Tag Archives: groundhopping

Just Doing It

26 Thursday Sep 2019

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Saturday 24th August 2019 ko 11.00

Gwent Premier League- Division 1

COED EVA ATHLETIC 4 (Davies 8 62 63 Bream 37)

NEWPORT SAINTS 3 (Roberts 3 50 Bourne 11)

Att 227

Entry £3

Programme £1

After the trials and tribulations in getting this edition of the Welsh Hop up and running it felt good to do the simple things again. That included strolling down the hill at the university in Trefforest to meet Steve and the coach, then travelling for the breakfast that was billed as “Eat as much as you like” but plenty read as “Treat this as a challenge!” It is always a convivial start to the day, a chance to catch up with people and for those who’d spent the previous evening in the Otley Arms- a chance to compare hangovers! Continue reading →

Hearts

23 Monday Sep 2019

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Friday 23rd August 2019 ko 19.30

Gwent County League Division 2

OAK 2 (Mantle 16 Watkins 80)

USK TOWN 2 (Rodden 25 Cullinane 31)

R Hancock sent off 88 (2nd booking)

Att 178

Entry £3

Programme £1

This Welsh Hop should have been so easy to organise. We’d got the accommodation, the coach company and the league all sorted, and we’d even given the league a day’s preview last year. Even the Otley Arms in Treforest were holding a beer festival! So at the end of last season GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai had sent the Gwent League a wish-list of clubs we wanted to visit, and we waited, and when that didn’t work, we coaxed and cajoled. In the end we got the fixtures 3 weeks before the event. Continue reading →

So Near…

19 Thursday Sep 2019

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Tuesday 13th August 2019 ko 19.45

FA Cup Extra-Preliminary Round Replay

WEMBLEY FC 3 (Sabti 15 81 Walker 50)

AFC HAYES 2 (Dennis 17secs Musaka 16)

Att 71

Entry £7

Programme £1

When you think about it Wembley FC and their home at Vale Farm is the perfect place for a spectator to follow the world’s best cup competition from its start. You can of course see the competition’s final destination in the background, but when it was all over I did wonder whether the national stadium’s presence serves to madden rather than inspire? Continue reading →

A Home… Finally

17 Tuesday Sep 2019

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Tuesday 6th August 2019 ko 19.45

Combined Counties League Premier Division

BADSHOT LEA 5 (Medcraft 19 55 89 Cardini 63 Cadette 77)

FRIMLEY GREEN 0

Att 194

Entry £7

Programme £1

Teamsheet FREE

God knows football needs a good news story and a ground for Badshot Lea is certainly one! It seems an age ago (well 2003) I saw the side freshly promoted in to the Hellenic League from the Surrey Premier League at their original Recreation Ground home. Now home may well be where the heart is but the ground was little or more than a roped off pitch in a park and with ground gradings beginning to bite it was obvious that a club so obviously on the up would have to move. Continue reading →

The United Swifts

12 Thursday Sep 2019

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Saturday 3rd August 2019

12.00 Central Midlands League Invitational Cup Final

NETHERSEAL ST PETERS 1 (Coates 7)

RENISHAW RANGERS 3 (Manlove 4 75 Purcell 72)

Att 189

15.00 Central Midlands League Chairman’s Cup Final

PINXTON 5 (Smith 20 Green 32 33 87 Riley 57)

BAKEWELL TOWN 1 (Rach 57)

Att 269

Both games at Peel Croft, (Burton RUFC), Burton-on-Trent

Entry £5

Programme £2

Just occasionally the hopper fraternity gets an opportunity so good, you drop everything and go. Normally it takes the form of a one-off game at an iconic stadium that isn’t often used to football such as Llanelli playing at Stradey Park, the re-staging of the 1872 FA Cup Final at the Oval or Hull City playing a friendly at Hull Kingston Rovers’ Craven Park. Those were all mid-week fixures, and 2 were at rugby grounds, but this game was at a rugby ground, on a Saturday making it so much easier for people to get to, but Peel Croft’s history made this a must-visit. Continue reading →

Roman Times

06 Friday Sep 2019

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Sunday 28th July 2019 ko 13.45

United Counties League Division One

IRCHESTER UNITED 3 (Clark 7 Ball 70 79)

WELLINGBOROUGH WHITWORTH 3 (Brittain 8 Crawley 45 Hazell 90)

Att 328

Entry £5

Programme £1

It wasn’t far from Cogenhoe to Irchester- just enough time to get comfortable it seemed! When we first established the United Counties League Hop I’d imagined that we’d visit Irchester either before or after both Wellingborough Town and Wellingborough Whitworth, as Irchester is very close to the town. Now there were compelling reasons to visit Stilton when we did last year, but it did leave Irchester a little high and dry. In the end I was pleased we were able to fit them in quickly. Continue reading →

The Saint Returns

15 Thursday Aug 2019

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Friday 19th July 2019 ko 18.30

Pre-Season Friendly

SOUTHAM UNITED 2 (72 85)

CROPREDY 3 (Welch 25 Dineen 35 Reeves 80)

Att 26 at Youth Ground, Banbury Road.

Free Entry

Back in the the day when I lived in Banbury it became something of a tradition for Southam to play near neighbours Leamington at 11am each Boxing Day. It was never likely to be a tradition that lasted, the reformed Leamington were never likely to stay in the Midland Combination for long. Nevertheless I’m sure Southam enjoyed the bumper crowd, and I enjoyed visiting each time, even to the point of me enjoying a plate of bubble and squeak as my ex-wife drove me to Oxford United for their festive fixture afterwards! Continue reading →

Kings

13 Tuesday Aug 2019

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Tuesday 16th July 2019 ko 19.45

Pre-Season Friendly

BINFIELD 0

KNAPHILL 1 (14)

Att 28 

At King’s Academy, Binfield

There are plenty of groundhoppers who don’t like pre-season friendlies, and I completely understand their point of view. My take on it is to try to find something unusual in the fixture; it could be an inter-league match-up or an unusual ground. Here we managed both!

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The Cage

12 Monday Aug 2019

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Wednsday July 10th 2019 ko 19.30

Pre-Season Friendly

DUNSTABLE TOWN 1 (DaSilva 80)

AMPTHILL TOWN 1 (15)

Att c40

At the 3G pitch at Creasey Park

Entry by donation

I spent much of the journey trying to pinpoint exactly when I’d last visited Creasey Park. I know it was for a AFC Dunstable game (they’re joint tenants at Creasey Park) soon after their name change from Old Dunstabilians. That happened in 2004 so I reckon it was around 2005. Creasey Park was a very different place then… Continue reading →

The Can Of Worms

09 Friday Aug 2019

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Tuesday 9th July 2019 ko 19.45

Pre-Season Friendly

AFC WIMBLEDON 2 (Ruscrow 70p Folivi 90p)

BRISTOL CITY 3 (Webster 31 Diedhiou 47 52)

Att c1,500

Entry £10

If you’re fortunate to have Terry “The Badge” Hall as a friend, you’ll be well used to seeing two things on his Facebook page. One is his badge stall outside Kingsmeadow for ever single home game his beloved AFC Wimbledon plays, and just beforehand the inevitable gargantuan all-day breakfast at “Fat Boys” just round the corner from Jack Goodchild Way. I’d first been to Kingsmeadow years ago, in 2002 during the Real Dons first season for a Combined Counties League game versus AFC Wallingford. That season the Dons were destined to finish the league third, behind Wallingford, and can you guess who were league champions? Continue reading →