Category Archives: B

Bucolic

09 Monday May 2016

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Wednesday 27th April 2016 ko 18.30

Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division 2

BIBURY AFC 7 (Rockley 6 Reynolds 21 68 McSherry 30 Deacon 76 O’Neill 80 Montgomery 90)

LONGFORD 0

Att 31

If you want a pretty English village to visit just head just over the border from Oxfordshire into Gloucestershire and pay Bibury a visit. It sits on the burbling River Coln, with the Arlington Mill at its centre. Don’t take my word though, William Morris described Bibury as “The most beautiful village in England” Continue reading →

Lionesses Pride

05 Thursday May 2016

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Sunday 24th April ko 16.00

Thames Valley Counties Women’s League Cup Final

BENSON LIONESSES 0

OXFORD CITY NOMADS 3 (Frackiewicz 22 51 62)

Att c200 at Milton United FC

Entry £1

Programme £1

On one level I was at this one purely down to Jon Radcliffe and the Benson Lions. It you aren’t aware of him and them, they represent the absolute pinnacle of my time as a groundhop organiser. Benson Lions are the RAF side based on the base, and if you were at either of the games they hosted, you’ll know why I hold Jon and the club in such high regard. Continue reading →

Rule Breaking

22 Friday Apr 2016

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Thursday 14th April 2016 ko 19.45

Essex Senior League

BOWERS & PITSEA 3 (Hilton 45 Manor 55 Portway 86)

TAKELEY 0

Att 97

Entry £6

Programme £1

I’m not sure why I made a beeline for a floodlit game in Essex, when there was no lack of earlier unlit kick-offs a good deal closer to home. That’s a tactic I picked up from the groundhoppers with thousands of grounds ticked off. The theory is that there are around 1500 floodlit grounds in the UK, so use those winter midweek evenings making use of those lights. You then visit the unlit grounds during the light evenings and on Saturdays, allowing you to stretch the finite number of floodlit grounds as far as possible. Continue reading →

Aitch-Kew

10 Sunday Apr 2016

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Saturday 2nd April 2016 ko 14.00

Birmingham FA Saturday Amateur Cup Final

CADBURY ATHLETIC RESERVES 1 (Ellett 90 )

PEUGEOT MILLPOOL 1 (Welland 80) Matthews sent off 70 (2nd Booking)

No extra time, Cadbury won 4-2 on penalties

Att c50 @ Birmingham FA Ground, Ray Hall Lane, Great Barr

Entry & Programme £3

 

This is one of those that fits the category of “Passed it hundred times, so needed to visit,” but there’s a real twist! On one hand I’d certainly never travelled along leafy Ray Hall Lane, in Great Barr, but if you’ve ever travelled southbound down the M5 just south of its intersection with the M6 you may well have spotted two football grounds. One is FC Premier who rather appropriately play in the Premier Division of the Birmingham and District League, the other is the Birmingham FA Ground. Continue reading →

Tennis (Nearly)

07 Thursday Apr 2016

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Saturday 26th March 2015 ko 16.45

South West Peninsula League Division One West

BUDE TOWN 5 (B Hopcroft 7 45 Stratton 27 Hill 55 Potter 82)

HOLSWORTHY 1 (Bonney 80) Chandler sent off (serious foul play) 37

Att 409

Entry £4

Programme 50p

The last game of the Peninsula League felt rather out on a limb. We’d had 2 games close to St Austell, but now we struck out north driving for an hour to the northern edge of Cornwall, to the extent that the game managed to be both a local derby, and feature the only non-Cornish club on the hop, the visitors being from just over the border into Devon. Continue reading →

A Hundred Good Points Of Husbandry

21 Monday Mar 2016

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Friday 18th March 2016 ko0 19.45

Eastern Counties League-Premier Division

BRANTHAM ATHLETIC 1 (Travis 27)

STANWAY ROVERS 1 (Hunt 64)

Att 100

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

So, another entry in the Eastern Counties League’s regular Friday night fixtures, although on this occasion the impact of playing early was a little diluted by nearby Wivenhoe playing simultaneously. You are only just in Suffolk here, in fact so close to Essex are you, that the Manningtree transmitter is clearly visible from the near goal.  Continue reading →

Bris’

10 Thursday Mar 2016

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Tuesday 8th March 2016 ko 19.45

Western League Premier Division

BRISLINGTON 0

MELKSHAM TOWN 3 (Hughes 3og Higdon 45 Stradling 71)

Att 42

Entry £5

Programme £1

Even this far in to my groundhopping odyssey there are still grounds that leap out from my “Football Traveller” directories. It’s almost as if Ironmould Lane, was shouting out, “Why on earth haven’t you visited yet?” Continue reading →

Trouble Over Bridgwater

21 Sunday Feb 2016

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Wednesday February 2016 ko 20.00

Taunton & District Saturday League, Rowbarton Charity Knock Out Cup Quarter Final

WESTONZOYLAND 1 (J Millard 42p)

MORGANIANS 2 (White 35 Barnard 54)

Att 36 at Bridgewater Academy 3G

Entry FREE

No Programme

There are plenty of groundhoppers out there who wouldn’t be interested in a game like this. Some would say the level is too low, the Taunton League feeds the Somerset League which in turn feeds the Western League at Step 6. Others would hate the idea of a plastic pitch in a cage in a school’s grounds, but needless to say I take a slightly contrary view. Continue reading →

Goodbye To All That?

05 Friday Feb 2016

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Wednesday 27th January 2016 ko 19.45

Central Midlands League South Division

BULWELL 3 (Fisher 36 61 Towle 72) Wheelhouse sent off 57 (violent conduct)

COLLINGHAM 3 (Price 49 J Wapplington 51 M Wapplington 87)

Att 31 at Brian Wakefield Sports Ground, Lenton Lane, Nottingham

Entry £3

Programme £1

I used to think the acid test of the serious hopper was completion of the Lenton Lane triptych of Bilborough Pelican, Dunkirk and Greenwood Meadows, with the hotel owned by Su Pollard to drive past along the way. Dead easy if you did the Central Midlands League hop back in the day that clocked up these and two more in a day, in testing weather, but as the years have passed the challenge has become more difficult. Continue reading →

You Show Me Yours

24 Sunday Jan 2016

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Tuesday 19th January 2016 ko 19.45

FA Cup Third Round Replay

BRISTOL CITY 0

WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1 (Rondon 52)

Att 15,185

Entry £10

Programme £2.50

The wonderful thing about having a football-loving girlfriend is that you get to immerse yourself in her club, and enjoy the common factors between your two clubs. Robyn is a Bristol City season ticket holder and knows the game and her club inside out so there were many reasons to pay Ashton Gate another visit. Continue reading →