The Cuddy

07 Tuesday May 2019

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Sunday 31st March 2019 ko 12.30

East of Scotland League Conference A

PEEBLES ROVERS 1 (Lindsay 72)

NEWTONGRANGE STAR 3 (Jamieson 13 Scott 40 Porteous 78)

Att 288

Entry £5

Programme £1

With the Scottish Hop coach full I found myself driving from our base in East Kilbride to the event’s final destination in Peebles. It wasn’t a quick drive once I’d left the M74, but the rolling hills of the Borders and the roads’ sweeping bends made for a enthralling journey. It was time to reflect on how this game should have taken place on last year’s hop, the cold and snow saw the game, also scheduled for Sunday lunchtime postponed. I pulled into the rugby club car park, and pondered on how many fewer people would have attended the game last year given the lousy conditions? Continue reading →

Dragon Soup

03 Friday May 2019

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Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 20.00

East of Scotland League Conference C

LINLITHGOW ROSE 3 (Roddie MacLennan 15 39 Coyne 63)

JEANFIELD SWIFTS 2 (Davies 6 Connor McLaren 46)

Att 618

Entry £6

Programme £2

We left Blackburn, and headed over Cockleroi Hill. We were a little tight for time, I’d spent a little too much time thanking those involved at our previous game. The nerves jangled slightly, was driving past a Korean War Memorial part of the plan? But then the county town of the Lothians peeped into view, and as it turned out, the hop coach used exactly the same route as we had. The over-riding reason for the nerves was due to a massive sense of anticipation. Continue reading →

The West Lothian Question

29 Monday Apr 2019

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Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 17.15

East of Scotland League Conference C

BLACKBURN UNITED 4 (Downie 1p 4 65 Browne 81)

PRESTON ATHLETIC 1 (McFarlane 77)

Att 328

Entry £6

Programme £2

I smiled when I heard the groundhoppers’ joke, yes Blackburn vs Preston could so easily be an English Championship game in Lancashire rather than a Scottish non-league fixture in West Lothian. That Lancs/Lothians connection wasn’t lost on former MP Tam Dalyell who in 1977 used the two towns to illustrate a situation after Scottish devolution where Scottish MPs could vote on English affairs, but not vice versa. Continue reading →

The Wreck Of The Old Mauritania

27 Saturday Apr 2019

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Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 14.15

East of Scotland League Conference C

INVERKEITHING HILLFIELD SWIFTS 2 (Cowie 71 Hamilton 75)

Miller sent off 60 (2nd booking)

Francis sent off 78 (Foul & Abusive)

Cowie sent off 82 (Foul & Abusive)

HERIOT WATT UNIVERSITY 4 (Muttitt 27 57 Huxford 31 Singh 82p)

Att 301

Entry £6

Programme £2

The Scottish Hop’s move from the Lothians to the Kingdom of Fife was nothing if not spectacular. First the Kelpies, the steel horses wild but frozen but their energy an inspiration to motorists on the M9. With the Hop coach’s 61 seats more than sold out, I was driving in effect an overspill car, but the there was a silver lining as we could stop close to the three Forth Bridges to take some fairly spectacular photos!

Continue reading →

The Inland Mariners

24 Wednesday Apr 2019

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Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 11.00

East of Scotland League Conference C

CAMELON JUNIORS 5 (McKenzie 8 43 46 Sneddon 10 25)

EDINBURGH UNITED 1 (Auriemma 40p)

Att 356

Entry £6

Programme £2

The biggest mistake you can make round these parts is to describe Camelon as being part of Falkirk. As any local will tell you the two places are separate even if you do pass the Falkirk Wheel as you arrive, and one town does rather run into the other! But as we approached Carmuirs Park I felt more anticipation than perhaps any other ground on this year’s Scottish Hop. Oddly that was in part because I’d been here before…. Continue reading →

Everything & Nothing

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

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Friday 29th March 2019 ko 20.00

East of Scotland League – Conference B

DUNIPACE 0

BONNYRIGG ROSE 4 (Murrell 6 Currie 60 83p Lough 88)

Att 380

Entry £6

Programme £1

Just like last year Robyn and I were sat having breakfast at the Wetherspoon’s at Beaconsfield Services. Our duties were exactly the same as for previous years’ Scottish Hops; meet Doug and the coach at Hillingdon Underground Station, then with Robyn couriering the coach I’d follow behind in my car to Birmingham International Rail Station to meet Chris Berezai. From there Dave Collins and Craig Dabbs would join us, and we’d aim to reach the first ground on the hop 90 minutes before the coach (not difficult with Doug’s mandatory stops) and use the time to make up the programme and ticket packs. Continue reading →

Reviver

14 Sunday Apr 2019

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Tuesday 26th March 2019 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One East

ABINGDON TOWN 3 (M James 12 83 J James 45)

MILTON UNITED 2 (Powell 13 69) Beech sent off 90 (2nd Booking)

Att 50

Entry & Programme £5

It all felt like a catch-up. I’d watched Abingdon Town play the final game of the North Berkshire League’s 2015/6 season, and I remember leaving Culham Road worrying for their future. I always got on with their chairman Tom Larman, but the club’s problems seemed too deep-seated for Tom to cope with on his own. The club failed to even register with the Berks & Bucks FA for the next season, and when Tom died a few months later it seemed that the area’s oldest club had been lost. Continue reading →

Where

11 Thursday Apr 2019

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Tuesday 19th March 2019 ko 20.00

Hertfordshire Senior County League – Premier Division

WARE SPORTS 3 (Brown 46 76 Ellis 73)

CUFFLEY 1 (Brennan 38)

Att 23 at 3G caged pitch, Wodson Park Sports Centre, Ware.

Entry FREE

I really didn’t expect to return to Ware, and let’s face it, if you’ve ticked off a fair amount of the Spartan South Midlands League then you’ll have seen plenty of Tesco’s flagship store in Cheshunt and the former News Internation plant close to the M25. The standard line is that Ware FC play at one end of the Wodson Park Sports Centre in a purpose-built stadium, Wodson Park play in the athletics stadium next door, but where are Ware Sports? Continue reading →

Out of the Blue

10 Wednesday Apr 2019

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Tuesday 12th March 2019 ko 19.45

National League South

OXFORD CITY 1 (Tshmanga 14p)

WOKING 2 (Little 29 Bradbury 90)

Att 347

Entry £10 (includes £2 discount as an Oxford United season ticket holder)

Programme £2

As an Oxford United supporter any trip to Court Place Farm involves an element of “What could have been” about it. So convoluted were the club’s attempts to move from the Manor Ground that back in 1993 I actually managed to convince my degree tutor that there was enough in the subject to make it my dissertation. It may have helped that the tutor was a season ticket at Enfield FC…  Continue reading →

The Wire

08 Monday Apr 2019

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Sunday 10th March 2019 ko 11.00

North West Counties League Division One South

RYLANDS 3 (Boothman 5 45 White 86)

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 5 (Green 10 27p Herbert 36 Harrison 68 Simpson 71)

Att 319

Entry £4

Programme £2

The final day of the hop was defined by the weather from start to finish. From the moment I glanced through the curtains at the Holiday Inn in Warrington to the moment I did the final drop-offs at Crewe station I wondered whether I’d be rained, sleeted or hailed on. At times it felt like all three simultaneously! It was one of those days where on arrival at the ground, the coach party takes it’s time to get off… why be in a rush to get cold and wet? Continue reading →