Tag Archives: GroundhopUK

Half

25 Friday Mar 2022

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Saturday 5th March 2022 ko 16.00

North West Counties League Division One North

NELSON 3 (Lloyd 13 47 Foster 28)

CHADDERTON 1  (Dean 87)

Att 351

Entry £5

Programme £2

I’m sure that for many on the North West Counties League hop, the trip to Nelson FC was the most anticipated of the 7 clubs we visited. Part was the club’s illustrious history and part was the evocative backdrop of the terraced cottages with the factory chimney jutting out from behind.

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Paddy

23 Wednesday Mar 2022

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Saturday 5th March 2022 ko 13:00

North West Counties League Premier Division

PADIHAM 1 (Hoskin 45p)

ASHTON ATHLETIC 5 (McDermott 16 Carr 23 53 73 Morton 49og)

Att 378

Entry £8

Programme £2

It must have been around twenty years ago that Dean, a Blackburn-based groundhopper told me I simply had to visit the Arbories. Sadly Dean was lost to the groundhopping world a few years ago, and for no sensible reason it took me until now to finally visit. My way of looking at it, is that at least now I could bring Robyn too! Continue reading →

Back-Up

21 Monday Mar 2022

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Saturday 5th March 2022 ko 11:00

North West Counties League Division One North

BACUP BOROUGH 6 (Sherriff 7 Mellor 25 45 Hall K Siddle 77 Fallon 90)

ST HELENS TOWN AFC 1 (Korie-Butler 15p)

Clarke sent off 34 (foul & abusive)

Att 460

Entry £5

Programme £2

If Friday’s game at Golcar felt like we were in Northern Counties East then Saturday morning felt we’d crossed over the border into what I’d call traditional North West Counties territory. Bacup lies on the Lancashire side of the tripartite boundary of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. As the advance party we had the all-important pre-booked programmes and advanced tickets to distribute- not everyone went to the Golcar game. Continue reading →

The John Noakes Hop

11 Friday Mar 2022

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Friday 4th March 2022 ko 19.45

North West Counties League Division One North

GOLCAR UNITED 3 (Cox 14 Barrett 27 Naidole 52)

CAMPION 2 (Maltby 59 Boshell 85)

Att 467

Entry £5

Programme £2

If you are roughly my age then the most famous person to have been born in Halifax was unquestionably John Noakes. The Blue Peter presenter was, in a age of two channel tv and received pronunciation a revelation to this small boy from the shires; who could forget his climbing of Nelson’s Column without any kind of safety equipment? Continue reading →

A Tale of Ian & Nicky

24 Thursday Feb 2022

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Tuesday 22nd February 2022 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One

STUDLEY 3 (Brain 11 46 Donnelly 18)

FC STRATFORD 0

Att 87

Entry £6

Programme £1

There were a couple of reasons why I was a little hesitant about attending this one. Firstly I’d visited Studley Sports & Social Club a number of times, and wasn’t aware they’d moved, albeit the shortest distance possible. Then there was the fact GroundhopUK are organising this year’s Easter Hop with Studley scheduled to host on Bank Holiday 11am. Robyn and I won’t be on the event, we’re finally going to have our honeymoon, just the two years after our wedding- and while we have had to wait, if Covid had arrived a few weeks earlier, we’d have had real problems! But Studley and I go back to 2002, and its all to do with a footballing friendship. Continue reading →

Oh, my dear friend. How I’ve missed you.

07 Tuesday Dec 2021

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Sunday 21st November 2021 ko 11:00

Bridgend & District Sunday League

LITCHARD PARK 1 (Randall 41)

GARTH VADER 1 (Horrigan 74)

Roberts sent off FT (Foul & Abusive)

Att 5 at Pitch 4, Newbridge Fields, Bridgend.

Free Entry

I still have a theory that everyone who follows a big club ought to go and watch a game on a park pitch once in a while. I find it oddly cathartic to breathe old Sunday morning air, to feel the grass give beneath my feet and even to watch the leaves fall like oversized rain drops from autumnal trees. So when my wife Robyn wanted to be in Bristol to see her former workmates on a Sunday morning I knew immediately what I wanted to do.

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The Old & The New

01 Monday Nov 2021

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Sunday 3rd October 2021 ko 12:15 

East of Scotland League- Premier Division

BROXBURN ATHLETIC 0

DUNDONALD BLUEBELL 1 (Ford 61)

Att 278

Entry £7

Programme £2

Teamsheet FREE

Pie – Steak

Every year I turn up at the Scottish Hop’s single Sunday game, and wish we’d added a second game. After that game I then spend hours on the M6 glad we didn’t! We arrived a Albyn Park about an hour before the coach did, and way too early, there was upwards of 100 young girls playing in a multitude of 5-a-side games on the pitch at the time and certainly you didn’t want a crowd taking photos. It did, though show the great strength of Broxburn’s home. Continue reading →

Respectfully Catered

27 Wednesday Oct 2021

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Saturday 2nd October 2021 ko 19.45

East of Scotland League- Premier Division

NEWTONGRANGE STAR 2 (Robertson 27 37)

TRANENT JUNIORS 2 (Wring 31 Stevenson 62p)

Att 401

Entry £7

Programme £2

Pie- Steak & Gravy

We doubled back from Easterhouse to reach Newtongrange’s New Victoria Park, we ended up parking along the Newbattle Road we’d driven up 3 hours earlier. The climb up to the ground does enhance the sense of anticipation even if I made a beeline for the turnstiles with their unusual gatehouse , and by-passed the clubhouse. Many others didn’t, Robyn included! Continue reading →

Chinese Lily

25 Monday Oct 2021

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Saturday 2nd October 2021 ko 17:00

East of Scotland League: Conference B

EASTHOUSES LILY MINERS WELFARE 2 (Sives 60 63)

GLENROTHES 5 (Walker 7 56 90 Brown 79 L Schiavone 90)

Att 228

Entry £7

Programme £1

Pie- Chicken Balmoral

So close were the final two Saturday games on this Scottish Hop we passed by Newtongrange Star’s New Victoria Park on the way to the Newbattle Complex. and as this game neared it’s conclusion those of us on the grass bank watched our future hosts floodlights fire up so as to guide us all in. You can just about see the evidence on the 42nd picture, but the adventure had started a lot earlier. Continue reading →

Culinary Delights

21 Thursday Oct 2021

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Saturday 2nd October 2021 ko 14:00

Lowland League

BONNYRIGG ROSE 2 (Turner 17 Young 59)

DALBEATTIE STAR 1 (Todd 46)

Att 517

Entry £9

Programme £2

Teamsheet FREE

Pie- Doner kebab & chilli sauce

The beauty of the Saturday on this edition of the Scottish Hop was that none of the 4 grounds were more than a couple of miles from the next. It seemed as soon as we’d left Dalkeith we’d arrived at Bonnyrigg and with all due respect to the other clubs we visited this weekend, this was the club I’d anticipated visiting the most. Continue reading →