Category Archives: C

The Mousetrap

26 Friday Nov 2021

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Saturday 13th November 2021 ko 14:00

Berks & Bucks Intermediate “Charles Twelftrees” Trophy 1st Round

CHOLSEY UNITED 1 (Spruyt 40)

READING YMCA 1 (Adams 22)

No extra time, YMCA won 3-2 on penalties

Att c30

Free Entry

Its funny how things work out. I knew in the morning I was going to be at the GP’s having a jab and that conveniently ended up being a vaccine in either arm. So I had no intention of travelling far, and as if by serendipity I received a message from Rob Tyler inviting me to watch Cholsey. We go back longer than either of us would like to remember, veterans of club coach travel to Oxford United away games during the start of our slide down the leagues. It means we both completed a fair chunk of the 92 without really trying but these days he’s on committee at North Berkshire League outfit Cholsey United. Continue reading →

The Key Stone

23 Thursday Sep 2021

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Saturday 18th September 2021 ko 11.00

Witney & District League Division Two

CASSINGTON RANGERS 0

DUCKLINGTON 0

Att 133

Entry/Programme £4

It was probably no bad thing that the first post-lockdown hop was this one. It is all too easy to think that Covid is over, but the daily statistics tell a very different story. From a groundhopper’s perspective we are able to watch pretty much any domestic game without let or hindrance, but an organised groundhop involves breaking every (former) social distancing rule you can think of! In the end the United Counties League decided to postpone for a year, and Wales simply hadn’t opened up enough at August Bank Holiday to consider trying there. But the great advantage of Witney was that the grounds would be open  and we’d be unlikely to be seeing crowds of over 200. That would make organising it easier I thought…. Continue reading →

The Hybrid

16 Thursday Sep 2021

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Saturday 4th September 2021 ko 15:00

South West Peninsula League Premier East

CULLOMPTON RANGERS 3 (Chamberlain 26 secs Wilkinson 16 Humphreys 85)

PLYMOUTH MARJON 0

Att 56

Entry £6

Programme FREE (part online)

I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that as a groundhopper there are three kinds of football ground. There’s the grounds I’ve visited, then there’s grounds I’ve not, and the grounds that I’ve not visited but half the hopping population thinks I have. And for years top of that third list was Cullompton Rangers. Continue reading →

Viva Chew Magna!

14 Tuesday Sep 2021

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Saturday 28th August 2021 ko 15:00

Somerset County League Division 2

CHEW MAGNA 3 (Pickford 57 Dunleavey 69 Haskins 83)

CUTTERS FRIDAY 2 (Evans 23 Hargreaves 23)

Att c15 at Tunley Recreation Centre, Old Bath Road, BA2 0EB

Free Entry

On one level you could say I got this one wrong. I was seeing family in Bristol so wanted a game reasonably local, to the point that my nephew Che decided to come along. That may have been to prove to himself that not every game I see involves him getting soaked, as was definitely the case at Stockwood Wanderers last year! My options boiled down to two Somerset County league games either- Chew Magna or Clutton.  I got the family to vote on it and Chew Magna won out. So why would some say I’d got it wrong? Continue reading →

The Stone Of The Tub

29 Sunday Aug 2021

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Friday 13th August 2021 ko 20:00

Highland League

CLACHNACUDDIN 4 (Morrison 52 Logan 70 Taylor 80 90)

STRATHSPEY THISTLE 1 (Duncan 14)

Att c350

Entry £10 (plus £1 stand transfer)

On one level it would have been rude not to, our holiday accommodation was only a 10 minute walk from Grant Street Park. Yes, we’d based ourselves in the Inverness district of Merkinch, and through no planning at all we’d found ourselves in a place steeped in local football history. 

Our flat was more or less opposite the site of the Telford Street home of Caledonian FC, one of the two sides (the other being Inverness Thistle) that merged in 1994 to form today’s Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The merged club played their first two seasons at Telford Street before moving to the newly built Caledonian Stadium in 1996. The ground was demolished and now is a retail park. But a trip to Clach did involve a certain amount of sentiment, as I’d visited back in October 2007, ironically for another Friday night fixture. 

