Heed Hopper: October 2015

✔489 - Northfield School & Sports College

Billingham FC 1v6 Staithes Athletic

Mitre Prostar MacMilan Bowl 2nd Round

Saturday 17th October 2015

Billingham, Cleveland (population over 35,000)
Former home of the ICI chemical plant and current Northern Club football clubs “Town” and “Synthonia”
Birthplace of Boro legend Willie Maddren, thespian Jamie Bell and Maximo Park vocalist Paul Smith.
… and the first lass I had a proper snog with was Julie from Billingham (Hexham camp April ‘76)

Billingham FC - formed 2010 from Billingham Juniors FC
Teesside League 2010-11 to date

Current English Non-League Grounds visited 238
Current Teesside League visited 2/18
Northfield School & Sports Complex
Thames Road,
Billingham TS22 5EG
Roped off pitch within large sports complex.

The Gadabout
Travelled on me todd in the car, 32 miles door to door via A19.
Spon
No admission
Programme - available on request along with On line edition

Billingham FC v Staithes Athletic (1.30pm ko)
Att.15hc

1-0 (3rd minute) Matthew Murray
Direct free kick from 25 yards
1-1 (9th minute) Ryan Gibson
Left wing corner ‘keeper fumbled cross into the path of Gibson to prod home.
1-2 (18th minute) James Armstrong
Picked up ball in midfield and ran in on goal unchallenged to fire in from the edge of the box.
1-3 (50 minutes) Luke Weed
Ran onto a flicked header for a clear run on goal and good finish.
1-4 (60 minutes) Carl Gray
Latched onto a through ball, hit first time effort from the edge of the area.
1-5 (71 minutes) James Armstrong
Gray picked out Armstrong unmarked on the right, who slid the ball under the ‘keeper.
1-6 (90+1 minutes) Steve Starsmore
Right wing cross headed in from 12 yards

Top Bloke - James Armstrong(Staithes Athletic)

Blogger Blogging Off Blog

One of the best things about being on holiday, apart from having lots of spare time to indulge in my favourite pastimes (ie sun, sea, sex, beer and good bait) is having plenty of time to reflect. On my recent holiday in the Algarve I got thinking about this blog, which has now been on the go for over nine years, featuring over 400 different football grounds.

When I first started writing about my ground visits the website was quite unique, with just a few fellow Groundhopping bloggers, like Steve Dobson, Tim Rigby and David Poole who contacted me to swap links, as they were also covering the hobby in their own style.
Nowadays the internet is flooded with similar sites so much so that readers are spoilt for choice, with my own efforts probably not as good as other blogs around.

So in short there will be no more reports in the usual 'My Matchday' form. However I will still be logging my ground visits but in a more simple format, although I'll probably will do the odd 'My Matchday' post if I experience an eventful day which is worth sharing.

As most of you are aware I'm currently halfway through writing a book which I'm hoping to get published next year on Scottish Junior football, so all my literature skills are now fully focused on this project.

My Non-Match Holiday

My holiday in the Algarve coincided with international week, so of course there was no senior fixtures. However there was the option of the Algarve League with games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. The team closest to our hotel was Imortal Deportivo in Albufeira, but as luck would have it they were playing away on that weekend. That same bad luck also meant I missed out on watching Scotland take on Gibraltar in Faroe. With international matches spread over four days, that fixture had to take place on the day I flew back home.

They say bad luck comes in three's, well it does in my case as torrential rain but the dampeners on my planned trip to Guia, so a rare holiday without watching live football. Apart from that we had a fantastic time, so much so I'll have to go back, but book up well in advance to tick off these grounds I sadly missed out on.

I did however have a walk up to the Municipal Stadium in Albufeira to take some pictures for the blog ....