• About this humble little website

Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Mid Wales Hop

Two Classrooms

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in D

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bardsey island, Builth Wells, Cae Morfa, Chris Jones, David Collins, Dyffyn Banw, Gutu Lewis, Jonny Williams, large crowd, Llangadfan, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, morfa, St Cadfan, Steve Morgan, Tom Molloy, Vynwy, welsh football

Monday 27th August 2012 ko 6.15pm

Mid-Wales League Division One

DYFFRYN BANW 2 (Molloy 6 G Lewis 33)

BUILTH WELLS 3 (J Williams 14 C Jones 16 Morgan 23)

Att 181

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

We’d got a sneak preview of Cae Morfa on the way out to Dolgellau, and the one thing that was clear is that if the rain didn’t stop, a lot of us were going to get wet! Just a small lorry stand, popular around here, and insufficient for a large crowd.

Dyffryn Banw is a group of houses next door to the village of Llangadfan, in Powys. The river Vynwy runs behind the ground, eventually feeding the lake of the same name near the border with England. The village is home to St Cadfan’s, a medieval church whose original features have been obscured by a 19th century restoration. The church was originally said to have been established by Saint Cadfan somewhere between 510 and 515, shortly before he departed and founded a monastery on Bardsey Island where he served as its abbot from 516–542. These days there’s a pub, which many hoppers used as part hostelry, part shelter before the game, and the primary school that the club use for changing.

Even after the event I do wonder whether some hoppers saw Cae Morfa, and immediately assumed they’d already done the ground, and made for home. The club used to play on a pitch behind the school, but moved down, and across the road a couple of years ago. To make things worse the old ground was called Cae Morfa too….

On arrival I got the distinct impression the club hadn’t read their briefing notes. They’d charged a young boy with counting the crowd with a clicker. A minor issue but when counting a crowd we want one count, on one game on a Hellenic hop, we got three counts, all different! More pressing was when I asked where they intended to put up the line-ups. The response of “Don’t worry, they’re in the programme,” again shows they hadn’t done their homework, so I grabbed lifts to the school and back courtesy of Dave Jolly, and Barry and Linda Neighbour. Thanks to them I avoided a soaking!

The trip proved to be interesting; it was easy enough to get the sheets from the referee and I found a classroom that had been co-opted for use as a dressing room to copy the information across. No showers, and barely any privacy for the players, and with the absence of either power or water I began to wonder how they were allowed to play in the top tier of the league with these facilities. Still, once the teams entered the field of play, everything slotted into place.

The game set off at the frantic pace we’d come to expect on this hop. Banw took the lead early yet at only the 23rd minute they found themselves 3-1 down. They pulled one goal back before half time through Guto Lewis, but sadly that proved to be the end of the scoring. Builth tightened up noticeably in the second half, and try as they might Banw couldn’t make this half any more than a virtual copy of the second half at Welshpool earlier in the day.

I didn’t mind, as I’d found somewhere to shelter! No one could work out why the home bench weren’t using their dugout, despite the appalling weather. “Welsh Football” editor David Collins and Martin Bamforth had set up camp in it, and after doing the crowd count I joined them! One hopper even brought us cups of tea at half-time! It was a most convivial way to finish a hop.

As we left Cae Morfa, a club official took Chris Berezai to one side, to report that a hopper had tried to pressure the young lad with the clicker to give him a discount on entry. Quite why he thought he was worthy of paying less than everyone else is a mystery to me, but we know who it was, and our cards are now marked. It won’t happen again, and I’m pleased to report that the young man stood his ground, and the hopper paid full price. Obviously he’d read the briefing notes!

From there it was a case of heading back to Welshpool, passing the steam railway on the way, that seemed an eternity earlier, before organising a collection for Clive and Alan, our two drivers/heroes. It was then a case of organising those heading south on to one coach, allowing Alan to head back to Shrewsbury, before thanking everyone for coming then heading for home. As ever I allowed myself to comment to Chris, “I think we managed it again.”

There are of course so many people who deserve our thanks. Alan and Clive on the coaches were new to all this, but fitted in like old-hands. Having a coach allows hoppers without cars to attend games, and at Dyffryn Banw around 40% of the crowd arrived by one of our coaches. Thanks also to hoppers Graeme and Terry for helping with ferrying, and helping one hopper who obviously had difficulties. All our landlords, for cooking umpteen breakfasts all at the same time, including Cheryl at the Dolforwyn Hall who seemed genuinely sad to see us go. I will miss her hotel, and the evenings spent having a beer and a chat in the lounge. Thanks to Phil Woosnam, and Paul Worts at the Mid Wales and Mid Wales South Leagues respectively, it is always a real bonus to have the league officials supporting their hop and I think Phil and his family particularly enjoyed the steam train ride!

