Gallacticos

21 Friday Apr 2017

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Tuesday 4th April 2017 ko 18.20

Spartan South Midlands League Division Two

MK GALLACTICOS 3 (Wreh 35 Smith 54 Joao 76)

MURSLEY UNITED 2 (Hollingsworth 46 Skelton 76) Jay sent off (dangerous play 80)

Att 35 at North Fuzton Sports Ground, Milton Keynes

Entry FREE

No Programme

When I tick off a pitch in Milton Keynes I always think of my friend James. Maybe you’ve seen the Rennie Trophy presented at the end of each North Berkshire Hop, that’s named after him. James died a few years ago, but before he left us he attempted to watch a game on every single pitch in his adopted town. Continue reading →

Unease

20 Thursday Apr 2017

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Sunday 2nd April 2017 ko 14.30

Football League Trophy Final

COVENTRY CITY 2 (Bigirimana 11 Thomas 55)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Sercombe 75)

Att 74,434

Entry £60

Programme £5

A trip to Wembley is an experience to be savoured isn’t it? It ought to be the pinnacle of your club’s ambition, and an experience where you take in every moment as if it were your last. So why did I come very close to not going, or even watching it on television? Continue reading →

Tring Fellows

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

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Saturday 1st April 2017 ko 15.00

Spartan South Midlands League Division Two

TRING TOWN AFC 1 (Eaton 72)

UNITE MK 3 (Daubney 5 Parker 22 Ricci 67)

Att c20

Entry FREE

No Programme

I have history in this part of West Hertfordshire, I used to be an Insurance Man for a now-defunct firm here in the late ’90’s, and I soon got used to the town’s quirks, such as the station that’s nearer to Aldbury than Tring itself, and the little cafe that had the chutzpar to call itself “Tringfellows!” The tea and cakes were excellent, but the showgirls rather lacking! Continue reading →

Proximity

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

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Sunday 26th March 2017 ko 12.00

East of Scotland League

ORMISTON 1 (Gordon 87)

LEITH ATHLETIC 4 (Ferguson 18 Wilkie 19 Millard 62og Martin 73) Allen sent off 30 (2nd booking)

Att 259

Entry £5

Programme £1

I and I suspect many others were glad of a lie in on Sunday morning, and I hope everyone remembered the clocks went forward! Sat over breakfast in Leith I felt able to do more than just the one game on offer, but when I typed my home address into the SatNav and saw I’d be home by 10pm the regret quickly evaporated. Monday is a work day, and coach driver’s hours dictate the you either do one game and head for home, or do more and stay another night in Scotland. We’d learned the lesson that more want to head for home then stay the hard way last year.

Continue reading →

Turning the Bull

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

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Saturday 25th March 2017 ko 19.00

Lowland League

HAWICK ROYAL ALBERT 2 (Hunter 14 Mitchell 58) Jack sent off 80 (2nd booking)

EAST STIRLINGSHIRE 4 (Rodgers 36 80 Glasgow 76 Sludden 90)

Att 287

Entry £5

Programme £1

After 2 highly enjoyable games at Eyemouth and Coldstream my warm forehead told me I’d caught the sun. I quietly gave thanks for the fine weather, but making our way via Kelso I was amazed to see a gritting lorry coming the other way! Now I know the temperature can drop rapidly north of the border, and in the end I was glad I retrieved my coat from the boot. Continue reading →

Risk

10 Monday Apr 2017

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Saturday 25th March 2017 ko 15.00

East of Scotland League

COLDSTREAM 0

TYNECASTLE 2 (Mayer 14 Crabbe 19)

Att 267

Entry £5

Programme £2

I’ll admit it, as hop organisers Chris Berezai and I took a bit of a gamble with this one. Here’s the dilemna we had, on one hand we listened to the hoppers and they often tell us that scheduling 4 games is too much. Scheduling three isn’t an issue in itself but the risk is that if you put a game at around 3pm you run the risk of some of the hoppers doing “Off piste” and taking in another game.

Continue reading →

Aye

09 Sunday Apr 2017

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Saturday 25th March 2017 ko 11.00

East of Scotland League

EYEMOUTH UNITED 0

LOTHIAN THISTLE 3 (Brown 10 Delvin 30 Guy 87)

Att 227

Entry £4

Programme £1

From the moment GroundhopUK and the Lowland League agreed 3 years ago to launch the Scottish Hop it was inevitable that we’d end up in the East of Scotland League. The league, along with the South of Scotland feeds the Lowland, and the two leagues share a fixture secretary too! Just as inevitably Chris Berezai and I knew that we’d get the odd hopper who’d decide the East of Scotland League was too low a level for them and decide to head elsewhere, but there seemed to me some who’d come to their conclusion had done so without ever having seen an EoSL game first! Surely a game a 11am with no simultaneous kick-offs would be a risk-free way of finding out?

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Deuce

09 Sunday Apr 2017

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Friday 24th March 2017 ko 19.45

Lowland League

PRESTON ATHLETIC 0 Cowan sent off (DOGSO) 53

CUMBERNAULD COLTS 2 (Brown 25 82)

Att 263

Entry £5

Programme £2

If there was ever a game I wanted to take place it was this one. On last year’s Scottish Hop Preston had seen their game called off late in the day due to a supposedly waterlogged pitch. My abiding memory of the piece was the gap in the car park where once the referee’s car once stood, he’d made a sharp exit, and club secretary Lesley Birrell in tears. We eventually ran the coaches to Civil Service Strollers (We’re still waiting for the programmes from them!) but that was no consolation to the Prestonpans club.

Continue reading →

Ghost Rail

31 Friday Mar 2017

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Tuesday 14th March 2017 ko 19.45

Essex Senior League

TAKELEY 4 (Cole 16 18 65 Das 90)

WALTHAM FOREST 1 (Baluaka 73)

Att 76

Entry & Programme £7

Takeley FC, other than being mighty close to Stansted Airport is one of only a few clubs, Copnor-based Moneyfields being another, where you navigate to the ground via a railway station that doesn’t exist! In Moneyfields’ case that’s due to the station being planned but never built, but in Takeley’s case you go over the hump-backed bridge glance to your left and there’s the station- with no trains, or indeed rails either! Continue reading →

Reputations

30 Thursday Mar 2017

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Sunday 12th March 2017 ko 15.00

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

CARDIFF CORINTHIANS 1 (Canley 52)

PONTYCLUN 2 (Moss 49p Woodington 71)

Att 189

Entry £3

Programme £1

It’s worth remembering that the roots of the Welsh Spring Hop lie with GroundhopUK organising a “Hop Up” in March for clubs in the South Wales Amateur League, who due to cricket couldn’t host during August Bank Holiday.

The idea was transferred along with the August Hop to the Mid-Wales League, but then one year we were approached by the Ceredigion League who offered us a games in Lampeter, and New Quay to pad out trips to UWA and Aberaeron and we enjoyed their company so much we completed the league before moving the event to the Carmarthenshire League last season. This return to both the roots of the Spring Hop, and the now merged Alliance League was a good chance to compare past and present. Continue reading →