The One In The Middle

16 Friday May 2025

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Saturday 23rd March 2025 ko 15:30

Essex Senior League

LITTLE OAKLEY 1 (Harris 37og)

Papple sent off (violent conduct) 90+1

STANWAY ROVERS 2 (Okoye 41 Maycock 45+1)

Chatting sent off (violent conduct) 90+1

Att 111

Non-League Day “Passport” £30

Entry £6

Programme FREE

After the Benfleet game it seemed that the hordes scattered to the four winds. There were no end of options for the middle game of the three on the Essex Senior League’s Non League Day event, albeit those of us with the passports were limited to clubs within the league. For me I had two options that would represent a new ground, Little Oakley or Athletic Newham and it was fairly obvious which one I favoured.

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Our Friends in the East

14 Wednesday May 2025

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Saturday 22nd March 2025 ko 12:00

Essex Senior League

BENFLEET 4 (Purdy 28 Saunders 34 Shave 37 Hartman 89)

FC CLACTON 2 (Miller 4 Bright 40)

Att 702

Non-League Day “Passport” £30

Entry £7

Programme sold out

Event brochure £1

After two organised hops in March on one level the last thing I wanted was another. But then there’s always something to learn from other folks’ events, and I was the only part of the GroundhopUK team available! There was also more to it than just a set of staggered kick-offs too, with it being the league’s “Non League Day” attraction, and a fundraiser for the “Prostate Cancer UK” charity too. But what really interested me was the advance ticketing…

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West, yes!

13 Tuesday May 2025

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Sunday 16th March 2025 ko 12:30

East of Scotland League Third Division

LINTON HOTSPUR 2 (Martin 4 McLean 49)

LIVINGSTON UNITED 0

Att 372

Entry £5

Programme £2

Sunday’s fixture on the Scottish Hop saw a complete change of locale. We’d spent a day and a half visiting industrial, and post-industrial towns in the Central Belt. Now it was time to head south and make for the border.

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Wee Help

06 Tuesday May 2025

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Saturday 15th March 2025 ko 10:45

Lowland League

ALBION ROVERS 0

BO’NESS UNITED 0

Att 379

Entry £11

Programme £2

Sometimes I do worry that people forget one of the points of the organized groundhop. Yes, part of it is to allow groundhoppers to tick off multiple grounds over a weekend, but it’s just as much there to act as a fundraiser for the host clubs, and perhaps never before has that side of these events been so important as here.

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Creamery

30 Wednesday Apr 2025

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Saturday 15th March 2025 ko 16:30

East of Scotland League- Second Division

BATHGATE THISTLE 0

EASTHOUSES LILY MWFC 3 (Leslie 44 Dyer 53 Elliott 72)

Att 307

Entry £7

Programme £2

Sat on the coach heading from West Calder to Bathgate I checked social media and was a little surprised. I knew we’d lose a few hoppers for the middle two games, despite our normal attempts to minimise this form of drift. I spotted a few (and I do mean a few) hoppers had opted to miss West Calder and Bathgate in favour of one SPFL game. I allowed myself a raised eyebrow but no more.

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The Five Sisters

23 Wednesday Apr 2025

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Saturday 15th March 2025 ko 13:45

East of Scotland League Division Two

WEST CALDER UNITED 4 (Wilkins 21 45 McConnell 66 Young 83og)

KENNOWAY STAR HEARTS 3 (Nugent 23 Lawrie 54 Walker 90+1p)

Att 336

Entry £8

Programme £2

From Harthill it seemed like no distance at all to West Calder, another village that owes its existance to the mining industry- in this case shale. We passed “The Five Sisters” on the way- huge bings, or spoil heaps that sadly you can’t see from Hermand Park.

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The Lothian Question

15 Tuesday Apr 2025

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Saturday 15th March ko 11:00

East of Scotland League Division Two

HARTHILL ROYAL 1 (Strickland 66)

Carroll missed penalty 59

DALKEITH THISTLE 0

Att 328 (ground record)

Entry £5

Programme £2

Sometimes it’s what, sometimes its where, but in the case of Harthill Royal is was definately a case of both! The small town of Harthill lies close to Whitburn and like there, owes much of its existance to coal mining – in this case the Polkemmet Colliery. Back in the day Gibbshill Park was known as Beechbank Park and was home to Polkemmet Juniors. When the mine closed in 1984 the football club lasted only another 4 years.

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Caracas

08 Tuesday Apr 2025

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Friday 14th March 2025 ko 19:45

Lowland League

CUMBERNAULD COLTS 2 (Duncan 10og Ross 40)

BROXBURN ATHLETIC 0

Att 375 at Broadwood Stadium

Entry £6

Programme £2

It is always a brutal journey to the Scottish Hop but for me it’s great joy has been watching it’s evolution. From a conversation at Camelon Juniors in 2014, Jamie McQueen’s stirling work while at Whitehill Welfare, Chris Berezai’s marathon driving stints to meet the Lowland League, through to that first game at East Kilbride this event has never come with the huge history of the organised hop south of the border.

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Upper and Lower

06 Sunday Apr 2025

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Saturday 8th March 2025 ko 14:00

Banbury District & Lord Jersey League Division One

ARNCOTT ATHLETIC 2 (Dawistan 16 Davenport 60)

TYSOE UNITED 1 (Gardiner 40)

Att 15

Free Entry

When it comes to the leagues local to me in Oxford, I reckon I know most of them fairly well. Clearly organising hops for the North Berkshire and the Witney & District and sitting on a committee for the Oxfordshire FA helped for the Oxon Senior League, but the Banbury District & Lord Jersey League remains something of a mystery to me.

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Another kind of hopping

02 Wednesday Apr 2025

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Friday 7th March 2025 11:00

National League U19 Alliance-South Division

WELLING UNITED 4 (13 24p 71 90+2p)

MAIDENHEAD UNITED 0

Att 5 at Goals Eltham, Baldon Sports Ground, Eltham Palace Road

Free Entry

I’m well used to explaining my rather odd hobby to people, a starting point is usually “Some folks collect stamps or coins, I collect visits to football grounds” and then the next question is invariably “how many?” and that produces incredulity, to which my response is that there are people who watch far more football than I do! This game was in part to demonstrate that, and try out what some of the more committed hoppers do.

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