Category Archives: K

Weirdness

08 Tuesday Nov 2022

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Tuesday 20th September 2022 ko 19:45

Cambridgeshire County League Division 4A

FC KENNETT 4 (Earl 24 Haydon 52 65 Adams 60)

SAWSTON UNITED RESERVES 2 (Carter 69 D’Ambrosio 83)

Att 36

Free Entry

Just occasionally a younger groundhopper asks me for advice, and I always try imagine myself 20 years ago. What were my aims back then? And was I quite as aimless as I am now? These days my only real aim is to have a new tick on as many midweeks as I can! So the advice I normally give is to go weird, and do so as early on as you can. Continue reading →

The Mouse That Roared

05 Tuesday Oct 2021

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Sunday 19th September 2021 ko 14:00

Witney & District League Division One

KINGHAM ALL BLACKS 1 (Lay 89)

CHADLINGTON 2 (Morley 5 Burton 15)

Att 177

Entry by programme £4

I reached Kingham in a state of nervous exhaustion; I think the stress of getting this hop set up, then running to a standard I’d regard as acceptable had caught up with me.  I’ll never regret these Sunday games, both host clubs’ success was proof that gambit worked, but on Saturday evening sat in the pub I did find myself thinking that if I hadn’t asked for those games my stress would have been over. Continue reading →

Life At The Grassroots

14 Friday Feb 2020

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Saturday 30th November 2019 ko 13.30

North Berkshire League Division 2

KINGSTON COLTS 0

LONG WITTENHAM ATHLETIC RESERVES 6 (Crowley 4 27 Bishop 9 24 Hunt 13 Barton 28)

Att 4 at Dalton Barracks, Shippon, near Abingdon

Free Entry

The North Berkshire Hops may be over for now, and despite me being from Oxford I’ll always be a North Berkshire man. It’s a league that put their trust in me to organise a hop when many wouldn’t, and those who really know me knew that back in 2011 I was at a pretty low ebb. I remain on the league’s management committee and will probably do so while they feel I can be of some use to them. Being right at grass roots does give you an insight as to what life really is like at the bottom of the pile. Continue reading →

The Scottish Delegation

29 Sunday Dec 2019

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Saturday 19th October 2019 ko 17.00

Kategorie Superiore

KF TIRANA 2 (Dunga 4 Cale 45)

KF LAÇI 1 (Nwabuezi 6)

Official Attendance 0 (we counted 97) at Stadiumi Selman Stërmasi

Entry-complimentary

Zaja was clearly enjoying himself as the little minibus picked its way through Tirana’s perpetually jammed streets. I reckon he’d worked that whoever those middle-aged blokes he’d been employed to ferry around were easy to deal with. Just feed them beer and football and they’d enjoy everything that came their way was I suspect his train of thought. But sat as I was midship I wondered…. Continue reading →

The Tale of 3 “E’s”

21 Thursday Nov 2019

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Monday 30th September 2019 ko 20.00

Staffordshire County Senior League Division One

KEELE UNIVERSITY 1 (Gaisford 10)

CITY OF STOKE 4 (Sargeant 65 White 68 Johnson 71 79)

Att 8

Free Entry

When you see Keele what do you picture in your mind? I suspect most see the Services on the M6, and some would see the university. For me it’s definitely the latter. Continue reading →

The Other Pitch

11 Monday Feb 2019

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Monday 28th January 2019 ko 20.00

Middlesex Premier Cup- Quarter Final

KENSINGTON BOROUGH 0

HAREFIELD UNITED 6 (Clifton 9 Pacquette 30 49 Farhall 73 82 Shaw 90)

Att 47 at Pitch 1, Middlesex FA Ground, Rectory Park, Northolt

Entry & Programme £5*

I’d had no intention of returning to Northolt so soon. I’d paid the Middlesex FA Ground a visit soon after it opened last July, and while it does precisely what the local FA needs it to, I wasn’t exactly prioritising a trip to a caged 3G pitch facility whether or not you categorise ticking of the “other” pitch as a new ground. But then Talksport’s Tony Incenzo spotted this fixture, and what else was I going to do on a Monday? Continue reading →

The Lakes

28 Friday Sep 2018

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Saturday 18th August 2018 ko 14.30

Westmorland League- Division One

KESWICK 2 (Atkinson 32 Hindmarsh 40)

KIRKOSWALD 0

Att 50

Free Entry

I suspect that in the end this blog will be about places like this. I could document all those grounds from the Premier League to Step 6 and while there are some amazing places amongst those, I’d hit the publish button without ever feeling I’d shared something new. But trips to the Westmorland League are by definition off the beaten track, and after all, you can’t go wrong with a trip to the Lake District can you?  Continue reading →

I Didn’t Predict A Riot

08 Wednesday Aug 2018

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Saturday 9th June 2018 ko 13.00

Division 6B Sydvästra Skåne

KLÅGERUPS G.I.F. 1 (Vågehed 48)

HALLANDS NATIONS FF 2 (Scholander 26 Brown 84p)

Att 34

Entry & Programme 40 sek

The Swedish Hop’s £230 cost included two nights bed and breakfast in Trelleborg, coach travel including to and from Kastrup Airport, tolls on the Øresund Bridge, and all entry fees and programmes for the games.

At breakfast at the Swedish hop’s base on Trelleborg’s waterfront there were a few hangovers in evidence, but ever the one to look on the bright side of things, it did mean more meatballs and crispy bacon for me! Even hop organiser Kim Hedwall allowed himself a knowing smile, he knew he’d got a another superb day lined up, but the Saturday had proved to be the most difficult of the three to put together.  Continue reading →

The Palace

19 Thursday Jul 2018

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Saturday 2nd June 2018 ko 14.00

Division 3 Södra Svealand

FC STOCKHOLM INTERNAZIONALE 5 (Culeu 42p 49 Tourang 67 82 Aloui 90og)

TYRESÖ FF 0

Att 78

Entry 50sek (£4.31)

The idea behind this years trip to Sweden had long been to visit Stockholm before travelling south for the annual Swedish hop, based once again in Trelleborg. It meant spending two weekends in Scandanavia with the week between linking them. It gave me a couple of decisions to make. Continue reading →

Kilbourne

26 Tuesday Jun 2018

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Saturday 5th May 2018 ko 13.45

Central Midlands League South Division

AFC KILBURN 1 (McCready 84)

SHERWOOD COLLIERY 3 (Wiesztort 26 Sawter 56 Beardsey 80)

Att 207

Entry £3

Programme £1.50

Maybe it’s because I’m a southerner but when you mention Kilburn, I tend to think of the suburb in north-west London near Maida Vale. In fact I think we took the Hellenic Hop there a couple of times back in the day!  The Kilburn in Derbyshire is in the Amber (river) Valley, which made the “Jade” Garden choice of name for the local Chinese takeaway seem rather inappropriate!  To confuse things further until roughly a century ago the village was known as Kilbourne! The area was the setting for ITV tv drama “Peak Practice.” Continue reading →