Flexibility

07 Monday Aug 2023

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Saturday 22nd July 2023 ko 14:00

Pre-season friendly

YATELEY UNITED 3 (Westell 49 57p 61)

ROMSEY TOWN 3 (Moreno 36 A Trialist 60 B Trialist 83)

Andy Samuels (manager) sent off 38 (foul & abusive)

Att 32 at Sandhurst School 3G, Greenfinch Road

Free Entry

Online Programme

It does pay to have a back-up plan. I’d woken up expecting to watch Glyncorrwg AFC, but they were kind enough to let me know their game had been lost to overnight rain, so I changed plans and headed to Wiltshire League club Ludgershall Sports. But the A34 was blocked at Abingdon; I waited an hour before being slowly shepherded off the main carriageway on to a diversion where a working knowledge of the North Berkshire League was handy.

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Down On the Farm

03 Thursday Aug 2023

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Tuesday 18th July 2023 ko 19:45

Pre-season friendly

CORINTHIAN 5 (Glover 6 A Trialist 8 Billings 20 B Trialist 81 90)

GREENWAYS 1 (Lovell 75)

Att 50 at Pitch 2, Gay Dawn Farm, Longfield, Kent

Entry £5

Perhaps I’m not as observant as I thought. I’d seen Corinthian at Gay Dawn Farm 5 years ago, and completely failed to spot there was a second pitch there. My only excuse is that it was dark, and I didn’t see the schematic on the clubhouse wall. But then I spotted Peter Miles had found a game here, I just had to find another.

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The Popular Front

02 Wednesday Aug 2023

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Saturday 15th July 2023 ko 15:00

Pre-season friendly

TOOTING & MITCHAM UNITED 3 (A Trialist 23 Siklawi 25 B Trialist 75)

CORINTHIAN-CASUALS 1 (Trialist 34)

Att 118 at Back Pitch, Imperial Fields

Entry £3

This one started with a comment that was unlikely to be endearing to a Tooting fan. My wife Robyn has been slowly trying to complete her “92” and suggested she go to Sutton United vs Reading if I could find a game at a new ground for me nearby. However much Tooting’s fans might hate Sutton United, their existence got me to this game!

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Easy

27 Thursday Jul 2023

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Saturday 8th July 2023 ko 15:00

Pre-Season Friendly

HOLMER GREEN 0

RISBOROUGH RANGERS 8 (5 22 24 27 32p 38 41p 57)

Att 35 at Kingsbrook School 3G, Bierton

Free Entry

It should have been so easy. From the morning’s game in Leatherhead, a quick blast round the M25 and up the A41 to the outskirts of Aylesbury. Of course I didn’t work out that way, the M25 was a slow dirge, and the humidity made it difficult to stay awake. I made it in one piece, but it was a horrible few miles.

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Youth

26 Wednesday Jul 2023

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Saturday 8th July 2023 ko 11:00

Pre-Season Friendly

METROPOLITAN POLICE 2 (Body 4 Akinbibi 33)

YATELEY UNITED 0

Att c75

Free Entry

With my pre-season running a rough theme, of old, or third party grounds, this one definitely was one of the latter, but it was one that I’d been after for a while. Many will have been to Leatherhead FC’s Fetcham Grove, and if you haven’t visited there, it’s one to put on your bucket list. But Leatherhead Youth play on the outskirts of town, and yes, the two clubs are linked.

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The Other Falmer

25 Tuesday Jul 2023

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Saturday 1st July 2023 ko 14:00

Pre-Season Friendly

MONTPELIER VILLA 2 (Sabino 42 Santos 70)

AFC UCKFIELD TOWN 0

Att 22 at University of Sussex, Falmer

Free Entry

If the trip to Neath was an example of using a friendly to tick off a ground unavailable during the regular season, this was using a friendly to visit a club’s former ground. Montpelier Villa these days are based at Lancing FC’s Culver Road, to fulfil ground grading but prior to elevation into the Southern Combination Division One in 2021 were based at the University of Sussex in Falmer.

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The Bridge

24 Monday Jul 2023

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Saturday 24th June 2023 ko 13:00

Pre-season Friendly

TREFELIN BGC 2 (54, 60)

CARDIFF CORINTHIANS 5 (16 40p 45 76 89)

Att 45 at Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School

Some folks, it seems, do like rules. After the Swedish Hop I’d been quite happy to do very little in footballing terms. It was a chance to rest, recharge, and pursue other interests. Yes, there is a lot more to Robyn and I than just football! But then Robyn wanted to spend the afternoon with her mum in Bristol, and I’d spotted a game, in South Wales. And if you can’t find something interesting there, then with all due respect, you probably have your eyes closed.

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Selfishly Thinking

18 Tuesday Jul 2023

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Sunday 4th June 2023 ko 13:00

Ettan Norra

TÄBY FK 3 (Hellqvist 16 Johannsson 18 Grönborg 45)

BODENS BK FF 3 (Bawa 56 Cief 81 Hejal 90+5)

Att 154

Entry & Programme 120 sek (approx. £8.94)

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £450 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees and programmes for all games.

It was the final day of the 14th Swedish Hop and although there was the normal regret of soon leaving, it was tempered by a quite superlative breakfast at our hotel in Sollentuna. Three types of pickled herring, 2 of smoked salmon, and the inevitable crispy bacon and meatballs meant I ate bit both extensively and well! Again, in an ideal world we’d have then headed for a lower league Sunday morning game, but since we’d drawn a complete blank, organizer Kim Hedwall did have a plan.

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The Canal Plan

13 Thursday Jul 2023

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Saturday 3rd June 2023 ko 16:00

Ettan Norra

HAMMARBY TALANG FF 0

STOCKHOLM INTERNAZIONALE 1 (Rashidi 90)

Att 324 at Kanalplan/ Hammarby IP

Entry 100 sek (approx. £7.20)

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £450 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees and programmes for all games.

Just about every Swedish Hop we’ve run in the Stockholm area over the 16 years has been based around a ground that either Kim Hedwall or I or the both of us has previously visited and wanted to take folks to. Normally Kim picks the ground, we watch a game and without actually saying it he says, “What do you think of this?” Continue reading →

The Lake

05 Wednesday Jul 2023

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Saturday 3rd June 2023 ko 13:00

Ettan Norra

SOLLENTUNA FK 1 (Dejene 57)

NORDIC UNITED 2 (Shhab 51 60)

Att 116

Entry by donation

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £450 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees and programmes for all games.

The start of Saturday morning on the Swedish Hop was a bit of a mystery to me. We were based in a quite superlative hotel more or less adjacent to Sollentuna railway station, with a game at Sollentunavallen, no more than half a mile away at 13:00, so why was the Swedish Hop party all in reception at 9:30 and ready to go? Continue reading →