Category Archives: F

Good Tucker

25 Monday Nov 2024

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Wednesday 16th October 2024 ko 19:45

Wiltshire League Premier Division

FARINGDON TOWN 0

SHRIVENHAM FC 1 (J Hirst 15)

Harrison sent off 90+1 (serious foul play)

Att c250

Free Entry

Programme by donation to the Jack Badger fundraiser

Football does ebb and flow in all its guises, and perhaps more than most in Faringdon’s corner of West Oxfordshire. Some may know the club as the hosts of the annual Faringdon Memorial Thursday Cup others may remember their hosting of a game on the 2012 North Berkshire Groundhop. I certainly got to know the club well in the preamble to that event! Hop or no hop though, I was always going to be at Faringdon’s first game under lights.

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Blessed

11 Monday Nov 2024

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Saturday 5th October 2024 ko 15:00

Southern Counties East League Premier Division

FISHER FC 1 (Barrington 14)

FAVERSHAM TOWN 3 (Kwayie 43 90+6 Newman 75)

Att 423

Entry £8

Programme £2

It has to be said that over the years I’ve developed a soft spot for Fisher Athletic and when they folded in 2009; the phoenix club Fisher FC. There is no obvious reason for it, I first saw Athletic well after the loss of the Surrey Docks Stadium in Rotherhithe in 2004 during their stint sharing at Dulwich Hamlet, and even at Bacon’s College in pre-season in 2012 when I could still have a brief look at the old ground, now well and truly derelict.

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The Squirrel

30 Tuesday Jul 2024

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Saturday 15th June 2024 ko 16:00

Division 2 Norra Svealand

FoC FARSTA 0

IK FRANKE 4 (Jacinto 48 Abshir 83 Siljander 84 Rylander 90+1)

Jacinto penalty saved 54

Att 127 & a red squirrel at Farsta IP

Entry 100sek (roughly £7.47)

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £320 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

We’d left Boovallen in a hurry and with a little regret. The plan had been to head to nearby Saltsjöbaden IF for the final game of the day, the two fixtures had tessellated beautifully but as we’d all checked in to our flights the fixture got moved. Even the club couldn’t believe what had happened when Kim phoned them! So, Kim reset our compasses to the Stockholm’s southern suburbs to Farsta. We made kick-off easily enough but even then there was further regret.

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A Blast From The Past

22 Saturday Jun 2024

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Monday 6th May 2024 ko 19:00

Premier League 2 Play-offs Round of 16

FULHAM U21 0

NOTTINGHAM FOREST U21 2 (Osong 16 Konate 90+4)

Att 116 at Motspur Park

Entry & Team Sheet £3

After the soaking at Cuckfield we were in something of a quandary. We’d watched our choice of second game at Peckham Town quickly fall to the weather and ended up at a hideously overpriced Starbucks on the South Circular pondering our plans. It proved to be an easy choice, I may have done Motspur Park before but neither Chris Garner nor Robyn had, and Chris is a Fulham fan too! In fact there was only one small issue.

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Three Lions

02 Thursday Nov 2023

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Saturday 7th October 2023 ko 15:00

Southern Counties East Premier Division

FAVERSHAM TOWN 5 (Campbell 21 Payne 45 49p Miller 80 Gray 88)

HOLLANDS & BLAIR 2 (Grant 77 90)

Att 563

Entry £10

Programme £2

For me the journey from Rochester to Faversham represented far more than just distance, or even a one division increase in status. It all boiled down to perception, I was surprised to see either Faversham or Whitstable at this level, let alone both. I still see them both as Isthmian League clubs and that fact I knew would impact on how the clubs might approach hosting a groundhop game.

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Coast

13 Wednesday Sep 2023

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Monday 28th August 2023 ko 15:00

National League, Premier Division

AFC FYLDE 3 (Haughton 58p Omotayo 79 Davis 90+9)

Haughton penalty saved 58

ALTRINCHAM 3 (Linney 33 Angus 35 Conn-Clarke 87p)

Att 1,819

Entry £16 (home terrace)

Programme £3

Teamsheet FREE

Robyn and I were at a loose end. With the Welsh hop and its replacement in the Central Midlands Alliance cancelled we were in the unusual position of having August Bank Holiday sat at home in Oxford. So when the pieces didn’t fall into place, I simply dipped into that imaginary pot of grounds I wanted to visit.

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Low Flying Aircraft

05 Tuesday Sep 2023

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Tuesday 15th August 2023 ko 19:45

Wessex League Division One

FLEETLANDS 2 (Wrapson 37 38)

HAMWORTHY RECREATION 3 (Deem 12 Rosenwald 42 Cooper 68)

Att 72

Entry £6

Programme £2

When you’ve completed a league sometimes keeping it that way can be something of a chore. I’d completed the Wessex League in almost indecent haste once the groundhop project foundered, so the last couple of seasons I’d got mostly out of the habit of heading south down the A34. In fact Robyn and I stumbled across Fleetlands’ Lederle Lane home en route to another Gosport-based club – Solent Devils Ice Hockey!

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Featherly Hills

18 Thursday May 2023

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Saturday 1st April 2023 ko 15:00

Northern Counties East League- Division One

WAKEFIELD AFC 3 (Morrison 14 45p Mole 62)

ROSSINGTON MAIN 3 (Wilson 22 Kianga 43 Harrison 90)

Att 408

Entry £5 (but pay what you like for this game)

Programme £2

I’d very nearly left it too late; this iteration of football for Wakefield had announced they were leaving Featherstone Rovers RLFC’s Post Office Road, to “return” to Belle Vue, home to Wakefield Trinity RLFC. In footballing terms, they hadn’t been around for long, being formed in 2019 initially playing at the Dorothy Hyman Stadium, in Barnsley. They moved to Post Office Road for the start of the 20/21 season, but this was to be their final game in Featherstone, so Robyn and I made a beeline for it while we still could. But the history of Wakefield and the round ball goes back a lot further than 2019. Continue reading →

Foley

27 Monday Mar 2023

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Saturday 4th March 2023 ko 13:00

North-West Counties League Division One South

FOLEY MEIR 0 

MAINE ROAD 1 (Keyworth 68)

Livesey (gk) sent off 13 (foul & abusive)

Att 303

Entry £6

Programme £1

For Saturday’s second game we headed to Stoke-on-Trent, for what was, for me at least, the most surprising visit on the hop. I’d visited Whitcombe Road back in 2010 when the club were still just Foley FC for a Staffordshire County League game. The ground was just as basic as it gets, albeit with a wonderful vista of Stoke from behind the near goal. I just couldn’t imagine that the club could get the place fit for pyramid football. I am wrong on occasion…. just ask my wife Robyn! Continue reading →

Deer

03 Tuesday Jan 2023

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Saturday 5th November 2022 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Division One

FRILSHAM & YATTENDON 1 (Johnson 61)

STEVENTON 4 (D Burgess 27 33 McKenzie 80 Craft 90)

Att c10

Free Entry

Over the years since the last North Berkshire Hop I’ve made the effort to visit the clubs that for one reason or another the event didn’t get to visit. There was Cholsey whose ground wasn’t in use, and Grove, on their normal ground, but the game proved to be their last. With Frilsham & Yattendon, the reason for the hop not visiting, was that they weren’t in the league. That’s a source of regret to me, as what a wonderful ground it is.  Continue reading →