Diary of a newfound groundhopper

Dorking Wanderers Reserves 1 Epsom and Ewell 1, Combined Counties League Division One, Saturday 7 th March 2020 My mid-season break from Non-League football is over! Which, loosely translated, means ‘it’s finally stopped raining!’ For now, at least. Having not been to a non-league match since 8 th February, when I watched Langney Wanderers defeat Pagham 1-0, I was itching to get back on the road again. Although my brief hiatus from Non-League football did see me take in a trip to the King Power Stadium to see Leicester City take on Manchester City, it’s just not the same. I really do miss going to Non-League games. Far more than I ever thought I would when I started this groundhopping expedition at the start of last season. Of course, the main reason for my month-long absence from the Non-League terraces has been purely down to the awful weather we’ve been enduring. It’s been annoying as a spectator. I can only sympathise with how frustrating the season must ...

Godalming Town 2 British Airways FC 1, Combined Counties Football League Division 1, Saturday 9 th November 2019 It was always going to happen eventually, I suppose. Especially given the awful weather we’ve been having lately. Yes, following an hour-and-a-bit-long drive to reach the small Surrey village of Alfold yesterday afternoon, I arrived at their pitch only to hear the two words that all football spectators simply dread: Match off. Just 15 minutes before the match was due to kick-off, with players from both teams changed and ready for action, the referee decided that the rapidly deteriorating condition of the pitch combined with the torrential rain that was forecast to carry on falling until long after the game was due to finish, meant that the game was unlikely to reach a conclusion. The players and managers were clearly not happy with the decision (I wasn’t overly thrilled, to be honest). Yet it’s hard not to have a degree of sympathy with match officials in...

Redhill 1 Colliers Wood United 3, Combined Counties Premier Division, Tuesday 6 th August 2019 And so, here we are again. The start of a brand-new football season. My second as a non-league groundhopper. Just as the players have spent the past few weeks getting match-fit (or at least something approaching semi-fit) ahead of the coming nine months of gruelling action, I too have been honing my watching skills ready for the admittedly less-arduous months of spectating that lie ahead. And, after seven pre-season matches (including one at West Ham on Saturday, meaning I was unable to attend a non-league match on the new season curtain raiser – damn that Hammers supporting youngest of mine! – I feel like I’m ready for the real thing to begin. With my eldest son’s Tuesday night football training not due to start until early September, midweek games are on the agenda for the next month or so. With plenty of matches to choose from on this warm Tuesday evening, I eventually ...