Tag Archives: Recreation Ground

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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Second Impressions

27 Thursday Dec 2018

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Saturday 24th November 2018 ko 13.30
Eastern Counties League- Division One North

HARLESTON TOWN 4 (Roberts 3 Stone 21 Imrie 69 Delaney 88)

FELIXSTOWE & WALTON UNITED RESERVES 2 (Lee 27 Hillyard 27)

Att c100

Entry & Programme £5

We turned right in to Harleston’s leisure centre car park from Wilderness Lane, and spotted two sets of players warming up on an unrailed pitch. Our collective hearts sank a little, I do like going back to basics every so often, try Headington Butchers for example, but I couldn’t even see a set of goals! Harleston are new to Step 6 for this season having won the Anglian Combination. With the Eastern Counties League expanding into 3 divisions for this year new clubs have been given 3 years to bring their grounds up to standard, but this looked extreme!

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Convenience

09 Monday Jul 2018

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Saturday 19th May 2018 ko 13.30

Welsh League Division Two

AMMANFORD AFC 1 (Frater 19p) Glendon sent off (dangerous play) 62

PONTYPRIDD TOWN 3 (Hooper 48 Boddard 57 Hillman 68)

Att c150

Entry & Programme £4

It seems a common theme of this season has been me stretching the concept of “its on the way home” to its extremes! Here the plan of action was to collect Robyn from a few days holiday in Weymouth, and I was tasked to find us a game between there and Oxford. Well, South Wales and one of the most westerly clubs in the Welsh League is close enough isn’t it? Continue reading →

The Forum

15 Thursday Mar 2018

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Saturday 10th March 2018 ko 15.00

Dorset Premier League

BLANDFORD UNITED 4 (Culliford 12 Linford 50 Ford 80 90)

WAREHAM RANGERS 1 (Collings 10)

Att c30

Entry- By Donation

Blandford Forum really is the quintessential market town. Even the suffix “Forum” is derived from the Latin word for market. Even in these busier, more connected times, you feel that if you’re visiting Weymouth, Dorchester or Blackmore Vale, you’ll pass through here. Continue reading →

Into The Light

16 Thursday Nov 2017

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Wednesday 18th October 2017 ko 19.45

Wiltshire Senior Cup- First Round

SHREWTON UNITED 0

CHIPPENHAM TOWN 7 (Ricketts 15 77 81 Richards 24 Smile 51 87 Bowman 54)

Att c115

Entry £5

When groundhoppers get deeper into the hobby they tend to realise that the number of floodlit grounds is far more finite than those without, so tend to go for unlit grounds on Saturdays and save the floodlit grounds for midweeks when the lights are in use. That throws up the unusual sub-set of grounds who have floodlights, but seldom use them. An extreme example of this is North Berkshire League club Uffington United who currently are the only club in their league to have lights, and have only used them twice, both times for games I’ve helped organise! Shrewton’s case is less extreme, as their lights are there as a legacy. Continue reading →

Sounds

02 Thursday Nov 2017

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Saturday 7th October 2017 ko 13.30

Western League Division One

RADSTOCK TOWN 1 (Gregory 21og)

OLDLAND ABBOTONIANS 0

Att 213

Entry & Programme £6

The two mile trip uphill to Radstock saw us still very much in coal mining country, albeit like Welton, a place where the mines have long since given way to trees and a far more gentle pace of life. I’d visited Radstock Town’s Southfields Recreation Ground three years ago and got to know committeeman Simon “Wurz” Wilkinson, mainly due to a mutual liking for playing punk band “Stiff Little Fingers” on the PA on a cold night. Little did I know that this time round the theme would be more “Pepe Le Pew”  than “Nobody’s Heroes?” Continue reading →

The Reverse Takeover

26 Thursday Oct 2017

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Friday 6th October 2017 ko 19.45

Western League Division One

ASHTON & BACKWELL UNITED 2 (Skidmore 40 57) Thomas sent off 83 (2nd Booking)

BISHOP SUTTON 1 (Rendell 73)

Att 225

Entry £6

Programmes £1

It seemed that Street FC’s Tannery Ground was a million miles away. We’d finished the 2016 Western Hop there, and as the game finished I’d wished the league’s General Secretary Mark Edmonds all the best for the rest of the season. His untimely death due to cancer in December hit us all hard, and this hop took place with the feeling that there was something missing. That’s no reflection on anyone or anything; Mark’s absence was keenly felt, and that will continue to be the case. Rest in peace my friend.  Continue reading →

The Ginger Tree

21 Thursday Sep 2017

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Sunday 27th August 2017 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance Division 2

CWMBACH ROYAL STARS 0

TYNTE ROVERS 1 (Richards 2)

Att 267

Entry £3

Programme £1

We left Penrhiwceiber and traveled up the Cynon Valley through the narrow streets of Abercwmboi (remember them from the 2005 hop?) then up the valley passing through Abersdare. From there we crossed both the railway and the River Cynon to the pit village of Cwmbach. Continue reading →

Sunday Morning Coming Down

01 Thursday Dec 2016

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Sunday 27th November 2016 ko 10.30

Long Eaton Sunday League Premier Division

ATTENBOROUGH CAV’S 4 (Brady 22 Beaton 41 Ford 66 73)

LONG EATON T.N.I. 2 (17, 86p)

Att 15 at Beeston Fields Recreation Ground

Entry FREE

I completely understand why some groundhoppers won’t watch Sunday League football, it is a slightly different animal to the normal Saturday league action. The pace of life is more relaxed, you’re unlikely to see a stand or even a rail, and the variance of players’ talent is often huge across a team. But once you accept that there’s so much to enjoy. Continue reading →

Malaprop

26 Wednesday Oct 2016

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Tuesday 11th October 2016 ko 19.30

Kent County League Division One West

OTFORD UNITED 1 (Duff 45)

HALSTEAD UNITED 1 (Spears 11)

Att 36

Entry FREE

No Programme

Even if the names hint at League 1 and the Eastern Counties League surely noone could mistake Otford for anything other than the Kentish town near Sevenoaks? The ground is rather intriguing, set as it is at the back of Otford Recreation Ground, but why does a club playing at the 8th level of non-league football in England have floodlights? Continue reading →