Tag Archives: groundhopping

Deuce

09 Sunday Apr 2017

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Friday 24th March 2017 ko 19.45

Lowland League

PRESTON ATHLETIC 0 Cowan sent off (DOGSO) 53

CUMBERNAULD COLTS 2 (Brown 25 82)

Att 263

Entry £5

Programme £2

If there was ever a game I wanted to take place it was this one. On last year’s Scottish Hop Preston had seen their game called off late in the day due to a supposedly waterlogged pitch. My abiding memory of the piece was the gap in the car park where once the referee’s car once stood, he’d made a sharp exit, and club secretary Lesley Birrell in tears. We eventually ran the coaches to Civil Service Strollers (We’re still waiting for the programmes from them!) but that was no consolation to the Prestonpans club.

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Ghost Rail

31 Friday Mar 2017

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Tuesday 14th March 2017 ko 19.45

Essex Senior League

TAKELEY 4 (Cole 16 18 65 Das 90)

WALTHAM FOREST 1 (Baluaka 73)

Att 76

Entry & Programme £7

Takeley FC, other than being mighty close to Stansted Airport is one of only a few clubs, Copnor-based Moneyfields being another, where you navigate to the ground via a railway station that doesn’t exist! In Moneyfields’ case that’s due to the station being planned but never built, but in Takeley’s case you go over the hump-backed bridge glance to your left and there’s the station- with no trains, or indeed rails either! Continue reading →

Wagons

20 Monday Mar 2017

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Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 13.30

Carmarthenshire League Premier Division

EVANS & WILLIAMS SPORTS 0

TROSTRE SPORTS 1 (Waters 22)

Att 134 at Pitch 3 Penygaer Playing Fields

Entry FREE

Programme £2

I remember when Chris Berezai and I first discussed how we were going to organise GroundhopUK’s entire run in the Carmarthenshire League. It was never going to be difficult to sell somewhere like Abergwili to the hoppers, but the Penygaer Playing Fields in deepest darkest Llanelli was another matter entirely! It is the typical unlovely council facility with 5 pitches and a tired looking changing room block resplendent in anti-climb paint and barbed wire. Perhaps it was no bad thing that we only headed there at the very last minute! Continue reading →

The Black Cats

16 Thursday Mar 2017

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Saturday 11th March 2017 ko 10.45

Carmarthenshire League Division Two

KIDWELLY TOWN 3 (K Griffiths 21 G Griffiths 37og R Jones 68)

DREFACH AFC 1 (Amos 8)

Att 154

Entry £3

Programme £1

So, off to West Wales for the sixth straight year, and would you believe the nay-sayers still haven’t worked it out! “It’s all fields, ” and “It’s a low level of football” get bandied around as if its the first time GroundhopUK have ever tried to run an event like this! So, once again I’ll answer those two questions, are you ready? Continue reading →

Old Money

02 Thursday Mar 2017

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Saturday 25th February 2017 ko 15.30

Bundesliga

FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN 8 (Arturo Vidal 17 Lewandowski 25p 42 54 Alaba 56 Coman 65 67 Robben 87)

HAMBURGER SV 0

Att 75,000

Entry €70 (c£60)

Programme €1.50

Pin Badge €3.95

I remember exactly when I decided I simply had to visit the Allianz Arena. I was part of a party staying in Regensburg and we decided to take in an early morning Kreisklasse game in Munich one Sunday. En route to Viktoria München’s second string we passed through Fröttmanning on the autobahn and the space-age vision transfixed me. The question was how, and when? Continue reading →

Outlaw

27 Monday Feb 2017

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Wednesday 22nd February 2017 ko 19.30

Notts Senior League Cup- Quarter Final

RAVENSHEAD 0

NEWARK FLOWSERVE 2 (Potts 46 51)

Att 119

Entry FREE

Programme £1

It goes without saying that Rob Hornby was the reason I was there. The Notts Senior League registrar spotted that a highly unusual game under lights would draw the groundhoppers, and even more so if there was a programme was produced. He took charge of magazine production, and without doubt added 100 on the gate. The only doubt in my mind was what exactly was I watching? Continue reading →

Little Pleasures

21 Tuesday Feb 2017

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Monday 20th February 2017 ko 19.45

Hellenic League- Premier Division

BINFIELD 0

BRACKNELL TOWN 1 (Bohane 13)

Att 289

Entry & Programme £6

About 1,500 grounds ago I was enjoying hopping the non-league grounds of London. Week after week I visited a different ground and became very taken with the same group of older men I encountered every time I visited the capital. They’d worked out that with a little planning you could watch a game of football every day of the week, and so the clubs that played on the unusual days did rather well out of these “floating” fans.

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Olympiad

01 Wednesday Feb 2017

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Sunday 22nd January 2017 ko 15.00

Greek Superleague

A.E.K. 2 (Pekhart 24 Mandalos 47)

ASTERAS TRIPOLIS 0

Att 5,025 at Spyros Louis Olympic Stadium, Athens

Entry €15

No Programme

It seems to be that if you’re anything resembling a sports fan and you’re in Athens you really ought to visit the Panathenaic Stadium. There’s been a stadium here since 330 BC, but this marble incarnation dates from 1896 when it was rebuilt to host the first modern-era Olympic games. It also served at the 2004 Olympics hosting the archery and the finish of the marathon. Traditionally, it is where the Olympic flame leaves Greece for the torch relay to the host city. It costs €5 to have a look round. Continue reading →

Consideration

29 Sunday Jan 2017

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Saturday 17th January 2016 ko 17.15

Greek Superleague

PANIONIOS GSS 2 (Risvanis 25 Katharious 54)

PANETOLIKOS 0

Att 860

Entry €15

No Programme

Sat at a cafe in Monasteraki I had a dilemna. Two years ago I’d visited Athens and watched Panionios and Olympiacos, and those were our only two options on this Saturday evening. I knew that Olympiacos would have the “Wow” factor of a modern ground, but I wanted my girlfriend Robyn to get something authentically Greek so I plumped for Panionios, but even afterwards I wasn’t sure whether I made the correct decision.  Continue reading →

I Fought The Law

24 Tuesday Jan 2017

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Tuesday 17th January 2017 ko 19.45

Isthmian League Premier Division

METROPOLITAN POLICE 1 (Michael-Percil 45p)

BILLERICAY TOWN 1 (Adelowo 1)

Att 108

Entry £10

Programme £2

Football does have the happy habit of throwing up quirks, and London’s police force having a side in the third tier of non-league is certainly one. The side are based at the force’s sports and social club, Imber Court in Molesey, just a stone’s throw from Hampden Court. It is worth noting that Molesey is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police! Continue reading →