Steve B the Groundhopper

10.30am 5 October 2024 Herts and Borders Churches League St Albans Romans 1 Welwyn St Mary’s 4 (att 8) Being in Hertfordshire for the weekend made this a sensible choice, and worth the effort of overcoming the foibles of the league’s presence on the FA’s Full Time website, which listed the wrong venue and an incorrect kick off time. Like many amateur leagues this is a competition that, sadly, appears to be in decline. When I first watched a game in it, in 2018, it had two divisions. Now it’s down to one, with just six teams. Two of those six are St Albans Romans. The first team remain level on points with their reserves after this defeat at the hands of Welwyn St Mary’s. The visitors made the better start, and it was no surprise when they went ahead after nine minutes. Romans’ keeper made a series of good saves, helped at times by less than clinical finishing, to keep the deficit at 1-0 until well into the second half.  Eventually he was beaten again, about 20 minutes into the half, on

7.45pm 1 October 2024 North West Counties League Cup, First Round Thornton Cleveleys 2 Colne 4 (att 164) New floodlit grounds that are within easy range for an after-work journey are a relative rarity these days, but this season the North West Counties League has provided two. Both had home draws in the first round of the league cup, with ties scheduled for the same night. I was saved from having to choose by Shawbury United's match falling victim to a waterlogged pitch. Thornton Cleveleys won promotion from the West Lancashire League last season, and this was the first time their newly-installed floodlights had been used for a first team game. The whole ground is fairly new, and has been built adjacent to Fleetwood Town's Poolfoot Farm complex, where Thornton played temporarily pending completion of their own facility. That pitch still exists, unlike the three other pitches - at two venues - where I've also seen Thornton Cleveleys play previously. The site first of those,

2pm 28 September 2024 Yorkshire Amateur League Cup, First Round Gildersome Spurs Old Boys 2 Stanley United 2, 4-2 on penalties (att 17) I needed to stay fairly local, and settled on Gildersome as it was my sole remaining ground in the Yorkshire Amateur League's top division, and as they seem not to play midweek fixtures on the pitch. It's a 3G at Bruntcliffe Academy in Morley. Typical of its type, floodlit and with a spectator area running about three-quarters of the length of the near side. It's not far from the ground they used the last time I saw Gildersome play at home . Both sides are in the league's grandly-titled 'supreme division', and met last weekend in a league fixture which Stanley won 5-2. There was little danger of that score being repeated, especially once Gildersome scored twice in the opening 30 minutes. There wasn't much between the sides though, and when Stanley pulled a goal back early in the second half the tie was very much in the balan

2pm 22 September 2024 West Wales Premier League Giants Grave 4 Cwm Wanderers 1 (att 204) This year's West Wales Premier League groundhop concluded with a pair of games on Sunday. I skipped the first, having already been to the ground now used by AFC Glais, and settled for a single game at Giants Grave. The club are based in Briton Ferry, and owe their unusual name to area's former shipbreaking industry. Their ground, Parc Newydd, is accessed via a driveway from a housing estate. It's enclosed with a pair of pitches, the main one being railed off with a pair of dugouts on the near side. There's a small refreshment hut, which also offers shelter for a few spectators. I'm unsure where the changing rooms are located, but players and officials have a walk to reach the pitch. Giants Grave were just the better side in the first half, and got their reward when they took the lead five minutes before the break. Cwm Wanderers equalised early in the second period, and the game

5.30pm 21 September 2024 West Wales Premier League Mumbles Rangers 7 Bryn Rovers 0 (att 160) A pre-match glance at the league table suggested this would be a comfortable home win, with Bryn pointless and bottom. To be fair they didn't look too bad early in the game, and play was fairly even until Mumbles went ahead midway through the first half. A second goal soon followed, and not long later it was 3-0. It could easily have got worse for Bryn before half time. A Mumbles penalty came back off the frame of the goal, although from where I was standing there was at least a suspicion it had first crossed the line. In the end it mattered little, as things did gets worse for Bryn in the second period. Mumbles played some neat football, scoring for more goals for an easy win. It's likely to be a tough season for Bryn Rovers. Mumbles Rangers do have their own ground, but in recent years have used the excellent facilities at Swansea University. They previously shared the main stadium pi

2pm 21 September 2024 West Wales Premier League Penlan 0 Rockspur 1 (att 332) The day's second game was a local derby between two Swansea sides who have been dominant forces in local football. Rockspur are currently in the ascendency, and cemented their position after a hard-fought win in a game that was more than feisty. The visitors were looking the better side, but then had a player sent off for a bad challenge after about 30 minutes. That evened up the play, but just before half time the 10 men went ahead, scoring a goal that turned out to be the winner. They may have scored the only goal, but Rockspur didn't get the game's only red card. The second half became increasingly bad-tempered, and with 10 minutes left a Penlan player was dismissed to make it 10-a-side. By full time it was down to eight against nine. A second Rockspur sending off was followed by two stoppage time Penlan dismissals. I don't keep a count of such things, but I can't recall ever seeing ano