Tag Archives: hellenic league

The Tribute

14 Thursday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Thursday 26th April 2007 ko 19.30

Hellenic League Division One West

WOOTTON BASSETT TOWN 4 (Yeardley 15 43 Mills 52 King 82)

CLANFIELD 85 0

Att 30

Entry £3

Programme £1

Truthfully this wasn’t my first attempt at the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground. I remember arriving a few months earlier and spotted the referee doing a pitch inspection- in wellies! I took the hint and ended up at Backwell United, and a half time checked that indeed the Bassett game was off! Continue reading →

Coda

08 Wednesday Apr 2020

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Saturday 14th March 2020 ko 13.30

Oxfordshire FA Intermediate Cup Semi-Final

HEYFORD ATHLETIC 1 (Roberts 78)

BERINSFIELD 0

Att 52

Free Entry

You could sense that the walls were closing in. The Coronavirus pandemic had seen the Premier League, EFL and all three Step 3 leagues shut down to allow for social distancing. The National League had fudged making a decision and it seemed that the FA had yet to make a decision on local football. They’d left it to individual leagues to make up their minds what to do, and that produced the odd situation that the North Berkshire League had cancelled their games, but ended up seeing one of their clubs, Berinsfield still end up playing! Continue reading →

The Saint Returns

15 Thursday Aug 2019

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Friday 19th July 2019 ko 18.30

Pre-Season Friendly

SOUTHAM UNITED 2 (72 85)

CROPREDY 3 (Welch 25 Dineen 35 Reeves 80)

Att 26 at Youth Ground, Banbury Road.

Free Entry

Back in the the day when I lived in Banbury it became something of a tradition for Southam to play near neighbours Leamington at 11am each Boxing Day. It was never likely to be a tradition that lasted, the reformed Leamington were never likely to stay in the Midland Combination for long. Nevertheless I’m sure Southam enjoyed the bumper crowd, and I enjoyed visiting each time, even to the point of me enjoying a plate of bubble and squeak as my ex-wife drove me to Oxford United for their festive fixture afterwards! Continue reading →

The Gas Man Cometh

13 Thursday Jun 2019

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Monday 22nd April 2019

11.00 Hellenic Premier

BISHOPS CLEEVE 5 (Watts 30 56 Iddles 48 Davidge 59 Johnstone 82)

SHRIVENHAM AFC 1 (Ballard 65)

Att 231

Entry £7

Programme £2

14.15 Hellenic Premier

TUFFLEY ROVERS 3 (Bloomfield 19 29 Alder 73)

FAIRFORD TOWN 0

Att 221

Entry £5

Programme £1

18.00 Hellenic League Division One West

THORNBURY TOWN 2 (Brock 52 Wormwell 90+8)

NEWENT TOWN 2 (Marquis 7 Jones 61og)

Att 295

Entry & Programme £5

So the Hellenic Hop reached it’s final day and we’d been fortunate in so many ways. Firstly the weather had been kinder than it had been to Phil Hiscox and the South West Peninsula League the previous Easter, and the clubs in the most part had covered themselves in glory with some excellent hosting. The coach inched its way out of the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel, and I relaxed as Robyn managed her usual trick of falling asleep as soon as the coach started moving… 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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The Old Paludians

15 Wednesday May 2019

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Tuesday 9th April 2019 ko 18.30

Hellenic League Division 2 East

TAPLOW UNITED 2 (Hill 23 Murtagh 27)

STOKENCHURCH 3 (Holgate 22 Blesson 69 C Baumohl 70)

Att 5

Free Entry

When I first started groundhopping 15-odd years ago the Step 6 Hellenic Division ONE east looked a lot like this. I remember visiting the likes of Englefield Green Rovers and Eton Wick and seeing grounds with little more than a pitchside rail. You can imagine my surprise when the Central Midlands League Hops started. That league was at Step 7 yet the grounds all seemed to have stands…. Continue reading →

Reviver

14 Sunday Apr 2019

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Tuesday 26th March 2019 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One East

ABINGDON TOWN 3 (M James 12 83 J James 45)

MILTON UNITED 2 (Powell 13 69) Beech sent off 90 (2nd Booking)

Att 50

Entry & Programme £5

It all felt like a catch-up. I’d watched Abingdon Town play the final game of the North Berkshire League’s 2015/6 season, and I remember leaving Culham Road worrying for their future. I always got on with their chairman Tom Larman, but the club’s problems seemed too deep-seated for Tom to cope with on his own. The club failed to even register with the Berks & Bucks FA for the next season, and when Tom died a few months later it seemed that the area’s oldest club had been lost. Continue reading →