Tag Archives: Non League

The Two Fences

25 Monday Sep 2017

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Monday 28th August 2017 ko 11.00

South Wales Alliance Division One

COGAN CORONATION 0 Boulton sent off 71 (2nd Booking)

AFC WHITCHURCH 6 (Bould 11 Spencer 27 Woodman 49 Fry 54 90 Brazier 74p)

Att 227

Entry £3

Programme £1

Monday dawned, and I half-showered, half used the warm water to breath life into my tired legs. Just the 3 games left, in what has become something of a tradition, Cardiff Monday, scheduled for a coach drop after the final game at Cardiff Central Railway Station. I found myself wondering why I and others were so tired after 7 games when at Maine Road we’d felt more sprightly after 10? Continue reading →

That View

14 Thursday Sep 2017

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Saturday 26th August 2017 ko 15.45

South Wales Alliance Division Two

PENRHIWFER 0 Weston missed penalty 47

BLAENRHONDDA 2 (Jones 40 73)

Att 225

Entry £3

Programme £1

Over the years the Welsh Hop has spent in South Wales we’ve seen the lot. You’ve got basic grounds like Cefn Cribwr and you’ve got the plain jaw-dropping like Garw. We visited the equally wonderful Blaenrhondda back in the day and Chris Berezai and I are contemplating a revisit there next time round. But the QE2 Field in Penrhiwfer is one I feel that really ought to be thought of in the same terms. The catch is you’ll get sore legs seeing it from the best possible perspective.  Continue reading →

Boys & Girls

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

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Saturday 26th August 2017 ko 13.45

South Wales Alliance Division One

TONYREFAIL B.G.C. 2 (T Davies 68p K Davies 90)

CEFN CRIBWR BOYS CLUB 3 (Harris 4 30 Davies 76)

Att 283

Entry £3

Programme £1

It was a short trip down the hill to Tonyrefail, but to one or two on the coaches it was a long-standing revisit of sorts. 14 years ago GroundhopUK had visited Tonyrefail Welfare, but that club is now plying it’s trade in the Rhondda League. But I digress, this year’s visit to the mining town was a trip that reinforced completely the view of when a well-presented groundhop game allows a club and fans to see each other in the best possible light.  Continue reading →

Rubber Sheet Geometry

31 Thursday Aug 2017

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Friday 18th August 2017 ko 19.45

Wessex League Cup 2nd Round

BEMERTON HEATH HARLEQUINS 0

HAMBLE CLUB 4 (Magookin 2 S Wilson 6 Byrne 14 Lynch 47)

Att 71

Entry £6

No Programme

I remember as an 11 year old my maths teacher introducing the concept of rubber sheet geometry. Topology to use its correct term is the idea that by distorting distance or shape you may simplify its depiction. The London Underground map is a classic example, but groundhoppers do tend to use their own version, and this game rather proved the point. Continue reading →

The Lane

21 Monday Aug 2017

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Monday 7th August 2017 ko 19.45

National League- South Division

HUNGERFORD TOWN 2 (Willmoth 45 Williams 52)

WESTON SUPER MARE 0

Att 370

Entry £12

Programme £2

Maybe it’s my age but I still find it hard to frame the pretty market town of Hungerford in any other way than what the residents call “The Tragedy” when almost exactly 30 years ago a lone gunman killed 16 here, including two in Bulpit Lane. I’m not sure how a town manages to build an identity after such an event, but somehow there’s something vibrant about Hungerford Town. Continue reading →

The Itch

18 Friday Aug 2017

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Thursday 3rd August 2017 ko 18.45

Pre-season friendly

FC ASCOT 9 (6 12 16 29 34 41 50 60 72)

BRIZE NORTON 2 (80 82)

Att c10 at Tanners Lane, Burford

To be a groundhopper you do need a large dose of OCD, and I’ll leave you to judge whether that’s in any way healthy. Some worry about what counts as a suitable game, some as to whether there’s a programme and one or two obsess about whether a goal is scored, they can’t count the ground as visited if it finishes nil-nil! ( I know….) But my little bit of OCD is different…… Continue reading →

Beer Drinkers

04 Friday Aug 2017

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Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 13.45

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

MOULTON HARROX 3 (Parry 6 Watkin 26 Woods 42)

SUTTON BRIDGE UNITED 0

Att 280

Entry £4

Programme £1

You got a sense of divergence as the crowd left Holbeach. Some headed for Deeping, some for Fakenham and others March Town. The destinations all had one thing in common, they all were grounds at Step 6 or above, or putting it another way the kind of grounds that if we’d have made the hop an exclusively UCL event, would not have seen hoppers on anything like the scale that happened here. Whilst I understand their reasons, there is a point of view that doesn’t deal with life at Step 7 or below; it would have been lovely to have seen them try the delights of Moulton Harrox and Spalding Town, there were were strong reasons for optimism. Continue reading →

The Prime Meridian

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

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Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 10.45

United Counties League Premier Division

HOLBEACH UNITED 6 (Bird 14 53 Leckie 18 Jackson 56 Sanders 83 Davies 85)

SLEAFORD TOWN 0

Att 333

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

From our base in Peterborough coach driver Dwayne set sail north-east heading into East Anglia in general and more specifically the Fenlands. The topography flattened out considerably, Holbeach has a coastal suffix with good reason, it used to be only 2 miles from the sea, and it’s area South Holland, a good hint as to who drained the land!  Continue reading →

Near to the site that was

06 Thursday Jul 2017

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Tuesday 4th July 2017 ko 19.00

Preseason Friendly

LYNE F.C. 2 (Esperit 6 Holly 62)

COBHAM 3 (Ewam 37 Anderson 69 80) Davies missed penalty 12

Att c20

Entry FREE

It is the lot of the groundhopper that you look through the endless lists of fixtures, and  try to find something that interests, and you can get to. I’ll admit, I’d not heard of Lyne FC, I supposed they’d have to be in and around Surrey judging by Cobham being the opposition. I’m grateful to Lyne, they have both an excellent website and twitter feed, and it turned out there were no end of reasons to pay them a visit.  Continue reading →

The Hidden Gem

09 Friday Jun 2017

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Sunday 14th May 2017 ko 15.00

North Devon League- Senior Division

COMBE MARTIN 3 (Taylor 6 Z Humphries 25 32)

STRATTON UNITED 0

Att 24

Free Entry

There are no end of hoppers who simply wouldn’t have discovered this little gem. Why I hear you ask? The North Devon’s second tier nominally slots in at the 9th step of non-league and so many hoppers’ radars won’t register below Step 6. Their loss…… Continue reading →