Category Archives: S

Station Jim

06 Sunday Nov 2016

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Tuesday 25th October 2016 ko 19.45

Southern League Premier Division

SLOUGH TOWN 2 (Moone 24 Hollis 89)

DORCHESTER TOWN 1 (Walker 11)

Att 589

Entry £10

Programme £2

When Slough Town left Wexham Park after a rent dispute in 2003 few would have bet on two things coming to pass. The first would be 13 years later the Rebels would return to Slough less than a mile from the old ground, and the second that Wexham Park would still be standing, and still recognisable as a football ground. Under the circumstances it seemed entirely sensible to pay the old ground a visit before the new… Continue reading →

Street Football

26 Wednesday Oct 2016

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Sunday 9th October 2016 ko 14.15

Western League Premier Division

STREET 4 (Herrod 27 Murray 42 62 90p)

CHIPPING SODBURY TOWN 2 (Guest 23 Sims 71) Criddle sent off 45 (Serious foul play)

Att 291

Entry £6

Programme £1

We headed back towards Bristol for the hop’s final game in the Somerset village of Street, named it seems because a Roman road ran through where the settlement built up. The Society of Friends, the Quakers established a base here in the 17th century and one Quaker family, the Clarks set up the eponymous shoe making business here. The factory closed in 1993 (although Clark’s still has its HQ in Street) and the factory was converted into an outlet shopping centre. The Clark family leased the firm’s former sanitorium to become, in 1931, Britain’s first Youth Hostel. Continue reading →

Homecoming

03 Saturday Sep 2016

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Friday 26th August 2016 ko 18.30

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

SULLY SPORTS 2 (Briscombe 22 73p)

CANTON LIBERAL 4 (Kooper 10 Phillips 27 61 Quick 40)

Att 281

Entry £3

Programme £1

When the 2015 Welsh Groundhop finished its stint in the Welsh Alliance at Penmaenmawr Phoenix Chris Berezai and I had a few decisions to make. On one hand we loved the accommodation at Chester University, and had an excellent relationship with our coach company up there, but we were torn over which league or leagues to visit. Ideally we like multi-division leagues with no reserve teams as that allows for the hop to stay in a league for 3 or more years, but there was a clarion call from our past…. Continue reading →

Blaise

24 Wednesday Aug 2016

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Saturday 13th August 2016 ko 15.00

South West Peninsula League Premier Division

ST BLAZEY 2 (Bello 56 63) Bello sent off (2nd booking) 80

FALMOUTH TOWN 3 (Wearne 20 25 33) Wearne missed penalty 70

Att c70

Entry £5

Programme £1

The convenience of collecting Robyn from Bristol then heading south-west should never be underestimated, and after all there are no lack of hotels to book either! Those in the know will tell you there’s a seemingly inexhaustible supply of quite wonderful football grounds in Cornwall. Continue reading →

Loads Here Already

18 Thursday Aug 2016

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Sunday 31st July 2016 ko 14.00

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

SAWTRY 0

STILTON UNITED 2 (West 77 Denning 81)

Att 534

Entry £4

Programme £1

I remember last time “The Itinerant Football Watcher” Peter Miles sent me the “There’s loads here already” message. That was at the final game of the 2015 Welsh hop at Penmaenmawr Phoenix and the gate turned out to be a Welsh hop record! Our coach pulled off the A1, that message arrived again, and I hoped for something similar. Continue reading →

Bearing Fruit

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

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Saturday 9th July 2016 ko 15.00

Pre-season Friendly

SOLIHULL MOORS 1 (Hayden 68)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Thomas 54)

Att 620

Entry £10

Programme £2

For a newish ground Damson Park is far more interesting than you’d expect. It’s only been a football ground since 1998, when the stadium was constructed from the remains of a golf driving range. Have a closer look at the cover behind the goal and imagine practicing your swing… The afternoon proved to be far more interesting than the mere location though. Continue reading →

Tastes of Stockholm

23 Thursday Jun 2016

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Stockholm 1st to 2rd June 2016

This year’s visit was different, for the first time I convinced a significant other to come with me. On one hand it wasn’t too difficult to convince Robyn, all I had to do was show her the photos I took last year but this year we were a little short of time so my task was to condense the best of Sweden’s capital into a little over a 48 hours. Continue reading →

Odd One Out

16 Thursday Jun 2016

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Saturday 4th June 2016 ko 18.00

Superettan

IK SIRIUS FK 2 (Björkbaum 67 Bergman 78)

TRELLEBORGS FF 1 (Jovanovic 29)

Att 1,170

Entry 140sek (but included in hop price)

Programme 20 sek (but included in hop price)

If the Swedish Hop isn’t about one thing it was this. We’ve put on games at Allsvenskan and Superettan grounds before and the result is always the same. Organiser Kim Hedwall gets the clamour to include them but when we do, we don’t get the extra hoppers that would justify doing it more often. Now whilst Kim and I would love to see more hoppers come to Sweden each year, we are reasonably comfortable with the 20-or-so we get each year.  There was though a couple of compelling reasons to head north to Uppsala. Continue reading →

Formula

11 Monday Apr 2016

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Wednesday 6th April 2016 ko 18.15

North Bucks & District League Premier Division

SILVERSTONE  1 (Henshaw 75)

TOWCESTER TOWN 0

Att 41

Entry FREE

No Programme

Let me let you into a secret, in Silverstone there’s a car racing circuit…Shhh, don’t tell anyone, let’s just keep that fact to ourselves. Okay, yes I am joking yes this is the Northamptonshire village with the Formula One circuit next door, but there used to another circuit next door to the football pitch at the Sports & Social Club. And the beauty of it was that just about anyone could claim to have driven round Silverstone!
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Menace

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

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Saturday 26th March 2016 ko 13.15

South West Peninsula League Division One West

ST DENNIS 6 (Sleeman 6 Stone 10 Davies 46 53 Rickard 71 85) Friendship sent off 38 (violent conduct)

MILLBROOK 4 (Evans 21p 68 Chitey 36 46)

Att 306

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

The cavalcade left Sticker and snaked its way the 6-or-so miles north to St Dennis’ home Boscawen Park, or so it seemed. The difficulty of the vast majority of any 3 game-a-day hop day is the middle game tends to see drift, where hoppers go “Off Piste” to an alternate game. Now the South West Peninsula Hop in Cornwall doesn’t tend to have this issue, due to there being only one club of a higher status in the county. But on this given Saturday they, Truro City, were at home…. Continue reading →