Tag Archives: GroundhopUK

The Farewell

09 Monday Dec 2019

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Sunday 6th October 2019 ko 15.00

Western League Premier Division

WELLINGTON AFC 0

Wadham sent off 73 (violent conduct)

EXMOUTH TOWN 2 (Harris 32 Denny 42)

Att 312

Entry £5

Programme £1

If you’d have told me as early as last year’s hop that we’d end the Western Hop’s run at Wellington I’d have raised an eyebrow. Not much more than than that, I’d enjoyed the club’s company greatly when I visited 3 years ago, but they had turned down the chance to host a hop game. My understanding was that they feared being overwhelmed, and I could understand why, the Wellington Playing Field does come with its challenges. Continue reading →

Hearts

23 Monday Sep 2019

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Friday 23rd August 2019 ko 19.30

Gwent County League Division 2

OAK 2 (Mantle 16 Watkins 80)

USK TOWN 2 (Rodden 25 Cullinane 31)

R Hancock sent off 88 (2nd booking)

Att 178

Entry £3

Programme £1

This Welsh Hop should have been so easy to organise. We’d got the accommodation, the coach company and the league all sorted, and we’d even given the league a day’s preview last year. Even the Otley Arms in Treforest were holding a beer festival! So at the end of last season GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai had sent the Gwent League a wish-list of clubs we wanted to visit, and we waited, and when that didn’t work, we coaxed and cajoled. In the end we got the fixtures 3 weeks before the event. Continue reading →

The Straw Bear

09 Monday Sep 2019

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Sunday 28th July 2019 ko 17.15

United Counties League Division One

WHITTLESEY ATHLETIC 1 (Ilsley 70)

HUNTINGDON TOWN 2 (Roberts 68 Jones 84)

Att 340

Entry £5

Programme £1

The final club on the UCL Hop was a team with that one way or another have stamped themselves on the event’s history. When we visited Coates Athletic for the finale of the 2014 hop we knew they were going to soon change both name and ground, and that new ground would allow a tilt at the United Counties League. What no one realised back then was just how convoluted that tilt would end up being! Continue reading →

Compton

05 Thursday Sep 2019

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Sunday 28th July 2019 ko 11.00

United Counties League Premier Division

COGENHOE UNITED 0

LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY 1 (Akpobire 32)

Att 262

Entry £6

Programme £1

As the hop coach climbed up into the hills above Northampton there seemed to be a symmetry between the UCL/PDFL hop’s visit to Compton Park and my visit 15 years-or so earlier. Then I’d watched a game in the wind and rain and returned to my car soaked. It had been a good thing that I was living in Banbury back then, less than an an hour’s drive away. Continue reading →

The Rules

04 Wednesday Sep 2019

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Saturday 27th July 2019 ko 19.45

United Counties League Division One

BURTON PARK WANDERERS 4 (Allen 8 Thomson 15 20 Dalby 49)

Dalby missed penalty 45

LUTTERWORTH ATHLETIC 0

Att 284

Entry £5

Programme £1

The rains returned as the hop reached the fourth game in Burton Latimer, near Kettering. If football isn’t your thing then the town is where Weetabix is made but if non-league football is your passion then it also is where Latimer Park is. The ground is home to perennial UCL strugglers Burton Park Wanderers, or is it? Continue reading →

Sargeant Major

01 Sunday Sep 2019

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Saturday 27th July 2019 ko 17.00

United Counties League Premier Division

ROTHWELL CORINTHIANS 3 (Archer 5 Duffy 57 Henson 66)

LUTTERWORTH TOWN 0

Att 316

Entry £5

Programme £1

The move from Orton Rangers in Peterborough to Rothwell in Northamptonshire added up to far more than a 5 division jump in status, although that fact is one reason I love this hop. It meant that in the event’s fourth game we were taking in a United Counties game for the first game, and fittingly that was marked by a minutes applause for the late league chairman John Weekes. Other than being the reason for this hop and being the person I’d most associate with the UCL, he was a gentleman and like many others I miss him immensely. Continue reading →

The Cotswolds (and a little Wales)

31 Friday May 2019

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Sunday 21st April 2019

11.00 Hellenic League Division Two West

BOURTON ROVERS 3 (Nurse 19 Tyack 76 Way 90)

