Category Archives: S

Great Hewas

04 Monday Apr 2016

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Saturday 26th March 2016 ko 10.30

South West Peninsula League Division One West

STICKER 6 (Kenny 9 24 33 Dingle 16p Body 36 73)

WADEBRIDGE TOWN 1 (Marks 71)

Att 372

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

Hop organiser Phil Hiscox summed the final day’s action neatly, “You’ll be blown away at Sticker, soaked at St Dennis, but you’ll be okay at Bude.” He proved to be completely accurate!  Continue reading →

Electric Avenue

29 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Thursday 24th March 2016 ko 19.45

South West Peninsula League Premier Division

AFC ST AUSTELL 4 (Grant 4 60 Eddy 32 Watts 90)

ST BLAZEY 0

Att 451

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

I’ve probably said this before but I love attending groundhops I’m not organising. Other than the pleasure of not being on duty it’s wonderful opportunity to watch and learn. That tends to add up to two thoughts, either finding a great idea to introduce to a GroundhopUK event, or seeing something that serves to reinforce our current practice. And with the SWPL Hop being organised by Phil Hiscox, that feeling of watching and learning was heightened. Continue reading →

Life Of Pie

17 Thursday Mar 2016

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Saturday 12th March 2016 ko 17.00

Lowland League

THE SPARTANS 1 (Murray 90)

UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING 0

Att 435

Entry £5

Programme £2

Let me tell you a secret, when Chris Berezai a I do a groundhop presentation to a prospective league the explanation normally ends with the rhetorical question, “And let’s face it, there isn’t a non league club that wouldn’t welcome the financial boost a groundhop game gives, is there?” Well, I do wonder whether we did find that one club here….. Continue reading →

Snowdrops

26 Friday Feb 2016

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Wednesday 24th February 2016 ko 19.45

Dorset Premier League

SHAFTESBURY TOWN 3 (Matheszki 6 17 Bevis 25)

MERLEY COBHAM SPORTS 0

Att 95

Entry £3

Shaftesbury is one of those towns that surprises you. You are so clearly in Wessex Country, the place has the all the feel of a Hardy agricultural town, and you are only just over the border from Wiltshire! In fact so agricultural is the feel, that the famous Hovis advert with the boy pushing his baker’s bike up the hill was filmed here, by Ridley Scott, on Gold Hill. The town’s Millenium project involved the planting of 60,000 snowdrop bulbs to provide a spectacular Snowdrop walk each year! Continue reading →

Borderville

04 Thursday Feb 2016

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Tuesday 26th January 2016 ko 19.45

Northern Premier League Cup 2nd Round

STAMFORD AFC 4 (Wightwick 12 38 Duffy 19 Smith 36)

BUXTON 1 (Wiles 17)

Att 105

Entry £10

Programme £2

Over the years I’ve spotted a trend amongst groundhopppers- when a new ground opens people tend to drop everything and visit. Now I understand that completely when a ground is about to be demolished, visit now or never, but not for the new-build. After all the new-build will almost certainly lack the character of what its replaced. Stamford’s former home, Hanson’s Field was a glorious case in point. Continue reading →

The Lumpy Envelope

24 Sunday Jan 2016

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Monday 18th January 2016 ko 20.00

Premier League

SWANSEA CITY 1 (A Williams 27)

WATFORD 0

Att 20,430

Entry (Premier Lounge), programme, teamsheet, and match badge – Complimentary

People can be very kind. GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai had been offered two tickets to his home-town club, and quickly worked out that would be ideal for me to collect Bristol-based Robyn for her first ever Premier League game. Of course me being me, it turned out to be far more than either of us expected. Continue reading →

Blind Melon

11 Monday Jan 2016

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Saturday 9th January 2016 ko 14.00

Welsh League Division 3

STM SPORTS 4 (Worsley M Nessbert 48 Davenport 63 83)

ELY RANGERS 1 (K Johnson 65)

Att 80

Entry & Programme £3

It has to be said that I’m a lucky boy. I have a girlfriend Robyn who loves football, and she asked to come to one of my non-league jaunts. Now that gave me one of those problems you love to have, which ground and game to show her? I settled on an icon of the Welsh game for her first Welsh non-league game, the frankly stunning Blandy Park, home to Garw, on the basis that if she didn’t like it there, she wouldn’t like non-league full stop. Of course life never quite works out how you plan it does it? Continue reading →

The Don

07 Saturday Nov 2015

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Tuesday 3rd November 2015 ko 19.45 (delayed to 20.05)

Essex Senior League Gordon Brasted Trophy 2nd Round

SOUTHEND MANOR 3 (Fatt 32secs 53 Nolan 51) Warner sent off 45 (foul & abusive language)

SPORTING BENGAL UNITED 3 (Adewunmi 43 56 Rivera 89)

No Extra Time Sporting Bengal won 4-3 on penalties

Official Attendance 90 (this has to be a typo- I counted 18!)

Entry £6

Programme £2

Southchurch Park is the kind of place that the casual visitor could call in at, watch a game and entirely fail to pick up its secrets. It doesn’t help if you visit for a night game, as the cricket pitch next door to the Arena Stadium isn’t visible. For that’s the start of the area’s appeal. Continue reading →

The Return Of The Native

05 Thursday Nov 2015

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Sunday 1st November 2015 ko 10.30

Blackmore Vale Sunday League

STURMINSTER ROVERS 9 (Chaffey 8 49 86 87, Sprake 14 28 37 Sweatman 15 Meadowcroft 47)

TEAM GRYPHON 4 (Farrant 45 61 89 Boon 82)

Att 9

Entry FREE

No Programme

If you’re visiting Dorset it is more or less impossible to avoid Thomas Hardy’s influence. Take Sturminster Newton for example; you you stroll into the War Memorial Recreation Park, and in one corner is a house lived in by Hardy from 1876-78. He wrote “The Return of the Native” whilst there, and Sturminster Newton is immortalised in “Tess of the d’Urbervilles, ” as Stourcastle. The River Stour gurgles its way along at one end of the park. Continue reading →

Harmony In Autumn

09 Friday Oct 2015

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Wednesday 7th October 2015 ko 19.45

Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup 2nd Round

SHELLEY FC 0

SHAW LANE AQUAFORCE 4 (Priestley 43 66 83 Thornton 55)

Att 78

Entry & Programme £3

Coffee £1.20

It has to be said Storthes Hall in Kirkburton is an unusual place to watch a game. The manor house used to be mental hospital with a quite dreadful reputation, and lay derelict until bought and converted into student accommodation by the University of Huddersfield. It’s the kind of place where if you’re the kind of patron who likes to get to the ground 10 seconds before kickoff you shouldn’t try it here! Continue reading →