Tag Archives: Football

Ghost Rail

31 Friday Mar 2017

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Tuesday 14th March 2017 ko 19.45

Essex Senior League

TAKELEY 4 (Cole 16 18 65 Das 90)

WALTHAM FOREST 1 (Baluaka 73)

Att 76

Entry & Programme £7

Takeley FC, other than being mighty close to Stansted Airport is one of only a few clubs, Copnor-based Moneyfields being another, where you navigate to the ground via a railway station that doesn’t exist! In Moneyfields’ case that’s due to the station being planned but never built, but in Takeley’s case you go over the hump-backed bridge glance to your left and there’s the station- with no trains, or indeed rails either! Continue reading →

Liking it Beside

23 Thursday Mar 2017

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Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 16.00

Carmarthenshire League Premier Division

SEASIDE 2 (Rogers 31 66)

CARMARTHEN STARS 0 Howells sent off (dangerous play) 86

Att 175

Entry & Programme £3

As any groundhop organiser will tell you the psychology is that you look to the clubs that have the best plans. Chris Berezai and I both knew that Evans & Williams our previous hosts simply hadn’t had the time to host as either they or we would have liked, so we looked to a club with absolutely rock-solid plans, and Seaside certainly came up trumps. Continue reading →

Wagons

20 Monday Mar 2017

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Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 13.30

Carmarthenshire League Premier Division

EVANS & WILLIAMS SPORTS 0

TROSTRE SPORTS 1 (Waters 22)

Att 134 at Pitch 3 Penygaer Playing Fields

Entry FREE

Programme £2

I remember when Chris Berezai and I first discussed how we were going to organise GroundhopUK’s entire run in the Carmarthenshire League. It was never going to be difficult to sell somewhere like Abergwili to the hoppers, but the Penygaer Playing Fields in deepest darkest Llanelli was another matter entirely! It is the typical unlovely council facility with 5 pitches and a tired looking changing room block resplendent in anti-climb paint and barbed wire. Perhaps it was no bad thing that we only headed there at the very last minute! Continue reading →

Child’s Play

03 Friday Mar 2017

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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 →

Old Money

02 Thursday Mar 2017

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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 →

Little Pleasures

21 Tuesday Feb 2017

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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.

Continue reading →

Independence

11 Saturday Feb 2017

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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 →

Olympiad

01 Wednesday Feb 2017

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Sunday 22nd January 2017 ko 15.00

Greek Superleague

A.E.K. 2 (Pekhart 24 Mandalos 47)

ASTERAS TRIPOLIS 0

Att 5,025 at Spyros Louis Olympic Stadium, Athens

Entry €15

No Programme

It seems to be that if you’re anything resembling a sports fan and you’re in Athens you really ought to visit the Panathenaic Stadium. There’s been a stadium here since 330 BC, but this marble incarnation dates from 1896 when it was rebuilt to host the first modern-era Olympic games. It also served at the 2004 Olympics hosting the archery and the finish of the marathon. Traditionally, it is where the Olympic flame leaves Greece for the torch relay to the host city. It costs €5 to have a look round. Continue reading →

Consideration

29 Sunday Jan 2017

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Saturday 17th January 2016 ko 17.15

Greek Superleague

PANIONIOS GSS 2 (Risvanis 25 Katharious 54)

PANETOLIKOS 0

Att 860

Entry €15

No Programme

Sat at a cafe in Monasteraki I had a dilemna. Two years ago I’d visited Athens and watched Panionios and Olympiacos, and those were our only two options on this Saturday evening. I knew that Olympiacos would have the “Wow” factor of a modern ground, but I wanted my girlfriend Robyn to get something authentically Greek so I plumped for Panionios, but even afterwards I wasn’t sure whether I made the correct decision.  Continue reading →

I Fought The Law

24 Tuesday Jan 2017

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Tuesday 17th January 2017 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Premier Division

METROPOLITAN POLICE 1 (Michael-Percil 45p)

BILLERICAY TOWN 1 (Adelowo 1)

Att 108

Entry £10

Programme £2

Football does have the happy habit of throwing up quirks, and London’s police force having a side in the third tier of non-league is certainly one. The side are based at the force’s sports and social club, Imber Court in Molesey, just a stone’s throw from Hampden Court. It is worth noting that Molesey is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police! Continue reading →