My English Friends

28 Monday Apr 2014

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Wednesday 23rd April 2014 ko 19.45

Western League Premier Division

ODD DOWN (BATH) 3 (Hunt 41 Jones 50 Hiroli 55)

BITTON 1 (Corrick 81)

Att c60

Entry & Programme £6

Badge-  Comp’

 

I’d had no intention of watching anything more under lights in the UK this season, but when my mate Andreas was over from Germany and decided he was going to Odd Down, it was an easy decision to join him. Apart from anything else I’d had a postponement a few weeks earlier report here so the place owed me a game, and it turned out to be an inspired choice, as I had an answer provided to a question I’d been pondering for a week or two. Continue reading →

The Dandridges

28 Monday Apr 2014

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Tuesday 22nd April 2014 ko 18.45

North Berkshire League Division Three

HANNEY UNITED 4 (Bishop 3 22 N Pimm 11 Harris 66)

BENSON LIONS 0

Att 3

Entry FREE

No Programme

I think Premier League pitches should take a leaf from Hanney’s book and have daisies in the grass. I’m not sure whether it would improve the football, but perhaps the quintessential Englishness could manifest itself in fairer play? Maybe not, but this was a wonderful excuse to watch a game in a location that could only ever be in England.

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Thoughts

25 Friday Apr 2014

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Monday 21st April 2014 ko 18.00

Northern League Division One

NEWTON AYCLIFFE 1 (Hedley 4)

SHILDON 1 (Wood 68p)

Att 446

Entry £6

Programme £1

Badge £3

Its felt like the end of an era as the cavalcade reached the Newton Aycliffe Sports Ground. There were a few tired legs and still more tired faces, including organiser Harvey Harris. I managed to spend a few minutes with him and thanked him for his efforts, organising one hop a year isn’t easy, 4 including this hop, a monster 4 day 11 game epic is tough, very tough. He seemed pleased to be hanging up his boots, and I don’t blame him for that, the League will organise a staggered kick-off day, not a hop, next season so that people can keep up with new teams and grounds to the league. That day will be in co-operation with the hopping diary, so I’ll look forward to seeing, once again my friends in the North.

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The Icon

25 Friday Apr 2014

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Monday 21st April 2014 ko 15.00

Northern League Division One

SPENNYMOOR TOWN 4 (Graydon 13 Capper Taylor 80 90p)

TEAM NORTHUMBRIA 1 (Sayer 85)

Att 627

Entry £6

Programme £1

Badge SOLD OUT

If there was one ground that convinced me to attend the last day of the hop it was the Brewery Field. It has always been the home of football in Spennymoor right from when the first club Spennymoor United was formed in 1904, and took over the lease from Tudhoe Rugby Club. The ground used to belong to B. P. Junor’s ‘Tower Brewery’, hence the name ‘The Brewery Field’

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Past Glories

24 Thursday Apr 2014

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Monday 21st April 2014 ko 12.00

Northern League Division One

BISHOP AUCKLAND 8 (Megran 25 45 Hodgson 37 Hawkins 43 Lawson 48 Brunskill 57 64 Lane 70)

CROOK TOWN 1 (Davis 58)

Att 434

Entry £6

Programme £1.25

Badge £3.50

In many respects this season cannot finish quickly enough; yes you’ve read that correctly, but don’t worry, I’ll still watch the usual bucket-load of games while I can. I was and am tired, and when the Northern League announced the last of their reunion hops, it looked like a good excuse to have Easter away from the organised hops for the first time in a long time. That’s nothing against Harvey Harris, Mike Amos and the Northern League, they are lovely people to deal with, but time with family and friends looked a good option for me. Until I was sat in the pub on Saturday and GroundhopUK’s Chris Berezai phoned, should we go and support the event on its fourth and final day? On go on then….

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Whimper

23 Wednesday Apr 2014

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Saturday 19th April 2014 ko 15.00

Conference North

VAUXHALL MOTORS 2 (Tames 32 Clair 60)

WORKINGTON 1 (May 42)

Att 166

Entry £10

Programme £2

Badge £3.50

It’s a quirk of Rivacre Park that you use a different exit from the M53 to reach it than you do for the car plant. Nominally at least you’re in Ellesmere Port, the Cheshire town lying on the south side of the Manchester Ship Canal from the Wirral. It’s a town built on industry generally, and the efforts of the likes of Thomas Telford and William Jessop specifically. If you’ve not been here, but you own a Vauxhall Astra car, then do drive here, your car will be returning home! Continue reading →

Train Tracks

20 Sunday Apr 2014

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Wednesday 16th April 2014 ko 18.30

Oxon Senior League Division One

YARNTON 2 (Bunce 39 Marsh 44)

EYNSHAM 3 (McCudden 58p Glossop 63 69)

Att 28

Entry FREE

Programme No

Given that this pretty village is only about 4 miles from Oxford, on the A44 towards Woodstock it was high time I ticked this one off. In fact as I arrived committeeman Gary spotted me and laughed, “About time too!” I’d seen Yarnton twice last season, once at Chalgrove and once at Northway, and let’s face it, on a warm evening why wouldn’t you want to be in an English village with over 4,000 years of history?

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Escarpment

18 Friday Apr 2014

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Tuesday 15th April 2014 k0 18.30

Spartan South Midlands League Division Two

ASTON CLINTON 3 (Roberts 2 57 68)

MURSLEY UNITED 1 (Hutchinson 72)

Att 12

Entry FREE

Programme NO (Old copy FREE)

The trick when you visit this Buckinghamshire village is to travel to Wendover, then along to the village via RAF Halton. The road takes you along the edge of the limestone escarpment on the very edge of the Chiltern Hills, and there’s a layby with a spectacular view of the topography to the west out towards Aylesbury, including Aston Clinton Park, the football club’s current home. The car manufacturer Aston Martin takes its first name from the village combining it with that of its co-founder Lionel Martin, Martin raced specials at Aston Hill nearby.

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Permutations

17 Thursday Apr 2014

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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.
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Old Dalby

17 Thursday Apr 2014

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Saturday 12th April 2014 ko 15.40

Notts Senior League Senior Division

KEYWORTH UNITED 3 (Clarke 4 51 Crawley 35)

SANDHURST 2 (Clarke 8 Bradford 45) Abbott sent off (2nd booking 37)

Att 372

Entry £3

Programme £1

Teamsheet 20p

Tea £1

Other than being the town where shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Ed Balls was brought up, the pretty Nottinghamshire town is also where the British Geological Survey is based. I’m not sure whether their seismographs recorded the best part of 400 groundhoppers heading for the local football team, but Platt Lane was certainly busy! Even a Panda Car crawled along taking a disbelieving look at proceedings; I wish the club has tried to sell those inside a programme!

The ground is perfect for an ambitious county league team, with its spacious clubhouse, railed off pitch and recently installed floodlights. Should the club be successful and want promotion, there is certainly the potential here to build an impressive ground.

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