Category Archives: B

Intriguing

09 Friday Aug 2024

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Saturday 29th June 2024 ko 14:00

Pre-season friendly

BISHOPS CANNINGS 3 (Rascek 20 37, 77og)

WROUGHTON 7 (Peachey-Score 12secs 32 45, Herbert 4 36, Barbeto 62, Whitham 71)

Att c25 at Wiltshire FA Ground, Green Lane, Devizes

Free Entry

What I love about my footballing life is that its hard to pigeonhole. Take the end of the season, I was variously at Wembley Stadium, a small town in Sweden and an FA Ground that hitherto I didn’t know existed!

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The Boo Bear

25 Thursday Jul 2024

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Saturday 15th June 2024 ko 13:15

Division 3 Södra Svealand

BOO FF 5 (Hellström 31 Tsilicheistos 45+4 Medew 53 58 Nilsson 69)

FC BRANDBERGEN 3 (Katourgi 9 24 36)

Att 79 at Boovallen

Free Entry

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £320 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

From our close-to unplanned trip to northern Stockholm we picked our way back through the capital’s tunnels towards Kim Hedwall’s planned base for the hop, Nacka and Saltsjöbaden- we even passed within sight of our hotel in Hammarby Sjöstad along the way. You could see Kim’s motivation, the area is idyllic, so he knew he’d be showing off his country in the best possible light.

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The Railway, finally

16 Tuesday Jul 2024

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Thursday 13th June 2024 ko 19:30

Division 5 Uppland Östra

BROTTBY SK (Rönn 34 77 Berger 38 Smårs 90+1)

RÖ IK 1 (Markström 9p)

Att 82 at Össeby IP

Free Entry

Robyn, Adrian and I were at passport control at Arlanda Airport, noticably more complicated since Brexit. Swedish border guards are unfailingly polite, but their questions are always searching, with the inevitable purpose of our stay invariably the first. Adrian handed the guard a list of the games we’d lined up. I knew the schedule had changed, but guessed the guard wouldn’t check, and he passed after she checked he wasn’t actually a fan of any of the clubs involved! As for Robyn and I we gave our reason to be there, as seeing friends and tourism. When I admitted this was my 18th visit, she half asked, half-laughed, “Have you anything left to visit??” A fair point, but the answer was yes, as dear reader you will soon see!

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Downton

18 Monday Dec 2023

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Saturday 3rd December 2023 ko 14:00

Witney & District League- Division One

BAMPTON UNITED 6 (Parker 13 J Haley 44 Gardiner 48og S Haley 55 Pritchard 66 Hughes 75)

EYNSHAM SSC 1 (Oates 77)

Att c20

Free Entry

I’ll always feel that Bampton is the one that to some extent, got away. If like most you use the A420 to get here you’ll see just how this part of what is now West Oxfordshire forms the border between the North Berkshire League and the Witney & District League. As in to demonstrate the point, I drove past Kingston Bagpuise, of the North Berks, and the old Bampton Town transfered out of the North Berks in 2011.

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Cloudbusting

04 Monday Dec 2023

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Sunday 29th October 2023 ko 14:45

Southern Combination Division One

BILLINGSHURST 2 (Humphries 55 McAlpine 73)

EAST PRESTON 2 (O’Driscoll 27 Kusaka 80)

Marney penalty saved 90

Att 245

Entry £6

Programme £2

Robyn and I spent the entire journey from Wick to Billingshurst fully expecting a phone call to confirm that the game was off. While the rain had relented for the time being the deluge that had cause the abandonment at Wick, must have had the same impact at Billingshurst hadn’t it?

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Influencers

24 Friday Nov 2023

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Saturday 28th October 2023 ko 14:15

Southern Combination – Division Two

BOSHAM 1 (Harris 32)

JARVIS BROOK 1 (Edmunds 41)

Att 232

Entry & Programme £4

We’d watched the Shoreham game in the midst of a deluge, and the downpour carried on all night. It was therefore of no surprise that at breakfast the news had come through that our first game at Pagham had been lost. And for the record saying the pitch was waterlogged doesn’t do the conditions justice. The place was flooded, as were many of the approach roads.

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Bee Keeping

16 Thursday Nov 2023

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Sunday 22nd October 2023 ko 14:00

FA Women’s Cup 3rd Qualifying Round

WATFORD LADIES 1 (Lovelace 15p)

BRENTFORD FC WOMEN 2 (Woods 12 27)

Att c75 at The Hive 5G, Camrose Avenue

Free Entry

Sunday was a completely different day from the normal lie in with a Sunday roast to follow. Swedish Hop organiser Kim Hedwall was visiting and that meant a busy day.

We’d left Stadhampton FC and headed into London for a game that more or less had our names on it. Kim’s a Barnet fan, and Oxford United are my team so London Bees vs Oxford United Women had something in it for the both of us. Then there was the bonus of the game being played on The Hive’s “temporary” grass pitch behind the main stand, with a demountable stand that once was in use at the away end at Underhill serving as cover. The best laid plans and all that…..

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Criced Weather

12 Thursday Oct 2023

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Sunday 24th September 2023 ko 11:00

West Wales Premier League

BRYN ROVERS 3 (Campbell 45 53 61)

Campbell missed penalty 69

WEST END 1 (D Griffiths 29)

Att 153

Entry £3

Programme £2

It wasn’t that the rain on the Sunday was unexpected, I’d packed by wet weather gear in readiness, it was that it seemed out-of-step that can happened the day before. I know I’ve said it before, but the whole timbre of a hop changes when it rains. We heard that the game was in doubt then the club needed a delay to work on the pitch. Thankfully we had a brief respite, so we checked out of Carmarthen fortified with hope, and referee Robert Fulford took a generous view of the conditions.

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Threads

07 Thursday Sep 2023

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Saturday 19th August 2023 ko 15:00

EFL League 1

BARNSLEY 1 (Cole 69)

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Brannagan 8p Williams 53og Goodrham 87)

Att 11,753 (620 away)

Entry £23

Programme £4

Official car park £5

These Robyn revisits are proving to be interesting. It had been the best part of two decades since I’d visited Oakwell and back then I’d taken the Oxford United supporters’ coach straight in and out. This time out I hankered after finding more about the South Yorkshire town than just the football. And yes, I have been to Athersley Recreation!

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Marriage Guidance

31 Thursday Aug 2023

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Wednesday 9th August 2023 ko 19:45

EFL Cup 1st Round

BRISTOL CITY 5 (Cornick 15 Knight 35 47 Naismith 62)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Bodin 30)

Att 9,616 (1,201 away)

Entry (Atyeo Stand) £10

Programme -officially none, but the fans are producing an unofficial programme “Cider Reds” for £4 available from underneath the Atyeo statue. It’s rather good!

Robyn and I have been together 7 and a half years, and married for 3 and a half, so the only real surprise is that it took this long for our two sides to meet. I’ve been an Oxford United season ticket holder since the mid-80’s and Robyn was a season ticket holder at Bristol City when we met. And let’s face it, her name is Robyn!

There are a couple of caveats, the women’s teams have met twice in that time, in 2016 and again last season. The male teams did also meet in a behind closed doors friendly a few weeks ago- I imagine both clubs played that game with more than half an eye on this game!

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