Groundhopping adventures

My love affair with football started in 1990. Aged 7, I remember watching my first football match in the old Shrivenham Road end of The County Ground and I rarely missed a home match. When we made it to the big time of the English Premier League my Dad decided it was time to start taking me to away matches too - the groundhopper in me was born!

That season we saw some great games at the likes of Old Trafford, The Dell, and Loftus Road to name a few. It was from that period in 1993 I became hooked on travelling away to see my beloved Swindon Town and obsessed with ticking off new grounds!

Groundhopping has been a big part of my friendship group's lives and we’ll often compare our football ground totals when we meet up. Some of our best weekends away have been seeking out new grounds. My personal favourite being on my stag do when we travelled to Morecambe to tick off the Globe Arena.

My groundhopping activities aren’t restricted to just me and my friends though, as my wife will attest to when I convinced her to join me at Stadio Olimpico to watch Lazio take on Bologna whilst on a romantic break in Rome.

We’d love to hear your groundhopping stories - and are always keen to hear what lengths our users will go to in order to tick off that obscure, new ground.