Tag Archives: Non League

The Old Paludians

15 Wednesday May 2019

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Tuesday 9th April 2019 ko 18.30

Hellenic League Division 2 East

TAPLOW UNITED 2 (Hill 23 Murtagh 27)

STOKENCHURCH 3 (Holgate 22 Blesson 69 C Baumohl 70)

Att 5

Free Entry

When I first started groundhopping 15-odd years ago the Step 6 Hellenic Division ONE east looked a lot like this. I remember visiting the likes of Englefield Green Rovers and Eton Wick and seeing grounds with little more than a pitchside rail. You can imagine my surprise when the Central Midlands League Hops started. That league was at Step 7 yet the grounds all seemed to have stands…. Continue reading →

Carry On Up the Ceiber

13 Monday May 2019

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Saturday 6th April 2019 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division 3

PENRHIWCEIBER RANGERS 3 (Carter 6 Davies 31 Morgan 39)

TREDEGAR TOWN 2 (Hillman 8 Cullinane 46)

Herring sent off 90 (dangerous play)

Att c50

Entry £3

Programme 50p

The drive up to the Mountain Ash area from just beyond Pontypridd is one of my favourites in the South Wales Valleys. Part of the reason why it is the sense of history about the area, and my own memories of so many games and clubs visited in the area. It’s got to a point where if I see a mining village I wonder why I haven’t seen a game there yet! Then there’s the switch-back narrow roads and the seeming endless rows of terraced cottages, this is a part of the world where you do have to concentrate when driving! Continue reading →

The Last Post

08 Wednesday May 2019

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Tuesday 2nd April 2019 ko 18.15

Banbury Charity Cup 2nd Round

BODICOTE SPORTS 3 (Reeves 37 81p Kiss 83)

CHASEWELL PARK 3 (Robertson 43p Beales 52 Harding 64)

Bodicote won 5-4 on penalties (No extra time)

Att c20

Entry FREE

In groundhopper parlance the last part of the season when the clocks go forward and clubs without floodlights can play evening fixtures is known as “Silly Season.” It sounds like a pejorative term, but isn’t meant to be, it refers to the ability to watch leagues you can’t do midweek in the winter. By reputation it evokes summer evenings, watching a game in pleasant rural surroundings in your shirtsleeves. I allowed myself a grim smile as the sleet lashed against my car’s windscreen as I headed the 20-or-so miles north.

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The Cuddy

07 Tuesday May 2019

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Sunday 31st March 2019 ko 12.30

East of Scotland League Conference A

PEEBLES ROVERS 1 (Lindsay 72)

NEWTONGRANGE STAR 3 (Jamieson 13 Scott 40 Porteous 78)

Att 288

Entry £5

Programme £1

With the Scottish Hop coach full I found myself driving from our base in East Kilbride to the event’s final destination in Peebles. It wasn’t a quick drive once I’d left the M74, but the rolling hills of the Borders and the roads’ sweeping bends made for a enthralling journey. It was time to reflect on how this game should have taken place on last year’s hop, the cold and snow saw the game, also scheduled for Sunday lunchtime postponed. I pulled into the rugby club car park, and pondered on how many fewer people would have attended the game last year given the lousy conditions? Continue reading →

The West Lothian Question

29 Monday Apr 2019

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Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 17.15

East of Scotland League Conference C

BLACKBURN UNITED 4 (Downie 1p 4 65 Browne 81)

PRESTON ATHLETIC 1 (McFarlane 77)

Att 328

Entry £6

Programme £2

I smiled when I heard the groundhoppers’ joke, yes Blackburn vs Preston could so easily be an English Championship game in Lancashire rather than a Scottish non-league fixture in West Lothian. That Lancs/Lothians connection wasn’t lost on former MP Tam Dalyell who in 1977 used the two towns to illustrate a situation after Scottish devolution where Scottish MPs could vote on English affairs, but not vice versa. Continue reading →

The Inland Mariners

24 Wednesday Apr 2019

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Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 11.00

East of Scotland League Conference C

CAMELON JUNIORS 5 (McKenzie 8 43 46 Sneddon 10 25)

EDINBURGH UNITED 1 (Auriemma 40p)

Att 356

Entry £6

Programme £2

The biggest mistake you can make round these parts is to describe Camelon as being part of Falkirk. As any local will tell you the two places are separate even if you do pass the Falkirk Wheel as you arrive, and one town does rather run into the other! But as we approached Carmuirs Park I felt more anticipation than perhaps any other ground on this year’s Scottish Hop. Oddly that was in part because I’d been here before…. Continue reading →

Reviver

14 Sunday Apr 2019

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Tuesday 26th March 2019 ko 19.45

Hellenic League Division One East

ABINGDON TOWN 3 (M James 12 83 J James 45)

MILTON UNITED 2 (Powell 13 69) Beech sent off 90 (2nd Booking)

Att 50

Entry & Programme £5

It all felt like a catch-up. I’d watched Abingdon Town play the final game of the North Berkshire League’s 2015/6 season, and I remember leaving Culham Road worrying for their future. I always got on with their chairman Tom Larman, but the club’s problems seemed too deep-seated for Tom to cope with on his own. The club failed to even register with the Berks & Bucks FA for the next season, and when Tom died a few months later it seemed that the area’s oldest club had been lost. Continue reading →

Where

11 Thursday Apr 2019

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Tuesday 19th March 2019 ko 20.00

Hertfordshire Senior County League – Premier Division

WARE SPORTS 3 (Brown 46 76 Ellis 73)

CUFFLEY 1 (Brennan 38)

Att 23 at 3G caged pitch, Wodson Park Sports Centre, Ware.

Entry FREE

I really didn’t expect to return to Ware, and let’s face it, if you’ve ticked off a fair amount of the Spartan South Midlands League then you’ll have seen plenty of Tesco’s flagship store in Cheshunt and the former News Internation plant close to the M25. The standard line is that Ware FC play at one end of the Wodson Park Sports Centre in a purpose-built stadium, Wodson Park play in the athletics stadium next door, but where are Ware Sports? Continue reading →

The Wire

08 Monday Apr 2019

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Sunday 10th March 2019 ko 11.00

North West Counties League Division One South

RYLANDS 3 (Boothman 5 45 White 86)

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 5 (Green 10 27p Herbert 36 Harrison 68 Simpson 71)

Att 319

Entry £4

Programme £2

The final day of the hop was defined by the weather from start to finish. From the moment I glanced through the curtains at the Holiday Inn in Warrington to the moment I did the final drop-offs at Crewe station I wondered whether I’d be rained, sleeted or hailed on. At times it felt like all three simultaneously! It was one of those days where on arrival at the ground, the coach party takes it’s time to get off… why be in a rush to get cold and wet? Continue reading →

Bert

04 Thursday Apr 2019

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Saturday 9th March 2019 ko 19.45

North-West Counties League Division One North

ST HELENS TOWN 1 (Diggle 49)

GARSTANG 3 (Coar 12 Sailor 60 Hothersall 75)

Att 292

Entry £5

Programme £2

One of the advantages of the day’s first 3 games all being so close together was that I still felt reasonably fresh as the coach pulled into the wide expanse of the Ruskin Drive Sports Ground. As with Lower Breck and Litherland Remyca earlier we’d be visiting a ground new to the league, but here was a club with a long history of membership. Continue reading →