This is the End (beautiful friend)

It's with a heavy heart that I have to declare ‘The 100 Football Grounds Club’ as now officially defunct!

The club has run its course, due to a complete lack of interest from its membership. 

When I launched the site in 2006 there were no social media or phone applications, so this website was the only way to share football ground statistics online. Nowadays, out of the 300 Full and Affiliated club members, only 6 people keep their stats up to date.  This is understandable since the launch of the fabulous Futbology app, made available to log your ground and match stats. 

A massive thank you to everyone who got involved over the last 17 years, and it's been a privilege to meet and make new friends with squad members from all corners of the UK (and a few in Europe)

If anyone would like to update their lists for the final time up to the close of the 2022-23 season, then email me or use the ground adding thread in the Facebook group. 

The site isn't closing down completely though, as I'll continue writing the Heed Hopper blog, mainly as my personal football diary and for my two loyal readers - Stevie Charla and my mate at Tech Set. 

All the best and happy trails!

Shaunee

 

✔877 Bridgend Park

St Boswells 4-2 Highfields United

Border Amateur League C Division

Saturday 20th May 2023

St Boswells is a large village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, on the A68 road, 4 miles south of Melrose. (population: 1,440)

St Boswells was formerly known as Lessuden before Boisil, a 7th century monk famous for his healing power, moved to the area and administered the townsfolk. The village also provides an ideal base for ramblers, as the Borders Abbey Way passes by the village. The St Cuthbert’s Way, a long distance linking Melrose Abbey to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne on the east coast also passes through the village.

St Boswells joined the C Division of the Border Amateurs League in 2003, winning the title in 2016-17, but were relegated from B Division after just one season. The club are based at Jenny Moores Road next to the town’s Rugby ground, so after writing this blog on St Boswells this match was switched to Bridgend Park in Ancrum, 6 miles south from their home. 

The reason for the fixture alteration was a weird one - the goalposts need replacing and the council have already taken them away. 

Bridgend Park

Acrum, 

Jedburgh 

TD8 6UG

The ground sits next to the north side of the A68. The entrance to the ground is along a lane which leads to the end of the bridge and the pitch. 

The ground has a wooden structure sitting on half way which is used as "The Dug Oot" with the changing room block and club facilities at the entrance.

St Boswells 4(Bell 45 Macrae 61 OG 73 Tait 85)

Highfields United 2(Stitt 6 Jones 55)

Border Amateurs League C Division matchday 21

1355 ko

3rd v 2nd

Att.23hc 

St Boswells went into the final league fixture of the season quaranteed a 3rd place finish and a play-off match against B Division side Coldstream. They went behind early on with a nice side foot finish from Cam Stitt, before grabbing an equaliser just before the interval with a good goal from Jack Bell, cutting inside and firing home. 

Highfields regained the lead ten minutes after the restart with a controlled volley by Niall Jones, but the saints hit back again with a first time effort from Kai Macrae . The hosts went on to claim the win when a left wing cross was knocked in off a defender, then Graham Tait kept his composure to make it 4-2.

#Heedhopper

63 miles door-to-door via A68. 

A nice leisurely drive up to the borders in the company of the Wallace ladies (no Lee this week as he continues his pursuit in becoming the north-east's greatest athlete)

We stopped off for a haggis based lunch in Jedburgh before the short drive to Ancrum. Overall a really enjoyable trip on a glorious sun shiny day. 

Footnote: I'll update this post when I visit St Boswells at their proper home.

...and finally to end the season...

The Return of....

The Football Bog Blog

(n0.26)

I haven’t posted one of these in a long while but couldn’t resist reviving the feature after spotting this urinal tucked away amongst the overgrowth in Bridgend Park

 

✔876 Olivebank Stadium

Musselburgh Athletic 7-0 Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts

East of Scotland League - Premier Division

Saturday 13th May 2023

Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, 5 miles east of Edinburgh city centre.The name derives from Old English with mussel referring to shelfish. (population 21,000)

Musselburgh was first settled by the Romans following their invasion of Scotland in AD 80. They built a fort a little inland at Inveresk from the mouth of the River Esk and bridged the river, establishing the route of the main eastern approach to Edinburgh for most of the next 2,000 years.

Musselburgh is known as "The Honest Toun" - celebrated by the annual election of the Honest Lad and Lass. The town motto "Honestas" dates back to 1332, when the Regent of Scotland, Randolph, Earl of Moray, died in the burgh after a long illness, during which he was affectionately cared for by the townsfolk. The new regent, the Earl of Mar, offered to reward the people for their loyalty but they declined, saying they were only doing their duty, which impressed him and saying they were a set of honest men. 

Musselburgh Athletic formed in 1934, but had previously played under different names including Musselburgh Bruntonians, Musselburgh Juniors and Musselburgh Fern since 1898. Musselburgh Bruntonians won the Scottish Junior Cup in 1923, beating Arniston Rangers 2-0 in the final. Athletic reached the final in 2011 and 2015(I was at that one!) both times narrowly losing 2–1 to Auchinleck Talbot.

