Tag Archives: Non League

The Pitch

14 Monday Jun 2021

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Monday 7th June 2021 ko 18:30

Thames Valley Premier League- Premier Division

MARLOW UNITED 1 (Austin 90)

FINCHAMPSTEAD 3 ( Vallance 9 J Day 14p Payne 33)

Att c64 at Gossmore Lane

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I haven’t checked but over the last 15 or so years you could have watched Marlow United at home on at least 4 different grounds. There was Flackwell Heath, Marlow FC, Bisham Abbey and Loudwater that I can name off the top of my head. The reason for the first two was to allow the club two stints in the Hellenic League, including a two-season stint in the Hellenic Premier from 2008-10. The issue for the club is always the same, there’s no lack of ambition, but having few facilities of their own makes progression extremely difficult. Continue reading →

Reformation

08 Tuesday Jun 2021

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Saturday 5th June 2021 ko 14.30

Thames Valley Premier League – Division One

ROTHERFIELD UNITED 1 (Clarke 45p)

READING YMCA 2 (Hormola 7 Donegan 61p)

Att c24 at Bishopswood Sports Field, Gallowstree Common.

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Given I’d not seen a game at Bishopswood this was something of a sentimental return for me. Back in the day I had a blonde girlfriend who worked for a brewery, which did have a few advantages. The brewery in question was Brakspear in Henley-on-Thames, and we spent many an evening ticking off the pubs of the Brakspear estate- it was clear looking back that the groundhopping gene was active even then! One of the best pubs was the Reformation at Gallowstree Common and I remember driving past the Bishopswood Sports Field and me thinking “I really ought to see a game there!” It only took another 25 years…. Continue reading →

The Community Umlaut

01 Tuesday Jun 2021

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Saturday 29th May 2021 ko 14:30

Staffordshire County Senior League Division One

CITY OF STOKE 5 (Meek 19 82 Marcisz 25 Sargeant 61 Armstrong 82)

Marcisz sent off 80 (foul & abusive)

HAWKINS SPORTS 2 (Pike 8 57)

Att c25 at North Stafford Sports Club, Whisper Lane, Butterton

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I’ve often opined that I don’t pick my games, most of the time they pick me, and this was the latest in the long list. You may remember that just under two years ago, I battled both appalling weather and traffic to watch a game at Keele University.  At the time I questioned why I was the only hopper there, and subsequently came to the conclusion that the reason I was the only one there with no connection to either side was my own insanity. But there was a silver lining to the evening. Continue reading →

Bux Bunny

19 Wednesday May 2021

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Saturday 15th May 2021 ko 14:00

Hope Valley League Premier Division

BUXWORTH 1 (Hyde 62)

TANSLEY JUNIORS 3 (Hill 37 71 81)

Att c50 at Western Lane

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If the Westmorland League is the league for the Lake District then I’d argue the Hope Valley is the league for the High Peak. And if you’re thinking that the idea was to take the pretty football ground with a backdrop I’d tapped into at Sedbergh & Dent FC a week earlier and move it to the Peak District then you’d be absolutely right! Or putting it another way, “All Creatures Great & Small” became “Peak Practice!” Continue reading →

The Town And The Village

14 Friday May 2021

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Tuesday 12th May 2021 ko 18:30

Oxfordshire Senior League Premier Cup Group Stage

BURE PARK 3 (Hallam 47 79 Chappell 83)

LAUNTON SPORTS 3 (Horn 16 30 Clark 52)

Att c65 at Pingle Field, Bicester

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Anyone from Oxfordshire will be more than aware of the expansion of Bicester in the last couple of years. I remember Iain my regular companion on many of my Scottish jaunts booking a hotel in Bicester, and when I visited him I  thought, “This used to be fields a few months ago!” Continue reading →

All Creatures Great And Small

11 Tuesday May 2021

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Saturday 8th May 2021 ko 14:00

Westmorland FA Senior Cup 2nd Round

SEDBERGH & DENT 4 ( Ferguson 7 42 105 Burrow 85)

KESWICK 3 (Bannister 10 Cumber 38 T Thexton 68og)

Att c20 at Church Bridge Playing Field, Dent

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As most of you know I wear a few footballing hats. There’s the groundhopper, the Oxford United season ticket holder, the organiser of groundhops with GroundhopUK, and the committeeman with the North Berkshire League.  I’m bound to say Sedbergh and Dent both suffer from exactly the same problem that we have at the North Berkshire League- and its all because of 1974. Continue reading →

The Alternate

06 Thursday May 2021

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Monday 3rd May 2021 ko 18:00

Thames Valley Premier League: Premier Division

FINCHAMPSTEAD 4 (J Payne 15p Vallance 22 Hunt 73 Day 77)

MARLOW UNITED 1 (Goode 65)

Att c42 at Arborfield Recreation Ground

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I still have some affinity for this part of the world even though its been well over twenty years since I lived in Henley-on-Thames. Back then the modus operandi was driving through Wargrave and Twyford to Winnersh, then via Sindlesham to Arborfield. I suppose I associated Sindlesham with the Nirvana Health Spa that the ex-wife seemed to love going to but objected every time the monthly membership payment left her account! Continue reading →

The Somerset European Superleague

04 Tuesday May 2021

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Saturday 3rd May 2021 ko 15:00

Somerset County League Junior Supplementary Cup Group Stage

HUTTON FC 5 (Dearnley-Bright 44 47 63 Popperwell 78p N Blake 88)

NAILSEA UNITED 0

Att c25 at Springwood Gardens, Hutton, Weston-super-Mare

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With Robyn visiting family in Bristol I’d long since made a mental note to simply head south in search of a game. The route out of the south of Bristol, heading towards Weston-super-Mare will always hold great significance for me. We got married in Blagdon, drank no end of Butcombe beer and Thatchers cider and Lee Hatherall our photographer is based in Weston! Perhaps it was inevitable I’d visit Hutton. Continue reading →

The Bonus

30 Friday Apr 2021

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Tuesday 27th April 2021 ko 18:30

North Berkshire League Division One

GROVE RANGERS 1 (Faircloth 42)

DRAYTON 3 (Harrison 2 Jacks 61 Wilde 82)

Jacks penalty saved 77

Att c30 at Grove Recreation Ground

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Now I know what you’re thinking, didn’t we pay Grove a visit on the 2015 North Berkshire Hop? You’d be right, but we visited them at their original ground at Wasbrough Field. That lies around 200 yards north of their normal home at the Recreation Ground, and the game got moved there because the rugby club didn’t want football fans in their bar. I’d have thought our money was as good as theirs, but I regarded the switch as something as a groundhopper’s bonus and planned to visit the Recreation Ground at later date, but circumstances got in the way. 

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Pass, Move, but Grin?

29 Thursday Apr 2021

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Saturday 24th April 2021 ko 15:00

Central Midlands League Division One South

PASS MOVE GRIN ACADEMY 1 (Adeifeh 84p)

MELBOURNE DYNAMO 0

Jones penalty saved 73

Savage sent off (Foul & Abusive) 84

Goodband sent off (Foul & Abusive) 84

Att c25 at Bulwell Hall Park, Nottingham 

With Robyn and I meeting GroundhopUK’s Chris Berezai for a lunch and a chin-wag it was close to inevitable that we’d end up at a Central Midlands League game, it does pay to be attending the game with the fixture secretary. The issue the league has for next few weeks is which of their clubs’ grounds counts as a public space? Most of the leagues I’ve watched since Lockdown#3 that simply hasn’t an issue. There was absolutely no question though of Bulwell Hall Park in Nottingham being anything other than public land. Continue reading →