Category Archives: H

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 →

Just Idag Ar Jag Stark

28 Thursday 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.

Saturday 18th June 2011 ko 16.00
Superettan

HAMMARBY IF 1 (Ayranci 11)

IFK VÄRNAMO 0

Att 7,478 at Söderstadion, Stockholm

Entry 145sek

Programme 20sek

1 Swedish Krona is roughly 85p

The standing joke here was that this was the highest attendance ever to attend as hop game, as this was the 3rd game of a day that had started with my flag waving exploits at Åkersberga. The attendance was of course exceeded when the 2019 Swedish Hop visited Denmark’s (!) Parken Stadium which proves nothing else than any hop organiser should measure their success on how many extra people the event attracts, rather than on the absolute attendance figure.

And for the record Swedish Hop organiser Kim Hedwall saw it the same way- albeit with a twinkle in his eye!

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Hayes

18 Monday 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.

Tuesday 30th September 2008 ko 19.45

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round Replay

HAYES & YEADING UNITED 5 (Hendry 16 36 Ruby 28 Knight 99 James 119)

STAINES TOWN 3 (Butler 20 73 Onochie 73)

Att 348 at Church Road

Entry £10  +£1 stand transfer

Programme £2

When Yeading FC and Hayes FC merged in 2007 you could easily say that they picked the better ground to give up. The new club played temporarily at Hayes’ Church Road, while Yeading’s Warren was to be redeveloped to be a permanent home for the new club. Once the work was complete, the idea was to move back to the Warren and sell Church Road for housing. Continue reading →

The Sportcentre

04 Monday 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.

Saturday 1st July 2006 ko 14.00
Pre-Season Friendly

HARLOW TOWN 0

LINFIELD 2 (McAreavey 42 Thompson 56 )

Att c500

Entry £7

Programme £2

I’ve never minded pre-season friendlies, and sometimes the fixture Gods do smile on me. I was due to collect my parents from Gatwick Airport in the evening and wanted somewhere suitable to watch the England vs Portugal World Cup Quarter Final on TV. The initial plan was to get to the airport early and watch the game but then Harlow Town rather came to the rescue.

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