The Final Day

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Saturday 30th March 2024 ko 11:30

South West Peninsula League Premier West

LISKEARD ATHLETIC 2 (Kane 23 M Gilbert 50)

DOBWALLS 0

Att 508

Entry £6

Programme £1

It wasn’t just the final day of the Peninsula League Hop. It was also the final day of 6 weeks’ worth of organised groundhopping events that had started at FC St Helens in the North West Counties League, meandered round the northern reaches of the East of Scotland League two weeks later, and the start of the end of it saw us dipping into Cornwall!

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Disco In Kernow

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Friday 29th March 2024 ko 19:00

South West Peninsula League Premier West

HOLSWORTHY 0

BUDE TOWN 0

Att 906

Entry £6

Programme £1

If there was one of the Good Friday Peninsula Hop games in danger of postponement it was definitely Holsworthy. We’d all seen their tweets worrying about a section of the pitch, advising on a 4pm inspection and asking if anyone had a heater they could borrow, but sometimes as a groundhopper you have a decision to make.

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The Outskirts

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Friday 29th March 2024 ko 15:00

South West Peninsula League Premier East

TORRIDGESIDE 0

OAKHAMPTON ARGYLE 3 (Rowe 8 12 Mortimore 22)

Att 451

Entry £6

Programme £2.50

The cavalcade moved to the outskirts of Torrington, and the programme enthusiasts greeted the car park attendents as old retainers. They’d been here earlier, before the Torrington game to make absolutely, doubly certain they got a programme. They needn’t have worried, the club had more than enough to spare, even for the hoppers who’d decided to go off-piste to Ilfracombe but had been forced to turn tail when they discovered the game was off due to waterlogging.

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Devonian

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Thursday 28th March 2024 ko 19:30

South-West Peninsula League- Premier East

HONITON TOWN P

SIDMOUTH TOWN P

postponed due to a waterlogged pitch

Friday 29th March 2024 ko 11:30

South-West Peninsula League- Premier East

TORRINGTON 1 (Davey 18)

Harper-Penman penalty saved 52

CREDITON UNITED 0

Att 422

Entry £6

Programme £2

It was good to be attending the Easter Hop without being too closely involved. We at GroundhopUK were pleased to have the Peninsula League’s Phil Hiscox along for last July for the United Counties League Hop, mainly for the company. I’m fairly sure we can’t teach him much about running one of these events, he’s been doing it longer than we have!

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Locality

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Saturday 23rd March 2024 ko 15:00

Northern Premier League- Division One West

CLITHEROE 1 (Baker 72)

RUNCORN LINNETS 1 (Molloy 40)

Att 938

Entry £10

Programme £2

It had been a busy few weeks. There’d been Belfast, then a week at home, then the North West Counties Hop, then a week at home, then the Scottish Hop then this, a week off before the South West Peninsula League Hop over Easter. My thought was to stay reasonably local to Oxford, which I did reflect upon sat on the M6 for hours on end!!

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Wish You The Best

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Sunday 17th March 2024 ko 12:00

East of Scotland League-Division One

WHITBURN JUNIOR 1 (Liddell 65)

WHITEHILL WELFARE 0

Att 540

Entry £8

Programme £2

I came into this game with a little inside knowledge. I knew just how fortunate we’d been that the Sauchie Juniors but I also knew from Craig Dabbs just how nervous Whitburn were over the state of their pitch. He’d been there on Friday morning to collect their programmes for advance ticket holders, saw how hard they were working in their pitch, and clearly built up an excellent working relationship with Ann Haddow the club secretary. Now no organiser likes to see a postponement, but that relationship meant we all felt that little bit extra pressure.

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Beechwood

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Saturday 16th March 2024 ko 20:00

East of Scotland League- Premier Division

SAUCHIE JUNIORS 3 (D Smith 7 30p 44)

Kavanagh sent off 39 (violent conduct)

HILL OF BEATH HAWTHORN 2 (Watt 46 Tosh 83)

Att 447

Entry £10

Programme £2

We left the Perth area with mixed feelings. On one hand we’d visited 3 lovely clubs and taken advantage of the weather holding while we were visiting grounds with little or no cover, on the other the rain was hammering down putting the evening’s game at Sauchie in doubt, and by extension at Whitburn on Sunday morning.

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Down By The Riverside

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Saturday 16th March 2024 ko 16:45

East of Scotland League Premier Division

JEANFIELD SWIFTS 1 (F Smith 5)

DUNBAR UNITED 1 (Hendry 90+2)

Att 385

Entry £7

Programme £2.50

We stayed in Perth for the third game of the day, and arguably the club I was anticipating visiting the most. The reason for that was pretty arcane, I’d been very taken by them being willing to help the event back in 2019 by playing on a Saturday evening at Linlithgow Rose. It felt like a major undertalking on their part; I was and am grateful, and their fans did add a new beverage to the groundhop lexicon, namely “Dragon Soop!”

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Tulloch

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Saturday 16th March 2024 ko 14:00

East of Scotland League Premier Division

KINNOULL 0

PENICUIK ATHLETIC 0

Att 356

Entry £7

Programme £2

Like some others I’d heard the so-called experts’ opinion on Kinnoull and their home Tulloch Park. If some were to be believed we’d be visiting a dull ground, and a club on their knees. While it was true that at kick-off Kinnoull had just 4 points all season, there had to more to it than witnessing a club having a poor season?

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Bleach

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Saturday 16th March 2024 ko 11:15

East of Scotland League- Premier Division

LUNCARTY 5 (Woolley 21 McLaughlin 32 Davies 34 40p Scarborough 84)

CROSSGATES PRIMROSE 3 (Sutherland 3 Muirhead 31 77)

Att 386

Entry £7

Programme £2

There are so many reasons to love the Scottish Hop. For me though there’s far more to it than just the chance to visit new places and to put more ticks in my imaginary black book. One of the great joys is the time I get to spend with Davie Baxter, secretary of the league. It’s got to a point where I arm myself with a couple of hopefully erudite questions to ask him. And this year the question was one of boundaries.

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