Tag Archives: groundhop

Home and the Heart

19 Wednesday Jan 2022

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Saturday 15th January 2022 ko 15:00

EFL League 1

AFC WIMBLEDON 0

MORECAMBE 0

Att 7,128 (317 away)

Entry £26

Programme £3

On one hand you could see this as a means to an end. I needed to tick off AFC Wimbledon’s new ground for my 91st of the current EFL/Premier League grounds, and Robyn for a few less than that. Completionism isn’t really my thing, it tends to happen by accident! The “92” comes close to being an exception, partly because its completion was what started me groundhopping- I finished at Doncaster Rovers’ old home Belle Vue in 2006, and partly because I’m no fan of hard and fast rules! Continue reading →

More Than A Feeling

10 Monday Jan 2022

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Tuesday 28th December 2022 ko 15:00

National League North

BOSTON UNITED 1 (Elliott 72p)

BRACKLEY TOWN 3 (Ndlovu 20 90 Armson 31)

Armston penalty saved 69

Att 2,138 (46 away)

Entry £16 (seat-main stand)

Programme £3 (superb)

Teamsheet/raffle £1

Boston United and I go back a little way. As an Oxford United fan York Street seemed to be where our failing club seemed to send players that didn’t quite fit in. There was Simon Weatherstone who did well for the Pilgrims, his brother Ross who didn’t and aging striker Phil Gray who manager Steve Evans commented “He (Gray) had an ambition to play for Boston, I however had an ambition to send him back to Oxford”

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Family Ties

05 Wednesday Jan 2022

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Monday 27th December 2021 ko 14:00

Somerset County League-Premier Division

CLUTTON 0

MENDIP BROADWALK 9 (Hickery 8 37 Whittle 23 39 Caton 55p 80 Haggett 70 Biggins 82 Lutwama 85)

Att 85

Free Entry

After Chilcompton Sports there was absolutely no question as to where Robyn and I were heading. For one thing just about every other game in and around the Mendips had fallen foul of waterlogged pitches, and for another I had for the first time ever in my time groundhopping a family interest in who I’d be watching. Continue reading →

In Defence Of the Atcost

31 Friday Dec 2021

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Tuesday 21st December 2021 ko 19:45

Cymru Premier

FLINT TOWN UNITED 3 (Roberts 27 Cadwallader 75p 76)

Weaver sent off 87 (2nd Booking) 

CAERNARFON TOWN 4 (Hayes 21 Hughes 22 Edwards 41 Donohue 45p)

Simpson sent off 62 (Serious Foul Play)

Att 453

Entry £8

Programme £1 (re-issue from postponed game- cover price £2)

Teamsheet FREE

There are always those grounds that somehow evade your attention, and perhaps top of my list was Flint Town United’s Cae-Y-Castell. A lot of that was due to the pandemic and before that it slipped through the net despite a mixture of the Welsh Alliance Hops and a concerted effort around 15 years ago to visit as much as I could along the North Wales coast. So with both Robyn and I having finished work for Christmas and Robyn never having visited North Wales before, we took advantage of the Cymru Football App’s accuracy, and a twice postponed fixture. Continue reading →

Undercliff

08 Wednesday Dec 2021

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Tuesday 30th November 2021 ko 19:45

Southern Combination “Peter Bentley” Cup 2nd Round

SALTDEAN UNITED 3 (Pamment 2 Allen 6 Shelley 43)

ALFOLD 0

Att 62

Entry £5

Programme £1

It seems that I’m destined to complete the Southern Combination with a combination of the RUR Cup and the Peter Bentley Cup through those competitions’ midweek fixtures and yes, my ability to reach the grounds in 2 hours after work in Oxford. Continue reading →

Oh, my dear friend. How I’ve missed you.

07 Tuesday Dec 2021

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Sunday 21st November 2021 ko 11:00

Bridgend & District Sunday League

LITCHARD PARK 1 (Randall 41)

GARTH VADER 1 (Horrigan 74)

Roberts sent off FT (Foul & Abusive)

Att 5 at Pitch 4, Newbridge Fields, Bridgend.

Free Entry

I still have a theory that everyone who follows a big club ought to go and watch a game on a park pitch once in a while. I find it oddly cathartic to breathe cold Sunday morning air, to feel the grass give beneath my feet and even to watch the leaves fall like oversized rain drops from autumnal trees. So when my wife Robyn wanted to be in Bristol to see her former workmates on a Sunday morning I knew immediately what I wanted to do.

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Incognito

03 Friday Dec 2021

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Saturday 20th November 2021 ko 14:00

Gwent Premier League- Division One

P.I.L.C.S. 3 (Bown 28 34 39)

COED EVA ATHLETIC 5 (Perkins 35 55 Bloomer 72 Williams 76 88p)

Att 17

Free Entry

There was plenty going on before I even crossed the Prince of Wales Bridge. I knew I’d be based in Bristol for the weekend, with my wife Robyn watching Bristol City on the Saturday and seeing her girlie friends on Sunday morning. That gave me an opportunity or two, but we decided to have a Saturday evening family get-together at the ice hockey because the Bristol Pitbulls versus my hometown Oxford City Stars was too good an opportunity to turn down! Continue reading →

The Mousetrap

26 Friday Nov 2021

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Saturday 13th November 2021 ko 14:00

Berks & Bucks Intermediate “Charles Twelftrees” Trophy 1st Round

CHOLSEY UNITED 1 (Spruyt 40)

READING YMCA 1 (Adams 22)

No extra time, YMCA won 3-2 on penalties

Att c30

Free Entry

Its funny how things work out. I knew in the morning I was going to be at the GP’s having a jab and that conveniently ended up being a vaccine in either arm. So I had no intention of travelling far, and as if by serendipity I received a message from Rob Tyler inviting me to watch Cholsey. We go back longer than either of us would like to remember, veterans of club coach travel to Oxford United away games during the start of our slide down the leagues. It means we both completed a fair chunk of the 92 without really trying but these days he’s on committee at North Berkshire League outfit Cholsey United. Continue reading →

Maverick

22 Monday Nov 2021

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Tuesday 2nd November 2021 ko 19.45

Sussex R.U.R. Cup 2nd Round

WORTHING UNITED 0

SELSEY 4 (Burns 6 North 17 O Clarke 65 J Clarke 90)

Att 35

Entry £6

Groundhopping does bring up some quirks and Worthing United for me was one of them. I’ve visited all but a handful of the Southern Combination’s grounds across the league’s 3 divisions, but somehow never watched Worthing United home or away, even to the point of visiting the “other” teams in the town Worthing FC and Worthing Town (Leisure) in the past. I suspect part of the reason was that an evening trip to Worthing is on the limits of where I can get to after work, and yes England’s motorways do need to co-operate which for once they did! Continue reading →

Dimensions

05 Friday Nov 2021

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Tuesday 12th October 2021 ko 19.30

South West Peninsula League- Premier East

HOLSWORTHY AFC 1 (Penberthy 24p)

Carter sent off 72 (Serious Foul Play)

CULLOMPTON RANGERS 2 (Wilkinson 3 Hawkings 81)

Att 82

Entry £5 

Programme (hybrid) included

Badge £4

With Robyn and I enjoying a week’s rest and relaxation in Penzance the idea never was to watch game after game while we were there. I know some find it hard to believe that there is more to our lives than football, but a planned trips to the Minack Theatre, and the Isles of Scilly left us one gap for a match on the Tuesday should we decide to take the plunge. It soon became clear that there was an issue with that idea. Continue reading →