Ashton Town P-P MSB Woolton, Tuesday 24th March 2026

Ashton Town P-P MSB Woolton, North West Counties League First Division North, The Bartons Group Stadium

Having given Kev the options of Darwen or Bacup Borough tonite, I realise mid-afternoon that I’ve got the wrong day – those are tomorrow. I look up the fixtures again and narrow it down to Ashton Town, Euxton Villa or Prestwich Heys. The latter is closest to Kev, and it’s also where Cousin Chris lives. Maybe he fancies it too? Chris is unavailable, so we decide to leave Prestwich for another time.

We decide on Ashton, partly cos Euxton is an 8pm kick-off. 8pm? Whatthehell’s that about? As we head north on the motorway, the rain is lashing down. ‘It’s not gonna be on’ I say. Kev keeps checking Twitter. So far, so good. We make it to the lane leading to the ground, but I’m not keen. Especially not now we’ve seen a ‘parking full’ sign. We park up across the road and head down to the ground.

As we edge closer, I notice the floodlights aren’t even on. There’s only about half an hour to kick-off. ‘This match is off’ I say. Besides, the main gates are wide open. Kev checks Twitter for the umpteenth time. ‘Match off. They sent a message 4 minutes ago.’ So, roughly as we were parking. Still, the social club is doing good business, as both teams are in there enjoying a not very well earned drink. It is also the second time this season I have attempted to see MSB Woolton, and the second time it has been postponed (the other being Thornton Cleveleys). They are proving to be my nemesis.

Still, Euxton Villa kicks off at 8. Shall we? (We shall.)

AFC Blackpool 3-0 Holker Old Boys, Saturday 28th February 2026

AFC Blackpool 3-0 Holker Old Boys, North West Counties League First Division North, Mechanics Ground, att. 410

It’s the final game of the day for the Saturday of the North West Counties League groundhop and it’s only a 5 minute walk from the previous game at Squires Gate. It’s almost like they planned these things! As luck would also have it, I’ve parked my car inbetween the two, which is handy for my mate Stu. He’s a little cold and wants to don his big coat.

At Squires Gate, I asked another groundhopper where AFC Blackpool was. He pointed towards some houses. ‘You can see the floodlights!’ That was handy, as it meant no rush, so while most of the groundhoppers made their way over, we watched a bit of Der Klassiker in the social club. (Well, it beat watching Dirty Leeds – Man City.)

I was worried about crowd numbers at AFC. Would fans have had enough and be drifting home after 3 matches already? There were certainly fewer, but 410 was a more than respectable attendance for a Satdy nite 10th tier game. The social club was a lot pokier than Squires Gate however, and the queue was out the door for food and warm drinks. Stu would have to come back for our tea. Last season’s shirts were a bargain tenner a pop, but I just couldn’t ever foresee myself needing to wear a tangerine AFC Blackpool shirt, other than to point out to bemused folk that it wasn’t Blackpool FC, but AFC Blackpool.

The name of the ground intrigued me. ‘The Mechanics Ground.’ Wasn’t there a side called Blackpool Mechanics? Indeed there was. Inside the entrance to the social club, a display case showed off various trophies and other paraphernalia linked to Mechanics. Had they gone bust? A bit of digging found that no, they’d simply re-named themselves ‘AFC Blackpool’ in 2008. Much more prosaic and less romantic.

The small seated stand beside the social club was busy, but I spied the stand behind the goal. It looked a higher vantage point and it’d be cosy (warmer) under the roof. We bumped into Nathaniel, again, the Hednesford groundhopper. ‘Have you noticed anything?’ he asks. No. ‘Look up.’ There was no roof. So much for cosy. The stand had sides, a fascia, a back, stanchions, but no roof. Still, we stayed, as the home side were attacking (and scoring) at this end. 2 nil after 15 minutes.

Stu brought me a tea, then we went for a wander. The long side to our right had the most spectators. A small stand with a couple of steps straddled the halfway line. There was another covered stand behind the goal, but this was virtually empty save for a couple of lads on drums, making up songs to their hearts’ content. Indeed, there were more drums than they had ensemble, perched on chairs. Good on ‘em, even if no-one else wanted to join them.

Half-time arrived, the home side still being 2 goals ahead. I knew Stu was chilly, and although I faced a drive of over an hour, he’d have another hour drive after that. ‘Shall we call it a day?’ It was up to me. We’d done our stint, had a most enjoyable day, but I didn’t expect we’d miss much if we were to go home.

Thanks, North-West Counties Football League, and thanks GroundhoppersUK.

