Elegance

08 Friday Mar 2024

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Saturday 2nd March 2024 ko 11:00

North West Counties League Premier Division

LONGRIDGE TOWN 2 (Homson-Smith 20 Marshall 45)

PADIHAM 3 (Price 27 Brownhill 37 James 79)

Att 438

Entry £7

Programme £2

It was odd having the hop base in Blackpool, way out of season. We were staying on the seafront at the grandly named Savoy Hotel. It was superlatively convenient, the car park was large, there was a tram stop by the entrance and the name was impressive enough for Robyn to wonder what sort deal GroundhopUK had managed to get?

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The Groove

07 Thursday Mar 2024

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Friday 1st March 2024 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Division One North

FC ST HELENS 1 (Hall 24)

Hall penalty saved 21

DAISY HILL 0

Att 504*

Entry £5

Programme £2

Maybe it was the weather, or maybe it was being in such a groove with Step 5/6 hops another GroundhopUK event seemed little more than a continuation of what had finished last October at Billingshurst. Of course there were massive differences, a shift in locale from Sussex to the North West for one but such is the preponderance now of hop in leagues at that “Sweet Spot” of Steps 5 and 6 as part of the organising team there is usually very little that a club can do that will really surprise us. And yet on this weekend, one club managed to do precisely that.

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2500 & Glentoran

27 Tuesday Feb 2024

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Saturday 17th February 2024 ko 15:00

IFA Premiership

GLENTORAN 8 (Fisher 3 45 Burns 18 O’Connor 27 35 54 Junior 67p Lindsay 90+3)

NEWRY CITY 2 (Salley 10 Carroll 82)

Att 1,725

Entry £13

Programme £4

Glentoran socks £5

When people discover I’m a groundhopper I tend to get asked two questions. One is how many grounds I’ve visited, which is easy enough to quantify and the second is what is my favourite? Back in the day that was more difficult, do I give a ground most will know about like the Nou Camp or something I loved like Hastings United that isn’t quite as well known. Then 10 years ago I headed for Belfast, visited Glentoran and ever since it’s been 2,500, and Glentoran.

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Shamrock

25 Sunday Feb 2024

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Friday 16th February 2024 ko 20:00

IFA Championship

PORTADOWN 2 (Mayse 69p 90)

BALLYCLARE COMRADES 2 (Roohi 41 Hassin 52)

Att c1,000

Entry £8

Teamsheet FREE

The plane landed at Belfast City Airport and I allowed myself a wry smile at the oddity that is residents of Great Britain flying to Northern Ireland. We’re hardwired to expect a plane flight to result in us landing in a different country, so having no passport control, and paying for the hire car in Sterling was convenient, if a little unusual!

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A yard here or there

15 Thursday Feb 2024

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Saturday 10th February 2024 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Cup- Quarter Final

MARCHAM 6 (D Murphy 18 47 80 Webb 30 Legge 82 Saulter 89)

UFFINGTON UNITED 1 (Terrana 11)

Att c25 at Moreland Road

Free Entry

I’m sure someone will read this and think, “Didn’t the 2014 North Berks Hop visit there?” and dear reader, you’d be right, to a point. A few weeks ago I found some of the e-shots we’d used to try to advertise that hop as I was under no little pressure that year- the Eastern Counties League tried to schedule against us. For Marcham the selling point was “Come now why you still can” as despite there being an Iron Age burial site underneath the pitch the ground was destined for housing. Continue reading →

Just Like Watching Brazil

31 Wednesday Jan 2024

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Saturday 27th January 2024 ko 14:00

Witney & District League Division 2

LEAFIELD 1 (I Ribeiro 19)

YARNTON A 2 (Fouracre 26 Payne 46)

Att c10

Free Entry

If it’s my lot to slowly visit all the grounds of the Witney & District League like this, I’ll be quite happy. I’d remembered passing by Leafield between Milton-under-Wychwood and Minster Lovell on the first Witney Hop and wondering why I hadn’t put them on too! The truth of it, is that my geography of this part of West Oxfordshire wasn’t great, and in any case I was happy with the clubs we visited back in 2019.

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Update

25 Thursday Jan 2024

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Saturday 20th January 2024 ko 15:00

Hellenic League Division One

LONG CRENDON 2 (Richardson 32 Bartley 90+4)

FC BRISTOL 5 (Plummer 47 75 80 Miller 69 Collins 70)

Att c40 at Oxford City FC

Entry & Programme £6

It was a day of frozen pitches, or to put a more positive spin on things a time to make use of 3G pitches. In my part of the world that added up to whoever happened to be using Oxford City‘s 3G pitch. I looked, saw it was Long Crendon, and smiled.

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The Lasses

22 Monday Jan 2024

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Sunday 14th January 2024 ko 13:00

FA Women’s Cup 4th Round

SUNDERLAND AFC WOMEN 0

SOUTHAMPTON FC WOMEN 2 (Wilkinson 55 88)

Att 300 at Eppleton Colliery Welfare, Hetton-le-Hole

Entry £10

Once Robyn and I had decided that the trip to watch Carlisle United was going to be 3-day affair, then I knew we’d have no end of alternatives for a game on the Sunday. There was of course the inevitable bending of “It’s on the way home” but I imagine that by now you’ve come to expect that? I mean of course Hetton-le-Hole is en route from Carlisle to Oxford, isn’t it? Just the A69 to negotiate…..

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Raz, Daz,& Maz

17 Wednesday Jan 2024

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Saturday 13th January 2024 ko 15:00

EFL League 1

CARLISLE UNITED 1 (McAlmont 71)

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Harris 39 47 Goodrham 67)

Att 7,827 (562 away)

Entry £23

Programme £2

I’d argue that the roots of my groundhopping lie with watching Oxford United away games, so Robyn wanting to visit Carlisle as part of completing her “92” felt like me visiting part of my past. Back in the day there were four of us who used to travel together, 3 of us sharing driving duties. There was Darrell, Russell and Michelle, who quickly became “Raz, Daz and Maz” in the eyes of my ex-wife who probably saw them as a neat way of removing me from the house.

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The Hospitality

16 Tuesday Jan 2024

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Friday 12th January 2024 ko 19:30

Northern League Division One

NORTHALLERTON TOWN 0

REDCAR ATHLETIC 1 (Boyes 37)

Att 403

Entry £7

Programmme £2.50

Hospitality package (entry, programme, 2 course meal) £25

It’s odd how some things work out. Robyn and I had tried to watch Northallerton Town around 4 years ago. We’d travelled up from Oxford, and as we reached the Calvert’s Stadium, the floodlights were switched off; the game had just been postponed due to a frozen pitch. We found a meal locally, then headed back home down the A1(M). As Robyn put it, it was a mighty long way to go for a Chinese!

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