15 Saturday Oct 2016
Posted in M
Sunday 25th September 2016 ko 14.00
FA Women’s Superleague 2
MILLWALL LIONESSES 2 (Gaylor 22 Giddings 28)
WATFORD LADIES 1 (Mason 47)
Att c200 at The Den
Entry £5
Programme £2
On the face of it a women’s game played at the parent club’s ground wouldn’t enter the consciousness to any great degree, save for being a good excuse for my girlfriend Robyn to tick off the ground when in the area. However, there were better reasons to pay to place another visit. Continue reading
14 Friday Oct 2016
Posted in W
Tags
1907 schism, AFA, Amateur Football Association, Amateur Football Combination, Bromley, Corkscrew Hill, Dulwich Hamlet, Football, groundhopping, Kent Youth League, Southern Amateur League, West Wickham
Sunday 25th September 2016 ko 11.00
Kent Youth League U18 North
WEST WICKHAM 0
DULWICH HAMLET 6 (Wilson 19 Osideko 34 42 Histon 39 Buchan 56 Kamara 87)
Att 48
Entry FREE
No Programme
Now here’s a curiosity, a part railed pitch with hard standing near Bromley in Kent that until recently would have passed muster for Step 6. But to use a piece of groundhopping vernacular it doesn’t fall under many hopping “Radars.” But the reason Corkscrew Hill is an oddity is due to what happened in 1907.
13 Thursday Oct 2016
Posted in F
Saturday 24th September 2016 ko 15.00
EFL Championship
FULHAM 0 McDonald sent off 80 (serious foul play)
BRISTOL CITY 4 (Abraham 19 Freeman 60 Reid 68 Flint 83)
Att 20,585
Entry (Putney End- away fans) £25
Programme £3.50
Few football grounds come with a greater sense of anticipation than Craven Cottage. From when you alight the District Line at Putney Bridge and trace the towpath of the Thames through frankly well-to-do parkland you expect something special at its end and the home of Fulham FC doesn’t let you down. Continue reading
10 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in F
Tags
Cray Valley Paper Mills FC, Cray Valley PM, Fisher, Fisher Athletic, Salter Road, Southern Counties East, Southern Counties East League, St Pauls Sports Ground, St Pauls Stadium
Tuesday 20th September 2016 ko 19.45
Southern Counties East League- Premier Division
FISHER FC 0
CRAY VALLEY PAPER MILLS 3 (Jeffrey 43 Gayle 88 Bremner 90)
Att 189
Entry £7
Programme £1.50
In non-league there are all too few happy endings, so when the old Fisher Athletic lost the Surrey Quays Stadium in 2004 you wondered how long the club could last exiled 5 miles away at Dulwich Hamlet. The answer turned out to be 5 years, but their eventual demise proved to be more about financial wrongdoing than anything else. A fan owned club was quickly established to replace the old club and continued to play at Champion Hill but a return to Rotherhithe looked a distant dream. Continue reading
10 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in B
Tags
AFC WALLINGFORD, Burghclere, Football, grassroots, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Harts Lane, nbfl, North Berks Hop, North Berkshire League, Wallingford Town
Saturday 19th September 2016 ko 17.00
North Berkshire League Charity Cup Group A/ James Rennie Trophy
BURGHCLERE 2 (Lawrence 41 Matthews 53p)
WALLINGFORD TOWN 2 (Searle 70 73)
Att 169
Entry & Programme £4
Badge £3
No tour of the south of the North Berkshire League would be complete with a visit to the league’s southern outpost. The NBFL is famous for its rule that all clubs have to be less than 20 miles from Steventon Green, but who’d have thought that would mean we’d be visiting Hampshire? In fact the club have just been drawn to play away at Ventnor in the Hants Immediate Cup! Yes, I am tempted to go! Continue reading
05 Wednesday Oct 2016
Posted in C
Tags
Burrell Road, Compton, Football, groundhop, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, North Berkshire League, Watlington Town
Saturday 17th September 2016 ko 13.30
North Berkshire League Division 3
COMPTON 1 (Fisher 26)
WATLINGTON TOWN 4 (MacCormick 18 C B’Layachi 53 Appleby 67 A B’Layachi 75)
Att 180
Entry & Programme £4
There were so many reasons to want to the hop to visit Compton. For one it would be the first time in it’s 5 year run that the North Berkshire League Hop had actually visited a club in Berkshire. Then there was the Pinfold family who run the club with humour and passion, and the name was good to sell the game with, you’d be amazed how many middle-aged white men are well-acquainted with the work of LA based rap act N.W.A! But the real clincher for me was the stand! Continue reading
03 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in B
Tags
Blewbury, Bohams Road, Drayton, Football, groundhop, GroundhopUK, Kenneth Grahame, North Berkshire League
Saturday 17th September 2016 ko 10.30
North Berkshire League Division 4
BLEWBURY 4 (Crickmore 6 45p Kent 53og Jamieson 71)
DRAYTON 0
Att 123
Entry & Programme £4
Badge £3
I’d wanted the North Berkshire Hop to head to the south of the league’s footprint for some time. That meant Burghclere had to be included as the league’s southern outpost, and I soon found an excuse to pay Compton and Turnpike Sports visits. It was obvious that Compton would make good hosts, but Thatcham-based Turnpike would find hosting impossible due to lack of volunteers and the open nature of their Henwick Worthy Recreation Ground home. When Turnpike then opted to merge into Newbury FC to, in effect become their reserves it served only to reinforce that decision! Continue reading
02 Sunday Oct 2016
Friday 16th September 2016 ko 19.45
North Berkshire League Division 3
UFFINGTON UNITED 1 (Larman 49og)
MARCHAM 2 (Yallop 65 Larman 68)
Att 99
Entry & Programme £4
The North Berkshire League Hop has managed to produce plenty of memorable moments since we first visited Steventon back in 2011. Since then we’ve introduced minibuses called Rod, Jane & Freddy, been on two military bases, and seen off a Step 5 league who presumably thought that since we’re off-pyramid we don’t matter. Continue reading
02 Sunday Oct 2016
Posted in H
Tags
3G, Coggeshall, Eastern Counties League, Football, groundhopping, Haverhill Borough, New Croft, Olly Murs
Tuesday 13th September 2016 ko 19.45
Eastern Counties League – Division One
HAVERHILL BOROUGH 3 (Robson 37 69 Phillips 90) Forshaw missed penalty 17
COGGESHALL TOWN 0
Att 135
Entry £5
Programme £1
In so my ways this was a real oddity, a club born out of the much older Haverhill Rovers, but who’ve split away and moved out of a groundshare to the New Croft’s 3G pitch next door to the main stadium. But the two clubs can’t play simultaneously, Borough use the changing rooms at the main New Croft and walk across, which should make for some interesting kick-off times! But on this evening that wasn’t the half of it! Continue reading
29 Thursday Sep 2016
Posted in F, Uncategorized
Tags
Cadbury, Cadbury's, Football, Fry Club, groundhopping, Somerdale, Somerset County League, Wells City
Tuesday 6th September 2016 ko 19.30
Somerset County League- Premier Division
FRY CLUB 0
WELLS CITY RESERVES 1 (Andrews 40)
Att 48
Entry & Programme £2
At the end of the season before last many hoppers made a beeline for Fry Club as their ground was due to be demolished, with the club moving around 200 yards away. The old Somerdale was quite a ground with the “Cadbury’s” logo in the background, but as we all left we saw the new ground in progress and thought we’d seen the start of a happy ending, so I headed back expecting to find the club happily ensconced in their new ground. Of course life couldn’t be that straightforward could it? Continue reading
Football: Wherever it may be 