Category Archives: B

Culinary Delights

21 Thursday Oct 2021

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Saturday 2nd October 2021 ko 14:00

Lowland League

BONNYRIGG ROSE 2 (Turner 17 Young 59)

DALBEATTIE STAR 1 (Todd 46)

Att 517

Entry £9

Programme £2

Teamsheet FREE

Pie- Doner kebab & chilli sauce

The beauty of the Saturday on this edition of the Scottish Hop was that none of the 4 grounds were more than a couple of miles from the next. It seemed as soon as we’d left Dalkeith we’d arrived at Bonnyrigg and with all due respect to the other clubs we visited this weekend, this was the club I’d anticipated visiting the most. Continue reading →

The Delay

08 Friday Oct 2021

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Friday 1st October 2021 ko 19.45

Lowland League

BO’NESS UNITED 3 (Flynn 31 Jacobs 42 Locke 68)

CIVIL SERVICE STROLLERS 1 (Cole 43)

Att 507

Entry £7

Programme £1

Pie – Scotch or Macaroni

It is a historical point that the first hop to be cancelled due to the pandemic was the Scottish Hop and the first one back could so easily have been this one, delayed for 18 months!  While I loved what we did and will do in the Witney & District League this is altogether a different animal. But you would have thought that simply taking the same event, with the same host clubs (albeit with the Friday and Sunday games transposed) and restaging it after the break would be easy enough to do wouldn’t you? And you’d be wrong! Continue reading →

Triangles

06 Wednesday Oct 2021

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Tuesday 21st September 2021 ko 19:45

EFL Cup 3rd Round

BRENTFORD 7 (Forss 3p 16 44 60 Wissa 38 87 Diarra 43og)

OLDHAM ATHLETIC 0

Att 12,819

Entry (Railway Lounge Hospitality) £35

Programme – Included (£2)

I think my wife Robyn calls this “92 Hopping,” but my running total of EFL and Premier League grounds was below 90 for the first time in years, mainly due to the pandemic. I think just about everyone loved Brentford’s former home at Griffin Park and I’m so glad I managed to show Robyn the place before it closed. There is absolutely no way you can replace a ground of 100-plus years with a pub at each corner, but Brentford have come as close as anyone. Continue reading →

The Bonny Banks

26 Thursday Aug 2021

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Wednesday 12th August 2021 ko 19.30

Scottish Junior FA- North Region Superleague

BANKS O’DEE 2 (MacLeod 42 82)

Redman sent off (2nd booking) 78

Winton sent off (2nd booking) 87

BRIDGE OF DON THISTLE 1 (Angus 89)

McKeown sent off (2nd booking) 22

Todd sent 85 (2nd booking) 85

Att c120 at Spain Park, Aberdeen

Entry £5

If ever there was a game whose context has changed it was this one. Prior to this season the North Region Juniors existed as a separate entity to the rest of football in Northern Scotland in the same way the Juniors’ Eastern and Western Regions did. The way to look at it was as an “Alternative FA rather than the “Junior FA” but all of that has changed for this season.

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Northern Day

23 Monday Aug 2021

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Tuesday 10th August 2021 ko 19.45

Scottish Challenge Cup 1st Round

BRORA RANGERS 0

ABERDEEN “B” 1 (Ruth 70)

Yeats sent off (dangerous play) 63

Hanratty penalty saved 75

Att c70 at Dudgeon Park

Entry & Teamsheet £10

On occasion I take the bus into Oxford, and in the High Street, close to the Rhodes statue at Oriel College is a little shop called “Brora.” It specialises in knitwear, and by that I mean the sort of thing that attracts the kind of person that would spend £300 on a jumper. I’ve looked at the place a few times, but there does seem to be a slight issue with their marketing. Continue reading →

The Home Ground

07 Wednesday Jul 2021

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Saturday 3rd July 2021 ko 11:00

Pre-Season Friendly

BENFLEET 2 (37 57p)

REDBRIDGE 3 (Trialist 24 34 38)

Att 22 at Woodside, Manor Road

The count may have switched over to the 2021/22 season but in truth my close season was from December to April, so a pre-season friendly didn’t feel like, well, pre-season even if both of the clubs hadn’t played a game this year. Then there was the strand of the hobby that doesn’t like friendlies to consider. I’d normally prefer a competitive game, but the friendly does throw up a opportunity, and I don’t just mean the chance to visit Britain’s first mini roundabout, opened in 1970…. Continue reading →

The Birthday Conundrum

23 Wednesday Jun 2021

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Saturday 19th June 2021 ko 14:30

North Devon League Intermediate One

BARNSTAPLE FC (Shaddick 10 59 Burbidge 20 Box 36 Robinson 78)

APPLEDORE LIONS 1 (Kinder 30)

Att c20 at Queen Elizabeth II Playing Field, Tews Lane

Free Entry

Finally the end of the 2020/21 season was in sight. Robyn and I knew we’d be back in the South West, a combination of seeing family in Bristol and an invite to spend the evening with friends in Totnes saw me make a beeline for a league I’m close to regarding as an old friend. Continue reading →

Bux Bunny

19 Wednesday May 2021

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Saturday 15th May 2021 ko 14:00

Hope Valley League Premier Division

BUXWORTH 1 (Hyde 62)

TANSLEY JUNIORS 3 (Hill 37 71 81)

Att c50 at Western Lane

Free Entry

If the Westmorland League is the league for the Lake District then I’d argue the Hope Valley is the league for the High Peak. And if you’re thinking that the idea was to take the pretty football ground with a backdrop I’d tapped into at Sedbergh & Dent FC a week earlier and move it to the Peak District then you’d be absolutely right! Or putting it another way, “All Creatures Great & Small” became “Peak Practice!” Continue reading →

The Town And The Village

14 Friday May 2021

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Tuesday 12th May 2021 ko 18:30

Oxfordshire Senior League Premier Cup Group Stage

BURE PARK 3 (Hallam 47 79 Chappell 83)

LAUNTON SPORTS 3 (Horn 16 30 Clark 52)

Att c65 at Pingle Field, Bicester

Free Entry

Anyone from Oxfordshire will be more than aware of the expansion of Bicester in the last couple of years. I remember Iain my regular companion on many of my Scottish jaunts booking a hotel in Bicester, and when I visited him I  thought, “This used to be fields a few months ago!” Continue reading →

Fiveways

19 Monday Apr 2021

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Saturday 17th April 2021 ko 13.00

Cambridgeshire County League Junior Cup Group F

BARTON MILLS 2 (Walker 45 Sheehan 85p)

missed penalty 71

THE EAGLE (ELY) 3 (Pekala 29 31 Wojtowitz 60)

Att 13 at Barton Mills Village Green 

Entry FREE

For the worst of reasons there were no end of opportunities to watch two games this Saturday. With the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh scheduled for 3pm clubs were advised by the FA to play their games in such a way as to avoid clashing with it. Many leagues opted for a blanket approach with all games starting simultaneously, but an exception was the Cambridgeshire County League where a significant minority of clubs opted for later kick-offs. Continue reading →