THE FIRST OF FIVE planned annual Carmarthenshire League Groundhops took place last weekend. The clubs visited were Abergwili, Llandeilo, Johnstown, Llandovery and the Carmarthen Stars.
Organised by GroundhopUK, the event sees hundreds of football fans visiting various grounds all over Britain to watch a first team match. Each invited club provide programmes, merchandise and food which results in an unexpected financial benefit.
“We have been most fortunate that the League agreed to our request,” said organiser Chris Berezai. “We have struck a long-term deal with them which will see clubs benefit in many ways over the next few years. As a result, 817 spectators attended our games in Carmarthenshire.”
“As a bonus we started off last Friday night (Apr 15) at Garden Village. Years ago, when I was their programme editor, the club were in the Carmarthenshire League,” he added. “Now they are in the top division of the Welsh League, albeit in a relegation position at present.”
The first match on Saturday morning (Apr 16) saw the Hoppers descend on Abergwili Football Club.
A record crowd saw the home team beat visiting Llansteffan 4-1 with a hat-trick from Owain Binding and another from Lee Cooper. Llansteffan’s consolation reply came from Oliver Soames’ penalty, which was to prove to be the last kick of the match.
The various coaches and cars then moved on to Llandeilo where the Gennen Road club were taking on Llangennech. The game proved to be an easy 5-0 victory for the home team with goals from Keith Dainton, Dafydd Thomas, Ashley Williams and a brace from Alun Jones.
Llangennech were not helped by having defender Rhys Davies sent off in the first half and having to replace their injured goalkeeper not long after the interval.
The final fixture of the first day pitted Johnstown against Drefach. This match was a splendid advert for Carmarthenshire football as both sides played to their highest level.
Drefach took the lead five minutes before half-time when a Jordan Williams shot was deflected into the goal off a defender. The equaliser came four minutes after the interval when Bryan Skinner’s shot also hit a player on its way in.
At 1-1 the Johnstown side put incredible pressure on the Drefach defence. Four times shots hit the visitor’s woodwork, denying Johnstown a deserved lead. Then a 78th minute corner resulted in Jonathan Lloyd giving Drefach the advantage. The game was sealed for the visitors five minutes later when David Williams scored a third from close range.
The groundhoppers then enjoyed an evening dinner party at a central Carmarthen restaurant which went on until the early hours.
The first match on Sunday morning found them at the Broad Street ground of Llandovery Football Club where the visitors were from Porth Tywyn. The Red & Whites soon took the lead when Jordan Archer fired in from close range.
Llandovery then went two up just before half time when Chris Davies controlled a bouncing ball to fire into the top left corner.
The second period of play was even until two quick goals in injury time by Ross Davies and Lewis Bailey saw Llandovery come away with a 4-0 win.
As expected the largest crowd of the weekend was at Richmond Terrace where the Carmarthen Stars entertained Ponthenri.
The festival atmosphere no doubt gave the Stars players a boost as they thrashed a keen, but outplayed, visiting team 7-1.
The game started frantically and Ponthenri’s goalkeeper Simon Scott was very fortunate in escaping a red card when committing a professional foul on the edge of his area. Goals by Ryan Foschi and Alex Thomas gave the Stars a 2-0 interval lead.
Then the floodgates opened. Two goals by captain Thomas Harvey and singles from Alex Thomas (again), Nick Rees and Calumn Deadman in a twelve-minute spell sealed Ponthenri’s fate. They gained a consolation goal near the end but it was too little, too late.
Over all the five Carmarthenshire League games had produced 26 goals. As Berezai said after the final whistle was blown: “This has been an excellent weekend. We all look forward to returning in April next year.”
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