Groundhopping

In this article, we will explore everything related to Groundhopping, from its origin to its influence on today's society. Groundhopping has been a recurring theme throughout history, its impacts have been widely studied and debated in various areas. From its origins to the present, Groundhopping has generated conflicting opinions and has raised countless questions about its relevance and role in our society. Throughout this article, we will delve into a deep analysis of Groundhopping and its influence on different aspects of daily life, highlighting its importance today and its projection into the future.

Groundhopping is a hobby that involves attending sports matches at as many different stadiums or grounds as possible. Participants are known as groundhoppers, hoppers or travellers. Groundhopping is largely a football-related pastime. Generally, groundhoppers are football fans who usually have a neutral opinion regarding football clubs and try to attend as many football games in as many football stadiums or venues as possible, seeing the whole process as a leisure activity.[1]

History

The term 'groundhopping' originates from the late 1980s. From the late 1980s fans in Germany started groundhopping as well. Currently it is especially popular in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Norway.[citation needed]

Organisation

Generally, groundhopping is not officially organised. However, there are some formal organisations for groundhoppers, including The 92 Club in England, which consists of groundhoppers who have visited matches in all stadiums of the Premier and Football League.[2] With this there are also (mostly) charity based races to see the fastest speed to reach the 92 Football League Stadia (initially being called 92 Grounds in 92 Hours), currently set at 72 hours by four fans of Swindon Town in 2015.[3]

Groundhoppers usually organize themselves as a group of friends or through online forums or social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) in particular. Other groundhoppers do not organise with others at all and visit grounds alone by themselves.[1]

Enthusiasts of the hobby sometimes use apps such as Futbology[4] or Europlan[5] to track their progress. The Europlan website[6] also acts as the digital mouthpiece of the Association of Groundhoppers in Germany (German: Vereinigung der Groundhopper Deutschlands; V.d.G.D.)[7]

Rules

There is no universal set or rules for counting ‘hopped grounds’, although an unwritten rule is that a groundhopper must have seen a full football match at the ground.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Bauer, Christian (2018). Tourism in Football: Exploring Motivational Factors and Typologies of Groundhoppers : An example of a German Groundhopper Online Community.
  2. ^ "Ninety-Two Club. Home Page". www.ninetytwoclub.org.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  3. ^ www.the92.net (14 September 2015). "Doing the 92 League Grounds in 72 hours for a good cause". www.the92.net. Retrieved 20 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Baumann, Tobias (22 December 2022). "Vom Kybunpark über den Dorfsportplatz ins San Siro". Herisauer Nachrichten. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  5. ^ Sykora, Mämä (13 October 2022). "300 Kilometer für ein 0:0". Beobachter. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Groundhopping auf Europlan-Online". Europlan-Online. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  7. ^ Zinsel, Rüdiger (28 June 2020). "Groundhopper: Vom Notizbuch Zur App". Fussball.de. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Your Ultimate Guide To The World's Football Stadiums". Groundhop. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2022.


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