Category Archives: B

Cater Bank

20 Friday Oct 2017

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Tueaday 26th September 2017 ko 19.45

Combined Counties League Premier Challenge Cup 1st Round

CB HOUNSLOW UNITED 5 (Roberts 30 44 Ireland 55 Morris 71 G Bamford 82) J Watt missed pen 82

EVERSLEY & CALIFORNIA 2 (Robson 28 Brown 43)

Att c65

Entry £5

Programme £1

Around 10 years ago one of my earliest forays into the Combined Counties League saw me visit CB Hounslow’s former home at Osterley Sports & Social Club. It was an interesting place, if extremely run down and the lack of basic facilties made it obvious that the club would either have to move, or accept relegation back to the Middlesex County League. My only surprise is that the move took 10 years! Continue reading →

Brecknock

24 Sunday Sep 2017

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Sunday 27th August 2017 ko 18.00

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

BRECON CORINTHIANS 2 (Bain 54 C Jones 83)

PONTLOTTYN AFC 0

Att 236

Entry £3

Programme £1

We headed north from Cwmbach heading past the site of the Tower Colliery in Hirwaun. It was quite a poignant moment as one of our coach drivers Nigel, was and is a shareholder in the workers’ buyout that saw the mine re-open in 1995 and continue work until 2008, and even now the site is being used for open-cast mining.

From there, we left the valleys crossing the Brecon Beacons National Park, and to my way of thinking at least, we left South Wales, entering Mid-Wales in the process.  Continue reading →

Rubber Sheet Geometry

31 Thursday Aug 2017

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Friday 18th August 2017 ko 19.45

Wessex League Cup 2nd Round

BEMERTON HEATH HARLEQUINS 0

HAMBLE CLUB 4 (Magookin 2 S Wilson 6 Byrne 14 Lynch 47)

Att 71

Entry £6

No Programme

I remember as an 11 year old my maths teacher introducing the concept of rubber sheet geometry. Topology to use its correct term is the idea that by distorting distance or shape you may simplify its depiction. The London Underground map is a classic example, but groundhoppers do tend to use their own version, and this game rather proved the point. Continue reading →

Old School

23 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Tuesday 15th August 2017 ko 19.45

Championship

BRENTFORD 2 (Watkins 56 Maupay 77)

BRISTOL CITY 2 (Brownhill 5 Reid 90)

Att 9,811 (1,650 away)

Entry £24

Programme £3.50

There aren’t many grounds like this left. Grounds tucked away in amongst the houses in the communities they represent with only the floodlights to beckon you in from afield. Grounds built to tessellate with the footprint of the land available, and grounds that positively ooze with history and tradition. Continue reading →

The Itch

18 Friday Aug 2017

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Thursday 3rd August 2017 ko 18.45

Pre-season friendly

FC ASCOT 9 (6 12 16 29 34 41 50 60 72)

BRIZE NORTON 2 (80 82)

Att c10 at Tanners Lane, Burford

To be a groundhopper you do need a large dose of OCD, and I’ll leave you to judge whether that’s in any way healthy. Some worry about what counts as a suitable game, some as to whether there’s a programme and one or two obsess about whether a goal is scored, they can’t count the ground as visited if it finishes nil-nil! ( I know….) But my little bit of OCD is different…… Continue reading →

The Power of 3000

07 Monday Aug 2017

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Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

BOURNE TOWN 1 (Russell 90p)

RAUNDS TOWN 2 (Porter 36 Townsend 81)

Att 459

Entry £5

Programme £2 (poor for what it was)

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating how much Chris Berezai and I love it when there’s someone there to meet the hop coach, it takes any uncertainty out what adds up to GroundhopUK handing over a coachload of hoppers to another club for another couple of hours, even if a fair few immediately disappear to tick off a pub or pubs! Here Bourne did the greeting in spades with an official there to welcome each and everyone to Abbey Lawns before whisking Chris, coach driver Dwayne and I off to hospitality. But this wasn’t an evening about hospitality, this was an evening about redemption. 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 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 →

Finals Part 2

30 Tuesday May 2017

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Saturday 29th April 2017 ko 19.00

North Berkshire League Charity Shield

BERINSFIELD 5 (Rawlings 9 54  Lee 44 Palmer 75 Ingram 90p)

SAXTON ROVERS 3 (Haines 30 Parry 40 Cox 78)

Att 204 at Milton United FC

Entry & Programme £3

If you want value from your cup finals then the North Berkshire League seldom lets you down. Three quid, 8 goals, and your programme thrown in too! And just to make it even better, the ability to go to another game first, and a massive local derby to finish off your day! Continue reading →

Finals Part 1

29 Monday May 2017

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Wednesday 26th April 2017 ko 19.30

Oxfordshire FA Intermediate Cup Final

OXFORD CITY NOMADS 4 (Landers 80 90 115p Martei 99)

BERINSFIELD 2 (Palmer 53 Hinkin 60) Palmer sent off 70 (2nd booking) Hinkin sent off 105 (2nd booking)

Att c200 at Kidlington FC

It is a quirk that either of these sides play in this competition. If Berinsfield were to transfer from the North Berkshire League to the Oxfordshire Senior League then they’d appear in the Senior Cup, and if what is in effect Oxford City’s 3rd XI weren’t playing in a the Hellenic’s rebadged former reserve section, they’d be in the Junior Cup.  Continue reading →