Hoppers Do It Together
Coast to Coast Time for another trip from the east coast to the west coast. Having already visited Carlisle United and Barrow this season, it was time to tick off the other big club in Cumbria – Workington AFC. Of course, they haven’t always been this far down the league pyramid. In 1977, Workington AFC…
All too often, we see celebrities and well-known personalities being interviewed but sometimes, the really interesting interviews are the ones people don’t think to do. For instance, who better for us to interview than a fellow football-mad Hopper? Not your common or garden Hopper either. This is a Hopper who has set himself on a…
Strikes Are Back It’s been a little while but the train workers are striking again. The remedy for this for any groundhopper is to find a local club that you haven’t yet visited. For us, that just happens to be Newcastle Blue Star. Blue Star currently ply their trade in the Northern Football Alliance League…
A View to an Ochil Like Partick Thistle last week, we have tried to visit Stenhousemuir and Ochilview Park before. Again, train strikes thwarted us, so we would try again this weekend, successfully! Stenhousemuir… it’s one of those names I remember from hearing in the classified results on a Saturday evening. Read out by the…
The Problem In Scottish football, there seems to be a yearly event involving the change and restructuring of the pyramid system. This is in order to accommodate the ‘B’ teams/Colts/U21 teams of a handful of the bigger SPL teams. Rightly, there is a concern about the lack of opportunities for young players to develop. By…
Third Time Lucky Partick Thistle… We have tried to get up to Firhill Stadium twice this season and twice we have failed. The first time, Mrs Hopper became too ill, so we didn’t travel. The second time, we were thwarted by train strikes. I contacted the club through social media and asked if there was…
A Glasgow Ham Double – Part Two Life is full of strange meetings and coincidences, isn’t it? For instance, when I started playing a silly little game on my phone about three or four years ago, I never imagined it would lead to tickets for a Celtic v Rangers cup final – yet, that’s precisely…
A Glasgow Ham Double Hamilton and Hampden – what a weekend we had lined up! First up, a Saturday trip just to the southeast of Glasgow to see Hamilton Academical for the first time. They would be facing table-topping Queen’s Park. We have previously seen The Spiders twice this season, losing 5-0 at Ayr United…
To Hull and Back This week saw us visit Hull City and me re-ticking one of the ninety-two grounds of the English Leagues. I first visited Hull City when they were still playing at Boothferry Park. The 15th of August, 1992 to be precise. It was the opening game of the season and a day…
A New Coastline With our semi-regular trips up the northeast coast on the way to Scottish grounds, we are used to the beautiful coastline that runs along the eastern coast of Britain’s north. Today, we would start just inland from the Durham Heritage Coast but end up on the other side, to venture down England’s…