Finaly, thanks also to all the clubs, who without exception were a joy to meet and work with, and having now had emails back from some, made a healthy profit too. One club made £1900; that’s why we do what we do.

Hopefully we’ll see you on the 22nd September for the North Berkshire Hop. Advance tickets, at a discount from groundhopuk@yahoo.com.




Our dugout! Martin, self, David, and Terry Spracklen looking on. Photo by Chris Bedford

Glaw

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in D

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

AAFC, Andrew Thomas, Carno, Chris Berezai, Dolgellau, Glaw, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Rain, Sion Williams, Y Marian

Monday 27th August 2012 ko 3.00pm

Mid-Wales League Division One

DOLGELLAU AAFC 2 (Williams 62 70p)

CARNO 1 (Thomas 82)

Att 206

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Sticker £2

From Welshpool we headed out due west, giving the folks at Dyffryn Banw, our third game a wave as we passed by. From there is was into the wilds of Snowdonia, and across the border from Powys to Gwynedd, and the county town of the long since abolished county of Merionethshire. There is very much the feeling of being off the beaten track here, as even the main A458 snakes its way around the mountains before dropping into Dolgellau like an asphalt waterfall.

The name of the town is pronounced “Doll geth Lee” but the spelling has only been definitively decided on recently, in 1958. In fact, the local railway station until its closure under the Beeching axe, used signs saying variously Dolgelly, Dolgelley and Dolgellau! The town has been in the past a centre for Quakerism, and in the 19th century was the centre of a minor gold rush, and to this day the Clogau St Davids mine in Bontddu, and the Gwynfynydd mine in Ganllwyd have supplied gold for many royal weddings. Rally driver Gwyndaf Evans who won the 1996 British Rally Championship hails from here which seems somehow appropriate!

Other than the appalling weather, consistent and heavy rain, I was struck by how keen the club were to make people welcome. The club have no clubhouse of their own, so the rugby club’s facilities were co-opted, and despite the local council declaring the site “open land” the area was secured with temporary fencing so as to allow a gate to be taken. When the coaches arrived, a queue quickly formed, not good in the rain, but the club quickly took the initiative and shepherded ticket holders though another entrance. An excellent bit of quick thinking, and much appreciated by all concerned.

As organiser you love it when a club reads its briefing notes, and acts on them. Here they had no board for the line-ups so copied the line-ups out and left them in the bar for people to write down. During that time Chris, the two coach drivers and I were being given packed lunches by the club as ” I bet you haven’t had time to eat.” Space was also found for Derek Coupe to sit quietly, as although his health issues seem to have been resolved, he hasn’t got all of his strength back. Small things that cost nothing, but made a fantastic impression on us all.

We were glad of the stand at the half way line, although it’s a shame it incorporates the dugouts. Without it there would have been few places to avoid a soaking, a fact that may well have affected food sales as you had to queue outside for service. That would have been fantastic on a dry day, as you could watch the game while you waited, but on a day like this queueing was a trial. As organiser there are of course two things you can’t influence, the weather and the quality of the game.

And to be honest, the entertainment wasn’t quite of the quality we’d be used to. Perhaps we’d been thoroughly spoiled previously, but for a high percentage of the game this one looked like it had “Nil-Nil written all over it. It wasn’t that either side didn’t create chances, it’s just that they found a variety of ways to spurn them. Carno will no doubt have driven back to Powys wondering how they lost this, they had far more possession, but once Sion Williams fired home to collective a sigh of relief, that lead was quickly doubled, via the penalty spot. It speaks volumes for the game that on a hop where goals positively flowed, when Carno reduced the arrears with 8 minutes left, no one expected a come-back.

For all of that, I won’t remember Dolgellau AAFC (Amateur Athletic Football Club) for the game, the ground, or even the first completely bi-lingual programme I’ve seen on a hop. No, I’ll remember Dolgellau for its wonderful hard-working band of volunteers. And for a small club there is no better advert.

A stone circle means the town has hosted a National Eisteddfod of Wales, which it did in 1949, and the youth Eisteddfod in 1960 and 1994.


Celebrating the first Dolgellau goal!!


