Category Archives: W

Rocks

17 Sunday Jun 2018

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Tuesday 1st May 2018 ko 18.30

Banbury Charity Cup Semi-Final

BODICOTE SPORTS 3 (Gibbs 2 62 Reeves 90p)

BISHOPS ITCHINGTON 5 (Kostiuk 25 28 Adair 39 Cooper 44 Bennett 45)

Att 21 at Wroxton Sports FC

Entry £3

One of the many advantages I had whilst living in Banbury was that you can drive out of the town and within 5 minutes be in the countryside with little or no reference to the build-up areas you’d left behind.  Of course in this part of world straddling the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border you’re in the area where the much of the English Civil War was fought, just about every village has a castle of some description. Continue reading →

A New Hope

21 Monday May 2018

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Sunday 15th April 2018 ko 11.00

Bridgend & District League Division One

WICKED 4 (Picton 11p Griffiths 50 86 Davies 56)

GARTH VADER 3 (Evans 26 Vincent 47 Richard Boydell 77)

Att 47 at Coychurch Recreation Ground, Bridgend

Entry & Programme £2

Chris Berezai and I get it, we really do- some hoppers don’t do Sunday football. But last year’s Welsh Spring Hop saw something special. We’d been let down by Gorseinon FC who’d refused to play on a Sunday at Pontlliw so needed a replacement game. Chris approached Richard Boydell at Garth Vader and something magical happened. Continue reading →

Fulfilment

09 Monday Apr 2018

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Tuesday 20th March 2018 ko 19.45

Hertfordshire Senior County League Premier Division

WORMLEY ROVERS 3 (Linger 26p 56 90)

SANDRIDGE ROVERS 2 (Jarvis 43 Chanhunduza 72)

Att 35

Entry FREE

At Step 7 in the south you can spot the ambitious clubs a mile off. In Wormley’s case that’s almost literally the case, you see the floodlights as you turn into Church Lane. You’re in Hertfordshire suburbia here, and there are no end of potential rivals for Wormley, by means of an example I passed Cheshunt’s ground on my way here.  Continue reading →

Resource

02 Friday Mar 2018

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Saturday 24th February 2018 ko 11.00

EFL Youth Alliance North-Western Division

WREXHAM AFC 4 (Freeman 45 Bulkeley 65 75 82p)

ACCRINGTON STANLEY 0

Att 64

Entry & Teamsheet FREE

We’d have liked a 3rd Welsh Premier League game on the Saturday’s itinerary. You could see why that wasn’t made available to us, it would have been virtually impossible to have got a visiting team to travel (potentially) the length of Wales for an 11am kick-off. We tried to get the second tier Cymru Alliance involved but as in the past were rebuffed, so it was time to get creative.  Continue reading →

New Beginnings

19 Sunday Nov 2017

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Tuesday 24th October 2017 ko 19.45

Combined Counties League Premier Division

WALTON & HERSHAM 1 (Okai 68)

BEDFONT SPORTS 0

Att 126 at Elmbridge XCEL Sports Hub

Entry £8

Programme £1.50

A few weeks ago Robyn and I were fortunate enough to attend a funeral. That’s not a sentence I often write but it was a privilege to be at Walton & Hersham’s final game at Stompond Lane. For the sadness, at the fact that the old ground was falling to pieces, and the club were and are moving into a uncertain future. But as we walked away it did feel that we’d only told half of the story. So here’s the other half. Continue reading →

The Invisible

12 Sunday Nov 2017

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Saturday 14th October 2017 ko 11.00

Bedfordshire County League Division One

WIXAMS 4 (White 5 Tibbett 1 Natola 36 Battams 59)

SANDY 1 (Beall 64)

Att 125

Entry FREE

Programme £2

Bedfordshire Hop organiser Craig Dabbs and I have reached the point where we can look each other in the eye and know exactly what the other is thinking. Because his Bedfordshire is my North Berkshire and in so many ways the two hops have similar, clubs, clienteles and aspirations. The issues he has making this hop work are so similar to my own, and as I was working to make my game at the Diamond Light Source work, he was doing the same at AFC Kempston. One thing Craig did managed to do that was new to me though was putting on two games at places that I couldn’t find on a map. Continue reading →

Waffley Good

01 Wednesday Nov 2017

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Saturday 7th October 2017 ko 10.45

Western League Division One

WELTON ROVERS 3 (Smith 27 Pile 42 90)

KEYNSHAM TOWN 1 (Curnock 4)

Att 247

Entry £6

Programme £1

We picked our way along narrow roads through the Mendips, the windscreen wipers shooing away fine drizzle. Julian French at the league proved to be spot on, we’d see rain at the first of the four Saturday hop games, but then it would be dry for the rest of the day. But why was I singing Flanders & Swann songs with fellow hopper Michael Squires? Continue reading →

Sham 17

19 Thursday Oct 2017

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Tuesday 19th September 2017 k0 19.45

Combined Counties League Premier Division

WALTON & HERSHAM 7 (Hornby 13 Abdul 23 59 78 J Newton 41 Nkoma 70 83)

CHERTSEY TOWN 0 

Att 225

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

I worry for the Swans. I have no connection with Walton or Hersham save for a visit to the ground 10 years ago. But on a slightly dank Tuesday night I was faced with an option. Either head to watch Walton Casuals at the new Walton Sports Hub or revisit Stompond Lane to see what looked like being the Swans last game at the historic ground.  Continue reading →

Stars

17 Tuesday Oct 2017

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Saturday 16th September 2017 ko 16.15

North Berkshire League Division One/ James Rennie Trophy

WESTMINSTER 5 (Connolly 18og Younie 26 72 75 78) Hughes missed pen 5 Hickey sent off 65 (Serious Foul Play)

NORTH OXFORD 1 (Hamis 19) Ward sent off 88 (2nd booking)

Att 108 at Appleton Sportsfield

Entry by programme £4

In planning this event I’d come close to drawing a blank with where to head for our last game. An option was Ardington & Lockinge but I want the hop to visit there next season, and another was Hagbourne United but the Parish Council’s habit of booking out their clubhouse at short notice causing late postponements made that a non-starter. The answer came when I was doing a spot of stadium announcing for the NBFL’s War Memorial Cup Final, and Westminster were one of the finalists. Continue reading →

The Devil’s Dyke

13 Sunday Aug 2017

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Sunday 30th July 2017 ko 17.00

United Counties League Premier Division

WISBECH TOWN 2 (Beck 2 Ford 45) Fairweather sent off 90 (2nd booking)

WELLINGBOROUGH TOWN 1 (Dowling 50)

Att 433

Entry £6

Programme £2

On the face of it Wisbech Town ought to be in the Eastern Counties League. The Fenland Stadium famously sits the width of a dyke on the Norfolk side of the border with Cambridgeshire. It was to be GroundhopUK’s first and probably only foray into Norfolk at Step 5 or 6 and that dyke was making it’s presence felt.

Continue reading →