroundhopUK had been doing behind the scenes.  Continue reading →

The Compromise

06 Saturday May 2017

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Saturday 15th April 2017 ko 15.00

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

ARMTHORPE WELFARE 1 (Pearce 88)

HEMSWORTH MINERS WELFARE 6 (Connolly 4 Law 31 Collier 34 63 82 90)

Att 231

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

I’d started worrying the week before, and those worries were accentuated when counting the crowd at Rossington Main. We’d set this hop up on a “3 games in a day” basis, as we’d thought that 13 games in 4 and a bit days was enough football even for me! That format does come with a risk though and we’d just encountered the perfect storm as an organiser.

Continue reading →

Olympiad

01 Wednesday Feb 2017

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Sunday 22nd January 2017 ko 15.00

Greek Superleague

A.E.K. 2 (Pekhart 24 Mandalos 47)

ASTERAS TRIPOLIS 0

Att 5,025 at Spyros Louis Olympic Stadium, Athens

Entry €15

No Programme

It seems to be that if you’re anything resembling a sports fan and you’re in Athens you really ought to visit the Panathenaic Stadium. There’s been a stadium here since 330 BC, but this marble incarnation dates from 1896 when it was rebuilt to host the first modern-era Olympic games. It also served at the 2004 Olympics hosting the archery and the finish of the marathon. Traditionally, it is where the Olympic flame leaves Greece for the torch relay to the host city. It costs €5 to have a look round. Continue reading →

Aqueduct

19 Monday Dec 2016

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Satursday 17th December 2016 k0 14.00

Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Division One

ACREFAIR YOUTH 1 (O Evans 5)

LLANGOLLEN TOWN 6 (Williams 8 19 45 Prosser 32 83 Jay 80)

Att 32

Entry FREE

No Programme

If you’re one of those football fans that likes to turn up at the ground 30 seconds before kick-off, then the Bont playing field, on the outskirts of Froncysyllte is definitely the the ground to break that habit. The ground sits with the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct as  is it’s backdrop so it makes sense to park up in either Froncysyllte or Trevor, and walk the towpath over the bridge for a quite wonderful view of the valley and the ground.  Continue reading →

Sunday Morning Coming Down

01 Thursday Dec 2016

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Sunday 27th November 2016 ko 10.30

Long Eaton Sunday League Premier Division

ATTENBOROUGH CAV’S 4 (Brady 22 Beaton 41 Ford 66 73)

LONG EATON T.N.I. 2 (17, 86p)

Att 15 at Beeston Fields Recreation Ground

Entry FREE

I completely understand why some groundhoppers won’t watch Sunday League football, it is a slightly different animal to the normal Saturday league action. The pace of life is more relaxed, you’re unlikely to see a stand or even a rail, and the variance of players’ talent is often huge across a team. But once you accept that there’s so much to enjoy. Continue reading →

Thorogood the Destroyer

17 Thursday Nov 2016

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Tuesday 15th November 2016 ko 19.45

East Midlands Counties League

ASHBY IVANHOE 7 (Thorogood 7 17 83 Own Goal 28 Cawley 31 L Edwards 39 D Edwards 51)

GEDLING MINERS WELFARE 1 (Slawson 50) C Winstanley sent off (DOGSO) 17

Att 75

Entry £4

Programme £1

It was difficult to channel your inner Walter Scott when the traffic was this bad and the fog this thick. The town in Leicestershire certainly does seem to have an eye for the exotic named as it is Ashby-de-la-Zouch after the Zouch family who were granted ownership of the town following the Norman Conquest. Then there’s the Ivanhoe suffix from the Walter Scott novel set in the 12th Century castle here. The football does have something to live up to! Continue reading →

Testing

16 Sunday Oct 2016

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Tuesday 4th October 2016 ko 19.45

Southern League Cup 1st Round

AFC TOTTON 2 (Watts 64 Gosney 85)

WINCHESTER CITY 3 (Jenkinson 33 57 Wilson 89p)

Att 157

Entry £6

Programme £2

I think there’s a missing entry in the great groundhopping lexicon. There needs to be word or term for a ground you haven’t visited despite being it easy to get to, and you’ve visited plenty further away beforehand. For me, AFC Totton would be an extreme example, it’s easy enough to get to from Oxford, it’s been open since 2010 and to make things worse I actually managed to visit the adjacent Little Testwood Stadium, home to Totton & Eling four-and-half years ago!! Continue reading →