Category Archives: L

Men of Kent

01 Thursday Dec 2022

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Saturday 8th October 2022

11:00 Southern Counties East League Division One

STAPLEHURST MONARCHS 1 (Osagie 74)

ROCHESTER UNITED 0

Att 331

Entry £6

Programme £2

15:00 Southern Counties East League Premier Division

BEARSTED 2 (Freeman 18 52)

FISHER 1 (Kationa 52)

Att 229

Entry/ Parking/ Programme £8

17.45 Southern Counties East League Division One

LARKFIELD & NEW HYTHE 2 (Burdon 13 West 30)

GREENWAYS 1 (Saxton 49)

Att 243

Entry £5

Programme £1

There could be no doubt as to how important the SCEFL saw the groundhop; they did as the South Wales Alliance did and placed an official on the coach, mainly to help with directions but to troubleshoot where needed. Having Barry Fenn around was a godsend, not just for what he was mandated to do, but for the little nuggets of knowledge he imparted on the way. Continue reading →

Stripes

04 Tuesday Oct 2022

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Friday 19th August 2022 ko 20:00

Division 4 Södra Stockholm

LÅNGHOLMEN FC 1 (Baldwin 63)

KONYASPOR KIF 1 (Okur 83)

Att 65 at Västberga IP

Free Entry

In this visit of reunions this was a little unusual and it all was due to Kim Hedwall and I picking a random game back in 2008. I remember it well, walking down to Essinge IP from the bus stop from Liljeholmen we were discussing which one of us was going to ask the referee for the team-lineups. As we walked in I was so attuned to hearing Swedish for a second I didn’t recognise the language I was hearing! Continue reading →

Sunday’s Revisits

23 Friday Sep 2022

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Sunday 31st July 2022

ko 12:00 United Counties League Premier Division North

LEICESTER NIRVANA 1 (Nelson 87p)

Nelson missed penalty 66

BELPER UNITED 0

Smyth penalty saved 78

Att 285

Entry £5

Programme £2

Ko 15:00 United Counties League Division One

ST ANDREWS 2 (Law 50 87)

WEST BRIDGFORD 1 (Stevens 67)

Att 290

Entry £5

Programme £1

After breakfast at the University of Nottingham we headed south to Leicester. I opted to take my car, with my wife Robyn helping Chris Berezai and Craig Dabbs it meant a quicker trip after the final game. I took quieter country roads, rather than the motorway and with crowds yesterday and crowds to come it was a treat to have a little time for reflection. Continue reading →

Swap

12 Monday Sep 2022

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Friday 29th July 2022 ko 19:45

United Counties League Premier Division South

LUTTERWORTH TOWN 3 (Wilson 22 32 Small 27p)

ROTHWELL CORINTHIANS 2 (Rzesteuck 57 Allen 88)

Att 320

Entry £6

Programme £2

For me the year 2022 has been about reconnecting with people that we’d been unable to meet during the pandemic. The catch has been those 2 years have seen manifest changes in all of us, so often what we’ve gone back to has been different to what we’d been used to back in 2020. The UCL Hop proved to be a case in point. Continue reading →

Meaning

10 Wednesday Aug 2022

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Saturday 25th June 2022 ko 15:00

Pre-Season Friendly

LINGFIELD 2 (Redfern 20 83)

CROYDON 1 (Peacock 46)

Att 81, at Coombe Field, Edenbridge (Edenbridge RUFC)

Free Entry

Football watching takes several forms, even when you break away from the “I follow my team only” principle. Some groundhoppers will only deal in competitive games, others only within certain levels of the the footballing pyramid, and others will look at what the ground looks like before committing. Others, like me will think “Here’s a game on an unusual ground, ” and that will be enough. This was one of those occasions. Continue reading →

Levver’ead

04 Monday Apr 2022

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Tuesday 8th March 2022 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Premier Division

LEATHERHEAD 0

LEWES 1 (Taylor 52p)

Att 335

Entry £12

Programme £2 (re-issue from postponed game with insert)

It is of course a fact of life that groundhopping adds up to visiting a lot of grounds once, and in my case there are plenty of grounds that when I leave, there is a twinge of regret that odds are I’ll never return. But Robyn arrived in my life six years ago, so the “Robyn Revisit” is a wonderful reason to revisit some classic grounds. And let’s face it if you haven’t been to Fetcham Grove, then I’d suggest it ought to go straight on to your bucket list! Continue reading →

Underground, Overground

27 Monday Dec 2021

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Thursday 16th December 2021 ko 16:00

London Underground League Division Two

WATERLOO & CITY 5 (Mohamed 37 59 69 James 43 Jarvis 70)

JUBILEE 0

Att 9 at Pitch 1, Market Road Pitches, Caledonian Road, London

Free Entry

There is something iconic about the London Underground. Whether its Harry Beck’s topological tube map, or Frank Pick’s Charles Holden designed Art Deco stations on the Piccadilly Line there is so much that is quintessentially English. Perhaps that’s why the London Underground League has developed something of a cult following amongst groundhoppers.

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Oh, my dear friend. How I’ve missed you.

07 Tuesday Dec 2021

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Sunday 21st November 2021 ko 11:00

Bridgend & District Sunday League

LITCHARD PARK 1 (Randall 41)

GARTH VADER 1 (Horrigan 74)

Roberts sent off FT (Foul & Abusive)

Att 5 at Pitch 4, Newbridge Fields, Bridgend.

Free Entry

I still have a theory that everyone who follows a big club ought to go and watch a game on a park pitch once in a while. I find it oddly cathartic to breathe cold Sunday morning air, to feel the grass give beneath my feet and even to watch the leaves fall like oversized rain drops from autumnal trees. So when my wife Robyn wanted to be in Bristol to see her former workmates on a Sunday morning I knew immediately what I wanted to do.

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The Forge

26 Monday Jul 2021

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Tuesday 20th July 2021 ko 19.45

Pre-season Friendly

CATHOLIC UNITED 1 (Trialist 39)

WHITE ENSIGN 6 (Woodward 1 13 45 Locke 6 Reynolds-Blanche 28 71)

Att c60 at Len Forge Centre, Southend-on-Sea

Free Entry

There are some grounds that ought to be on every groundhopper’s bucket list, there are some that you’d barely count as a tick, and there are one or two that for little or no reason contrive to intrigue you. For me, Southend’s Len Forge Centre definitely fell into the latter. Continue reading →

The Secret Santa

29 Tuesday Dec 2020

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Saturday 19th December 2020 ko 15.00

Hellenic League Division One East

LONG CRENDON 1 (Warwick 54)

WALLINGFORD TOWN 2 (Dean 43 Silkstone 85)

Att 36 at Oxford City FC

Entry £5

No Programme

You could say I was at this game because of Santa Claus! As you may know I’m part of a pub quiz team based at the Masons Arms in Oxford. Each Christmas we have a meal out at a local gastro-pub and exchange gifts in a “Secret Santa” arrangement. Covid of course had meant that meal out was impossible, but we decided to do the Secret Santa gift exchange, and I offered to play Santa for the afternoon and do the collections and deliveries from the doorsteps of our homes. The idea was afterwards to go and watch either of two Oxfordshire Senior League games. The first was Bicester-based Bure Park with Oxford Irish (based at Rose Hill Community Centre) as back-up. Both were 2pm kickoffs. 

Continue reading →