The Main Line

07 Wednesday Oct 2020

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Saturday 3rd October 2020 ko 15.00

Isthmian League South/East Division

HYTHE TOWN 0

PHOENIX SPORTS 4 (Ansah 53 Fitchett 57 Bryon 77 Chin 82)

Att 212

Entry £10

Programme £2

Now I’m sure one of two groundhoppers will see an article on Hythe Town and think, “Surely he’s been there before?” After all my friend Andy Short is media officer there, you may remember he was at Whitstable Town too, he’s also secretary at the Southern Counties East League (now that’s interesting!) so why my tardiness? It’s because I wanted to travel to see Hythe Town by train! Continue reading →

The Controversy

02 Friday Oct 2020

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Saturday 26th September 2020 ko 15.00

Gloucestershire County League

HARDWICKE 1 (Higgins 45)

PATCHWAY TOWN 1 (Poole 22og)

Att 42

Free Entry

No Programme

I suspect if you’re a groundhopper Hardwicke will mean one of two things to you. If you’re younger you’ll know the club as a village team in the Step 7 Gloucestershire County League. If , however you are a little older you’ll know them as the most controversial club ever to have taken part in a hop game. Continue reading →

Ingredients

01 Thursday Oct 2020

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Tuesday 22nd September 2020 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

SAFFRON DYNAMO 4 (March 28 36 56 Johnson 89)

AYLESTONE PARK 2 (Holdom 79p Ray 90)

Att c70

Entry & Teamsheet £5

For me at least it had been a long time in coming. I’d arrived In Cosby 8 years ago, and discovered that the then Leicestershire Senior League outfit had called off their game with Desford as neither side fancied playing each other twice in 3 days! I ended up watching Rugby Town, and would never has guessed that both Rugby Town and Saffron Dynamo would end up playing in the same league! Or come to think of it, that poor Woodford United (Rugby’s opponents that day) would end up in the Northants Combination! Continue reading →

The Performance Hub

29 Tuesday Sep 2020

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Monday 21st September 2020 ko 19.45

Midland League Division 3

W L V SPORT 1 (Clifton 8p)

ENVILLE ATHLETIC 4 (Rich 5 18 Constable 52 Martin 81)

Att 28

Free Entry

So, once you understand that WLV Sport is the banner for all sports by the University of Wolverhampton you’ll assume this ground is in Wolverhampton. And you like me would have assumed incorrectly, WLV Sport is based at the institution’s campus in Walsall at the “Performance Hub.”

Continue reading →

Bring Them Home

27 Sunday Sep 2020

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Saturday 19th September 2020 ko 14.00

Mid Sussex League- Championship

SOUTHWICK 1882 2 (Russell 20 McDowell 80)

ASHURST WOOD 1 (Grafton 10)

Att c130

Entry & Programme – By Donation

You may remember 18 months ago I watched Southwick FC at their home Old Barn Way. I found a friendly club struggling with the weight of a storied history and a home that had clearly seen better days. I saw them lose, wrote about them, and hoped for better things for them. Sadly disaster befell them. Continue reading →

Bear Necessities

25 Friday Sep 2020

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Tuesday 15th September 2020 ko 19.30

Southern Counties East League-Premier Division

BEARSTED 2 (Marshall-Katong 20p Abibio 24)

CHATHAM TOWN 5 (Evans 17 71 Butler 74 Bradshaw 80 Abioye 86)

Att 256

Entry & Parking £8

Programme- Free, online only

On Twitter, one of my followers has the following bio, “If it wasn’t for football I wouldn’t know where half the places in the UK are.”

Now that goes double for non-league I suppose; even I had to look up where Bearsted is, and just to make life even more difficult, the football club play in Otham, not Bearsted! Continue reading →

Get Down

21 Monday Sep 2020

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Saturday 12th September 2020 ko 15.00

FA Cup Preliminary Round

SHEPPEY UNITED 4 (Carnegie 19 Midson 78 80 Hammill 84)

UXBRIDGE 1 (Haugh 65)

Att 235

Entry £7 (ALL TICKET)

Programme £1

I suppose I see the Isle of Sheppey as Kent’s Yang to Canvey Island’s Essex Ying. The bridge over The Swale is a little more impressive than its Essex counterpart, the slope (to allow for shipping below) is a little disconcerting! Sheppey does have its own quirks though. Continue reading →

Fighting For It

16 Wednesday Sep 2020

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Friday 11th September 2020 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One East

WOKINGHAM & EMMBROOK 5 (White 5 14 45 Eagle 26 E Day 27)

Clarke missed penalty 90

AFC ALDERMASTON 0 

Barna sent off 74

Att 150

Entry £5

Programme (by Aldermaston) £1

You could say I have history with Wokingham. I first encountered Wokingham Town in 1996 when my side Oxford United played a pre-season friendly at their ground Finchampstead Road. Friendly was the right term too, the Isthmian League club were notably friendly even though they lost the game 5-0. It is  worth mentioning that the visitors were able to name a back 3 of Matt Elliott, Darren Purse and Phil Gilchrist who all went on to play Premier League football so there was no disgrace in that scoreline ! The sadness came 3 years later when the club were forced to sell the ground for housing and moved into a groundshare with Windsor & Eton. Continue reading →

Paper Chasing

14 Monday Sep 2020

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Saturday 6th September 2020 ko 14.30

Anglian Combination Division 4

DERSINGHAM ROVERS 5 (Wiseman 4 Welch 41 Willams 58 Kittle 53 Livoti 88)

ACLE UNITED RESERVES 0

Att 60

Free Entry

Programme £2

It was good to see the return of competitive football, but its arrival did cause a few dilemmas. For one, I suddenly had a far greater set of possibilities in terms of what I could go and watch, but greater responsibilities too. With crowd numbers restricted I pondered whether I wanted be the reason a fan missed out on entry. I quite fancied doing something on pyramid, but wanted to see how the Covid restrictions affected league football. In the end I did something I haven’t done for a while- I indulged in a spot of paper chasing. Continue reading →

Preparation

08 Tuesday Sep 2020

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Saturday 29th August 2020 ko 14.30

Friendly

LUDGVAN AFC 2 (Goodspeed 8 Carew 14)

…. sent off 56 (violent conduct) 56

HAYLE AFC 1 (… 87)

….. sent off 56 (violent conduct) 56

Att c55

Free Entry

It has to be said that planning pre-season friendlies with all that has been going on in the world has been a bit of nightmare. A mixture of uncertain restrictions, and little publicity with clubs seemingly nervous about being ill-prepared for the new normal, and who could blame them? Local to me, I’d learned to work Twitter among clubs I knew to find games involving clubs I didn’t. If nothing else pre-season ended up being a wonderful excuse to find some local clubs to fall in love with! Cornwall though ended being another matter entirely! Continue reading →