15 Wednesday Mar 2017
Posted in R
Friday 10th March 2017 ko 19.45
Welsh League Division One
RISCA UNITED 1 (Williams 46)
MONMOUTH TOWN 3 (Lewis 38 43 Kareem 56)
Att 147
Entry £5
Programme £1.50
Our coach left Castell’s depot at Caerphilly, and took the best part of an hour to reach Sophia Gardens in Cardiff where most of its occupants where waiting our arrival at a pub. I did find myself question the wisdom of scheduling of a rugby match at the Millennium Stadium to clash with Friday night rush hour in Cardiff. Continue reading
05 Sunday Mar 2017
Posted in B
Tags
Barnet, Barnet FC, Brimsdown Rovers, Copthall, Kentish Town, Rugby union, Saracens, Spartan South Midlands League, stadium
Wednesday 3rd September 2008 ko 19.45
Spartan South Midlands League- Premier Division
KENTISH TOWN 1 (Donoghue 68)
BRIMSDOWN ROVERS 1 (Farrell 87)
Att 48 @Barnet Copthall Stadium
Entry & Programme £4
Here’s one from the archives, or to put in another way, the “Before” shot as the ground looks radically different these days. And unusually for this blog, it’s the ground that’s more the subject than the club playing there. Continue reading
03 Friday Mar 2017
Tags
Annual, Challenge Cup, City, Football, Kings School, RGS, Royal Grammar School, Rugby union, Sixways, Warriors, Worcester
Wednesday 1st March 2017 ko 19.00
Annual Challenge Cup
KINGS SCHOOL 3 (Rees 13 Hall 17 Newton 79)
ROYAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2 (Hughes 25 Saunders 27p)
80 minute game
Att c1,100 at Sixways Stadium, Worcester (Worcester Warriors RUFC)
Entry £5
No Programme
I do like a fixture that tests groundhoppers’ self-imposed rules. I’m certain that if this had been billed as a youth team game then I’m sure more than the 10 or so travellers here would have paid Sixways a visit. And let’s make one thing absolutely clear, those who decided to miss this missed out on a real treat. Continue reading
02 Thursday Mar 2017
Posted in M
Tags
1860 Munchen, 1860 Munich, allianz arena, Bayern Munchen, Bayern Munich, Football, Germany, groundhopping, Hamburg, Hamburger SV, Munich, SV Hamburg
Saturday 25th February 2017 ko 15.30
Bundesliga
FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN 8 (Arturo Vidal 17 Lewandowski 25p 42 54 Alaba 56 Coman 65 67 Robben 87)
HAMBURGER SV 0
Att 75,000
Entry €70 (c£60)
Programme €1.50
Pin Badge €3.95
I remember exactly when I decided I simply had to visit the Allianz Arena. I was part of a party staying in Regensburg and we decided to take in an early morning Kreisklasse game in Munich one Sunday. En route to Viktoria München’s second string we passed through Fröttmanning on the autobahn and the space-age vision transfixed me. The question was how, and when? Continue reading
27 Monday Feb 2017
Posted in R
Tags
Cornwater Ground, Flowserve, groundhopping, Leisure Centre, Newark, Newark Flowserve, Notts Senior League, Ravenshead, Rob Hornby, Robin Hood
Wednesday 22nd February 2017 ko 19.30
Notts Senior League Cup- Quarter Final
RAVENSHEAD 0
NEWARK FLOWSERVE 2 (Potts 46 51)
Att 119
Entry FREE
Programme £1
It goes without saying that Rob Hornby was the reason I was there. The Notts Senior League registrar spotted that a highly unusual game under lights would draw the groundhoppers, and even more so if there was a programme was produced. He took charge of magazine production, and without doubt added 100 on the gate. The only doubt in my mind was what exactly was I watching? Continue reading
21 Tuesday Feb 2017
Posted in B
Tags
binfield, Bracknell Town, Football, groundhopping, hellenic league, Hill Farm Lane, Non League, Stubbs Lane
Monday 20th February 2017 ko 19.45
Hellenic League- Premier Division
BINFIELD 0
BRACKNELL TOWN 1 (Bohane 13)
Att 289
Entry & Programme £6
About 1,500 grounds ago I was enjoying hopping the non-league grounds of London. Week after week I visited a different ground and became very taken with the same group of older men I encountered every time I visited the capital. They’d worked out that with a little planning you could watch a game of football every day of the week, and so the clubs that played on the unusual days did rather well out of these “floating” fans.
19 Sunday Feb 2017
Posted in G
Tags
Conference North, Football League, Gainsborough Trinity, Gloucester City, National League North, Northholme, Oldest ground
Saturday 18th February 2017 ko 15.00
National League North
GAINSBOROUGH TRINITY 1 (Jarman 32p)
GLOUCESTER CITY 1 (Avery 67)
Att 477
Entry £12
Programme £2.50
If you want to visit a club with history, you, really do need to head over the River Trent, and over the border to Lincolnshire. Gainsborough Trinity’s Northolme ground is claimed to be the oldest football ground in use by one club, a claim I’d imagine based around Hallam’s Sandygate Ground being used by Crookes WMC and Fulwood when Hallam went into abeyance in the 1930’s. But with all due respect to the second oldest football club in the world, there’s far more to enjoy at Gainsborough Trinity. Continue reading
15 Wednesday Feb 2017
Posted in E
Friday 10th February 2017 ko 19.45
Eastern Counties League Premier Division
ELY CITY 2 (Darling 69 Neal 86)
HAVERHILL ROVERS 1 (Palmer 83)
Att 89
Entry £6
Programme £1
The Eastern Counties League has used the Friday night fixture as a promotional tool for a few years, and whilst this tie saw quite a few groundhoppers present, I do wonder whether the unusual fixture actually saw an increase in attendance. Whilst I found it convenient, I’m sure some others would prefer the traditional Saturday afternoon kick-off. Continue reading
12 Sunday Feb 2017
Posted in S
Tags
6inarow, 7inarow, County Ground, COYY, inbreds and roundabours, oxford united., red red robin shoot the bastard, scumdon, Swindon, swine, swinedon, the scum, Town
Sunday 4th February 2017 ko 12.00
League 1
swindon town (Dabo 18)
OXFORD UNITED 2 (Sercombe 70 Hall 73)
Att 10,658 (3,000 away)
Entry £25
Programme £3
Teamsheet 50p
“Can’t I stay and go for a meal?” Oxford fan at swindon station after the game.
“You’ve been singing “swindon’s a sh!thole I wanna go home,” all afternoon, go home!” The policeman’s response.
I suspect that if I were not an Oxford United fan I’d quite like the County Ground, and I’d stop typing the place as the CoUNTY Ground! It does have that mixture of old and new I like, but nothing, repeat nothing will ever make me like the madness that is the “Magic Roundabout!” Continue reading
11 Saturday Feb 2017
Tags
Bridgwater, Devon, Football, Groundhopper, Mathew Thresher, Southern League, Tiverton Town, Town
Saturday 4th February 2017 ko 15.00
Southern League Division One South & West
TIVERTON TOWN 2 (L. Landricombe 11 47)
BRIDGWATER TOWN 0
Att 206
Entry £9
Programme £2
All sorts of coincidences happened for me to be at Ladysmead. For a start the torrential rain held off for a couple of hours longer than expected, saving an already sodden pitch. Then the police decided that swindon vs Oxford United game really ought to played Sunday lunchtime (no argument from me!) then girlfriend Robyn really wanted to be dropped off at Bristol City’s home game. But the real reason I was there was Mathew Thresher. Continue reading
Football: Wherever it may be 