Tag Archives: Football League

The History

23 Sunday Mar 2025

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Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 19:30

North West Counties League- Premier Division

GLOSSOP NORTH END 0

WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON 2 (Banister 60 Bass 81)

Lazenbury penalty saved 17

Att 830

Entry £10

Programme £2

If the North West Counties Hop was going to New Mills then it was close to inevitable that we’d pair them with Glossop North End as the “High Peak Twins.” But with all due respect to New Mills they were never a Football League club…

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The Curious Case Of Hubert Busby Junior

24 Monday Feb 2025

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Tuesday 18th February 2025 ko 19:45

EFL League 1

WYCOMBE WANDERERS 2 ( Humphreys 5 Udoh 58)

BRISTOL ROVERS 0

Forde sent off 82 (serious foul play)

Att 4,419 (419 away)

Entry £31 (middle 3 blocks, top tier Frank Adams stand)

As an Oxford United fan I’m all too aware that when we play Wycombe Wanderers it gets seen as some kind of local derby. I can understand why, the closest EFL ground to Grenoble Road is Adams Park. But to Oxford United fans the derby is with sw!ndon town, with any other team it’s a rivalry.

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Betty

26 Sunday Jun 2022

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Saturday 19th February 2022 ko 15:00

EFL League 2

HARROGATE TOWN P

LEYTON ORIENT P

Postponed due to snow

Saturday 7th May 2022 ko 15:00

EFL League 2

HARROGATE TOWN 0

SUTTON UNITED 2 (Eastmond 8 Olaofe 79)

Att 2,484 (440 away)

Entry/Hospitality/Programme/Teamsheet £80

My regular reader will have long since worked out that I’m not target driven, I don’t set out each season to complete a division, or league or tier of the game, it isn’t what makes me tick. I’m more the kind of bloke that will look through a set of fixtures and something will take my fancy. Being a contrary soul though, there is an exception to that rule and that’s the 92. Continue reading →

Utopia

24 Monday Jan 2022

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Tuesday 18th January 2022 ko 19:45

EFL League 2

STEVENAGE 2 (Taylor 29 Norris 73)

CRAWLEY TOWN 1 (Nichols 45)

Att 1,942 (210 away)

Entry (seat- West Stand- in advance) £22

Programme online only, downloadable

Teamsheet- FREE

Roughly 75 years ago the “New Towns Act” saw Stevenage built, with chief architect Lewis Siskin originally envisaging it as a “gay and bright” place. His utopian idea was see the neighbourly “spirit of the slums” combined with easy access to the countryside, sports and leisure facilities in a self-contained community. Back in the early 1990’s I studied places like this at University and even then there was a slightly snobby attitude to the New Towns. Thirty years later I watch the little “Starship” robots run on the dedicated cycle routes in Milton Keynes delivering people’s groceries and wonder whether Siskin was in fact just ahead of his time. Continue reading →

2 Jacks & A Bobby

18 Saturday Apr 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 27th January 2007 ko 15.00

Northern League Division One

ASHINGTON A.F.C. 0

SHILDON 2 (Emson 5 Ord 8)

Att c150

Entry £4

Programme £1

“Northern Ventures, Northern Gains” 30p

Quite often you hear football referred to as a religion. I’m not religious in the slightest but it isn’t a phrase I’m comfortable with, football is a sport after all. But in the Northumberland colliery town of Ashington I’d argue that football comes as close to being a religion as it can, and the evidence is there for all to see. Continue reading →

The United Swifts

12 Thursday Sep 2019

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Saturday 3rd August 2019

12.00 Central Midlands League Invitational Cup Final

NETHERSEAL ST PETERS 1 (Coates 7)

RENISHAW RANGERS 3 (Manlove 4 75 Purcell 72)

Att 189

15.00 Central Midlands League Chairman’s Cup Final

PINXTON 5 (Smith 20 Green 32 33 87 Riley 57)

BAKEWELL TOWN 1 (Rach 57)

Att 269

Both games at Peel Croft, (Burton RUFC), Burton-on-Trent

Entry £5

Programme £2

Just occasionally the hopper fraternity gets an opportunity so good, you drop everything and go. Normally it takes the form of a one-off game at an iconic stadium that isn’t often used to football such as Llanelli playing at Stradey Park, the re-staging of the 1872 FA Cup Final at the Oval or Hull City playing a friendly at Hull Kingston Rovers’ Craven Park. Those were all mid-week fixures, and 2 were at rugby grounds, but this game was at a rugby ground, on a Saturday making it so much easier for people to get to, but Peel Croft’s history made this a must-visit. Continue reading →

Maritimes

18 Monday Mar 2019

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Saturday 9th March 2019 ko 11.00

North-West Counties League Premier Division

BOOTLE 4 (Peers 10 19 Cox 72 Jones 90)

ASHTON ATHLETIC 2 (Gilchrist 22 Munro 50)

Att 391

Entry £5

Programme £1

I’m not sure why but on organised hops I like my breakfast quietly. Perhaps it’s because I know that for the rest of the day Chris Berezai and I will be in the centre of the maelstrom of everything that’s going on across the 4 games. That and the knowledge that experience without reflection is worthless. We’d had real problems getting this hop at a point where we felt comfortable organising it, but we’d got the event to a point that the day’s four host clubs had everything they needed to do well. I found myself thinking about the four grounds we were visiting. Continue reading →

The Oldest Of The New

30 Friday Nov 2018

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Saturday 3rd November 2018 ko 15.00

E.F.L. League 1

SCUNTHORPE UNITED 3 (Clarke 60 Thomas 64 Goode 66)

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Henry 8 Brannagan 50 Nelson 55)

Att 3,665 (383 away)

Entry £22 (away end, if bought in advance)

Programme £3

Parking £3

Last season I wrote a piece about Southend United describing them as the youngest of the old, Roots Hall was built in 1955 and no further Football League club moved home until Scunthorpe United moved from the Old Showground to Glanford Park in 1988. It is a curio as the club moved before the spur that encouraged other clubs to follow suit. Continue reading →

Recreationists

19 Sunday Feb 2017

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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 →

My Wembley

10 Sunday Apr 2016

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Sunday 3rd April 2016 ko 14.30

Football League Trophy Final

BARNSLEY 3 (Dunkley 50og Fletcher 68 Hammill 74)

OXFORD UNITED 2 (O’Dowda 29 Hylton 76)

Att 59,230 @ Wembley Stadium

Entry £60

Programme £5

Tea £2

I’m fortunate in that I get to visit Wembley reasonably frequently. It fulfills both sides of my divergent footballing personality. On one hand I’m a traditionalist, for me Wembley is English football’s spiritual home, so when the stadium was rebuilt in situ it was the correct decision. I admit it may well have been entirely logical to build the national stadium in Birmingham, but….. Wembley, is… home isn’t it? Continue reading →