Tag Archives: Chris Berezai

Listening

19 Monday Oct 2015

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Friday 16th October 2015 ko 19.45

Western League Division One

CORSHAM TOWN 1 (Lardner 82)

CALNE TOWN 2 (Windsor 12 Beasley 54)

Att 293

Entry £5

Programme £1

If you metaphorically scratch the surface of the Western League Hop, you get League General Secretary Mark Edmonds. It was him who put the idea in as part of his successful application to the role, and it was him who first put the idea to his clubs. From GroundhopUK’s perspective we’d had an abortive attempt at the project a decade or so earlier, so we hadn’t even considered the idea. But all kinds of coincidences happened to make this happen. Continue reading →

The Pressure Cooker

13 Sunday Sep 2015

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Monday 31st August 2015 ko 18.15

Welsh Alliance Divsion Two

PENMAENMAWR PHOENIX 3 (S Williams 21 Z Davies 44 Paddock 90)

GREENFIELD 4 (Pritchard 38 Beck 56 Henley 58 80)

Att 431 (Welsh Hop record)

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

Recently I attended a funeral of a mutual friend of my ex-wife and I. Since we split up 5 years ago we’ve only spoken a handful of times and never met. We both knew the other would be present, so the nervous tension built up in the days before. Fortunately we found time for a brief chat before the service, and whilst we’ll never be friends I stood at the back of the chapel and felt the tension slowly dissipate, rather like the valve on a pressure cooker. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt like that in the last few weeks. Continue reading →

Pent or Five

10 Thursday Sep 2015

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Monday 31st August 2015 ko 11.30

Welsh Alliance Division 2

PENTRAETH 10 (McGonnigle 1 18 54 55 R Roberts 14 Monument 18 37 C Jones 59 89 D Owen 72)

GAERWEN 2 (McGuiness 21 Leuthwaite 27)

Att 376

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

As the coach pulled in back at Chester University the previous evening I remember glancing up at the evening sky. It was dark, with nothing to see, but I’d remembered the previous year’s hop at the pouring rain at Kinmel Bay and how disappointed I’d felt that we’d finished the longest hop of the year on a damp squib. That was a feeling enhanced at 2.30am when I woken by the rain lashing down against the window pane. I slept fitfully after that and when it was still raining at breakfast it took driver Jase to laugh, “Don’t worry mate, it’s not raining in Bangor!” to make me smile. Continue reading →

Mountaineering

07 Monday Sep 2015

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Sunday 30th August 2015 ko 18.00

Welsh Alliance Division 2

MYNYDD LLANDEGAI 3 (M Smith 6 M Hughes 70p Whitmore 74)

MELIDEN 2 (Buckley 15 Szabo 78)

Att 305

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

We left Llanrug and climbed into the mountains of Snowdonia and then we climbed some more. The roads narrowed, the heather turned purple almost it seemed through oxygen deprivation, and eventually we reached the tiny village of Mynydd (Mountain) Llandegai. Continue reading →

Locomotive

06 Sunday Sep 2015

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Sunday 30th August 2015 ko 11.30

Welsh Alliance Division One

LLANBERIS 1 (Parry 68)

PWLLHELI 1 (M Jones 76) C Jones sent off 83 (violent conduct)

Att 333

Entry £4

Programme £1

I remember the moment when Chris Berezai made the decision he needed a deputy. We were on a Hellenic Hop at Abingdon Town when his back seized up. He struggled through the rest of the event, and a few days later I got a phone call, and the rest as they say is history. From then on we’ve acted more as a joint effort rather than me simply order-taking. I wasn’t born to follow, but Llanberis proved to be rather different for a while. Continue reading →

Glancing Forward

03 Thursday Sep 2015

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Saturday 29th August 2015 ko 13.30

Welsh Alliance Division 2

LLANERCHYMEDD 3 (J Jones 5 M Jones 29 48)

BLAENAU AMATEURS 2 (Bradley 35 45)

Att 317

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

As I was about to complete the crowd count back at Amlwch I spotted a lone figure looking nervously from outside the ground (I didn’t count him!). He was speaking to an Amlwch committeeman so I downed tools for a minute. It turned out to be to the Llanerchymedd manager getting a sneak preview of what was heading his way! Continue reading →

Logistics

03 Thursday Sep 2015

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Saturday 28th August 2015 ko 10.45

Welsh Alliance Division Two

AMLWCH TOWN 1 (Grffiths 44) Byast sent off 90 (2nd booking)

NANTLLE VALE 2 (A Hughes 2 S Williams 40) E Jones sent off 81 (2nd booking)

Att 318

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

When you organise a groundhop, after you’ve agreed the event with the league your next move is to pick a base, where you’ll run the coaches from and site your accommodation. There are some hard and fast rules with hotels and the like, parking must be free, there has to be room for the coach, and the breakfasts need to be of the cooked variety! Universities tend to be good for us, having single ensuite rooms is perfect for us, and the University of Chester’s accommodation is first-class, but it has meant we’ve needed to plan a little more. Continue reading →

Lost In Translation

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

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Friday 28th August 2015 ko 18.30

Welsh Alliance Division Two

MOCHDRE SPORTS 1 (Owen 67)

PRESTATYN SPORTS 0

Att 313

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

GroundhopUK’s roots lie with the Welsh hop, back 13 years ago when Chris Berezai put together a one-day event for the Welsh League. My, how the baby has grown as we distributed 130-or-so programme packs and room keys at Chester University and waited for our two coaches to take us to the first game of a 4 day, 11 game extravaganza in the Welsh Alliance. Continue reading →

Skydiver

16 Sunday Aug 2015

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Sunday 2nd August 2015 ko 17.00

Peterborough & District League Division One

KINGS CLIFFE UNITED 0

STAMFORD LIONS 1 (Kelly 84)

Att 296

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

So all too soon we reached the final game of Rutland Weekend Groundhopping, and a trip to “Kings Cliffe Active” a name that seemed to me to wholly give the wrong impression of what the ground would be like. Was I the only one who thought it would be at the back of leisure centre? Beds Hop organiser Craig Dabbs strolled over to the coach with a grin on his face, and laughed, “You’re going to love this!”

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Blueprint

16 Sunday Aug 2015

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Sunday 2nd August 2015 ko 14.00

Peterborough & District League Division One

OUNDLE TOWN 3 (Hipwell 3p C Murphy 45 Kaye 77)

BASTON 4 (C Murphy 31og Pick 49 Waters 58 90p)

Att 321

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

For me the grounds I visit that give me the most satisfaction are the ones that surprise me. There is a tendency amongst the less experienced groundhoppers to treat everything below Step 6 as “Fields” with little other than the game to excite. The truth is that without research you genuinely don’t know what you’ll find. It could be no more than a pitch, or it could be a gem, the trick is to put your prejudices in your back pocket and find out. Continue reading →