Category Archives: C

Hospitality

16 Monday Oct 2023

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Sunday 24th September 2023 ko 14:30

West Wales Premier League

CWM WANDERERS 1 (Bradford 69)

CLYDACH FC 4 (Thomas 28 73 C Jones 64 Islam 90)

Att 280

Entry £3

Programme £2

After the collective soaking we’d taken at Bryn Rovers we needed a little TLC. It wasn’t far to Cwm-twrch Isaf, around 5 miles, but I was happy to see a club official pointing out where to park the coach, and he took one look at me as a squelched towards the clubhouse and commiserated. The thought was appreciated, as I made for the final game of the hop.

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The Kansei League

05 Thursday Oct 2023

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Saturday 23rd September 2023 ko 14:00

West Wales Premier League

CALSONIC KANSEI SWISS VALLEY 1 (T Lewis 72og)

GARDEN VILLAGE 6 (C Rees 2 4 T Jones 39 Logan 58p 61)

Att 169

Entry £3

Programme £2

If ever a coach drove to a football team with a more intriguing name I’d like to know about it. We headed from Pontarddulais to the Swiss Valley, on the northern outskirts of Llanelli. The name evokes cuckoo clocks, snow-capped mountains and cheese, none of which seemed in evidence at the football ground. Mind you the pizzas must have had some cheese in there somewhere.

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The Premier

29 Friday Sep 2023

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Friday 22nd September 2023 ko 19:00

West Wales Premier League

CWMAMMAN UNITED 6 (T Smith 28 C Davies 59p Rees 61og Wickham 63 E Smith 67 77)

AFC GLAIS 3 (Gregory 12 Smith 35 Robb-Gregory 49)

Bowles sent off 73 (second booking)

Att 242

Entry £3

Programme £2

When the West Wales Premier League approached GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai to invite us to organise a hop for their league, I was more than a little intrigued. For a start I’m more than aware that the restructure of Welsh club football has rather passed this site by- for example I haven’t watched a single Tier 3 Ardal (Regional) League game so far! Then the pandemic got in the way of things, and to add to that a new league was created for the West of Wales.

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The Rail Traction Company

19 Tuesday Sep 2023

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Saturday 16th September 2023 ko 14:30

Aberystwyth & District League

CORRIS UNITED 4 (Vaughan 2 Kohler 42 Roberts 51 Jellett 78)

LLANILAR RESERVES 1 (Ashton 75)

Att 60

Entry & Programme by donation

I’ll admit to have been feeling jaded. I was more than aware that I should have been leading a group of 100 or so groundhoppers around 5 grounds in the Witney & District League. That didn’t happen due to us not being able to find a club willing to host in the Saturday morning slot. The irony therefore of getting up at 6:30am for this one was not lost on me! As my regular reader knows, I have a bucket list of places I’d like to visit that are a little unusual. Or putting it another way, if the fixture is the kind that pops up on an App when you’re near it, then it’s not on the list! More than anything else I wanted to head somewhere far away from football admin.

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Down On the Farm

03 Thursday Aug 2023

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Tuesday 18th July 2023 ko 19:45

Pre-season friendly

CORINTHIAN 5 (Glover 6 A Trialist 8 Billings 20 B Trialist 81 90)

GREENWAYS 1 (Lovell 75)

Att 50 at Pitch 2, Gay Dawn Farm, Longfield, Kent

Entry £5

Perhaps I’m not as observant as I thought. I’d seen Corinthian at Gay Dawn Farm 5 years ago, and completely failed to spot there was a second pitch there. My only excuse is that it was dark, and I didn’t see the schematic on the clubhouse wall. But then I spotted Peter Miles had found a game here, I just had to find another.

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Whisper

17 Saturday Jun 2023

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Monday 8th May 2023 ko 15:00

Midland League Division Two

CADBURY ATHLETIC 1 (Craine 66)

KENILWORTH SPORTING 1 (Franklin 12)

Att 140

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

It was Coronation Monday and there were no end of games I could have headed to that would have added to a new tick for me, although most were in the lower divisions of the Midland League. But there are grounds that frankly any football fan ought to visit, one is Cadbury Athletic, and my wife Robyn hadn’t been there. It really was an easy decision, wasn’t it? Continue reading →

Rest

06 Tuesday Jun 2023

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Tuesday 11th April 2023 ko 18:30

Banbury, District and Lord Jersey League- Premier Division

CHESTERTON 0

GRAVEN HILL 5 (Watts 45 Quarterman 48 Smith 52 Munday 60 Edwards 78)

Att 30

Free Entry

Groundhoppers do tend to love that last part of the football season when the clocks of gone forward, and the clubs with no floodlights can play midweek fixtures. It tends to evoke thoughts of warm evenings, watching games in a t-shirt and shorts as the sun slowly sets. Well, in theory at least! Continue reading →

Personal

29 Monday May 2023

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Sunday 9th April 2023

11:00 Hellenic League Division Two East

WATLINGTON TOWN 0

NEWBURY 10 (Frank 24 35 Allen 45 84 90  Armstrong 55 82 90p Goddard 59 Pattern 87)

Att 271

Entry & Programme £4

14:00 Hellenic League Division One

ABINGDON UNITED 3 (Mills 27 Bartlett 30 Downie 82)

SHORTWOOD UNITED 1 (Barrett 77)

Att 358

Entry £5

Programme £2

15:45 Hellenic League Division One

CLANFIELD 85 3 (Dickinson 46 Seacole 49 Fullarton 76)

MALMESBURY VICTORIA 1 (Patey 55)

Att 279

Entry £6

Programme £2

You could say it was personal. Easter Sunday on the Hellenic Hop may have been revisits to grounds I’d visited many times, but I had a personal connection to every host club. I always want our host clubs to do well but never more than on this day. Continue reading →

Flypast

19 Friday May 2023

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Tuesday 3rd April 2023 ko 18:30

Spartan South Midlands League Division Two

AFC CADDINGTON 1 (Moore 6)

SARRATT 2 (Ormsby 31 Vercesi 77)

Att 48

Free Entry

I know I’ve said it before but when it comes to groundhopping unlike the majority, I’m not target driven. Many will concentrate on a league or level, but I tend to see a set of fixtures a week or two in advance and either I get an invite, or someone suggests somewhere, or I just go where my nose takes me. Continue reading →

Colts

22 Wednesday Feb 2023

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Saturday 7th January 2023 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Division 3

KINGSTON COLTS 2 (G Bailey 57 Sam Bailey 83)

WANTAGE TOWN A 2 (Dance 69 71)

Att c30 at Abingdon Road, Kingston Bagpuize

Free Entry

You may remember Robyn and I visiting the Kingston Colts before. Back in 2019 we saw them at their temporary ground at Dalton Barracks, near Abingdon. That was 6 miles from home at Kingston Bagpuize, the exile due to their pavilion back home not being ready. The distance proved to be their undoing as they dropped out of league soon after, with the club retreating to exclusively youth football.

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