Category Archives: M

State of Play

20 Monday Jul 2015

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Sunday 12th July 2015 ko 14.30

Mayo League: Super League

MANULLA 0

CASTLEBAR CELTIC 1 (O’Boyer 62)

Att 57

Entry €5

No Programme

The 4th game of this mini-Irish tour was meant to be a trip to UCD of Dublin, but their success in the Europa League qualifier the previous Thursday saw their scheduled game postponed, with no other League of Ireland games scheduled. I am grateful to Chris Bedford the publisher of the Football Traveller for contacting me to inform us of the bad news. Of course news is only bad news if you can’t spin it to your advantage, and it did give the party an interesting dilemma. Continue reading →

The Wedding Present

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

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Sunday 7th June 2015 ko 16.00

Division 6 Västra Uppland

MORGONGÅVA SK 2 (Magnusson 2 Folkesson 17)

ÅSUNDA IF 1 (Holmberg 76) Mahmood sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 94

NB The Swedish hop’s cost of £280 included all entry fees, programmes, two nights bed and breakfast, and coach travel between the games and Arlanda airport.

Entry FREE

Teamsheets FREE

The final game in this year’s Swedish hop took the party back towards Uppsala, and the pretty agricultural district of Heby. In so many ways Ramsjövallen was exactly the kind of ground we like to feature. Its isolated, pretty, and if it wasn’t for Kim Hedwall organising this annual event the coach party would never of even heard of it, let alone paid it a visit. A closer look also shows the other side of organising a groundhop too, the benefit to the club. Continue reading →

Telegraph Road

15 Monday Jun 2015

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Saturday 6th June 2015 ko 16.00

Division 3 Östra Svealand

MÄRSTA IK 3 (Samura 16 Altumer 34 Tsakle 87og)

JUVENTUS IF 2 (Muqdisi 62 69)

Att 107

NB The Swedish hop’s cost of £280 included all entry fees, programmes, two nights bed and breakfast, and coach travel between the games and Arlanda airport.

Entry & Programme 40 sek

In many respects this game would have been perfect as the final game of the hop 24 hours later, Märsta (pronounced mosh-ta) is at the edge of Stockholm’s northernmost suburbs, and is close to Arlanda airport. As such its a typical dormitory suburb, with the fields gradually giving way to houses, then the churches and the schools. At the centre of it all is the Pendeltåg or commuter train station to central Stockholm. The town does have the distinction of being where the first telegraph pole in Sweden was erected.

Continue reading →

But It Was Gone

10 Sunday May 2015

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Saturday 9th May 2015 ko 15.00

FA Vase Final

GLOSSOP NORTH END 1 (Bailey 55)

NORTH SHIELDS 2 (Bainbridge 80 Forster 96)

After Extra Time

Att 9,674 at Wembley Stadium

Entry- Complimentary (Many thanks to the Wessex League)

Programme £4

I do enjoy my annual trip to the Vase final, even though on this occasion I found myself photographing the same people I did a few years ago! There’s something touching about the trip to the hospitality seats and seeing all those officials from Step 5 leagues. These people aren’t the career administrators from the higher echelons, these are the people who do it for the love of it, and I do wonder whether when the event will switch to a joint Trophy and Vase day that flavour will be lost in a sea of professionalism? Continue reading →

Ticking almost every box

15 Sunday Feb 2015

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Friday 13th February 2015 ko 20.06

Women’s International Friendly

ENGLAND 0

UNITED STATES 1 (Morgan 25)

Att 14,369 at StadiumMK, Bletchley (MK Dons FC)

Entry- Comp’

Programme £3

The groundhopping purist tends to have a long list of what they won’t go to see. Amongst that list is friendlies, women’s fixtures, games at a stadium that aren’t the home club’s home fixture, and of course there’s always the vexed question of the MK Dons. There’s few who would try to defend the uprooting of the old Wimbledon to Buckinghamshire, but the club that built StadiumMK is certainly flourishing, and the stadium is by anyone’s standards a fantastic edifice, designed as it is by HOK, who also were behind Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Nevertheless, there are still plenty who would fall into the “Never forgive, never forget,” camp so short of there being no programme, the teams being reserves, and the game finishing goalless this was a close as you can get to the ultimate “Irk the purist” game!

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The Longest Mile

05 Thursday Feb 2015

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Saturday 8th May 2010 ko 15.00

Midland Combination Division One
MILE OAK ROVERS & YOUTH 0
LITTLETON 3 (Baird 57 McKeon 81 Harris 90)

Att 4

Entry FREE
Prog NO
Raffle £1

When you delve into football’s lower reaches, and you take the time to understand a club and what it stands for, the vast majority of the time it boils down to local pride, often against all good logic. Sometimes you see a club on the up, some are on the way down, but only once have I ever seen a club playing its last ever game. That horrible experience I witnessed at Mile Oak Rovers and Youth.

Continue reading →

The Other Half

22 Monday Dec 2014

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Thursday 18th December 2014 ko 19.00

FA Youth Cup 3rd Round

MANCHESTER CITY 2 (Wood 26 Celina 90)

OXFORD UNITED 0

Att 476 at Academy Stadium, City Football Academy, Ethihad Complex, Manchester

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

When Oxford’s United’s Youth team beat local rivals swindon town in the last round the assumption was that the away game would be played where Manchester City play most of their non-first XI games, Hyde FC’s Ewen Fields. That in itself would have been interesting, the club were Hyde UNITED when I went, and the stadium was predominantly red, both of which changed when City pumped in some of the oil billions. Now City have gone I wonder if the United and red will return? Continue reading →

Trouble with Hutchings

03 Friday Oct 2014

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Tuesday 30th September 2014 ko 19.45

Wessex League Premier Division

MONEYFIELDS 6 (Hutchings 12 20 75 90 Rutherford 16 55)

FAREHAM TOWN 1 (Woods 10)

Att c100

I suppose if you’re not an aficionado of Non-League football the first question is where is the Moneyfields Sports Ground? The name is taken from the avenue where it’s situated, in Copnor on the eastern edge of Portsea Island, in Portsmouth. In fact I could see the floodlights of Fratton Park as I turned into Copnor. Continue reading →

Hicks’ Law

24 Wednesday Sep 2014

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Saturday 20th September 2014 ko 16.00

North Berkshire League Division Two

MARCHAM 1 (Armstrong 82)

EAST HENDRED AFC 7 (Moss 18 29p Sutton 26 Hummel 32 Doig 42 Wise 56 Hicks 86)

Att 201

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

Catering: Baked Potatoes with various fillings. Cakes

Beer: Loose Cannon

When we put together these hops one of the many things we co-ordinate is catering. On reflection we should have added another item to the menu, on top of the baked potatoes with a myriad of fillings, curry included, and that was celery soup. Why, I hear you ask, well the March in Marcham is derived from the old English word, merece meaning a place where celery grows! Ham means settlement so we visited the village where celery grows! Continue reading →

Two Magpies

27 Tuesday May 2014

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Sunday 25th May 2014 ko 13.00

Scottish Womens Football League 2nd Division South East

BOROUGHMUIR THISTLE 3 (Livingstone 10 Hanson 50 To 83)

HUTCHINSON VALE RESERVES 1 (C Devlin 15)

Att 13  at Meggetland Sports Complex, Edinburgh

Entry FREE

No programme

As I stood in the almost deserted stand watching a game a pitch’s width away I watched two magpies stand on a crash barrier and survey the scene. Like me, they were sheltering from the torrential rain, most of the other spectators tried to keep their umbrellas from turning inside out at pitchside, but lets face it, if there’s cover its best used! Continue reading →