Steve B the Groundhopper

11am 23 September 2023 West Wales Premier League Pontarddulais Town 1 Rockspur 6 (att 260) A Saturday morning kick off and a bigger than normal crowd are the clues that this was an organised hop match. It was the first of the day's three staggered West Wales Premier League games, but the only one I'd be watching. Hopefully Pontarddulais Town made the most of it off the pitch, with sales of programmes, raffle tickets and food and drink, as it wasn't a very fruitful morning on the pitch. They were behind from an own goal after just two minutes, and that set the tone for an easy Rockspur win. The visitors had scored three by the time Pontarddulais got their goal, but even then it seemed just a matter of time before visitors got a fourth. That came shortly before half time. Rockspur added two more after the break, their sixth a penalty that looked, from my distant view, a little fortunate. The home goalkeeper, penalised for the foul, complained with sufficient vehemence to be s

3pm 16 September 2023 Gloucestershire County League Bromley Heath United 2 Little Stoke 0 (att 76) A good thing about moving from summer into autumn is that south-west bound journeys on the M5 become more reliable, thanks to the relative absence of holiday traffic. I had a fairly easy journey from Birmingham to Mangotsfield, just north of Bristol and where Bromley Heath United are based. They play at Pomphrey Hill Playing Fields, where cricketers have priority early in the season making this the football club's first home fixture of 2023/24. They'd made a solid start on the road, and kept their unbeaten run going thanks to two late goals. The opener came against the run of play. A goalless draw was beginning to look likely, although it had been Little Stoke who'd seemed the more dangerous in attack. The main pitch at Pomphrey Hill is railed off, with a pair of dugouts on one side and a few advertising boards. The venue's most striking feature is a large two-tier pavilio

10.30am 16 September 2023 West Midlands Christian League St Andrews Netherton Boing 3 Dudley Lions 0 (att 14) The West Midlands Christian League is down to a single division this season, but still provides plenty of options for Saturday morning groundhopping. St Andrews are the dominant team currently, and began their defence of the league title with three points. The win may have been expected, but they had to work hard to see off Dudley Lions. All three goals came in the second half. The first of them moments after the visitors almost took the lead, when a free kick came back off the underside of the crossbar. It took a second goal before Dudley's threat was fully extinguished. A third rounded off a win that wasn't as easy as the final score might suggest. The home side finished the match with nine men. One player was dismissed for a reckless challenge and a teammate was sin-binned, with too little time left to return to the pitch, for complaining about the decision. St Andre

7.45pm 13 September 2023 Nottinghamshire Senior League, Division One FCV Grace Dieu 2 Hucknall Town reserves 2 (att 60) The game was an unexpected bonus of a new floodlit ground within reach of a post-work rush hour journey. The FCV International Football Academy has been around for a few years now and this season, for the first time as far as I'm aware, they have a side playing senior men's football. The academy has moved from Stamford into a base at Grace Dieu Manor, near Thringstone in  Leicestershire. It's far enough north in the county to warrant a place in the second tier of Nottinghamshire's county league. The impressive set up includes a newly-developed enclosed artificial pitch, which has a spectator area running the length of one side and dugouts opposite. It feels like a work in progress, but with scope for further improvements. On the pitch FCV Grace Dieu have justified their place in the Nottinghamshire Senior League. This game ended their perfect start of

2pm 9 September 2023 Craven and District League, Division One Cup, Group B Barnoldswick Barons 0 Hellifield Sports 1 (att 35) Victory Park in Barnoldswick was a busy place. As well as this game, on pitch one, next door on pitch two Barlick Wanderers were playing Colne United. Yards away Barnoldswick Town's first and third teams were also at home and, to complete the set, Barnoldswick Cricket Club had a game. Pitches one and two are nearest the entrance and are alongside each other. They're just pitches, but with a grass bank behind one end that leads up to changing rooms, parking spaces and a few benches. This was the opening game in group B, one of two round-robin sections that make up the early stages of the Craven League's cup for second tier teams. On a stifling hot afternoon it was, unsurprisingly, a scrappy game. There wasn't much between the teams but after taking a first half lead Hellifield always had the upper hand. Their solitary goal proved to be enough to w

10.30am 9 September 2023 West Yorkshire Fair Play League Mosaic 6 Torchbearers 1 (att 7) The last time I saw these teams play they were both in the Yorkshire Christian League. That competition effectively disbanded during the summer, to be replaced by the West Yorkshire Fair Play League. It remains a Saturday morning league, and features mostly the same clubs, but removing the religious connection opens it up for a more diverse range of teams to join in future. Mosaic have also got a new ground ground since I last watched them, in 2021 , at the Bedquilts Recreation Ground in Leeds. They're now playing in Bradford, on the grass pitch at the Grange Sports Centre. Having already seen a game on the 3G pitch I was grateful for the club confirming, via Twitter (or whatever it's called these days), not only the venue and kick off time but also the pitch. It's not a bad venue, with the being pitch being fully enclosed and even a few benches for the few spectators. Even at 10.30 on