Category Archives: P

That View

14 Thursday Sep 2017

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Saturday 26th August 2017 ko 15.45

South Wales Alliance Division Two

PENRHIWFER 0 Weston missed penalty 47

BLAENRHONDDA 2 (Jones 40 73)

Att 225

Entry £3

Programme £1

Over the years the Welsh Hop has spent in South Wales we’ve seen the lot. You’ve got basic grounds like Cefn Cribwr and you’ve got the plain jaw-dropping like Garw. We visited the equally wonderful Blaenrhondda back in the day and Chris Berezai and I are contemplating a revisit there next time round. But the QE2 Field in Penrhiwfer is one I feel that really ought to be thought of in the same terms. The catch is you’ll get sore legs seeing it from the best possible perspective.  Continue reading →

The Groundhoppers’ Gag

30 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Wednesday 16th August 2017 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League Division Two

PARK VIEW 6 (Sanchez 46 Williams 67p Gyimah 70 77 Darkwa 79 84)

BERKHAMSTED RAIDERS CFC 1 (Boyd 40)

Att 30 at New River Stadium, White Hart Lane, London

Entry FREE

It is the old groundhoppers’ joke; find a Tottenham Hotspur fan and point out that they’ve never seen their side play at White Hart Lane. The joke of course only works with a dose of OCD, Spurs’ famous old ground was and will be on Tottenham High Road, and is named, like in part, West Ham’s old ground after the nearest underground or railway station. The hopper then completes the gag by pointing out they’ve been to Coles Park, home to Haringey Borough, which actually is in White Hart Lane! Well now the humour-challenged hopper now has two opportunities to complete the joke. Continue reading →

The Legacy

06 Sunday Aug 2017

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Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 16.00

Peterborough & District League Division Two

SPALDING TOWN 2 (Coote 17 Wilson 90)

WISBECH ST MARY SAINTS 1 (McKenna 40)

Att 241

Entry £4

Programme £1

The story goes that a local man left a legacy leaving Spalding United £200,000 Pinchbeck United £200,000 and Spalding Town 2p! Now I haven’t been able to verify the account, or who or what at Spalding Town irked him, but if true if would help to explain how the UCL/PDFL hop came to be at Knight Street, in Pinchbeck. Continue reading →

The Great British Play-Off

13 Thursday Jul 2017

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Tuesday 11th July 2017 ko 18.45

Pre-season Friendly

PENN & TYLERS GREEN 0

WINDSOR FC 1 (Shafi 18)

Att c40

Entry £2

I reckon that in groundhopping circles Penn & Tylers Green have got an unnecessarily bad press. I know why, I remember the Hellenic Hop visiting quite a few of the grounds of Division 1 East at Step 6, and I know of a few southern-based hoppers that took some convincing that a trip to the Step 7 Central Midlands League Hop was a worthwhile exercise. I heard the comments, along the lines that if Division One East was little more than railed off fields than what must the level below be like? Continue reading →

Four Into Three

12 Monday Jun 2017

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Saturday 20th May 2017 ko 15.30

South Wales FA Playoff for South Wales Alliance

VALE UNITED 4 (Tominey 35 63p 86 Gregory 71)

LLANHARRY 2 (TJ Jones 18 Davies 86)

Att 116 at Pentre Park

Free entry

With the merger of the South Wales Senior and Amateur Leagues to form the South Wales Alliance a kink in the ladder in the Welsh footballing pyramid was ironed out. However in doing so another partial blockage was created, for clubs wishing to seek promotion to the Alliance. The South Wales FA’s solution to it is nothing if not ingenious though.  Continue reading →

The Bucket List

06 Tuesday Jun 2017

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Tuesday 9th May 2017 ko 18.30

Coventry Alliance Premier Division

PEUGEOT MILLPOOL 3 (Nesden 36 70 Kalu 68)

STOCKTON 3 (Grudzinski 45 R Cole 53 56)

Att 16 @ Henley College, Coventry

70 minute game

In recent years the FA Fulltime site has made the Coventry Alliance far more accessible to the occasional spectator, having all the information at your fingertips is a boon to the groundhopper. But with any low-level game you do have to build in the possibility of last-minute changes, and this game was a case in point.  Continue reading →

Deuce

09 Sunday Apr 2017

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Friday 24th March 2017 ko 19.45

Lowland League

PRESTON ATHLETIC 0 Cowan sent off (DOGSO) 53

CUMBERNAULD COLTS 2 (Brown 25 82)

Att 263

Entry £5

Programme £2

If there was ever a game I wanted to take place it was this one. On last year’s Scottish Hop Preston had seen their game called off late in the day due to a supposedly waterlogged pitch. My abiding memory of the piece was the gap in the car park where once the referee’s car once stood, he’d made a sharp exit, and club secretary Lesley Birrell in tears. We eventually ran the coaches to Civil Service Strollers (We’re still waiting for the programmes from them!) but that was no consolation to the Prestonpans club.

Continue reading →

Consideration

29 Sunday Jan 2017

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Saturday 17th January 2016 ko 17.15

Greek Superleague

PANIONIOS GSS 2 (Risvanis 25 Katharious 54)

PANETOLIKOS 0

Att 860

Entry €15

No Programme

Sat at a cafe in Monasteraki I had a dilemna. Two years ago I’d visited Athens and watched Panionios and Olympiacos, and those were our only two options on this Saturday evening. I knew that Olympiacos would have the “Wow” factor of a modern ground, but I wanted my girlfriend Robyn to get something authentically Greek so I plumped for Panionios, but even afterwards I wasn’t sure whether I made the correct decision.  Continue reading →

Refugee

29 Sunday Jan 2017

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Saturday 21st January 2016 ko 11.00

Greek Superleague K20

PANIONIOS 2 (66,68)

PANETOLIKOS 2 (48 50)

Att c70 at Dimotiko Stadio, Glyfada, Athens

Entry FREE

No Programme

It had been almost exactly 2 years since my last visit to Athens, thank you Facebook for reminding me, and part of the interest in returning was seeing what had changed. Last time out I’d certainly picked my time, it was a week before the election that saw Alexis Tsipras become Prime Minister, and Greece’s problems were manifest. Continue reading →

Having a Blast!

09 Friday Sep 2016

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Saturday 27th August 2016 ko 18.45

South Wales Alliance – Premier Division

PONTLOTTYN AFC 1 (Rowlands 76) Alias missed penalty 76

MERTHYR SAINTS 5 (L Jones 18p Hassett 28 James 39 Gardner 70 Clears 80)

Att 246

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

If there’s one club I’d have loved to have visited during their previous incarnation it was Pontlottyn. I mean, who wouldn’t want to watch a team called Pontlottyn Blast Furnace? Sadly their stint in the Welsh League ended in 2003 when they folded citing a lack of players. A new Pontlottyn rose from the ashes of the old club, and had the excellent facilties at the Welfare Ground to use. The problem for us was devilishly simple, the floodlights no longer work…. Continue reading →