Category Archives: B

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

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Saturday 21st December 2013 ko 13.30

1a División Andaluza Cadete

REAL BETIS CADETE A 7 (Santos 5 Toni 26 44 69 Ángel 83 Edu 86p José 85p)

SAN ROQUE DE LEPE 0

Att c200

Entry FREE

Teamsheet “FREE”

With a day in Seville and a Sunday spent doing little more than travelling to and from Huelva there was little point retaining the hire car. I returned it to the rental company at Santa-Justa rail station and the young girl who took the keys asked how I’d found the Fiat 500 to drive,

“Absolutely fine,” I replied, “But the steering wheel is on the wrong side!”

She panicked for a moment, glancing over to the car before realising what I meant! We exchanged a joke or two about driving in each other’s countries before Andy and I strolled over to the station to plan the details of our next two days over a coffee that the station café managed to forget to charge us for, then refused point-blank to accept my payment when I tried to be honest! Continue reading →

English First Sight

08 Sunday Dec 2013

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Saturday 7th December 2013 ko 13.30

John Fathers Oxfordshire Junior Shield 3rd Round

BRIZE NORTON 3 (Lachwicz 5 Bronk 29 Rowe 36) Rowe sent off 45 (violent conduct)

ASHTON VILLA 5 (Furtuna 70 Jukic 70 Benjamin 83 85 90) Green sent off 45 (violent conduct)

Att 11 (and 6 ponies)

Entry FREE

Raffle £1

No Programme

For the most part, airports disappoint me. Most of my encounters with them involve waiting and queuing in a place that could be almost anywhere. I remember landing at what was then called Jan Smuts airport in Cape Town, a vision of metal, glass and air conditioning, then stepping outside and experiencing the heat, flies and squalor of the squatter camp outside the perimeter fence. It is a strange way to welcome a visitor.

Continue reading →

Looking After Number One

20 Wednesday Nov 2013

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Saturday 16th November 2013 ko 17.30

Conference Premier

BARNET 2 (Villa 38 Weston 45)

CAMBRIDGE UNITED 2 (Appiah 29 32)

Att 2,853 (Ground Record)

Entry £21

Programme £3

Tea £1.50

Pie £3

I like Barnet, I always did, right the way back in the early 90’s when, as a student I used to catch the Northern Line to its terminus at High Barnet, then counter-intuitively walk down to Underhill.

The place reminded me of my club Oxford United’s spiritual home, The Manor, with the sloping pitch, and the hotpotch of stands and bits of terrace. It was magical, but unsuitable for the rigours of League football so a move was inevitable, however painful. I paid my my farewells last season, but the move has not been without controversy, Continue reading →

Memo From Turner

18 Monday Nov 2013

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Saturday 16th November 2013 ko 13.30

Hertfordshire Senior Centenary Trophy 2nd Round

BELSTONE 3 (D Turner 64 90 N Turner 87)

BUSHEY SPORTS CLUB 2 (Shorto 14 Roche 33) Archer sent off (serious foul play) 36)

Att 60

Entry FREE

Programme £1

Just occasionally televised football does improve attendances! With Barnet FC at their new ground, The Hive for this season, and the game kicking off late at 5.30pm for television, any club local to North London was likely to see an influx of groundhoppers. We were indebted to well-respected hopper Stephen Jackson who liaised with the club so they were prepared for the larger-than-normal attendance. I hope the club had a decent pay-out for their efforts.

The main issue was actually working out where Belstone actually is! Continue reading →

The Sweetener

03 Thursday Oct 2013

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Tuesday 1st October 2013 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Premier Division

BURY TOWN 0

DULWICH HAMLET 4 (Oztumer 35 75p Walker 35 57)

Att 273

Entry £10

Programme £2

Badge £3

On the way home from Bungay I’d actually stopped for petrol in Bury-St-Edmunds without realising I was less than a mile from Ram Meadow. Nevertheless, regular readers will know that if I pass by a town, the chances of me returning to watch their football team increase dramatically!

