Category Archives: N

Incentiviser

29 Thursday Dec 2016

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Tuesday 21st December 2016 ko 19.45

FA Trophy 2nd Round Replay

NORTH LEIGH 1 (Cook 89p)

SOUTH PARK 3 (Lavery 29p Quartey 62 O’Sullivan 81)

Att 157

Entry £8

Programme £1

Back in the day I used to regularly drive along the A4095 between Witney and Woodstock. With psyche like mine that added up to finding out whether each village I passed through had a football club, and where they played. It didn’t take long to pay the grounds a visit. There was Witney Town who played in the Southern League, then as you headed towards Woodstock, there were no end of grounds to visit. Continue reading →

Groundhopping Hell?

30 Wednesday Nov 2016

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Saturday 26th November 2016 ko 14.00

Notts Senior League- Premier Division

NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY 2 (Fletcher 31 81p)

UNDERWOOD VILLA 2 (Voller 39og Thompson 78) Wright sent off 71 (foul language)

Att 14

Entry FREE

Programme FREE

On one hand if you want to complete the Notts Senior League, you’ll need to pay the Clifton Campus a visit, and it gives the club precisely what they need, a good facility at which to play its games. On the other for the spectator its a one-sided plastic pitch in a cage, utterly bereft of character; save for the Uni’s corporate branding you could be anywhere. It is though where the needs of the participatory league and those of a spectating league collide. Continue reading →

Doughty

28 Monday Nov 2016

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Saturday 26th November 2016 ko 11.30

U18 Professional Development League-North

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3 (Gomis 26 28 McCormick 75)

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 2 (Scott 44 Dyson 79)

Att 88

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

If a former owner of a club wants to leave a legacy, then there aren’t many better places than the club’s academy. Nottingham Forest’s academy in Gresham Close is named after former owner Nigel Doughty who ploughed over £100million of his own funds into the club but died suddenly in 2012 aged just 54. Continue reading →

Bampfylde

03 Thursday Nov 2016

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Saturday 22nd October 2016 15.00

North Devon League Premier Division

NORTH MOLTON SPORTS CLUB 3 (Phillips 25 35 55p) Body sent off (offensive / abusive / insulting language and / or gestures) 88

BRADWORTHY UNITED 9 (M Carter 13 51 60p 87 G Carter 42 83 90 Clarke 24 73)

Att 14 

Entry FREE

No Programme

As Forrest Gump once commented,  “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” In groundhopping terms that is certainly the case belpw Step 6. Yes, you’ll see your fair share of fields, but you’ll also see the occasional surprising little gem. And half a dozen hoppers at Rocksfield certainly enjoyed their afternoon here. Continue reading →

The Milton Derby

16 Sunday Oct 2016

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Tuesday 27th September 2016 ko 19.45

Wessex League Division One

NEW MILTON TOWN 0

BAFFINS MILTON ROVERS 4 (Dart 28 87 Pennery 49 Blandford 66og)

Att 28

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

You occasionally hear the term “Derby in name only” and it normally refers to a fixture where two clubs are nearby but no great rivalry exists, Oxford United and Oxford City being a good example. This though was a derby genuinely in name only, Baffins play in northern Portsmouth while Town play to the east of Bournemouth at the southern edge of the New Forest. Continue reading →

The Pub Team That Isn’t

20 Wednesday Jul 2016

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Saturday 16th July 2016 ko 13.00

Pre-season friendly

NEW INN AFC 7 (13 17 32 41p 47 48 77)

SEVERN TUNNEL NPC 3 (65 75 90)

Att 35

Entry FREE

No Programme

The feeder leagues to the Welsh League are manna from heaven for the groundhopper. There’s a multiplicity of villages steeped in history (mainly in coal mining and steel production) and in the case of the league these two clubs play in, the Gwent County League, programme production is mandatory.

Mind you if the printed word is a deal-breaker for you I’d phone ahead before travelling, print runs do tend to be low, often in single figures. It’s seen as a chore by the majority of the clubs, little more than a means of avoiding a fine from the league! Continue reading →

Rob’s Hop

11 Wednesday May 2016

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Friday 29th April 2016 ko 18.30

Notts Senior League Premier Division

ATTENBOROUGH 5 (Warner 4 12 66 Wilkinson 16 Smith 72)

AWSWORTH VILLA 1 (Walsh 46)

Att 218

Saturday 30th April 2016 ko 10.05

Notts Senior League Premier Division

BEESTON 0

UNDERWOOD VILLA 0

Att 291

ko 12.45

Notts Senior League Division One

BILBOROUGH UNITED 1 (England 7)

ASHLAND ROVERS 0

Att 239

ko 15.15

Notts Senior League Division One

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 0

GEDLING SOUTHBANK 3 (Needham 22 56 73)

Att 301

ko 18.15

Notts Senior League Premier Division

REAL UNITED 1 (Spears 51)

UNITY FC 1 (Hall 45)

Att 272

Each game cost £3 entry and £1 for a programme.

Rob Hornby has been part of the groundhopping firmament since 2004 and the famous Central Midlands League’s 5-games-in-a-day hop. He, with GroundhopUK organised the annual Central Midlands Bonanzas up until 2010. Solo, he organised two further CMFL Bonanzas before switching his skills to the Notts Senior League for 2013. With this event completing that league save for 3G pitches in cages, and the unsuitable Kirton Brickworks, Rob decided this event was to be his last.
Continue reading →

The Oxygen Of Life

29 Thursday Oct 2015

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Tuesday 27th October 2015 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Premier Division

NEEDHAM MARKET 1 (Mills 30)

BILLERICAY TOWN 3 (Nesbitt 3 24 87p)

Att 255 

Entry £10

Programme £2

A small market town isn’t, at first glance, the most obvious place to find a real footballing success story. The small town lies plumb in the centre of Suffolk, and is best known for for Joseph Priestley if you’re a scientist (he discovered oxygen), and June Brown if you’re a fan of Eastenders (she played Dot Cotton), but there’s obviously something in the water at Bloomfields that allows football to grow.

Continue reading →

Building Jerusalem

23 Sunday Aug 2015

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Saturday 15th August 2015 ko 15.00

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

NELSON 0

NEWTON AYCLIFFE 4 (Knight 29 Banks 59 Moffat 81 86)

Att 96

Entry £6

Programme £2

Badge £3

If there’s one competition every football fan should be a fan of it’s the FA Cup. Despite top flight clubs attempts to devalue it, for me the memories of clubs you’d never heard of battling against familiar Football League clubs remain a romantic part of growing up a football fan. Be it Blyth Spartans, Shepshed Charterhouse or Sutton United, the FA Cup was and is where the thrill of the underdog giving the patrician a bloody nose was more interesting than watching the same old sides fight for the League title. With those thoughts in mind I wanted something special to visit for the competition’s opening round.  Continue reading →

So near….

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

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Saturday 25th April 2015 ko 12.50

Notts Senior League- Division One

NETHERFIELD ALBION 1 (Riley 84)

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 0

Att 292

Entry £3

Programme £1

I was a little puzzled when we set off for Victoria Park, as hop organiser Rob Hornby’s instructions had the club in Teal Close, Gedling, and checking on an online mapping service I couldn’t see a ground there. The answer came when we passed Carlton Town’s ground and encountered a huge queue of traffic! Continue reading →