Tag Archives: Non League

The Groove

07 Thursday Mar 2024

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Friday 1st March 2024 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Division One North

FC ST HELENS 1 (Hall 24)

Hall penalty saved 21

DAISY HILL 0

Att 504*

Entry £5

Programme £2

Maybe it was the weather, or maybe it was being in such a groove with Step 5/6 hops another GroundhopUK event seemed little more than a continuation of what had finished last October at Billingshurst. Of course there were massive differences, a shift in locale from Sussex to the North West for one but such is the preponderance now of hop in leagues at that “Sweet Spot” of Steps 5 and 6 as part of the organising team there is usually very little that a club can do that will really surprise us. And yet on this weekend, one club managed to do precisely that.

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A yard here or there

15 Thursday Feb 2024

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Saturday 10th February 2024 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Cup- Quarter Final

MARCHAM 6 (D Murphy 18 47 80 Webb 30 Legge 82 Saulter 89)

UFFINGTON UNITED 1 (Terrana 11)

Att c25 at Moreland Road

Free Entry

I’m sure someone will read this and think, “Didn’t the 2014 North Berks Hop visit there?” and dear reader, you’d be right, to a point. A few weeks ago I found some of the e-shots we’d used to try to advertise that hop as I was under no little pressure that year- the Eastern Counties League tried to schedule against us. For Marcham the selling point was “Come now why you still can” as despite there being an Iron Age burial site underneath the pitch the ground was destined for housing. Continue reading →

Update

25 Thursday Jan 2024

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Saturday 20th January 2024 ko 15:00

Hellenic League Division One

LONG CRENDON 2 (Richardson 32 Bartley 90+4)

FC BRISTOL 5 (Plummer 47 75 80 Miller 69 Collins 70)

Att c40 at Oxford City FC

Entry & Programme £6

It was a day of frozen pitches, or to put a more positive spin on things a time to make use of 3G pitches. In my part of the world that added up to whoever happened to be using Oxford City‘s 3G pitch. I looked, saw it was Long Crendon, and smiled.

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The Hospitality

16 Tuesday Jan 2024

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Friday 12th January 2024 ko 19:30

Northern League Division One

NORTHALLERTON TOWN 0

REDCAR ATHLETIC 1 (Boyes 37)

Att 403

Entry £7

Programmme £2.50

Hospitality package (entry, programme, 2 course meal) £25

It’s odd how some things work out. Robyn and I had tried to watch Northallerton Town around 4 years ago. We’d travelled up from Oxford, and as we reached the Calvert’s Stadium, the floodlights were switched off; the game had just been postponed due to a frozen pitch. We found a meal locally, then headed back home down the A1(M). As Robyn put it, it was a mighty long way to go for a Chinese!

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Royalty

15 Monday Jan 2024

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Saturday 6th January 2024 ko 13:45

Witney & District League Division One

WITNEY ROYALS 0

DUCKLINGTON 2 (Fisher 25 Williams 70og)

Att c15 at Pitch 1 Burwell Recreation Ground, Thorney Leys, Witney

Free Entry

I’d had all kinds of ideas as to where to watch a game. The determining factor was a triple of sorts, football, Oxford City Stars Ice Hockey unusually facing off on a Saturday evening, and the pub quiz at 9pm. But as much as I like being busy there was another factor to be considered- the rain.

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Nesting

09 Tuesday Jan 2024

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Saturday 30th December 2023 ko 15:00

Northern Counties East League Division One

SWALLOWNEST 1 (Spick 84)

SHIREBROOK TOWN 6 (Macaskill 17 38 Day 44 54 Skelton 49og K Watson 80)

Att 135

Entry £6

Programme £2 (reissue from 12/09/23)

On the way back from Warrington we’d pondered ideas for our last game of 2023. I must admit we’d rather neglected the Northern Counties East, I’d more or less completed the league when the groundhop was based there, but that event finished at Selby in 2017 and there’s been plenty of club churn since then.

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Cantilever

01 Monday Jan 2024

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Saturday 23rd December 2023 ko 15:00

National League North

WARRINGTON TOWN 2 (Harris 36 Amis 83)

BANBURY UNITED 1 (Hewitt 21)

Att 1,137

Entry £15 (£12 in bought in advance)

Programme £2

In my eyes at least, I’m slowing down. Part of it is that it’s now almost impossible to find a floodlit game at a new ground midweek, and part its due to a general feeling of not being in any great rush. I see some groundhoppers clocking up the grounds at a rate of over one a day, and while each to their own, I know it’s not for me; I have other interests.

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Mystery

21 Thursday Dec 2023

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Tuesday 19th December 2023 ko 19:45

Isthmian League Cup 4th Round

CHATHAM TOWN 3 (Evans 64p Isiaka 70 84)

BASILDON UNITED 1 (Fitzer 90)

Att 453

Entry £12

Programme £2.50

Mulled wine and mince pies- Free!

In the groundhopping scheme of things, someone travelling from Oxford to Chatham to watch a game isn’t that unusual. What was, was that when I made the decision to head to Kent I was sat in the car park at Ipswich Town’s training ground! I’d arrived there precisely 7 minutes after they’d postponed the game, and with my evening game at Little Oakley quickly succuming to waterlogging too, it was time to play the 3G card.

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Hub Spot

15 Friday Dec 2023

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Saturday 2nd December 2023 ko 14:00

Central & North Norfolk League Division 3

WEST ROW GUNNERS 6 (Tuffs 3 73 Andrade 61 81 88 Tamayo 90)

FC VIKING 1 (Basson 78)

Att 12 at Mildenhall Hub

Free Entry

Sometimes you stand at a game and wonder how on earth you ended up there. This was an unusual one though, even by my standards! The key to it was that Robyn and I had been invited to a birthday celebration at AFC Sudbury’s clubhouse in the evening. We’d be staying over so needed time to get to our accommodation, get ready and get to the venue. And before you ask, no Sudbury weren’t at home!

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Stockwood the Third

12 Tuesday Dec 2023

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Saturday 25th November 2023 ko 14:00

Somerset County League Division 2

CUTTERS FRIDAY 1 (Thorn 90+6)

WELTON ROVERS RESERVES 1 (Benjamin 82)

Att 14

Free Entry

You’ve probably spotted the running theme. With family in Bristol, I tend to tick off another ground in the area whenever I’m visiting. And that is how I became interested in what you could call the Stockwood treble. It evokes the now impossible Lenton Lane treble, in Nottingham of Bilborough Pelican, Dunkirk and Greenwood Meadows. Sadly, both Meadows and Pelican are defunct, but there’s now the Stockwood treble for groundhoppers to attack.

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