Tag Archives: South Wales Alliance

The Gem Of The Valleys

25 Saturday Apr 2020

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With the football season over prematurely due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I’m in the unusual position of actually having this blog up to date! So to keep the content coming, and for something to do, I’ll do some old grounds and games where there’s a story to tell.

Saturday 25th August 2007  ko 18.45

South Wales Amateur League Division Two

BLAENRHONDDA 0 Thomas (gk) sent off 30 (violent conduct)

TON & GELLI BOYS & GIRLS CLUB 2 (R. Jones 63,81)

Att 268

Entry £4

Programme £1

Every so often someone asks me for some suggestions as to some wonderful football grounds in South Wales. I think most would start with Garw and the sadly now-demolished Treharris and I’d add the likes of Penrhiwfer and Ynyshir Albions too, and that is far from being an exhaustive list. I’d also point out that all but Treharris have been on Welsh Hops, and so was my visit to the another ground that really ought to be on any self-respecting groundhopper’s bucket list- Blaenrhondda Park.

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Any Port….

21 Friday Feb 2020

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Saturday 14th December 2019 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance Division Two 

MAESTEG PARK 0

TATA STEEL UNITED 0

Abandoned after 3 minutes-player injury

Att c40

ko 14.30

Cymru South

AFAN LIDO 2 (Parry 35 McCreesh 70)

CAERAU (ELY) 1 (Vincent 46)

Att 103

Entry £5

Programme & Teamsheet £1.50

With Robyn having a wedding dress fitting in Bristol I was faced with my usual set of options when in her home city. Either head to South Wales or head south-west. There’s much to be said for either route but here I had a plan. The idea was based around GroundhopUK’s relationship with Bridgend & District Sunday League outfit Garth Vader. It seems that a fair percentage of their team play Saturday football for Maesteg Park and I had a little history with that club… Continue reading →

The Hoovering Up Exercise

19 Wednesday Jun 2019

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Saturday 4th May 2019 ko 14.30

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

MERTHYR SAINTS 5 (James 4 30 55 75 Randall 65)

GRANGE ALBION 2 (Howard 8og Jeremy 78)

Att c30

Entry FREE

I know what you’re thinking, didn’t I visit this one with GroundhopUK? Merthyr Saints have the distinction of being the very first club visited on the very first GroundhopUK hop in August 2002, although the organisation was Chris Berezai then living in Swansea, and styled “The Welsh Groundhop.” Merthyr Saints lost to Bridgend Town in front of 164, but I wasn’t there, my first Welsh Hop was 3 years later, and it wasn’t until 2009 when I became Chris’s deputy. Doesn’t time fly? Continue reading →

The Finale (For Now)

21 Sunday Oct 2018

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Monday 26th August 2018 ko 17.00

South Wales Alliance Division 1

AFC WHITCHURCH 1 (Bould 66p)

CARDIFF CORINTHIANS 3 (Raven 50 76p Malloys 86p)

Att 312

Entry ??

Programme £1

There are a few jokes to be told about taking 2 coachloads of groundhoppers a game in a mental hospital, my favourite being that we’d get the same number out than we took in, but there’d be plenty of different faces!  Continue reading →

Attack! Attack!

18 Thursday Oct 2018

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Monday 27th August 2018 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance- Premier Division

CAERPHILLY ATHLETIC 7 (Tedstone 31 49 55 76 Leadbeater 44 74 Edwards 50)

CWM WELFARE 0

Att 252

Entry £3

Programme £1

I refuse to believe there isn’t a groundhopper out there that doesn’t have more than a healthy dose of O.C.D., it goes hand-in-hand with the hobby! My version of it is an odd variant, if I see a town’s name on a road sign, I want to go and see that town’s club. So after 15 or so years heading up and down the A470 passing Caerphilly each time, you can imagine how pleased I was to be finally seeing a game here! Continue reading →

Level Crossing

15 Monday Oct 2018

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Sunday 26th August 2018 ko 17.00

South Wales Alliance Division Two

LLANGEINOR AFC 4 ( Lock 38 73p Evans 45 Laidler 84)

AFC WATTSTOWN 2 (Fisher 53 Huggins 65)

Att 130

Entry £3

Programme £1

After the games at Vale United and Porthcawl Town we needed the groundhopping equivalent of a hug and a blanket. Whilst the two previous host clubs had been excellent, the weather had left us cold and wet, and with my organiser’s hat on I wondered what we’d find at the last game of the day.  Continue reading →

When The Seaside Came

14 Sunday Oct 2018

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Sunday 29th August 2018 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance Division One

PORTHCAWL TOWN 4 (Davis 8 Crofts 17 90 Comley 90)

CORNELLY UNITED 0

Att 234

Entry £3

Programme £1

We’d got thoroughly soaked at Vale United, and there was little time between there and our middle game at Porthcawl to dry off. The coaches picked their way along Porthcawl seafront, and the rain lashed over the pier, arcades, and the beach. As the rivulets streamed down my coach’s windscreen it seemed barely plausible that this could be during the height of the holiday season. Continue reading →

The Corntown Carpet

12 Friday Oct 2018

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Sunday 26th August 2018 ko 11.00

South Wales Alliance Division Two

VALE UNITED 7 (Waagenes 7 35 Gregory 32 Caseley 74 Richards 83 86 Hanson 90)

STM SPORTS OLD BOYS 1 (Partridge 48p)

Att 168

Entry £3

Programme £1

The alarm sounded with a judder and I was shocked into life. Perhaps that evening in Abertillery could have been curtailed a little earlier. But the band Jo90 were excellent (Robyn and I booked them for our wedding!) and the delights of what appeared to be “Grab a Granny” night at the Glasgow Phoenix nightclub were nothing if not amusing!

The weather though was a cause for concern. The rain was sheeting down and at the Upper Boat in Rhydyfelin the two coachloads of hoppers wore expressions that evoked that of a schoolboy sat outside the headmasters office waiting for six of the best. I sat quietly and ate and thought. I know I and the other hoppers are well used to getting wet, but if there was one host club I really didn’t want it to rain for it was Vale United.  Continue reading →

Returning The Favour

01 Monday Oct 2018

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Friday 24th August 2018 ko 18.30

South Wales Alliance – Premier Division

CANTON LIBERAL 2 (K Cotterill 4 49)

GRANGE ALBION 1 (Churchill 43)

Att 189

Entry £3

Programme £2

The Welsh Hop is an operation built on experience from top to bottom, and I do include the hill at our accommodation at the University of South Wales, in Trefforest! This year there seemed to be more to do, and at times it seemed that we were using more of our fail safes than usual. It started as early as Thursday when Caerphilly failed to deliver their programmes (they turned up Friday afternoon over 24 hours late!) and then after the driest summer since 1976 the rains came…
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Something

23 Wednesday May 2018

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Sunday 15th April 2018 ko 14.00

South Wales Alliance Division One

AFC BUTETOWN 1 (Farah 80p) Farah missed penalty 51

TONYREFAIL B.G.C. 1 (Cicigoi 49)

Att 120

Entry/Programme £2

The Welsh Spring hop ended as it has started, at a ground that we’d actually planned on visiting for quite some time! AFC Butetown’s Canal Park home is used for a carnival each August Bank Holiday making a visit on the normal Welsh Hop impossible. But this was a visit that was more than just a question of helping to complete a league, as Butetown’s colloquial name is far more evocative. Continue reading →