Hoppers Do It Together
Close to Home Gateshead is just a forty-minute bus trip from home, so today was an easy Hop, and just as well! Friday night into Saturday morning was not a happy time in the Hopper household. Mrs Hopper has been suffering from a bad back for some while now. Last night, a particularly painful night…
Staying Local With the latest train strikes finishing on the 3rd of February and the knock-on effect they always have on the following day, we decided to stay local this weekend and visit one of the nearest football grounds to our town, Seaham Red Star. Seaham is a small town on the northeast coast and…
Back Where It All Began While I have visited many grounds over the years, Victoria Park, Hartlepool, is where my groundhopping adventures officially began at the beginning of last year. Ironically, it was for the visit of Blackpool in the FA Cup 3rd Round in January and it would also be a Championship side visiting…
Let There Be Light During the holiday season, travel can be difficult on public transport, or even non-existent. If you combine this negative thinking with the ongoing strikes and chaos surrounding transport, it seems obvious to stay local and that’s what we did. Just nine miles away from our town lies one of the northeast’s…
Options Narrowed This week, we had been planning to visit Seaham Red Star but with the weather all but wiping out football in the northeast, we decided it would be a good time to go and check out St. James’ Park. Although we have been to Newcastle United before, we had been lucky enough to…
Another Change of Plans Another Saturday, another rail strike and another change of plans. It’s becoming a familiar pattern for groundhoppers to lay down their plans only to find they must completely change them due to rail strikes. I have gotten to the stage where I no longer plan to attend games where tickets are…
The Best Laid Plans… In these days of public transport strikes and unreliability, it’s always wise to have a backup plan when travelling to games. This week, we intended to visit Partick Thistle’s Firhill, but it wasn’t to be. This time, it wasn’t a rail strike or shortage of staff that caused our train to…
By Hook or By Crook After last weekend’s chaos on the trains, we needed at least a week away from them before trying again. However, I still needed my football fix by hook or by Crook… and we chose Crook. Crook Town, to be precise. The opponents would be the familiar faces of West Auckland,…
Non-League Heroes Our next game was at West Auckland’s Darlington Road ground, or the Wanted Stadium. It was here that I was reminded of the heroes that keep non-league football club’s running with their behind-the-scenes dedication and passion. Step forward Dave Bussey, the man who does so much for the club… and all on a…
Train Strikes Again Yet again, the railway strikes put paid to our original hopping plans. Instead of making our way up to Larbert for the Stenhousemuir v Albion Rovers game, we had to look for a more local venue. Bishop Auckland is a market town lying about 12 miles to the southwest of Durham. It…