HEADINGTON AMATEURS 1 (Curtis 83)

Att 278

Entry £4

Programme £1

14.15 Hellenic League Division Two West

MORETON RANGERS 0

ADDERBURY PARK 1 (Northam 62)

Att 384

Entry £2

Programme £1

18.00 Hellenic League Premier

BRIMSCOMBE & THRUPP 4 (Blackie 5 Pitts 55 Campbell 70 J Pitt 90)

ABINGDON UNITED 0 Butler sent off 55 (2nd Booking)

Att 403

Entry £5

Programme £1

Easter Sunday dawned, and the compromise that is an organised hop was brought into sharp focus. On one hand we were always likely to see the most hoppers today when compared to the rest of the weekend, but then we were asking more of the clubs in asking them to play on Easter Sunday. You could argue that extra crowds mean extra revenue for our host clubs but that doesn’t help the visiting clubs taking part. I know there was some discomfiture amongst those involved at Headington Amateurs, Adderbury Park and Abingdon United in playing on this day so our sincere thanks to them for helping us, the league and the host clubs. Thanks also to Brian King and all at the league too, plenty of leagues wouldn’t have even countenanced trying!

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The Oxfordshire Day (That Wasn’t)

25 Saturday May 2019

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Saturday 20th April 2019

11.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

STOKENCHURCH 0

CHALFONT WASPS 3 (Letterman 29 42 Williams 47)

Att 234

Entry & Programme £5

15.30

15.30 Hellenic League Division 1 East

CHINNOR 1 (Knowles 54)

HOLYPORT 4 (Raply 4 45 56 Driffill 16)

Att 196

Entry £4

Programme £1

19.00 Hellenic League Division 2 East

LONG CRENDON 0

YATELEY UNITED 0

Att 269

Entry £6

Programme £1

It was unusual to be in the middle of an organised hop and for me to wake up at home. But with the Hellenic Hop visiting 3 clubs all within 20 miles from home and with an elderly father to keep an eye on, it made sense to have a couple of nights back home, even if Robyn and I did miss the full English breakfasts back at the Almondsbury Interchange! I found myself harking back to the days of the North Berkshire League’s Hops too, and on arrival at Stokenchurch you could see why. Continue reading →

The Good

22 Wednesday May 2019

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Friday 19th April 2019

12.00 Hellenic League Premier Division

LONGLEVENS 2 (Welch 59 Malshanskij 62)

READING CITY 1 (Darboe 14)

Att 331

Entry £6

Programe £1

15.30 Hellenic League Premier Division

LYDNEY TOWN 2 (Thompson 59p Halford 83)

WINDSOR 0

Att 337

Entry £5

Programme £1

19.00 Hellenic League Division One West

NEWENT TOWN 0

CHELTENHAM SARACENS 1 (Barnard 54)

Att 369

Entry £5

Programme £1

Looking at it selfishly,  the Easter Hop moving from the North West Counties League to the Hellenic was a neat way of me swapping a probable 11 new ticks from 13 games to 11 re-visits. The Hellenic hinterland is my stamping ground, and so many of these clubs I know reasonably well, so for this weekend the pleasure was in the catching up rather than the process of accumulation. Look out for the click-throughs for the grounds as they were when I first visited them. In some cases the changes are remarkable.

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The Hellenic Western Side

19 Sunday May 2019

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Thursday 18th April 2019 ko 19.30

Hellenic League Division One West

ALMONDSBURY 3 (Sheppard 45 Lane 85 Bisp 87)

MALMESBURY VICTORIA 2 (Jones 6 Tranter 77)

Att 195

Entry £5

Programme £1

As I mentioned in the Barnton article the original plan for Easter was for GroundhopUK to be based in the North West Counties League. Conventional wisdom would be that they made a mistake in turning down Easter for their hop, but they got excellent crowds for their event in March, so perhaps they bucked that trend. If turning down Easter could be said to be their loss (and I’m not totally convinced), then the Hellenic certainly gained. By swapping the two events around the Hellenic got a prime groundhopping slot, and he chance for 13 clubs to host rather than the 7 we’d originally planned. Brian King at the Hellenic jumped at the chance of an expanded hop but we did create an oddity though, and that was Almondsbury hosting.

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