Tag Archives: groundhop

A Long Way To The Top

02 Tuesday Apr 2024

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Friday 15th March 2024 ko 19:45

East of Scotland League Division Two

ARMADALE THISTLE 3 (Jackson 13 Strickland 84 Wood 86)

ORMISTON PRIMROSE 2 (Adrian 11 43)

Att 436

Entry £6

Programme £2

Ridin’ on the highway,

Goin’ to a show 
Stop in all the byways
Playin’ rock ‘n’ roll…

I tell you, folks
It’s harder than it looks

Bon Scott 1975

The coach had already been on the road for over 4 hours before it reached Robyn and I in Lewknor. From Cardiff to Perth via London isn’t most folks’ idea of normal, but I don’t think there’s too many folks who think us hoppers are entirely sane…

I felt under certain amount of pressure for this hop. Part of it was the loss of the two Blackpool games on the North West Counties Hop, we really didn’t want to lose a game on each of the last three hops. But much more than that, was where were heading.

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Ex

19 Tuesday Mar 2024

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Sunday 3rd March 2024 ko 11:45

North West Counties League Division One North

EUXTON VILLA 3 (Singleton 24 63 Briggs 37)

DARWEN 0

Att 618

Entry £5

Programme £2

Sunday dawned in Blackpool and I had two reasons to marvel. The first was the Savoy Hotel’s ability to shift legions of the various coach parties staying there through a buffet breakfast, whilst maintaining the piles of bacon, sausages and so on. The second was relevant only to the GroundhopUK party- we still had two matches to watch.

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Wyre

14 Thursday Mar 2024

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Saturday 2nd March 2024 ko 14:00

North West Counties League Division One North

GARSTANG 3 (Bailey 25 51 Ball 32)

Lewis sent off 86 (DOGSO)

ASHTON TOWN 2 (Lomax 67 Ready 72p)

Att 388

Entry £5

Programme £2

We were fortunate. As part of the GroundhopUK advance party I had a reserved car parking space. It was a bit of a squeeze, but the point was to be in situ ahead of the coach to be able to deal with any on the day snags. The fact that there weren’t any spoke volumes for Garstang FC and their League.

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A yard here or there

15 Thursday Feb 2024

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Saturday 10th February 2024 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Cup- Quarter Final

MARCHAM 6 (D Murphy 18 47 80 Webb 30 Legge 82 Saulter 89)

UFFINGTON UNITED 1 (Terrana 11)

Att c25 at Moreland Road

Free Entry

I’m sure someone will read this and think, “Didn’t the 2014 North Berks Hop visit there?” and dear reader, you’d be right, to a point. A few weeks ago I found some of the e-shots we’d used to try to advertise that hop as I was under no little pressure that year- the Eastern Counties League tried to schedule against us. For Marcham the selling point was “Come now why you still can” as despite there being an Iron Age burial site underneath the pitch the ground was destined for housing. Continue reading →

Update

25 Thursday Jan 2024

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Saturday 20th January 2024 ko 15:00

Hellenic League Division One

LONG CRENDON 2 (Richardson 32 Bartley 90+4)

FC BRISTOL 5 (Plummer 47 75 80 Miller 69 Collins 70)

Att c40 at Oxford City FC

Entry & Programme £6

It was a day of frozen pitches, or to put a more positive spin on things a time to make use of 3G pitches. In my part of the world that added up to whoever happened to be using Oxford City‘s 3G pitch. I looked, saw it was Long Crendon, and smiled.

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Royalty

15 Monday Jan 2024

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Saturday 6th January 2024 ko 13:45

Witney & District League Division One

WITNEY ROYALS 0

DUCKLINGTON 2 (Fisher 25 Williams 70og)

Att c15 at Pitch 1 Burwell Recreation Ground, Thorney Leys, Witney

Free Entry

I’d had all kinds of ideas as to where to watch a game. The determining factor was a triple of sorts, football, Oxford City Stars Ice Hockey unusually facing off on a Saturday evening, and the pub quiz at 9pm. But as much as I like being busy there was another factor to be considered- the rain.

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Nesting

09 Tuesday Jan 2024

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Saturday 30th December 2023 ko 15:00

Northern Counties East League Division One

SWALLOWNEST 1 (Spick 84)

SHIREBROOK TOWN 6 (Macaskill 17 38 Day 44 54 Skelton 49og K Watson 80)

Att 135

Entry £6

Programme £2 (reissue from 12/09/23)

On the way back from Warrington we’d pondered ideas for our last game of 2023. I must admit we’d rather neglected the Northern Counties East, I’d more or less completed the league when the groundhop was based there, but that event finished at Selby in 2017 and there’s been plenty of club churn since then.

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(Kent)

11 Monday Dec 2023

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Saturday 18th November 2023 ko 15:00

Isthmian League Division One South-East

ASHFORD UNITED 3 (Draycott 16 Brand 41 Carney 90+4)

SHEPPEY UNITED 2 (Willis 4 Bessey-Saldana 14)

Att 478

Entry £10

Programme £2

We’d reached the part of the season where the weather makes sure you either pick a game that’s on 3G or have a whole slew of backup plans. Added to that I had two thoughts on the back of my mind. The first was that I wanted something with seating and cover, Robyn’s ankle was still causing her pain, and there was the vexed question of the Southern Counties East. I took the view to cash in a 3G insurance policy.

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Cloudbusting

04 Monday Dec 2023

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Sunday 29th October 2023 ko 14:45

Southern Combination Division One

BILLINGSHURST 2 (Humphries 55 McAlpine 73)

EAST PRESTON 2 (O’Driscoll 27 Kusaka 80)

Marney penalty saved 90

Att 245

Entry £6

Programme £2

Robyn and I spent the entire journey from Wick to Billingshurst fully expecting a phone call to confirm that the game was off. While the rain had relented for the time being the deluge that had cause the abandonment at Wick, must have had the same impact at Billingshurst hadn’t it?

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Crabby

29 Wednesday Nov 2023

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Sunday 29th October 2023 ko 11:00

Southern Combination Division One

WICK 2 (Hack 31 Crouch 33)

OAKWOOD 3 (Agymane 11 Etherington 48 Ramen 62)

Abandoned 66 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch

Att 189

Entry £7

Programme £2

We’d sat under Storm Babet overnight and I was happy enough to see our hotel in one piece, let alone any other consideration. There’d even been a tornado in Littlehampton with a house near Wick losing it’s roof. Robyn and I went down to breakfast failing to see how we’d see any football that day. In fact the only possible silver lining was that at least it had stopped raining….

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