Tag Archives: North Berkshire League

Deer

03 Tuesday Jan 2023

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Saturday 5th November 2022 ko 14:00

North Berkshire League Division One

FRILSHAM & YATTENDON 1 (Johnson 61)

STEVENTON 4 (D Burgess 27 33 McKenzie 80 Craft 90)

Att c10

Free Entry

Over the years since the last North Berkshire Hop I’ve made the effort to visit the clubs that for one reason or another the event didn’t get to visit. There was Cholsey whose ground wasn’t in use, and Grove, on their normal ground, but the game proved to be their last. With Frilsham & Yattendon, the reason for the hop not visiting, was that they weren’t in the league. That’s a source of regret to me, as what a wonderful ground it is.  Continue reading →

Steve & Pete

05 Tuesday Jul 2022

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Saturday 14th May 2022 ko 14:30

North Berkshire Cup Final

DRAYTON 3 (Jacks 7 Dennis 16 25)

EAST HENDRED 0

Att 489 at Abingdon United FC

Entry & Programme £5

So from the Witney League’s  league finale, it was the chance to head east for the North Berkshire League’s own final bow. I am, of course still on the NBFL’s committee, and will be while they think I can add something as their token “Outsider!” As with any league’s major final it’s all hands to the pump so I found myself manning a gate in the warm sunshine with plenty to look forward to. Continue reading →

The Mousetrap

26 Friday Nov 2021

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Saturday 13th November 2021 ko 14:00

Berks & Bucks Intermediate “Charles Twelftrees” Trophy 1st Round

CHOLSEY UNITED 1 (Spruyt 40)

READING YMCA 1 (Adams 22)

No extra time, YMCA won 3-2 on penalties

Att c30

Free Entry

Its funny how things work out. I knew in the morning I was going to be at the GP’s having a jab and that conveniently ended up being a vaccine in either arm. So I had no intention of travelling far, and as if by serendipity I received a message from Rob Tyler inviting me to watch Cholsey. We go back longer than either of us would like to remember, veterans of club coach travel to Oxford United away games during the start of our slide down the leagues. It means we both completed a fair chunk of the 92 without really trying but these days he’s on committee at North Berkshire League outfit Cholsey United. Continue reading →

The Decider

03 Thursday Jun 2021

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Sunday 30th May 2021 ko 10:30

Upper Thames Valley Sunday League

CHILTON BLUE & WHITES 2 (Carrigan 27 A Stevens 31p)

GREATER LEYS YELLOWS 3 (Smith 10 Ludlow 13p Harvey 90)

Att c50 at Atomic Energy Research Engineering (South) Ground, Chilton, near Harwell

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Some games you attend due to friendship, some you attend to visit a new ground, while others you find yourself watching purely because there’s something riding on the result. Oddly, in the end this one ended up being all three!

The root of it all was Chilton’s win at Tackley United a week earlier which set up a straight shootout with Greater Leys Yellows for the title in the final game of the season. A draw would see Greater Leys take the title, but Chilton would have home advantage. Chilton sent me details of where their ground is and I took it as being the former Harwell International Ground that was featured on the final North Berkshire League Hop. Life wasn’t to be as straightforward as that though! 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

Free Entry

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 actually 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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The Owls Revisited

26 Monday Apr 2021

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Tuesday 20th April 2021 ko 18.30

North Berkshire League Division One
EAST HENDRED 4 (Parrott 5p 9p L Eltham 59 B Eltham 82)

HAGBOURNE UNITED 3 (Smith 25secs 67 MacDonald 79)

Att 26 at Mill Lane, East Hendred

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My attendance here was due to one thing really, Hendred chairman Steve Mulford invited me! Most will remember the club from their beautifully presented game on the 2015 North Berkshire League hop, the club managing to produce of all things, an Owl display and a quite amazing array of food and drink. It is a matter of regret that I hadn’t been back since.

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The Duck Pond

28 Friday Aug 2020

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Thursday 20th August 2020 ko 18.30

Friendly

CHILDREY FC 5 (James 6p Triallist 23 28 Burgess 35 Austin 75)

KINGSCLERE 3 (Foster 52 Sopp 57 Murtagh 70)

Att 39 at The Mallards Nest, Froud’s Close, Childrey OX12 9NT

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If you were to ask me what the quintessential North Berkshire League village ground would look like, I’d have always said Childrey, even if the village didn’t have a football club from 2013 to 2020. The village, just outside of Wantage lies alongside the likes of Challow and Letcombe who either have or currently stage North Berkshire League football. Continue reading →

Station’s End

20 Thursday Aug 2020

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Tuesday 11th August 2020 ko 19.00

Friendly

WATLINGTON TOWN 0

ARDLEY UNITED DEVELOPMENT 2 (Casbierd 15 Hollister 84)

Att c20

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When the North Berkshire League Hops ended at Appleton in 2017, there was one club that unquestionably missed out, and that was Watlington Town. When I tried to put together the 2018 edition all the other clubs that were left for us to visit either couldn’t host, didn’t want to, or in one instance complained that neither Phil Annets nor I hadn’t asked them to be on the very first hop! Continue reading →

Coda

08 Wednesday Apr 2020

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Saturday 14th March 2020 ko 13.30

Oxfordshire FA Intermediate Cup Semi-Final

HEYFORD ATHLETIC 1 (Roberts 78)

BERINSFIELD 0

Att 52

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You could sense that the walls were closing in. The Coronavirus pandemic had seen the Premier League, EFL and all three Step 3 leagues shut down to allow for social distancing. The National League had fudged making a decision and it seemed that the FA had yet to make a decision on local football. They’d left it to individual leagues to make up their minds what to do, and that produced the odd situation that the North Berkshire League had cancelled their games, but ended up seeing one of their clubs, Berinsfield still end up playing! Continue reading →

Life At The Grassroots

14 Friday Feb 2020

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Saturday 30th November 2019 ko 13.30

North Berkshire League Division 2

KINGSTON COLTS 0

LONG WITTENHAM ATHLETIC RESERVES 6 (Crowley 4 27 Bishop 9 24 Hunt 13 Barton 28)

Att 4 at Dalton Barracks, Shippon, near Abingdon

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The North Berkshire Hops may be over for now, and despite me being from Oxford I’ll always be a North Berkshire man. It’s a league that put their trust in me to organise a hop when many wouldn’t, and those who really know me knew that back in 2011 I was at a pretty low ebb. I remain on the league’s management committee and will probably do so while they feel I can be of some use to them. Being right at grass roots does give you an insight as to what life really is like at the bottom of the pile. Continue reading →