The Boost

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in W

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Chris Berezai, Chris Kamara, free kick, George Mitten, Ian Jones, Iwan Matthews, James Longford, Llansantffraid Village FC, Maesydre, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Olver Clarke, Town, Wayne Austin, welsh premier league, Welshpool

Monday 22nd August 2012 ko 11.00am

Mid-Wales League Division One

WELSHPOOL TOWN 3 (Longford 9 I Jones 31 Mitten 39)

LLANSANTFFRAID VILLAGE 5 (Austin 11secs 25 72 Clarke 2 Matthews 40)

Att 211

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

So, the final day of the Welsh hop, and the club whose game was the most difficult to schedule. With Welshpool having played in the Welsh Premier League comparatively recently, a lot of hoppers would have already visited. As organisers we knew that if the game was scheduled either at 3pm on any day, or as the last fixture many hoppers would either go elsewhere or head for home. Revisits aren’t popular, but Welshpool are members of the league, and as such deserve a decent turnout as much as anyone else.

Those who saw Welshpool struggle to take a point off Llansantffraid in the reversed fixture on last year’s hop, saw just how badly they’ve fallen from grace. Ten days before that season they’d had no players and were close to folding. It was hardly surprising that they finished rock bottom of Division One and were spared relegation only because of there was no relegation from the Cymru Alliance, the league above. That season also saw Sky TV’s Chris Kamara guesting for the club when his tv commitments allowed. It provided some much needed publicity, and Chris and I were told by the club that Kamara was “..a joy to deal with.”

Of course a town the size of Welshpool should be able to sustain a club in a far higher league. The town is situated on the River Severn, and its propensity to flood gives it its the Welsh language name Y Trallwng, meaning ‘the marshy or sinking land.’ In fact until 1835 the English name was simply “Pool,” the “Welsh-” prefix being added to avoid confusion with Poole in Dorset.

Whilst Maes Y Dre was never really up to Welsh Premier ground standards, the ground being shared with cricket, there’s a lot to like here. The most obvious is the large pitched-roof stand, although you do have to be careful how you pick your seat, some are broken, others have little leg-room, it offered plenty of cover on a wet day. The cricket pavilion balcony on an opposite corner also served useful purpose. Behind and to the left The Long Mountain (Cefn Digoll) provided a spectacular backdrop.

The club worked hard at their morning. There were bacon rolls, together with Barra Brith and Welsh cakes (The Mid Wales League took Chris’ comment that he loves Welsh cakes totally at face value – barely a club failed to have them on sale!). I enjoyed a cup of tea, before helping out with the line-ups board. Unusually I was able to grab a seat just before kick-off.

That proved to be no bad thing as Llansantffraid scored after a mere 11 seconds, Wayne Austin gliding through a space where a right back should have been to open the scoring. He set up Oliver Clarke a minute later for the second, but after that a shell-shocked Welshpool began to find their feet. James Longford reduced the arrears before Austin restored the 2 goal lead. Clearly defending was not a priority as Ian Jones scored following a corner, then George Mitten’s superb strike almost unbelievably saw Welshpool draw level. It didn’t last, as the sieve-like home defence opened up once again a minute later,  to allow Iwan Matthews a free shot to make it 3-4 at half-time.

Much as the travellers would have liked it to have been the case, a 7-goal half was never likely to be repeated, and the teams noticeably tightened things up, as the rain fell. There remained the formality of Wayne Austin completing his hat-trick which he did without a fuss, to make it clear what those present had long since known. That is had Welshpool concentrated for the first 10 minutes they may well have got something from this game. Still, unlike the evidence of their hop fixture last year, this time they do at least have something to work with. I wish them well.

Fred Flood



Welshpool’s equaliser


Two paths you can go by

03 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in M

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cae Glas, GroundhopUK, hog roast, Jimmy Page, Kerry, Led Zeppelin, Luke, Mach, MACHYNLLETH, Matt Mumford, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Mumford, Owain Glyndŵr, Robert Plant, Stairway to Heaven, Vickers

Sunday 28th August 2012 ko 6.30pm

Mid-Wales League Division 2

MACHYNLLETH 0

KERRY 4 (M Mumford 28p 36 Vickers 71 L Mumford 89) M Mumford missed penalty 63

Att 347

Entry/ Programme Hop Ticket

Tea 50p

Raffle £1

Team Sheet 20p

Poster 50p

Hog Roast £2.50

I suppose the first question you have to answer is this one. ” Mach-unt-leth!” Not exactly, but hopefully you get my drift! After the fireworks at Aberdyfi we headed back inland and soon arrived at the town that was the seat of Owain Glyndŵr’s Welsh Parliament in 1404, and as such claims to be the “Ancient capital of Wales”. However, it has never held any official recognition as a capital, but you are still very much in “Welsh Wales,” here. In more recent times Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote the Led Zeppelin classic “Stairway to Heaven,” at the 18th century Bron-Yr-Aur cottage near the town.