The Damage:
£6 ent
£2 prog...and a very sparse offering at that. Talk about punting one out just cos the groundhoppers are in town!
= £8

Droylsden 3-2 Darwen, Sunday 2nd March 2025

Droylsden 3-2 Darwen, North West Counties League 1st Division North, Butcher’s Arms Ground, att. 1,184

It was game 2 of 2 this Sunday on the annual North West Counties League groundhop, as a convoy of traffic made it through the Manchester suburbs from Abbey Hey. Though I bet not everyone called in at the Fairfield Moravian Settlement on the way. (Cheers, Kev.) What a cultural and historical oasis in the middle of standard Victorian streets.

Again, Kev led the way on directions. He’s getting better at this, and we pass Droylsden’s Butcher’s Arms Ground before parking up on a side street. All good, though the football club appears surprised by numbers; only 2 turnstiles open and with one for concessions, a healthy queue snakes down the street until someone has the common sense to make both turnstiles open for all. The groundhoppers’ coach had also arrived, and well done DFC for furnishing everyone with teamsheets as they decanted the bus.

I settled for a programme, accosted as we were as soon as were through the turnstiles, in much the same way chuggers operate in Carnaby Street. Then, another long queue. Quick! Let’s join it. I presume it’s for food (it is) and after a disappointing sausage sandwich at Abbey Hey, I’m ready to be disappointed again. (I am, yet in another sense, I’m not, for if I am ready to be disappointed, and I am disappointed, aren’t I satiated in my prediction that I would be disappointed? I don’t know.) Kev reconnoitres the menu. ’14 award winning pies’ it proclaims, though by the time we reach the front there is only cheese and onion. Maybe they meant 14 pies on sale in total?

After hearing grumblings from those in front about the prices, Kev decides to spend £7 on a not wholly satisfying cheeseburger, while my hotdog confirms what I thought last game: these people must leave the bread rolls out all nite to get the right crisp/staleness. Or is this the texture of cheap buns? Kev gets an idea of life as a groundhopper as one moans that an upcoming groundhopping weekend in Scotland only has 4 new grounds (of 6) to see. Kev and I have a long way to go.

By now, the teams are out. Didn’t Droylsden go bust a few years back and have to start again? I am corrected. ‘Went on sabbatical.’ Turns out they withdrew from the Northern Premier League in August 2020, before folding for the 2021-22 season due to the financial pressures of Covid. Consequently, the ground is a grade or 2 above the North West Counties Division 1. The main stand is a modern brick fronted affair, while behind one goal is a large terrace, covered in its entirety. There’s a healthy four figure crowd and still plenty of space. (Capacity 3,000, including 500 seats.) But who are the home fans taunting with ‘what’s it like to see a crowd?’ Groundhoppers? Darwen? Themselves?

Kev and I find a perch near the corner flag, the perimeter slightly cutting the corner, to afford us an even better view. After the previous match ended goalless, we are rewarded early; the Bloods head in from a corner. The Bloods? Yes, NOW I know what that mascot was meant to be, pre-match. A drop of blood! I did wonder. On the one hand, it looked like a drop of blood. On the other...that CAN’T be a drop of blood. Was it left over from some NHS giving blood campaign? This goal cancels out a shock effort from Darwen at the far end.

At half time, I bump into a Hearts fans who I met last year on the same weekend. He regales me with trips this season to see Hearts in Europe…Copenhagen, etc...they’re one of those teams it must be great to support…you get to Europe, but don’t get far enough to bankrupt yourself, just enough to see 2 or 3 new grounds before repeating the process next year. (I didn’t tell him this.)

Second half, we walk through the terrace to the far side, a narrow, covered stand, whose pillars and supports are wooden, rather like a Tudor mansion house (but not as safe). Surprisingly, there’s a juicy space right on the halfway line. As far as I can tell, everyone here is a groundhopper, as we delight in random conversations with random travellers. (‘What do YOU think of Alan Shearer as a pundit?’) We also pass two doggies in club colours and I share my big idea with Kev: a photographic book, ‘Non-League Dogs’. On further examination, I am encouraged to share my vision, a hardback, coffee table book, full of glorious colour pictures. ‘Will they be given any context?’ What do you mean? ‘Like where it is, who’s playing?’ Of course!

By now, The Bloods are 2-1 up and look like they’re going to run away with it. However, a spanner is thrown as Darwen equalise. It’s not undeserving either, the visitors enjoying good possession in their opponents’ half. However, just as the shock is on, Droylsden break and the ball is blasted high into the net from an angle. (I know, I know, all shots are ‘from an angle’. Even straight ones.)

The masses are happy. Home players go to the terraced end to receive their acclaim, while us groundhoppers muse on a five goal thriller. Exit isn’t through the giftshop though, we continue our anti-clockwise navigation via the other goal, an open, flat standing end with the boundary fence tight in. Maybe we’ll see them again in a division or 2 higher. If they don’t go on sabbatical.

The Damage:
£6 ent
£4 hotdog
£2 programme
= £12