Diary of a newfound groundhopper

K Sports 3 AFC Croydon Athletic 1, Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, Saturday 12 th October 2019 I’m starting to think that I’m destined not to watch any FA Vase matches this season. Having missed games in the t wo qualifying rounds for a combination of reasons , I had been almost certain that I’d be at an FA Vase match this weekend – right up until Thursday lunchtime. In fact, I’d even picked which game I was going to go to. Mile Oak vs Redhill. Perfect. Then I remembered something. Or rather, then I was reminded of something. We’d (by which I, of course, mean wifey) had already made other plans. We (she) had arranged to visit her sister in Tunbridge Wells on this particular afternoon. In fairness, I do vaguely recall her mentioning something about this a few weeks ago. But – surprise, surprise – I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying and so agreed uncomplainingly to her plans without really knowing quite what it was I was agre...

Rusthall FC 0 Canterbury City 3, Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, Wednesday 27 th March 2019 This season, I have become accustomed to being by the side of a football pitch at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. However, this past weekend, for only the third time in 2018/19, I was absent from the terraces. Instead, I was chaperoning my 8-year-old son to his end of season football do at the local Hollywood Bowl. You can probably imagine my deep joy at this turn of events! Anyway, having missed a rare Saturday at the football, I was determined to make up for it by heading to a midweek game. Unfortunately, as I’ve come to discover over the course of my inaugural groundhopping season, most midweek non-league fixtures – especially in and around Sussex – seem to be played on a Tuesday evening. The night I have to ferry my son to football training. Yes, I know I’ve already taken him to his end-of-season do and, yes there are no more matches scheduled, but th...

Tunbridge Wells 1 Rusthall 2, Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, Saturday 23 rd February 2019 Following a rare foray to a match outside of Sussex last weekend, this Saturday brought another trip to a game outside of my home county. However, as with last weekend’s trip to Lingfield , I didn’t stray too far past the Sussex border. The truth is that I’ve had my eye on a visit to Tunbridge Wells FC’s Culverden Stadium all season. It’s a club with which I can a claim a very loose connection. Not only is my wife from the town, but my father-in-law was for many years the club’s secretary, among other things. I myself was, for a brief period in the 2007/08 season, the club's temporary program editor – despite never having seen the team play either home or away. Welcome, ladies and gents, to the often weird and wacky world of non-league football! This was a situation, though, that I’d vowed to put right this season. And what better time to pay my inaug...