Category Archives: T

Testing

16 Sunday Oct 2016

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Tuesday 4th October 2016 ko 19.45

Southern League Cup 1st Round

AFC TOTTON 2 (Watts 64 Gosney 85)

WINCHESTER CITY 3 (Jenkinson 33 57 Wilson 89p)

Att 157

Entry £6

Programme £2

I think there’s a missing entry in the great groundhopping lexicon. There needs to be word or term for a ground you haven’t visited despite being it easy to get to, and you’ve visited plenty further away beforehand. For me, AFC Totton would be an extreme example, it’s easy enough to get to from Oxford, it’s been open since 2010 and to make things worse I actually managed to visit the adjacent Little Testwood Stadium, home to Totton & Eling four-and-half years ago!! Continue reading →

Motivation

08 Monday Aug 2016

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Saturday 30th July 2016 ko 16.30

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

THORNEY 3 (Gallacher 71 Lodzian 80 Rayner 87)

LEVERINGTON SPORTS 4 (Reed 19 Kudaba 54 64 90)

Att 203

Entry £4

Programme £1

There are many reasons why a club would want to host a hop game. For some it’s purely a fundraiser, for others it’s the chance to bring the community together. I remember for Berinsfield it was a charm offensive, and for the likes of Films SK in Sweden it was to show off their beautiful country. For Thorney though, the motivation was a first, and completely different. Continue reading →

Uncertainty

31 Tuesday May 2016

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Saturday 21st May 2016 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division 2

TATA STEEL P

CHEPSTOW TOWN P

Thursday 26th May 2016 ko 18.45

TATA STEEL 1 (M Lewis 59)

CHEPSTOW TOWN 1 (Murphy 68)

Att 17

Entry £4

Programme £1

Unless you live outside the UK and South Wales in particular you can’t help but have noticed the problems that have befallen Port Talbot. The town is dominated by steel production, so the decision by the steelworks owners Tata to sell the loss-making plant has the potential to be devastating for the area. At the moment the owners, unions, politicians and potential buyers are trying to find a way forward. Until a conclusion is reached the area collectively holds its breath. Continue reading →

Worthiness

18 Monday Apr 2016

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Saturday 9th April 2016 ko 14.30

North Berkshire League Division Two

TURNPIKE SPORTS 1 (Brookes 90)

STANFORD-IN-THE-VALE 1 (McCarthy 8)

Att 24 at Pitch 5, Henwick Worthy Recreation Ground, Thatcham

Entry FREE

No Programme

I remember when Thatcham-based Turnpike Sports applied succcessfully to join the North Berkshire League. It was 2012 and I’m sure one or two others at the AGM like me raised an eyebrow and wondered where on earth they were from! They were formed in 2007, formerly Thatcham Town’s reserves, but splitting away to form their own club. They transferred out from the Reading, now the Thames Valley Premier League to the NBFL and were placed in Division 4 but won two championships in the last two seasons to get where they are now. Continue reading →

The Tinners

28 Thursday Jan 2016

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Saturday 23rd January 2016 ko 15.00

National League South

TRURO CITY 4 (Green 8 Jay 14 Vassell 45 54)

MAIDENHEAD UNITED 4 (Tarpey 42 53 80p 89)

Att 390

Entry £12

Programme £2.50

If ever there was a success story in an unlikely place it’s Truro. Deep in Cornwall, and rugby union country, the county has never had a Football League club, and even the league they started their meteoric rise from, the South-Western League was established in part to supply players for Devonian Plymouth Argyle! Due to its geographical isolation Cornish football has tended to exist in a fascinating, if slightly separated life from the rest of English football. Continue reading →

Oh I do like to be…

03 Thursday Sep 2015

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Saturday 29th August 2015 ko 16.45

Welsh Alliance Division One

TREARDDUR BAY UNITED 4 (Murphy 6 A Thomas 17 28 C Williams 47)

ST ASAPH CITY 3 (J Jones 47 86 Johns 74)

Att 304

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

From our first two games in agricultural Anglesey, the third saw a complete change of locale. We headed north-west and on to Anglesey’s smaller brother Island, Holy Island. Its best known for the port town of Holyhead, and the ferry over to Ireland, but just west of there is the holiday village of Trearddur Bay. Continue reading →

Class

16 Sunday Aug 2015

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Sunday 2nd August 2015 ko 10.45

United Counties League Division One

THRAPSTON TOWN 4 (Whiteman 19 Morgan 27 Parkin 34 Hope 46)

ST NEOTS SAINTS 1 (Ageymang 87) Osei-Addo missed penalty 49

Att 257

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

Here’s a thought. If I was the chairman of a club about to host a game on a hop organised by GroundhopUK, the slot I’d want is the first game on the Sunday. That is of course at variance with just about every club official I’ve spoken to when we first ask their club to host! There is always resistance to moving fixtures, it’s why for example we were turned down for a hop by the Highland League recently, but when you look at the the various time slots, there are some fairly startling conclusions to be found. Continue reading →

Dickie Davies’ Eyes

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

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Tuesday 21st July 2015 ko 19.15

Pre-Season Friendly

TRETHOMAS BLUEBIRDS 1 (Spain 3)

BARRY TOWN UNITED 1 (Fahiya 89)

Att c200

Entry £3

Programme £1

When I was growing up in Oxford my footballing routine was to cycle to my grandmother’s house before heading off to the Manor Ground. Afterwards Dad and I would have a cup of tea in willow-pattern cups whilst watching the football results on her Rediffusion television.

Sometimes it was on the BBC’s “Grandstand,” and sometimes is was on ITV’s “World of Sport.” If it was the ITV option then there was the added bonus of the rugby results, both Union and League too. Now I soon wondered where all those football and rugby clubs were, and I’m indebted to Dad for simply handing over the road atlas and telling me to look them up for myself, although I haven’t quite forgiven him for the likes of Port Vale and St Mirren! But those Welsh rugby clubs held an almost exotic quality for a small boy from the shires, and as I travel from town to town its wonderful to link what I’m seeing back to that Rediffusion TV. Continue reading →

Mistress

24 Sunday May 2015

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Saturday 23rd May 2015 ko 14.15

Maidstone & District League Premier Division

THREE SUTTONS 2 (Barham 22 Todd 68)

WEST FARLEIGH 2 (Nibbs 33 Foster-Couch 44)

Att 39

Entry FREE

No Programme

When the games begin to run out at the end of the season, you also have to contend with the possibility that sides will simply decide not to bother playing the game. It doesn’t help when some leagues award those ties as 0-0 draws; you can actually be better off not playing which can’t be a good thing. My original idea was a Middlesex League game at Paddington Elite, but the visiting team couldn’t raise a side so I cast my net a little wider. With that propensity for call-offs having two games in the same league less than 3 miles apart looked a good plan for me, the idea being is there were no signs of life at the first, simply drive on to the second! Continue reading →

Grand Day Out

29 Sunday Mar 2015

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Sunday 22nd March 2015 ko 15.00

Lowland League

THREAVE ROVERS 2 (Struthers 7 Donley 43) Miller sent of 87 (violent conduct)

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY 3 (Daniels-Yeoman 12 Aitken 61 Ward 81)

Att 462

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

Here’s a first for you, has a groundhop every visited a club named after a tea rooms? The club is named after the café in Castle Douglas where it was formed in 1953. The tea rooms in turn were named after Threave Castle, and Threave is derived from the Welsh term “Tref,” meaning homestead. Perhaps that’s why we used two Welsh coaches for the weekend! Continue reading →