Category Archives: W

Bias

04 Monday May 2015

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Thursday 30th April 2015 ko 18.30

Spartan South Midlands League4 Division Two

WILLEN 0

TRING CORINTHIANS 3 (Brumwell 5 87 Wheeler-King 29)

Att 16

Entry FREE

No programme

I admit it, I’m biased against Milton Keynes. That may or may not have a lot to do with an unhappy 2-year stint working at a major bank there in the midst of the banking crisis. I hated driving there in the morning, and heading back home each evening (via a football ground of course) was a blessed release. Continue reading →

Stand By Me

17 Friday Apr 2015

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Saturday 11th April 2015 k0 19.00

North Berkshire League Cup Final

FARINGDON TOWN “A” 0

WALLINGFORD TOWN RESERVES 2 (Bone 32 Marks 59)

Att 180 at “The Heights” Potash Lane, Milton Heights (Milton United FC)

Entry and Programme £3

I don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised as when an email from NBFL media officer Phil Annets plopped into my in-tray inviting me to present the trophies at this final. I mean, why.. yes I know I’ve been behind 4 successful groundhops in the NBFL, one in rather trying circumstances, but it is only 4 and the previous day I watched Bill Gosling present the trophies on the back of 50 years service!

But if it was the reward for those hops, then credit should go to the other half of GroundhopUK Chris Berezai, and all those committeemen, and the legions of volunteers who’ve made the idea come to life. I found myself thinking of the likes of Josh Nathanielz, Jackie Cullen, Jon Radcliffe, Taff Blackshaw, Ian Stonham and Lindsay Mudie as I parked up.

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Success

13 Monday Apr 2015

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Tuesday 7th April 2015 ko 18.15

Cheltenham Association Football League- Division One

WHADDON UNITED (Winter 9 Hackett 13)

KINGS FC 0

Att 46

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

It has so be said that this has been a particularly bad season for football in Cheltenham. Cheltenham Town are rock bottom of the Football League and racing certainties to return to non-league, and other local sides Bishops Cleeve and Cheltenham Saracens are also in deep relegation trouble too. In fact you have to look to local football to find any great success, and the great irony is that the success is to be found right opposite Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road ground. Continue reading →

The Hoppers

09 Thursday Apr 2015

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Friday 3rd April 2015 ko 14.30

Northern Counties East Premier Division

WINTERTON RANGERS 1 (Start 41)

YORKSHIRE AMATEUR 1 (J Hughes 15)

Att 303

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

As large as the attendance was at Barton, I was a little worried about how well it would hold up at Winterton next up. The geography of the league meant that we couldn’t schedule our normal 4 games in a day so “Drift” could come into play. That’s where the middle game sees a fall-off in attendance as hoppers decide to head “Off piste” and attend the wide variety of simultaneous games. I was, therefore rather relieved when I saw the “Car Park Full” sign outside West Street, it wasn’t a large car park, but the message it conveyed was a good one! Continue reading →

Crossroads

11 Sunday Jan 2015

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Friday 9th January 2015 ko 19.00

FA U21 Premier League

WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Morrison 37)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (Ward 21 90 Winks 55)

Att c500 at Rush Green Stadium, Romford

Entry £3

Programme FREE

As a writer I suspect if you want to find a football ground to write about, the easiest way of find some subject matter is to head to East London. The Rush Green Stadium is on the A124 at Romford’s edge. Its now home to West Ham’s academy, although the club’s training base is still at Chadwell Heath, a few miles away, and you do wonder when the club moves to the Olympic Stadium the season after next, whether one of those bases will lost.

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A Pair of Blue Eyes

04 Thursday Dec 2014

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Tuesday 2nd December 2014 ko 19.45

Dorset Senior Cup Quarter-Final

WIMBORNE TOWN 4 (Gamble 16 60 Davison 65 Webb 72)

SHERBORNE TOWN 1 (Burton 1)

Att 91

Entry £6 (normally £9)

Programme £1.50

With the blog now roughly 600 articles old, I do get followers on social media that do so to follow the updates. It’s all very gratifying, especially when the follower is a club I haven’t visited! The downside is the guilt when I pick somewhere that isn’t a follower, so I decided to go for the safe approach and watch Wimborne! Continue reading →

Erasmus

21 Friday Nov 2014

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Wednesday 19th November 2014 ko 19.30

Western League Division One

WARMINSTER TOWN 0

RADSTOCK TOWN 2 (Metcalf 45 Harvey 45)

Att 110

Entry £5

Programme £1

Sausage & Chips £1.50

When the rains come you drive to football with the risk that when you reach your destination the game will be off. You can mitigate the risk by phoning ahead, and Twitter is a godsend to the groundhopper, but you never quite know until you turn the corner and see the floodlights shining through the trees. Continue reading →

Avoidance of Doubt

26 Sunday Oct 2014

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Tuesday 21st October 2014 ko 19.45

West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division

WELLINGTON FC 0 Fisher missed penalty 41

MALVERN TOWN 1 (Hooper 82)

Att c50

Entry £4

Programme £1

I suppose the league gives the game away that this is the Wellington that’s around 5 miles north of Hereford, not the version just a few miles from the M5 in Somerset. The Herefordshire team are Wellington FC, the Somerset club are Wellington AFC!

Or in my terms this club are the team close to the junction where I very nearly drove the wrong way up a dual carriageway! The turn-off for the village is at a point where the A49 goes from dual to single-carriageway, and I misread the white lines briefly, and was fortunate to spot an arrow pointing towards me a yard or two later. A quick volte-face saved face, so be warned! Continue reading →

Glasshouse

22 Wednesday Oct 2014

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Sunday 12th October 2014 ko 15.00

4de Nationale A

K STANDAARD WETTEREN 1 (Droessaert 90)

SPORTING WEST HARELBEKE 0

Att c270

Entry €10 (all areas)

One advantage of the Sobemai game finishing sooner than we’d planned was that we reached the East Flanders town of Wetteren earlier than we expected. The town is most famous for the explorer Émile Pierre Joseph Storms who was born here and did much to open up what is now the Congo to western influence, and expand the Belgian empire in the late 19th century. Continue reading →

Completionism

21 Sunday Sep 2014

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Wednesday 17th September 2014 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League Division One

WODSON PARK 0

BEDFORD FC 2 (Johnson 14p Rocco 87)

Att c35

Entry £4

Programme £1

 

In an odd way Wodson Park FC very nearly passed me by. On being promoted from the Hertfordshire County Senior League in 2009 the club arranged a groundshare at Ware FC’s Wodson Park home, adjacent to the Wodson Park Leisure Centre that was home.

That was too many Wodsons for my addled mind, and I didn’t spot that the club moved back to the leisure centre for the start of last season! Continue reading →