13 Tuesday Aug 2019
Posted in B
Tuesday 16th July 2019 ko 19.45
Pre-Season Friendly
BINFIELD 0
KNAPHILL 1 (14)
Att 28
At King’s Academy, Binfield
There are plenty of groundhoppers who don’t like pre-season friendlies, and I completely understand their point of view. My take on it is to try to find something unusual in the fixture; it could be an inter-league match-up or an unusual ground. Here we managed both!
08 Monday Jul 2019
Tags
Øresund, Brønshøj, Copenhagen, Denmark, Football, Helsingør, Kronborg, Little Mermaid, Non League, Swedish hop, Tårnby, Tingbjerg, Vanløse
Wednesday 5th June 2019 ko 17.00
2nd Division Group 2 Promotion- Denmark
BRØNSHØJ BK 0
VANLØSE 2 (AK Jensen 61 JC Jensen 90)
Att 757
Entry 80 DKK (Approx £9.61)
Programme 20 DKK
With the Swedish Hop’s 13th edition being based once again in Trelleborg, and fiancee Robyn being a fan of all things Hans Christian Andersen it was remarkable that we hadn’t visited Copenhagen previously. Then there was the Danish concept of Hygge roughly translated as cosiness to consider too. The Danish are considered to be the world’s happiest nation, so as the plane touched down at Kastrup and I limped through customs I wanted to see if I could tap into the concept. Continue reading
26 Wednesday Jun 2019
Posted in B
Tags
Beaconsfield, East Berkshire League, FC Beaconsfield, Football, Holtspur Park, Non League, Old Windsor, Wooburn Green Lane
Wednesday 15th May 2019 ko 18.25
East Berkshire League- Premier Division
FC BEACONSFIELD 3 (Peddle 39 76 Howell 76)
OLD WINDSOR 0
Att 12
Free Entry
A few years ago you could add your own points of interest to SatNav’s. That was handy, as you could add all kinds of things useful to groundhoppers such as football grounds, petrol stations, pubs and so on. I even knew one hopper who had a Little Chefs download! My non-league football grounds download died along with my old SatNav but I remember the little football icon that I spotted every time I passed under the bridge on the M40 approaching Beaconsfield from Loudwater. As my OCD invitably takes me I always fancied visiting, but I had no idea who played there!
Continue reading
13 Thursday Jun 2019
Tags
Bishops Cleeve, Easter, Easter Hop, Fairford Town, Football, Groundhopper Day, groundhopping, hellenic league, Newent Town, Non League, Shrivenham, Thornbury Town, Tuffley Rovers
Monday 22nd April 2019
11.00 Hellenic Premier
BISHOPS CLEEVE 5 (Watts 30 56 Iddles 48 Davidge 59 Johnstone 82)
SHRIVENHAM AFC 1 (Ballard 65)
Att 231
Entry £7
Programme £2
14.15 Hellenic Premier
TUFFLEY ROVERS 3 (Bloomfield 19 29 Alder 73)
FAIRFORD TOWN 0
Att 221
Entry £5
Programme £1
18.00 Hellenic League Division One West
THORNBURY TOWN 2 (Brock 52 Wormwell 90+8)
NEWENT TOWN 2 (Marquis 7 Jones 61og)
Att 295
Entry & Programme £5
So the Hellenic Hop reached it’s final day and we’d been fortunate in so many ways. Firstly the weather had been kinder than it had been to Phil Hiscox and the South West Peninsula League the previous Easter, and the clubs in the most part had covered themselves in glory with some excellent hosting. The coach inched its way out of the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel, and I relaxed as Robyn managed her usual trick of falling asleep as soon as the coach started moving… Continue reading
31 Friday May 2019
Tags
Bourton Rovers, Brimscombe and Thrupp, Cotswolds, England, Football, GroundhopUK, hellenic league, London Road, Moreton Rangers, Non League, Rissington Road, The Meadow
Sunday 21st April 2019
11.00 Hellenic League Division Two West
BOURTON ROVERS 3 (Nurse 19 Tyack 76 Way 90)
HEADINGTON AMATEURS 1 (Curtis 83)
Att 278
Entry £4
Programme £1
14.15 Hellenic League Division Two West
MORETON RANGERS 0
ADDERBURY PARK 1 (Northam 62)
Att 384
Entry £2
Programme £1
18.00 Hellenic League Premier
BRIMSCOMBE & THRUPP 4 (Blackie 5 Pitts 55 Campbell 70 J Pitt 90)
ABINGDON UNITED 0 Butler sent off 55 (2nd Booking)
Att 403
Entry £5
Programme £1
Easter Sunday dawned, and the compromise that is an organised hop was brought into sharp focus. On one hand we were always likely to see the most hoppers today when compared to the rest of the weekend, but then we were asking more of the clubs in asking them to play on Easter Sunday. You could argue that extra crowds mean extra revenue for our host clubs but that doesn’t help the visiting clubs taking part. I know there was some discomfiture amongst those involved at Headington Amateurs, Adderbury Park and Abingdon United in playing on this day so our sincere thanks to them for helping us, the league and the host clubs. Thanks also to Brian King and all at the league too, plenty of leagues wouldn’t have even countenanced trying!
