Steve B the Groundhopper

10.30am 27 June  2026 Saturday Morning Summer Cup at Hembrigg Park, Leeds Old Farnley 3 Drighlington Juniors 2 (att 16) Pre-season friendlies are already underway but this game, in a competition that runs through the summer, marked the end of my 2025/26 season. Despite it geographically indistinct name, the Saturday Morning Summer Cup is for teams in West Yorkshire. All games are at neutral venues in Leeds, and the eight teams are drawn from the local Saturday Morning League and the Leeds Community League. All eight play each other in a league format, ahead of semi-finals and a final.  According to the fixture list there should have been two games at Hembrigg Park, in the Morley area of Leeds, but only this one took place. This season (or last season depending how you look at it) Old Farnley and Drighlington Juniors were  rivals in the Saturday Morning League, with Old Farnley finishing higher. They got off to a good start, scoring after just two minutes. Drighlington qui...

7.30pm 19 June  2026 Moray and District Welfare League Royal Air Force Lossiemouth 1 Aberlour Villa 6 (att 19) I was last at RAF Lossiemouth in 2010, when they played winter football in the Scottish Juniors. These days they play more locally in a summer league, and on a different pitch. I passed the site of the former ground, now built over, as I headed from the guardroom to the playing field. Unsurprisingly, getting into an RAF base to watch a football match takes pre-planning, and formalities have to be completed before you're allowed beyond the gate. The playing field is to the north of the camp. As well as football it's also home to rugby and cricket. Players change in a small pavilion on the edge of the field. With Aberlour Villa top of the league, and RAF Lossiemouth in contention with games in hand, I expected a close game. It started off that way, and the home side were unlucky in the opening minutes when a shot from distance hit the underside of the crossbar. Both side...

7.15pm 15 June  2026 Llandyrnog and District Village Clubs Summer League Llangynhafal 8 Henllan 1 (att 76) While other long-established summer leagues are struggling to survive, the Llandyrnog and District League, in North Wales, has been relatively stable for years. Occasionally clubs come and go, but the last time I had a new ground to visit was in 2008. That was until this year, when Llangynhafal made a welcome return to their home village, or at least to a hamlet very close by. I'd seen them play in a field in the village in 1997. Some time after that they moved out, and for the last two decades or so they've shared a pitch in nearby Rhewl. They've now developed a pitch in Hendrerwydd. The sloping pitch looks well maintained and there's plenty of space for parking. Like many grounds in the north of Wales, it's a scenic setting. The match programme was an unexpected bonus, apparently produced by another groundhopper on behalf of the club. Llangynhafal are battlin...

1pm 14 June  2026 Alder Hey Charity Tournament, Group B at Walton Hall Park AFC Ainsdale 0 BRNESC Calcio 7 (att 15) When Walton Hall Park was turned into what was initially called the Liverpool Soccer Centre, there were two near-identical enclosed grounds. One was the Liverpool FA's ground, subsequently developed into a stadium used by Everton's women's team. Next door was the Liverpool Schools FA ground. Other than inevitable signs of wear and tear, it's barely changed in the years since. The pitch is railed off and floodlit, with dugouts on one side and a covered terrace opposite. I was always going to watch whichever of the three Alder Hey Tournament's 1pm kick offs were on that ground, and it turned out to be another Saturday v Sunday clash. AFC Ainsdale play in the Mid Lancashire League while BRNESC Calcio are, like Pristine in the day's earlier game, in the Liverpool Business Houses League. Sunday football is strong in Liverpool, and this was a one-sided e...

11am 14 June  2026 Alder Hey Charity Tournament, Group A at Walton Hall Park North Hill 2 Pristine 1 (att 25) For reasons that are hard to fathom, and increasingly outdated, the Football Association officially doesn't allow matches to be played in the month of June. There are loopholes though, and a tournament is one of them. That's not to suggest the Alder Hey Charity Tournament is any sort of ruse to get around FA rules. It's a bona fide competition featuring a dozen Saturday and Sunday sides, split into two groups of six. All the matches are on Sundays at Walton Hall Park in Liverpool, with three at 11am and another three at 1pm. From the morning options I chose this game as it was the first of the two matches, that were on grounds I'd not previously been to, to get underway. It was on one of a pair of open grass pitches at the complex. It pitted Saturday side North Hill, who spent the 2025/26 season in the Liverpool Football League, against Pristine of the Sunday Li...

11am 7 June  2026 Eccles Sunday League, Margaret Piggott Memorial Cup, Quarter-Final Egerton Arms 2 Ordsall 3 (att 22) The Eccles Sunday League gets onto my groundhopping 'to do' list by virtue of having a summer season.  Even so, this was pitch-hopping rather than groundhopping. There are several pitches at the Brookhouse Playing Fields in Eccles, with numbers seven and eight the pair currently used for Eccles Sunday League fixtures. Last summer I watched a game on 'pitch eight', and with both in use this morning I headed along to add 'pitch seven' to my list. For the record, I also saw a game on 'pitch five' back in 1997. With Egerton Arms struggling and Ordsall top of the 12-team league, I expected the visitors to progress to the cup semi-finals with ease. They did get through, but it was a close game. Early on Orsdall were the better side and were ahead after about 15 minutes. A few minutes before half time a goalkeeping error allowed them to double ...

2pm 6 June  2026 East Riding County League, Championship Division Langtoft 4 Seamer Sports 7 (att 59) It's not often I watch the same team two weeks running, but Seamer's defeat at Leven last weekend meant their final fixture, away to Langtoft, became the title decider. Had Seamer won last week then it's doubtful this game would have been played, but as it was they still needed three points to overtake leaders AFC North to win the East Riding County League's second tier. Early on it looked as if they'd suffer similar frustration. Langtoft started well and were in no mood to allow Seamer an easy afternoon. The home led twice during an even first half, with the visitors twice levelling. Their second equaliser was a penalty that looked soft to me, although before half time they were denied what looked a more obvious spot kick, and this time the tripped player was booked for an alleged dive. It took until the 66th minute before Seamer finally went in front. Their lead ...