At Cae Glas there was no lack of activity as the club made the most of their opportunity. A hog roast had a near-permanent queue, and the two girls selling raffle tickets should go into business, they were so persuasive! Mach were the only club to sell teamsheets, and there were so many prizes for the raffle it took more than half-time to complete the draw. Chris and I helped out with the line-ups board, and noticed that the crowd count would take time, the place was getting quite full!

The little stand filled quickly and I propped myself against its wall to watch the game and chat to the club officials. They soon became dismayed as Kerry’s tactics became all to clear. They simply waited until Mach attacked, looked for any weakness at the back when they did, and ruthlessly counter-attacked, Matt Mumford open the scoring with a penalty, and soon broke clear to make it 2-0. Mach certainly didn’t ever look a side destined to be on the wrong side of a heavy home defeat, but try as they might the goals kept coming.

The second half followed the same blueprint, Kerry even being able to miss a penalty. Luke Vickers was put clean through top make it 0-3 and the coda of Luke Mumford firing home for the winner was a fair summary of what had preceded. Still Machynlleth’s fans and committee smiled, made new friends, and probably realise that few other clubs will come to Cae Glas this season and come away with three points.


Guatemala


The missed penalty

The Bells of Aberdovey

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Aberdovey, Aberdyfi, Andre Marsh, bells of aberdovey, Ben Richards, Chris Berezai, Daniel Thomas, Ian Lee, Llewelyn Hughes, Luke Rickard, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Tim Holt, Zac Smith

Sunday 26th August 2012 ko 3.00pm

Mid-Wales League Division One

ABERDYFI 6 (Holt 43p 77p 90 L Rickard 46 Smith 89 B Richards 90)

BONT 5 (Marsh 18 Thomas 21 Hughes 28p 78 Lee 31)

Att 324

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

From Bryncrug it didn’t take long to reach the seaside town of Aberdyfi, or Aberdovey if you’d prefer the Anglicised version. This pretty town is the southern-most point of Gwynedd and the Snowdonia National Park, and the hills at the edge of town act as a reminder of the mountains to the north and east.

The village is the subject of the folk song, “The Bells of Aberdovey,” and refers to the legend of a submerged former kingdom of Lowland Hundred beneath Cardigan Bay, and its bells which, it is said, can be heard ringing beneath the water.

The Penrhos Field is on the main road in town, and is close to the railway station. There’s not much in the way of facilities, just the one viewable side, and a couple of bus shelters for cover. What makes the place is the hilly backdrop with its pastel-coloured houses complete with one resident watching the game through binoculars! Continue reading →

52.543963 -4.046093

Stop me and buy one

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in T

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ben Holt, Bible, BOW STREET, Bryncrug, Chris Berezai, coastal defences, delicious honey, GroundhopUK, Halo, Ice Cream, Mark Edmondson, Mary Jones, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Paul Grant, Tywyn

Sunday 26th August 2012 ko 11.30am

Mid-Wales League Division One

TYWYN/BRYNCRUG 4 (Edmondson 27 Holt 42 54 Grant 44p)

BOW STREET 0

Att 267

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Ice Cream £1

Sunday beckoned, and its a factor of the longer hops that you inevitably feel slightly more tired than the day before. Not great when there’s two full days’ hopping left! Still, the weather was glorious, and there was a happy hubbub on my coach as Alan left Newtown and headed west to the Gwynedd coast.

Perhaps it was fortune, or Minsterley Coaches supplying the perfect man for the job, but I soon spotted that Alan wasn’t bothering with either a map or sat-nav. I asked if he was happy where he was going, and he said,”

“Absolutely! I’ve played at most of these grounds, I’m just trying to remember whether this one’s on the left or right side of the road!”

Now, just for the record, it was on the right, and Alan had guessed correctly, so we pulled into Cae Chwarae in plenty of time to meet the club officials and see what was on offer.

Nowadays Tywyn is a tourist haven, but in 1990 a high tide and rough seas caused the town’s flood defences to be breached.  4 square miles of land was flooded, affecting 2,800 properties and causing areas of the resort to be evacuated. The coastal defences have since been reconstructed and significantly enhanced as a result.

