Tag Archives: England

Times Like These

10 Friday Jan 2020

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Saturday 2nd November 2019 ko 15.00

FA Premier League

ARSENAL 1 (Aubameyang 20)

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1 (Jiminez 76)

Att 60,383

Entry £56.50

Programme £3.50

For a while I’d known my future brother-in-law Scott wanted to visit the Emirates Stadium. Now on one hand I’ve seen enough of Arsenal over the years for there to be little or nothing to be achieved from another visit. It is a case of “Been there done that” but on the other hand, he’s family and I’ve got history. Continue reading →

The Full Monty

19 Thursday Dec 2019

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Saturday 12th October 2019 ko 14.45

Bedfordshire County League Division 3

LANCOT PARK 5 (Wilson 38 75 Nolan 41 Douglas 60p Wrench 87)

LUTON ALLSTARS 1 (Katcombe 34)

Grey penalty saved 17

Att 118

Free Entry

Programme £2

We left Luton’s environs for the last game of this year’s Bedfordshire Hop. Maybe it was because I’d long since committed to the whole event but when organiser Craig Dabbs mentioned Lancot Park, I’d recognised the name but failed to place why. Sadly for the hop I seemed to be the only one with amnesia! Continue reading →

Voice Of The Beehive

06 Friday Dec 2019

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Sunday 6th October 2019 ko 10.45

Western League Premier Division

BRIDPORT 0

BRIDGWATER TOWN 6 (O’Hare 12 33 34 Duffy 27 Tower 83 84)

Att 347

Entry £6

Programme £1

I sat enjoying my Full English at the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel with mixed feelings. On one hand there was the relief in enough seats having been sold to hire our coach – I really didn’t fancy driving a minibus with the day’s itinerary! On another this was the last day of the last Western Hop, and I and so many still miss the man to came up with the idea- the late Mark Edmonds. But the reality was we had a long journey down to what one hopper described as the Fort William of the Western League.

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Glory Box

28 Thursday Nov 2019

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Saturday 5th October 2019 ko 10.45

Western League Division One

PORTISHEAD TOWN 3 (Osmond 53p 64p Eastwood 72)

LONGWELL GREEN SPORTS 5 (Carter 31p 54 Mafini 60 Crubb 68 Britton 84)

Att 262

Entry £6

Programme £1

Sat at breakfast at the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel it was time for a little reflection. It was lovely to be back in the Western league, and once again try and maintain what the late Mark Edmonds started, and what Jules French has carried on. There’s always been a real sense of responsibility in making this event work. But all good things do have to come to an end, this hop saw us visit all the remaining clubs that hadn’t previously hosted, and that hadn’t featured on another (Dorset, Devon or South West Peninsula) hop. I’ve often said that the first hop of the series is the most difficult to organise, but the last does come with its own challenges. Continue reading →

Goin’ Home

18 Monday Nov 2019

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Tuesday 17th September 2019 ko 19.45

Isthmian League- Premier Division

HORSHAM 2 (Harris 3 Smith 27)

WINGATE & FINCHLEY 1 (Kennedy 70)

Att 412

Entry £11

Programme £2

A new home for Horsham at Hop Oast has been one of this season’s good news stories. So much so that not only was my journey round the M25 straightforward, but I even had time to try to remember when it was I’d visited their former home at Queen Street? Continue reading →

Fritillaries

13 Wednesday Nov 2019

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Saturday 14th September 2019 ko 16.30

Witney & District League- Division Two

DUCKLINGTON 2 (Duthie 33 90)

WOOTTON SPORTS 3 (Spencer 51 78 88)

Att 178

Entry & Programme £4

Ducklington Sports Ground is the kind of place you can drive right past without knowing its there. I should know I spent 3 years as a sales rep in the Witney area and drive along the road from the A40 to Standlake and never once spotted the place. To make things worse I used to visit my friend Matt who once lived in Ducklington and still managed not to spot the place! Continue reading →

Hillgrove

10 Sunday Nov 2019

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Saturday 14th September 2019 ko 13.30

Witney & District League – Premier Division

MINSTER LOVELL 2 (Fletcher 30 Wright 39)

CARTERTON 3 (Threlfall 46 85p Rogers 61)

Att 126

Entry & Programme £4

I’d actually managed to relax on the journey from Milton-under-Wychwood as we slowly made our way south. We bumped our way down on Britain’s byways passing by Leafield; it seemed barely plausible that F1’s Arrows team used to be based here, and the plant is still a Formula 1 research facility. Continue reading →

The Lottery

24 Thursday Oct 2019

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Tuesday 3rd September 2019 ko 19.45

FA CUP Preliminary Round Replay

SHERWOOD COLLIERY 0

LOUGHBOROUGH COLLIERY 1 (Robbins 29)

Att 341

Entry £5

Programmme £1

It’s strange how some clubs and grounds seem to pass you by. Mansfield Woodhouse-based Sherwood Colliery managed to time their rise through the ranks so as to avoid the Central Midlands League’s groundhops, and when they won promotion from that league went into the East Midlands Counties League, avoiding the Northern Counties East Hops too! I ended up driving past no end of places I’d travelled to on a hop coach to Debdale Park!

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Matchstick Man

22 Sunday Sep 2019

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Saturday 17th August 2019 ko 15.00
Cornwall Combination League

LIZARD ARGYLE 1 (Vaughan-Spruce 10)

ROSUDGEON 0 Fletcher missed penalty 90

Att 30

Entry by donation

Programme £1

“So there he was then, Penzance to play….

..And you, you would-be vagabond
No one invited you, you know
Matchstick man, up in the dawn
You’ve got five hundred miles to go.”

excerpt of Matchstick Man by Mark Knopfler 2018

Remember my comment that all too often I don’t pick my games, they pick me? Well this was a classic case of that happening. Robyn and I were in Bristol wedding planning and I knew that I’d be picking up an easel in Clifton but I’d be finished around 10.30am so could go anywhere within reason before heading back to Oxford afterwards. My initial idea was something in the Peninsula League but then something popped up on Facebook!

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The Saint Returns

15 Thursday Aug 2019

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Friday 19th July 2019 ko 18.30

Pre-Season Friendly

SOUTHAM UNITED 2 (72 85)

CROPREDY 3 (Welch 25 Dineen 35 Reeves 80)

Att 26 at Youth Ground, Banbury Road.

Free Entry

Back in the the day when I lived in Banbury it became something of a tradition for Southam to play near neighbours Leamington at 11am each Boxing Day. It was never likely to be a tradition that lasted, the reformed Leamington were never likely to stay in the Midland Combination for long. Nevertheless I’m sure Southam enjoyed the bumper crowd, and I enjoyed visiting each time, even to the point of me enjoying a plate of bubble and squeak as my ex-wife drove me to Oxford United for their festive fixture afterwards! Continue reading →