08 Wednesday May 2019
Posted in B
Tags
Banbury and Lord Jersey League, Banbury Charity Cup, Bodicote, Bodicote Sports, Chasewell Park, England, Football, groundhopping, Non League, White Post Road
Tuesday 2nd April 2019 ko 18.15
Banbury Charity Cup 2nd Round
BODICOTE SPORTS 3 (Reeves 37 81p Kiss 83)
CHASEWELL PARK 3 (Robertson 43p Beales 52 Harding 64)
Bodicote won 5-4 on penalties (No extra time)
Att c20
Entry FREE
In groundhopper parlance the last part of the season when the clocks go forward and clubs without floodlights can play evening fixtures is known as “Silly Season.” It sounds like a pejorative term, but isn’t meant to be, it refers to the ability to watch leagues you can’t do midweek in the winter. By reputation it evokes summer evenings, watching a game in pleasant rural surroundings in your shirtsleeves. I allowed myself a grim smile as the sleet lashed against my car’s windscreen as I headed the 20-or-so miles north.
29 Monday Apr 2019
Posted in B
Tags
Blackburn, Blackburn United, Conference C, East of Scotland League, Football, New Murrayfield Park, Non League, Preston Athletic, Scotland, Susan Boyle, Tam Dalyell, West Lothian Question
Saturday 30th March 2019 ko 17.15
East of Scotland League Conference C
BLACKBURN UNITED 4 (Downie 1p 4 65 Browne 81)
PRESTON ATHLETIC 1 (McFarlane 77)
Att 328
Entry £6
Programme £2
I smiled when I heard the groundhoppers’ joke, yes Blackburn vs Preston could so easily be an English Championship game in Lancashire rather than a Scottish non-league fixture in West Lothian. That Lancs/Lothians connection wasn’t lost on former MP Tam Dalyell who in 1977 used the two towns to illustrate a situation after Scottish devolution where Scottish MPs could vote on English affairs, but not vice versa. Continue reading
18 Monday Mar 2019
Tags
Ashton Athletic, Bootle, Football League, groundhoppers, GroundhopUK, Liverpool, New Bucks Park, North West Counties League, Vesty Road
Saturday 9th March 2019 ko 11.00
North-West Counties League Premier Division
BOOTLE 4 (Peers 10 19 Cox 72 Jones 90)
ASHTON ATHLETIC 2 (Gilchrist 22 Munro 50)
Att 391
Entry £5
Programme £1
I’m not sure why but on organised hops I like my breakfast quietly. Perhaps it’s because I know that for the rest of the day Chris Berezai and I will be in the centre of the maelstrom of everything that’s going on across the 4 games. That and the knowledge that experience without reflection is worthless. We’d had real problems getting this hop at a point where we felt comfortable organising it, but we’d got the event to a point that the day’s four host clubs had everything they needed to do well. I found myself thinking about the four grounds we were visiting. Continue reading
14 Thursday Mar 2019
Tags
Barnton, Football, groundhop, GroundhopUK, Hop, Non League, North West Counties League, Townfield, Vauxhall Motors
Friday 8th March 2019 ko 19.45
North West Counties League- Division One South
BARNTON 0 Cobley sent off FT (foul/abusive)
VAUXHALL MOTORS 2 (Webb 35p Hassall 70)
Att 272
Entry £5
Programme £1
I’d met the coach we at GroundhopUK were using at Ellesmere, in Shropshire, and from there we headed north to pick up a cohort of groundhoppers at Crewe station. It gave me rare time to think as Paul picked his way through a series of leafy Cheshire villages. The first North-West Counties League Hop was 6 games over the last 2 days of the 2017 Easter Hop but its roots lie in a phone conversation I’d had with then Atherton Collieries’ programme editor Joe Gibbons in 2013 that lead to the hop party diverting there when a game at AFC Emley on the Northern Counties East Hop had been postponed due to drifting snow. Continue reading
06 Wednesday Feb 2019
Posted in B
Tags
barça, Barcelona, Catalonia, Catalunya, Eibar, Football, forçabarça, groundhopping, la liga, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Mini Estadi, Nou Camp, Spain
Sunday 13th January 2019 ko 18.30
La Liga
FC BARCELONA 3 (L Suarez 19 59 Messi 52)
SD EIBAR 0
Att 71,039
Entry €64
Robyn and I alighted the metro at Les Corts, and immediately wondered which way to walk to get to the Nou Camp, unlike say Bayern Munich and Fröttmanning station it isn’t immediately obvious where to go. Online maps and free mobile roaming helped and 10 minutes later we were contemplating something of a dilemma. Continue reading
