Tag Archives: groundhop

The 14th Edition

04 Tuesday Jul 2023

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Friday 2nd June 2023 ko 20:00

Division 2 Södra Svealand

RÅGSVEDS IF 0

IFK HANINGE 1 (Ghozzi 60)

Att 139 at Hagsätra IP

Entry 75 sek (approx. £5.45)

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.  

When in June 2019 the 13th Swedish Hop finished in the little Skåne village of Holmeja, Robyn and I were engaged, the Swedish Hop had run for 13 consecutive years, and organiser Kim Hedwall, Robyn and I pondered how we’d factor in the 14th edition around our wedding! Obviously, a few things got in the way. Continue reading →

Rains

05 Monday Jun 2023

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Monday 10th April 2023 ko 11:30

Hellenic League Division Two West

SHIPSTON EXCELSIOR 4 (Fetherston 43 secs Gill 21 Cardwell 36 Clarke 53)

FECKENHAM 2 (Davies 46 Skelton 85)

Att 193

Entry £3.50

Programme £1.50

I drove past Chipping Norton, then headed still further north heading over from Oxfordshire to Warwickshire. There always seemed to be a sense of crossing the Rubicon at that County boundary- from Hellenic Country to Midland League territory. Just to add to the sense of change, the rains came. We drove through Long Compton with the wipers barely able to keep the windscreen clear. Continue reading →

The Day Off

24 Wednesday May 2023

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Saturday 8th April 2023

11:00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

MORTIMER 2 (Gorman 22 Parfitt-Bowes 57)

CHINNOR 0

Att 209

14:30 Hellenic League Division 2 East

TAPLOW UNITED 2 (Eaves 35 Umbewa 38)

CHALFONT WASPS 2 (Drummond 45 Sava 76)

Pereira penalty saved 90

Att 140

17:30 Hellenic League Division 2 East

WOODCOTE FC 4 (Allen 19og Webber 28 Nowell 45 Downes 84)

FC BEACONSFIELD 0

Att 243

Entry & Programme for each game – £4

I suppose it had to happen at some point, I actually took a day off- from GroundhopUK at least! It had certainly been a while, to the point that I’d actually got married, separated, divorced, engaged, and married again during all those hops we’ve organised over the last 15-plus years. But the great beauty of GroundHopUK these days is that it isn’t just about Chris Berezai and I. Since the Bedfordshire League decided to spurn Craig Dabbs’ skills, kindness and hard work, he’s come on board- your loss Mr Francis, and now my wife Robyn deals with the social media too. There are also no end of folks that help us out, and there’s the various league officials to do some of the leg work too. Continue reading →

Flypast

19 Friday May 2023

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Tuesday 3rd April 2023 ko 18:30

Spartan South Midlands League Division Two

AFC CADDINGTON 1 (Moore 6)

SARRATT 2 (Ormsby 31 Vercesi 77)

Att 48

Free Entry

I know I’ve said it before but when it comes to groundhopping unlike the majority, I’m not target driven. Many will concentrate on a league or level, but I tend to see a set of fixtures a week or two in advance and either I get an invite, or someone suggests somewhere, or I just go where my nose takes me. Continue reading →

Bert

23 Sunday Apr 2023

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Saturday 18th March 2023 ko 17:00

Lowland League

TRANENT JUNIORS 1 (Reid 90)

BO’NESS UNITED 1 (Walker 49)

Att 607

Entry £8

Programme £3

So half-way through the event and in so many ways a statement of where the Scottish Hop is at. It’s easy to forget that the hop started as an exclusively Lowland League event in 2014 and didn’t take in an East of Scotland League game until Eyemouth 3 years later. I remember shrugging my shoulders as one or two prejudiced types scuttled off elsewhere as they thought the level would be beneath them. I’ve always been an advocate of going weird early, so found their actions odd, and allowed myself a wry smile when they ended up watching the East of Scotland League a couple of years later. Continue reading →

The Mill

20 Thursday Apr 2023

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Saturday 18th March 2023 ko 14:00

East of Scotland League Premier Division

HADDINGTON ATHLETIC 1 (McGarry 75)

DUNDONALD BLUEBELL 3 (Hall 11 Cameron 32 Lumsden 86)

Lumsden sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 462

Entry £7

Programme £2

Can I admit to have being a little twitchy about the hop game at Haddington? I knew that the ground was going to be tucked away, and so getting people in and out on a 4-games-in-a-day schedule might be an issue. For no reason whatsoever I’d looked at my programme the night before, and it was an excellent publication. I’m not sure why I felt comforted, a car with a failing clutch, and wife Robyn struggling after her fall at Tynecastle was more than enough reason to worry after all. It was a case of judging a book by its cover, or more accurately a club by its magazine. Continue reading →

Evans

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

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Sunday 5th March 2023 ko 14:30

North West Counties League Division One South

STAFFORD TOWN 2 (Simcox 27 57)

ABBEY HEY 1 (Kirkman 90)

Att 489

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

The great mercy of this particular Sunday on the North West Counties Hop is that we didn’t get the chance to get cold, in fact and don’t say this too loudly, the day was actually a relaxing meander through two charming Stafford clubs. Robyn and I even managed to get home at a sensible time after it all- that will never do! Continue reading →

Silkmore

04 Tuesday Apr 2023

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Sunday 5th March 2023 ko 11:45

North West Counties League Division One South

BROCTON 1 (Smith 61)

STOCKPORT GEORGIANS 0

Curbishley sent off 76 (2nd booking)

Att 457

Entry £6

Programme £2

Sunday on the hop dawned, and as a coachload of hoppers kept a Stafford hotel’s staff busy replenishing the bacon at the breakfast bar. I contemplated the day’s football, two Stafford-based teams, or in purely personal terms two revisits! Brocton is a village to the south east of Stafford but the club bearing their game play at the former Staffordshire Police Ground in Silkmore Lane, in Stafford itself. Continue reading →

Pershall

31 Friday Mar 2023

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Saturday 4th March 2023 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Division One South

ECCLESHALL 2 (Pickup 82 Stanton 90)

Lewis sent off 86 (violent conduct)

BARNTON 1 (T Turkington 72)

T Turkington sent 86 (violent conduct)

Att 314

Entry £6

Programme £2

Memory is an oddity- I’d visited Eccleshall back in September 2008 and remembered it being far closer to the Stoke interchange on the M6 than this. Perhaps the difference was we were on our fourth game of the day… and that it was bitingly cold. In fact you’re a good deal closer to Stafford to Stoke, and you will pass by HMP Prison Drake Hall on the way there! Continue reading →

Hulton

29 Wednesday Mar 2023

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Saturday 4th March 2023 ko 16:45

North West Counties League Division One South

ABBEY HULTON UNITED 0

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 0

Att 367

Entry £5

Programme £2

As the sun set so the temperature fell. It didn’t take long for us to reach the car park at Birches Head Road from Foley Meir. That was a task made easier by some well thought out traffic marshalling by the Abbey Hulton volunteers . But I was aware the coach was struggling, picking its way along narrow lanes and we were getting concerned we might have to delay kick-off slightly. Craig and I dashed into the ground, expecting to have to make ourselves useful.  We didn’t, the club were completely in control and the coach arrived well before kick-off. Continue reading →