Category Archives: C

Attack! Attack!

18 Thursday Oct 2018

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Monday 27th August 2018 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance- Premier Division

CAERPHILLY ATHLETIC 7 (Tedstone 31 49 55 76 Leadbeater 44 74 Edwards 50)

CWM WELFARE 0

Att 252

Entry £3

Programme £1

I refuse to believe there isn’t a groundhopper out there that doesn’t have more than a healthy dose of O.C.D., it goes hand-in-hand with the hobby! My version of it is an odd variant, if I see a town’s name on a road sign, I want to go and see that town’s club. So after 15 or so years heading up and down the A470 passing Caerphilly each time, you can imagine how pleased I was to be finally seeing a game here! Continue reading →

Scenes From An Italian Restaurant

09 Tuesday Oct 2018

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Saturday 25th August 2018 ko 16.15

Gwent County League Division One

VILLA DINO CHRISTCHURCH 1 (Butler 61)

NEWPORT CIVIL SERVICE 3 (Eidoori 8 9 Ridler 80) Berry sent off 84 (2nd booking)

Att 201

Entry £3

Programme £1

Let’s start with by answering the obvious. The village is Christchurch near Newport, the chairman’s name is Dino Gulotta, and he owns an Italian restaurant called Villa Dino. So that ought to explain the name oughtn’t it? Well not quite…. Continue reading →

Returning The Favour

01 Monday Oct 2018

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Friday 24th August 2018 ko 18.30

South Wales Alliance – Premier Division

CANTON LIBERAL 2 (K Cotterill 4 49)

GRANGE ALBION 1 (Churchill 43)

Att 189

Entry £3

Programme £2

The Welsh Hop is an operation built on experience from top to bottom, and I do include the hill at our accommodation at the University of South Wales, in Trefforest! This year there seemed to be more to do, and at times it seemed that we were using more of our fail safes than usual. It started as early as Thursday when Caerphilly failed to deliver their programmes (they turned up Friday afternoon over 24 hours late!) and then after the driest summer since 1976 the rains came…
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Serenity

13 Friday Jul 2018

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Tuesday 22nd May 2018 ko 18.30

Coventry Alliance Division 2

CRICK ATHLETIC 3 (Pritchard 39 54 Hull 40)

AMBLESIDE SPORTS RESERVES 2 (Vaughan 4 Morris 35)

Att 15

FREE Entry

When I read about some hoppers self-imposed rules and regulations I usually allow myself a wry smile. There’s the one who won’t go to a game unless its on the Groundhopper App and then there’s the ones who won’t go to a game below the 6th step of non-league “Because its all fields.” Each to their own of course, but for me the beauty of the hobby is digging up the little gems, and you’ll never be able to do that with an App- you are inevitably using someone else’s research. To find a little gem like Crick you have to dig that little known seam of football that is (nominally) Step 11. Continue reading →

The Goose

30 Wednesday May 2018

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Saturday 21st April 2018 ko 12.30

Notts Senior League Premier Division

FC CAVALIERS 1 (Kolapo 35)

AFC DUNKIRK 0

Att 42

Entry & Programme £2

When Rob Hornby retired from organising the annual Notts Senior League Hops he left a cohort of clubs playing in caged 3G facilities that needed visiting if you wanted to complete the league. Now I doubt that any hopper would prioritise any such ground, they are designed after all for the participant rather than the spectator. But that would do the Forest Recreation Ground a massive disservice, its history makes it well worth a visit.  Continue reading →

For Pricey

18 Friday May 2018

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Saturday 14th April 2018 ko 18.00

South Wales Alliance Division Two

CARDIFF HIBERNIAN 2 (James 30 C Reffell 90)

AFC BARGOED 2 (A Williams 12 J Thomas 27)

Att 197

Entry & Programme £3

Let’s start this piece with the situation we found ourselves in a couple of weeks before the hop. We had the first two games sorted out, but they’d been scheduled anyway, and we really needed a third game for the Saturday. Obviously the original plan would have been that game being in the Carmarthenshire League, but with that avenue closed to us, Chris Berezai turned to an old friend. Continue reading →

Billings

21 Wednesday Mar 2018

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Tuesday 13th March 2018 ko 19.45

Southern Counties East League Premier Division

CORINTHIAN FC 3 (Jones 25 31 Hurcomb 65)

SHEPPEY UNITED 0

Att 72

Entry £7

Programme £1

One look at the name “Corinthian” will have the reasonably well-informed football watcher evoking the famous amateur club, now one half of the Corinthian-Casuals club in Tolworth. And while the amateur, football for football’s sake is similar the story of the Kentish Corinthian is rather different. You could say the whole story evokes “Field of Dreams.” Continue reading →

Life On The Periphery

05 Monday Mar 2018

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Saturday 24th February 2018 ko 14.00

Welsh Premier League

CONNAH’S QUAY NOMADS 0

THE NEW SAINTS 1 (Routledge 45) Harrison sent off (offensive/insulting language and/or gestures)

Att 222

Entry £7

Programme £2

Teamsheet FREE

You’d think the Flintshire Suspension Bridge marks the border between Wales and England; it doesn’t but it comes pretty close! It’s Britain’s only assymetrical suspension bridge, but suffers by being nicknamed, “The bridge to nowhere,” that’s rather disparaging to the good people of Connah’s Quay and Shotton but the feeling of being on the periphery persisted. Continue reading →

Rock Climbing

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

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Friday 23rd February 2018 ko 19.45

Welsh Premier League

CEFN DRUIDS 0

BANGOR CITY 2 (Hewitt 44 45p)

Att 426

Entry £7

Programme  & Teamsheet £2

There’s no question that it was highly flattering for GroundhopUK to to be approached to run a Welsh Premier League Hop. But when Chris Berezai mentioned it to me I found myself questioning whether the idea could be made to work? I looked back to the set of compromises that is a successful hop and wondered how we could adapt them for the needs of the Wales’ top domestic league? Continue reading →

Football By (and in) Coventry

12 Tuesday Dec 2017

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Wednesday 6th December 2017 ko 19.45

FA Vase 3rd Round Replay

COVENTRY UNITED 3 (Rankine 80 Morris 90og Mussa 90)

BROMSGROVE SPORTING 3 (Clark 4 Gregory 18 Cowley 40)

AET Bromsgrove won 4-3 on penalties

Att 205 at Butts Park Arena, Coventry

Entry £7

Programme £2

There can’t be many clubs in the Midlands as groundhopper-friendly as Coventry United. Easy parking (for £2), midweek games on a Wednesday, and an informative Twitter feed. In fact so hopper-friendly are they that earlier this season the league version of this fixture was scheduled for a midday kick-off allowing for all kinds of doubles. Now okay it probably took 20-30 off of each the attendances on the North Berkshire Hop that day and as event organiser that was a shame, but there was no malice in it. As organiser sometimes you have to simply shrug your shoulders and make the best of it. And there are so many reasons to like Coventry United. Continue reading →