Tag Archives: groundhopping

Reversals

19 Monday Nov 2018

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Saturday 13th October 2018 ko 11.00

Bedfordshire League Division One

BEDFORD ALBION 9 (Kelly 3 Babbington 17 30 44 50 Wright 23 Lewis 35 39 Sidhu 64)

SANDY 0

Att 149

Entry FREE

Programme £2

It was an uncommonly early start for the Bedfordshire Hop. An unfeasibly strong coffee jolted the senses before driving from Oxford to Wavendon to pick up Chris Garner (anything eastbound seems to involve him!) before heading to Biddenham to meet organiser Craig Dabbs for a spot of role reversal.  Continue reading →

The Dry Run

19 Monday Nov 2018

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Tuesday 9th October 2018 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League- Premier Division Cup 2nd Round

CRAWLEY GREEN 1 (Silford 52)

BIGGLESWADE FC 3 (Cookman 35 Marsh 47 Coles 60p)

Att 53

Entry £6

Programme £1

Sat, as I often am at my PC I had a problem. I’d spotted an interesting weekend away involving flights to and from Luton Airport, but getting there on a Friday looked rather tight for time, especially during rush hour, with Robyn having no holiday allowance left at work. Then I spotted Crawley Green had a midweek game- it was time to try a dry run… Continue reading →

Fairfax

15 Thursday Nov 2018

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Sunday 7th October 2018 ko 11.00

Western League Premier Division

BRIDGWATER TOWN 1 (Ellis 74)

BRIDPORT 0 Martin sent off 70 (Serious Foul Play)

Att 371

Entry £6

Programme £1

 

Sunday dawned and with it the longest drive of the hop, from our base in Almondsbury to Bridgwater. It was odd driving one of our 3 minibuses, full of hoppers but utterly incapable of going more than 60 mph! The extra time on the M5 did give me time to consider what we’d be likely to find at Fairfax Park. Continue reading →

Planning Gain

08 Thursday Nov 2018

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Saturday 6th October 2018 ko 17.00

Western League Premier Division

HALLEN 0

SHEPTON MALLET 3 (Willmott 45 Pollard 59 Morgan 77)

Att 218

Entry £6

Programme £1

Given one or two groundhoppers’ predisposition for getting their geography in a twist I ought to make it clear that this in the Hallen, which is the other side of the M5 from Bristol and not the club playing at the World’s oldest football ground- that’s Hallam! And while we were never ever going to visit the Hallen Centre on the Northern Counties East Hop, we could have easily have visited back in the day on the Hellenic Hop, the club are based in, and affiliated to the Gloucestershire FA, and it took until 2000 to prise themselves away and into the more logical Western League. That isn’t the limit of the club’s adventures though! Continue reading →

The Nest

31 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Saturday 29th September 2018 ko 15.00

Eastern Counties League Division One North

LAKENHEATH 1 (McCabe 3)

MARCH TOWN UNITED 3 (Cooke 7 Gillies 45p Mattless 74)

Att c100

Entry £5

Programme £1

One of the most welcome additions to the Eastern Counties League roster this season has been Lakenheath. I’d had a fair few hoppers recommend, The Nest or The Pit, depending on who you talk to but for no good reason I’d not managed to visit. I’m glad I did go but I do wonder whether I caught the club at a real crossroads. Step 6 will alter just about everything for Lakenheath FC, both as a club, and a place to watch football.  Continue reading →

Down To The Waterline

29 Monday Oct 2018

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Tuesday 18th September 2018 ko 19.30

Sussex R.U.R. Charity Cup 2nd Round

SEAFORD TOWN 6 (Lee 8 Rainford 23 Storer 41 Anderson 50 Guillou 75 Zabadne 85)

SOUTHWICK 1 (Lester 6p)

Att 15

Entry & Programme £5

Roughly speaking Seaford lies on the other side of the River Ouse from Newhaven, or in my terms just about as far as it as possible to get from a 5.30pm start from Oxford and make a 7.45 kick off. In this day and age you tend to assume you’ll be delayed getting past the M3 turn on the M25! But on this occasion England’s motorways decided to cooperate and I arrived at 7.25, just in time to hear two sounds…. Continue reading →

The Miniature Railway

28 Sunday Oct 2018

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Saturday 15th September 2018 ko 14.00

North Berkshire League Division One

NORTH OXFORD 2 (T Mawema 22 T Mungai 65)

LONG WITTENHAM 4 (Bowler 12 36 Houseman 17 47)

Att 5 at Top Pavilion, Cutteslowe Park, Oxford

As a small boy growing up in Oxford I was fortunate to have a public park at the back of our house. You could say that park, and regular trips to the Manor Ground are the reason you’re reading this. But to the 5-year-old self the real treat was when Mum and I sat on a bus for the entire length of the “Number 2” bus route and spent the day at Cuttleslowe Park. Continue reading →

The Bucket List Ground

26 Friday Oct 2018

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Saturday 8th September 2018 ko 15.00

North Devon League- Division Intermediate 2

SOUTH MOLTON 3 (Motteram 39 M Latham 48 Jones 70)

BRIDGERULE 2NDS 2 (Parker 46 Barnwill 85)

Att 19

Free Entry

Unless you’re a groundhopper, the small Exmoor Town of South Molton is best known as being where the last stand of the Penruddock Uprising took place in 1655, or where in 1686 Lord of the Manor Hugh Squier’s philanthropy endowed the Grammar School that is now the South Molton United School. It’s a quiet place, but one to explore for a few hours, then have a pub lunch. But if you are a groundhopper South Molton, is an absolute bucket list ground.  Continue reading →

Game Of Floodlights

24 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Tuesday 11th September 2018 ko 17.30

Middlesex County League- Premier Division

SOUTH KILBURN 0

KENSINGTON DRAGONS 1 (Royes 83)

Att 21

Entry FREE

Programme £1

The hobby of groundhopping does lend itself to a little tactical planning. Take this Tuesday as an example. You know there are a finite number of grounds with floodlights so you’ve prioritised those on to midweeks when they’re in use. Then you look at which lights will get used less than others and prioritise those. The Step 7 Middlesex League schedules virtually no floodlit games; the league has few clubs with lights and so plans without taking them into account. But this one looked interesting. Continue reading →

The Pocket Borough

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

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Tuesday 14th August 2018 ko 19.45

Wessex League Division One

DOWNTON 2 (Hooper 67 Prentice 78)

TOTTON & ELING 1 (Gain 58)

Att 78

Entry & Programme £5

There are no end of settlements called Downton, in fact there are at least two in the Wessex League’s footprint. This Downton is a pretty as a picture village in South Wiltshire, the nearest city is Salisbury and you pass by several military bases, to get here, Porton Down being probably the most well-known. Downton is also remembered as being the village that managed to elect an MP without the candidate knowing! Continue reading →