Tag Archives: Non League

Van Diemen’s Land 

22 Wednesday Apr 2026

Posted by in M

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 12th February 2026 ko 19:30

Central Midlands Alliance-Floodlit Cup 2nd Round

MELBOURNE DYNAMO 2 (Bickerton 45+1 Goodband 66)

Peverley sent off 66 (2nd booking)

FC SUNNYHILL

Att 89

Free Entry

It seems a million years ago since the days of the Central Midlands League Hops (the last was in 2012) and these days the league is now the Central Midlands Alliance following a merger with the Midlands Regional Alliance in 2023. Melbourne is a small town in Derbyshire, close to Castle Donington Race Circuit. It is perhaps best known as being the birthplace of Thomas Cook of package holidays fame.

Continue reading →

Pillgwenlly

20 Monday Apr 2026

Posted by in P

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday February 14th 2016 ko 14:00

Gwent Premier League, Premier Division
PILL AFC 1 (Simmons 38)
P.I.L.C.S. 1 (Jayne 24)

Att 25 at Pill Harriers Sports Club, Newport

Free Entry

You may recall the Welsh Hop paying Pill YMCA at Mendalgief Road a visit back in 2018. It was during Pill’s fairly brief merger with Newport YMCA; Pill AFC moved back to the other side of the Transporter Bridge to their spiritual home of Pill Harriers Sports Club soon after out visit. I’m not sure why they did, but unquestionably you do get a better view of the bridge!

Continue reading →

Six Towns

16 Thursday Apr 2026

Posted by in H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 24th January 2026 ko 15:00

Midland League Premier Division

HANLEY TOWN 8 (Middleton 33 Porter 35 80 J van der Laan 38 52 60 T van der Laan 75 87)

STUDLEY 0

Att 84

Entry £10

No programme

Groundhoppers do like to complete leagues it seems, but why not try for other things to complete? I’ve done the Stockwood treble in Bristol, and the Lenton Lane triple in Nottingham, that sadly is no longer possible. But here’s another, Stoke is famously the UK’s only polycentric city, consisting of the six towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton so why not try for football in each of them?

Continue reading →

Gorgonzola

10 Friday Apr 2026

Posted by in E

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 10th January 2026 ko 14:30

Serie C Girone A

A.S. GIANA ERMINIO 0

A.C. RENATE 1 (Karlsson 33)

Att c600 at Stadio Citta di Gorgonzola

Entry €10

Robyn and I were in Milan for the weekend, and true to form this wasn’t a trip that involved wall-to-wall football. We’d visited the stunning La Scala Opera House, and the equally beautiful Cathedral- the Duomo di Milano but stood as we were in the piazza outside, we looked at each other and decided we fancied watching a game.

Continue reading →

Persistence

30 Monday Mar 2026

Posted by in P

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday 31st December 2025 ko 12:30

Cymru North

PENRHYNCOCH 1 (Owen 86)

RUTHIN TOWN 1 (Holland 24)

Att 140 at Cae Baker, Penrhyn-coch

Entry £7

Programme online/downloadable

For those of you that ask, yes I do question my sanity, and driving as I was, on New Year’s Eve through Snowdonia with the temperature dropping alarmingly as I climbed the mountains. It got to point where I drove through Troedyrallt and so white was the scene outside that I couldn’t imagine that the game was still on. But I was committed, 3 hours in to my drive from Oxford, with no alternate game to divert to.

Continue reading →

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

29 Sunday Mar 2026

Posted by in W

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 27th December 2025 ko 14:00

Somerset County League

WATCHET TOWN 0

STAPLEGROVE 2 (Hibbert 86 Bidgeway 90+6)

Att 65

Free Entry

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed

The light-house top I see?

Is this the hill? is this the kirk?

Is this mine own countree?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797)

As is normal for Robyn and I, we split our time over Christmas between family in Oxford then family in Bristol, so that those days between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve tend to be spent in Knowle West. Or putting it another way, I do tend to see quite a lot of the Somerset County League at this time of year, and Watchet Town had been on my to-do list for quite a while.

Continue reading →

Beer Money

23 Monday Mar 2026

Posted by in O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 20th December 2025 ko 14:00

Hertfordshire Senior County League-Premier Division

OWEN’S 2 (Grey 77 Chrysanthou 87)

BUNTINGFORD TOWN 3 (Holland 41 73 Hunt 90+2)

Att 27 at Old Owen’s Sports Ground, near Northaw, Potters Bar

Free Entry

Once again it really hadn’t stopped raining, and Robyn, Chris Garner and I were looking for something that wasn’t obvious. We spotted that Owen’s in the Herts League were at home, but credit Chris for spotting that they are based at the Old Owen’s Sports Ground. Before 3G pitches a groundhopper learned which grounds drain well, and those likely to have professional groundstaff. The theory being that if the pitch is being worked on at all times, the game is more likely to be on. The theory worked, and judging by the gaggle of senior groundhoppers in the bar, we weren’t the only ones thinking along the same lines!

Continue reading →

The Marches

17 Tuesday Mar 2026

Posted by in S

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 16th December 2025 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Division One South

SHAWBURY UNITED 1 (Sowe 76)

TELFORD TOWN 3 (Greer 53 70 Hesson 55)

Att 162

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

In all walks of life it pays to be adaptable, and that goes double if you’re trying to watch non league football in December in the wet! Oddly I was fortunate, I was heading to Allscott Heath near Wolverhampton but got caught in traffic. Since I was stationary I checked Twitter and soon found my choice of game had fallen to a waterlogged pitch. No matter, I had plan B….

Continue reading →

Hope for Capricorns

09 Monday Mar 2026

Posted by in L

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 6th December ko 14:00

Bristol Premier Combination Division One

LION 0

AFC MANGOTSFIELD 3 (Mansfield 9 Rice 23 Douglas 49)

Dorrington sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 2 at Little Stoke Park, Bristol

Free Entry

Red sun go down way over dirty town
Starlings are sweeping around crazy shoals
Yes and a girl is there high heeling across the square
Wind it blows around in her hair and the flags upon the poles
Waiting in the crowd to cross at the light
She looks around to find a face she can like.

Church bell clinging on just a trying to get a crowd for Evensong
Nobody cares to depend upon the chime it plays
They’re all in the station praying for trains
Congregation late again
It’s getting darker all the time these flagpole days
Drunk old soldier he give her a fright
He’s a crazy lion he’s a-howling for a fight

“Lions” Dire Straits 1978

On one hand it isn’t usually difficult to find a game in Bristol on a Saturday afternoon. I’d organised to drop Robyn off at a friend’s birthday celebration in town, and the idea was to pick her up as soon as it was over. That meant that I wouldn’t be able to travel far, but that wasn’t going to be a problem was it?

Continue reading →

Stairway

04 Wednesday Mar 2026

Posted by in T

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 15th November 2025 ko 14:00

Cymru South

TREOWEN STARS 3 (C Davies 24 Meachan 35 43)

YNYSHIR ALBIONS 0

Att 85

Entry £6

Programme £2

When you’ve spent most of the last 25 years groundhopping, it isn’t the simple statistics of how many and where that do it for me. When people ask I tell them, then add the tagline “Which shows I need to get out more” when the exact opposite is the case! These days, it’s the connections you make that drive me on, and Treowen was a classic case of this.

Continue reading →