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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: North West Counties League

If You Want Bloods You Got It

30 Sunday Mar 2025

Posted by laurencereade in D

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

butchers arms, Darwen, Droylsden, Football, groundhoppers, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, news, Non League, North West Counties League, Saxon Mill, soccer, Sports

Sunday 2nd March 2025 ko 14:30

North West Counties League Division One North

DROYLSDEN 3 (Kasali 11 Kattah 27 Van 49)

DARWEN 2 (Bailey 3 Severino 49)

Att 1,184

Entry £6

Programme £2

On one level it was fairly predictable that this game, the last of this year’s North West Counties League Hop would see a huge crowd but perhaps not this large! You could easily argue it was caused by a former National League Premier side facing off against a former Football League one. There were a few nuances though.

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Purple Heys

25 Tuesday Mar 2025

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Abbey Hey, Abbey Stadium, Football, Goredale Avenue, Gorton, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Manchester, Max Bardsley Rowe, Non League, North West Counties League, Premier League, Prestwich Heys, Sports

Sunday 2nd March 2025 ko 11:30

North West Counties League Premier Division

ABBEY HEY 0

PRESTWICH HEYS 0

Bardsley-Rowe penalty saved 81

Bardsley-Rowe sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 610

Entry £7

Programme £2.50

For Sunday’s fixtures on the North West Counties Hop we returned to suburban Manchester and a club who in my eyes we owed a game to. Abbey Hey had been the visitors at Stafford Town, Wythenshawe Town and even featured on the very first NWCL Hop at Maine Road. That was on 2017, so no withstanding the break due to Covid, Abbey Hey were certainly due!

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The History

23 Sunday Mar 2025

Posted by laurencereade in G

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Tags

Football, Football League, glossop, Glossop North End, groundhop, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, news, Non League, North Road, North West Counties League, NWCL, Premier League, soccer, Sports, Surrey Street, West Didsbury and Chorlton

Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 19:30

North West Counties League- Premier Division

GLOSSOP NORTH END 0

WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON 2 (Banister 60 Bass 81)

Lazenbury penalty saved 17

Att 830

Entry £10

Programme £2

If the North West Counties Hop was going to New Mills then it was close to inevitable that we’d pair them with Glossop North End as the “High Peak Twins.” But with all due respect to New Mills they were never a Football League club…

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The Shawcross Redemption

18 Tuesday Mar 2025

Posted by laurencereade in N

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Cheadle Heath Nomads, Church Lane, Football, groundhoppers, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Non League, North West Counties League, NWCL, Sports, Swizzels

Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 16:45

North West Counties League First Division South

NEW MILLS AFC 2 (Woods 13 Pavley 19)

Shawcross penalty saved 7

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 0

Att 558

Entry £6

Programme £2.50

We moved from Manchester’s environs for the last two games of Saturday’s North West Counties Hop. The scene moved from the urban to the countryside of the Derbyshire High Peak, as we approached New Mills.

The town was built around coal, spinning and calico printing, and was also a centre for Methodism. That fact partly explains why sweet manufacturer Swizzels Matlow are based here, taking over an old mill in 1940 and sweet treats such as Refreshers and Parma Violets are still produced in New Mills today. Confectionery and Methodism do seem to go hand in hand, Fry Club in Keynsham and Cadbury Athletic in Bourneville are other examples.

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The Alternate Revisit

17 Monday Mar 2025

Posted by laurencereade in S

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cheadle Town, Football, groundhop, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Non League, North West Counties League, NWCL, Stockport Sports, Stockport Sports Village, Woodley Sports

Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 13:45 (but delayed to 13:55)

North West Counties League Premier Division

STOCKPORT TOWN 0

Schofield sent off (DOGSO) 26

CHEADLE TOWN 1 (Delaney 15p)

Att 435

Entry £6

Programme £2

For me and a few others a trip to Stockport Sports Village represented something slightly unusual. Back in 2010 I’d paid the place a visit on a cold December day to watch the hosts play Cammel Laird. The catch is it wasn’t Stockport Town! Woodley Sports used the ground, later to be Stockport Sports, but they folded in 2015, in no small part to Stockport County’s own financial troubles.

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The Feast of George

12 Wednesday Mar 2025

Posted by laurencereade in S

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Chris Berezai, Cromley Road, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Non League, North West Counties League, NWCFL, Sandbach United, Stockport Georgians

Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 11:00

North West Counties League-Division One

STOCKPORT GEORGIANS 3 (Wych 48 McFadyen 65 81p)

SANDBACH UNITED 1 (Greenop 52)

Att 532

Entry £5

Programme £2

Part of me wished we were in Wales, it was St David’s Day after all, and GroundhopUK owner Chris Berezai is Welsh after all. But it wasn’t Chris that was given daffodils over breakfast in Bolton, no that was Robyn my wife! She’s from Bristol and the joke started when she visited Tirana and our friend Ditmar commented, “Bristol, isn’t that nearly in Wales?” That was 2 years ago and the joke has well and truly stuck..

