Tag Archives: Football

Life At The Grassroots

14 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by in K

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 30th November 2019 ko 13.30

North Berkshire League Division 2

KINGSTON COLTS 0

LONG WITTENHAM ATHLETIC RESERVES 6 (Crowley 4 27 Bishop 9 24 Hunt 13 Barton 28)

Att 4 at Dalton Barracks, Shippon, near Abingdon

Free Entry

The North Berkshire Hops may be over for now, and despite me being from Oxford I’ll always be a North Berkshire man. It’s a league that put their trust in me to organise a hop when many wouldn’t, and those who really know me knew that back in 2011 I was at a pretty low ebb. I remain on the league’s management committee and will probably do so while they feel I can be of some use to them. Being right at grass roots does give you an insight as to what life really is like at the bottom of the pile. Continue reading →

Claremont

13 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in E, H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 26th November 2019 ko 19.45

Middlesex Senior Cup 2nd Round

HENDON 1 (Mitchell 58)

WINGATE & FINCHLEY 3 ( Ruff 17p Ochineng 32 Fleming 68)

Att 110

Entry £6

Programmes sold out

Teamsheet 50p

When Hendon left their crumbling, yet atmospheric home of Claremont Road in 2008 few could have envisioned their search for a new home would lead them to a place the width of Silver Jubilee Park from Hendon, even if the stadium itself is on the western edge of the park, and Hendon itself on the eastern! Continue reading →

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes

10 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in N

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Tuesday 19th November 2019 ko 19.45

Leicestershire Senior League – Division Two

NORTHFIELD EMERALDS 7 (Carter-Fell 10 MacIntosh 33 Kewmoss 33 Claricotes 37 Turland 83 Boumedi 83 87)

ST ANDREWS RESERVES 0

Att 36

Free Entry

Here’s a groundhopping top tip. If you fancy an unusual midweek fixture then keep an eye on the Leicestershire Senior League. For a league whose top flight is at Step 7 there are a surprisingly large amount of grounds with floodlights. Moreover, this season the league has expanded so there’s more teams, more grounds and more floodlit games! Continue reading →

Our Former Self

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in D

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 12th November 2019 ko 19.45

West Midlands (Regional) League- Premier Division

DARLASTON TOWN (1874) FC 0

WOLVERHAMPTON CASUALS 0

K Miller sent off 49 (2nd Booking)

Att 110

Entry £5

Programme £1

Back in the day I used to use the M6 as a kind of a footballing acid test. I’d ask the question,

“If you drive along the M6 around Birmingham heading north after Spaghetti Junction which club do you think of?”

I suspect many would say Aston Villa and Walsall whose grounds are both clearly visible from the motorway/ traffic jam, but I reckoned any groundhopper worth his salt would have said Darlaston Town. Continue reading →

Coincidence

02 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by in P

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Saturday 9th November 2019 ko 15.00

Western League Premier Division

PLYMOUTH PARKWAY 5 (Calver 17 52 Krac 33 80 Williams 89)

Carter penalty saved 37

CHIPPING SODBURY TOWN 2 (Brown 47 72)

Att 157

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

The coach had just left Wellington after the final Western Hop and someone commented, ” I suppose that’s the league completed for you Laurence?” I replied in the affirmative and it was only a few days later that I realised I’d missed out Plymouth Parkway. I could see why, Parkway featured on a Devon County Hop but I wasn’t there…. Continue reading →

All About Wickhurst Lane

27 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by in B

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 8th November 2019 ko 19.45

Sussex Senior Cup 2nd Round

BROADBRIDGE HEATH 2 (Jones 27 Wanstall 61)

PEACEHAVEN & TELSCOMBE 3 (Wiltshire 38 Ford 50 Bant 90)

Att 64

Entry £6

Programme £1

After all that had gone before, it seemed strange to be returning to pyramid football. Not in any perjorative sense, although the inevitable battle with the M25 evening rush hour was as unwelcome. As hellish as the traffic was, it was familiar I’d passed Broadbridge Heath’s new ground on the way to Horsham a couple of months earlier. I found myself wishing my journeys were a little more straightforward, but then that is skill that Broadbridge Heath are rather good at! Continue reading →

Times Like These

10 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by in A

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

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 →

Elbar

06 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by in I

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday 20th October 2019 ko 14.00

Kategorie e Dytë Grp A

FC INTERNACIONAL TIRANA 5 (Ajdini 65 Xhuveli 69 Shkreta 78 81 Konci 86)

FK KAMZA 1 (Bode 90p)

Biba penalty saved 62

Att 48 at Kompleksi Internacional, Pezë Helmës

Free Entry

In footballing terms at least my stag weekend finished at the one ground that you could argue that wasn’t in Tirana, despite the name of the host club we were a good half an hour’s drive from Skanderbeg Square. Zaja seemed happy negotiating the odd pot hole on dusty roads as we climbed into the mountains, to a surprise to all for the party that hadn’t researched where we were heading! Continue reading →

Korça

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in T

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Sunday 20th October 2019 ko 12.00

U19 Kategorie Superiore Grp A

PARTIZANI TIRANA 1 (Marinjaj 70)

Qyra sent off 85 (violent conduct)

SHKËNDIJA 2 (Islamaj 52 Kokomani 89)

Hasani sent off 85 (violent conduct)

Att 93 at KS Klubite Olimpiku Stadiumi, Yrshek, Tirana

Sunday morning in Tirana started as I’d hoped. I woke in my bed in the Hotel Vila e Arte just off Skanderbeg Square and not sellotaped to a lamp post naked somewhere! That is the distinct advantage of being on a stag weekend in your late 40’s, I think all of the party ended Saturday by phoning significant others, and during breakfast one or two distant looks showed that while we were enjoying a weekend we’ll remember for the rest of our lives, we missed our wives, girlfriends and children. Continue reading →

Up On The Roof

25 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by in M

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Saturday 19th October 2019 ko 14.00

Kategoria e Dytë Grp A

KF MIRDITA 1 (Picaku 45)

Pepkolaj sent off 64 (Serious Foul Play) 

KF GRAMSHI 2 (Zani 6 Goga 59)

Att 110 at Stadiumi Skender Halali, Tirana

Free Entry

Zaja and the minibus bumped into the potholed car park; after the battery incident in Kamëz we were a little tight for time. The game has already started which was handy, it gave it us somewhere to aim for, as the entrance wasn’t obvious, we tried the bar and they helped, just head for the little gap in the fence in the corner…. Continue reading →