Tag Archives: Harvey Harris

Thoughts

25 Friday Apr 2014

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Monday 21st April 2014 ko 18.00

Northern League Division One

NEWTON AYCLIFFE 1 (Hedley 4)

SHILDON 1 (Wood 68p)

Att 446

Entry £6

Programme £1

Badge £3

Its felt like the end of an era as the cavalcade reached the Newton Aycliffe Sports Ground. There were a few tired legs and still more tired faces, including organiser Harvey Harris. I managed to spend a few minutes with him and thanked him for his efforts, organising one hop a year isn’t easy, 4 including this hop, a monster 4 day 11 game epic is tough, very tough. He seemed pleased to be hanging up his boots, and I don’t blame him for that, the League will organise a staggered kick-off day, not a hop, next season so that people can keep up with new teams and grounds to the league. That day will be in co-operation with the hopping diary, so I’ll look forward to seeing, once again my friends in the North.

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The Icon

25 Friday Apr 2014

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Monday 21st April 2014 ko 15.00

Northern League Division One

SPENNYMOOR TOWN 4 (Graydon 13 Capper Taylor 80 90p)

TEAM NORTHUMBRIA 1 (Sayer 85)

Att 627

Entry £6

Programme £1

Badge SOLD OUT

If there was one ground that convinced me to attend the last day of the hop it was the Brewery Field. It has always been the home of football in Spennymoor right from when the first club Spennymoor United was formed in 1904, and took over the lease from Tudhoe Rugby Club. The ground used to belong to B. P. Junor’s ‘Tower Brewery’, hence the name ‘The Brewery Field’

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Past Glories

24 Thursday Apr 2014

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Monday 21st April 2014 ko 12.00

Northern League Division One

BISHOP AUCKLAND 8 (Megran 25 45 Hodgson 37 Hawkins 43 Lawson 48 Brunskill 57 64 Lane 70)

CROOK TOWN 1 (Davis 58)

Att 434

Entry £6

Programme £1.25

Badge £3.50

In many respects this season cannot finish quickly enough; yes you’ve read that correctly, but don’t worry, I’ll still watch the usual bucket-load of games while I can. I was and am tired, and when the Northern League announced the last of their reunion hops, it looked like a good excuse to have Easter away from the organised hops for the first time in a long time. That’s nothing against Harvey Harris, Mike Amos and the Northern League, they are lovely people to deal with, but time with family and friends looked a good option for me. Until I was sat in the pub on Saturday and GroundhopUK’s Chris Berezai phoned, should we go and support the event on its fourth and final day? On go on then….

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Me Corderoy Britches

03 Monday Mar 2014

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Saturday 1st March 2014 ko 18.30

Northern League Division Two

DARLINGTON RAILWAY ATHLETIC 2 (Allison 33 84)

THORNABY 3 (Bythway 10 Melvin 22 Woodhouse 82)

Att 195

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Teamsheet 20p

So journey’s end for the 3rd of the 4 Northern League hops, and for me at least the first revisit of the 3 events! I’d paid Brinkburn Road a visit in 2006 on a Friday night for a FA Vase game against, yes, Thornaby! Continue reading →

Drift

03 Monday Mar 2014

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Saturday 1st March 2014 ko 14.30

Northern League Division Two

STOKESLEY SPORTS CLUB 1 (Upton 67)

TOW LAW TOWN 2 (Thexton 18 26)

Att 189

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Pie & Peas £2

The second game of the “Southern” day of the Northern League saw one of the league’s southernmost outposts. So much so the that the town is actually in North Yorkshire, more normally associated with the Northern Counties East league at this level of the game, although there’s been a fair amount of exchange over the years.

