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08 Wednesday Feb 2023

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Monday 26th December 2022 ko 15:00

Western League Premier Division

ILFRACOMBE TOWN 0

BARNSTAPLE TOWN 3 (Swan 17 73 Andrew 79)

Att 447

Entry £5

Programme online only (downloadable)

It must have been nearly twenty years ago. I was on a weekend away with my ex-wife and a couple of friends at Ilfracombe Holiday Park. The friends went off to explore a garden centre, but the wife had spent most of the previous night doing college study. She opted to spend most of Saturday asleep but before she dozed off she said the magic words, “Go find a game.” She did so thinking that since it was mid-May I’d stand little or no chance of finding something; she always did underestimate me.  Continue reading →

Thringstone

02 Thursday Feb 2023

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Tuesday 21st December 2022 ko 19:45

Midland League Division One

INGLES 2 (Tansley 52 Minshull 86)

CHELMSLEY TOWN 1 (Woods 90)

Att 67

Entry £5

Programme £1

In purely groundhopping terms when a club in a groundshare gets promoted to Step 6, they tend to pass me by. I may see them by chance as visiting team, but I prefer to visit the ground for the primary tenant. So when Ingles graduated from the Leicestershire Senior League, groundsharing at Shepshed Dynamo’s Dovecote, it all rather passed me by. Continue reading →

The Pig & The Pitchfork

01 Wednesday Jun 2022

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Friday 15th April 2022 ko 18:30

Austria Erste-Liga

WACKER INNSBRUCK 1 (Ronivaldo 67p)

GRAZER AK 1 (Perchtold 26)

Att 2,211 at Neu Tivoli Stadion Tirol

Entry €19 (£16.14)

I do like a holiday where once we’ve returned home, I can describe what Robyn and I have done in two ways. Our groundhopping friends get a description of the football matches we watched, and those poor souls who don’t like football get a description of all the touristy places we visited. The trick is to work hard at both! On that basis a Friday night televised game in Innsbruck was a godsend for us, as much as I’m sure it wasn’t for the away fans who would have had a 5 hour drive from Graz to get there. Continue reading →

Baht’at

01 Friday Apr 2022

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Sunday 6th March 2022

North West Counties League- Division One North

ILKLEY TOWN 0

GARSTANG 0

Att 455

Entry £6

Programme £2

 

Wheear ‘ast tha bin sin’ ah saw thee, ah saw thee?

Tha’s been a cooartin’ Mary Jane

                                                      On Ilkla Mooar baht ‘at
                                                                                    trad.

I remember when GroundhopUK and the North West Counties League agreed the schedule for this years hop. I saw Ilkley Town and immediately thought, ” As in Ilkley Moor Baht’at?” I mentioned the song to my wife Robyn who, being younger than me hadn’t heard of it. But then, she isn’t old enough to have had John Noakes as a hero when she was growing up either. Continue reading →

Elbar

06 Monday Jan 2020

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Sunday 20th October 2019 ko 14.00

Kategorie e Dytë Grp A

FC INTERNACIONAL TIRANA 5 (Ajdini 65 Xhuveli 69 Shkreta 78 81 Konci 86)

FK KAMZA 1 (Bode 90p)

Biba penalty saved 62

Att 48 at Kompleksi Internacional, Pezë Helmës

Free Entry

In footballing terms at least my stag weekend finished at the one ground that you could argue that wasn’t in Tirana, despite the name of the host club we were a good half an hour’s drive from Skanderbeg Square. Zaja seemed happy negotiating the odd pot hole on dusty roads as we climbed into the mountains, to a surprise to all for the party that hadn’t researched where we were heading! Continue reading →

Roman Times

06 Friday Sep 2019

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Sunday 28th July 2019 ko 13.45

United Counties League Division One

IRCHESTER UNITED 3 (Clark 7 Ball 70 79)

WELLINGBOROUGH WHITWORTH 3 (Brittain 8 Crawley 45 Hazell 90)

Att 328

Entry £5

Programme £1

It wasn’t far from Cogenhoe to Irchester- just enough time to get comfortable it seemed! When we first established the United Counties League Hop I’d imagined that we’d visit Irchester either before or after both Wellingborough Town and Wellingborough Whitworth, as Irchester is very close to the town. Now there were compelling reasons to visit Stilton when we did last year, but it did leave Irchester a little high and dry. In the end I was pleased we were able to fit them in quickly. Continue reading →

Something On It

30 Sunday Jun 2019

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Saturday 18th May 2019 ko 14.30

South Devon League Division 4

ILSINGTON VILLA 0

GALMPTON UNITED 0

Att 66

Free Entry

Sometimes circumstances mean the cards fall neatly in your favour. Robyn and I knew we’d be visiting friends in Plymouth so a game on the way made sense. The issue was that in mid-May a lot of the leagues local to Plymouth or on our way would be finished so I looked more in hope than expectation. But then then I spotted something….

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The Wreck Of The Old Mauritania

27 Saturday Apr 2019

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Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 14.15

East of Scotland League Conference C

INVERKEITHING HILLFIELD SWIFTS 2 (Cowie 71 Hamilton 75)

Miller sent off 60 (2nd booking)

Francis sent off 78 (Foul & Abusive)

Cowie sent off 82 (Foul & Abusive)

HERIOT WATT UNIVERSITY 4 (Muttitt 27 57 Huxford 31 Singh 82p)

Att 301

Entry £6

Programme £2

The Scottish Hop’s move from the Lothians to the Kingdom of Fife was nothing if not spectacular. First the Kelpies, the steel horses wild but frozen but their energy an inspiration to motorists on the M9. With the Hop coach’s 61 seats more than sold out, I was driving in effect an overspill car, but the there was a silver lining as we could stop close to the three Forth Bridges to take some fairly spectacular photos!

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Island Hopping

11 Saturday Jun 2016

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Thursday 2nd June 2016 ko 19.15

Division 4 Mellersta Stockholm

INGARÖ IF 2 (Asplund 41 Eriksson 76)

HALLONBERGENS IF 1 (Yebio 76)

Att 53

Entry FREE

No Programme

For a city as beautiful as Stockholm the bus station at Slussen T-Bana (metro) station is an unlovely place, a place of stained concrete and tired yellow lights. However, the buses to the far-flung parts of the Stockholm archipelago are included on the SL “Access” card, and are punctual and regular from there, so a group of 6 British people stood in a bus battling the rush hour traffic heading for a rather deserted looking island to the east of Sweden’s capital. Continue reading →

Tin Men

29 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Friday 25th March 2016 ko 11am

South West Peninsula League Division One West

ILLOGAN R.B.L. 3 (Boone 43 Carlyon 64 Abbott-Smith 69)

PENRYN ATHLETIC 1 (Disano 57)

Att 369

Entry £3

Programme £1

I can imagine what a few may have thought when they saw Illogan’s name on the schedule of the Peninsula League Hop. A team only in its second season in the league after winning the Cornwall Combination multiple times after only a brief flirtation with the old South Western in the late 1970’s. A ground, Oxland Parc (Cornish, not English spellings here!) neatly tucked away in a residential village in the heart of Cornish tin mining country. On paper the idea doesn’t inspire, but football isn’t played on paper, and Cornish football isn’t like any other kind of football either. Continue reading →