18 Thursday Sep 2014
Posted in W
Tags
On the way back from Tow Law Town I decided to pause my trip home and stop to visit something than hadn’t been in situ when I paid West Auckland Town FC many moons ago.
West Auckland play in the Northern League Division One and in recent times have made a couple of appearances in the FA Vase final here and here, but they have a far more illustrious past than that. Continue reading
17 Sunday Aug 2014
Tags
Athersley Recreation, Edward VIII post boxes, England, Geoff Horsfield, Lee Bennett, North West Counties League, northern counties east, Winsford, Winsford United
Saturday 16th August 2014 ko 15.10
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
WINSFORD UNITED 0
ATHERSLEY RECREATION 1 (Bennett 56)
Att 107
Entry £6
Programme £1.50
There are two great motorways heading north in England, the M1 and M6 but it does pay to have a series of back-up plans if you decide to take either of them on! For that the best modus operandi is the The Football Traveller, in fact I’m sure there’s been many a hopper stuck in a tail-back on the M6 that, frustrated at it all, grabs the little magazine for somewhere to go.
29 Sunday Jun 2014
Posted in W
Tags
Dorking Wanderers, Edward VIII, Elmbridge Leisure Centre, Elmbridge Xcel Leisure Centre, pillar boxes, post boxes, Walton Casuals, Walton on Thames
Saturday 28th June 2014 ko 12.00
Pre-Season Friendly
WALTON CASUALS 2 (Cove 28 Mustapha 74)
DORKING WANDERERS 2 (? 1 ? 40)
Att c20 at Elmbridge Xcel Leisure Centre, Walton-on-Thames
Entry FREE
No Programme
I haven’t got used to these June pre-season friendlies, even though this is the 3rd year I’ve seen them featured. To make it even more odd, at least one car-load of hoppers made their way to Scotland to take in a cup final marking the very end of last season. So two football seasons running simultaneously, work that one out!
08 Sunday Jun 2014
Posted in W
Tags
Banbury, Ebenezer Place, Fraserburgh, Harmsworth, Harmsworth Park, Highland League, Inverness, Scotland, Wick, Wick Academy
Saturday 10th May 2008 ko 15.00
Highland League
WICK ACADEMY 3 (Weir 9 Shearer 27 Macadie 73)
FRASERBURGH 2 (Johnston 22 Hale 78)
Att 263
Entry Comp’
Programme £1
Pain is part and parcel of being a groundhopper, it’s the yang to the ying of a wonderful ground and an exciting game. For some the pain is self-inflicted, the hopper who doesn’t count nil-nil draws travelling from Blackpool to Fakenham 3 times for example, but my ground of pain for years was Harmsworth Park. Of course if the place had have been just a few miles from where I was living at the time, Banbury in Oxfordshire, it wouldn’t have been an issue, but Wick Academy are the most northerly senior club in the UK, and a trip here took more than a little planning. Continue reading
14 Wednesday May 2014
Posted in W
Tags
Bobby Moore Lounge, FA Vase, final, Northern League, Sholing, Vase, Wembley, Wembley Stadium, wessex league, West Auckland, West Auckland Town
Saturday 10th May 2014 ko 15.00
FA Vase Final
SHOLING 1 (McLean 71)
WEST AUCKLAND TOWN 0
Att 5,341 at Wembley Stadium
Entry to Bobby Moore Lounge, Programme, and Team Sheet – Complementary (Thanks to the EMCL and the NCEL)
So, a third visit to the Vase final in three years, for last year’s final click here, and the method is more or less set in stone. You park at Hillingdon Tube station for £2, then buy a six-zone travelcard for £8.90 for the Metropolitan Line trip to Wembley Park. I could park at Bicester North and take the train to Wembley Stadium, but that’s £22, or drive but it’s £30 (£15 for Blue Badge holders) to park at Wembley. I’ve yet to find a cheaper way of doing it, and yes I did try an unofficial car park for a rock concert here once. I drove home with no driver’s window or sat nav! Yes, Wembley is an expensive place to visit, and I get the feeling that’s part of the reason why the stadium has been close to empty each of the 8 Vase Finals held at the rebuilt stadium. Continue reading
17 Thursday Apr 2014
Posted in W
Tags
Bingham, Bingham Town, Charlesworth, Jurgen Charlesworth, Kirton Brickworks, Nick Gammon, Notts Senior League, Regatta Way, Rob Hornby, West Bridgford
Saturday 12th April 2014 ko 18.30
Notts Senior League Division One
WEST BRIDGFORD 2 (Charlesworth 9 75)
BINGHAM TOWN 1 (Gammon 19)
Att 448
Entry £3
Programme £1
Badge £3
Team sheet 20p
Tea 70p
Here’s a quirk for you, West Bridgford has no streets, just roads, as when the suburb of Nottingham was built in Victorian times the word “Street” was deemed too urban! They obviously saw just how close it is to the centre, I could see Trent Bridge’s floodlights as we arrived at Regatta Way, but no streets, that’s a little odd! The ground reminded me a little of where we’d just left, at Keyworth with three pitches and a large clubhouse. All the pitches are railed off, and the show pitch has floodlights too, and there was ample space to park the dozens of cars that showed up, as for many reasons this game was organiser Rob Hornby’s trump card.
