Category Archives: B

More Than A Feeling

10 Monday Jan 2022

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Tuesday 28th December 2022 ko 15:00

National League North

BOSTON UNITED 1 (Elliott 72p)

BRACKLEY TOWN 3 (Ndlovu 20 90 Armson 31)

Armston penalty saved 69

Att 2,138 (46 away)

Entry £16 (seat-main stand)

Programme £3 (superb)

Teamsheet/raffle £1

Boston United and I go back a little way. As an Oxford United fan York Street seemed to be where our failing club seemed to send players that didn’t quite fit in. There was Simon Weatherstone who did well for the Pilgrims, his brother Ross who didn’t and aging striker Phil Gray who manager Steve Evans commented “He (Gray) had an ambition to play for Boston, I however had an ambition to send him back to Oxford”

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Family

25 Thursday Nov 2021

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Tuesday 9th November 2021 ko 19:45

Somerset Premier Cup 2nd Round

BATH CITY 3 (Fletcher 8 Cooke 37 Smith 74)

PORTISHEAD TOWN 0

Att 476

Entry £8

Programme 50p

From a groundhopping perspective this didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’ve been to Twerton Park on a number of occasions, to the point that I’ve seen Bath City, Bristol Rovers and even Team Bath all play home games here. And as lovely is the place is, and you can double that for a game under lights, why on earth would Robyn and I engage in a mad dash after work from Oxford to see this game? The answer is family.  Continue reading →

Showcase

18 Thursday Nov 2021

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Friday 29th October 2021 ko 19:30

East Berkshire League-Premier Division

BRITWELL 2 (Malloy 48 Comber-Christian 90)

Malloy sent off  83 (2nd booking)

IVER HEATH 2 (Durrant 21 McAspurn 65)

Att 145 (85 paying) at the Gore, Burnham (Burnham FC)

Entry £3

Programme £1

I’d paid my three quid and was admiring The Gore’s new 3G pitch when a groundhopper approached me and laughed. “I live a mile from here, what’s your excuse?” he half asked/ half joked. He hit the nail on the head without really meaning to, why was I there? 

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The Old & The New

01 Monday Nov 2021

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Sunday 3rd October 2021 ko 12:15 

East of Scotland League- Premier Division

BROXBURN ATHLETIC 0

DUNDONALD BLUEBELL 1 (Ford 61)

Att 278

Entry £7

Programme £2

Teamsheet FREE

Pie – Steak

Every year I turn up at the Scottish Hop’s single Sunday game, and wish we’d added a second game. After that game I then spend hours on the M6 glad we didn’t! We arrived a Albyn Park about an hour before the coach did, and way too early, there was upwards of 100 young girls playing in a multitude of 5-a-side games on the pitch at the time and certainly you didn’t want a crowd taking photos. It did, though show the great strength of Broxburn’s home. Continue reading →

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 →