Tag Archives: groundhop

Criced Weather

12 Thursday Oct 2023

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Sunday 24th September 2023 ko 11:00

West Wales Premier League

BRYN ROVERS 3 (Campbell 45 53 61)

Campbell missed penalty 69

WEST END 1 (D Griffiths 29)

Att 153

Entry £3

Programme £2

It wasn’t that the rain on the Sunday was unexpected, I’d packed by wet weather gear in readiness, it was that it seemed out-of-step that can happened the day before. I know I’ve said it before, but the whole timbre of a hop changes when it rains. We heard that the game was in doubt then the club needed a delay to work on the pitch. Thankfully we had a brief respite, so we checked out of Carmarthen fortified with hope, and referee Robert Fulford took a generous view of the conditions.

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Environs

10 Tuesday Oct 2023

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Saturday 23rd September 2023 ko 16:45

West Wales Premier League

DAFEN WELFARE 0

Morgan sent off (DOGSO) 28

YNYSTAWE ATHLETIC 8 (Loughlin 5 55 Owens 14p B James 24 34 Morgan 45 Gibbons 90+4)

Att 252

Entry £3

Programme £2

We stayed in Llanelli’s suburbs for the final hop game of the Saturday. The village, as the club’s name suggests is a link to the area’s past as a centre for coal mining, the St David’s and Porthdafen Collieries were close to here. And that fact did have an impact on what we experienced at Dafen Park.

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The Running Theme

02 Monday Oct 2023

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Saturday 23rd September 2023 ko 11:00

West Wales Premier League

PONTARDDULAIS TOWN 1 (A Jones 35og)

ROCKSPUR FC 6 (Griffiths 2og Price 18 Williams 24 Keefe 45+4 66p C Harris 54)

Morgan sent off (foul & abusive) 74

Att 260

Entry £3

Programme £2

I’d argue we found the true nature of the West Wales Premier League on the Saturday of the hop. Whilst the visit to Cwmamman United was enjoyable, the fact was it was at a club and ground that had recently played two tiers higher. These next 3 games saw me comparing GroundhopUK’s experiences in leagues such as the Gwent Premier and the South Wales Alliance, who do operate parallel to this one.

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The Premier

29 Friday Sep 2023

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Friday 22nd September 2023 ko 19:00

West Wales Premier League

CWMAMMAN UNITED 6 (T Smith 28 C Davies 59p Rees 61og Wickham 63 E Smith 67 77)

AFC GLAIS 3 (Gregory 12 Smith 35 Robb-Gregory 49)

Bowles sent off 73 (second booking)

Att 242

Entry £3

Programme £2

When the West Wales Premier League approached GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai to invite us to organise a hop for their league, I was more than a little intrigued. For a start I’m more than aware that the restructure of Welsh club football has rather passed this site by- for example I haven’t watched a single Tier 3 Ardal (Regional) League game so far! Then the pandemic got in the way of things, and to add to that a new league was created for the West of Wales.

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The Cage

24 Thursday Aug 2023

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Sunday 30th July 2023 ko 15:00

United Counties League Division One

NEWARK TOWN 4 (Cotterill 16 Lloyd 23 King 70 Harrison 85og)

HOLWELL SPORTS 3 (York 32 Biggs 75 Faulkner 90)

Att 609

Entry £6

Programme £1

Like Southwell City earlier, we’d visited Newark Town on a Central Midlands Hop. This time it was on the 2008 Easter Hop where Newark beat Kinsley Boys 1-0. The occasion was unusual for two reasons, that both sides wore their change kits and since Kinsley wore blue kit I’m fairly certain that some groundhoppers have the score transposed! The other curiosity was that this was , I think, the only time a groundsharer has ever featured on a hop!

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The City That Isn’t

22 Tuesday Aug 2023

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Sunday 30th July 2023 ko 12:00

United Counties League Division One

SOUTHWELL CITY 3 (Law 5 Peace-McDonald 42 Bowles 81)

LEICESTER ST ANDREWS 0

Att 477

Entry £5

Programme £1

As is so often the case, the whole timbre of the event changed for the Sunday games. We left suburban Nottingham and headed north to Southwell and got caught in the middle of a bicycle race, and don’t let football club’s name mislead you, Southwell’s minster refers to the Newark diocese rather than the town itself. On a groundhopping basis though, our visit was a little unusual.

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Leveller

18 Friday Aug 2023

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Saturday 29th July 2023 ko 20:00

United Counties League Premier Division North

EASTWOOD COMMUNITY 0

MELTON TOWN 2 (Mills 9 Palmer 71)

Att 468

Entry £7

Programme £2

For me at least the principle attraction to another visit to Coronation Park, was for the metaphorical “Before and after shots.” For those unaware the original Eastwood Town played in the Northern Premier League at Coronation Park but folded due to bankruptcy in 2014.

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Mapperley

16 Wednesday Aug 2023

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Saturday 29th July 2023 ko 14:00

United Counties League Division One

GEDLING MINERS WELFARE 0

BLACKSTONES 1 (Duffy-Weekes 90)

Att 364

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

I must admit I wasn’t particularly looking forward to revisiting Mapperley Plains. It was nothing to do with the club or the ground, it was because I’d visited early in 2011 in the throes of a failed marriage. I was watching games solely to not be sat in an empty house. I visited, I saw the game, and I did little more than exist back then.

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Dynamic

10 Thursday Aug 2023

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Friday 28th July 2023 ko 19:45

United Counties League Division One

SAFFRON DYNAMO 1 (Scott 68)

BIRSTALL UNITED 5 (Burton 4 16 Crossley 13 30 45)

Att 400

Entry £6

Programme £1

Such is the dynamic of the United Counties League Hop, and the expanded GroundhopUK meant that Robyn and I could do a normal Friday day at work and Chris had Craig and Paul to make up the programme packs and set up the stall outside the first gate. Next time round it’ll be Robyn and I with Chris. Many hands and all that!

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Selfishly Thinking

18 Tuesday Jul 2023

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Sunday 4th June 2023 ko 13:00

Ettan Norra

TÄBY FK 3 (Hellqvist 16 Johannsson 18 Grönborg 45)

BODENS BK FF 3 (Bawa 56 Cief 81 Hejal 90+5)

Att 154

Entry & Programme 120 sek (approx. £8.94)

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £450 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees and programmes for all games.

It was the final day of the 14th Swedish Hop and although there was the normal regret of soon leaving, it was tempered by a quite superlative breakfast at our hotel in Sollentuna. Three types of pickled herring, 2 of smoked salmon, and the inevitable crispy bacon and meatballs meant I ate bit both extensively and well! Again, in an ideal world we’d have then headed for a lower league Sunday morning game, but since we’d drawn a complete blank, organizer Kim Hedwall did have a plan.

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