Tag Archives: GroundhopUK

The Imperative

16 Tuesday May 2017

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Monday 14th April 2017 ko 11.00

North West Counties League Premier Division

ATHERTON COLLERIES 5 (Kenny 4og Cover 20 66 73p Bailey 49)

AFC DARWEN 1 (Hepple 80)

Att 478

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

It’s a well-told story, how Atherton Collieries in 2013 helped us at GroundhopUK out by taking on an Easter Hop game on 48 hours’ notice after our planned game at AFC Emley got snowed off.

They moved heaven and earth to accommodate us, secretary Emil Anderson even dragged himself from his sick bed to be there. It took a knock-back or two to get a NWCL hop, but Joe Gibbons, Emil and all the Colls were there pushing to make it happen, so when the idea finally was agreed it was obvious that we’d want them on our first hop. That though would create an issue …. Continue reading →

My Chemical Romance

15 Monday May 2017

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Sunday 16th April 2017 ko 18.00

North West Counties League Premier Division

RUNCORN TOWN 4 (Cairns 16p 77 Reed 49 77)

BARNTON 1 (J McShane 73)

Att 335

Entry £6

Programme £2

People were beginning to flag as the coach searched for a parking spot at Weston Point. If this had been the normal August Bank Holiday hop we’d have been parking up at our last game. I glanced over the Mersey estuary towards Halkyn United who had once been the opener for such a jaunt and remembered the view of the chemical works and inwardly reminisced.  Continue reading →

Onwards & Upwards

10 Wednesday May 2017

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Sunday 16th April 2017 ko 14.30

North West Counties League Division One

ASHTON TOWN 0

STOCKPORT TOWN 2 (Hinchliffe 29p 57)

Att 315

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

If any future host club at a groundhop wants a piece of advice on how best to endear themselves to the organiser I suggest having someone waiting to guide in the coach when we arrive at the ground. It sets the tone for the visit, in confirming competence and in the case of Ashton Town I’m not sure we’d have found the parking spot without help. You couldn’t help but like Ashton Town, tucked away as they are between the houses in the middle of Ashton-in-Makerfield but we all knew they had their own problems over and above coping with a crowd up to 10 times normal. Continue reading →

Rock On Selby

08 Monday May 2017

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Saturday 15th April 2017 ko 18.30

Northern Counties East League Division One

SELBY TOWN 1 (Mortimer 34)

PENISTONE CHURCH 1 (Whittington 68)

Att 386

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

It was good to see that all the supporters that had gone missing had made it back for this game, as the coach parked near Flaxley Road it felt close to being the end of an era. I remembered Chris meeting with the league before a hastily rearranged precursor game before a Central Midlands League hop as I did all the normal GroundhopUK duties. I remember our first game at Yorkshire Amateur where the club marvelled at just how many pints of real ale a coachload of hoppers could drink, and many rather took to the female PCSO who turned up wondering why there was a crowd at Bracken Edge? Continue reading →

The Compromise

06 Saturday May 2017

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Saturday 15th April 2017 ko 15.00

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

ARMTHORPE WELFARE 1 (Pearce 88)

HEMSWORTH MINERS WELFARE 6 (Connolly 4 Law 31 Collier 34 63 82 90)

Att 231

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

I’d started worrying the week before, and those worries were accentuated when counting the crowd at Rossington Main. We’d set this hop up on a “3 games in a day” basis, as we’d thought that 13 games in 4 and a bit days was enough football even for me! That format does come with a risk though and we’d just encountered the perfect storm as an organiser.

Continue reading →

A Fine Coal Miner For the NCB That Was

03 Wednesday May 2017

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Saturday 15th April 2017 ko 11.00

Northern Counties East League Division One

ROSSINGTON MAIN 0 

HALL ROAD RANGERS 1 (Spinks 37p)

Att 323

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

The procedure was well-worn. The alarm sounded and I immediately dashed to the hotel window to check it wasn’t raining. Whilst the weather wasn’t quite so much of an issue here as it was in, say the Carmarthenshire League it doesn’t half make your life easier when it’s dry. After the daily attempt to decimate Yorkshire’s pig population through bacon consumption we set our course for Doncaster which evoked memories of the Central Midlands League Hop. Continue reading →

Soothsayer

02 Tuesday May 2017

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Friday 14th April 2017 ko 17.30

Northern Counties East League Division One

KNARESBOROUGH TOWN 1 (Heath 38)

PONTEFRACT COLLIERIES 5 (Cotton 50 70 Jeffs 55 Greenough 67 Reece 69)

Att 405

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

We’d passed through Knaresborough on our way to Harrogate Railway, but the traffic was slow, even after getting over the level crossing at Starbeck station. The queues seemed to be tourists leaving the many and varied attractions at Knaresborough. There’s the remains of a castle where the first Maundy Money was distributed by King John in 1210, but perhaps the most intriguing is Mother Shipton’s cave. The story goes that it was the home of Edith Southeil who became famous for her fortune telling and prophesies in the 16th century, except done of her predictions seemed to come true. It was on reflection no bad thing that I didn’t stop for a steer on the evening game! Continue reading →

Hear My Train A’ Comin’

30 Sunday Apr 2017

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Friday 14th April 2017 ko 14.30

Northern Counties East League Premier Division

HARROGATE RAILWAY ATHLETIC 0 Morris sent off 22 (DOGSO)

PICKERING TOWN 5 (Taylor 23 Thompson 34 Birch 45 Bissett 51 Blott 60)

Att 353

Entry £5

Programme £2

We were grateful to the folk at Garforth Town for suggest we didn’t use the A1(M). The road was choked with Bank Holiday traffic, so the travelling circus travelled north on the old road glancing to the right to see the stationary traffic on the A1 and to the left as we passed Aberford Albion! The tip saved us quite a bit of time, and we reached Harrogate, well Starbeck in plenty of time.  Continue reading →

The First Lap

27 Thursday Apr 2017

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Thursday 13th April 2017 ko 19.45

Northern Counties East League Division One

CAMPION 4 (Davis 47p Cunningham 70 Kendall 77 Hey 87)

DRONFIELD TOWN 1 (Wood 46)

Att 268

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

With last year’s Easter Hop being based in Cornwall and organised by Phil Hiscox, it had seemed ages since we’d enjoyed the company of the Northern Counties East. A lot had changed, not least that we at GroundhopUK had been approached by the North West Counties League to run a hop there. We’d immediately thought that would end up replacing the NCEL as this hop saw us reach a point where there are insufficient clubs to run a full hop here. However next season the Easter Hop reverts to the South West Peninsula League for it’s final event, so we looked at ways of squaring the circle.  Continue reading →

Turning the Bull

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

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Saturday 25th March 2017 ko 19.00

Lowland League

HAWICK ROYAL ALBERT 2 (Hunter 14 Mitchell 58) Jack sent off 80 (2nd booking)

EAST STIRLINGSHIRE 4 (Rodgers 36 80 Glasgow 76 Sludden 90)

Att 287

Entry £5

Programme £1

After 2 highly enjoyable games at Eyemouth and Coldstream my warm forehead told me I’d caught the sun. I quietly gave thanks for the fine weather, but making our way via Kelso I was amazed to see a gritting lorry coming the other way! Now I know the temperature can drop rapidly north of the border, and in the end I was glad I retrieved my coat from the boot. Continue reading →