In 1993, I was made aware of a festival of football matches in the Northern League over an Easter period, this was known as the 3rd Northern League Groundhop.At the time I was Programme Editor at Dunkirk FC and they rewarded me with a paid ticket for the weekend.
I travelled up and stayed at Durham University, where other Non League football supporters from all over the Country gathered and met up, lots from other Non League Clubs.
A coach was provided round all the football grounds, with around 100 hoppers attending. When the Northern League grounds were completed by the Ground Hoppers, the Devon League took over the event at Easter and then the South West League. Over the years there have been other Leagues covered, with some in Wales, Shropshire and also the Northern Counties East League.
I travelled up and stayed at Durham University, where other Non League football supporters from all over the Country gathered and met up, lots from other Non League Clubs.
A coach was provided round all the football grounds, with around 100 hoppers attending. When the Northern League grounds were completed by the Ground Hoppers, the Devon League took over the event at Easter and then the South West League. Over the years there have been other Leagues covered, with some in Wales, Shropshire and also the Northern Counties East League.
14 seasons ago, I joined the Central Midlands Football League Committee and I announced that they were to hold their first ever Football Bonanza/Groundhop and was going to attempt to beat a world record and hold FIVE Matches in ONE Day.
Sky Sports and also the Times Newspaper and the Daily Telegraph covered this; as well our local newspapers like the Nottingham Evening Post, Mansfield Chad and Derby Telegraph.
A few Easters later saw us created a New World Record with us doing 8 Central Midlands League matches in under 35 hours, knocking an amazing 8 and half hours off the previous record held by the Devon League.
Ground hoppers are people who love football, mainly Non League for several reasons really, the cost, the friendliness of the clubs and the people that run clubs. Some Groundhoppers go to a new ground every week, some even 2 or 3 new ones a week.
The Groundhops have attracted people from all corners of the World, over the years there has been Kim from Sweden (who runs a Swedish Groundhop in June/July), Magret Hanke, a lovely lady from Germany, a chap all the way from Oban in Scotland and a local chap known as aka Veteran who has been to over 3.000 football grounds, as well as many hoppers from all over the UK. A big supporter of the Groundhops is no other than "Talksport Radio" Tony Incenzo
This season, will be my final Hop as a Organiser, For the past four seasons I have taken the Groundhop to the Notts Senior League, which of course is based in Nottinghamshire. The date of this seasons Groundhop is Friday 29th April & Saturday 30th April. In the first season we held the NSL Hop, Ground and League crowd records were broken.
The weekend sees the Groundhop begin with a 6.30pm kick off on Friday at Attenborough FC which is situated in Attenborough Village, where they entertain Awsworth Villa FC.
An early start on the Saturday Morning sees the first match held at The Hetley Pearson Ground between Beeston FC v Underwood Villa FC at 10.05am. We then head to the Basil Russell Ground, where Bilborough United FC face Ashland Rovers FC with a 12.45pm kick off. Grassington Road, the home of Nottinghamshire FC sees them play Gedling Southbank FC at 3.15pm and we then finish with a 6.15pm kick off at the Inspire Stadium Ground when Real United FC host Unity FC
Advanced ticket sales deadline is on 21st April 2016, with over 95 tickets sold already. The Advanced Tickets are £15 each and that includes entry to all 5 matches and a pack of the 5 programmes, which I think you will agree is superb value.
Club Badges Sets can also be pre-ordered in advance with the 5 Home Clubs and Unity FC and Gedling Southbank FC also doing a badge for the first time, the sets can be ordered at £21. All are FIRST EVER ISSUES!!!
On the Hop, there will also be some stalls at each game, Mrs Hazel Hornby, my wife will be selling football programmes etc for the 2 charitys that support vulnerable people with mental issues, so of course any kind donations will be very grateful for such a good cause!
All clubs will be doing Food and Refreshments all at a reasonable cost, . Food will be different at each club, for example, Sausage and Bacon cobs at Beeston FC and Jerk Chicken at Real United FC
We do run a coach from Nottingham Station Street, at the side of the main train station in Nottingham on the Saturday to all 4 Saturday games at the cost of £15 per seat. We are down to the final 8 seats left on the coach , so if you would like to book on the coach, please get in touch with me on hornby60uk@yahoo.co.uk or phone me on 07973517603 for all information and a booking form.
Crowds are expected to be around 300, but it would always be nice to see more and there will be free car parking at all grounds. So if you want to see what Non League Football is all about, then please come along.
If you are on the committee of a club and feel you have a fan who deserves some sort of a reward, why not buy him a Advanced Ticket and book him on the coach for the Saturday for such a cheap cost and as a thankyou to them.
If you are on the committee of a club and feel you have a fan who deserves some sort of a reward, why not buy him a Advanced Ticket and book him on the coach for the Saturday for such a cheap cost and as a thankyou to them.
Hope to see many new faces on 29/30th April, so why not leave Premiership and Football League for just ONE DAY and come along for a cheap cheerful break.
Rob Hornby
Notts Senior League Groundhop Organiser
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