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Rammy

04 Tuesday Mar 2025

Posted by laurencereade in R

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

East Lancs Railway, FC St Helens, Football, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Non League, North West Counties League, NWCFL, NWCL Hop, Ramsbottom United, Riverside Ground, soccer, Sport, Sports

Friday 28th February 2025 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Premier Division

RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 2 (Whyte 48 Hoyle 56)

FC ST HELENS 3 (Barker 59 Spiers 74 90+1)

Att 551

Entry £9

Programme £2

So back on GroundhopUK duty and despite this being, I believe, the only hop game ever to have taken place in February I was comfortable with what we were doing, and although noone mentioned it, the weather forecast looked kind.

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More Than

24 Sunday Mar 2024

Posted by laurencereade in C

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Charnock Richard, Chris Berezai, Football, groundhoppers, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Mossie Park, Non League, North West Counties League, NWCFL, Skelmersdale United, Skem

Sunday 3rd March 2024 ko 14:30

North West Counties League Premier Division

CHARNOCK RICHARD 7 (Power 6 Bibby 33 Nickeas 45 57 64 Davies 74p Spinelli 87)

SKELMERSDALE UNITED 1 (Rodrigues 89)

Att 534

Entry £6

Programme £2

I’m sure my regular reader is aware of how my version of groundhoppers’ O.C.D. shows itself, I tend to make a beeline for clubs I regularly see on road signs. Well, that must go double for a motorway service station mustn’t it? Clearly, I’m not the only one who’s thought that, as virtually the first thing I saw as I walked into Mossie Park was a banner with the legend,” Charnock Richard, more than a service station!”

Quite right, and I hope the hop visit helped in that way. Certainly the club’s hosting helped!

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Ex

19 Tuesday Mar 2024

Posted by laurencereade in E

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Darwen, Euxton Villa, Football, groundhop, groundhoppers, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Jim Fowler Memorial Ground, Non League, North West Counties League

Sunday 3rd March 2024 ko 11:45

North West Counties League Division One North

EUXTON VILLA 3 (Singleton 24 63 Briggs 37)

DARWEN 0

Att 618

Entry £5

Programme £2

Sunday dawned in Blackpool and I had two reasons to marvel. The first was the Savoy Hotel’s ability to shift legions of the various coach parties staying there through a buffet breakfast, whilst maintaining the piles of bacon, sausages and so on. The second was relevant only to the GroundhopUK party- we still had two matches to watch.

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Elegance

08 Friday Mar 2024

Posted by laurencereade in L

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Chris Berezai, Football, groundhoppers, groundhopping, GroundhopUK, Longridge Town, Non League, North West Counties League, NWCFL, Padiham

Saturday 2nd March 2024 ko 11:00

North West Counties League Premier Division

LONGRIDGE TOWN 2 (Homson-Smith 20 Marshall 45)

PADIHAM 3 (Price 27 Brownhill 37 James 79)

Att 438

Entry £7

Programme £2

It was odd having the hop base in Blackpool, way out of season. We were staying on the seafront at the grandly named Savoy Hotel. It was superlatively convenient, the car park was large, there was a tram stop by the entrance and the name was impressive enough for Robyn to wonder what sort deal GroundhopUK had managed to get?

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  • Damage In The Box Chris Powell’s travels across the UK and Europe. The artist must frequently seen in the pub 0
  • Emma's Ground Guide Emma and Max are a groundhopping couple based in Newark, exploring grounds in the area. 0
  • FA Cup Factfile Phil Annets on all things to do with the World’s greatest cup competition 10
  • Football Club History Database Want to know where a club finished in what league and in what year? Richard Rundle’s site is a veritable goldmine! 0
  • Football Hopper “Fast” Eddie McGeown’s erudite perambulations around the nation’s football grounds 0
  • Groundhopping.se Per-Gunnar Nilsson’s trips around his native Sweden, and into Europe 0
  • Grounds for concern The late Mishi Morath’s picture blog. Obviously no longer updated but still a wonderful archive. 0
  • Modus Hopper Random Graham Yapp’s travels 0
  • Swedish Football History & Statistics Mats Nyström’s curates this site, which does exactly what you’d expect 0
  • The 100 Grounds Club Shaun Smith’s groundhopping football blog. The original internet ground logging website. 0
  • The Football Traveller The bible for every groundhopper. Non-League fixtures magazine delivered weekly. Published and edited by Chris Bedford 0
  • The Itinerant Football Watcher Peter finds the grounds other hoppers cannot reach. Top bloke too! 0
  • The66POW Rob Waite’s travels 0

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