Category Archives: O

The Tavern

26 Tuesday Nov 2019

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Friday 4th October 2019 ko 19.45

Western League Division One

LEBEQ UNITED 3 (Brown 7p 59 Sarr 13)

DaCosta sent off 55 (violent conduct)

RADSTOCK TOWN 1 (Rustell 14p)

Att 192 at Oaklands Park, Almondsbury (Gloucs FA Ground)

Entry £5

Programme £1

In a few ways the organised groundhop should have visited Oaklands Park far far earlier than this. Think back 15 or so years ago to the days of the Welsh Hellenic Hop, when GroundhopUk would spend August Bank Holiday Saturday in the South Wales Amateur League then spend Sunday and Monday in the Hellenic. Each and every year we traveled east across the Severn, and each time we failed to visit, but why? Continue reading →

Hearts

23 Monday Sep 2019

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Friday 23rd August 2019 ko 19.30

Gwent County League Division 2

OAK 2 (Mantle 16 Watkins 80)

USK TOWN 2 (Rodden 25 Cullinane 31)

R Hancock sent off 88 (2nd booking)

Att 178

Entry £3

Programme £1

This Welsh Hop should have been so easy to organise. We’d got the accommodation, the coach company and the league all sorted, and we’d even given the league a day’s preview last year. Even the Otley Arms in Treforest were holding a beer festival! So at the end of last season GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai had sent the Gwent League a wish-list of clubs we wanted to visit, and we waited, and when that didn’t work, we coaxed and cajoled. In the end we got the fixtures 3 weeks before the event. Continue reading →

Headquarters

30 Friday Aug 2019

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Saturday 27th July 2019 ko 13.45

Peterborough & District League Division 3

ORTON RANGERS 4 (Harber 30 72 Read 41 Fitzgerald 76)

PARKSIDE ATHLETIC 1 (Hulford 55)

Att 220

Entry £4

Programme £1

GroundhopUK’s visit to Orton Rangers may well have been unique. There’s been no end of times where the organiser has had to change a host club, but I don’t think that’s ever happened without changing ground at the same time. You can see why, normally where a groundshare exists, usually there’s a landowner, or a primary tenant. But Orton Rangers’ relationship with the Nene Valley Community Centre is a little unusual. Continue reading →

Out of the Blue

10 Wednesday Apr 2019

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Tuesday 12th March 2019 ko 19.45

National League South

OXFORD CITY 1 (Tshmanga 14p)

WOKING 2 (Little 29 Bradbury 90)

Att 347

Entry £10 (includes £2 discount as an Oxford United season ticket holder)

Programme £2

As an Oxford United supporter any trip to Court Place Farm involves an element of “What could have been” about it. So convoluted were the club’s attempts to move from the Manor Ground that back in 1993 I actually managed to convince my degree tutor that there was enough in the subject to make it my dissertation. It may have helped that the tutor was a season ticket at Enfield FC…  Continue reading →

A Tale of Two Cities

16 Sunday Dec 2018

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Friday 16th November 2018 ko 19.00

Brookes Varsity 2018

OXFORD UNIVERSITY 4 (Thelen 21p Liew 40 Cantrill 70 Coveney 87)

OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY 0

Att 499 at Iffley Road Stadium, Oxford

Entry £6

Programme FREE

When Robyn moved to Oxford two years ago the slightly schizophrenic nature of the city was something of a surprise to her. I’d shown her around the sites many months previously, and the college buildings are a beautiful must-see for any visitor. But for those of us that both are from, and live in Oxford, we live almost entirely separate lives from the university and those who teach and study there. This evening out though was a chance to sample something from the “Gown” side of Oxford, and a chance to look at another part of Oxford where one side is set against the other.  Continue reading →

Brothers

02 Thursday Aug 2018

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Thursday 7th June 2018 ko 19.00

Division 5 Sydöstra Skåne

ÖJA FF 3 (Alfred Andersson 7 Axel Andersson 8 Sebastian Andersson 24)

BLENTARPS BK 1 (Malmborg 61)

Att 97

Entry FREE

With the four of us opting to split our time in Sweden between Stockholm and the annual Swedish hop, once again based in Trelleborg, the vexed question was how we were going to travel the 650km between the two cities? I rather fancied taking the train from Stockholms Södra to Lund, then changing for Trelleborg Centrum. I suspect the journey isn’t in any Bradshaw’s Guide, but it looked fun and Trelleborg station is only around 200 metres from the hop’s current base at the Best Western Hotel Magazinet on Trelleborg’s waterfront. As ever the solution came from Swedish Hop organiser Kim Kedwall. Continue reading →

Flower of Scotland

05 Thursday Apr 2018

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Saturday 17th March 2018 ko 17.00

East of Scotland League

HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY 2 (Ward 11 34)

Dows sent off 77 (dangerous play)

Lane sent off 90 (2nd booking)

LEITH ATHLETIC 3 (Robertson 40 67 Mein 87)

Att 207 at Oriam Indoors, Riccarton, Edinburgh

It was with some regret that we crossed over the new Forth Bridge and left Fife, the county, or is that kingdom (?) had been good to us, despite the biting cold. We headed back towards Edinburgh and Riccarton, and aimed for the game that was virtually guaranteed to be on, whatever the weather! Continue reading →

Reciprocity

02 Thursday Nov 2017

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Saturday 7th October 2017 ko 16.30

Western League Premier Division

ODD DOWN (BATH) AFC 2 (Simpson 32 White 87p) Gould sent off 34 (Dangerous Play)

BITTON 2 (Knighton 68 McClennan 78) Tooze sent off 57 (2nd Booking)

Att 211

Entry £6

Programme £1

About 3 years ago I was watching a game at VfR Mannheim, in the German 5th division. I called in at the club offices to pick up a teamsheet, they spotted the foreigner in their midst (was my German that appalling? (yes)) and I was whisked away to the boardroom and welcomed to their club. I left wondering if a non-league club in my country would show the same kindness if the situation arose? Continue reading →

Finals Part 1

29 Monday May 2017

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Wednesday 26th April 2017 ko 19.30

Oxfordshire FA Intermediate Cup Final

OXFORD CITY NOMADS 4 (Landers 80 90 115p Martei 99)

BERINSFIELD 2 (Palmer 53 Hinkin 60) Palmer sent off 70 (2nd booking) Hinkin sent off 105 (2nd booking)

Att c200 at Kidlington FC

It is a quirk that either of these sides play in this competition. If Berinsfield were to transfer from the North Berkshire League to the Oxfordshire Senior League then they’d appear in the Senior Cup, and if what is in effect Oxford City’s 3rd XI weren’t playing in a the Hellenic’s rebadged former reserve section, they’d be in the Junior Cup.  Continue reading →

Unease

20 Thursday Apr 2017

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Sunday 2nd April 2017 ko 14.30

Football League Trophy Final

COVENTRY CITY 2 (Bigirimana 11 Thomas 55)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Sercombe 75)

Att 74,434

Entry £60

Programme £5

A trip to Wembley is an experience to be savoured isn’t it? It ought to be the pinnacle of your club’s ambition, and an experience where you take in every moment as if it were your last. So why did I come very close to not going, or even watching it on television? Continue reading →