Steve B the Groundhopper

3pm  28 September 2019 Surrey Elite Intermediate League Cup, First Round Lyne 1 Battersea Ironsides 3 (att 14) My second game of the day and it was another visit to a school, but Jubilee High School in Addlestone is very different to Charterhouse. A playing field behind the school is home to Lyne FC, newly-promoted to Surrey's 'step seven' league, but the club's first team won't be here for long. The venue looks more than adequate for the Surrey Elite Intermediate League, but presumably Lyne have set their sights higher, and have arranged a groundshare at Ascot United, thus ensuring they have a ground suitable for further upward progress. Ascot's new artificial pitch isn't yet ready, so I took the opportunity to visit Lyne at what is likely to be one of the final first team games at their current ground. The main pitch, like several smaller pitches (Lyne FC's main focus seems to be youth football), is enclosed by barriers painted a bright sh...

12 midday  28 September 2019 Arthurian League, Premier Division Old Carthusians 4 Old Alleynians 1 (att 18) Most Arthurian League sides play home games on hired 3G grounds around London, but Old Carthusians host opponents at their alma mater, Charterhouse School in Godalming. I guess a trip to the Surrey stockbroker belt is a simpler away trip than it would be for teams with roots further from the capital but, whatever the thinking, it does make for an interesting venue. The school grounds are vast, and the first hurdle when visiting to watch a game is working out where it will be played. The Arthurian League's website suggested it would be on what is known as the Big Ground, the prime football pitch close to the most imposing school buildings. Sadly that wasn't the case, but the Sir Greville Spratt Athletics Stadium was a decent alternative. Calling it a stadium is a bit of a stretch, as there's no facilities for spectators beyond a grass bank along one side. Th...

7.30pm  25 September 2019 Northern League Cup, Group G Jarrow 1 Sunderland West End 1 (att 78) This is Jarrow's third season as a Northern League club, which means it's taken me a while to get around to visiting their ground and to recomplete the league. The format of this season's Northern League Cup helped, with round-robin group games guaranteeing clubs midweek matches, and for once it was a trouble-free rush hour journey from Manchester to the North East. Jarrow's ground is attached to the Perth Green Community Association, and the football club appear to have done good job of ensuring they're an asset for the local community. There was a decent turn out of spectators for a league cup tie. The ground is fully enclosed and floodlit - obviously for a 7.30 kick off in late September - and spectators who want a roof have a choice between a small seated stand or a covered standing area. The two stands flank the dugouts. It was a very enjoyable game. Jarr...

2pm  21 September 2019 Northern Alliance, Challenge Cup, First Round Cullercoats 2 Blyth Town 4 (att 48) Blyth Town progressed to the next stage of the cup for teams in the Northern Alliance's top division after an eventful 90 minutes at the Links Avenue ground in Cullercoats. The fun started in the opening minute, when the home side's goalkeeper was red-carded for a deliberate handball, outside the penalty area of course, that denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. An outfield player took over between the sticks and although Blyth Town failed to score the resulting free kick but it didn't take them long to go ahead. They'd doubled their lead before Cullercoats tried a different player in goal, and it was no surprise that it was 3-0 before half time. Perhaps Blyth were guilty of assuming the job was done, as they never really got going in the second half. The 10 men of Cullercoats looked the more likely goalscorers, and after 82 minutes they made matters int...

10.30am  21 September 2019 North East Christian Fellowship League St John's Church Snods Edge 1 Heaton Saints 4 (att 3) In the 11 months since my last game in this league it has shrunk to just a single division, but I was pleased that it still has a team playing in the tiny Northumberland hamlet of Snods Edge. Wikipedia tells me that Snods Edge consists of a church, a church hall, a vicarage, three houses and a football pitch. That's two houses more than I spotted, but of course I was more interested in the football pitch. As far as I could tell, players get changed in the church hall, then have a short walk to the pitch. It's about as rural as football gets, and the only pitchside facility is a memorial bench, which would have been adequate for the 'crowd'. The game was a curious one. Possession was fairly even in the first half, but Heaton Saints were deadly in front of goal by half time they had a 4-0 lead. The home side at least had the satisfaction o...

4.30pm  14 September 2019 Witney and District League, Division Two Ducklington 2 Wootton Sports 3 (att 178) It was back to the Witney and District League for my third game of the day, and the late afternoon groundhop match at Ducklington, a village on the edge of Witney. I hadn't been too sure if I'd make it to this game, but thanks to a prompt finish at Freeland and a trouble-free drive I was inside the ground with more than five minutes to spare before the start. Ducklington's footballers are based at the Glebelands Playing Field, where the main pitch runs lengthways on the far side of a cricket pitch from the clubhouse. The pitch was roped off for the occasion, but I doubt that's usual practice for league matches. Division Two is the third tier of the Witney League, a level of football that is very much about participation rather than spectating. The standard wasn't great, but it was entertaining. Ducklington got the first half's only goal, and s...

2.30pm  14 September 2019 Oxfordshire Senior League, Premier Division Freeland 2 Hanborough 2 (att 56) I decided to head away from the organised hop for my afternoon game, and the local derby between Freeland and Hanborough was a tempting fixture with the added advantage of being close enough to the 4.30pm kick off at nearby Ducklington. Both sides have made good starts to the season, and not surprisingly the standard of football was noticeably higher than the morning's Witney League game. The first half lacked goals though, but the second more than made up for it. Freeland went 2-0 up and looked to be heading for three points, but Hanborough didn't give up. They pulled one back after 81 minutes, then got a stoppage time equaliser that was effectively the game's the final kick. Freeland's ground is fairly typical for village venues in the Oxfodshire Senior League. It's part of a sports field that hosts cricket as well, and from the village hall and changi...