30 Sunday Oct 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
Brickfield Lane, Edgware Town, Football, groundhopping, Hadley, Micky Hazard, Spartan South Midlands League
Wednesday 12th October 2016 ko 19.30
Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division
HADLEY 1 (Belmansour 40)
EDGWARE TOWN 2 (McCluskey 52 Blackburne 68)
Att 95
Entry £6
Programme £1
There’ve been some remarkable returns home in non-league this season. One would be Fisher Athletic but in many respects Hadley’s return home is even more remarkable. Continue reading
26 Wednesday Oct 2016
Posted in O
Tags
Floodlights, Football, groundhopping, Halstead United, Kent County League, Otford United, Recreation Ground
Tuesday 11th October 2016 ko 19.30
Kent County League Division One West
OTFORD UNITED 1 (Duff 45)
HALSTEAD UNITED 1 (Spears 11)
Att 36
Entry FREE
No Programme
Even if the names hint at League 1 and the Eastern Counties League surely noone could mistake Otford for anything other than the Kentish town near Sevenoaks? The ground is rather intriguing, set as it is at the back of Otford Recreation Ground, but why does a club playing at the 8th level of non-league football in England have floodlights? Continue reading
26 Wednesday Oct 2016
Posted in S
Tags
Chipping sodbury, Football, groundhop, groundhopping, Mark Edmonds, Street, Tannery, Town, Western League
Sunday 9th October 2016 ko 14.15
Western League Premier Division
STREET 4 (Herrod 27 Murray 42 62 90p)
CHIPPING SODBURY TOWN 2 (Guest 23 Sims 71) Criddle sent off 45 (Serious foul play)
Att 291
Entry £6
Programme £1
We headed back towards Bristol for the hop’s final game in the Somerset village of Street, named it seems because a Roman road ran through where the settlement built up. The Society of Friends, the Quakers established a base here in the 17th century and one Quaker family, the Clarks set up the eponymous shoe making business here. The factory closed in 1993 (although Clark’s still has its HQ in Street) and the factory was converted into an outlet shopping centre. The Clark family leased the firm’s former sanitorium to become, in 1931, Britain’s first Youth Hostel. Continue reading
23 Sunday Oct 2016
Posted in C
Tags
Bremhill View, Calne Town, Corsham Town, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Hop, New floodlights, Western League
Saturday 8th October 2016 ko 19.45
Western League Division One
CALNE TOWN 3 (Dolman 21p Jones 29 Webb 61)
CORSHAM TOWN 2 (Pring 12 90)
Att 257
Entry £5
Programme £1
If the day started at the cheese of Cheddar then it finished at the Ham of Calne. Every time you’ve eaten a genuine slice of Wiltshire Cured Ham, chances are it originated at the Harris meat processing plant in Calne or until its closure in 1983 at least. Until then the trade in Irish pigs meant that the plant was roughly half-way to Smithfields Market in London. Time and pork wait for no man it seems. Continue reading
21 Friday Oct 2016
Posted in W
Tags
Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Hop, Malmesbury Victoria, Meadow Lane, Westbury United, Western League
Saturday 8th October 2016 ko 16.30
Western League Division One
WESTBURY UNITED 0
MALMESBURY VICTORIA 1 (Wilkins 52)
Att 233
Entry £5
Programme £1
I’m beginning to think the time and place and to organise groundhops is in hospitality on the previous year’s event! Westbury had been the visitors at Keynsham Town last year, and I remember seeing their committee at half-time during a quite wonderful time, and their enthusiasm was both infectious and magnetic. It was an easy decision to include them this time round. Continue reading
20 Thursday Oct 2016
Tags
Athletic Ground, Bowdens Road, Cadbury Heath, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Wells City, Western League
Saturday 8th October 2016 ko 13.15
Western League Premier Division
WELLS CITY 2 (Pitman 52 Spill 84) Batchelor missed penalty 47 Brown sent off (2nd booking) 86
CADBURY HEATH 5 (Huxley 25p 48 56 Bailey 26 McElroy 82)
Att 219
Entry £6
Programme £1
