Category Archives: B

The Gem Of The Valleys

25 Saturday Apr 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 25th August 2007  ko 18.45

South Wales Amateur League Division Two

BLAENRHONDDA 0 Thomas (gk) sent off 30 (violent conduct)

TON & GELLI BOYS & GIRLS CLUB 2 (R. Jones 63,81)

Att 268

Entry £4

Programme £1

Every so often someone asks me for some suggestions as to some wonderful football grounds in South Wales. I think most would start with Garw and the sadly now-demolished Treharris and I’d add the likes of Penrhiwfer and Ynyshir Albions too, and that is far from being an exhaustive list. I’d also point out that all but Treharris have been on Welsh Hops, and so was my visit to the another ground that really ought to be on any self-respecting groundhopper’s bucket list- Blaenrhondda Park.

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The Village

05 Thursday Mar 2020

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Saturday 25th January 2020 ko 14.00

Mid-Oxon Cup Quarter-Final

BRILL UNITED 2 (Price 5 Boiling 75)

ASHTON FOLLY 1 (McPherson 82)

Att 27 at Whitelands Farm Sports Ground, Bicester

Free Entry

I’d wanted to watch Brill for a while. The village has the distinction of both being in Buckinghamshire and having once been on the London Underground but still managing to be a mere 12 miles from Oxford. The football club has an excellent Twitter (@BrillUtd) account, and there’s an obvious vibrancy about them. Continue reading →

SAD

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

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Saturday 25th January 2020 ko 20.30

Primeiria Liga

BELENENSES S.A.D. 0

VITORIA DE SETUBAL 1 (Guedes 39)

Att 2,012  at Estádio Nacional, Lisbon

Entry – Complimentary

As a tourist in Lisbon, its virtually inevitable you’ll end up visiting Belém, in the west of the city. You’ll take the 15E tram from Cais do Sodré and visit the Belém Tower, the Jerónimos Monastery, and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, all within 5 minutes from the tram stop for the monastery. But before you leave do cross the road at Largo dos Jerónimos and have some grilled sardines at the excellent Flor dos Jerónimos cafe, then discover a hidden piece of Lisbon’s history. Continue reading →

Don’t Fence Me In

24 Monday Feb 2020

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Tuesday 17th December 2019 ko 19.45

Middlesex Senior Cup 2nd Round

BARNET 1 (Chime 9)

STAINES TOWN 1 (Ibe 83)

No extra time, Staines won 4-3 on penalties.

Att 63 at Pitch ATP1, The Hive, London

Free Entry

Online Programme

Team Sheet 50p

“I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
Gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
Can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences
Don’t fence me in.” Gene Autry

I’ll admit I was rather scraping the barrel with this one, but my defence is that I didn’t quite know what I was letting myself it for. What I did know is that The Hive has no end of side pitches, some grass, some 3G and at least one with a stand. Continue reading →

All About Wickhurst Lane

27 Monday Jan 2020

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Tuesday 8th November 2019 ko 19.45

Sussex Senior Cup 2nd Round

BROADBRIDGE HEATH 2 (Jones 27 Wanstall 61)

PEACEHAVEN & TELSCOMBE 3 (Wiltshire 38 Ford 50 Bant 90)

Att 64

Entry £6

Programme £1

After all that had gone before, it seemed strange to be returning to pyramid football. Not in any perjorative sense, although the inevitable battle with the M25 evening rush hour was as unwelcome. As hellish as the traffic was, it was familiar I’d passed Broadbridge Heath’s new ground on the way to Horsham a couple of months earlier. I found myself wishing my journeys were a little more straightforward, but then that is skill that Broadbridge Heath are rather good at! Continue reading →

Voice Of The Beehive

06 Friday Dec 2019

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Sunday 6th October 2019 ko 10.45

Western League Premier Division

BRIDPORT 0

BRIDGWATER TOWN 6 (O’Hare 12 33 34 Duffy 27 Tower 83 84)

Att 347

Entry £6

Programme £1

I sat enjoying my Full English at the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel with mixed feelings. On one hand there was the relief in enough seats having been sold to hire our coach – I really didn’t fancy driving a minibus with the day’s itinerary! On another this was the last day of the last Western Hop, and I and so many still miss the man to came up with the idea- the late Mark Edmonds. But the reality was we had a long journey down to what one hopper described as the Fort William of the Western League.

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Small Wheels

29 Friday Nov 2019

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Saturday 5th October 2019 ko 12.30

Western League Premier Division

BRADFORD TOWN 2 (Pollard 38 69p)

CLEVEDON TOWN 0

Att 311

Entry £6

Programme £1

The coach slowed down as we reached the outskirts of Bradford-On-Avon, the narrow streets in a well-to-do town aren’t ideal for such a large vehicle. I felt a tinge of irony in that, one of Bradford’s famous sons is Alex Moulton, the inventor of the Moulton bicycle and the suspension on Alec Issigonis “Mini” car. What do those inventions have in common? Small wheels, and those would have been handy here! Continue reading →

Deeds Not Words

31 Thursday Oct 2019

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Saturday 7th September 2019 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division One

BRIDGEND STREET 4 (White 23 62 Fowler 40 65p)

PONTARDAWE TOWN 2 (Silcox 42 Aylward 50)

Att c40

Entry £3

Programme £1

The trip from Caerau Ely to Tremorfa surprised me. A drive through the middle of a capital city isn’t meant to be this easy, I parked up at my second game less than 20 minutes after I’d left the first! Continue reading →

A Home… Finally

17 Tuesday Sep 2019

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Tuesday 6th August 2019 ko 19.45

Combined Counties League Premier Division

BADSHOT LEA 5 (Medcraft 19 55 89 Cardini 63 Cadette 77)

FRIMLEY GREEN 0

Att 194

Entry £7

Programme £1

Teamsheet FREE

God knows football needs a good news story and a ground for Badshot Lea is certainly one! It seems an age ago (well 2003) I saw the side freshly promoted in to the Hellenic League from the Surrey Premier League at their original Recreation Ground home. Now home may well be where the heart is but the ground was little or more than a roped off pitch in a park and with ground gradings beginning to bite it was obvious that a club so obviously on the up would have to move. Continue reading →

The United Swifts

12 Thursday Sep 2019

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Saturday 3rd August 2019

12.00 Central Midlands League Invitational Cup Final

NETHERSEAL ST PETERS 1 (Coates 7)

RENISHAW RANGERS 3 (Manlove 4 75 Purcell 72)

Att 189

15.00 Central Midlands League Chairman’s Cup Final

PINXTON 5 (Smith 20 Green 32 33 87 Riley 57)

BAKEWELL TOWN 1 (Rach 57)

Att 269

Both games at Peel Croft, (Burton RUFC), Burton-on-Trent

Entry £5

Programme £2

Just occasionally the hopper fraternity gets an opportunity so good, you drop everything and go. Normally it takes the form of a one-off game at an iconic stadium that isn’t often used to football such as Llanelli playing at Stradey Park, the re-staging of the 1872 FA Cup Final at the Oval or Hull City playing a friendly at Hull Kingston Rovers’ Craven Park. Those were all mid-week fixures, and 2 were at rugby grounds, but this game was at a rugby ground, on a Saturday making it so much easier for people to get to, but Peel Croft’s history made this a must-visit. Continue reading →