Tag Archives: groundhoppers

Saint Teilo

24 Sunday Apr 2016

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Saturday 16th April 2016 ko 14.00

Carmarthenshire League Division Two

LLANDEILO 5 (Jones 5 90 Dainton 9 Thomas 26 Willams 59)

LLANGENNECH 0 J Williams sent off 29 (violent conduct)

Att 107

Entry £3

Programme £1

From Abergwili we headed further east along the A40 to the town of Llandeilo. We turned left into the town and spotted a well-apppointed ground, with an impressive stand. Sadly for us, that was Cae William, home to Llandeilo RUFC and Llandeilo CC, while the football club plays in the nearby village of Ffair-Fach at the back of Ysgol (School) Bro Dinefwr. The tragedy is that it could have all been so different. Continue reading →

I Was Wrong

25 Sunday Oct 2015

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Sunday 18th October 2015 ko 11.00

Western League First Division

CHIPPING SODBURY 8 (Bishop 1 Barrett 17p Downes 24og Beecham 30 Mackie 39 Taylor 46 Simms 58 60)

BISHOP SUTTON 1 (Keet 68og)

Att 261

Entry £5

Programme £1

For Chris Berezai and I one game loomed large on the Western Hop, our visit to Chipping Sodbury. Part of it was that it would be the only new ground for Chris and I, and that because this is the club’s first season back in the Western League since 1952. That last fact, and the unusual kick-off time would mean that they would see hoppers that perhaps the other host clubs wouldn’t. They attended the host clubs’ meeting, asked all the right questions, and I drove home content that we’d given them the best chance to making the best of their day. But a few days before the day I received an email.
Continue reading →

Northern Ventures

02 Sunday Mar 2014

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Saturday 1st March 2014 ko 11.00

Northern League Division One

MARSKE UNITED 0 O’Sullivan sent off 37 (violent conduct)

GUISBOROUGH TOWN 4 (Johnson 30 90 Roberts 63 86)

Att 433

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

One of the advantages of a one-day Northern League hop is also its great disadvantage! I left darkened Oxfordshire at 5.30am wondering what the weather would be like, and as the sun rose over scenic Coventry it became clear that organiser Harvey Harris had booked the weather; the cold I can live with, but getting wet on a multi-game day is just plain depressing. Continue reading →

From Steeplechase to Pallisades

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

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Saturday 26th October 2013 ko 19.00

Northern League Division One

NEWCASTLE BENFIELD 2 (Stephenson 29 Brayson 31)

MORPETH TOWN 1 (Chilton 35)

Att 328

Entry £5

Programme £1

Teamsheet 10p

Badge £3.50

Chicken Curry & Rice £2

It may have been less than a mile from Team Northumbria to Sam Smith’s Park, but the whole feel of the area changed completely between the two grounds. I’m sure nightfall had something to with it, but Benfield’s home looks like a traditional football ground, and one that could grace a league higher up the footballing pyramid.

Looks are deceiving, the club has only been around since 1988, and with Northern Alliance outfit Newcastle East End next door I wonder how many hoppers pondered whether a fifth game could have been squeezed in? It wasn’t a long-lived thought, it would have been too much- four is enough!

Where the club unquestionably got it absolutely right is Continue reading →

Sing about the Six Blade

27 Sunday Oct 2013

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Friday 25th October 2013 ko 19.30

Wearside League

SILKSWORTH COLLIERY WELFARE 2 (Gill 58 77)

RYHOPE COLLIERY WELFARE 6 (O’Neill 30p Butler 54 Hall 56 Winn 65 Pounder 74 Yip 90)

Att 168

Entry, Programme, and 60th Anniversary Shipowners’ Cup Final Programme £4

Sometimes, coincidence can be a wonderful thing. With the Northern League staging a 4-game groundhop in Newcastle the next day, any club staging a game in the area the evening before was always likely to see a glut of southern-based hoppers. 4 clubs did; in the Northern League there were games at Shildon and Spennymoor, and a few saw Middlesbrough beat Doncaster in the Championship, but for me the most intriguing was Silksworth CW.

Silksworth is a district of Sunderland, and I passed the Stadium of Light on my way to the Bobby Gurney Memorial Park. Gurney was born in Silksworth as his father worked at the local pit, now where the local leisure centre. Bobby was spotted playing for Bishop Auckland in 1925 and signed for Continue reading →

Football on High

04 Thursday Apr 2013

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Friday 25th March 2013 ko 19.45

Northern Counties League Division One

ATHERSLEY RECREATION 8 (Bennett 15 45 80 85 Harban 40p Thornton 70 Bentley 72 86)

ASKERN VILLA 1 (Brown 45)

Att 507

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

On the face of it, Athersley is a fairly unremarkable estate in the northern suburbs of Barnsley. Sheerian Park is easy to miss too, tucked away as it is between the houses. Even the welcome sign is attached to a house, and I suspect that if I’d have turned up on a typical Saturday afternoon I’d have written the place off as a Continue reading →