The Non-League Paper’s Diary of a Groundhopper – Saturday 14 March: Darlaston Town 1874 2 Shawbury United 0 Rightly or wrongly, a few leagues have decided to plough on with fixtures for the time being.
A Chinese fan has flown over 12,000 miles to visit ninth-tier North West Counties League Premier Division side Runcorn Linnets – after falling in love with them on Football Manager.
After failing to qualify for Europe, Feyenoord fan Jeroen Koot started travelling abroad to watch other teams, and is marking Non-League day in a special way
MY last three August Bank Holidays have been spent on Anglesey, scuttling to and from the delights of Lock Stock Welsh Alliance grounds on an organised Groundhop.
I DON’T know how I’ll be able to drag myself off the sofa for a match tonight; the stuffing has been knocked out of me by reports that One Direction are splitting up. How will I be able to live life after such earth-shattering ‘news’?
I arrive at Hillheads Park, home of Whitley Bay, courtesy of The Fox who is in the north east for just one day of the four Northern League 125th Anniversary Hop days.
It hurts deeply that I am visiting the best county in Britain for birds, Norfolk, and not actually doing any birdwatching! This is because I am watching three matches in the Eastern Counties League today, in the company of The Fox, and simply have no time to stop and study our feathered friends.
Today is a bit of a mystery tour. My mate CAMRAman, quite possibly the ‘saddest’ man in the universe, kindly offers to ferry us down to Portland Harbour for an almost mythical bird (Brünnich’s Guillemot) with a match to follow.
AFC Fylde are another of those Non-League clubs that use the ‘a’ word…. “ambition”. But unlike some that love to play down their investment, they make little attempt to hide it.
We convene early: the M25 has been misbehaving recently, so plenty of time is allowed for the drive down to Godalming Town of the Calor League South & West.