Category Archives: D

Our Former Self

06 Thursday Feb 2020

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Tuesday 12th November 2019 ko 19.45

West Midlands (Regional) League- Premier Division

DARLASTON TOWN (1874) FC 0

WOLVERHAMPTON CASUALS 0

K Miller sent off 49 (2nd Booking)

Att 110

Entry £5

Programme £1

Back in the day I used to use the M6 as a kind of a footballing acid test. I’d ask the question,

“If you drive along the M6 around Birmingham heading north after Spaghetti Junction which club do you think of?”

I suspect many would say Aston Villa and Walsall whose grounds are both clearly visible from the motorway/ traffic jam, but I reckoned any groundhopper worth his salt would have said Darlaston Town. Continue reading →

Peja

21 Saturday Dec 2019

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Saturday 13th October 2019 ko 10.00

Albanian Women’s Superliga

FC DAJTI 0

FC KINOSTUDIO 5 (Xhabafti 37 Lulaj 48 73p 83 Xhebrahami 69)

Att 46 at Kompleksi Kombetare, Kamez, Tirana

Free Entry

So where would you hold your stag weekend? I know precisely why we ended up in Tirana, and you can blame my best man Sim. When Robyn and I got engaged in Stockholm Sim and I discussed it over a beer. Originally the wedding was going to be in the summer so we looked at one of the Baltic states, but as soon as Robyn and I discovered that we could get more wedding for the same money if we held it in January we needed somewhere with winter football. I suggested Bratislava for stunning football, great beer and interesting history. Sim’s response changed everything.

“That’s far too sensible” he said “You can do better than that!”  Continue reading →

To our own Devizes

02 Monday Dec 2019

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Saturday 5th October 2019 ko 16.45

Western League Division One

DEVIZES TOWN 0

ASHTON & BACKWELL UNITED 1 (Jones 49)

Att 203

Entry £5

Programme £1

We got the chance to relax a little on the trip from Bradford, we may have moved from one Wiltshire club to another but there was enough time to gather our thoughts. The coach took the little right-hand turn into Nursteed Road, and there was a huge queue. Continue reading →

Fritillaries

13 Wednesday Nov 2019

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Saturday 14th September 2019 ko 16.30

Witney & District League- Division Two

DUCKLINGTON 2 (Duthie 33 90)

WOOTTON SPORTS 3 (Spencer 51 78 88)

Att 178

Entry & Programme £4

Ducklington Sports Ground is the kind of place you can drive right past without knowing its there. I should know I spent 3 years as a sales rep in the Witney area and drive along the road from the A40 to Standlake and never once spotted the place. To make things worse I used to visit my friend Matt who once lived in Ducklington and still managed not to spot the place! Continue reading →

The Cage

12 Monday Aug 2019

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Wednsday July 10th 2019 ko 19.30

Pre-Season Friendly

DUNSTABLE TOWN 1 (DaSilva 80)

AMPTHILL TOWN 1 (15)

Att c40

At the 3G pitch at Creasey Park

Entry by donation

I spent much of the journey trying to pinpoint exactly when I’d last visited Creasey Park. I know it was for a AFC Dunstable game (they’re joint tenants at Creasey Park) soon after their name change from Old Dunstabilians. That happened in 2004 so I reckon it was around 2005. Creasey Park was a very different place then… Continue reading →

Lucky 13

16 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Friday 7th June 2019 ko 20.45

European Qualifying Round- Group D – Matchday 10

DENMARK 1 (Højberg 75)

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1 (Duffy 85)

Att 34,610

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £285 included all entry fees, programmes, coach travel, 2 bridge tolls on the Øresund Bridge and 2 nights’ bed and breakfast at the Clarion Magasinet Hotel in Trelleborg.

Entry 350 DKK (approx’ £42.06)

Programme FREE

Even taking into account the vibrant history of the Swedish Hop the start of the 13th edition was a bizarre one. Four of us were at our hotel of the previous 3 days in the suburbs of Copenhagen awaiting the indefatigable Kim Hedwall couriering the Trelleborgs FF team coach en route from Kastrup airport to collect us. But how on earth was a proud Swede on a Swedish football team’s bus on a Swedish football tour in Denmark? Continue reading →

The Four Timer

25 Tuesday Jun 2019

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Saturday 11th May 2016 ko 18.00

North Berkshire Cup Final

DRAYTON 1 (Dennis 87p) 

SAXTON ROVERS 2 (Stanley 7 Parry 19)

Att 469 @ Abington United FC

Entry & Programme £4

I sat having a meal in the Boundary House with the rest of the NBFL’s committee before heading over the road to the Northcourt. As ever it was a convivial hour or so before the job in hand, making the final and most important game of the NBFL season run like clockwork. Continue reading →

Everything & Nothing

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

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Friday 29th March 2019 ko 20.00

East of Scotland League – Conference B

DUNIPACE 0

BONNYRIGG ROSE 4 (Murrell 6 Currie 60 83p Lough 88)

Att 380

Entry £6

Programme £1

Just like last year Robyn and I were sat having breakfast at the Wetherspoon’s at Beaconsfield Services. Our duties were exactly the same as for previous years’ Scottish Hops; meet Doug and the coach at Hillingdon Underground Station, then with Robyn couriering the coach I’d follow behind in my car to Birmingham International Rail Station to meet Chris Berezai. From there Dave Collins and Craig Dabbs would join us, and we’d aim to reach the first ground on the hop 90 minutes before the coach (not difficult with Doug’s mandatory stops) and use the time to make up the programme and ticket packs. Continue reading →

The Pocket Borough

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

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Tuesday 14th August 2018 ko 19.45

Wessex League Division One

DOWNTON 2 (Hooper 67 Prentice 78)

TOTTON & ELING 1 (Gain 58)

Att 78

Entry & Programme £5

There are no end of settlements called Downton, in fact there are at least two in the Wessex League’s footprint. This Downton is a pretty as a picture village in South Wiltshire, the nearest city is Salisbury and you pass by several military bases, to get here, Porton Down being probably the most well-known. Downton is also remembered as being the village that managed to elect an MP without the candidate knowing! Continue reading →

Re-Visitor

30 Thursday Aug 2018

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Monday 16th July 2018 ko 19.15

Surrey FA Meadowbank Launch Event/ Pre-season Friendly

CHELSEA U18 4 (Ballo 23 38 Wiggett 49 Clark 84)

OXFORD UNITED U18 0

Att 600

Entry FREE (by advance ticket)

Programme FREE

Teamsheet FREE

If the visit to Bath City’s Twerton Park was visiting one of the grounds you simply have to see before you die, then back in the day Dorking FC’s Meadowbank Ground was another on that list. Dorking were already struggling following relegation from the Isthmian League and when I visited in 2013 it was to be the club’s last season here. When the ground’s owners, Mole Valley District Council closed Meadowbank down on health and safety grounds, their exile at local rivals Dorking Wanderers’ Westhumble home was to be the death knell for the club. Continue reading →