Steve B the Groundhopper

2pm  31 July 2017 Peterborough and District League, Premier Division Leverington Sports 2 Peterborough ICA Sports 0 (att 304) This should have been the second Peterborough and District League game of the day. At 11am Long Sutton Athletic and Tydd St Mary kicked off their division one encounter but, sadly, it was halted by a serious injury after just 10 minutes. Following a delay of close to an hour, during which a pair of first responders arrived and did their best, it was a clear an ambulance was required and the referee wisely abandoned the game. Groundhoppers are often divided on whether or not to 'count' abandoned games. I feel life is too short to worry too much, but also that 10 minutes of play is too short to count a ground as being 'hopped', so I'll return to Long Sutton in the future. For now though, best wishes to the injured player for a speedy recovery. With the morning's action truncated I arrived at Leverington, a village just outside Wi...

1.45pm  29 July 2017 Peterborough and District League, Premier Division Moulton Harrox 3 Sutton Bridge United 0 (att 280) The start of the English football season seems to get earlier every year, but while a July start helps some clubs prepare for next weekend's FA Cup ties, for the Peterborough League it's a chance to boost their finances with an organised 'groundhop'. The Peterborough 'hop' has evolved into an annual event including teams from the local league as well as the higher-ranked United Counties League, but as it's just the district teams I needed (and not all of them) I settled for just one of the three matches, with staggered kick offs, available today. Moulton is a village just outside Spalding, and the Broad Lane ground is an attractive spot in summer, with a roped off pitch and a pair of sturdy dugouts flanking a small covered structure, which might originally have been intended for spectators. In any case there were far too many t...

7pm  22 July 2017 Switzerland, Super League Lausanne-Sport 3 St Gallen 3 (att 3,415) My first truly competitive football of the season, aided by an early start for Switzerland's top divisions and a home fixture for Lausanne, close enough to our French Alpine holiday base to make it an easy trip. Lausanne's Olympic Stadium is a short bus ride north of the attractive city centre, and the early evening kick off gave us time to see a bit more of Lausanne than just the stadium. For a few moments I though I'd struggle to get inside to see the game. As I was only in Switzerland for a few hours I hadn't changed much money, and my few Swiss Francs weren't enough to buy tickets for the game. Remarkably the ticket booths didn't accept card payments, so I had to follow directions to the nearest cash machine, luckily not far away. Sixty Swiss Francs, about £50, bought two tickets for what turned out to be a terrific match. Lausanne took an early lead, a little a...

1pm  8 July 2017 Helen Belgrave Memorial Trophy at Shobnall Leisure Complex, Burton-upon-Trent Borrowash Victoria 2 Mickleover Sports 4 (att 60) Helen Belgrave was the mother of a Mickleover Sports player, and sadly died early this year. A trophy in her memory will apparently become a regular event and Sports, fittingly, were the first club to lift it. Despite being a pre-season friendly in all but name it wasn't a bad match. Higher ranked Mickleover scored very early, then doubled their lead before Borrowash pulled a goal back. The second half saw Sports score twice more, and a consolation for Borrowash. I was pleased to see a game at all. I'd been tempted to the fixture by the venue, which was supposed to be the Marston's Brewery sports ground in Burton. On arrival players and officials found the pitch wasn't fit to stage the game. I didn't get chance for a close look, but was told holes on the surface made it unplayable. Luckily Shobnall Leisure Centre...

2pm  1 July 2017 Pre-season friendly at Blessed Thomas Holford Sports Academy, Altrincham Wythenshawe Amateurs 6 Vulcan 1 (att 17) Six days after I rounded off my 2016/17 season at Limerick I decided it was time to begin 2017/18, with a rather easier journey to a school in Altrincham. I'm not a big fan of friendlies, and rarely travel far to watch them, but I can be tempted when they're played at venues that don't regularly stage Saturday football. Blessed Thomas Holford falls into that category, with this game played on a well-worn artificial pitch. Both Manchester League Wythenshawe Amateurs and Vulcan, newly elevated to the Cheshire League for 2017/18, should be moving into new grounds this season, so chances are I'll be seeing both sides again in the weeks and months ahead. That Wythenshawe ran out easy winners was no surprise, as they play a couple of levels higher than Vulcan, but they had to come from behind. The visitors, wearing training tops after...