Category Archives: H

Dream Team

27 Sunday Jun 2021

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Thursday 24th June ko 19:30

Thames Valley Premier League- Division 4

HARCHESTER HAWKS 1 (Rowing 77)

BRAYBROOKE FC 6 (Pearson 10 15 60 Gregory 25 65 Clough 40 )

Att c20

at Arborfield Green Leisure Centre

I’m not sure what drew me towards this one, perhaps it was no more than the proverbial groundhopper moth to the flame of a game. I don’t think I’d ever seen a game in the Thames Valley/ Reading League’s bottom division but there were a couple of questions I needed to ask. Continue reading →

The Dale Of Cheese

17 Thursday Jun 2021

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Saturday 12th June 2021 ko 14:00

Wensleydale League

HAWES UNITED 4 (Calvert 17 Richardson 33 43 Wallis 81)

SPENNITHORNE & HARMBY 1 (Crook 72)

Att c40 at Old Station Yard

In my logic, I’ve treated the FA’s relaxing of the rule of all club football having to end by the end of May as as a bonus. It’s also an excuse to visit the kind of places that in my heart of hearts I wouldn’t fancy as half as much in the depths of winter and the chance to explore the game right at grassroots- this was a new league for me!

And with last Saturday’s fine, sunny weather the only use I’d have found for a stand was to offer some shade! You can add to that thought a growing desire to add a little hinterland into what I’m doing.  In more usual times Robyn and I would have been on the annual Swedish Hop and that’s an event that works because it places everywhere we visit is always put into its local context. It could be by means of a tram museum, a tour of the local TV studios, a Viking fort, or more usually by a club official introducing themselves. But in Hawes that hinterland is definitely cheese and so we made a beeline for the creamery.

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The Somerset European Superleague

04 Tuesday May 2021

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Saturday 3rd May 2021 ko 15:00

Somerset County League Junior Supplementary Cup Group Stage

HUTTON FC 5 (Dearnley-Bright 44 47 63 Popperwell 78p N Blake 88)

NAILSEA UNITED 0

Att c25 at Springwood Gardens, Hutton, Weston-super-Mare

Free Entry

With Robyn visiting family in Bristol I’d long since made a mental note to simply head south in search of a game. The route out of the south of Bristol, heading towards Weston-super-Mare will always hold great significance for me. We got married in Blagdon, drank no end of Butcombe beer and Thatchers cider and Lee Hatherall our photographer is based in Weston! Perhaps it was inevitable I’d visit Hutton. Continue reading →

That Mad May

23 Tuesday Mar 2021

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Monday 7th May 2007 ko 11.30

Combined Counties League Division One

CB HOUNSLOW UNITED 0

WORCESTER PARK 3 (Kennedy 7p 88p Farley 45)

Att c40

Entry FREE

Programme £1

If “Silly Season” in 2007 was about anything, it was about the lower division of the Combined Counties. If you didn’t know the term is used to describe that time at the end of the season when unlit evening games are possible, usually with a 18.30 kick off time. Back then the majority of the Combined Counties Division One clubs had no floodlights, and after multiple postponements during a wet winter the league extended their season, and scheduled a series of evening, and early kick-offs.

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The Late Hamlet

02 Tuesday Feb 2021

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Friday 2nd February 2007 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One

HAVERHILL ROVERS 2 (Heller 51 Abbott 88)

ELY CITY 2 (Johnston 41 Warren 90)

Att c200

Entry £3.50

Programme £1

I must admit I hadn’t realised this was one of the Eastern Counties League’s regular Friday night fixtures until I started to put this together! Its odd how a game 14 years ago was a portent of things to come! But here the reason for being at Hamlet Croft was straightforward, the ground was due for demolition, so that probably had something to do with why there was a bumper crowd. Continue reading →

The Main Line

07 Wednesday Oct 2020

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Saturday 3rd October 2020 ko 15.00

Isthmian League South/East Division

HYTHE TOWN 0

PHOENIX SPORTS 4 (Ansah 53 Fitchett 57 Bryon 77 Chin 82)

Att 212

Entry £10

Programme £2

Now I’m sure one of two groundhoppers will see an article on Hythe Town and think, “Surely he’s been there before?” After all my friend Andy Short is media officer there, you may remember he was at Whitstable Town too, he’s also secretary at the Southern Counties East League (now that’s interesting!) so why my tardiness? It’s because I wanted to travel to see Hythe Town by train! Continue reading →

The Controversy

02 Friday Oct 2020

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Saturday 26th September 2020 ko 15.00

Gloucestershire County League

HARDWICKE 1 (Higgins 45)

PATCHWAY TOWN 1 (Poole 22og)

Att 42

Free Entry

No Programme

I suspect if you’re a groundhopper Hardwicke will mean one of two things to you. If you’re younger you’ll know the club as a village team in the Step 7 Gloucestershire County League. If , however you are a little older you’ll know them as the most controversial club ever to have taken part in a hop game. Continue reading →

Red, Gold & Green

01 Tuesday Sep 2020

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Saturday 22nd August 2020 ko 14.00

Friendly

HERSHAM FC 4 (O’Connor 28 Spencer 57 60 Long 86)
CLAYGATE ROYALS 2 (Heagney 48 Pitt 89)

Att c30 at Desborough Island, Walton-on-Thames

Free Entry

West of London there are no end of small islands in the River Thames, and given how easy it is to maintain privacy on any of them they do tend to be quite exclusive. Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour has a houseboat studio “Astoria” moored at Hampton and D’Oyly Carte Island, once home to Richard D’Oyly the original producer of the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, is close to my destination, Desborough Island. Continue reading →

Down On The Farm

24 Monday Aug 2020

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Saturday 15th August 2020 ko 13.00

Friendly

HALSE UNITED 2 (Ingram 58 86)

BURE PARK 0

Att c20  at Halse Grange Farm

In groundhopper speak all too often a football ground lacking a ground is sometimes written off by the less experienced as being “Just a field.” Of course the ground isn’t a field, its a pitch without much around it- and you can accept it or reject it on its merits. But Halse United actually do play on a farm and their pitch is, literally, a field! Continue reading →

Harry Hill

16 Tuesday Jun 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.

Sunday 27th August 2006 ko 11.00

Hellenic League- Premier Division

HARROW HILL 0

SLIMBRIDGE 1 (C Cole)

Att 268

Entry £4

Programme £1

As (hopefully) the UK slowly emerges from lockdown I’ve started to think about how football will restart. I don’t include the monstrosity that is the beautiful game played behind closed doors with cardboard cut-out crowds and piped in noise. I’ll leave that to the hellish future it deserves. One thing that is clear is that the bigger the potential crowd a league can generally attract the longer it’ll take to get the crowds back, so let’s extrapolate a little. Continue reading →