Even though the football club plays a mile or two north at Bryncrug (pronounced Brin-creeg) its Tywyn that provides the identity, and a particularly delicious honey flavoured ice cream that sold very well for £1. Bryncrug’s history is a little more puritan, being where Mary Jones settled after famously walking barefoot for 25 miles from Llanfihangel-y-Pennant to Bala, in order to buy a bible.

Referee Mark Farington seemed totally unconcerned as he let Chris jot down the line-ups to put on our new whiteboard. I got the distinct impression that he’d have approached the game the same if there’d had been 20, 200, or 20,000 present.

I had just enough time to explore my surroundings before kick-off; there’s only 2 sides available for viewing, and a steward assiduously patrolled behind a goal lacking a rail. There’s a small 50 seat stand set at an angle to the pitch, that had its view impeded by the sheer number of hoppers present. I didn’t get to see much of the game during the first half, what with chatting with Paul from the North-West Counties League, and to club officials, and doing the crowd count. The warm weather made for a pleasant morning’s viewing, and everything was going swimmingly.

Still, I did get to see Bow Street have a goal disallowed for a dubious looking offside, before Tywyn took the game by the scruff of the neck. Mark Edmondson’s strike gave them the lead and two goals just before half-time ended Bow Street’s interest in the tie.

After the break I did get to see more of the game, and Paul Tolchard very kindly helped me to fill in the gaps. The law of sod, of course means that the bit you can see is never as good as the bit you missed!

Captain Matthew Jones was clearly leading from the front and Tywyn clearly decided to tighten up and defend what they’d got. Bow Street tried hard but found no answer to some stout defending, and you wondered at what point they would over-commit themselves.

Unfortunately for them that happened within 10 minutes of the restart, Ben Holt taking advantage of some slack defending. The remainder of the game saw Tywyn dominating and it always looked inevitable that our little run of both teams scoring would end.

Near the end I spied Taunton-based Martin Bamforth looking rather nonplussed, I asked why, and he revealed why. He’d won a spoon on the club’s tombola, but wondered he he needed to enter again to win the knife and fork!

Trying not to laugh, I found Alan and Clive, as they’d had to a park up a short distance from the ground and gathered everyone for the short trip south to Aberdyfi. The day was shaping up nicely.

Martin and his spoon

The Tywyn public address system



 

 

Bibliophile

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in H

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

baked potatoes, Book Town, Bronllys, Chris Berezai, film braveheart, Gavin Perry, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Hay on Wye, Hay St Marys, Kevin Jones, Lee Brooks, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Mid Wales South, real ales, Steve Goodwin, Talgarth, Town

Saturday 25th August 2012 ko 7.30pm

Mid-Wales League Division 2

HAY ST MARYS 3 (K Jones 26 Goodwin 44p 49)

TALGARTH TOWN 2 (Perry 7 Brooks 87)

Att 317

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

A quirk of the journey from Presteigne to Hay-on-Wye, is that you spend the vast majority of it in England, ducking back across the Wye only to enter this pretty bibliophile town. That’s right, Hay is Wales’ book town, the English and Scottish equivalents being Sedbergh and Wigtown. It is Hay though which started the practice, although there’s more to the place than just the 30 or so second hand bookshops.

There’s two castles, which as the border has moved over the centuries, have frequently changed hands. The town only really settled down when Wales was taken over by King Edward I Longshanks Continue reading →

Festival

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in P

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Adriano Girolami, anglo saxon, Chris Berezai, Danny Evans, Jordan McQueen, Lee Davies, Liam Jones, Llanandras, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Presteigne, Rhosgoch, Roberts Christian, Trefor Lloyd, welsh cup

Saturday 25th August 2012 ko 4.30pm

Mid-Wales League Division 2

PRESTEIGNE ST ANDREWS 5 (Crow 7 Girolami 9 Roberts 18 56 D Evans 65)

RHOSGOCH RANGERS 5 (T Lloyd 24 Doman 45 L Davies 50 McQueen 78 L Jones 90)

Att 260

Entry/Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £1

Pint Glass £2

The small town of Presteigne is close to the border with England, and these days is very much a gateway to the Principality. Its name in Welsh is Llanandras which gives the ground its name, and the most notable building is the local church of St Andrew, which contains Anglo-Saxon elements. It’s the church that spawned the club, and gives it its suffix. Land owned by Captain Lewis RN was used to hold first Italian and then German POW’s during the Second World War and this land is now Llanandras Park.

