Category Archives: S

Ruskington

14 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by in S

≈ Leave a comment

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 →

The Drummer Boy

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by in S

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Saturday 28th July 2018 ko 16.30

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

SUTTON BRIDGE UNITED 5 (Sutton 19 Fowler 55 Eaton 67p 71p 75)

PETERBOROUGH POLONIA 3 (Stepien 36 Janicki 43 Wojtonicz 90) Lacina sent off 68 (2nd booking)

Att 337

Entry £4

Programme £1

We returned to South Holland, Lincolnshire, for our third game of the day and passed Sutton Bridge’s most famous landmark along the way. Sutton Bridge sits astride the River Nene, and the Crosskeys bridge is unusual in that not is it a swingbridge but it also used to carry both road and railway but was converted to just road use when the railway closed in 1965!

In medieval times the village was the closest settlement to where legend has it King John lost the Crown Jewels in 1216. A horse-drawn baggage train of his army attempted to cross the marshes without a guide, the wagons moved too slowly for the incoming tide or flood tide, and many lives were lost, together with their possessions and the jewels. John himself died of dysentery a week later! Continue reading →

Friendship

20 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in S

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 2nd June 2018 ko 19.45

International Friendly

SWEDEN 0

DENMARK 0

Att 41,558 at Friends Arena, Solna

Entry 100 sek (approx £8.62)

Programme 20 sek*

When I was putting this year’s trip to Sweden together this fixture was an obvious one to consider. The time of arrival for Robyn, Sim, Adrian and I had been set in stone, and once Swedish Groundhop organiser Kim Hedwall offered to hire a car and collect us from the airport and drive us from there to Kristinebergs IP then to our hotel, and finally to Solna the cards rather fell into place.  Continue reading →

The Rivals

07 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by in A, B, S

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Saturday 12th May 2018 ko 18.00

North Berkshire Cup Final

BERINSFIELD 2 (Ingram 43p Palmer 71) Kenny sent off 77 (2nd booking)

SAXTON ROVERS 0

Att 341

At Abingdon United FC

Entry & Programme £4

Something a little different, but perhaps it’s also just the same as normal! As a very proud committeeman at the North Berkshire League it was inevitable I’d be at our Blue Riband event, the North Berkshire Cup Final. But with Benno the press officer away attending a wedding- his own- I was pressed into service to write a report, and Robyn became official photographer. Here are the results.  Continue reading →

The Flock

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by in S

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Friday 4th May 2018 ko 19.00

Central Midlands League -South Division

SWANWICK PENTRICH ROAD 3 (G Wilding 52 Brooks 77 83)

ASLOCKTON & ORSTON 0

Att 194

Entry £3

Programme £1

If there was ever a league with a history with the organised groundhop it was the Central Midlands League. It reached the national consciousness in 2004 when the league hosted the first and so far only 5-in-a-day hop with the Times in tow to cover it! The hop also managed to be the first to feature 8 games in 48 hours in a freezing March in 2008. Who could forget the snow in Calverton? Of course at the centre of the hops were Chris Berezai at GroundhopUK and the league’s Rob Hornby. Continue reading →

Patterns

16 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in S

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Saturday 14th April 2018 ko 11.00

FA Premier U18 League

SWANSEA CITY 0

LEICESTER CITY 0

Att 113 @ Landore Training Centre

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

With the Welsh Spring Hop almost completely rejigged we left our hotel at Carmarthen a little earlier than usual. With the loss of the Carmarthenshire League’s fixtures I found myself feeling a pang of regret as the coach turned left out of the hotel and headed towards Pont Abraham and the M4. I remembered our 4 year stint in the Ceredigion League where we turned right and headed north; I don’t remember a club on those hops who didn’t host beautifully. It’s a shame we’ve completed the league and there’s no new grounds to visit. But that’s in the past sadly, and there was a trip to Swansea City’s training ground to ponder. Continue reading →

The Hammer of Tours

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in S

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 31st March 2018 ko 11.00

South West Peninsula League Division One East

ST MARTINS 4 (Watson 5 90 Davies 62 Richards 81)

ALPHINGTON 0

Att 383

Entry £4

Programme £1

Finally, an organised hop in the UK in 2018 saw a day with pleasant weather. It seemed an almost entirely different journey from Paignton to Exeter than it had been during the rain-soaked preceding two days. Robyn and I headed to Exeter’s southernmost suburbs, to the almost subsumed village of Exminster, with the austere-looking form of the former Devon Mental Hospital overlooking proceedings. The building was designed by Charles Fowler who also designed the main Covent Garden market building, and is converted to housing, but the feeling of unease still persists about the place.  Continue reading →

Reputations

22 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in S

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday 30th March 2018 ko 11.30

South West Peninsula League Division One East

SIDMOUTH TOWN 3 (Davies 32 Knight 74 83)

BUDLEIGH SALTERTON 4 (Taylor 37 Antat 49 A Boere 54 White 78_

Att 336

Hop Ticket (programmes not included) £25

Entry £3

Programme £1.50

The alarm sounded at Robyn and I’s bed and breakfast, and I didn’t need to open the curtains to check the weather, I could hear the torrents hammering the cars parked outside. Whilst the Full English breakfast was superlative, we ate in near silence knowing that the weather was at best going make watching 3 matches in a day difficult and at worst curtail the fun early. It was a day to trust Phil Hiscox the event organiser, and take what was coming. Little did we know that their would be a whole series of problems beyond the organiser’s control.  Continue reading →

Nigel of Stafford

13 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by in S

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Tuesday 6th February 2018 ko 19.45

East Midlands Counties League

STAPENHILL 1 (Gough 85)

KIMBERLEY MINERS WELFARE 3 (Bowen 32 Hassall 60 74)

Att c50

Entry & Programme £5

I sometimes wonder what a non-groundhopper makes of this blog. On one hand there are visits to some high-profile games such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s demolition of England in 2012 and games such as White Horse Abingdon where the attendance was me! People do seem to forget the commonality is that both are still football matches, but the question that isn’t answered by either is “What drives someone to drive through sleet and snow to watch over a 100 games a season?” Continue reading →

Jerusalem

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in S

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 27th January 2018 ko 14.00

West Riding County Amateur League Premier Division

SALTS 2 (Pleasance 53 59)

BRITANNIA SPORTS 0

Att c50

With an honourable mention to Salts 4th’s 4 Horton FC 1 on the adjacent pitch!

Entry FREE

Programme £1

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Blake. “And did those feet in ancient time”

Maybe when William Blake wrote what eventually became the hymn “Jerusalem he had Bradford in mind. The area was famous for being the wool capital of the world and the Industrial Revolution saw rapid expansion and industrialisation. The city grew unchecked during the early 19th century and that growth came without any thought to workers rights, or or the lives they led in or out of the workplace. The result was terrible living conditions with horrifying mortality and morbidity figures among the dark Satanic Mills but local mill owner Titus Salt chose to do something about it.

Continue reading →