Tag Archives: Non League

Fiveways

19 Monday Apr 2021

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Saturday 17th April 2021 ko 13.00

Cambridgeshire County League Junior Cup Group F

BARTON MILLS 2 (Walker 45 Sheehan 85p)

missed penalty 71

THE EAGLE (ELY) 3 (Pekala 29 31 Wojtowitz 60)

Att 13 at Barton Mills Village Green 

Entry FREE

For the worst of reasons there were no end of opportunities to watch two games this Saturday. With the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh scheduled for 3pm clubs were advised by the FA to play their games in such a way as to avoid clashing with it. Many leagues opted for a blanket approach with all games starting simultaneously, but an exception was the Cambridgeshire County League where a significant minority of clubs opted for later kick-offs. Continue reading →

Returns

15 Thursday Apr 2021

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Saturday 10th April 2021 ko 15.00

North Bucks & District League – Premier

TOWCESTER TOWN 5 ( Parker 9p Dixon 70 72 Kirby 82 85)

CITY COLTS 2 (16 37)

Att c25 at Islington Road, Towcester

Free Entry

I’m not sure why, but Lockdown Mark 3 seemed to have more of an impact on me than the other two. There was the salve of the UK’s successful vaccination programme which at least gave us some light at the end of the tunnel and it was gratifying to see news of so many of the hopping fraternity receiving their first jabs. Nevertheless I was saddened to hear of the death of Hull-based hopper Phil Grayson from Covid-19 during this period of lockdown- it showed that while we are heading in the right direction, we are still a long way from having this accursed virus beaten. Continue reading →

That Mad May

23 Tuesday Mar 2021

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Monday 7th May 2007 ko 11.30

Combined Counties League Division One

CB HOUNSLOW UNITED 0

WORCESTER PARK 3 (Kennedy 7p 88p Farley 45)

Att c40

Entry FREE

Programme £1

If “Silly Season” in 2007 was about anything, it was about the lower division of the Combined Counties. If you didn’t know the term is used to describe that time at the end of the season when unlit evening games are possible, usually with a 18.30 kick off time. Back then the majority of the Combined Counties Division One clubs had no floodlights, and after multiple postponements during a wet winter the league extended their season, and scheduled a series of evening, and early kick-offs.

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Roofer Madness

11 Thursday Feb 2021

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Saturday 19th January 2008 ko 15.00

Northern League Division One

JARROW ROOFING BOLDON COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 4 (J Gibson 3 Tate 43 Hutchinson 70 Logan 74)

TOW LAW TOWN 0

Att 67

Entry £4

Programme £1

So if I were to tell you I watched Jarrow Roofing FC back in the day presumably you’d assume that  I was visiting Jarrow? And let’s face it, 99 times out of a 100 that logic would be correct, but Jarrow Roofing never did quite fit in.  The fact of the matter is that 13 years ago I was heading to Boldon Colliery near Sunderland, and yes and it may be only 3-and-a-half miles between the two places but the distance between the two wasn’t a matter of semantics.

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Brecknock

06 Saturday Feb 2021

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Sunday 18th February 2007 ko 14.00

Welsh League Division 3

YSTRADGYNLAIS 3 (Hopkins 37p Maggs 82 86)

CWMBRAN CELTIC 3 (Williamson 9 32 Cheedy 16)

Att 47

Entry & Programme £2

When I put together these articles, I tend to ask myself the same question and that’s “Why would someone visit here?” but in this case I think there are two more pressing things to answer! The first and please forgive the mauling of the Welsh language is “Ustra-Gun-Lice” the name means ‘Vale of the river Cynlais’ these days the River Tawe, which gives Abertawe, or Swansea its name. That tells you a little of your second question, the town is roughly 16 miles north west of Swansea.

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The Late Hamlet

02 Tuesday Feb 2021

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Friday 2nd February 2007 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One

HAVERHILL ROVERS 2 (Heller 51 Abbott 88)

ELY CITY 2 (Johnston 41 Warren 90)

Att c200

Entry £3.50

Programme £1

I must admit I hadn’t realised this was one of the Eastern Counties League’s regular Friday night fixtures until I started to put this together! Its odd how a game 14 years ago was a portent of things to come! But here the reason for being at Hamlet Croft was straightforward, the ground was due for demolition, so that probably had something to do with why there was a bumper crowd. Continue reading →

The Kings Arms

28 Thursday Jan 2021

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Wednesday 8th October 2008 ko 19.45

Midland Combination Premier Division

MEIR K.A. 4 (Baker 7 Mizkeil 15 Barrass 18 Coulston 66)

BROCTON 3 (Wylde 24 McLeod 37 McMahon 76)

Att 95 at Kings Park, Meir Heath

Entry £5

Programme £1

Memories are strange things- the two details I remember most about visiting Kings Park was that the Sat Nav failed completely just after collecting GroundhopUK’s Chris Berezai at Castle Donington, and the cover behind the goal at the ground once saw service at Alton Towers- it sheltered the platform at the miniature railway! Other than that I wonder how on earth we got there, this was before the days of reliable mobile data and maps, and yet somehow we made kickoff- maybe groundhopper sixth sense does exist. Continue reading →

The Percy Point

11 Monday Jan 2021

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Saturday 24th January 2009 ko 11.00

Northern Alliance First Division

PERCY MAIN AMATEURS 2 (Betts 46 McEnaney 72)

GOSFORTH BOHEMIANS GARNETT 2 (Atkin 22 73)

Att 61

Entry £1

Programme 50p

If a small football club’s management is reading this and wants a one-off financial boost they could do worse than read this- with the one caveat being don’t try this if your club will be on an organised hop in the near future. Because even after 11 years after the event the adage still holds true- kick off at a weird time and do programme and you will attract groundhoppers. Continue reading →

The Secret Santa

29 Tuesday Dec 2020

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Saturday 19th December 2020 ko 15.00

Hellenic League Division One East

LONG CRENDON 1 (Warwick 54)

WALLINGFORD TOWN 2 (Dean 43 Silkstone 85)

Att 36 at Oxford City FC

Entry £5

No Programme

You could say I was at this game because of Santa Claus! As you may know I’m part of a pub quiz team based at the Masons Arms in Oxford. Each Christmas we have a meal out at a local gastro-pub and exchange gifts in a “Secret Santa” arrangement. Covid of course had meant that meal out was impossible, but we decided to do the Secret Santa gift exchange, and I offered to play Santa for the afternoon and do the collections and deliveries from the doorsteps of our homes. The idea was afterwards to go and watch either of two Oxfordshire Senior League games. The first was Bicester-based Bure Park with Oxford Irish (based at Rose Hill Community Centre) as back-up. Both were 2pm kickoffs. 

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Portmanteau

27 Sunday Dec 2020

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Monday 14th December 2020 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Division One South

FRENFORD 2 (Forbes 4 Fairhead 88)

Heatley penalty saved 52

ATHLETIC NEWHAM 2 (Idemudia 9 Kone 90p)

Kone sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 87

Entry £4

Programme £1

Monday night football will always attract the groundhoppers, and a club new to Step 6 will do so still further. Here though there was the added thought of exactly which league I was watching. In 2018 the Eastern Senior was created as a Step 6 league to feed the Essex Senior as a joint venture between that league and the Eastern Counties. It seemed to me that the league became rapidly swallowed up by the Eastern Counties League, and has become their Division One South. Now I’m not that worried by the nomenclature, but does anyone have a definitive answer? Continue reading →