Tag Archives: London

Game Of Floodlights

24 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Tuesday 11th September 2018 ko 17.30

Middlesex County League- Premier Division

SOUTH KILBURN 0

KENSINGTON DRAGONS 1 (Royes 83)

Att 21

Entry FREE

Programme £1

The hobby of groundhopping does lend itself to a little tactical planning. Take this Tuesday as an example. You know there are a finite number of grounds with floodlights so you’ve prioritised those on to midweeks when they’re in use. Then you look at which lights will get used less than others and prioritise those. The Step 7 Middlesex League schedules virtually no floodlit games; the league has few clubs with lights and so plans without taking them into account. But this one looked interesting. Continue reading →

Left or Right?

23 Sunday Sep 2018

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Tuesday 31st July 2018 ko 19.45

Pre-Season Friendly

POTTERS BAR TOWN 2 (36, 65)

HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS 3 (2og, 44, 82)

Att 26

at Pitch 2, Middlesex FA Ground, Ruislip Road, Northolt

Entry FREE

I do like a ground that doesn’t usually host a club’s games, and a county FA ground is always an interesting place to visit. Here the ground was brand spanking new, the Middlesex FA only moved in on 23rd July, but there is a groundhopper’s dilemma when you get there.  Continue reading →

Returns Policy

22 Wednesday Aug 2018

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Wednesday 4th July 2018 ko 19.30

Pre-Season Friendly

HADLEY 0

REDBRIDGE 3 (61 77 84)

Att c35 at Barnet Lane 3G

After my frankly life-changing tour of Sweden in June, save for the odd World Cup game on television I’d taken a break from all things football. I’ll admit it was unusual for me, I remember one close season lasting less than 24 hours! But I looked up the Football Traveller’s friendlies list and soon spotted a ground you can’t do during the regular season. A bonus was that it involved driving past the site of one of my favourite grounds of the past. Continue reading →

Cater Bank

20 Friday Oct 2017

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Tueaday 26th September 2017 ko 19.45

Combined Counties League Premier Challenge Cup 1st Round

CB HOUNSLOW UNITED 5 (Roberts 30 44 Ireland 55 Morris 71 G Bamford 82) J Watt missed pen 82

EVERSLEY & CALIFORNIA 2 (Robson 28 Brown 43)

Att c65

Entry £5

Programme £1

Around 10 years ago one of my earliest forays into the Combined Counties League saw me visit CB Hounslow’s former home at Osterley Sports & Social Club. It was an interesting place, if extremely run down and the lack of basic facilties made it obvious that the club would either have to move, or accept relegation back to the Middlesex County League. My only surprise is that the move took 10 years! Continue reading →

The Groundhoppers’ Gag

30 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Wednesday 16th August 2017 ko 19.45

Spartan South Midlands League Division Two

PARK VIEW 6 (Sanchez 46 Williams 67p Gyimah 70 77 Darkwa 79 84)

BERKHAMSTED RAIDERS CFC 1 (Boyd 40)

Att 30 at New River Stadium, White Hart Lane, London

Entry FREE

It is the old groundhoppers’ joke; find a Tottenham Hotspur fan and point out that they’ve never seen their side play at White Hart Lane. The joke of course only works with a dose of OCD, Spurs’ famous old ground was and will be on Tottenham High Road, and is named, like in part, West Ham’s old ground after the nearest underground or railway station. The hopper then completes the gag by pointing out they’ve been to Coles Park, home to Haringey Borough, which actually is in White Hart Lane! Well now the humour-challenged hopper now has two opportunities to complete the joke. Continue reading →

Old School

23 Wednesday Aug 2017

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Tuesday 15th August 2017 ko 19.45

Championship

BRENTFORD 2 (Watkins 56 Maupay 77)

BRISTOL CITY 2 (Brownhill 5 Reid 90)

Att 9,811 (1,650 away)

Entry £24

Programme £3.50

There aren’t many grounds like this left. Grounds tucked away in amongst the houses in the communities they represent with only the floodlights to beckon you in from afield. Grounds built to tessellate with the footprint of the land available, and grounds that positively ooze with history and tradition. Continue reading →

The Short Goodbye

31 Wednesday May 2017

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Thursday 4th May 2017 ko 19.00

Premier League 2-Division 1

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Edwards 88)

LEICESTER CITY 4 (Barnes 22 79 Gordon 76 87)

Att 2,226

Entry £5

Programme FREE

Tottenham High Road will never quite be the same will it? I’ll leave others to debate whether Spurs’ new stadium is a new ground or a rebuild, save for to comment that the new stadium overlaps pretty much the entirety of the old North Stand. Because this evening was about plenty of things, but not pedantry.  Continue reading →

Archie

13 Thursday Oct 2016

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Saturday 24th September 2016 ko 15.00

EFL Championship

FULHAM 0 McDonald sent off 80 (serious foul play)

BRISTOL CITY 4 (Abraham 19 Freeman 60 Reid 68 Flint 83)

Att 20,585

Entry (Putney End- away fans) £25

Programme £3.50

Few football grounds come with a greater sense of anticipation than Craven Cottage. From when you alight the District Line at Putney Bridge and trace the towpath of the Thames through frankly well-to-do parkland you expect something special at its end and the home of Fulham FC doesn’t let you down. Continue reading →

Compromise

21 Sunday Aug 2016

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Thursday 4th August 2016 ko 19.45

UEFA Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

WEST HAM UNITED 3 (Kouyate 8 25 Feghouli 81)

NK DOMŽALE 0

West Ham won 4-2 on aggregate

Att 53,914

Entry £15

Programme £3.50

When you go to the first match at a new stadium one or two things you take for granted go out of the window. There are no end of means of getting to the Olympic Stadium in East London, West Ham’s new home, but stood at the concourse of London Marylebone station there were quite a few people in claret and blue looking slightly perplexed. It really wasn’t a case of follow the stream of colours.

Continue reading →

Another World

05 Friday Dec 2014

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Wednesday 3rd December 2014 ko 19.45

Premier League

ARSENAL 1 (Alexis Sanchez 89)

SOUTHAMPTON 0

Att 60,025

Entry £38.50

Programme £3.50

If you are my regular reader, you are probably wondering why I was at the Emirates Stadium? My normal territory is non-league, watching semi-pro and amateur games with a £1 cup of tea and a rather bulky SLR camera.

A few weeks ago I attended a family wedding, and for once I spent an autumnal Saturday indoors! It was a wonderfully uplifting experience, and just before the cake-cutting my cousin Julia asked me a question that threw me a little; she said,

“You’re the football fanatic, how do I take my son Oscar to watch Arsenal?” Continue reading →