Ale

05 Tuesday Nov 2019

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Friday 13th September 2019 ko 19.30

Witney & District League- Division Two

HOOK NORTON 5 (Street 11 Ingham 28 Babbage 34 Hemmings 37 Mair 65)

EYNSHAM SSC 0

Att 142

Entry & Programme £4

When the North Berkshire League Hop finished two years ago, I was in no doubt where I wanted to head next. Other than wanting to take the hop to Watlington Town the one remaining North Berks club that hadn’t hosted (but were willing and able to) it had been clear for many years that the North Berks slot was the Witney & District League’s to turn down. Continue reading →

Velocity

01 Friday Nov 2019

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Tuesday 10th September 2019 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Cup – Group 10

CHERTSEY TOWN 2 (Baxter 80 Cozens 84)

Bennell sent off (serious foul play) 41

CHIPSTEAD 3 (Hudson 26 55 Miller 63)

Att 110

Entry £9

Programme £1

The dichotomy of having visited well over 2000 football grounds is that although my options for a midweek tick are fairly limited these days, I have built up a huge database of wonderful grounds for me to take Robyn to see. A distinct advantage is also a trip to Surrey commuter belt from Oxford is a lot easier than some of my more far-flung destinations! Continue reading →

Deeds Not Words

31 Thursday Oct 2019

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Saturday 7th September 2019 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division One

BRIDGEND STREET 4 (White 23 62 Fowler 40 65p)

PONTARDAWE TOWN 2 (Silcox 42 Aylward 50)

Att c40

Entry £3

Programme £1

The trip from Caerau Ely to Tremorfa surprised me. A drive through the middle of a capital city isn’t meant to be this easy, I parked up at my second game less than 20 minutes after I’d left the first! Continue reading →

The Ely Double

29 Tuesday Oct 2019

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Saturday 7th September 2019 ko 12.00

Cymru South

CAERAU (ELY) 2 (Lyon 33 Outlaw 49)

Lyon sent off 69 (Serious foul play)

LLANELLI TOWN 3 (Parker 28 Hurlford 57 90)

Att c50

Entry £5

Programme, online only

Many years ago it was the Thursday before the Welsh Hop and a few of us had congregated at the event’s base in Treforest. A South Wales Amateur League game at Caerau near Maesteg was our destination and we’d lined up programmes and a meal in the clubhouse after the game. But know-it-all Jim was impatient and wanted to leave early, so we checked he knew where he was going. “Yes, near Cardiff” he replied as he made to drive away. To this day I wonder if we hadn’t yelled at him to stop when he would have realised? Continue reading →

The Lottery

24 Thursday Oct 2019

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Tuesday 3rd September 2019 ko 19.45

FA CUP Preliminary Round Replay

SHERWOOD COLLIERY 0

LOUGHBOROUGH DYNAMO 1 (Robbins 29)

Att 341

Entry £5

Programmme £1

It’s strange how some clubs and grounds seem to pass you by. Mansfield Woodhouse-based Sherwood Colliery managed to time their rise through the ranks so as to avoid the Central Midlands League’s groundhops, and when they won promotion from that league went into the East Midlands Counties League, avoiding the Northern Counties East Hops too! I ended up driving past no end of places I’d travelled to on a hop coach to Debdale Park!

Continue reading →

Civil 3G

23 Wednesday Oct 2019

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Monday 26th August 2019 ko 17.00

Gwent Premier League Premier Division

NEWPORT CIVIL SERVICE 2 (Edwards 9 86)

ABERCARN UNITED 0

Att 252

Entry £3

Programme £1

If you stick to the basics of it, this year’s Welsh Hop finished at the Play Football Centre in the Bettws district of Newport, but that wasn’t the half of it! Now as organisers we’ve long since used groundhoppers’ liking of matchday programmes as a device to drive ticket sales which in turn give us a steer of numbers, which allows our host clubs plan for crowds far in excess of what they see normally. The modus operandi sees the ticket holders pick up their programmes in a pack at the first game they attend, and with 3 days since the Oak game one of two of the “Big Numbers” hoppers who hadn’t bought tickets had seen the front cover of the Newport Civil Service programme. Continue reading →

The Flyer

17 Thursday Oct 2019

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Monday 26th August 2019 ko 14.00

Gwent Premier League- Premier Division

PENTWYNMAWR ATHLETIC 3 (Slater 7 James 31 37)

LUCAS CWMBRAN 2 (Arnold 14p Silcox 41p)

Att 237

Entry £3

Programme £1

The second game of the day took us to Newbridge and its environs. The area is probably best known as both the birthplace and training base of the Welsh Rocky, boxer Joe Calzaghe. Once again the coach pulled up in the main thoroughfare through the village in similar vein to Wattsville but this time a fair percentage of the hoppers made a beeline to the Three Horseshoes pub opposite the ground. I didn’t follow them because I had a flyer in my hand…. Continue reading →

The Antonym Of Accidental Revisit Syndrome

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

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Monday 26th August 2019 ko 11.00

Gwent Premier League Premier Division

ABERTILLERY EXCELSIORS 2 (D Jones 18 54p)

VILLA DINO CHRISTCHURCH 0 Lewis penalty saved 65

Att 236

Entry £3

Programme £1

The more senior hoppers have a little saying for those occasions when you realise on arrival that unexpectly they’ve visited the ground before. When you’ve done 300 or so grounds it seems barely creditable that you could have forgotten one. But when you’ve clocked up 4 figures worth of grounds, accidental revist syndrome can creep in. Except here at the Jim Owen Field I managed the exact opposite- I thought I was heading for a revisit and ended up ticking off a new ground! Continue reading →

Wattsville Blues

09 Wednesday Oct 2019

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Sunday 25th August 2019 ko 18.00

Gwent Premier League Premier Division

WATTSVILLE 2 (Roch 29p McColl 75)

PILL YMCA 2 (Simmons 25p 37)

Att 243

Entry £3

Programme £1

“Time is going on
Time is leaving me
I got the Wattsville blues
I got the Wattsville blues now baby

But I still love the smile on your face
But I still love the sense of this place
I’m so happy I know I can never leave
Even though my, my brain it … bleeds”

Nicky Wire 2001

One way or another this hop seemed to see quite a bit of the Sirhowy valley. We ended up passing through Pontllanfraith and Ynysddu places that had rather scarred my existance for the days leading up to the event! One thing was certain, if things has turned put exactly how we’d planned them then we’d have travelled a lot less miles that day! Continue reading →

Double F

07 Monday Oct 2019

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Sunday 25th August 2019 ko 15.00

Gwent Premier League Division 2

CEFN FFOREST 4 (J Price 33 Bowen 77 90 N Williams 84)

GILWERN & DISTRICT  1 (McCarthy 86)

Att 247

Entry £3

Programme £1

As fun as the dip into the Bridgend Sunday League was, it was good to return to Gwent. We headed to the environs of Caerphilly to the tiny village of Cefn Fforest, and for the record that extra “F” is important, you wouldn’t want to pronounce the place as “Vorest” now would you? Continue reading →