Category Archives: B

Friends

22 Wednesday Jul 2026

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Saturday 16th May 2026 ko 18:30

North Berkshire Cup Final

BERINSFIELD 3 (Holdsworth 33p Palmer 49 Hinkin 64)

COMPTON 0

Att 215 at Abingdon United FC

Entry & Programme £5

I can’t pretend I couldn’t see the demise of the North Berkshire League coming. When I left the league’s committee 2 years ago the league was down to 2 divisions from 5 when the league was at its peak. Like just about everyone involved in football in the Shire, I’d heard the rumours about a mass exodus to the Oxon Senior League, but hoped that it was either an exaggeration or that the league might find replacement clubs.

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Billy

01 Wednesday Jul 2026

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Sunday 5th April 2026 ko 11.00

Northern League Division Two

BILLINGHAM TOWN 0

BILLINGHAM SYNTHONIA 2 (Healy 18 Irvine 90+2)

Att 758

Entry £6

Programme £2

GroundhopUk’s first organisation of the Northern Hop was nothing if not ambitious, Easter Sunday is often the most difficult day to get clubs to play on, but while I’m not party to conversations in League circles, we got 3 committed host clubs and when you’re turning up for your 8th game of the weekend that is a godsend!

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Mechanics

05 Tuesday May 2026

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Saturday 28th February 2026 ko 19:30

North West Counties League First Division North

AFC BLACKPOOL 3 (Smith 1 Robinson 16 Bury 74)

HOLKER OLD BOYS 0

Att 405

Entry £6

Programme £2

Is it wrong that I still think of AFC Blackpool as their former selves at Blackpool Mechanics? The club started out in 1947 as Blackpool Metal Mechanics before changing their name to Blackpool Mechanics soon after. They initially played at part of Stanley Park in the town before moving to Jepson Way in 1949.

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Wild Wild West

26 Monday Jan 2026

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Saturday 25th October 2025 ko 14:00

Somerset County League Division 3

BROAD PLAIN HOUSE 5 (A Hemmings 4 14 Tucker 5 15 50)

BURNHAM UNITED RESERVES 2 (Harding 33 Edenshaw 80)

Att 12 at the main pitch, Filwood Fields, Knowle West, Bristol

Free Entry

Just about anyone who knows my wife Robyn and I know that I’m from Oxford, and she’s from Bristol. In the case of Robyn the accent does rather give the game away! So for the last 10 years I’ve become used to regular drives to Knowle West to see “Muvver” and to nearby Whitchurch to see my sister-in-law Kelly and her family. The routine involves driving up Novers Hill and glancing to my right to catch a glimpse of the Clifton Suspension Bridge before parking up. In truth this part of South Bristol has become close to a second home, and for those in the know- if you think Robyn has a Bristol accent, try speaking to her when she’s back in Knowle West!

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The RAF

02 Friday Jan 2026

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Saturday 20th September 2025 ko 14:00

Witney & District League Premier Division

RAF BRIZE NORTON 1 (Castle 41)

Henderson sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Fletcher sent off 90 (violent conduct)

CHARLBURY TOWN 2 (McCallum 32 Eley 87)

Hornblow sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 15 at Belfast Square, RAF Brize Norton

Free Entry

I must admit, I do like a military game, and particular one actually behind the security barrier at a base. That fact indirectly led to two games behind security on GroundhopUK events, at RAF Benson and DA Watchfield. I’ve also seen games at MOD Lyneham and at RAF Brize Norton under my own steam so you may wonder why I wanted to head back to the base at Brize?

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Family

24 Wednesday Dec 2025

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Saturday 13th September 2025 ko 17:30

Carmarthenshire League-Premier Division

BURRY PORT 0

Brown sent off 72 (handling outside of box)

KIDWELLY TOWN 2 (Boucher 86 Bessent 90+1)

Att 203

Entry & Programme £3

The final game of the day saw the West Wales Hop do something I didn’t think we’d ever do, and that is head back to the Carmarthenshire League. We’d used the league are a replacement for the the hugely successful Ceredigion Hops, but our time with them was nowhere near as succcessful, not least because we had real issues getting clubs to be away teams. It all culminated in the 2018 Hop that contained Swansea City’s youth team, the Bridgend Sunday League and a trip to Butetown in Cardiff but absolutely no games in Carmarthenshire.

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Neighbours

24 Monday Nov 2025

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Sunday 24th August 2025 ko 17:00

West Lancashire League Premier Division

BURSCOUGH RICHMOND 2 (Carberry 79 Avis 90)

LOSTOCK ST GERARDS 1 (Sarda 34)

Att 407

Sunday’s final hop game saw us in Burscough’s environs- and for those not in the know the town is pronounced Burrs-Coe. The oddity of the piece was that there was and is a connection between Burscough and GroundhopUK- and its to be found in Anglesey!

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The Prayer

27 Friday Jun 2025

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Saturday 19th April 2025 ko 14:30

South West Peninsula League Premier West

BODMIN TOWN 0

DOBWALLS 3 (Larrieu 12secs Tate 41 Kenyon 48)

Att 316

Advance Ticket for all games on the hop £55

Entry £6

Programme £2

I arrived at Priory Park, to a queue of groundhoppers trying to make sense of the Pay & Display machine. Gone are the days when you simply insert a combination of coins you never seem to have, now you phone an automated number that doesn’t seem to understand English, or manipulate an App you don’t have, and there’s not enough 5G to download it. Here by coincidence my one parking App was the one in use here…. the adage of the chimp and the typewriter comes to mind.

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Our Friends in the East

14 Wednesday May 2025

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Saturday 22nd March 2025 ko 12:00

Essex Senior League

BENFLEET 4 (Purdy 28 Saunders 34 Shave 37 Hartman 89)

FC CLACTON 2 (Miller 4 Bright 40)

Att 702

Non-League Day “Passport” £30

Entry £7

Programme sold out

Event brochure £1

After two organised hops in March on one level the last thing I wanted was another. But then there’s always something to learn from other folks’ events, and I was the only part of the GroundhopUK team available! There was also more to it than just a set of staggered kick-offs too, with it being the league’s “Non League Day” attraction, and a fundraiser for the “Prostate Cancer UK” charity too. But what really interested me was the advance ticketing…

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Creamery

30 Wednesday Apr 2025

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Saturday 15th March 2025 ko 16:30

East of Scotland League- Second Division

BATHGATE THISTLE 0

EASTHOUSES LILY MWFC 3 (Leslie 44 Dyer 53 Elliott 72)

Att 307

Entry £7

Programme £2

Sat on the coach heading from West Calder to Bathgate I checked social media and was a little surprised. I knew we’d lose a few hoppers for the middle two games, despite our normal attempts to minimise this form of drift. I spotted a few (and I do mean a few) hoppers had opted to miss West Calder and Bathgate in favour of one SPFL game. I allowed myself a raised eyebrow but no more.

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