This is the land where Captain Cook grew up. He was born in nearby Great Ayton in the foothills of the North York Moors, and the distinctive Roseberry Topping hill, with its Matterhorn-esque silhouette as a background. It was once the symbol of the now defunct county of Cleveland and was in almost complete contrast with the petrochemical industrial backdrop of Redcar that we’d left behind. It’s fair to say that Broughton Road is a ground best visited in the light for the spectacular scenery behind. Continue reading →

Northern Ventures

02 Sunday Mar 2014

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Saturday 1st March 2014 ko 11.00

Northern League Division One

MARSKE UNITED 0 O’Sullivan sent off 37 (violent conduct)

GUISBOROUGH TOWN 4 (Johnson 30 90 Roberts 63 86)

Att 433

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

One of the advantages of a one-day Northern League hop is also its great disadvantage! I left darkened Oxfordshire at 5.30am wondering what the weather would be like, and as the sun rose over scenic Coventry it became clear that organiser Harvey Harris had booked the weather; the cold I can live with, but getting wet on a multi-game day is just plain depressing. Continue reading →

Any Two Can Play

28 Monday Oct 2013

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Saturday 26th October 2013 ko 16.00

Northern League Division One

TEAM NORTHUMBRIA 3 (Luke 7 Riley 21 Watling 55)

WHITLEY BAY 4 (Chow 16 27p 53 65)

Att 396

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge NOT AVAILABLE

Parking 50p

It says something about the proximity of Team Northumbria to West Allotment that notoriously impatient hoppers were happy to wait for the car park to clear! It was less than a mile from Whitley Park to Coach Lane and as I arrived I spotted a queue of hoppers grumbling about paying 50p to park.

On one hand it IS only 50p, a trifle but the argument some hoppers make is that
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Step Right Up & Say

28 Monday Oct 2013

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Saturday 26th October 2013 ko 13.15

Northern League Division Two

WEST ALLOTMENT CELTIC 0

NORTH SHIELDS 0

Att 429

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £2.50

Teamsheet 10p

The journey from Heaton to West Allotment was the longest of the hop, a full 1.3 miles by road, and considerably shorter by foot, and it was amusing to see the stream of hoppers with their printed-out maps cutting through the parks and alleyways between the grounds.

Those short distances had given hop organiser Harvey Harris a dilemma. Transport between the games is a staple of the serious organised hop, but since it was possible to walk the entire hop there was a case for not bothering. But since some folk either don’t want to walk, or are less fleet of foot, Harvey came up with an ingenious solution. Continue reading →

The Learning Curve

12 Monday Aug 2013

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Saturday 10th August 2013 ko 19.00

Northern League Division One

PENRITH AFC 2 (Rigg 35 71)

NEWTON AYCLIFFE 4 (Earl 19 21 Owens 59 86)

Att 380

Entry £5

Programme £1 (?)

Team Sheet 20p

The trip east from Whitehaven was memorable for the views of Bassenthwaite Lake, and given that I arrived at Penrith AFC a good hour before kick-off I wish I’d stopped for a few photos.

You are now in the Eden Valley, just north of the River Eamont, and since you’re less than 3 miles north of the boundary of the Lake District National Park, the view from the main stand at Frenchfield Park is spectacular! Even behind the goal, the cows took an agricultural, if slightly dismissive view of proceedings. Continue reading →

Rum

11 Sunday Aug 2013

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Saturday 10th August 2013 ko 15.00

Northern League Division 2

WHITEHAVEN AFC 2 (Donald 23 64)

CHESTER-LE-STREET TOWN 1 (Grant-Soulsby 77)

Att 208

Entry ?

Programme £1

Badge £2.50

It was very much a case of “Gentlemen start your engines,” as the match finished at Celtic Nation. The road out from the ground was narrow and congested, and I knew from experience that Carlisle city centre can be a nightmare to negotiate. Hop organiser Harvey Harris looked frustrated. sat in the courier seat of the coach as a stream of cars passed by, his coach blocked in by a single pesky, inconsiderate car. He finally got away about 10 cars behind me, but once out of Carlisle it was a straightforward enough drive west to Whitehaven.

The coastal town is possibly best known for being the most complete example of planned Continue reading →