19/03/2024
Got back to south Wales from the Scottish Groundhop weekend in the early hours of yesterday morning and have had 24 hours to reflect.
Above all, the 2024 renewal of this annual event fully lived up to expectations – I always look forward to it as the best of the non-Welsh hops. All six games went ahead despite the weather and we visited some superb grounds and were hosted by six likeable East of Scotland League clubs. Some of the football was very entertaining too.
I attend the hop chiefly because I enjoy visiting the grounds in places I’ve never been before, and catching up with friends and acquaintances. But I always take a supply of Welsh Football magazines and our other publications and once again there were plenty of eager customers north of the border.
In fact, the 2024 Scottish Hop brought record sales for any groundhop – 46% more than on the last hop weekend in Wales, with the purchasers not just groundhoppers but quite a few locals too. Several customers said they’d had been looking out for me to get their copies of the magazine and the Gazetteer, and one even took to X to tweet “Attending today gave me my annual opportunity to pick up the ever-fabulous Welsh Football magazine. Oh, how I wish that there was a Scottish equivalent”
It’s further evidence of the strong interest in Welsh football from beyond our borders – bear in mind too that approximately half of regular subscriptions to the magazine are to addresses outside Wales.
In issue 252 of Welsh Football (April 2024) I mulled over a similar theme: the comparatively high regard for the Cymru Leagues from the wider UK and European football community, and their struggle for coverage and respect within Wales.
It has often been said that football followers in Wales are unusual in their general under-appreciation of, and lack of interest in, their domestic football system, and there are unique historical and current reasons for that. But even allowing for that, it’s hard to figure out why our subscription numbers in Wales aren’t higher, given the number of clubs and people involved.
It’s great to have praise from Scottish (and indeed English and Irish) football fans, and it’s interesting when they look with envy at what we produce, but I can’t help wondering why it’s so hard to grow subscriptions and sales here in Wales.
Photos: Welsh Football on sale at Luncarty (photo by Robyn Reade), Sauchie Juniors in the rain, and panoramic views of Central Park, Whitburn and Brownlands Park, Luncarty.
