Tag Archives: Non League

Never A Step Backward

12 Wednesday Aug 2020

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Tuesday 4th August 2020 ko 19.15

Friendly

SILCHESTER FC 0

BADSHOT LEA (4 3 31 50 77)

Att c20 @ Queen Mary’s College, Basingstoke

Free Entry

With a friendly lined up at an unusual venue in Basingstoke, and plenty of time to get there, I took the chance to stop and spend a few minutes at the Camrose.  Until 2019 the ground, gifted to the people of Basingstoke by Lord Camrose in 1945 was home to Basingstoke Town. Continue reading →

Garlic

07 Friday Aug 2020

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Saturday 1st August 2020 ko 14.30

Friendly

BASILDON TOWN 3 (O’Brien 5 Smith 56 Bradbourn 89)

BARNSTON AFC 1 (Rollins 85)

Att c50 at Basildon Sport & Leisure Club

I doubt I’ll manage a quicker trip between grounds all season. Just a fence separates the Post Office Sports Ground from the Basildon Sport & Leisure Club, and while the entities are entirely separate, the gap in the fence was handy! Continue reading →

The New Normal

05 Wednesday Aug 2020

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Saturday 1st August 2020 ko 12.00

Friendly

PITSEA TOWN 11 (Goggin 45 47 62 85 Gentry 67 M Lewis 68 Richardson 74 Lunn 80 82 L Pellin 83 R Phillips 86) 

SOUTHMINSTER UNITED 0

Att c20 at Post Office Sports & Social Club, Gardiners Lane South, Basildon

Entry FREE

The Covid 19 pandemic had given me and many others a 140 day opportunity. Yes, there was no live football to watch, but there was time in abundance. Time to work on the house, time to develop other interests, time to spend on loved ones, and also time to reflect. Continue reading →

The Other Ossett

26 Sunday Jul 2020

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Wednesday 26th September 2007 ko 19.45

Northern Premier League Challenge Cup First Round

OSSETT ALBION 4 (Kelsey 7, 32 78p Newton 15)

HARROGATE RAILWAY ATHLETIC 2 (Ryan 64 Hobson 74)

Jones sent off (2nd booking) 69

Att 69

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

Thank heaven for bank training courses. Thirteen years ago I’d just joined a major UK bank’s commercial department and was spending a week on a training course. I was based in a 4 star hotel in Sheffield, and once the day’s work was done there was little else to do but find a beer or ten somewhere. Unless of course you were a groundhopper…. Continue reading →

The Saga

29 Monday Jun 2020

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Tuesday 23rd December 2008 ko 19.45

FA Cup 2nd Round Replay

DROYLSDEN 2 (Newton 31 55p)

CHESTERFIELD 1 (Lester 35)

Lester sent off 84 (violent conduct)

Att 2,824 

Entry £5

Programme £1

On one level I knew exactly why I was at the Butchers Arms Ground in Manchester’s eastern suburbs. Leaving aside the groundhopper’s insatiable urge to collect football grounds I was happy to escape a Milton Keynes office, and the kind of job where you inwardly measure every minute you’re on duty. So to Droylsden I drove, and all because any FA Cup tie is interesting and a potential upset involving a Conference North club against a League 2 outfit looked attractive. However, if you know what had happened in the month prior to the tie you’ll know just how much of an understatement that last sentence is! Continue reading →

Crossing St George

25 Thursday Jun 2020

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Saturday 3rd January 2011 ko 14.15

Western League Division One

ROMAN GLASS ST GEORGE 1 (Mansfield 53)

CADBURY HEATH 1 (Colbourne 24) 

Att 70 at Bell Hill Playing Field, Whiteway Road, St George, Bristol

Entry £4

Programme £1

You may remember GroundhopUK visiting Oaklands Park– the Gloucestershire FA Ground on the final Western Hop. The ground is shared by Lebeq United and Roman Glass St George but since neither club is primary tenant and Lebeq wanted to, they hosted, but what of Roman Glass St George? Continue reading →

Exodus

08 Monday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday March 1st 2008 ko 15.00

Conference North

LEIGH RAILWAY MECHANICS INSTITUTE 1 (Carroll 90)

BARROW AFC 2 (Henney 36 Walker 59)

Att 295

Entry £7

Programme £2

Part of me wonders whether I’m the right person to write about this, as this is a time when two paths crossed fairly briefly and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Continue reading →

Cadbury World

06 Saturday Jun 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 19th February 2011 ko 15.00

Midland Combination Division Two

CADBURY ATHLETIC RESERVES 0

LEAMINGTON HIBERNIAN 1 (Jahmal Clarke 47p)

Att 52

Free Entry

Now if you were to ask a less experienced groundhopper where Cadbury Athletic play they’d probably tell you at the Triplex Sports & Social Club, Kings Norton in Birmingham. You’d be technically correct but it certainly isn’t the club’s spiritual home- but ticking off the Bournville Recreation does tend to polarise the brethren of the groundhoppers. Continue reading →

The Tobacco Factory

30 Saturday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 1st April 2006 ko 15.00

Wessex League Division One

B.A.T. SPORTS 3 (Lowther 2 (1 pen), Thorney)

BROCKENHURST 2 (Beck, Burton)

Att c50

Entry £4

Programme £1

I hate smoking, I hate the smell, and that it invariably triggers my asthma. But I do have history with British & American Tobacco. The firm owned International Stores and if my grandfather hadn’t moved to Oxford to manage their store in High Street, you wouldn’t be reading this. I’ll leave you to consider whether that’s a good thing…. Continue reading →

The Chains

26 Tuesday May 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 6th April 2007 ko 10.30
Central Midlands League- Premier Division

YORKSHIRE MAIN 1 (Hawthorne 84)

THORNE COLLIERY 1 (Bitton-Price 27p)

Att 347

Entry £3

Programme £1

I don’t think it’s any secret that the the hop I’ve enjoyed the most was the Ceredigion, but without question the one I learned the most from was the Central Midlands League’s. It certainly wasn’t as a result of being involved in the organisation, of the original GroundhopUK/ Rob Hornby events I was only involved in 2010, the final one. No, my absorption of facts at the CMFL was cultural.

Continue reading →