Continue reading →

The Charm Offensive

23 Monday Sep 2013

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Saturday 21st September 2013 ko 14.00

North Berkshire League Division One

BERINSFIELD 4 (D Murphy 34 45 46 Curtis 80)

FARINGDON TOWN 0 Quegan sent off (2nd Booking)

Att 251

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

Chicken Curry & Baked Potato £3

All the way back on the very first North Berkshire League groundhop, we’d reached Sutton Courtenay and the game was just about to kick off. Me being me, I’d gone for an extra cup of tea so was a little late in walking over from the clubhouse. I was rushing over, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was a young lady, and she half asked, and half demanded, Continue reading →

Cooperation

23 Monday Sep 2013

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Saturday 21st September 2013 ko 11am

North Berkshire League Division Three

BENSON LIONS 1 (Keightly 83)

WESTMINSTER 4 (McMahon 17 59 Bourton 30 69)

Att 153

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

Bottle of Real Ale £2.50

Full English RAF breakfast including tea £5

The North Berkshire League Groundhop is very much my baby, so much so it’s the only time that at GroundhopUK Chris Berezai and I swap places, with me leading, and him acting as deputy. It makes sense, when I live a mere 10 miles from Steventon, the village that provides the centre-point of the league. Continue reading →

Taking the King’s Shilling

08 Sunday Sep 2013

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Saturday 7th September 2013 ko 14.30

Anglian Combination Division Two

BUNGAY TOWN 11 (ELEVEN) (Flint 8 Barnes 19 27 Ling 20 87 Mirner 24 52 89 Wilby 32 Andrews 76 Hammersley 86)

BRANDON TOWN 0

Att 88

Entry -5p

Programme 50p

Burger £2.50

Once a year Football has, ” Non League Day,” when an international weekend means there’s no Premier League and Championship games scheduled. Fans are encouraged to support grass roots football, and the smaller clubs try their best to entice new supporters to come and visit them. Last year, I ended up at an iconic ground, Northern League Crook Town http://wp.me/p1PehW-1dV, but this year I wanted a fresh approach, so I decided to pick the club with what I thought was the best marketing gimmick. And Bungay won that battle by an absolute mile. Continue reading →

Pope’s Wood

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

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Monday 19th August 2013 ko 19.45

FA Cup Extra-Preliminary Round Replay

BINFIELD 3 (Rapley 15 Havermans 34 Davies 45)

FLACKWELL HEATH 2 (Dickens 9p 68) Brown sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 204

Entry £5

Programme £1

I think Binfield the village has an image problem. The trouble is that when you tell people where you’re heading you inevitably tell them its near to Bracknell, and Binfield is as far removed from the New Town modernity and roundabouts as is possible.

Painter John Constable spent his honeymoon at the Rectory in 1816 and sketched All Saints Church twice. The church said to have been a refuge for a number of Parliamentary soldiers during the Civil War. Poet Alexander Pope lived nearby and was a choirboy here.

From the late 19th century to the 1960s, brick-making was an important industry in the area, with the Binfield Brick and Tile works at Amen Corner being an important employer. Binfield bricks were partly used to create the Royal Albert Hall.

Hill Farm Lane is tucked away off the main road, the signs the club have provided are both welcome and necessary. You expect a small rustic ground, so what opens out in front of you is a real bonus. Continue reading →

Thinking About The Lions

15 Thursday Aug 2013

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Tuesday 13th August 2013 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League Division One

FC BROXBOURNE BOROUGH 1 (Hussey 6) Bashkal sent off 90 (2nd booking)

WELWYN GARDEN CITY 0

Att 76

Entry FREE

Programme £1

Whilst I enjoyed my Saturday in Cumbria, I’d found it slightly bruising. I like to see all of these events go off as flawlessly as possible, so after digesting the lessons learned, it was good to get back to simple, solo groundhopping, and a nice easy one at that.

The Borough of Broxbourne is probably best known as being where Tesco’s head office is based, in Cheshunt, but there’s News International’s Park Plaza, Waltham Cross to consider also. It’s the world’s largest printing plant, printing the English editions of The Sun and The Times amongst others. It can produce 86,000 newspapers per hour on each of its twelve printing presses. It cost £350 million and replaced the News International press in Wapping, the scene of a strike and civil disobedience when it closed in 1986.

The club play on the outskirts of Cheshunt, and that’s where the fun starts. Continue reading →