Category Archives: H

Clincart Farm

03 Thursday Mar 2016

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Sunday 28th February 2016 ko 14.00

Scottish Amateur FA Inter League Trophy Final

ABERDEENSHIRE 2 (McDougal 56 Franchi 82)

AYRSHIRE 3 (Connell 62p 64p O’Conner 79)

Att 126 at Lesser Hampden, Glasgow

Entry FREE

Programme FREE

When you look at it, Lesser Hampden is a real oddity. It’s situated at one end of Scotland’s National Stadium, Hampden Park, and as such is seen by many but visited by very few. But to understand it you need to know who owns Hampden and why.
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Brett

18 Thursday Feb 2016

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Friday 12th February 2016 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties Counties League Premier Division

HADLEIGH UNITED 1 (Clarke 78)

HAVERHILL ROVERS 1 (Weaver 30)

Att 85

Entry £7

Programme £1

Hadleigh is, well to put it bluntly, genteel. The Suffolk town sits aside the River Brett, and has an incredible 246 listed buildings! The Guardian’s architecture critic Jonathan Glancey lives here as does actor Patrick Newell and fashion designer Caryn Franklin. What is completely incomprehensible is that shock metal band Cradle of Filth were formed here, perhaps it was a reaction to the gentle pace of life! Continue reading →

Refuge

07 Sunday Feb 2016

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Friday 5th February 2016 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One

HALSTEAD TOWN 2 (Cook 26 Pavett 55)

WIVENHOE TOWN 3 (Keating 3 Turner 18 Hampson 62)

Att 202

Entry £6

Programme SOLD OUT

Whilst the Eastern Counties League’s attempts at “Groundhopper Days” have not fared well, they’ve had considerable success with Friday evening football. This was the classic example of where it works best, two clubs near Colchester playing a local derby knowing there was another derby the next day, Colchester United travelling to Southend United. I got the distinct impression that plenty at Rosemary Lane had every intention of attending both games. Continue reading →

Blackwater

11 Wednesday Nov 2015

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Tuesday 10th November 2015 ko 19.45

Isthmian League North Division

HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS 1 (Morrison 76)

BRIGHTLINGSEA REGENT 5 (Malton 4 Kelly 9 15 Gould 55 Read 90)

Att 134

Entry £10

Programme £2

Badge £3

Looks can be deceiving sometimes. You pull into the car park at Scraley Road and the ground immediately impresses. There’s a large main stand, with its little brother opposite, and there’s the friendly club shop too. I enjoyed having a chin-wag at the burger bar, and the clubhouse is spacious and well-appointed. It is the kind of place where I could sit back before the game, and watch the club being unconsciously competent. The problem was that one of my footballing bad habits was to bite me somewhat. Continue reading →

Blessed Are The Pure In Heart

05 Monday Oct 2015

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Saturday 3rd October 2015 ko 15.00

Southern Combination Division Two

HURSTPIERPOINT 1 (Ojo 44)

FERRING 1 (Godfrey 75og)

Att 9

Entry FREE

Programme £1

As far as I’m concerned Hurstpierpoint is the village with the long name whose sign you see on the A23 north of Brighton as you pass Hickstead Show Jumping Ground. The name of the village os a classic case of combining the Old English word for wood “Hurst” with the surname of the family that were lords of the manor here. Other than that the village is known for Hurstpierpoint College whose must famous alumnus is former Master of College Sabine Baring-Gould who wrote the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers.”

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Can I Call You?

20 Sunday Sep 2015

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Saturday 19th September 2015 ko 10.30

North Berkshire League Division Two

HANNEY UNITED 4 (Bishop 16p 41 Woodside 75 Woodside 88)

MARCHAM 2 (Larman 7 Dobbs 24)

Att 171

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

You have to be an enthusiast to organise a groundhop. I mean you wouldn’t subject themselves to the kind of day I had unless you enjoy it. Its not often that you find yourself at Radio Oxford at 7.40 in the morning to publicise the hop one last time, then get a lift to the other side of town to collect the last of our 3 minibuses before pick-ups at Steventon and Didcot Parkway station. Continue reading →

All Killer, No Filler

23 Sunday Aug 2015

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Friday 14th August 2015 ko 19.45

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

HODDESDON TOWN 4 (Summers 38 43 67 Wade 90)

SAWBRIDGEWORTH TOWN 0

Att 216

Entry £6

Programme £1

In groundhoppers’ circles football grounds and clubs get known for certain characteristics. For example there’s the stand at Treharris, the Chinese pagoda at the Olympic Stadium, Stockholm, but Hoddesdon Town gets talked about in hushed tones for one reason, the programme. Continue reading →

Types

06 Thursday Aug 2015

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Friday 31st July 2015 ko 19.45

United Counties League Premier Division

HARBOROUGH TOWN 1 (Wright 2)

YAXLEY 3 (Cotton 9 Gearing 48 82)

Att 313

Entry £6

Programme £1

Badge £3

The more organised hops I help organise the more I feel I can see how the future of the organised hop will pan out. On one hand it would be easy for Chris Berezai and I to simply organise events in leagues we’re interested in. With around 3,000 grounds visited between us that would see lower level leagues featuring, along the lines of the Ceredigion or North Berkshire Leagues, but we both feel that we owe it to those with far lower ground counts to organise events at Step 5 and 6. Continue reading →

Fine Margins

31 Sunday May 2015

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Saturday 30th May 2015 ko 14.00

Scottish Junior FA, West Region Superleague Premier Division

HURLFORD UNTED 2 (C Robertson 59 Donnelly 77)

SHOTTS BON ACCORD 1 (McCrum 90)

Att 144

Entry £5

Programme (reissue from 6/12/14) £1 (original price £1.50)

 In Scotland below the professional ranks there’s two visions of how non-league could look. On one hand there’s the new Scottish pyramid with the Lowland and Highland league champions playing off for the right to play off against the Scottish League’s bottom side for the final place in the league. On the other there’s the Juniors, not aged-based, more an alternative FA, with the North, East and West Regions ploughing their separate furrows, save for the Junior Cup. Continue reading →

Pickin’ ’em

20 Wednesday May 2015

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Saturday 16th May 2015 ko 14.30

Essex Olympian League- Premier Division

HAROLD WOOD ATHLETIC 4 (Tolan 45p Ziepe 68 Suchley 73 Foley 86) WADHAM LODGE 1 (Holt 6)

Att 212

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

When the games start to run out what do you look for? The pretty ground? The game with something on it? I even know one hopper whom eschewed this one as there wasn’t a programme on sale! He wasn’t the only one who put the paper-based souvenir before the match, the club put up notices advertising the lack of a programme, and the strap-line on their website told the same story. You could only imagine the number of phone calls they’d taken…. Continue reading →