The One That (Nearly) Got Away

01 Friday Apr 2016

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Friday 25th March 2016 ko 15.00

South West Peninsula League Division One

WENDRON UNITED 1 (Mulroy 90)

PORTHLEVEN 1 (Best 23)

Att 427

Entry £3

Programme £1

When hop organiser Phil Hiscox announced the line-up for this hop was I the only one whose eyes immediately zoomed in on one name- Wendron’s? The SWPL hop had been due to visit them on the 2010 hop but Wendron folded prior to the event, so the event was rejigged with the Friday ending at a revisit to Penzance. I’m sad to note that another club on that hop, Hayle are no longer in the SWPL and are now plying their trade in the Cornwall Combination. Continue reading →

Tin Men

29 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Friday 25th March 2016 ko 11am

South West Peninsula League Division One West

ILLOGAN R.B.L. 3 (Boone 43 Carlyon 64 Abbott-Smith 69)

PENRYN ATHLETIC 1 (Disano 57)

Att 369

Entry £3

Programme £1

I can imagine what a few may have thought when they saw Illogan’s name on the schedule of the Peninsula League Hop. A team only in its second season in the league after winning the Cornwall Combination multiple times after only a brief flirtation with the old South Western in the late 1970’s. A ground, Oxland Parc (Cornish, not English spellings here!) neatly tucked away in a residential village in the heart of Cornish tin mining country. On paper the idea doesn’t inspire, but football isn’t played on paper, and Cornish football isn’t like any other kind of football either. Continue reading →

Electric Avenue

29 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Thursday 24th March 2016 ko 19.45

South West Peninsula League Premier Division

AFC ST AUSTELL 4 (Grant 4 60 Eddy 32 Watts 90)

ST BLAZEY 0

Att 451

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

I’ve probably said this before but I love attending groundhops I’m not organising. Other than the pleasure of not being on duty it’s wonderful opportunity to watch and learn. That tends to add up to two thoughts, either finding a great idea to introduce to a GroundhopUK event, or seeing something that serves to reinforce our current practice. And with the SWPL Hop being organised by Phil Hiscox, that feeling of watching and learning was heightened. Continue reading →

Worthy

28 Monday Mar 2016

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Wednesday 23rd March 2016 ko 19.30

Somerset County League Division One West

GLASTONBURY 0 Rahn sent off 85 (2nd booking)

WELLS CITY RESERVES 1 (Pledger 2)

Att 47

Entry £3

No Programme

On the face of it, there are one or two who would look at a game at the 12th level of English football and assume that it wouldn’t be worth bothering with. A few more might look at the fact that Glastonbury won the Western League 3 times in 1948/9, 1950/1 and 1969/70 and assume that the ground is a throw-back to past glories. Inevitably, the truth is more interesting than the assumption. Continue reading →

The Tryptych

22 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Saturday 19th March 2016 ko 15.00

North West Counties League Division One

NORTHWICH MANCHESTER VILLA 1 (Martins 67) Norris sent off 90 (violent conduct)

HOLKER OLD BOYS 2 (Stanway 13 52)

Att 25 at Manchester Regional Arena

Entry £5

Programme £2

For the hopper there’s three stadiums to complete at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium. Other than the newly enlarged main stadium, there’s the Academy Stadium,  and on the other side of Alan Turing Way there’s the Manchester Regional Arena. Originally built in 2002 as a warm-up track for the City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad) for the Commonwealth Games, it’s had a history as chequered as the football club that currently calls it home. Continue reading →

A Hundred Good Points Of Husbandry

21 Monday Mar 2016

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Friday 18th March 2016 ko0 19.45

Eastern Counties League-Premier Division

BRANTHAM ATHLETIC 1 (Travis 27)

STANWAY ROVERS 1 (Hunt 64)

Att 100

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

So, another entry in the Eastern Counties League’s regular Friday night fixtures, although on this occasion the impact of playing early was a little diluted by nearby Wivenhoe playing simultaneously. You are only just in Suffolk here, in fact so close to Essex are you, that the Manningtree transmitter is clearly visible from the near goal.  Continue reading →

Fox, Fowler, & Company

20 Sunday Mar 2016

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Wednesday 16th March 2016 ko 19.30

Western League Division One

WELLINGTON AFC 1 (Woodgate 25)

CHEDDAR 2 (Ham 10p Jones 65)

Att 29

Entry £5

Programme £1

In case the league doesn’t give the game away completely, this is the Wellington in Somerset, or to put it another way, the Wellington that is neither in Telford, nor in Herefordshire! It is, however the Wellington that gave the Duke of Wellington his title; Arthur Wellesley also having the honour of the Wellington Monument erected in his name nearby. The town is also famous for being the home of Fox, Fowler and Company- the last commercial bank to issue its own banknotes, the last one circulated in 1844. Continue reading →

Strive

20 Sunday Mar 2016

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Sunday 13th March 2016 ko 12.00

Lowland League

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY 3 (Evans 7 89 Guthrie 14)

SELKIRK 2 (King 19 O’Connor 86)

Att 294

Entry £5

Programme £2

One thing to appreciate about the hop hotel in East Kilbride is that after 2 years they’d learned to cope with two coachloads of hoppers. At breakfast the plates were piled high, as we ate in anticipation of a long trip south after this game. Soon enough, it was time to head east back to Edinburgh and with all due respect to our hosts, probably the least anticipated venue on the hop. Of course, as ever, I’d got it all completely wrong! Continue reading →

Regain

17 Thursday Mar 2016

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Saturday 12th March 2016 ko 20.00

Lowland League

EDINBURGH CITY 1 (Paterson 68)

EAST KILBRIDE 1 (Hastings 24)

Att 418

Entry £5

Programme £2

Of the six grounds on this years Lowland League Hop, this one was the one I was looking forward to the most. That sense was heightened when we travelled the short distance from Ainslie Park, and as the sun set, and we travelled slowly along the A1 London Road, the towering floodlights seemed to beckon us in. The sense of history seeped from the concrete buttresses too…. Continue reading →

Life Of Pie

17 Thursday Mar 2016

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Saturday 12th March 2016 ko 17.00

Lowland League

THE SPARTANS 1 (Murray 90)

UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING 0

Att 435

Entry £5

Programme £2

Let me tell you a secret, when Chris Berezai a I do a groundhop presentation to a prospective league the explanation normally ends with the rhetorical question, “And let’s face it, there isn’t a non league club that wouldn’t welcome the financial boost a groundhop game gives, is there?” Well, I do wonder whether we did find that one club here….. Continue reading →