Steve B the Groundhopper

1pm 31  October  2026 North Caledonian League Inverness Athletic 2 Dingwall 0 (att 114) Eighteen months ago I saw Inverness Athletic stage a  home game in North Kessock. That venue now hosts rivals Inverness Thistle, while Athletic have moved into a newly-built ground. The ICT Community Hub is, as its name suggests, a community facility connected to Inverness Caledonian Thistle. It's a large playing field, with space that was busy with children's football as well as the enclosed pitch used by Inverness Athletic. Spectators can stand along the far side of Athletic's pitch, with no access at either end or on the opposite side, where there's a pair of dugouts. Visitors Dingwall were only formed during the summer, and Inverness Athletic are also a relatively new club. Both are going well in the North Caledonian League, and they attracted a good crowd. We were treated to a high quality game between well-matched teams. Athletic started strongly and Dingwall did well to withs...

11am 25  October  2026 Leinster Senior League, Senior Division One Kilnamanagh 2 Templeogue United 4 (att 61) With the worst of the storm having passed, Dublin was drier, although still very windy, by Sunday morning. It did at least mean less chance of games being postponed. The conditions for Kilnamanagh and Templeogue United, playing in the Leinster Senior League's second tier, remained challenging, but the away side made light of them for an impressive win. The home team, playing with the strong wind behind them in the first half, struck first after about 15 minutes. It didn't take Templeogue long to equalise, and then the visitors scored twice in the five minutes before half time. Those goals, plus a fourth from a penalty early in the second half, put the outcome beyond doubt. Kilnamanagh kept things interesting by getting a goal back 15 minutes from the end, but couldn't score again. Kilnamanagh's Ned Kelly Park is adjacent to the M50 motorway. Spectators are, in e...

7.30pm 24  October  2026 Carlow and District League, Premier Division Parkville United 3 St Fiacc’s 2 (att 50) Local leagues in the Republic of Ireland often feature floodlit fixtures on Saturday evenings, but such was the force of Storm Boelo that I had little hope for a second game as I drove south from Belfast. By my reckoning I only had two options on new grounds that were within range, and one of the those, in Athlone, was confirmed as postponed when I phoned to check. But a call to Parkville United, based in Tullow in County Carlow, resulted in better news. The grass pitch was apparently playable, and unless the match referee thought differently the game would be on. When I arrived the playing surface was indeed surprisingly good given the day's weather. I was rewarded with a great game, especially the first half in which all five goals were scored. A free kick put Parkville ahead in the opening minutes, but St Fiacc's were soon level, and then not long later they scored...

1.30pm 24 October  2026 Irish FA Cup, Third Round Rosario Youth Club 0 Oxford Sunnyside 2 (att 63) Booking a football trip involving a flight is always something of a lottery, and a weekend when the British Isles were battered by two disruptive storms wasn't the ideal time to head to Ireland. My initial plan for the Saturday was a couple of games in the Republic of Ireland's new third tier National League. One of those, at TU Dublin, was off by Friday evening, and I had doubts about the other. Surprisingly, despite it being a grass pitch, the other game, at Carlow-based CK United, did go ahead. But had it fallen to the weather I'd have been left stranded, so I took the safer option of driving north to Belfast. Rosario had been on my 'to do' list for this season anyway. Having taken the one vacancy in Northern Ireland's new-look third tier, the National Conference League, I needed to visit in order to complete the league. An Irish Cup visit of fellow Conference L...

7.45pm 20 October  2026 Northern Counties East League, Division One Immingham Town 2 Athersley Recreation 2 (att 136) This was a big night for football in Immingham. It was the first floodlit game to be played in the town since the original Immingham Town FC went out of business in the mid 1990s. The end of the club coincided with the demise of their Woodlands ground as a football venue. It was a ground I'd not managed to visit, but sometimes in groundhopping patience pays off, and 30 years on it's in use once again. The new incarnation of Immingham Town have been playing senior football, in the Lincolnshire League, for around a decade, firstly at Immingham Sports Complex  and then at Blossom Way . It's taken time to return their spiritual home to use, and they only moved in this season, coinciding with promotion to 'step six' of the National League System. That has meant, amongst other things I'm sure, ensuring the ground is enclosed, floodlit and provides faci...

3pm 17 October  2026 Central Midlands Alliance League, Premier Division North Evo Soccer 1 AFC Bentley 1 (att 32) Evo Soccer FC is the Sheffield arm of an international football academy. They play at Leisure United Graves, a ground I was already very familiar with ahead of this visit. It used be called St George's Park Graves. Three years ago, almost to the day, I saw Beerhouse play a Fair Play League game on pitch two , and back in 2018 I watched Chesterfield's youth team on the venue's grass pitch . Evo use pitch one, which is artificial and the only one with dugouts. As my only remaining ground in the Central Midlands Alliance League's two parallel regionalised premier divisions, I was keen to visit to complete the set. Spectators are accommodated along the far side, which backs onto pitch two. It is possible to watch from elsewhere, but only through the fence that encloses the playing area. Both sides have made mixed starts to the season. Evo are newly-promoted, and...