We arrived at the Athletic Ground, in Rowden’s Road, and I pleased to see a geographically challenged hopper park up next to me. The previous day he’d very nearly paid Bishops Sutton in Hampshire a visit rather than Bishop Sutton in Somerset, so I did wonder whether he’d made a beeline for Wells-next-the-sea. At one point we could have found GroundhopUK hopping the Anglian Combination I suppose, but then we could have easily been easily in a number of leagues. The Western League have been excellent hosts for us, and Chris Berezai had I had a special reason to want to be at Wells City. Continue reading
19 Wednesday Oct 2016
Tags
Bowden's Park, Cheddar, Cheddar AFC, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Hop, Portishead Town, Western League
Saturday 8th October 2016 ko 10.15
Western League Division One
CHEDDAR 2 (Ham 5 Vaughan 17)
PORTISHEAD TOWN 1 (Mortimer 51)
Att 222
Entry £5
Programme £1
The morning started cool, with overnight rain; I quietly celebrated that this was the last English hop of 2016. Four games in a day is one thing when the weather’s good, it’s rather different when it’s cold and wet. I headed down a surprisingly quiet M5 and made for Bowden’s Park. Continue reading
17 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in B
Tags
Bishop Sutton, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Julian French, Keynsham Town, Lakeview, Mark Edmonds, Western League, Western League Hop
Friday 7th October 2016 ko 19.45
Western League Division One
BISHOP SUTTON 0
KEYNSHAM TOWN 1 (B Harris 90)
Att 247
Entry £6
Programme £1
For a league whose hop inevitably means I’ll be revisiting most of the grounds I’d found myself anticipating this weekend for quite some time. A lot of that was down to its friendly clubs, and the gentleman that is league General Secretary Mark Edmonds, and some that it is my Bristolian girlfriend Robyn’s “Home” hop. She made sure that at least 2 family members were at each and every game which was some going! That isn’t to say though that this hop was straightforward to organise…. Continue reading
16 Sunday Oct 2016
Tags
AFC Totton, Cup, Football, groundhopping, Southern League, Testwood Park, Testwood Stadium, Winchester City
Tuesday 4th October 2016 ko 19.45
Southern League Cup 1st Round
AFC TOTTON 2 (Watts 64 Gosney 85)
WINCHESTER CITY 3 (Jenkinson 33 57 Wilson 89p)
Att 157
Entry £6
Programme £2
I think there’s a missing entry in the great groundhopping lexicon. There needs to be word or term for a ground you haven’t visited despite being it easy to get to, and you’ve visited plenty further away beforehand. For me, AFC Totton would be an extreme example, it’s easy enough to get to from Oxford, it’s been open since 2010 and to make things worse I actually managed to visit the adjacent Little Testwood Stadium, home to Totton & Eling four-and-half years ago!! Continue reading
16 Sunday Oct 2016
Tags
Bedfordshire County league, Engineers Arms, Football, groundhopping, Henlow, Hop, Ickleford, Kempston Hammers Sports, White Eagles, Wixams, Wootton Blue Cross, Wootton Village
Saturday 1st October 2016
10.45 Bedfordshire County League – Division One
HENLOW 3 (Hills 11 Knight 45 Walker 50)
ICKLEFORD 3 (Miceli 48 Bussle 72 G Follano 83) G Follano sent off 87 (2nd booking)
Att 126
13.45 Bedfordshire County League – Division Two
KEMPSTON HAMMMERS SPORTS 2 (Grandidge 16 67)
WIXAMS 0
Att 93
16.30 Bedfordshire County League – Division Three
WOOTTON VILLAGE 2 (A Flynn 49 Churchill-Hall 80)
WHITE EAGLES 2 (Cygan 55 Ptak 87)
Att 131
Entry for all games was free with programmes available for £2, and badges for £3
It’s a point of some regret that the only organised hop on the calendar this season that I’m not involved in is this one. I like to attend other people’s hops, firstly because I’m under no pressure, and secondly because there’s always an opportunity to learn something. Here the organiser is Craig Dabbs and the beauty of his offering is that there’s a direct comparison possible with at least one GroundhopUK offering, and his his philosophy of offering the maximum opportunity for clubs, hoppers and league is the same as ours. Continue reading
Football: Wherever it may be 