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The Forge

26 Monday Jul 2021

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Tuesday 20th July 2021 ko 19.45

Pre-season Friendly

CATHOLIC UNITED 1 (Trialist 39)

WHITE ENSIGN 6 (Woodward 1 13 45 Locke 6 Reynolds-Blanche 28 71)

Att c60 at Len Forge Centre, Southend-on-Sea

Free Entry

There are some grounds that ought to be on every groundhopper’s bucket list, there are some that you’d barely count as a tick, and there are one or two that for little or no reason contrive to intrigue you. For me, Southend’s Len Forge Centre definitely fell into the latter. Continue reading →

The Decider

03 Thursday Jun 2021

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Sunday 30th May 2021 ko 10:30

Upper Thames Valley Sunday League

CHILTON BLUE & WHITES 2 (Carrigan 27 A Stevens 31p)

GREATER LEYS YELLOWS 3 (Smith 10 Ludlow 13p Harvey 90)

Att c50 at Atomic Energy Research Engineering (South) Ground, Chilton, near Harwell

Free Entry

Some games you attend due to friendship, some you attend to visit a new ground, while others you find yourself watching purely because there’s something riding on the result. Oddly, in the end this one ended up being all three!

The root of it all was Chilton’s win at Tackley United a week earlier which set up a straight shootout with Greater Leys Yellows for the title in the final game of the season. A draw would see Greater Leys take the title, but Chilton would have home advantage. Chilton sent me details of where their ground is and I took it as being the former Harwell International Ground that was featured on the final North Berkshire League Hop. Life wasn’t to be as straightforward as that though! Continue reading →

The Community Umlaut

01 Tuesday Jun 2021

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Saturday 29th May 2021 ko 14:30

Staffordshire County Senior League Division One

CITY OF STOKE 5 (Meek 19 82 Marcisz 25 Sargeant 61 Armstrong 82)

Marcisz sent off 80 (foul & abusive)

HAWKINS SPORTS 2 (Pike 8 57)

Att c25 at North Stafford Sports Club, Whisper Lane, Butterton

Free Entry

I’ve often opined that I don’t pick my games, most of the time they pick me, and this was the latest in the long list. You may remember that just under two years ago, I battled both appalling weather and traffic to watch a game at Keele University.  At the time I questioned why I was the only hopper there, and subsequently came to the conclusion that the reason I was the only one there with no connection to either side was my own insanity. But there was a silver lining to the evening. Continue reading →

Conversion

22 Thursday Apr 2021

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Saturday 17th April 2021 ko 16.30

Cambridgeshire County League Senior Cup Group D

COTTENHAM UNITED 2 (Males 32 Course 81p)

MILTON FC 0

Att c60 at King George V Playing Field, Lambs Lane.

Free Entry

The FA’s edict that that matches shouldn’t clash with the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral did create an unwitting opportunity for groundhoppers like me. It wasn’t difficult to find a game beforehand, and there was ample time to travel from Barton Mills westwards for around 30 miles. Continue reading →

Walfrid

26 Tuesday Jan 2021

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Sunday 11th May 2008 12.30

Scottish Premier League

CELTIC 2 (McManus 37 McDonald 87)

HIBERNIAN 0

Canning sent off (2nd Booking) 83

Murray sent off (DOGSO) 90

Att 58,515

Entry £26

Programme £2.50

Now you might find this hard to believe but this was actually something to do break up a journey home to Oxfordshire!  Watching a game at Wick Academy had become a mission, and so when I finally managed to get it done at the third attempt a day earlier I  sat in a cheap hotel in Perth contemplating a beast of journey home! It needed something to break up the drive back to Banbury, so a few days earlier I’d looked for a game on the way. I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought about Celtic, it certainly isn’t due to any sectarian thoughts, you’re reading the thoughts of the product of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother after all! Continue reading →