18 Monday Nov 2019
Posted in H
Tuesday 17th September 2019 ko 19.45
Isthmian League- Premier Division
HORSHAM 2 (Harris 3 Smith 27)
WINGATE & FINCHLEY 1 (Kennedy 70)
Att 412
Entry £11
Programme £2
A new home for Horsham at Hop Oast has been one of this season’s good news stories. So much so that not only was my journey round the M25 straightforward, but I even had time to try to remember when it was I’d visited their former home at Queen Street? Continue reading
05 Tuesday Nov 2019
Friday 13th September 2019 ko 19.30
Witney & District League- Division Two
HOOK NORTON 5 (Street 11 Ingham 28 Babbage 34 Hemmings 37 Mair 65)
EYNSHAM SSC 0
Att 142
Entry & Programme £4
When the North Berkshire League Hop finished two years ago, I was in no doubt where I wanted to head next. Other than wanting to take the hop to Watlington Town the one remaining North Berks club that hadn’t hosted (but were willing and able to) it had been clear for many years that the North Berks slot was the Witney & District League’s to turn down. Continue reading
02 Friday Aug 2019
Tags
Football, Holmeja, Kim Hedwall, Malmo, Non League, Onslunda, Sweden, Swedish hop, Trelleborg
Sunday 9th June 2019 ko 15.00
Division 7 Södra Skåne
HOLMEJA IS 1 (Rosefors 8)
ONSLUNDA IF (Orfawi 36p) L Axelsson sent off (2nd Booking)
Att 69
The Swedish Hop’s cost of £285 included all entry fees, programmes, coach travel, 2 bridge tolls on the Øresund Bridge and 2 nights’ bed and breakfast at the Clarion Magasinet Hotel in Trelleborg.
From Lilla Beddinge the coach headed north, which seemed a little counter-intuitive for a “South” division. Such I suppose are the vagaries of life in the bottom division in Skåne. The irony was despite this game being the last on the 13th annual Swedish Hop, we were close to the wrong airport, Holmeja is close to Malmö airport but the party were all destined to depart from Kastrup in Copenhagen. Continue reading
22 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in H
Tags
ÅKARPS, groundhopping, Hollviken, Kim Hedwall, Non League, Skåne, Stora Hammars Mölla, Sweden, Swedish hop
Saturday 8th June 2019 ko 14.00
Division 4 Sydvästra Skåne
BK HÖLLVIKEN 2 (Larsson 11 Granqvist 87)
ÅKARPS IF 2 (Svensson 39p Åstland 74) Nilsson sent off (violent conduct) 90
Att 130
The Swedish Hop’s cost of £285 included all entry fees, programmes, coach travel, 2 bridge tolls on the Øresund Bridge and 2 nights’ bed and breakfast at the Clarion Magasinet Hotel in Trelleborg.
After the morning of delightful surprises at Gislöv the coach by-passed Trelleborg and head due west tracing the Øresund coast out towards its confluence with the Baltic sea. Now if you look the town up on Wikipedia it’ll tell you its part of Vellinge Kommun, but I’m bound to say we saw no water-towers! Continue reading
05 Friday Jul 2019
Posted in H
Tags
final, Football, groundhopping, Hamilton Academical, Hamilton Accies, Junior Cup, New Douglas Park, Non League, Scotland, Scottish Junior Cup
Sunday 2nd June 2019 ko 16.10
Scottish Junior Cup Final
AUCHINLECK TALBOT 2 (McCracken 3 Samson 37)
LARGS THISTLE 0
Att 4,639 (1,950 Largs, 2,471 Talbot, Remainder- Hospitality)
At New Douglas Park, Hamilton Academical
Entry £10
Programme £3
Picture the scene, I’m stood at the corner of the two permanent stands at Hamilton Accies. In front of me are two lines of supporters both wearing predominantly amber and black, to my left the Largs fans and to my right the Auchinleck Talbot fans. Which team should I lend my support to for the afternoon? The problem was that I had a foot in three camps, if such a thing is possible? Continue reading
04 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in H
Tags
Barcelona, Catalonia, Catalunya, Estadi Municipal, Football, groundhopping, L'Hospitalet, Spain, Tercera, Terrassa
Sunday 23th January 2019 ko 12.00
Tercera Divisio Grup 5
C.E. L’HOSPITALET 1 (Rodri 24p)
TERRASSA FC 1 (Arranz 61) Yaya sent off 78 (2nd bk)
Att c400
Entry €10
