Tag Archives: groundhopping

Persistence

30 Monday Mar 2026

Posted by in P

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday 31st December 2025 ko 12:30

Cymru North

PENRHYNCOCH 1 (Owen 86)

RUTHIN TOWN 1 (Holland 24)

Att 140 at Cae Baker, Penrhyn-coch

Entry £7

Programme online/downloadable

For those of you that ask, yes I do question my sanity, and driving as I was, on New Year’s Eve through Snowdonia with the temperature dropping alarmingly as I climbed the mountains. It got to point where I drove through Troedyrallt and so white was the scene outside that I couldn’t imagine that the game was still on. But I was committed, 3 hours in to my drive from Oxford, with no alternate game to divert to.

Continue reading →

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

29 Sunday Mar 2026

Posted by in W

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 27th December 2025 ko 14:00

Somerset County League

WATCHET TOWN 0

STAPLEGROVE 2 (Hibbert 86 Bidgeway 90+6)

Att 65

Free Entry

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed

The light-house top I see?

Is this the hill? is this the kirk?

Is this mine own countree?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797)

As is normal for Robyn and I, we split our time over Christmas between family in Oxford then family in Bristol, so that those days between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve tend to be spent in Knowle West. Or putting it another way, I do tend to see quite a lot of the Somerset County League at this time of year, and Watchet Town had been on my to-do list for quite a while.

Continue reading →

Beer Money

23 Monday Mar 2026

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 20th December 2025 ko 14:00

Hertfordshire Senior County League-Premier Division

OWEN’S 2 (Grey 77 Chrysanthou 87)

BUNTINGFORD TOWN 3 (Holland 41 73 Hunt 90+2)

Att 27 at Old Owen’s Sports Ground, near Northaw, Potters Bar

Free Entry

Once again it really hadn’t stopped raining, and Robyn, Chris Garner and I were looking for something that wasn’t obvious. We spotted that Owen’s in the Herts League were at home, but credit Chris for spotting that they are based at the Old Owen’s Sports Ground. Before 3G pitches a groundhopper learned which grounds drain well, and those likely to have professional groundstaff. The theory being that if the pitch is being worked on at all times, the game is more likely to be on. The theory worked, and judging by the gaggle of senior groundhoppers in the bar, we weren’t the only ones thinking along the same lines!

Continue reading →

The Marches

17 Tuesday Mar 2026

Posted by in S

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 16th December 2025 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Division One South

SHAWBURY UNITED 1 (Sowe 76)

TELFORD TOWN 3 (Greer 53 70 Hesson 55)

Att 162

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

In all walks of life it pays to be adaptable, and that goes double if you’re trying to watch non league football in December in the wet! Oddly I was fortunate, I was heading to Allscott Heath near Wolverhampton but got caught in traffic. Since I was stationary I checked Twitter and soon found my choice of game had fallen to a waterlogged pitch. No matter, I had plan B….

Continue reading →

Hope for Capricorns

09 Monday Mar 2026

Posted by in L

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 6th December ko 14:00

Bristol Premier Combination Division One

LION 0

AFC MANGOTSFIELD 3 (Mansfield 9 Rice 23 Douglas 49)

Dorrington sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 2 at Little Stoke Park, Bristol

Free Entry

Red sun go down way over dirty town
Starlings are sweeping around crazy shoals
Yes and a girl is there high heeling across the square
Wind it blows around in her hair and the flags upon the poles
Waiting in the crowd to cross at the light
She looks around to find a face she can like.

Church bell clinging on just a trying to get a crowd for Evensong
Nobody cares to depend upon the chime it plays
They’re all in the station praying for trains
Congregation late again
It’s getting darker all the time these flagpole days
Drunk old soldier he give her a fright
He’s a crazy lion he’s a-howling for a fight

“Lions” Dire Straits 1978

On one hand it isn’t usually difficult to find a game in Bristol on a Saturday afternoon. I’d organised to drop Robyn off at a friend’s birthday celebration in town, and the idea was to pick her up as soon as it was over. That meant that I wouldn’t be able to travel far, but that wasn’t going to be a problem was it?

Continue reading →

Enter The Dragon

08 Sunday Mar 2026

Posted by in D

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 29th November 2025 ko 14:00

European U19 Women’s Championship Qualifying League A Group A7

CYMRU 3 (Bowen 63 Selan Yarayan 67og Em Cole 86)

TÜRKIYE 1 (Yaran Ersan 53)

Att c200 at Dragon Park, Newport

Entry FREE but you do have to be on a guest list

Sometimes you see somewhere that piques your interest, and Dragon Park certainly did that for me! Based in Newport it’s the national football development centre intended to develop the Welsh under-21, Women’s and age-based squads. . The centre also provides an based for the Welsh Football Trust, the game’s development body, so the main building also includes facilities for sports science and education too.

Continue reading →

Stairway

04 Wednesday Mar 2026

Posted by in T

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 15th November 2025 ko 14:00

Cymru South

TREOWEN STARS 3 (C Davies 24 Meachan 35 43)

YNYSHIR ALBIONS 0

Att 85

Entry £6

Programme £2

When you’ve spent most of the last 25 years groundhopping, it isn’t the simple statistics of how many and where that do it for me. When people ask I tell them, then add the tagline “Which shows I need to get out more” when the exact opposite is the case! These days, it’s the connections you make that drive me on, and Treowen was a classic case of this.

Continue reading →

The Hill

25 Wednesday Feb 2026

Posted by in K

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 8th November 2025 ko 14:00

Kent County League Premier Division

KINGS HILL 4 (Sibley 38 Grainger 52 Young 62 Wade 65)

CANTERBURY CITY 2 (Ikem 19 31)

Official Attendance 176

Entry & Programme £2.50

I know I’ve said it many times before but I do like to see groundhops in the diary that aren’t organised by ourselves at GroundhopUK. Other than the feeling that I don’t want to be the only game in town, I do like to attend other hops as there is always either something to learn, or at worst to reinforce our way of doing things. So when the Kent County League announced a Groundhopper Day I was a little intrigued.

Continue reading →

Yellow Brick Road

23 Monday Feb 2026

Posted by in W

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Friday 7th November 2025 ko 20:00

EFL Championship

WATFORD 1 (Bola 6)

BRISTOL CITY 1 (Twine 29)

Att 19,574

Entry £30

No Programme

Parking £12

It has to be said there is absolutely no possibility of acting on impulse when you’re watching Championship football. Tickets have to be bought in advance, and since they were for the away end, and Robyn and I don’t live in Bristol we had to discover where to collect our tickets and once there, even to confirm whether the booth in fact, actually had our tickets. Then you need to research where to park- we used the official parking at Watford Grammar School for Girls for £12 and that’s before you think about the M25 at rush hour…

Continue reading →

Culver Road

22 Sunday Feb 2026

Posted by in L

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 1st November 2025 ko 17:45

Southern Combination Premier Division

LANCING 1 (Collier 36)

NEWHAVEN 3 (Blunt 3 Roag 60p Oliver 87)

Att 293

Entry £8

Programme £2

If you are going to revisit a ground as a neutral, then I’d suggest leaving plenty of time between the visits, and go when the changes to the stadium are clear and manifest. I’d argue that Culver Road and I would be a case in point.

Continue reading →