It’s a set-up clearly capable of staging football at far higher level than the club’s lowly position. In fact Presteigne were scheduled to be on the very Mid-Wales hop, but an away draw at Ammanford in the Welsh cup put paid to any notion Continue reading →

0.000000 0.000000

Above & Beyond

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by laurencereade in N

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Callum Matthews, Carl Price, Chris Berezai, Clun, CPD, GroundhopUK, Jamie Layton-Morris, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales South, New Radnor, Newcastle, Owain Glyndŵr, radnor castle, Radnor Valley, School Lane, Scott Oxford

Saturday 25th August 2012 ko 1.45pm

Mid-Wales South League

RADNOR VALLEY 2 (Layton-Morris 33 Matthews 41)

NEWCASTLE 3 (Oxford 22 26 Price 47)

Att 212

Entry/ Programme by Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Another first for the hop on this game, the first ever international! New Radnor may be a mere 16 miles from Newcastle-on-Clun, but the latter is on Shropshire, England, and the club plays in Wales by convenience. That convenience doesn’t look all that convenient as Newcastle won the league last season but were refused promotion to to the Mid Wales League….because they’re English! Continue reading →

Canter

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by laurencereade in P

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Adam Stephens, August Bank Holiday, cattle sales, Dan Farmer, GroundhopUK, Jake Bufton, Kevin Bufton, martin bamforth, Mid Wales Hop, Mid Wales League, Penybont, Phil Ruell, St Harmon, Trotting

Saturday 25th August 2012 ko 11am

Mid Wales South League

PENYBONT 8 (Ruell 5 J Bufton 12 Stephens 21 29 Farmer 21 25 K Bufton 76 79)

ST HARMON 1 (Martin 45)

Att 257

Entry/ Programme by Hop Ticket

Badge £3

When my alarm sounded at the Dolforwyn Hotel , I made a beeline for the window, I really didn’t want rain! Avoiding Martin Bamforth’s gaze, he was out having an early cigarette, I was pleased and relieved to see a glorious sunny day. That changed at Penybont, but fortunately there was enough cover for everyone to shelter.

The first two games today saw the hop dip down into one of the Mid-Wales feeders for the first time. This was due to the club we were due to visit, Knighton deciding 2 months earlier that the town’s annual carnival taking place on their pitch over August Bank Holiday would mean that football couldn’t be played on it! In the end it all worked out in the hop’s favour, as we got two grounds in place of one, and still have Knighton to visit on a “Hop-up” at a later date.

The Powys village is the source of the A488, but it was the A44 which also runs though the village which was the key to the day’s hopping, all the grounds were on the road, allowing a straightforward 4 games in a day. The village used to be a centre for sheep and cattle sales, but it now best known for its trotting Continue reading →

← Older posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 6,204 other followers

Look for stuff here folks!

Blogroll

  • Damage In The Box Chris Powell’s travels across the UK and Europe. The artist must frequently seen in the pub 0
  • FA Cup Factfile Phil Annets on all things to do with the World’s greatest cup competition 10
  • Football Club History Database Want to know where a club finished in what league and in what year? Richard Rundle’s site is a veritable goldmine! 0
  • Football Hopper “Fast” Eddie McGeown’s erudite perambulations around the nation’s football grounds 0
  • Gibbo's 92 As Atherton Colleries’ programme editor puts it, ” The best trips are random, unplanned and spontaneous.” 0
  • Groundhopping.se Per-Gunnar Nilsson’s trips around his native Sweden, and into Europe 0
  • Grounds for concern The late Mishi Morath’s picture blog. Obviously no longer updated but still a wonderful archive. 0
  • Kate Shrewsday. A thousand thousand stories Not about football, but beautiful writing, Kate can make words dance. 0
  • Modus Hopper Random Graham Yapp’s travels 0
  • The 100 Grounds Club Shaun Smith’s groundhopping football blog. The original internet ground logging website. 0
  • The Football Traveller The bible for every groundhopper. Non-League fixtures magazine delivered weekly. Published and edited by Chris Bedford 0
  • The Intinerant Football Watcher Peter finds the grounds other hoppers cannot reach. Top bloke too! 0
  • The66POW Rob Waite’s travels 0

Your very own calendar!

June 2022
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« May    

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Football: Wherever it may be
    • Join 6,204 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Football: Wherever it may be
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...