Tag Archives: groundhopping

The Swap

07 Saturday Jul 2018

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Wednesday 9th May 2018 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

LUTTERWORTH ATHLETIC 2 (Hobert 20 Pegg 66p)

STEWARTS & LLOYDS 1 (Mpofu 88)

Att 31

Entry £5

No Programme

Half the fun of this one was working out exactly who Robyn and I would be watching! In the beginning there was Lutterworth Town and Lutterworth Athletic with one playing the centre of town the other on the edge. Then one left, the other moved into the other’s former ground, and the first moved into other’s an out-of-town location. I’d seen Lutterworth at the in-town location back in the day but in the day’s leading up to this day the mechanics of football in Lutterworth did take a little working out!

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The Revenge of the Sixth

05 Thursday Jul 2018

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Sunday 6th May 2018 ko 14.00

Bridgend & District Sunday League- Division One Cup Final

GARTH VADER 3 (Roberts 55 66 Evans 58p)

THE SEAGULL 1 (Jones 9)

Att c70 at Llangeinor FC

Free Entry

To some people’s logic, driving from Long Eaton via Bristol to the valleys north of Bridgend to watch a Sunday League game doesn’t make a lot of sense. In fact to some groundhoppers it made no sense either, and we’re a breed that’s used to travelling long distances for the most obscure of games. But when you boiled this one down it meant complete sense for the purest of reasons- you may not drive for 4 hours for football, but you would to support your friends.

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Harry

28 Thursday Jun 2018

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Saturday 5th May 2018 ko 17.00

Central Midlands League- South Division

HILTON HARRIERS 1 (Jones 14og)

HUCKNALL TOWN 0

Att 236

Entry £3

Programme £1

On one hand the hop had been hugely enjoyable, and a fourth game would have been welcome, on the other, the red faces told the story of sunburn on a hot day. Perhaps it was no bad thing it was only a 3 game day!

The Derbyshire village of Hilton is famous for being the birthplace of Herbert Massey the leader of the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III in March 1944. He was fortunate to escape the fate of 50 of the escapees who were shot on Hitler’s orders. Massey’s birthplace is marked with a blue plaque. Continue reading →

Kilbourne

26 Tuesday Jun 2018

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Saturday 5th May 2018 ko 13.45

Central Midlands League South Division

AFC KILBURN 1 (McCready 84)

SHERWOOD COLLIERY 3 (Wiesztort 26 Sawter 56 Beardsey 80)

Att 207

Entry £3

Programme £1.50

Maybe it’s because I’m a southerner but when you mention Kilburn, I tend to think of the suburb in north-west London near Maida Vale. In fact I think we took the Hellenic Hop there a couple of times back in the day!  The Kilburn in Derbyshire is in the Amber (river) Valley, which made the “Jade” Garden choice of name for the local Chinese takeaway seem rather inappropriate!  To confuse things further until roughly a century ago the village was known as Kilbourne! The area was the setting for ITV tv drama “Peak Practice.” Continue reading →

Horwudu

19 Tuesday Jun 2018

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Wednesday 2nd May 2018 ko 18.30

North Bucks & District League Premier Division

GREAT HORWOOD 7 (Broom 20 Dixon 32 65 85 Tappin 36 Hawkins 60 Cronin 67)

WING VILLAGE 1 (Robinson 1p)

Att c15

Free Entry

This one definitely was one to salve my slice of OCD that tells me I simply have to watch a game at any ground I drive past more than once. Great Horwood lies on the main A421 between Buckingham and Bletchley, the village to your left and the Castlefields playing fields to your right. There’s been a village here since Saxon times, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records this place as “Horwudu” meaning muddy wood in 792! Continue reading →

Gingerbread

01 Friday Jun 2018

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Saturday 21st April 2018 ko 15.00

Northern Premier League-Premier Division

GRANTHAM TOWN 0

ALTRINCHAM 2 (Merrie 50 Johnston 78)

Att 689

Entry £10

Programme £2

In my working life, knowledge of the geography of the UK is useful. There’s a large map on the wall behind me, to help work out how long it takes to get from place to place, but being an inveterate groundhopper usually makes it redundant. After all, simply having driven to most of the towns helps, but the glaring exception was Grantham. Continue reading →

The Goose

30 Wednesday May 2018

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Saturday 21st April 2018 ko 12.30

Notts Senior League Premier Division

FC CAVALIERS 1 (Kolapo 35)

AFC DUNKIRK 0

Att 42

Entry & Programme £2

When Rob Hornby retired from organising the annual Notts Senior League Hops he left a cohort of clubs playing in caged 3G facilities that needed visiting if you wanted to complete the league. Now I doubt that any hopper would prioritise any such ground, they are designed after all for the participant rather than the spectator. But that would do the Forest Recreation Ground a massive disservice, its history makes it well worth a visit.  Continue reading →

Billy’s Cause

28 Monday May 2018

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Tuesday 17th April 2018 ko 19.45

Southern Combination Division One

MIDHURST & EASEBOURNE 2 (Carter 15 Broughton 50)

SELSEY 2 (Seye 54 Correll 90)

Att c50

Entry & Programme £5

Many years ago my ex-wife and her family loved to spend weekends at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis. I was never a convert to Billy’s cause, watching Bucks Fizz with one original member (the blond one) wasn’t and isn’t my idea of fun. In my eyes the whole point of the exercise was tick off another local ground. The journey down from Henley-On-Thames was interesting as my former father-in-law has a phobia of motorways, so the obvious M3, M27 route was eschewed. Continue reading →

Something

23 Wednesday May 2018

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Sunday 15th April 2018 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance Division One

AFC BUTETOWN 1 (Farah 80p) Farah missed penalty 51

TONYREFAIL B.G.C. 1 (Cicigoi 49)

Att 120

Entry/Programme £2

The Welsh Spring hop ended as it has started, at a ground that we’d actually planned on visiting for quite some time! AFC Butetown’s Canal Park home is used for a carnival each August Bank Holiday making a visit on the normal Welsh Hop impossible. But this was a visit that was more than just a question of helping to complete a league, as Butetown’s colloquial name is far more evocative. Continue reading →

A New Hope

21 Monday May 2018

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Sunday 15th April 2018 ko 11.00

Bridgend & District League Division One

WICKED 4 (Picton 11p Griffiths 50 86 Davies 56)

GARTH VADER 3 (Evans 26 Vincent 47 Richard Boydell 77)

Att 47 at Coychurch Recreation Ground, Bridgend

Entry & Programme £2

Chris Berezai and I get it, we really do- some hoppers don’t do Sunday football. But last year’s Welsh Spring Hop saw something special. We’d been let down by Gorseinon FC who’d refused to play on a Sunday at Pontlliw so needed a replacement game. Chris approached Richard Boydell at Garth Vader and something magical happened. Continue reading →