Tag Archives: Welsh Alliance

Logistics

03 Thursday Sep 2015

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Saturday 28th August 2015 ko 10.45

Welsh Alliance Division Two

AMLWCH TOWN 1 (Grffiths 44) Byast sent off 90 (2nd booking)

NANTLLE VALE 2 (A Hughes 2 S Williams 40) E Jones sent off 81 (2nd booking)

Att 318

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

When you organise a groundhop, after you’ve agreed the event with the league your next move is to pick a base, where you’ll run the coaches from and site your accommodation. There are some hard and fast rules with hotels and the like, parking must be free, there has to be room for the coach, and the breakfasts need to be of the cooked variety! Universities tend to be good for us, having single ensuite rooms is perfect for us, and the University of Chester’s accommodation is first-class, but it has meant we’ve needed to plan a little more. Continue reading →

Looking Back

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

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Hindsight is a wonderful thing, so with 2015 nearly upon us let’s cast a final glance on 2014, after all some exceptional places did get a visit! If you’d like to see more of the places featured, the links with take you to the original articles.

January saw a week’s visit to Malta, and between avoiding nervous British pensioners, and my attempts to source the biggest full English breakfast on the Island, we did manage to watch 9 games. For me there were two highlights, the games on Gozo, where there seemed to be more capacity in the Catholic Churches than residents!

SONY DSC

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Diplomacy

04 Thursday Sep 2014

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Monday 25th August 2014 ko 17.15

Welsh Alliance Division One

KINMEL BAY 2 (Luffman 32 Woods 48)

GLAN CONWY 2 (Orme 8 Fountain 18)

Att 221

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

So where you there? What did you see? What do you think? There’s a quite a story behind what happened, maybe you’ve heard some of it, maybe most of it even, but where this heads in the future is anyone’s guess. Continue reading →

Cathedral City

04 Thursday Sep 2014

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Monday 25th August 2014 ko 14.15

Welsh Alliance Division Two

ST ASAPH CITY 3 (Midgley 22 61 D Evans 63)

MOCHDRE SPORTS 1 (Philips 75)

Att 254

Entry £3

Programme £1

It was quite a tight squeeze getting 2 coaches into the lane down to Roe Plas, but once again there was someone there from the club to direct us down. I do wonder whether hop clubs realise how much our coach drivers appreciate having someone to meet them? Continue reading →

El Bandito

01 Monday Sep 2014

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Sunday 24th August 2014 ko 18.30

Welsh Alliance Division Two

NANTLLE VALE 3 (Jennings 12 J Evans 45 Kay 60) D Williams missed penalty 17

AMLWCH TOWN 0

Att 344

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

From our exit from Penrhyndeudraeth we remained very much in slate mining country as we reached the foothills of Snowdon and the village of Penygroes. Whilst many of the slate mines have gone, the area remains an administration centre, and for the record the area’s two most famous sons have had absolutely nothing to do with slate mining. Continue reading →

Fairlie

31 Sunday Aug 2014

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Sunday 24th August 2014 ko 15.30

Welsh Alliance Division One

PENRHYNDEUDRAETH 1 (Griffiths 11)

GWALCHMAI 1 (Roberts 48)

Att 394 (Welsh Groundhop record)

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

With both Blaenau Ffestiniog and Penrhyndeudraeth both on the Ffestiniog railway we really did have to travel between the two grounds on the famous narrow-gauge line didn’t we? It took a little organising, and Penrhyndeudraeth were great help, including pointing out that you can’t get two coaches to Penrhyn station, that’s why we alighted a Minffordd, but once we got the coach party on our 2 and a half chartered carriages the enjoyment was obvious. Continue reading →

Slate

31 Sunday Aug 2014

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Sunday 24th August 2014 ko 11.00 am

Welsh Alliance Division Two

BLAENAU AMATEURS 4 (Roberts 24 Williams 51p Copsley 90 Bradley 90p)

PENMAENMAWR PHOENIX 2 (S Williams 32 Prince 38)

Att 320

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

We’d shaved a few minutes off the start time to Blaenau Ffestiniog from Chester University. After the difficulties of the previous day, a little time less in our beds was a fair price for breakfast! Of course on the action-reaction principle we got to Blaenau ahead of time. That was no bad thing, as the town is the sort of place you’d want to linger in, even if for one or two that added up to a frantic search for a newsagent that had the “Non League Paper” in stock!

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Memories

28 Thursday Aug 2014

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Saturday 23rd August 2014 ko 18.30

Welsh Alliance Division One

BARMOUTH & DYFFRYN 6 (Lewis 20 22 59 Harrison 27 S Jones 32 Ap Gwyndwr 63og)

LLANRWST UNITED 2 (Griffiths 43 45p)

Att 294

Entry £4

Programme £1

Two years ago when we at GroundhopUK and the Welsh Alliance agreed that a groundhop should take place, one club loomed large, purely down to its location. In Welsh Alliance terms Barmouth is rather out-on-a-limb, a southern outpost of the league to the extent that on arrival I was struck at how much the scenery reminded me of Aberdyfi which we’d visited on the MID-Wales hop! Continue reading →

Mercy

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

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Saturday 23rd August 2014 ko 14.00

Gwynedd League

NEFYN UNITED 0 L Evans missed penalty 76

LLANLLYFNI 4 (G Williams 29 M Davies 67 L Griffith 85 90)

Att 286

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

Like Pwllheli before, Nefyn lies on the Llyn peninsula and the nearer we got to the town where singer-songwriter Duffy grew up, the scenery got steadily more spectacular. The Iron Age hill fort Garn Boduan, and hills of Gwylwyr Carreglefain vindicated our decision to bring the hop here, despite Nefyn not being in the Welsh Alliance. Continue reading →

Chemical Works

26 Tuesday Aug 2014

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Friday 22nd August 2014 ko 18.30

Welsh Alliance Division Two

HALKYN UNITED 0

GREENFIELD 2 (Johnson 44 Gunther 67)

Att 219

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badge £3

So back on GroundhopUK duty, which turned out to be very much a case of “Everything the same, everything different.” Being based at the University of Chester was nothing new, as was distributing well over 130 programme packs and room keys, and running two coaches to all of the games. However much was different too; the rooms were newly built, and quite frankly huge, we were using a new coach company, and this second trip to the Welsh Alliance brought us challenges we’d never encountered before. We’ll always rate ourselves to find an agreeable solution to most things, but this weekend tested our abilities. More over the next 10 articles. Continue reading →