Category Archives: F

Southbound Again

23 Wednesday Jan 2019

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Tuesday 1st January 2019 ko 15.00

Isthmian League Premier Division

FOLKESTONE INVICTA 1 (ter Horst 9)

MARGATE 0

Att 629

Entry £11

Programme £1.50

Remember my assertion that every hopper has their own point of pain? Or putting it another way the ground that despite their best attempts remains stubbornly unticked? For years mine was the most northerly senior club in the UK, Wick Academy that took 3 cars, 2 hotels and 3 visits to see a game there. But another club, almost as far south as you can get from Wick took nearly as much pain to visit there. Here’s the story of Folkestone Invicta and I.  Continue reading →

The Last Resort

18 Monday Dec 2017

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Saturday 17th December 2017 ko 14.00

Oxford City FA League

FLORENCE PARK 2 (Simpson 20p Foley 79)

CHEQUERS 4 (Constant 13 Ventriglia 14 Sherman 33 Thomas 90)

Att c25

Entry FREE

I do like a game in an area’s league of last resort; a league that’s at the bottom of the pecking order in its footprint. In Oxford city that’s the single division OCFA League, nominally a feeder the Oxon Senior League. 4 years ago it was struggling, down to just 5 teams, but a new committee and a lot of hard work have seen something of a renaissance in its fortunes.  Continue reading →

Spectacular

28 Tuesday Nov 2017

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Saturday 18th November 2017 kop 13.30

Gwent Central League-Langdon Cup 2nd Round

FORGESIDE 1 (Tidball 4)

CLYDACH WASPS RESERVES 0 

Att 10

Entry FREE

I’d had a lousy week, and all of my plans for the weekend had crumbled into dust. I really couldn’t raise the enthusiam to head anywhere, and I’ve got Robyn to thank for this trip. She suggested I drop her at her Mum’s in Bristol then head off to “Something Welsh, you usually find something amazing there.” At that point, the penny dropped. Continue reading →

Athletic On The Road

24 Monday Apr 2017

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Saturday 8th April 2017 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division 3

TREHARRIS ATHLETIC WESTERN 1 (Mitchell 55) Mitchell missed penalty 86

TREFELIN B.G.C. 1 (Latham 23) Monks-Landeg sent off 65 (dangerous play)

Att c25 at Welfare Ground, Fochriw

Entry £3

Programme £1

In the lexicon of great South Wales non-league grounds three places stand out. There’s Blaenrhondda, Garw and until recently Treharris Athletic Western’s Athletic Ground home. Those in the know knew it was on borrowed time, if for no other reason than the pitch being too small for Welsh League requirements, but the club’s abrupt departure earlier this year took many by surprise. Continue reading →

An F Please Bob

05 Thursday Jan 2017

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Friday 30th December 2016 ko 19.46

Hellenic League Premier Division

FLACKWELL HEATH 7 (Rapley 3 37 71p Bayliss 33 Thompson-Wheeler 55 Blount 60 72)

HENLEY TOWN 1 (Gardner 12) Griffiths sent off 72 (2nd booking)

Att 98

Entry £6

Programme £1

It had been years since my last visit to Wilks Park, in fact I think the last visit was during a Hellenic Hop game vs Oxford City Nomads. The league had spent our entire stint on its patch telling everyone that the Nomads weren’t Oxford City’s reserves, but City manager Mike Ford was at the game so a hopper sidled over and asked him. “These guys?” he replied, “Well basically they’re our reserves!” You can fool some of the people… Continue reading →

Ghost Train

04 Wednesday Jan 2017

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Wednesday 28th December 2016 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Premier Division

FAKENHAM TOWN 3 (Glover 21 Cary 24 Jarvis 52)

KIRKLEY & PAKEFIELD 4 (Eagleton 42 King 51 Lopez 66p Stone 79)

Att 45

Entry £5

Programme £1

It has to be said that the Norfolk town does have an intriguing nickname, there can’t be many, if any places who answer to, “The Ghosts!” The name references a poem by Robert Bloomfield, “The Fakenham Ghost,” but this was no ordinary apparition, it was the ghost of a donkey! Talk about “Drop the dead donkey!” Continue reading →

Archie

13 Thursday Oct 2016

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Saturday 24th September 2016 ko 15.00

EFL Championship

FULHAM 0 McDonald sent off 80 (serious foul play)

BRISTOL CITY 4 (Abraham 19 Freeman 60 Reid 68 Flint 83)

Att 20,585

Entry (Putney End- away fans) £25

Programme £3.50

Few football grounds come with a greater sense of anticipation than Craven Cottage. From when you alight the District Line at Putney Bridge and trace the towpath of the Thames through frankly well-to-do parkland you expect something special at its end and the home of Fulham FC doesn’t let you down. Continue reading →

Happy Endings?

10 Monday Oct 2016

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Tuesday 20th September 2016 ko 19.45

Southern Counties East League- Premier Division

FISHER FC 0

CRAY VALLEY PAPER MILLS 3 (Jeffrey 43 Gayle 88 Bremner 90)

Att 189

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

In non-league there are all too few happy endings, so when the old Fisher Athletic lost the Surrey Quays Stadium in 2004 you wondered how long the club could last exiled 5 miles away at Dulwich Hamlet. The answer turned out to be 5 years, but their eventual demise proved to be more about financial wrongdoing than anything else. A fan owned club was quickly established to replace the old club and continued to play at Champion Hill but a return to Rotherhithe looked a distant dream. Continue reading →

The Chocolate Quarter

29 Thursday Sep 2016

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Tuesday 6th September 2016 ko 19.30

Somerset County League- Premier Division

FRY CLUB 0

WELLS CITY RESERVES 1 (Andrews 40)

Att 48

Entry & Programme £2

At the end of the season before last many hoppers made a beeline for Fry Club as their ground was due to be demolished, with the club moving around 200 yards away. The old Somerdale was quite a ground with the “Cadbury’s” logo in the background, but as we all left we saw the new ground in progress and thought we’d seen the start of a happy ending, so I headed back expecting to find the club happily ensconced in their new ground. Of course life couldn’t be that straightforward could it? Continue reading →

The Best Of Times

24 Tuesday May 2016

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Sunday 8th May 2016 ko 17.30

5 Liga Bucuresti

FRATIA BUCURESTI 2 (Phanzu 24 Sebanescu 85)

PROGRESSUL SPARTAC 1944 0

Att 73

I remember when hop organiser Andrei Otineanu first contacted me to ask advice on which stadia ought to be featured on the inaugural Bucharest Groundhop. I offered just one tip,

“Andrei,” I said, “Put on whoever you like, but you have to feature Fratia!”  

Continue reading →