Second Helpings

12 Thursday Mar 2015

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Saturday 7th March 2015 ko 16.00

Mid Wales League Division One

ABERAERON TOWN 1 (James 43)

PENRHYNCOCH 1 (Nyhus 7 James 17)

Att 240

Entry £4

Programme £1

Of course the roots of the Ceredigion Hop lie with the August Hop’s 3-year stint in the Mid-Wales League. After it was all over we had 2 sides that couldn’t play on August Bank Holiday so to visit U.W.A. and Aberaeron  a “Hop-up” was organised to visit them. We wanted a Friday evening fixture so we approached Lampeter, and then the late Dai Davies at the league offered us New Quay too! We enjoyed the two Ceredigion League games so much we returned for the next 3 years!

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The Blazer Rule

12 Thursday Mar 2015

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Saturday 7th March 2015 ko 13.15

Ceredigion League Division One

FELINFACH 1 (Taylor 63)

BARGOD RANGERS 1 (Terry 14)

Att 245

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

Many years ago we at GroundhopUK organised a hop, and only one person on the committee of the league turned up to support the event. On one hand it didn’t really matter, the main thing the league does with a groundhop is schedule the fixtures, but it rankled with us to the extent that we didn’t organise another hop in that league. If you don’t have the league firmly behind you, in the long term you don’t have a hop.

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Chapel

09 Monday Mar 2015

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Saturday 7th March 2015 ko 10.15

Ceredigion League Division Two

DEWI STARS 6 (Owens 16 23 29 37 W Williams 74 Thomas 87)

S.D.U.C. 1 (Kennedy 45)

Att 174

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

When you organise the final hop of a league’s run, you always have the difficulty of putting together a schedule with clubs that aren’t necessarily ideally placed geographically. To add to that we had the necessity to put the Dewi Stars on the Saturday as the playing field is owned by the chapel in Llanddewi Brefi, and they objected to the club playing on a Sunday. Yes, that’s right, Llanddewi Brefi of “Little Britain” fame, and as I demolished an early breakfast in Carmarthen my aim for my visit was to dispel the notion of “Only Gay in the village” however funny Matt Lucas’ sketches were.

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The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Organiser

09 Monday Mar 2015

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Friday 6th March 2015 ko 19.30

Welsh League Division One

BRITON FERRY LLANSAWEL 3 (Cockings 10 Jones 60 D Hudson 73)

GARDEN VILLAGE 0 Vickers sent off 85 (2nd booking)

Att 258

Special GroundhopUK package (Entry, buffet, programme and talk on club) £10

Normal Entry £4

Programme £1

The very worst bit of being a groundhop organiser is the trip down to your base for the weekend, in this case Carmarthen. You know you’ve done all the preparation, the league is 100% behind you, the host clubs are ready, and the gazebos are being erected as you drive along the M4. You know that local journalist Chris Harte has all the programmes and badges for the event stored in his library. You’ve covered every base you can, but still the nagging doubt is always there, what could go wrong, and what will go wrong, yes something will, you are dealing with people not robots after all. Yes, its a lonely drive down, even if you’ve got (as I did) passengers. Continue reading →

Countywide

05 Thursday Mar 2015

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Wednesday 4th March 2015 ko 19.30

Staffordshire County Senior League Division One

LEEK C.S.O.B. 4 (Bown 3 Pointon 46 57 83)

KEELE UNIVERSITY 0

Att 62

Entry FREE

Teamsheet FREE

Tea 50p

We really should start with the obvious, it’s County School Old Boys! From a groundhopper’s perspective they were the North West Counties League club that shared at Leek Town. Most hoppers don’t seem to be interested in a ground’s second club, so for many years they sailed under many people’s radar, mine included.

All that changed with their resignation from the NWCL at the end of last season. They took their reserves place in the second tier of the Staffs County League, and moved to Pointon Park, in Cheddleton, some 4 miles south of Leek. That is where its starts getting interesting. Continue reading →

Dark Times

02 Monday Mar 2015

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Tuesday 12th February 2008 ko 19.45

Northern Premier League Division One North

ROSSENDALE UNITED 0

BAMBER BRIDGE 1 (Salmon 36)

Att 146

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

A week or two I told the sad story of Mile Oak Rovers & Youth and how gut-wrenching it was to be at their final ever game. This tale also ends with the club’s extinction but the reason for the club’s demise proved to be more complicated.

Rossendale is a borough in Lancashire, consisting of a clutch of mill villages in the Blackburn and Burnley area. In this quitessentially footballing hotbed the club played in Dark Lane, Newchurch, near Rawtenstall. They were formed in 1898 and worked their way through the Lancashire Combination, the Cheshire League, and into the North-West Counties League. Continue reading →

Vital Signs

01 Sunday Mar 2015

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Saturday 28th February 2015 ko 14.30

Anglian Combination Division Two

BECCLES CAXTON 3 (Gorbould 18 Hume 42 Scriven 64)

WELLS TOWN 5 (Brewster 9secs 85 Harrison 55 Moss 68 78)

Att 9

Entry & Programme £2

As you clock up the ground visits, you soon pick up on the clubs that are in crisis. There’s the vital signs you see the absence of, the club taking a series of beatings, the quick turnover of players, the down-at-heel feel of the ground. You turn up, you commiserate, you watch the game, and you leave with a heavy heart.

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Individuality

27 Friday Feb 2015

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Wednesday 25th February 2015 ko 19.30

Western League Division One

CHARD TOWN 1 (Chlopecki 38)

ROMAN GLASS ST GEORGE 2 (Hamilton-Dunn 42 88)

Att 62

Entry £5

Programme £1

When groundhoppers talk over a pint, often its ground quirks that dominate the conversation. If the topic of sloping pitches comes up you soon find out who’s been to Chard or not. Put simply the ground at Zembard Lane is the slope to which all other slopes are compared.

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The Mini Driver

26 Thursday Feb 2015

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Tuesday 24th February 2015 ko 19.45

Hampshire Premier League Cup Semi-Final

BAFFINS MILTON ROVERS 3 (Watts 18 Couzens 47 Burnley 90)

WINCHESTER CASTLE 0 Pickett sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 36 at Liss Athletic

Sometimes when I reflect on what I’ve watched and where I’ve been I do spot an obvious pattern. Here for a variety of reasons I’ve seen quite a bit of the Wessex League and its footprint. Perhaps its because its easy enough to reach, just a blast down the heartily boring A34, but you know what that means though, time to seek out the little gems somewhere else!

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Diverse Relations

20 Friday Feb 2015

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Wednesday 18th February 2015 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

BUCKINGHAM TOWN 1 (Cleere 81)

NORTHAMPTON O.N. CHENECKS 4 (Underwood 47 75 Hancock 65 Ogden 88)

Att 50

Entry £4

Programme £1

Life hasn’t been easy to Buckingham Town, from their high point of Southern League membership and their 1985 FA Cup 1st round tie at home to Orient, the succeeding years have been characterised by a near constant struggle. They were relegated back into the United Counties League in 1998 knowing that the road down to Ford Meadow was too narrow for them to be promoted back. Continue reading →