Continue reading
16 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted in W
Tags
Batman, Beeston, Christopher Dean, Jayne Torville, Jordan Alls, Notts Senior League, Rob Hornby, Wollation
Saturday 12th April 2014 k0 10.10
Notts Senior League Senior Division
WOLLATON 3 (Alls 24 46 Atkins 46)
BEESTON 0
Att 282
Entry £3
Programme £1
Badge £3
Tea 50p
I think the weather was playing tricks on us; it was one of days when you opened the curtains and saw a sunny day but stepped outside into the cold, with a cross-wind to boot! It wasn’t far to Wollaton, a district of Nottingham built around coal mining, but showing not a hint of its past. In fact the site of the pit is now two streets of houses named after the area’s most famous offspring, Olympic Ice Dance Champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Wollaton Hall nearby was used to film the last “Batman” film, “The Dark Night Rises,” the manor’s frontage acting as Bruce Wayne’s Stately Wayne Manor. Of course “Batman” is set in Gotham City, named after Gotham which is, yes, a district in Nottingham!
Groundhop organiser Rob Hornby had warned there wasn’t much parking at the Sports Association Ground so we got there early and found plenty of street parking. Of course as aficionados of the organised groundhops will testify, the first game of the day always has bacon rolls on sale! Continue reading
13 Sunday Apr 2014
Posted in W
Saturday 5th April 2014 ko 18.30
Hessenliga
SV WIESBADEN 1899 0 Pajic sent off 85 (dangerous play)
SV VIKTORIA GRIESHEIM 1 (Starck 27)
Att 290
Entry €7 (all areas)
Programme FREE
Imagine, dear reader you were to settle in the capital of the German state of Hesse. Perhaps you’d be connected to the US military, there are many bases around here, Elvis himself visited here many times during his National Service. You’d be attracted no doubt by the spas, there are still 14 springs flowing today, and the wide boulevards. It is a thoroughly pleasant city, although an essential stop should be the Jewish Memorial on the site of the former Synagogue destroyed in the Kristallnacht pogrom on 10th November 1938. But given that you’re reading this you’ll want to watch some football, and you will have a dilemma.
23 Sunday Feb 2014
Posted in W
Tags
Ayr, Ayr United, Ayrshire League, Dam Park Stadium, FA Cup, Juniors, Scotland, sjfa, Victoria, Voluntary Park, Volunteer Park, Whitletts Victoria, Whitley Bay, Yoker Athletic
Saturday 22nd February 2014 ko 14.15
Scottish Junior FA Cup 5th Round
WHITLETTS VICTORIA 4 (Holland 56 Allan 59 Balfour 69 72)
YOKER ATHLETIC 1 (Frew 42)
Att 367
Entry £5
Programme (Chinese takeaway style) 30p
Badge Comp
Tea £1
As a hopper when you can’t find anything that takes your fancy, a good option is work on the lengthy list of Scottish Junior grounds that may not be in use for much longer. I like many others had loved Benburb’s soon-to-be lost Tinto Park, and as I drove north up the M6 yet another time, I wondered if my day could be as special as a fortnight ago. I surprised myself by having as good a time as then, if not better. Continue reading
16 Thursday Jan 2014
Posted in W
Tags
Cambridge Regional College, Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup, CRC, Eastern Counties League, Fenland, Francis Tresham, Park, Peterborough, Robert Catesby, stadium, United Counties League, Wisbech Town
Tuesday 14th January 2014 ko 19.45
Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup Quarter-Final
WISBECH TOWN 1 (White 45)
CAMBRIDGE REGIONAL COLLEGE 2 (Hogan 28 Hurst 87)
Att 101
Entry £5
Programme FREE
Sausage & Chips £1.50
Tea £1
It’s odd how everything changes at Peterborough. The lands flatten and for the most part the roads become single carriageway. You’re now in East Anglia, this is arable country, and a lot of it reclaimed land at that. Continue reading
