Category Archives: R

The Wire

08 Monday Apr 2019

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Sunday 10th March 2019 ko 11.00

North West Counties League Division One South

RYLANDS 3 (Boothman 5 45 White 86)

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 5 (Green 10 27p Herbert 36 Harrison 68 Simpson 71)

Att 319

Entry £4

Programme £2

The final day of the hop was defined by the weather from start to finish. From the moment I glanced through the curtains at the Holiday Inn in Warrington to the moment I did the final drop-offs at Crewe station I wondered whether I’d be rained, sleeted or hailed on. At times it felt like all three simultaneously! It was one of those days where on arrival at the ground, the coach party takes it’s time to get off… why be in a rush to get cold and wet? Continue reading →

Red Roar

20 Sunday Jan 2019

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Friday 28th December 2018 ko 19.30

Northern League Division 2

REDCAR ATHLETIC 1 (Callender 90)

BILLINGHAM SYNTHONIA 1 (Kelly 37)

Att 319

Entry £5

Programme £1

“Hello, what’s your name?”

“Would you like a go?”

It was half-past midnight at a god-forsaken service station less than half-way back to Oxford. We were sat eating a barely digestible burger each and someone had forgotten to switch off the nearby Peppa Pig children’s ride, and every single minute it advertised itself. To three hoppers far from home it seemed to taunt rather than attract. I allowed a grim smile, you do need a common sense bypass to be a hopper! Continue reading →

Comparisons

17 Thursday Jan 2019

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Saturday 22nd December 2018 ko 15.00

Gloucestershire County League

ROCKLEAZE RANGERS 1 (A Boyer 41)

PATCHWAY TOWN 2 (Snook 55 Finn 84)

Att 34

Entry & Programme £2

If you’ve travelled southbound on the M32 over the last few months, you’ll have no doubt spotted a couple of sports grounds being built. On the left is Frenchay based Dings Crusaders RUFC’s new Shaftesbury Park (The Dings was a former slum area in Bristol near to Temple Meads) and I’ll be keeping close eye for an association rules games played there! The other side of the motorway, close to the intersection with the M4 is Hillside Gardens, and there’s more to the place than meets the eye! Continue reading →

The Dog That Had Its Day

17 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Monday 27th August 2018 ko 11.00

Taff Ely & Rhymney Valley League Premier Division

RHYDYFELIN 2 (Mahoney 4p 73)

Mahoney missed penalty 37

YNYSYBWL 4 (Dan Davies 39 Livock 45 82 L Price 57) 

C Jones sent off 3 (DOGSO)

Tooze sent off 37 (DOGSO)

Att 229

Entry £3

Programme £1

Monday dawned on the final day of the hop, and fortunately the rain had abated save for the odd shower. I knew I’d be approaching the day with mixed feelings, as this was to be GroundhopUK’s last day with the South Wales Alliance for the time being since we’ve run out of clubs that either want to host, can host, or we’ve not already visited.

For this hop the original plan was to start Monday at Cardiff-based St Albans, but they turned us down so the next idea was to go to STM Sports Old Boys, but the pitch they use as the University of Wales wasn’t available as the university was closed over the bank holiday. So we decided to go for a blast from our collective past. Continue reading →

Roger

04 Thursday Oct 2018

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Saturday 25th August 2018 ko 13.00

Gwent County League Division One

ROGERSTONE 1 (McIntosh 90)

NEWPORT CORINTHIANS 2 (Morgan 30p Lewis 80)

Att 201

Entry £4

Programme £1

You’d find it hard to imagine the village of Rogerstone as anything other than a sleepy suburb of Newport, a place of trees and a well-planted flower boxes at the Welfare Park. However the Park’s name hints at the area’s past.  Continue reading →

The Shop Window

04 Tuesday Sep 2018

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Friday 27th July 2018 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

RAUNDS TOWN 0

IRCHESTER UNITED 4 (Harewood 46 Lovell 57 Taylor 63 Bell 75)

Att 245

Entry £5

Programme £1

Of all the organised events GroundhopUK are involved in the United Counties/ Peterborough & District Leagues’ hop is the easiest to organise. A lot of that is down to John Weeks and Wendy Newey at HQ, it really does help when you know that if you ask a favour it’ll get done, but much as due to the high standards that the two leagues have set over the 3 previous years the hop has run. In fact the measure of how good those host clubs have been was the reaction of all concerned when the standard dropped slightly.

Continue reading →

Micawber

30 Thursday Nov 2017

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Wednesday 22nd November 2017 ko 19.45

Southern Counties East League Premier Division

ROCHESTER UNITED 1 (McGeeham 88)

DEAL TOWN 4 (Miller 39 Coyne 42 Smith 68 Paxman 78)

Att 52

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

Committee commitments had seen be unavailable since the Forgeside game and Wednesday is seldom a good day to find a game at a ground that I haven’t previously visited, and can get to after work. But in the spirit of Wilkins Micawber, something did turn up, and in Charles Dickens’ home town too! We’ll artfully ignore the fact that Rochester actually play in Strood… Continue reading →

The Old & The Young

19 Sunday Nov 2017

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Friday 27th October 2017 k0 19.15

Development Squad Fixture

RANGERS 1 (Shiels 19)

LIVERPOOL 4 (Lewis 9p Adekanye 20 Miller 32 Camacho 56) Johnston sent off 62 (Serious Foul Play)

Att c1,500

Entry £5

Let’s face it, when you think of Scottish football you really can’t avoid the Glaswegian behemoths Rangers and Celtic can you? Very much the yang to the other’s ying I suspect both clubs have grown from the obvious political and sectarian rivalry between the two clubs. But let’s make one thing absolutely clear right from the start, I cannot abide sectarianism, I’m the product of a Catholic mother and a Protestant father, after all! As for football and politics listening to slogan chanting and virtue signally leaves me completely cold. I go to football in part to escape from all that.  Continue reading →

Sounds

02 Thursday Nov 2017

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Saturday 7th October 2017 ko 13.30

Western League Division One

RADSTOCK TOWN 1 (Gregory 21og)

OLDLAND ABBOTONIANS 0

Att 213

Entry & Programme £6

The two mile trip uphill to Radstock saw us still very much in coal mining country, albeit like Welton, a place where the mines have long since given way to trees and a far more gentle pace of life. I’d visited Radstock Town’s Southfields Recreation Ground three years ago and got to know committeeman Simon “Wurz” Wilkinson, mainly due to a mutual liking for playing punk band “Stiff Little Fingers” on the PA on a cold night. Little did I know that this time round the theme would be more “Pepe Le Pew”  than “Nobody’s Heroes?” Continue reading →

Train Time

28 Wednesday Jun 2017

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Saturday 24th June 2017 ko 14.30

Pre-season Friendly

DENBIGH TOWN 4 (13p 73 77 86og)

C.P.D. LLANUWCHLLYN 2 (82 90)

Att 45 @ Ty Isa, Rhewl. (Rhewl FC)

Free Entry

And Llangollen Railway

Return ticket from Corwen East to Llangollen £15

It was a day of coincidences, another chance to watch a Welsh pre-season friendly in June, and another chance to double it up with a heritage steam train ride. This time the railway was full-sized, although the Llangollen Railway runs on tracks once part of the Ruabon to Barmouth line axed under Beeching. That route included the now Bala Lake Railway which we’d travelled on the previous week! Continue reading →