Tag Archives: GroundhopUK

The Foinavon Kebab

05 Wednesday Oct 2016

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Saturday 17th September 2016 ko 13.30

North Berkshire League Division 3

COMPTON 1 (Fisher 26)

WATLINGTON TOWN 4 (MacCormick 18 C B’Layachi 53 Appleby 67 A B’Layachi 75)

Att 180

Entry & Programme £4

There were so many reasons to want to the hop to visit Compton. For one it would be the first time in it’s 5 year run that the North Berkshire League Hop had actually visited a club in Berkshire. Then there was the Pinfold family who run the club with humour and passion, and the name was good to sell the game with, you’d be amazed how many middle-aged white men are well-acquainted with the work of LA based rap act N.W.A! But the real clincher for me was the stand! Continue reading →

Dream Days

03 Monday Oct 2016

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Saturday 17th September 2016 ko 10.30

North Berkshire League Division 4

BLEWBURY 4 (Crickmore 6 45p Kent 53og Jamieson 71)

DRAYTON 0

Att 123

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £3

I’d wanted the North Berkshire Hop to head to the south of the league’s footprint for some time. That meant Burghclere had to be included as the league’s southern outpost, and I soon found an excuse to pay Compton and Turnpike Sports visits. It was obvious that Compton would make good hosts, but Thatcham-based Turnpike would find hosting impossible due to lack of volunteers and the open nature of their Henwick Worthy Recreation Ground home. When Turnpike then opted to merge into Newbury FC to, in effect become their reserves it served only to reinforce that decision! Continue reading →

Those Lights

02 Sunday Oct 2016

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Friday 16th September 2016 ko 19.45

North Berkshire League Division 3

UFFINGTON UNITED 1 (Larman 49og)

MARCHAM 2 (Yallop 65 Larman 68)

Att 99

Entry & Programme £4

The North Berkshire League Hop has managed to produce plenty of memorable moments since we first visited Steventon back in 2011. Since then we’ve introduced minibuses called Rod, Jane & Freddy, been on two military bases, and seen off a Step 5 league who presumably thought that since we’re off-pyramid we don’t matter. Continue reading →

Out Of The Shadows

28 Wednesday Sep 2016

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Monday 29th August ko 17.00

South Wales Alliance- Division One

CADOXTON BARRY 5 (Morgan 5 79 Weekley 8 Oaten 15 Dawson 32)

COGAN CORONATION 3 (Walsh 33og Fitzgerald 45 Jones 75)

Att 301

Entry £3

Programme £1

As is usually the case with these mega-hops it felt like the end of an era as the coaches pulled into the ground at Parc Bryn-y-Don. But once again tired legs headed for the pitch and clubhouse, but in this case there was the chequered history of the club to consider. Continue reading →

Penultimate

22 Thursday Sep 2016

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Monday 29th August 2016 ko 14.55

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

GRANGE ALBION 3 (Beattie 26 Cotterill 28 Daly 43)

CARDIFF CORINTHIANS 0

Att 225

Entry £3

Programme £1

I remember my first encounter with Coronation Park. I’d parked up to visit Cardiff City’s Ninian Park, spotted the little ground with the name picked out in the brickwork and wondered what league Grange Albion played in. By the time I parked in roughly the same place in Sloper Road a few years’ later, beyond the Bus Garage to tick off Cardiff City Stadium I knew they played in the South Wales Senior League. As I alighted Coach 2 it felt like the aligning of the groundhopping planets! As if to accentuate the feeling, the tips of the Millenium Stadium’s cantilevering are visible too. Continue reading →

Gareth

14 Wednesday Sep 2016

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Sunday 28th August 2016 ko 18.00

South Wales Alliance Division One

CORNELLY UNITED 2 (Richards 19 Roche 81)

PORTHCAWL TOWN ATHLETIC 1 (Fisher 12)

Att 351

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

The final game of the day was just what I fancied, a thoroughly working class local derby with the 150-or-so hoppers augmented by as many locals as possible. Cornelly managed all that and more, but the fact that they even took a hop game, let alone made a success of it was all the more remarkable. Continue reading →

Bugsy

12 Monday Sep 2016

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Sunday 28th August 2016 ko 14.30

South Wales Alliance Division Two

CEFN CRIBWR BOYS CLUB 1 (Harris 70)

PENRHIWFER AFC 2 (Trembath 42 Tann 85)

Att 293

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

We headed south, heading towards Bridgend to exactly the kind of village I like to visit. Now I’m sure the mining village of Cefn Cribwr isn’t on any tourist routes, it owes it’s existence to industry, mainly due to the blast furnace built by Birmingham industrialist John Bedford. But without this hop 150-or-so people would never have visited this place, and extract a lot of enjoyment from doing so. And much of the credit for that enjoyment should go to Bugsy. Continue reading →

Meet On The Ledge

11 Sunday Sep 2016

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Sunday 29th August 2016 ko 11.30

South Wales Alliance Division Two

GARW SENIORS BOYS & GIRLS CLUB 7 (James 8 15 38 49 Jeffries 47 Hughes 60 Davies 90)

TREBANOG 2 (Cory 20 Gowan 30)

Att 257

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

When the decision was made for the Welsh Hop to return to the South Wales there was much to consider. Where to stay? What format of games? Which coach company? You can I’m sure imagine the conversations. The shortest conversation though was the first club we wanted to visit- that simply had to be Garw’s Blandy Park! Continue reading →

Having a Blast!

09 Friday Sep 2016

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Saturday 27th August 2016 ko 18.45

South Wales Alliance – Premier Division

PONTLOTTYN AFC 1 (Rowlands 76) Alias missed penalty 76

MERTHYR SAINTS 5 (L Jones 18p Hassett 28 James 39 Gardner 70 Clears 80)

Att 246

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

If there’s one club I’d have loved to have visited during their previous incarnation it was Pontlottyn. I mean, who wouldn’t want to watch a team called Pontlottyn Blast Furnace? Sadly their stint in the Welsh League ended in 2003 when they folded citing a lack of players. A new Pontlottyn rose from the ashes of the old club, and had the excellent facilties at the Welfare Ground to use. The problem for us was devilishly simple, the floodlights no longer work…. Continue reading →

Trevithick

08 Thursday Sep 2016

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Saturday 27th August 2016 ko 16.00

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

PENYDARREN BOYS & GIRLS CLUB 3 (Asa Lloyd 4 Brogden 41p Alex Lloyd 75)

TON & GELLI BOYS CLUB 4 (Markus 60og Hodges 62 88 Evans 79)

Att 285

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

The third game of the day saw the hop head to the urban environs of Merthyr Tydfil and the town of Penydarren. The area is famous as being where in 1802 Richard Trevithick converted one of his high pressure steam engines used to power a hammer at the steel works. He placed it on wheels, and the “Pen-y-darren” became to many historians the world’s first powered locomotive. The Pen-y-darren is the football club’s badge. Continue reading →