In short
Groundhopping is collecting football grounds. Every ground where you have seen a match is one tick. The idea comes from England, and Germany has had its own scene since the 1990s.
Where the hobby comes from
The idea comes from England. The 92 Club was founded in 1978 for everyone who had visited every ground in the English professional leagues. The word groundhopper dates from the late 1980s. In Germany the Vereinigung der Groundhopper Deutschlands was founded in the early 1990s, followed by the Groundhopping Informer as a printed directory and later the Europlan database.
How to start
- Start close to home.
A non-league match is cheap, easy to reach and counts just as much as the Premier League.
- Set your rules.
Full match or one half, friendlies or not. More in our groundhopping rules.
- Keep a list from day one.
Date, match, score, ground. Back-filling later means a lot of searching.
- Plan with fixture lists.
League and club websites for kick-off times and late changes. Two matches in a day work if the kick-off times fit.
- Travel cheaply.
Advance rail fares, railcards, coaches.
- Behave like a guest.
Respect the home end, pay to get in and don’t leave at half-time just to tick the box. Many keep the ticket or programme as proof.
How to count your grounds
Most hoppers keep a list with date, match, score and ground, in a notebook, a spreadsheet or an app. An app saves you the typing and counts new countries and leagues for you.
4.6 ★ on the App Store
Ovals, the groundhopping app for iPhone
Log every match, old seasons included, and see grounds, new countries and leagues in your passport.
Scan with your iPhoneGlossary A to Z
A
- Abandoned match
- A match stopped before full time. Many count it after 45 minutes.
D
- Done a ground
- Seen a match at a ground, so it counts.
E
- Europlan
- The big German groundhopping database, once a booklet.
G
- Groundhop
- An organised weekend with several matches in one area, the first run by the Northern League in 1992.
- Groundhopper
- Someone who collects grounds.
- Groundspotting
- Visiting a ground without a match. Doesn’t count.
H
- Half-time hopping
- Leaving after one half for the next match. Whether that counts is disputed.
L
- League completion
- Having done every ground in a league.
- Lost ground
- A disused ground slowly being taken back by nature.
N
- New country
- Your first match in a country. German hoppers call it a Länderpunkt.
- New ground
- A ground where you haven’t seen a match yet.
- Non-league
- Football below the EFL, organised in steps.
P
- Programme
- The matchday booklet. Many keep it as a souvenir and proof.
R
- Revisit
- A match at a ground you have already done.
S
- Side pitch
- The smaller pitch next to the stadium. A ground of its own.
- Side-pitch trap
- The match is moved from the stadium to the side pitch at short notice.
T
- Tick
- Marking a ground as done on your list.
- The 92 / 92 Club
- Every ground in the Premier League and EFL, and the club for everyone who has done them all.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhopping · en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_92_Club · 92club.co.uk/rules · nonleaguematters.co.uk · thefans.io (groundhopping beginner’s guide)