East Region League Division 1 Championship: 1970–71

East Region League Division 2 Championship: 2000–01

East Region Premier League Champions: 2008–09, 2017–18

The club now play in the East of Scotland League Premier Division, having moved from the East Region Juniors in 2018. The Burgh won the South & East of Scotland Cup-Winners Shield in 2019 and took part in the Scottish Cup for the first time in 2020–21.

Olivebank Stadium

Market St, 

Musselburgh 

EH21 6QA

Capacity 900 (cover 150)

Current EoS Premier Division grounds visited 10/16

Total Scottish grounds visited 117

From the corner entrance to the ground, there's a covered enclosure with tables and chairs inside, refreshment bar and the changing rooms, all behind the goal. At the sides there's terrace steps with grass banking, with a covered stand sitting half way opposite the dugouts. At the top corner there's a blue wall with the club name in large white letters where the young Mussy Ultras gather to beat the drum and give their support. 

Musselburgh Athletic 7(Evans 22 Ried 29 Smith 34,38,43pen,66 Weekes 51)

Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 0

East of Scotland League - Premier Division matchday 30

3rd v 11th

Att.170.est

Spondoolicks:

Admission £8

Scotch pie £2.25

Coffee £1

The Burgh went nap in the first half. Nathan Evans was on hand to net the rebound after the initial shot hit the post, then a lovely cross was met by an equally lovely header by Liam Reid.

It was the Jordan Smith show before the interval. He fired in a right foot shot into the corner of the net, before great work by Zach Khan set him up for his second. There was still time before the break for him to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot. 

The hosts took their foot off the gas in the second half with Ben Weekes cutting inside and firing home number six in the 51st minute, followed by some great skill from Smith for his fourth and a seventh goal for Mussy. 

Lloyd Fiddler should have made it 8-0 but was denied by a fantastic penalty save, but overall a fantastic way to finish the season. 

#Heedhopper

119 miles door-to-door

LNER 1o41 train Newcastle - Edinburgh which arrived just before 1pm - delayed by 50 minutes. Returned on 1756 Lumo (Luckily, both trains not involved in the train strike)

26 bus from Princes Street to Musselburgh.

Following on from Broxburn last week it was East of Scotland League action for a second week running. After the long train delay I eventually met up with James Little for a swift pint in The Guildford before catching the bus to Musselburgh. We had time for a drink in The Ship, (where I caught the end of the Toon match) before a short walk to the ground. 

The bus journey back to Edinburgh took longer than expected so there was only enough time for a couple of swift pints in the Jingling Geordie before the train back to Newcastle and back in the house by quarter to eight.  

✔875 The Sycamores

Headingley 4-1 Gomersal & Cleckheaton 

West Yorkshire Amateur FL - Premier Division

Wednesday 10th May 2021

Headingley is a Leeds suburb approximately two miles north-west of the city centre. Headingley was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Hedingelei or Hedingeleia and the name is thought to derive from Old English - Head(d)inga meaning "the clearing of Hedda's people". A stone coffin found near Beckett Park in 1995 suggests there may have been an earlier settlement in late Roman times.

The location is well known as home to the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Leeds Rhinos rugby league team and Yorkshire Carnegie rugby union clubs.

Old Headingley AFC formed in 2001, originally named Skyrark FC, playing in the Yorkshire Old Boys League, before joining the West Yorkshire Association Football League in 2005. They dropped the “Old” bit from their name before the 2014-15 season and won promotion to the Premier Division the following year. 

The club nearly folded after losing its home ground in 2008 after an arson attack on their clubhouse, before being offered help by the University of Bradford. The club finally settled at their new home at Weetwood Playing Fields in 2014, which is owned by the University of Leeds.

West Park Leeds RUFC

The Sycamores, 

Bramhope, 

Leeds LS16 9JR

 

The club are now finally playing in Headingley, having previously played in Wetherby, Collingham and Stanningley. However, tonight's match was switched to The Sycamore's in Bramhope because of a double booking at Weetwood. 

The ground is home to West Park Rugby Club, where there's the main stadium and several Rugby pitches. The match was played in the 4G cage at the far end of the complex, which is also used for Rugby but has football pitch markings and is currently used by Harrogate & District League side Bramhope AFC. 

Headingley 4(Bywater 28,66 Shaw 34,Booth 39) 

Gomersal & Cleckheaton 1(Carney 61)

West Yorkshire Association Football League Premier Division Matchday 29v30

12th v 4th

7pm ko

Att.14hc 

Following a pretty even start, Headingley raced into a three goal lead before half time. A cross shot from Jamie Bywater was turned into his own net by the centre-half, then Adam Shaw hit a superb free kick from outside the box which caught out the defence. Richard Booth got on the end of a left wing cross to tap home the third in the 39th minute. 

