Category Archives: B

The Execution of William Palmer

15 Sunday Mar 2015

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Wednesday 11th March 2015 ko 19.30

Staffordshire County Senior League Premier Division

BRERETON SOCIAL 2 (Fulton 36 Cowlishaw 85) Turner missed penalty 16

NORTON UNITED RESERVES 2 (Elliot 54 Davies 64) Mahmood sent off 16 (DOGSO)

Att 22

Entry FREE

No Programme

It’s the lot of the groundhopper that you miss out on some grounds, you spend a lot of time trying to visit grounds with the bulldozer looming, a process nicknamed the “Vulture Job,” but some you are destined never to visit, the hobby is one of very few where you spend your life wishing you were older! The Red Lion Ground was one of those, and when the previous incarnation folded in 2010 I thought I’d lost out. I even managed to avoid Burntwood Town’s one season stint here a couple of years ago! Continue reading →

The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Organiser

09 Monday Mar 2015

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Friday 6th March 2015 ko 19.30

Welsh League Division One

BRITON FERRY LLANSAWEL 3 (Cockings 10 Jones 60 D Hudson 73)

GARDEN VILLAGE 0 Vickers sent off 85 (2nd booking)

Att 258

Special GroundhopUK package (Entry, buffet, programme and talk on club) £10

Normal Entry £4

Programme £1

The very worst bit of being a groundhop organiser is the trip down to your base for the weekend, in this case Carmarthen. You know you’ve done all the preparation, the league is 100% behind you, the host clubs are ready, and the gazebos are being erected as you drive along the M4. You know that local journalist Chris Harte has all the programmes and badges for the event stored in his library. You’ve covered every base you can, but still the nagging doubt is always there, what could go wrong, and what will go wrong, yes something will, you are dealing with people not robots after all. Yes, its a lonely drive down, even if you’ve got (as I did) passengers. Continue reading →

Vital Signs

01 Sunday Mar 2015

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Saturday 28th February 2015 ko 14.30

Anglian Combination Division Two

BECCLES CAXTON 3 (Gorbould 18 Hume 42 Scriven 64)

WELLS TOWN 5 (Brewster 9secs 85 Harrison 55 Moss 68 78)

Att 9

Entry & Programme £2

As you clock up the ground visits, you soon pick up on the clubs that are in crisis. There’s the vital signs you see the absence of, the club taking a series of beatings, the quick turnover of players, the down-at-heel feel of the ground. You turn up, you commiserate, you watch the game, and you leave with a heavy heart.

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Diverse Relations

20 Friday Feb 2015

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Wednesday 18th February 2015 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

BUCKINGHAM TOWN 1 (Cleere 81)

NORTHAMPTON O.N. CHENECKS 4 (Underwood 47 75 Hancock 65 Ogden 88)

Att 50

Entry £4

Programme £1

Life hasn’t been easy to Buckingham Town, from their high point of Southern League membership and their 1985 FA Cup 1st round tie at home to Orient, the succeeding years have been characterised by a near constant struggle. They were relegated back into the United Counties League in 1998 knowing that the road down to Ford Meadow was too narrow for them to be promoted back. Continue reading →

Local Intrigue

15 Sunday Feb 2015

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Saturday 14th February 2015 ko 13.30

Oxfordshire FA Intermediate Cup Semi-Final

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS RESERVES 3 (Bicknell 43 58 Clarke 87)

BERINSFIELD 5 (Palmer 22 Ingram 54 62 Saunders 97 D Murphy 108) Hammond sent off 72 (2nd booking)

Att 25 at Oxford Spires Academy, Glanville Road, Oxford

Entry FREE

No Programme

I should start by declaring a vested interest in this game. Berinsfield play in the North Berkshire League, I organise that league’s annual groundhop, and I have a lot of friends both at the league, and at Lay Avenue. If you are looking for an unbiased view for this game I fear you’ve stumbled on to the wrong blog! Apart from anything else Berinsfield seem rather proud of the fact the hop game they staged still holds the record for the highest attendance in North Berks’ hop history- 251. I would point out though that ever since I’ve been trying to beat it!

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The Tapestry Of Life

01 Sunday Feb 2015

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Saturday 31st January 2015 ko 14.00

Sussex County League Division 3

BOSHAM 3 (Lafferty 21 Wilson 75p Storey 90)

BILLINGSHURST 1 (N Stepney 53)

Att 22

Entry & Programme £2

Tea 80p

These days the village of Bosham is easily by-passed. The A27 from Havant to Chichester does exactly that, you head close to back on yourself from the roundabout at the Chichester end. There’s far more to the village than just being halfway along a by-way, this is the village named on the Bayeux Tapestry after all!

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Folk

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

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Tuesday 23rd December 2014 ko 19.45

Southern League Premier Division

BANBURY UNITED 0

BURNHAM 2 (N Webb 31 J Webb 61)

Att 188

Entry £10

Programme £1

I think Banbury gets a bad press it doesn’t really deserve. Yes I know Gary Glitter was born here, and Patricia Amos, the first person to be sent to prison for failing to send her children to school is a Banburian, and the odour of coffee from the factory does waft over the M40 as you drive past, but there’s more to the town that just those facts.

Perhaps the problem is that like many towns, you have to scratch a little. Remember the “Ride a cock horse” nursery rhyme? Well follow the A423 though the town, and there’s the cross (not the original, that used to be close to what’s now the shopping centre)  in the middle of a roundabout. Look out too for the fine lady (Godiva) statue by its side including the little frog at the horse’s hoof! Ever bought a loaf of “Fine Lady” bread? That’s from Banbury too.

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Moonlight Mile

26 Sunday Oct 2014

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Saturday 25th October 2014 ko 14.00

South Devon League “Herald” Cup 2nd Round

BEESANDS ROVERS 4 (Burt 23 Bailey 28 J Tucker 48 D Tucker 81)

KINGSKERSWELL & CHELSTON 0

Att 18

Entry FREE

Programme NO

Let’s answer a question I get asked a lot, how do I pick my games? The answer is that it varies. Sometimes they pick me- I get invited, sometimes I’m there because I’ve organised it, or sometimes there’s a touch of whimsy in my choice. In this case, I decided to dip into my list of quirky “off-piste” grounds I wanted to visit. Continue reading →

The Absolutely Blindingly Obvious

15 Wednesday Oct 2014

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Tuesday 7th October 2014 ko 19.00

Northern Premier League Premier Division

BARWELL 2 (Castle 18p Barlone 55)

ILKESTON 1 (Adams 11)

Att 176

Entry £10

Programme £2

The more you delve into the act of watching, “Football wherever it may be,” you soon end up with illogical statistics. Why would I watch more football in Sweden for example than I have in Scotland? But it’s the individual ground visits where the really strange quirks lie. Continue reading →

The Grand Union

29 Monday Sep 2014

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Tuesday 23rd September 2014 ko 19.30

Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division

BIRSTALL UNITED 2 (Bibby 53 Shipley 73og)

HOUGHTON RANGERS 0

ATT 32

Entry £3

No Programme (old copy) FREE

There were no lack of options for somewhere new to visit, but with midweek fixtures in the LSL rather sporadic, and the trip up likely to be uneventful it proved to be an easy decision to make, and as it turned out, a rather good one. Continue reading →