Category Archives: S

The Oxfordshire Day (That Wasn’t)

25 Saturday May 2019

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Saturday 20th April 2019

11.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

STOKENCHURCH 0

CHALFONT WASPS 3 (Letterman 29 42 Williams 47)

Att 234

Entry & Programme £5

15.30

15.30 Hellenic League Division 1 East

CHINNOR 1 (Knowles 54)

HOLYPORT 4 (Raply 4 45 56 Driffill 16)

Att 196

Entry £4

Programme £1

19.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

LONG CRENDON 0

YATELEY UNITED 0

Att 269

Entry £6

Programme £1

It was unusual to be in the middle of an organised hop and for me to wake up at home. But with the Hellenic Hop visiting 3 clubs all within 20 miles from home and with an elderly father to keep an eye on, it made sense to have a couple of nights back home, even if Robyn and I did miss the full English breakfasts back at the Almondsbury Interchange! I found myself harking back to the days of the North Berkshire League’s Hops too, and on arrival at Stokenchurch you could see why. Continue reading →

Bert

04 Thursday Apr 2019

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Saturday 9th March 2019 ko 19.45

North-West Counties League Division One North

ST HELENS TOWN 1 (Diggle 49)

GARSTANG 3 (Coar 12 Sailor 60 Hothersall 75)

Att 292

Entry £5

Programme £2

One of the advantages of the day’s first 3 games all being so close together was that I still felt reasonably fresh as the coach pulled into the wide expanse of the Ruskin Drive Sports Ground. As with Lower Breck and Litherland Remyca earlier we’d be visiting a ground new to the league, but here was a club with a long history of membership. Continue reading →

Adur

30 Wednesday Jan 2019

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Tuesday 8th January 2019 ko 19.45

Southern Combination Division One

SOUTHWICK 0 

SELSEY 2 (Coates 55 Miller 77) Jefkins sent off 38 (2nd booking)

Att 35

Entry £5

Programme £1

I’m not sure how I managed to miss this place. 35 years ago I regularly used to visit my aunt in Hove (actually) and since she owned a beach hut in Shoreham we regularly took the train from Hove and given that the line runs behind Old Barn Way, I must have passed here many many times. Somehow I managed to contrive to miss Southwick’s home, but I can assure you, that wouldn’t happen on a train now! Continue reading →

Save Me

06 Thursday Dec 2018

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Saturday 10th November 2018 ko 11.00

1. Celostátni Liga dorustu U19 (1st Czech U19 League)

A.C.SPARTA PRAHA 1 (Voltech 17)

S.K. SLAVIA PRAHA 1 (Cerv 23) Vit missed pen 60

No Extra Time- Sparta won 4-3 on penalties

Att c300 at the Great Strahov Stadium, Prague

Free Entry

Free Teamsheet

It was nearly midnight on Friday night and Robyn, Sim and I had been in Prague for less than 2 hours, and in the case of the other two had been in work at 3.30 that afternoon. We needed food, and since just about every restaurant had shut we found ourselves sat on a bench in Praha hlavní nádraží, Prague Main Railway station contemplating sandwiches, a Danish each, and fairly anonymous bottle of pop. Nearby there was a communal piano and a group of students were plonking out bits of Beatles songs, then the one song they really had to play given where we were. Yes, Bohemian Rhapsody….  Continue reading →

The Oldest Of The New

30 Friday Nov 2018

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Saturday 3rd November 2018 ko 15.00

E.F.L. League 1

SCUNTHORPE UNITED 3 (Clarke 60 Thomas 64 Goode 66)

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Henry 8 Brannagan 50 Nelson 55)

Att 3,665 (383 away)

Entry £22 (away end, if bought in advance)

Programme £3

Parking £3

Last season I wrote a piece about Southend United describing them as the youngest of the old, Roots Hall was built in 1955 and no further Football League club moved home until Scunthorpe United moved from the Old Showground to Glanford Park in 1988. It is a curio as the club moved before the spur that encouraged other clubs to follow suit. Continue reading →

Down To The Waterline

29 Monday Oct 2018

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Tuesday 18th September 2018 ko 19.30

Sussex R.U.R. Charity Cup 2nd Round

SEAFORD TOWN 6 (Lee 8 Rainford 23 Storer 41 Anderson 50 Guillou 75 Zabadne 85)

SOUTHWICK 1 (Lester 6p)

Att 15

Entry & Programme £5

Roughly speaking Seaford lies on the other side of the River Ouse from Newhaven, or in my terms just about as far as it as possible to get from a 5.30pm start from Oxford and make a 7.45 kick off. In this day and age you tend to assume you’ll be delayed getting past the M3 turn on the M25! But on this occasion England’s motorways decided to cooperate and I arrived at 7.25, just in time to hear two sounds…. Continue reading →

The Bucket List Ground

26 Friday Oct 2018

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Saturday 8th September 2018 ko 15.00

North Devon League- Division Intermediate 2

SOUTH MOLTON 3 (Motteram 39 M Latham 48 Jones 70)

BRIDGERULE 2NDS 2 (Parker 46 Barnwill 85)

Att 19

Free Entry

Unless you’re a groundhopper, the small Exmoor Town of South Molton is best known as being where the last stand of the Penruddock Uprising took place in 1655, or where in 1686 Lord of the Manor Hugh Squier’s philanthropy endowed the Grammar School that is now the South Molton United School. It’s a quiet place, but one to explore for a few hours, then have a pub lunch. But if you are a groundhopper South Molton, is an absolute bucket list ground.  Continue reading →

Game Of Floodlights

24 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Tuesday 11th September 2018 ko 17.30

Middlesex County League- Premier Division

SOUTH KILBURN 0

KENSINGTON DRAGONS 1 (Royes 83)

Att 21

Entry FREE

Programme £1

The hobby of groundhopping does lend itself to a little tactical planning. Take this Tuesday as an example. You know there are a finite number of grounds with floodlights so you’ve prioritised those on to midweeks when they’re in use. Then you look at which lights will get used less than others and prioritise those. The Step 7 Middlesex League schedules virtually no floodlit games; the league has few clubs with lights and so plans without taking them into account. But this one looked interesting. Continue reading →

The Big Cheese

23 Sunday Sep 2018

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Sunday 29th July 2018 ko 17.00

Peterborough & District League Division Two

STILTON FC 4 (West 38 49 80 McManus 74)

CARDEA 2 (Dandrilli 55 Yeoman 60)

Att 304

Entry £4

Programme £1

You mention Stilton and you can’t help think of cheese can you? In that sense it’s just like Cheddar, and I’m bound to comment that they attracted a lower attendance for their hop game, despite being 3 divisions higher in the footballing pyramid. Perhaps that’s an unfair comparison, as just about the only thing the two clubs have in common is the cheese. There was so much more going on at Stilton too… Continue reading →

Ruskington

14 Friday Sep 2018

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Saturday 27th July 2018 ko 19.45

United Counties League Premier Division

SLEAFORD TOWN 0

DEEPING RANGERS 1 (Simpson 17)

Att 285

Entry £6

Programme £1

There seemed to be more than simply geography involved in the coach trip from Sutton Bridge to Sleaford. We’d spent the rest of the day watching 3 games in the company of the Peterborough & District League, but were moving 2 promotions up to the top flight of the United Counties League. The level we’d be watching would attract a largely different type of hopper to this game- and that would be one who took a far greater notice of what facilities would be on offer.

Continue reading →