A Tale of Trelewis

03 Wednesday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Friday 25th August 2006 ko 18.20

South Wales Amateur League Division Two

TRELEWIS WELFARE 3 (D Morris 65 90 Munkley 90)

GRAIG 3 (D Jones 29p Moon 31 Marshalsea 77)

Att 209

Entry £3

Programme £1

For so many people the clubs of the South Wales Amateur League, now the South Wales Alliance were opened up by organised events by the Welsh Groundhop, now GroundhopUK. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have visited without Chris Berezai’s help, Valleys football is hugely enjoyable, but sometimes you just need that little nudge in the right direction! Continue reading →

Old Rowley

01 Monday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 6th October 2007 ko 15.00

United Counties League Premier Division

ST NEOTS TOWN 1 (Garwell 17)

BOURNE TOWN 0

Att 105

Entry £3

Programme £1.50

For the avoidance of any doubt this piece is about the old Rowley Park, as this could get a little confusing! St Neots Town moved from Rowley Park in 2008 to a ground roughly a quarter of a mile away, also called Rowley Park. Now you could look at it was simply a case of a club being at the right place at the right time, but there is more to it than just that. Continue reading →

The Tobacco Factory

30 Saturday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 1st April 2006 ko 15.00

Wessex League Division One

B.A.T. SPORTS 3 (Lowther 2 (1 pen), Thorney)

BROCKENHURST 2 (Beck, Burton)

Att c50

Entry £4

Programme £1

I hate smoking, I hate the smell, and that it invariably triggers my asthma. But I do have history with British & American Tobacco. The firm owned International Stores and if my grandfather hadn’t moved to Oxford to manage their store in High Street, you wouldn’t be reading this. I’ll leave you to consider whether that’s a good thing…. Continue reading →

Just Idag Ar Jag Stark

28 Thursday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 18th June 2011 ko 16.00
Superettan

HAMMARBY IF 1 (Ayranci 11)

IFK VÄRNAMO 0

Att 7,478 at Söderstadion, Stockholm

Entry 145sek

Programme 20sek

1 Swedish Krona is roughly 85p

The standing joke here was that this was the highest attendance ever to attend as hop game, as this was the 3rd game of a day that had started with my flag waving exploits at Åkersberga. The attendance was of course exceeded when the 2019 Swedish Hop visited Denmark’s (!) Parken Stadium which proves nothing else than any hop organiser should measure their success on how many extra people the event attracts, rather than on the absolute attendance figure.

And for the record Swedish Hop organiser Kim Hedwall saw it the same way- albeit with a twinkle in his eye!

Continue reading →

The Chains

26 Tuesday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 6th April 2007 ko 10.30
Central Midlands League- Premier Division

YORKSHIRE MAIN 1 (Hawthorne 84)

THORNE COLLIERY 1 (Bitton-Price 27p)

Att 347

Entry £3

Programme £1

I don’t think it’s any secret that the the hop I’ve enjoyed the most was the Ceredigion, but without question the one I learned the most from was the Central Midlands League’s. It certainly wasn’t as a result of being involved in the organisation, of the original GroundhopUK/ Rob Hornby events I was only involved in 2010, the final one. No, my absorption of facts at the CMFL was cultural.

Continue reading →

Water of Love

24 Sunday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 10th April 2010  ko 15.00

Northern Premier League Premier Division

BUXTON 2 (Reed 62 Morris 90)

ASHTON UNITED 0

Att 312

Entry £8

Programme £1.50

Quite deliberately I’ve made these archive offerings about either grounds you can’t visit anymore or represent some sort of personal milestone. This isn’t one, far from it. Buxton’s Silverlands is here because if you’ve visited here you’ll look at the photos and smile, and if you haven’t been you’ll add it to your bucket list. Put simply, this is a ground to do before you die. Continue reading →

Idiosyncratic

21 Thursday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Tuesday April 14th 2008 ko 19.30
Spartan South Midlands League Division One

BRACHE SPARTA 0

HARPENDEN TOWN 1 (Gregory 84)

Att 11

Entry & Programme £2

There are some times when you embark on the endless road that is groundhopping, that you find a club that somehow doesn’t quite fit in. That shouldn’t be seen as pejorative in any sense, but when you arrive at a ground and you know what level of the game you’re going to see you soon get a rough idea of what to expect. This short story is about one of those exceptions to the rule.

Continue reading →

Hayes

18 Monday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Tuesday 30th September 2008 ko 19.45

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round Replay

HAYES & YEADING UNITED 5 (Hendry 16 36 Ruby 28 Knight 99 James 119)

STAINES TOWN 3 (Butler 20 73 Onochie 73)

Att 348 at Church Road

Entry £10  +£1 stand transfer

Programme £2

When Yeading FC and Hayes FC merged in 2007 you could easily say that they picked the better ground to give up. The new club played temporarily at Hayes’ Church Road, while Yeading’s Warren was to be redeveloped to be a permanent home for the new club. Once the work was complete, the idea was to move back to the Warren and sell Church Road for housing. Continue reading →

Endurance

16 Saturday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Friday April 10th 2009 ko 14.30
South West Peninsula League Division One East

ROYAL MARINES 1 (Sullivan 54og)

Foster sent off 88 (2 x dissent)

EXETER CIVIL SERVICE 2 (Hawes 60 Mortimer 68)

Att 421 at Endurance Park, Heartbreak Lane, Lymphstone

Entry £3

Programme £1

On any organised hop there’s always a club or ground the organiser knows the groundhoppers are going to love. In Easter 2009 Phil Hiscox organised the South West Peninsula Hop around his stamping ground of Devon, and it really didn’t take a genius to work out that a trip to watch the Royal Marines play at Endurance Park, at the end of Heartbreak Lane would turn out to be rather popular.

Continue reading →

The Tribute

14 Thursday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Thursday 26th April 2007 ko 19.30

Hellenic League Division One West

WOOTTON BASSETT TOWN 4 (Yeardley 15 43 Mills 52 King 82)

CLANFIELD 85 0

Att 30

Entry £3

Programme £1

Truthfully this wasn’t my first attempt at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground. I remember arriving a few months earlier and spotted the referee doing a pitch inspection- in wellies! I took the hint and ended up at Backwell United, and a half time checked that indeed the Bassett game was off! Continue reading →