Tag Archives: South Wales Amateur league

The Reliable

23 Tuesday Feb 2021

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Friday 24th August 2007 ko 18.45

South Wales Amateur League Division One

AFC PORTH 3 (Evans 45 72 Snooks 64)

CAERAU 0 

Att 266

Entry £2

Programme £1

On any organised groundhop you want reliability. You want the weather to be fine, the clubs to make the best of their opportunity and at the most basic level you want the teams to turn up at the right place at the right time. But once you’ve got the basics down, you look for cooperation. In the widest sense you look that hoppers, clubs and league understand each others’ compromises but you learn to accept that almost never completely happens. So you look to those hoppers, and clubs who “Get” what you trying to achieve, and unquestionably one club that did in spades was AFC Porth.

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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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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 Force

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

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Sunday 12th March 2017 ko 11.00

Bridgend & District Sunday League Premier Division

GARTH VADER 2 (N Whelan 65 Garfield 86)

ST PATRICK’S ROVERS 7 (Emmanuel 13 Llewellyn 22 41 Thomas 29 Kyle 42 Evans 53 86)

Att 79

Entry FREE

Programme £1

Without question the club that really lost out on the Carmarthenshire Hop was Pontlliw. They were scheduled to play Pwll on the Sunday morning, but when the West Wales FA refused to let Pwll reschedule their West Wales Cup tie, and the only possible opponents Gorseinon refused to take their place it left Pontlliw disappointed, the Carmarthenshire league annoyed, and we at GroundhopUK forced to run the hop a game short.  Continue reading →

Homecoming

03 Saturday Sep 2016

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Friday 26th August 2016 ko 18.30

South Wales Alliance Premier Division

SULLY SPORTS 2 (Briscombe 22 73p)

CANTON LIBERAL 4 (Kooper 10 Phillips 27 61 Quick 40)

Att 281

Entry £3

Programme £1

When the 2015 Welsh Groundhop finished its stint in the Welsh Alliance at Penmaenmawr Phoenix Chris Berezai and I had a few decisions to make. On one hand we loved the accommodation at Chester University, and had an excellent relationship with our coach company up there, but we were torn over which league or leagues to visit. Ideally we like multi-division leagues with no reserve teams as that allows for the hop to stay in a league for 3 or more years, but there was a clarion call from our past…. Continue reading →

Blind Melon

11 Monday Jan 2016

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Saturday 9th January 2016 ko 14.00

Welsh League Division 3

STM SPORTS 4 (Worsley M Nessbert 48 Davenport 63 83)

ELY RANGERS 1 (K Johnson 65)

Att 80

Entry & Programme £3

It has to be said that I’m a lucky boy. I have a girlfriend Robyn who loves football, and she asked to come to one of my non-league jaunts. Now that gave me one of those problems you love to have, which ground and game to show her? I settled on an icon of the Welsh game for her first Welsh non-league game, the frankly stunning Blandy Park, home to Garw, on the basis that if she didn’t like it there, she wouldn’t like non-league full stop. Of course life never quite works out how you plan it does it? Continue reading →

Together, Stronger

22 Monday Jun 2015

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Saturday 13th June 2015 ko 15.00

South Wales FA Play-Off Final

STM SPORTS 4 (Reffell 12 Graham 48 Worsley 57 84)

PONTLOTTYN AFC 1 (Colbourne 32)

Att c600 at Cardiff City Stadium

Entry £3

Programme £1

Groundhopping and the amateur game go back a long way, back to the days of 4-game Saturdays in the South Wales Amateur League, and those hops only ended when we finally ran of clubs to visit! Back then we all wondered why there was the odd position of two leagues, the Amateur Leaguer and the Senior League occupying the same footprint and the same level, the fifth tier? Continue reading →

Without Prejudice

14 Saturday Feb 2015

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Wednesday 11th February 2015 ko 19.30

Welsh League Division Two

ABERBARGOED BUDS 1 (McCarthy 50)

CWMBRAN CELTIC 1 (Thomas 7)

Att c60

Entry £5

Programme £1

I wish there were more teams with lights in the Welsh League, I could enjoy mid-week fixtures here a lot more often. It takes my mind back to happy days when the Welsh Groundhop dealt in the cards of the Welsh League and the South Wales Amateur league. We tried to pronounce the likes of Ynysddu, and Blaenrhondda, and quaffed pint after pint in the Otley Arms in Trefforest. As one half of GroundhopUK, we will return to the Valleys one day, and the imminent merger of the Amateur and Senior Leagues will help that process.

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Hushed Tones

04 Wednesday Feb 2015

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Saturday 24th April 2010 ko 14.30

Welsh League Division Three

GARW SENIORS BOYS & GIRLS CLUB 2 (Williams 11 S Misbah 64)

CORUS STEEL 3 (Piper 20 Johnson 31 Hislop 50)

Att 31

Entry £3

Prog £1

Badge £3

Tea in a mug 50p

There are grounds that the discerning football enthusiast should visit, the real theatres of the sport, the likes of Wembley, and Old Trafford, and then there are the places with real history such as Hallam and Sheffield FC. Then you start to find the tucked away places that don’t get much publicity, but have a life all of their own. These are the grounds you hear about when groundhoppers congregate over a beer (or two), and you hear names such as Benburb and Beesands, but believe me Blandy Park, Pontycymmer is high on the list of anyone who’s visited.

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