How Many Football League Grounds Have You Been To?

[Mr Angry]

Of the current 92, 75 visited, and just 17 not visited; 6 in League 1 and 11 in League 2.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

68 of the current grounds, and I do count friendlies as I was at a ground and there was a match on. I also count Moss Rose, Macclesfield, in that total, even though I saw Chester City v Reading there.

I've seen Reading play at 119 grounds overall, and (yes I know I need to get out more) seen games at 215 grounds overall, and 58 of those were abroad (in 19 countries).

I have no interest whatsoever in "doing the 92". It all seems a little too collector-ish and obsessive, and being about "ticking grounds off" and completing sets. I suppose if that's what you're into, that's fine. My failing is to arrange holidays around the local fixture list.

[Stuka]

68 of the current grounds, and I do count friendlies as I was at a ground and there was a match on. I also count Moss Rose, Macclesfield, in that total, even though I saw Chester City v Reading there.

I've seen Reading play at 119 grounds overall, and (yes I know I need to get out more) seen games at 215 grounds overall, and 58 of those were abroad (in 19 countries).

I have no interest whatsoever in "doing the 92". It all seems a little too collector-ish and obsessive, and being about "ticking grounds off" and completing sets. I suppose if that's what you're into, that's fine. My failing is to arrange holidays around the local fixture list.

I never understood why they don't count friendlies.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

68 of the current grounds, and I do count friendlies as I was at a ground and there was a match on. I also count Moss Rose, Macclesfield, in that total, even though I saw Chester City v Reading there.

I've seen Reading play at 119 grounds overall, and (yes I know I need to get out more) seen games at 215 grounds overall, and 58 of those were abroad (in 19 countries).

I have no interest whatsoever in "doing the 92". It all seems a little too collector-ish and obsessive, and being about "ticking grounds off" and completing sets. I suppose if that's what you're into, that's fine. My failing is to arrange holidays around the local fixture list.

I never understood why they don't count friendlies.

I guess the cynical answer is that collecting is a little "nerdy" (for want of a better word) so people like to make the challenge of the collection a little more difficult. I've heard of half-demented ground-hoppers who won't count a ground if they miss so much as a second of play, or they don't get to touch the ball etc.

Being more reasonable, I'd say it's to do with it having to be a proper match. If two pub teams hired a ground to play a match, I'd feel a bit uncomfortable about saying I'd seen a game there if I saw them play. It depends where you draw the line, and what you'd regard as a proper match.

I watched a match in the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh once, even though I only knew who one team was (by the names on their shirts) and nobody had to pay to get in. They looked like proper teams in my eyes, so for me that counted as a game. I think it was some tournament for the country's top amateur teams, which is a bit like a "tallest of the seven dwarfs" contest.

For some though, unless it's a match in an official competition, it's not a proper match. Blackie doesn't do friendlies, apparently, for that reason. There used to be a guy called John Marsh, who had a similar record to Blackie until the mid 1990s, who also insisted that friendlies weren't proper games. As a result he'd refuse to go to them.

[Four Of Clubs]

I've heard of half-demented ground-hoppers who won't count a ground if they miss so much as a second of play, or they don't get to touch the ball etc.

... and there are even a few of the fundamentalist types who won't go in and watch the game on arrival unless there's a programme nor will they count it if its 0-0! Also a few of the 'extremist' types who will countenance a re-visit, even if the pitch has been moved slightly or 'rotated' ... and count it as new.

There used to be a guy called John Marsh, who had a similar record to Blackie until the mid 1990s, who also insisted that friendlies weren't proper games. As a result he'd refuse to go to them.

...was he a little fellah round 'bottle-bottom' glasses - lived in deepest Whitley (Stavvy Rd - shared a house with his brother) sadly passed on some time ago.
- Always had a radio glued to his ear and carried the batteries for it in a seperate Plastic bag? He would speak at about 200 mph and insisted on giving us and everyone around us - the latest scores - even though he was incomprehensible most of the time - caught about every fifth word!
- A stalwart of the 'Toilehurst End' he stood up the back with us a lot in olden times - knew my mate well - he would to go absotively everywhere in the British Isles for football and would seek out the most remote of Jocko-land games even if the Reserve sides were playing ..... on any day of the week. No idea how he got there cos I don't think he could drive - presumably long long ago - when you could get nearly everywhere and back, in a day, by train?.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

There used to be a guy called John Marsh, who had a similar record to Blackie until the mid 1990s, who also insisted that friendlies weren't proper games. As a result he'd refuse to go to them.

...was he a little fellah round 'bottle-bottom' glasses - lived in deepest Whitley (Stavvy Rd - shared a house with his brother) sadly passed on some time ago.
- Always had a radio glued to his ear and carried the batteries for it in a seperate Plastic bag? He would speak at about 200 mph and insisted on giving us and everyone around us - the latest scores - even though he was incomprehensible most of the time - caught about every fifth word!
- A stalwart of the 'Toilehurst End' he stood up the back with us a lot in olden times - knew my mate well - he would to go absotively everywhere in the British Isles for football and would seek out the most remote of Jocko-land games even if the Reserve sides were playing ..... on any day of the week. No idea how he got there cos I don't think he could drive - presumably long long ago - when you could get nearly everywhere and back, in a day, by train?.

That's somebody else.

This guy's most notable quirk was carrying a notebook to every game, where he'd draw stick-man pictures of every move in the game so he could remember them all.

This guy lived in Basingstoke, I think, but moved to Bournemouth just before the start of the 93/94 season (great timing!) whereupon he became a Bournemouth supporter and started following them instead. I only know because I bumped into him outside the Madejski before the 3-3 draw in our first season there.