Tag Archives: soccer

Persistence

30 Monday Mar 2026

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Wednesday 31st December 2025 ko 12:30

Cymru North

PENRHYNCOCH 1 (Owen 86)

RUTHIN TOWN 1 (Holland 24)

Att 140 at Cae Baker, Penrhyn-coch

Entry £7

Programme online/downloadable

For those of you that ask, yes I do question my sanity, and driving as I was, on New Year’s Eve through Snowdonia with the temperature dropping alarmingly as I climbed the mountains. It got to point where I drove through Troedyrallt and so white was the scene outside that I couldn’t imagine that the game was still on. But I was committed, 3 hours in to my drive from Oxford, with no alternate game to divert to.

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The Marches

17 Tuesday Mar 2026

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Tuesday 16th December 2025 ko 19:45

North West Counties League Division One South

SHAWBURY UNITED 1 (Sowe 76)

TELFORD TOWN 3 (Greer 53 70 Hesson 55)

Att 162

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

In all walks of life it pays to be adaptable, and that goes double if you’re trying to watch non league football in December in the wet! Oddly I was fortunate, I was heading to Allscott Heath near Wolverhampton but got caught in traffic. Since I was stationary I checked Twitter and soon found my choice of game had fallen to a waterlogged pitch. No matter, I had plan B….

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Largesse

10 Tuesday Mar 2026

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Tuesday 9th December 2025 kp 19:00

Premier League International Cup Group B

LEICESTER CITY U21 2 (Carr 63 Otchere 73)

FC NORDSJAELLAND U21 2 (Seidu 57 Johannsson 90+4)

Att 81 at LCFC Training Ground, Seagrave

Entry £3 (must be booked in advance)

Teamsheet FREE

If I’d have written this piece the day after this game I’m pretty certain the title would have been “Envy”. Since my Oxford United were promoted back to the Championship I’ve been comparing everything we have to what our rivals have, usually unfavourably!

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Hope for Capricorns

09 Monday Mar 2026

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Saturday 6th December ko 14:00

Bristol Premier Combination Division One

LION 0

AFC MANGOTSFIELD 3 (Mansfield 9 Rice 23 Douglas 49)

Dorrington sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 2 at Little Stoke Park, Bristol

Free Entry

Red sun go down way over dirty town
Starlings are sweeping around crazy shoals
Yes and a girl is there high heeling across the square
Wind it blows around in her hair and the flags upon the poles
Waiting in the crowd to cross at the light
She looks around to find a face she can like.

Church bell clinging on just a trying to get a crowd for Evensong
Nobody cares to depend upon the chime it plays
They’re all in the station praying for trains
Congregation late again
It’s getting darker all the time these flagpole days
Drunk old soldier he give her a fright
He’s a crazy lion he’s a-howling for a fight

“Lions” Dire Straits 1978

On one hand it isn’t usually difficult to find a game in Bristol on a Saturday afternoon. I’d organised to drop Robyn off at a friend’s birthday celebration in town, and the idea was to pick her up as soon as it was over. That meant that I wouldn’t be able to travel far, but that wasn’t going to be a problem was it?

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Enter The Dragon

08 Sunday Mar 2026

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Saturday 29th November 2025 ko 14:00

European U19 Women’s Championship Qualifying League A Group A7

CYMRU 3 (Bowen 63 Selan Yarayan 67og Em Cole 86)

TÜRKIYE 1 (Yaran Ersan 53)

Att c200 at Dragon Park, Newport

Entry FREE but you do have to be on a guest list

Sometimes you see somewhere that piques your interest, and Dragon Park certainly did that for me! Based in Newport it’s the national football development centre intended to develop the Welsh under-21, Women’s and age-based squads. . The centre also provides an based for the Welsh Football Trust, the game’s development body, so the main building also includes facilities for sports science and education too.

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Stairway

04 Wednesday Mar 2026

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Saturday 15th November 2025 ko 14:00

Cymru South

TREOWEN STARS 3 (C Davies 24 Meachan 35 43)

YNYSHIR ALBIONS 0

Att 85

Entry £6

Programme £2

When you’ve spent most of the last 25 years groundhopping, it isn’t the simple statistics of how many and where that do it for me. When people ask I tell them, then add the tagline “Which shows I need to get out more” when the exact opposite is the case! These days, it’s the connections you make that drive me on, and Treowen was a classic case of this.

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The Hill

25 Wednesday Feb 2026

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Saturday 8th November 2025 ko 14:00

Kent County League Premier Division

KINGS HILL 4 (Sibley 38 Grainger 52 Young 62 Wade 65)

CANTERBURY CITY 2 (Ikem 19 31)

Official Attendance 176

Entry & Programme £2.50

I know I’ve said it many times before but I do like to see groundhops in the diary that aren’t organised by ourselves at GroundhopUK. Other than the feeling that I don’t want to be the only game in town, I do like to attend other hops as there is always either something to learn, or at worst to reinforce our way of doing things. So when the Kent County League announced a Groundhopper Day I was a little intrigued.

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Culver Road

22 Sunday Feb 2026

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Saturday 1st November 2025 ko 17:45

Southern Combination Premier Division

LANCING 1 (Collier 36)

NEWHAVEN 3 (Blunt 3 Roag 60p Oliver 87)

Att 293

Entry £8

Programme £2

If you are going to revisit a ground as a neutral, then I’d suggest leaving plenty of time between the visits, and go when the changes to the stadium are clear and manifest. I’d argue that Culver Road and I would be a case in point.

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Wild Wild West

26 Monday Jan 2026

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Saturday 25th October 2025 ko 14:00

Somerset County League Division 3

BROAD PLAIN HOUSE 5 (A Hemmings 4 14 Tucker 5 15 50)

BURNHAM UNITED RESERVES 2 (Harding 33 Edenshaw 80)

Att 12 at the main pitch, Filwood Fields, Knowle West, Bristol

Free Entry

Just about anyone who knows my wife Robyn and I know that I’m from Oxford, and she’s from Bristol. In the case of Robyn the accent does rather give the game away! So for the last 10 years I’ve become used to regular drives to Knowle West to see “Muvver” and to nearby Whitchurch to see my sister-in-law Kelly and her family. The routine involves driving up Novers Hill and glancing to my right to catch a glimpse of the Clifton Suspension Bridge before parking up. In truth this part of South Bristol has become close to a second home, and for those in the know- if you think Robyn has a Bristol accent, try speaking to her when she’s back in Knowle West!

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Alexander

25 Sunday Jan 2026

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Wednesday 22nd October 2025 ko 19:45

Women’s National League – Championship North

WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0

BURNLEY 1 (Ravening 11p)

Att 95 at Alexander Stadium, Perry Barr

Entry £6

Programme £2

It was Swedish Groundhop organiser Kim Hedwall’s last evening with us, and I was on the lookout for something a little different. Now if you’ve ever driven north along the M6 just north of Villa Park and Spaghetti Junction, in recent years I’ve little doubt you’ve spotted the huge floodlights on the left.

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