Category Archives: E

Run For Home

07 Sunday Aug 2016

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Saturday 31st July 2016 ko 13.30

Peterborough & District League- Division 3

EYE UNITED 3 (Law 31 Joyce 81 90)

FC PETERBOROUGH 0

Att 196

Entry £4

Programme £1

Chicken/ Veggie curry £3

We knew we’d lose a few hoppers after the Crowland game, Wisbech St Mary’s first ever game in the Eastern Counties League was always going to be an attraction. In fact I was slightly relieved when I spotted that the opposition there was to be AFC Sudbury’s reserves. Many hoppers won’t watch a game involving a reserve side, so that league’s decision to schedule the match that way was, I’m sure unwittingly, doing us a favour! But whatever the whys and wherefores due east, I felt we had a good pair of games to offer, and Eye was intriguing. Continue reading →

Strive

20 Sunday Mar 2016

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Sunday 13th March 2016 ko 12.00

Lowland League

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY 3 (Evans 7 89 Guthrie 14)

SELKIRK 2 (King 19 O’Connor 86)

Att 294

Entry £5

Programme £2

One thing to appreciate about the hop hotel in East Kilbride is that after 2 years they’d learned to cope with two coachloads of hoppers. At breakfast the plates were piled high, as we ate in anticipation of a long trip south after this game. Soon enough, it was time to head east back to Edinburgh and with all due respect to our hosts, probably the least anticipated venue on the hop. Of course, as ever, I’d got it all completely wrong! Continue reading →

Regain

17 Thursday Mar 2016

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Saturday 12th March 2016 ko 20.00

Lowland League

EDINBURGH CITY 1 (Paterson 68)

EAST KILBRIDE 1 (Hastings 24)

Att 418

Entry £5

Programme £2

Of the six grounds on this years Lowland League Hop, this one was the one I was looking forward to the most. That sense was heightened when we travelled the short distance from Ainslie Park, and as the sun set, and we travelled slowly along the A1 London Road, the towering floodlights seemed to beckon us in. The sense of history seeped from the concrete buttresses too…. Continue reading →

Steelmen

25 Thursday Feb 2016

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Tuesday 23rd February 2016 ko 19.30

Gwent County League Division 2

FC TREDEGAR 1 (Monk 35)

CLYDACH WASPS 1 (Williams 45)

Att 35 at Eugene Cross Park, Ebbw Vale

Entry FREE

No Programme

In Ebbw Vale there are 2 kings, one is steel, fired by the South Wales coal industry, and the other is Rugby Union. Oddly, both are represented in the town’s stadium, Eugene Cross Park, but this ground’s connection with Association Rules is a little more tenuous. Continue reading →

Meatballs or Kebabs?

01 Thursday Oct 2015

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Saturday 26th September 2015 ko 17.00

4 Liga Bucuresti

CS ELECTRICA 5 (Dumimica 24 64 Gata 53 86 90)

VK SOCCER 0 M. Constantin sent off (2nd booking) 75

Att 37

We travelled by metro south to Piata Sudului and from there should have caught a bus to the Stadionul Rocar. The trouble was that in the mad rush the day before to get to Buftea we’d neglected to buy passes for Bucharest’s bus, trolley, and tram network. The irony of that omission was yet to be revealed to us though… Continue reading →

Real Ales, Real Owls, Real Football

21 Monday Sep 2015

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Saturday 19th September 2015 ko 16.30

North Berkshire League Division One/ James Rennie Memorial Trophy

EAST HENDRED AFC 1 (Rowe 48)

LONG WITTENHAM ATHLETIC 1 (Cheong 24)

Att 204

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

“They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
    Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
    They danced by the light of the moon,
          The moon,
          The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.”

Except from “The Owl and the Pussycat” by Edward Lear

For someone who had only ever seen one game previously at Mill Lane, I seem to have visited this place a lot! The most abiding memory is the the series of meetings I attended in 2010 to get the North Berkshire Hop up and running. I met a third of the clubs across three meetings, and one of those was here. I remember one comment especially,  Continue reading →

You are kidding…..!!

11 Thursday Jun 2015

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Wednesday 3rd June 2015 ko 19.30

Division 2 Södra Svealand

EKERÖ I.F. 2 (Ahlund 21 48p)

KONYASPOR K.I.F. 1 (Stojanovic 87)

Att 45

Entry & Programme 40sek (c£3.13)

For the independent traveller landing at Stockholm Arlanda airport the route is straightforward. Aim to the Pressbyrån in the SkyCity part of the complex and buy a SL access card for 20 sek then load up multiple days of credit for use on the capital’s trains, buses, trams, and metro. 24 hours for 115sek is a real bargain, but I do wonder whether it gets used to its full potential. Continue reading →

Don’t Mention…

16 Thursday Apr 2015

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Friday 10th April 2015 ko 19.30

North Berkshire League- War Memorial Cup Final

EAST HENDRED 1 (Mason 35og)

BURGHCLERE 2 (Gannon 22 Smallridge 32)

Att 267 at Alfredian Park, Wantage (Wantage Town FC)

Entry & Programme £3

I’m tempted to start with this one with a similar line to the one I used when I attended the 2012 final here, in fact lets do just that, Continue reading →

See Emley Play

10 Friday Apr 2015

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Saturday 4th April 2015 ko 10.30

Northern Counties East League-Division One

AFC EMLEY 0 Jerome sent off (dangerous play) 57 Flynn missed penalty 90

HEMSWORTH MINERS WELFARE 3 (Connolly 45 Blair 51 Guest 60)

Att 463

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

My regular reader will now be aware that the first thing I do on any day of any hop I’m organising is to dash to the nearest window to check on the weather. Except on this occasion I checked for snow, yes that’s right snow! Two years ago Emley were due to be the first game on the Easter Hop, but 6 feet of drifting snow put paid to that idea, and we at GroundhopUK were grateful to Atherton Colleries for taking on the game. The postponement came in no small part to Emley’s altitude so it was fitting that as a coach party we paid a visit to the Emley Moor transmission tower. Its 330 metres tall, weighes 11,200 tonnes, is taller than the Eiffel Tower, and is Britain’s tallest free-standing structure. Continue reading →

Sea Change

31 Tuesday Mar 2015

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Friday 27th March 2015 ko 19.30

Isle of Wight DFA Senior (Gold) Cup Quarter-Final

EAST COWES VICTORIA AFC 2 (Gregory 59 Craig 90) Thompson sent off 78 (2nd booking)

EAST COWES SPORTS 2 (Tyler 11 Robjoint 76)

AET East Cowes Sports won 6-5 on penalties

Att 82

Entry £3

Programme 50p

It’s probably now common knowledge that we tried to get a Wessex League groundhop up and running, but a few weeks ago I had to end the project. While there was support from many quarters a final meeting in Totton convinced me that there wasn’t enough enthusiasm where it mattered to make it work. A real shame, as many people put a lot of effort into the project, and I was very taken by the carload of officials from the 3 Wessex League clubs Newport (IW), Cowes Sports, and East Cowes Vics who took the time and expense to take the ferry over to hear what I had to say. When it was all over I felt rather bruised by the encounter, so was heartened when several clubs contacted me to commiserate and invite me to their grounds.

Continue reading →