Category Archives: M

16th February 1871

20 Wednesday Nov 2019

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Tuesday 24th September 2019 ko 19.45

National League Premier

MAIDENHEAD UNITED 1 (Whitehall 62)

DOVER ATHLETIC 2 (Cumberbatch 19 L’Ghoul 77)

Att 1,015

Entry £15

Programme £3

When Robyn moved to Oxford 3 years ago, it gave me the perfect excuse to revisit some of the more interesting grounds near her new home. It was hardly surprising the likes of Marlow and Metropolitan Police got quickly visited and the process got dubbed as a “Robyn Revisit” but a complete mystery was why Maidenhead’s York Road took so long for me to return to? Continue reading →

Hillgrove

10 Sunday Nov 2019

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Saturday 14th September 2019 ko 13.30

Witney & District League – Premier Division

MINSTER LOVELL 2 (Fletcher 30 Wright 39)

CARTERTON 3 (Threlfall 46 85p Rogers 61)

Att 126

Entry & Programme £4

I’d actually managed to relax on the journey from Milton-under-Wychwood as we slowly made our way south. We bumped our way down on Britain’s byways passing by Leafield; it seemed barely plausible that F1’s Arrows team used to be based here, and the plant is still a Formula 1 research facility. Continue reading →

The Groundhoppers Are Coming

07 Thursday Nov 2019

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Saturday 14th September 2019 ko 11.00

Witney & District League- Premier Division

MILTON-UNDER-WYCHWOOD 1 (Dady 3)

SPARTAN RANGERS 2 (Thompson 47 Murphy 85) 

Att 166

Entry & Programme £4

One advantage of the Witney & District Hop taking in one of the league’s outposts was the excuse to take the minibuses from Oxford out west along the A40 then heading north via Burford. You drive through the most wonderfully scenic Cotswolds countryside as you head north to what’s left of the medieval Wychwood forest. Continue reading →

The Hoovering Up Exercise

19 Wednesday Jun 2019

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Saturday 4th May 2019 ko 14.30

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

MERTHYR SAINTS 5 (James 4 30 55 75 Randall 65)

GRANGE ALBION 2 (Howard 8og Jeremy 78)

Att c30

Entry FREE

I know what you’re thinking, didn’t I visit this one with GroundhopUK? Merthyr Saints have the distinction of being the very first club visited on the very first GroundhopUK hop in August 2002, although the organisation was Chris Berezai then living in Swansea, and styled “The Welsh Groundhop.” Merthyr Saints lost to Bridgend Town in front of 164, but I wasn’t there, my first Welsh Hop was 3 years later, and it wasn’t until 2009 when I became Chris’s deputy. Doesn’t time fly? Continue reading →

The Cotswolds (and a little Wales)

31 Friday May 2019

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Sunday 21st April 2019

11.00 Hellenic League Division Two West

BOURTON ROVERS 3 (Nurse 19 Tyack 76 Way 90)

HEADINGTON AMATEURS 1 (Curtis 83)

Att 278

Entry £4

Programme £1

14.15 Hellenic League Division Two West

MORETON RANGERS 0

ADDERBURY PARK 1 (Northam 62)

Att 384

Entry £2

Programme £1

18.00 Hellenic League Premier

BRIMSCOMBE & THRUPP 4 (Blackie 5 Pitts 55 Campbell 70 J Pitt 90)

ABINGDON UNITED 0 Butler sent off 55 (2nd Booking)

Att 403

Entry £5

Programme £1

Easter Sunday dawned, and the compromise that is an organised hop was brought into sharp focus. On one hand we were always likely to see the most hoppers today when compared to the rest of the weekend, but then we were asking more of the clubs in asking them to play on Easter Sunday. You could argue that extra crowds mean extra revenue for our host clubs but that doesn’t help the visiting clubs taking part. I know there was some discomfiture amongst those involved at Headington Amateurs, Adderbury Park and Abingdon United in playing on this day so our sincere thanks to them for helping us, the league and the host clubs. Thanks also to Brian King and all at the league too, plenty of leagues wouldn’t have even countenanced trying!

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Left or Right?

23 Sunday Sep 2018

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Tuesday 31st July 2018 ko 19.45

Pre-Season Friendly

POTTERS BAR TOWN 2 (36, 65)

HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS 3 (2og, 44, 82)

Att 26

at Pitch 2, Middlesex FA Ground, Ruislip Road, Northolt

Entry FREE

I do like a ground that doesn’t usually host a club’s games, and a county FA ground is always an interesting place to visit. Here the ground was brand spanking new, the Middlesex FA only moved in on 23rd July, but there is a groundhopper’s dilemma when you get there.  Continue reading →

Billy’s Cause

28 Monday May 2018

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Tuesday 17th April 2018 ko 19.45

Southern Combination Division One

MIDHURST & EASEBOURNE 2 (Carter 15 Broughton 50)

SELSEY 2 (Seye 54 Correll 90)

Att c50

Entry & Programme £5

Many years ago my ex-wife and her family loved to spend weekends at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis. I was never a convert to Billy’s cause, watching Bucks Fizz with one original member (the blond one) wasn’t and isn’t my idea of fun. In my eyes the whole point of the exercise was tick off another local ground. The journey down from Henley-On-Thames was interesting as my former father-in-law has a phobia of motorways, so the obvious M3, M27 route was eschewed. Continue reading →

Whether

22 Thursday Mar 2018

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Friday 16th March 2018 ko 19.00

South of Scotland League

MID-ANNANDALE 6 (Gibson 9 D Smith 11 36 Neill 34 53 Thom 47)

LOCHMABEN 3 (Milligan 33 G Smith 38p Howat 89)

Att 235

Entry £5

Programme £2

Over 4 years the Scottish Hop has developed a method all of its own. That’s a coach running from Hillingdon via Birmingham up the M6 via the first game to our base, usually in East Kilbride. I normally run the coach from Hillingdon to Birmingham when Chris Berezai takes over and I take a fast car to the first ground to make up the programme packs using the time taken for the coach driver’s mandatory 45 minute break half way up. However this time round it didn’t quite work out as we’d planned. Continue reading →

Melksham Without

15 Thursday Feb 2018

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Monday 12th February 2018 ko 19.30

Western League Premier Division

MELKSHAM TOWN 4 (Higdon 14p 42 Sibbick 28 47)

LONGWELL GREEN SPORTS 1 (Pruett 90)

Att 349

Entry £6

Programme £1

It was an evening of mistakes. Missing our turn-off from the M4 saw us arrived uncomfortably close to kick off, and on a day when parts of the country had seen snow, ice and heavy rain I’d consoled myself that since Melksham’s new ground featured a 3G pitch the game was more likely to be on. You can imagine my mixed emotions when I saw the grass pitch… Continue reading →

Medina

26 Friday Jan 2018

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Sunday 21st January 2018 ko 19.00

African Nations Championship Group A

MAURITANIA 0

GUINEA 1 (Sankhon 15)

Att c2,000 at Grand Stade de Marrakech, Morocco

Entry 50 MAD (approx £3.83)

No programme, food, or drinks for sale

It was around 5 in the evening and Robyn and I had been in Marrakech for around 4 hours. We were ensconced in our Riad, in the midst of the souks in the narrow alleyways of Marrakech’s traditional Medina district. It was time to explore so we headed out to Jemaa El- Fnaa, the main square of the city. We emerged from the alleyway and immediately the hawkers descended on us.

Continue reading →