Category Archives: B

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 →

The Rules

04 Wednesday Sep 2019

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Saturday 27th July 2019 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

BURTON PARK WANDERERS 4 (Allen 8 Thomson 15 20 Dalby 49)

Dalby missed penalty 45

LUTTERWORTH ATHLETIC 0

Att 284

Entry £5

Programme £1

The rains returned as the hop reached the fourth game in Burton Latimer, near Kettering. If football isn’t your thing then the town is where Weetabix is made but if non-league football is your passion then it also is where Latimer Park is. The ground is home to perennial UCL strugglers Burton Park Wanderers, or is it? Continue reading →

Kings

13 Tuesday Aug 2019

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Tuesday 16th July 2019 ko 19.45

Pre-Season Friendly

BINFIELD 0

KNAPHILL 1 (14)

Att 28 

At King’s Academy, Binfield

There are plenty of groundhoppers who don’t like pre-season friendlies, and I completely understand their point of view. My take on it is to try to find something unusual in the fixture; it could be an inter-league match-up or an unusual ground. Here we managed both!

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Hygge

08 Monday Jul 2019

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Wednesday 5th June 2019 ko 17.00

2nd Division Group 2 Promotion- Denmark

BRØNSHØJ BK 0

VANLØSE 2 (AK Jensen 61 JC Jensen 90)

Att 757

Entry 80 DKK (Approx £9.61)

Programme 20 DKK

With the Swedish Hop’s 13th edition being based once again in Trelleborg, and fiancee Robyn being a fan of all things Hans Christian Andersen it was remarkable that we hadn’t visited Copenhagen previously. Then there was the Danish concept of Hygge roughly translated as cosiness to consider too. The Danish are considered to be the world’s happiest nation, so as the plane touched down at Kastrup and I limped through customs I wanted to see if I could tap into the concept.  Continue reading →

Passing By

26 Wednesday Jun 2019

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Wednesday 15th May 2019 ko 18.25

East Berkshire League- Premier Division

FC BEACONSFIELD 3 (Peddle 39 76 Howell 76)

OLD WINDSOR 0

Att 12

Free Entry

A few years ago you could add your own points of interest to SatNav’s. That was handy, as you could add all kinds of things useful to groundhoppers such as football grounds, petrol stations, pubs and so on. I even knew one hopper who had a Little Chefs download!  My non-league football grounds download died along with my old SatNav but I remember the little football icon that I spotted every time I passed under the bridge on the M40 approaching Beaconsfield from Loudwater. As my OCD invitably takes me I always fancied visiting, but I had no idea who played there!
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The Gas Man Cometh

13 Thursday Jun 2019

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Monday 22nd April 2019

11.00 Hellenic Premier

BISHOPS CLEEVE 5 (Watts 30 56 Iddles 48 Davidge 59 Johnstone 82)

SHRIVENHAM AFC 1 (Ballard 65)

Att 231

Entry £7

Programme £2

14.15 Hellenic Premier

TUFFLEY ROVERS 3 (Bloomfield 19 29 Alder 73)

FAIRFORD TOWN 0

Att 221

Entry £5

Programme £1

18.00 Hellenic League Division One West

THORNBURY TOWN 2 (Brock 52 Wormwell 90+8)

NEWENT TOWN 2 (Marquis 7 Jones 61og)

Att 295

Entry & Programme £5

So the Hellenic Hop reached it’s final day and we’d been fortunate in so many ways. Firstly the weather had been kinder than it had been to Phil Hiscox and the South West Peninsula League the previous Easter, and the clubs in the most part had covered themselves in glory with some excellent hosting. The coach inched its way out of the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel, and I relaxed as Robyn managed her usual trick of falling asleep as soon as the coach started moving… Continue reading →

The Cotswolds (and a little Wales)

31 Friday May 2019

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Sunday 21st April 2019

11.00 Hellenic League Division Two West

BOURTON ROVERS 3 (Nurse 19 Tyack 76 Way 90)

HEADINGTON AMATEURS 1 (Curtis 83)

Att 278

Entry £4

Programme £1

14.15 Hellenic League Division Two West

MORETON RANGERS 0

ADDERBURY PARK 1 (Northam 62)

Att 384

Entry £2

Programme £1

18.00 Hellenic League Premier

BRIMSCOMBE & THRUPP 4 (Blackie 5 Pitts 55 Campbell 70 J Pitt 90)

ABINGDON UNITED 0 Butler sent off 55 (2nd Booking)

Att 403

Entry £5

Programme £1

Easter Sunday dawned, and the compromise that is an organised hop was brought into sharp focus. On one hand we were always likely to see the most hoppers today when compared to the rest of the weekend, but then we were asking more of the clubs in asking them to play on Easter Sunday. You could argue that extra crowds mean extra revenue for our host clubs but that doesn’t help the visiting clubs taking part. I know there was some discomfiture amongst those involved at Headington Amateurs, Adderbury Park and Abingdon United in playing on this day so our sincere thanks to them for helping us, the league and the host clubs. Thanks also to Brian King and all at the league too, plenty of leagues wouldn’t have even countenanced trying!

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