The visitors pulled a goal back with a nice turn and shot from Josh Carney, but man of the match Bywater played a quick one-two before placing his shot into the corner of the net to make it 4-1. 

#Heedhopper 

92 mile drive door-to-door 

I picked up Lee, Katie and her mam Pauline at 2.30. We had a quick look around the town before dining at The Golden Beam.

We found out via Facebook about the match venue being switched, but we had plenty of time to get there before kick off. 

Just before the match started the linesman told us we had to move from the sidelines and go outside of the cage to watch the game. We objected, and decided to watch the match from behind the goal instead. This really pissed us off, because he never said a word to the other attendees who watched the whole match in the same spot. 

✔874 Albyn Park

Broxburn Athletic 1-4 Haddington Athletic

East of Scotland Premier Division

Saturday 6th May 2023

Broxburn is a town in West Lothian, 12 miles west of Edinburgh, originally a small village known as Easter Strathbock. It was known as Broxburn by the 17th century and developed rapidly during the industrial revolution in shale oil extraction. Nowadays, new residential development has seen the town grow and form a conurbation with neighbouring Uphall. 

The name Broxburn comes from  "brock's burn" - brock being an old Scots name for a badger and burn being a Scottish word for a large stream or small river.

The 3 Broxburn Bings - Greendikes Bing, Albion Oil Works Bing and Hopetoun Bing -  reside on the north east of the town, created by large piles of spoil from the shale mines being dumped on top of each over to form. The largest of the three Bings is the Greendykes Bing which when scaled provides panoramic views of the area.

Broxburn Athletic Football Club was reformed in 1947 and played within the Junior setup until switching to the seniors in 2018. The Badgers reached the Scottish Junior Cup semi-final on five occasions, the last time being in 1971 when they lost by a single goal to eventual winners Cambuslang Rangers.

 

East Region League champions: 1972–73, 1973–74

East Region Division B champions: 1978–79

East Region Lothian District Division Two champions: 2003–04, 2005–06

East Region South Division champions: 2009–10

East of Scotland Junior Cup: 1950–51, 1987–88

East Region League Cup: 1952–53, 1954–55, 1972–73

Broxburn won the East of Scotland League Conference C in their debut season, but narrowly missed out on promotion to the Lowland league in the round robin playoff against the winners of the other Conferences, Penicuik Athletic and Bonnyrigg Rose. The club became a full SFA member in 2019 which allowed them to enter the 2019-20 Scottish Cup. 

Albyn Park

Albyn Place, 

Broxburn 

EH52 5BY

 

Capacity 2,050 

Record Attendance: 11,400 v Kilsyth Rangers, 1951-52 Scottish Junior Cup

In 1946, Mr. G. W. Bartaby-Pearson, with the help of local businessmen, began reforming a new football club in Broxburn and in the process secured Albyn Park from the Earl of Buchan. After help from supporters with ground improvements, the venue opened in 1948 with a match between Heart of Midlothian and Rangers, which attracted a crowd of around 3,500.

The ground is on the site of the original Albion Park used by Broxburn F.C. in 1889. The original Athletic took over the lease in 1894 until both clubs amalgamated in 1912 and moved to the sports park. Athletic then moved back in 1921 until going out of business in 1924, and the reformed club have played there ever since.

Albyn Park was completely redeveloped in 2009–10 as part of the Broxburn United Sports Club project into a new community facility with a 3G artificial pitch, new changing rooms, a social club and floodlights. The original large enclosure is near the entrance on the same side as the changing rooms. The remainder of the ground has grass banking with park bench seats along the top.

Broxburn Athletic 1(Brass 69)

Haddington Athletic 4(G.McGarry 29 Thomas 38 Peffers 56,64)

EoS Premier Division matchday 29

9th v 8th

Att.210

Spondoolicks;

Admission £8

Steak, haggis and peppercorn sauce pie £2.50(superb!)

Tea £1

Broxburn were well beaten in their final home fixtures of the season. Guy McGarry robbed the centre-half after he miscontrolled a pass to race through and score, then Thomas tapped in their second in the 38th minute. 

A brace from Robbie Prefers made it 0-4 after 64 minutes, his second goal rounding off a swift passing move from the away side. Five minutes later Gary Brass got the hosts on the scoresheet, but they were unable to build a comeback.

#Heedhopper

136 miles door-to-door

0738 Cross Country train Newcastle - Edinburgh Waverley 

X18 bus Princes Street to Broxburn at 1305. 

The annual end of season meeting in Edinburgh involving the Geordie, the Cockney and the Jock was one shy this year, with our Scottish pal off to Germany to escape the coronation. The traditional Edinburgh pub crawl saw us supping in Mather's, Cask & Barrel on Broughton Street, St. Vincent Bar and the Black Cat before hopping on the bus to Broxburn. 

There's not a pub to be had in the town so on returning to Edinburgh we called into Sandy Bell's, The Southsider and the Auld Hoose before I took the 1900 train home.