Tag Archives: groundhopping

Old School

23 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in B

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 15th August 2017 ko 19.45

Championship

BRENTFORD 2 (Watkins 56 Maupay 77)

BRISTOL CITY 2 (Brownhill 5 Reid 90)

Att 9,811 (1,650 away)

Entry £24

Programme £3.50

There aren’t many grounds like this left. Grounds tucked away in amongst the houses in the communities they represent with only the floodlights to beckon you in from afield. Grounds built to tessellate with the footprint of the land available, and grounds that positively ooze with history and tradition. Continue reading →

The Lane

21 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by in H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Monday 7th August 2017 ko 19.45

National League- South Division

HUNGERFORD TOWN 2 (Willmoth 45 Williams 52)

WESTON SUPER MARE 0

Att 370

Entry £12

Programme £2

Maybe it’s my age but I still find it hard to frame the pretty market town of Hungerford in any other way than what the residents call “The Tragedy” when almost exactly 30 years ago a lone gunman killed 16 here, including two in Bulpit Lane. I’m not sure how a town manages to build an identity after such an event, but somehow there’s something vibrant about Hungerford Town. Continue reading →

The Itch

18 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in B

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Thursday 3rd August 2017 ko 18.45

Pre-season friendly

FC ASCOT 9 (6 12 16 29 34 41 50 60 72)

BRIZE NORTON 2 (80 82)

Att c10 at Tanners Lane, Burford

To be a groundhopper you do need a large dose of OCD, and I’ll leave you to judge whether that’s in any way healthy. Some worry about what counts as a suitable game, some as to whether there’s a programme and one or two obsess about whether a goal is scored, they can’t count the ground as visited if it finishes nil-nil! ( I know….) But my little bit of OCD is different…… Continue reading →

The Quiet Ones

11 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in L

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Sunday 30th July 2017 ko 14.00

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

LEVERINGTON SPORTS 2 (Alexander 53 Raychev 90)

PETERBOROUGH I.C.A. SPORTS 0

Att 304

Entry £4

Programme £1

When you organise one of these events clubs tend to take one of two approaches. Some, like Steve Weeks’ Hanney United phone you up every day for advice so you know everything that’s likely to be waiting for you when you arrive. Others prefer to do their preparation quietly, and leave that element of surprise. Leverington definitely fitted into the latter category. Continue reading →

Best Wishes

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in L

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Sunday 30th July 2017 ko 11.00

Peterborough & District League Division One

LONG SUTTON ATHLETIC 0

TYDD ST MARY 0

Match abandoned 12 minutes- serious injury

Att 346

Entry £4

Programme £1

The coach parked up outside the ground and in front the main road looked choked. It was a mixture of through traffic, and groundhoppers who in many cases had found inappropriate places to park. The inevitable happened, a hopper’s car scraped a local’s car and apart from the thoroughly unpleasant exchange of views afterwards the best he can hope for is the loss of his no claims bonus. I wonder whether he’ll book the coach next time? I however had other thoughts… Continue reading →

The Power of 3000

07 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by in B

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

BOURNE TOWN 1 (Russell 90p)

RAUNDS TOWN 2 (Porter 36 Townsend 81)

Att 459

Entry £5

Programme £2 (poor for what it was)

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating how much Chris Berezai and I love it when there’s someone there to meet the hop coach, it takes any uncertainty out what adds up to GroundhopUK handing over a coachload of hoppers to another club for another couple of hours, even if a fair few immediately disappear to tick off a pub or pubs! Here Bourne did the greeting in spades with an official there to welcome each and everyone to Abbey Lawns before whisking Chris, coach driver Dwayne and I off to hospitality. But this wasn’t an evening about hospitality, this was an evening about redemption. Continue reading →

Beer Drinkers

04 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in M

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 13.45

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

MOULTON HARROX 3 (Parry 6 Watkin 26 Woods 42)

SUTTON BRIDGE UNITED 0

Att 280

Entry £4

Programme £1

You got a sense of divergence as the crowd left Holbeach. Some headed for Deeping, some for Fakenham and others March Town. The destinations all had one thing in common, they all were grounds at Step 6 or above, or putting it another way the kind of grounds that if we’d have made the hop an exclusively UCL event, would not have seen hoppers on anything like the scale that happened here. Whilst I understand their reasons, there is a point of view that doesn’t deal with life at Step 7 or below; it would have been lovely to have seen them try the delights of Moulton Harrox and Spalding Town, there were were strong reasons for optimism. Continue reading →

The Prime Meridian

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 10.45

United Counties League Premier Division

HOLBEACH UNITED 6 (Bird 14 53 Leckie 18 Jackson 56 Sanders 83 Davies 85)

SLEAFORD TOWN 0

Att 333

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

From our base in Peterborough coach driver Dwayne set sail north-east heading into East Anglia in general and more specifically the Fenlands. The topography flattened out considerably, Holbeach has a coastal suffix with good reason, it used to be only 2 miles from the sea, and it’s area South Holland, a good hint as to who drained the land!  Continue reading →

The Hot Spot

31 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by in H

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Friday 28th July 2017 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

HUNTINGDON TOWN 0

PINCHBECK UNITED 0

Att 221

Entry £6

Programme £1

I’ll never forget the genesis of the United Counties/ Peterborough & District League Hop. It all started with the UCL tasking apprentice Daniel Leggett to organise what they’d seen work well elsewhere. He soon hit an impasse and contacted former Notts Senior League hop organiser Rob Hornby. Rob couldn’t help him, but did contact me. I met Daniel at Peterborough Sports, and soon enough Chris Berezai and I were meeting the clubs. There was a surprise waiting for us though! Continue reading →

Twitching

26 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by in H

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Tuesday 25th July 2017 ko 19.30

Preseason Friendly

HULL CITY 0

FC NANTES 0

Att 2,097 at Craven Park (Hull Kingston Rovers RLFC)

Entry £12

Programme £1.50

Every so often in groundhopping you get a game played at a one-off ground that the case is so compelling for going that you drop everything and go there. It is the footballing version of what twitching is to birdwatching, and yes, there were many groundhoppers at this game.  Continue reading →