Tag Archives: Non League

The Third

01 Thursday Aug 2024

Posted by in S

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday 16th June 2024 ko 10:30

Stockholm P2008- 1A

VASALUND IF III 1 (Almqvist 71)

AIK SOLNA FK I 7 (Hammarin 21 76 Lööw 30 40 50 Henareh 42 84)

Att 29 at Skytteholms IP Plan B

Free Entry

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £320 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

If one football ground could encompass what the Swedish Hop is all about you could say it’s Skytteholms. It’s in Solna close to where organiser Kim Hedwall lives in Stockholm’s northern suburbs. We visited the main pitch on the very first hop in 2007, then again in 2013, and on both occasions the facility was overshadowed by the Råsunda Stadium, where non-Brazilian fans first glimpsed Pele in the 1958 World Cup and AIK played their home games.

Continue reading →

The Squirrel

30 Tuesday Jul 2024

Posted by in F

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 15th June 2024 ko 16:00

Division 2 Norra Svealand

FoC FARSTA 0

IK FRANKE 4 (Jacinto 48 Abshir 83 Siljander 84 Rylander 90+1)

Jacinto penalty saved 54

Att 127 & a red squirrel at Farsta IP

Entry 100sek (roughly £7.47)

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £320 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

We’d left Boovallen in a hurry and with a little regret. The plan had been to head to nearby Saltsjöbaden IF for the final game of the day, the two fixtures had tessellated beautifully but as we’d all checked in to our flights the fixture got moved. Even the club couldn’t believe what had happened when Kim phoned them! So, Kim reset our compasses to the Stockholm’s southern suburbs to Farsta. We made kick-off easily enough but even then there was further regret.

Continue reading →

The Boo Bear

25 Thursday Jul 2024

Posted by in B

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 15th June 2024 ko 13:15

Division 3 Södra Svealand

BOO FF 5 (Hellström 31 Tsilicheistos 45+4 Medew 53 58 Nilsson 69)

FC BRANDBERGEN 3 (Katourgi 9 24 36)

Att 79 at Boovallen

Free Entry

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £320 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

From our close-to unplanned trip to northern Stockholm we picked our way back through the capital’s tunnels towards Kim Hedwall’s planned base for the hop, Nacka and Saltsjöbaden- we even passed within sight of our hotel in Hammarby Sjöstad along the way. You could see Kim’s motivation, the area is idyllic, so he knew he’d be showing off his country in the best possible light.

Continue reading →

Castle

11 Thursday Jul 2024

Posted by in D

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

Saturday 25th May 2024 ko 14:30

Doncaster Saturday League Knock-Out Cup Final

SJR WORKSOP DEVELOPMENT 1 (Morris 15)

BENTLEY VILLAGE 2 (Walker 61p Cairns 67)

Att 201 Castle Park at (Doncaster Knights RUFC)

Entry £5 (for all three games that day)

Programme £2 (for all 5 games over the weekend)

As a groundhopper you occasionally get an opportunity so good, you know that chances are anyone like you is going to make a beeline for the ground too. Often the opportunity involves a borrowed rugby ground, which this one was, albeit with a massive caveat!

Continue reading →

Freeze Frame

07 Sunday Jul 2024

Posted by in H

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday 21st May 2024 ko 19:00

Middlesex County League Premier Division

HAYES & HILLINGDON 2 (McDonnell 4 21)

KODAK (HARROW) 1 (Goddard 8)

Att 35 at Richings Park Sports Club, Apsley Walk, Iver

Free Entry

It was an odd experience driving here. Existing the M40 at Junction 1 then picking through the edges of suburban London, where the capital collides with the Slough area. So much so I was glad my new car is ULEZ compliant, even now I’m not completely sure whether I tripped one of TfL’s cameras! If I’d have been driving my old car, I’d have had to pay, just to avoid the risk of an unwitting fine!

Continue reading →

Coda

30 Sunday Jun 2024

Posted by in A, N

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Saturday 11th May 2024 ko 18:30

North Berkshire Cup Final

WOODCOTE 2 (Scoffham 59 Wallace 83)

Gray sent off 120 (dangerous play)

BERINSFIELD 2 (Palmer 2 Holdsworth 21)

Chainey sent off 102 (violent conduct) 102

A.E.T. Berinsfield won 4-2 on penalties

Att 284 at Northcourt Road, Abingdon (Abingdon United FC)

Entry & Programme £5

Well, it had to end at some point. The previous week I’d announced my intention to stand down from the North Berkshire League’s committee after the North Berks Cup Final, the league’s finale for the season. There were many reasons, mainly me not having the time to devote to doing the job as I would like, and I feel the league needs. There was a straw that broke the camel’s back but that isn’t for here.

Continue reading →

The Cauldron

27 Thursday Jun 2024

Posted by in R

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 11th May 2024 ko 13:00

Thames Valley Premier League – Premier Division

READING YMCA 2 (Reynolds 38 Ibbotson 50)

Burton sent off 88 (2nd booking)

AFC WINKFIELD 2 (Long 19 Forder 88)

Att c30 at The Cauldron, Padworth

Free Entry

The club do sporadically issue programmes.

Once again it was a question of finding something to pair up with a North Berkshire cup final, and once again the Thames Valley Premier supplied the goods- this was the first part of a double-header with YMCA’s reserves to follow. There was only one small catch though.

Continue reading →

No, not me

11 Tuesday Jun 2024

Posted by in S

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 4th May 2024 ko 14:00

Thames Valley Premier League, Premier Division

SLOUGH HEATING LAURENTIANS 2 (Aragrez 55 Lovering 77p)

HOLYPORT RESERVES 1 (Brinsden 8)

Att c30 at Polish Club, Stoke Poges

The weather was warm and sunny, and I had a lovely double lined up. Yet for all of that I felt conflicted, I’d made a fairly major decision in my footballing life, and that evening was when I was going to have to make that choice public and deal with the consequences. I wanted something beforehand that was low-key and relaxing.

Continue reading →

The Final Walk

09 Sunday Jun 2024

Posted by in G

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Tuesday 30th April 2024 ko 19:45

West Midlands (Regional) League- Division One

GORNAL ATHLETIC 1 (Lawrence 32)

TIPTON TOWN 3 (Holder 35 Clifton 50 Piggott 85)

Att 725

Entry £5

Programme £3 (special commemorative issue)

For many years those in the know venerated Garden Walk. You made sure you visited as the West Midlands finest example of a classic non league ground. I’d made a beeline back in 2011, and was shocked to find out that the club were about to move off. I wanted to visit to say goodbye, and show my wife Robyn the place too, but after the Peninsula Hop I was without a car, the games kept coming and we couldn’t get there. In the end, the new car arrived, and we made for Dudley with just the one game left.

Continue reading →

A Different Corner

06 Thursday Jun 2024

Posted by in G

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Saturday 24th April 2024 ko 14:00

Thames Valley Premier League- Division One

GORING UNITED 0

TADLEY CALLEVA RESERVES 6 (Cunningham 11 55 Theodore 22 38 Reid 32 61)

Att c25

Free Entry

On a personal level, finally my transport issues were over. I had an appointment on Saturday morning to complete the paperwork, and collect my new car, in fact there were only two issues with it. The first was that I absolutely had to be home by 5pm, and that the car wasn’t due to be ready until midday. But like the bluesman who thrives when restricted to 3 chords, sometimes the difficulties make you choose well. And I’d been hankering after Goring for a while…

Continue reading →