Teamsheet FREE
Maybe its the groundhopper’s OCD, but there is something rather satisfying about riding the train all the way to end of the line. Here it was Barcelona’s metro, and the red line’s terminus of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat in the south-west of the city. On the face of it it was an odd place to have a terminus, in the middle of a car park, but the hospital is a major one, and the the football ground beyond has it’s own story to tell. Continue reading
09 Wednesday Jan 2019
Posted in H
Tags
Beaconsfield Town, Earlsmead, England, Football, groundhopping, Harrow Borough, isthmian league, London, Non League, Southern League Premier Division South
Tuesday 18th December 2018 ko 19.45
Southern League- Premier Division South
HARROW BOROUGH 2 (Kearney 11 87)
BEACONSFIELD TOWN 1 (Morgan 4)
Att 127
Entry £10
Programme £2
In the great unwritten book of groundhopping tactics, the idea of using 3G pitches as insurance against bad weather is fairly well entrenched. It seems, unfortunately, to have replaced the rule of having a knowledge of well-draining pitches for those times. I was navigating my way around a rain-lashed M25, when I got notification that my intended destination- Sittingbourne, was postponed. It was time to consider my options, and simply going home wasn’t one of them! Continue reading
27 Thursday Dec 2018
Posted in H
Tags
England, Felixstowe and Walton, Football, groundhopping, Harleston Town, Leisure Centre, Non League, Recreation Ground
Saturday 24th November 2018 ko 13.30
Eastern Counties League- Division One North
HARLESTON TOWN 4 (Roberts 3 Stone 21 Imrie 69 Delaney 88)
FELIXSTOWE & WALTON UNITED RESERVES 2 (Lee 27 Hillyard 27)
Att c100
Entry & Programme £5
We turned right in to Harleston’s leisure centre car park from Wilderness Lane, and spotted two sets of players warming up on an unrailed pitch. Our collective hearts sank a little, I do like going back to basics every so often, try Headington Butchers for example, but I couldn’t even see a set of goals! Harleston are new to Step 6 for this season having won the Anglian Combination. With the Eastern Counties League expanding into 3 divisions for this year new clubs have been given 3 years to bring their grounds up to standard, but this looked extreme!
08 Thursday Nov 2018
Posted in H
Tags
Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Hallen, Hallen Centre, Non League, Shepton Mallet, Western League
Saturday 6th October 2018 ko 17.00
Western League Premier Division
HALLEN 0
SHEPTON MALLET 3 (Willmott 45 Pollard 59 Morgan 77)
Att 218
Entry £6
Programme £1
Given one or two groundhoppers’ predisposition for getting their geography in a twist I ought to make it clear that this in the Hallen, which is the other side of the M5 from Bristol and not the club playing at the World’s oldest football ground- that’s Hallam! And while we were never ever going to visit the Hallen Centre on the Northern Counties East Hop, we could have easily have visited back in the day on the Hellenic Hop, the club are based in, and affiliated to the Gloucestershire FA, and it took until 2000 to prise themselves away and into the more logical Western League. That isn’t the limit of the club’s adventures though! Continue reading
26 Wednesday Sep 2018
Tags
Arnall Drive, Bristol, Football, Gloucestershire County League, groundhopping, Hardwicke, Henbury, Non League
Saturday 4th August 2018 ko 15.00
Gloucestershire County League
HENBURY 1 (Cox 11)
HARDWICKE 1 (Smith 79) Tracey penalty saved 78
Att c30
Entry FREE
Programme £1
I’m not sure why, but every time I drop Robyn off at Ashton Gate and I drive under the Clifton Suspension Bridge on the A4, I think I’m heading west. In fact I’m heading more northerly than west, especially when you turn right just past Bristol Manor Farm, and you soon end up in Bristol’s northern suburbs. As Robyn would put it, you’re in Gashead (Bristol Rovers) country here! Continue reading
