Cuik

04 Thursday May 2023

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Sunday 19th March 2023 ko 12:15

East of Scotland League – Premier Division

PENICUIK ATHLETIC 0

Mair sent off (2nd booking) 38

LOTHIAN THISTLE HUTCHINSON VALE 1 (J Viola 77)

Att 398

Entry £8

Programme £2

It was in a couple of ways a bruising Scottish Hop. Obviously my wife Robyn’s tumble down the stand at Tynecastle made that statement literal, but the fact that I was driving the advance party around with a dying clutch made it figurative too. I parked up by Penicuik Park, and exhaled. At least on the way home I could to a large extent, stick the car in sixth gear, and forget about the clutch. Continue reading →

Jim

27 Thursday Apr 2023

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Saturday 15th March 2023 ko 19:45

East of Scotland League Premier Division

MUSSELBURGH ATHLETIC 0

BROXBURN ATHLETIC 4 (Wright 18 Douglas 45 65 Brass 70p)

Att 557

Entry £8

Programme £2

In so many ways Olivebank Stadium was the pivot point of Robyn and I’s 2023 Scottish Hop. After Robyn’s fall at Tynecastle the previous day it was the point where the hoppers realised that my wife may have been sore but had sustained no long-term damage, so they switched from asking whether she was okay to taking the mickey. I must admit we found the latter more comforting.

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Bert

23 Sunday Apr 2023

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Saturday 18th March 2023 ko 17:00

Lowland League

TRANENT JUNIORS 1 (Reid 90)

BO’NESS UNITED 1 (Walker 49)

Att 607

Entry £8

Programme £3

So half-way through the event and in so many ways a statement of where the Scottish Hop is at. It’s easy to forget that the hop started as an exclusively Lowland League event in 2014 and didn’t take in an East of Scotland League game until Eyemouth 3 years later. I remember shrugging my shoulders as one or two prejudiced types scuttled off elsewhere as they thought the level would be beneath them. I’ve always been an advocate of going weird early, so found their actions odd, and allowed myself a wry smile when they ended up watching the East of Scotland League a couple of years later. Continue reading →

The Mill

20 Thursday Apr 2023

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Saturday 18th March 2023 ko 14:00

East of Scotland League Premier Division

HADDINGTON ATHLETIC 1 (McGarry 75)

DUNDONALD BLUEBELL 3 (Hall 11 Cameron 32 Lumsden 86)

Lumsden sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 462

Entry £7

Programme £2

Can I admit to have being a little twitchy about the hop game at Haddington? I knew that the ground was going to be tucked away, and so getting people in and out on a 4-games-in-a-day schedule might be an issue. For no reason whatsoever I’d looked at my programme the night before, and it was an excellent publication. I’m not sure why I felt comforted, a car with a failing clutch, and wife Robyn struggling after her fall at Tynecastle was more than enough reason to worry after all. It was a case of judging a book by its cover, or more accurately a club by its magazine. Continue reading →

Pullman

17 Monday Apr 2023

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Saturday 18th March 2023 ko 11:15

East of Scotland League Division One

DUNBAR UNITED 0

McFarlane sent off 22 (dangerous play)

Walker penalty saved 80

Hare sent off 90 (violent conduct)

COLDSTREAM 1 (Briggs 77)

Att 553

Entry £7

Programme £2

We limped into Saturday both literally and figuratively. Robyn was rather sore after her fall down the stand at Tynecastle and the car’s clutch was clearly on its way out, sticking in the down position when I really didn’t want it to. I headed along the M8 towards Hermiston Gait, and hoped.  Continue reading →

The Right People

11 Tuesday Apr 2023

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Friday 17th March 2023 ko 19:45

East of Scotland League Premier Division

TYNECASTLE 2 (Hamilton 5 77)

Blaney sent off 12 (dangerous play)

SAUCHIE JUNIORS 3 (Hutchison 23 secs Columbine 60 Morgan 67)

Hutchinson sent off 3 (foul & abusive)

Att 448

Entry £8

Programme £2

I was under pressure. I was driving my wife Robyn and Craig Dabbs up to Edinburgh as the GroundhopUK advance party. Our role was to collate the 6 sets of programmes for the weekend’s hop into ticket and programme packs for those who had bought prebooked tickets. For once the M6 behaved, but my clutch wasn’t, and despite a litre of clutch fluid bought from a lad in Halfords, Hamilton who seemed happy to have someone to talk to, the concern was would we get to Meggetland, then get round the grounds? Continue reading →

Evans

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

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Sunday 5th March 2023 ko 14:30

North West Counties League Division One South

STAFFORD TOWN 2 (Simcox 27 57)

ABBEY HEY 1 (Kirkman 90)

Att 489

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

The great mercy of this particular Sunday on the North West Counties Hop is that we didn’t get the chance to get cold, in fact and don’t say this too loudly, the day was actually a relaxing meander through two charming Stafford clubs. Robyn and I even managed to get home at a sensible time after it all- that will never do! Continue reading →

Silkmore

04 Tuesday Apr 2023

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Sunday 5th March 2023 ko 11:45

North West Counties League Division One South

BROCTON 1 (Smith 61)

STOCKPORT GEORGIANS 0

Curbishley sent off 76 (2nd booking)

Att 457

Entry £6

Programme £2

Sunday on the hop dawned, and as a coachload of hoppers kept a Stafford hotel’s staff busy replenishing the bacon at the breakfast bar. I contemplated the day’s football, two Stafford-based teams, or in purely personal terms two revisits! Brocton is a village to the south east of Stafford but the club bearing their game play at the former Staffordshire Police Ground in Silkmore Lane, in Stafford itself. Continue reading →

Pershall

31 Friday Mar 2023

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Saturday 4th March 2023 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Division One South

ECCLESHALL 2 (Pickup 82 Stanton 90)

Lewis sent off 86 (violent conduct)

BARNTON 1 (T Turkington 72)

T Turkington sent 86 (violent conduct)

Att 314

Entry £6

Programme £2

Memory is an oddity- I’d visited Eccleshall back in September 2008 and remembered it being far closer to the Stoke interchange on the M6 than this. Perhaps the difference was we were on our fourth game of the day… and that it was bitingly cold. In fact you’re a good deal closer to Stafford to Stoke, and you will pass by HMP Prison Drake Hall on the way there! Continue reading →

Hulton

29 Wednesday Mar 2023

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Saturday 4th March 2023 ko 16:45

North West Counties League Division One South

ABBEY HULTON UNITED 0

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 0

Att 367

Entry £5

Programme £2

As the sun set so the temperature fell. It didn’t take long for us to reach the car park at Birches Head Road from Foley Meir. That was a task made easier by some well thought out traffic marshalling by the Abbey Hulton volunteers . But I was aware the coach was struggling, picking its way along narrow lanes and we were getting concerned we might have to delay kick-off slightly. Craig and I dashed into the ground, expecting to have to make ourselves useful.  We didn’t, the club were completely in control and the coach arrived well before kick-off. Continue reading →