Category Archives: E

Life In Black & White

02 Thursday Sep 2021

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Saturday 14th August 2021 ko 15:00

Scottish League 2

ELGIN CITY 3 (Hester 17 22 46)

ALBION ROVERS 0

Att 488 at Borough Briggs

Entry (Main Stand) £14

Programme- Online

Teamsheet- Free with raffle ticket

Badge £3

The car was packed to the gunnels ready for the long drive south. I stopped for a final coffee as we were about to leave Inverness, and roughly half the Fort William FC side followed me in. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I could have so easily been watching them play. With the pitch at Claggan Park in such a state that it can’t be used this season Fort are playing all their home games away and were en route to a home defeat at Forres Mechanics. Robyn and I ended up following them along the A96 but carried on to Elgin, a destination that for me did have some significance. Continue reading →

Henry

04 Friday Jun 2021

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Tuesday 1st June ko 19:00*

Hertford & District League Centenary Trophy Quarter Final

KULTURE KLUB ATHLETIC 3 (35, 83p 85)

ALLENBURYS SPORTS 3 (J Armes 16 Barton 35 Colbourne 90)

Att c35 at Henry Barrass Stadium, Edmonton, London

Free Entry

It had been an eventful trip to North London. I knew I was likely to be tight for time, and the M25 behaved as the M25 usually does at rush hour- at one point I watched the police shut down the road, thankfully from my rear view mirror! I suspected the game might not kick-off right on time, grassroots football does tend to involve a little time slippage! The game kicked off roughly 15 minutes late, handy at the time for me, but all there were to have mixed feelings about that slippage later on. Continue reading →

The Owls Revisited

26 Monday Apr 2021

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Tuesday 20th April 2021 ko 18.30

North Berkshire League Division One
EAST HENDRED 4 (Parrott 5p 9p L Eltham 59 B Eltham 82)

HAGBOURNE UNITED 3 (Smith 25secs 67 MacDonald 79)

Att 26 at Mill Lane, East Hendred

Free Entry

My attendance here was due to one thing really, Hendred chairman Steve Mulford invited me! Most will remember the club from their beautifully presented game on the 2015 North Berkshire League hop, the club managing to produce of all things, an Owl display and a quite amazing array of food and drink. It is a matter of regret that I hadn’t been back since.

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Methil No More

30 Tuesday Jun 2020

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Saturday 25th July 2009 ko 15.00

Scottish Challenge Cup 1st Round

EAST FIFE 0

FORFAR ATHLETIC 2 (M Fotheringham 28 K Fotheringham 78)

Att 446

Entry £13

Programme £1.50

“Do we not love her?
Do we not say we love her?
Do we have to roam the world
To prove how much it hurts?
Bathgate no more
Linwood no more
Methil no more
Irvine no more!”

“Letter from America” Reid/Reid

I do think Methil gets a bad name. The Proclaimers’ song that dovetails the Highland clearances with de-industrialisation in the 1980’s cites the Fife town as an example of deprivation. Heck, even the football club doesn’t bear the town’s name! Even Jim Kidd, the most lyrical of Scottish groundhopppers described New Bayview as thus,

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Church Going

08 Friday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Friday 24th April 2009 ko 19.30

Welsh League Division Two

ELY RANGERS 1 (Penikett 53)

U.W.I.C. 0

Att 88

Entry £3

Programme 50p

The more senior hoppers may look at this game and wonder with my GroundhopUK connections why I wasn’t at the visit here that proceeded the “Welsh Hop-Up” a year earlier? The answer was straightforward- I was in Newport Gwent Hospital’s maternity unit! I’d even travelled down for the game with the ex-wife, but half way down we’d got word that Bethan, our friend from Magor had given birth. Continue reading →

Claremont

13 Thursday Feb 2020

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Tuesday 26th November 2019 ko 19.45

Middlesex Senior Cup 2nd Round

HENDON 1 (Mitchell 58)

WINGATE & FINCHLEY 3 ( Ruff 17p Ochineng 32 Fleming 68)

Att 110

Entry £6

Programmes sold out

Teamsheet 50p

When Hendon left their crumbling, yet atmospheric home of Claremont Road in 2008 few could have envisioned their search for a new home would lead them to a place the width of Silver Jubilee Park from Hendon, even if the stadium itself is on the western edge of the park, and Hendon itself on the eastern! Continue reading →

Do. Or do not. There is no try.

02 Wednesday Oct 2019

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Sunday 25th August 2019 ko 11.00

Bridgend & District Sunday League – Premier Division

EWENNY RANGERS 3 (Paget 17 Cirotto 43 Taylor 78)

GARTH VADER 4 (Dickinson 40 Bellamy 60og Rogers 73 88)

Att 88

Entry FREE

Programme & Donation £2

With all due to respect to the good folk of the Bridgend & District Sunday League, the intention never was to pay them a visit, even if we do seem to be visited the football pitches of Bridgend, one at a time, once a year! When the Gwent Premier League finally gave Chris Berezai the finalised fixtures for the Welsh Hop we were scheduled to watch Ynysddu play Pilcs at Nine Mile Point. There was unfortunately an issue with that. Continue reading →

Esh, winning

28 Thursday Feb 2019

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Saturday 23rd February 2019 ko 15.00

Northern League Division 2

ESH WINNING 5 (Donaldson 4 Arnott 32 Marley 35 63 Mole 67)

EASINGTON COLLIERY 2 (Pounder 14 71)

Att 64

Entry £5

Programme £1

It had been an odd way to visit. I’d dropped off the other 3 members of my party at West Auckland Working Men’s Club, for some Thomas Lipton Trophy history before they headed to West’s FA Vase game. I’d met the Northern League committee there, and it was lovely to catch up with Mike Amos, the inventor of the organised groundhop, and Harvey Harris the organiser of the league’s re-union hops a couple of years ago. The sense of anticipation there was obvious, so did seem a little counter-intuitive as I headed north, further into the North Pennines in County Durham. There was method in my madness though. Continue reading →

Head Above Water

23 Monday Apr 2018

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Friday 30th March 2018 ko 15.00

South West Peninsula League Division One East

HONITON TOWN 0

ILFRACOMBE TOWN 1 (Montague 55)

Att 227 at Exwick Villa FC

Hop Ticket £25 (no programmes included)

Entry £3

Programme £1

On any organised hop there’s always a “Highlight” game, it’s the game that as organiser you know that your patrons will look at the hop’s fixtures, and think “That’s the one I really want.” It doesn’t have to be the best appointed ground, just the one that grabs people’s attention, and for this hop it was Honiton’s Mountbatten Park, if for no other reason than it’s Honiton’s first season in the Peninsula League and so the fewest number of hoppers would have visited before. Continue reading →

Miracle on Addison Road

04 Sunday Feb 2018

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Tuesday 30th January 2018 ko 19.45

Oxfordshire Senior Cup Quarter Final

EASINGTON SPORTS 1 (Hill 11)

BANBURY UNITED 2 (Johnson 19 Wise 44)

Att 305 (Ground Record)

Entry & Programme £5

I spent 7 happy (well the first 6) years living in Banbury, and me being me I saw a fair amount of time at both Easington Sports, and at Banbury United’s Spencer Stadium. The latter is still my favourite ground in Oxfordshire. I don’t think anyone would dispute that Easington are the town’s second club but what has happened at Addison Road has been little short of miraculous.  Continue reading →