Leo Hoenig Interview Global Football Groundhopper

Interview with Leo Hoenig - Global Football Groundhopper

Football has expanded beyond the mere game on the field and there are many interesting subcultures that have emerged from the sport and this includes the growing phenomenon of groundhopping!

Yes, there are football fans who enjoy going to a match on an occasional basis and there are some fans who travel to games both home and away and then there are fans who take it to the next level and incorporate traveling worldwide and visiting stadiums across the globe; Yes, the fan known as the groundhopper.

Groundhoppers travel far and wide watching football and making sure they try and visit a new stadium in order to collect a 'tick' of yet another stadium.

In an exclusive interview, famous groundhopper, Leo Hoenig, gave his insights into the 'Groundhopping' subculture and what it entails and how other fans can become involved.

Hoenig first defined what groundhopping is and what it takes to 'complete' and categorize a football ground visit.

"A Groundhopper is a collector of football grounds - you collect a "tick'' for each ground by seeing a match played there. Of course, a groundhopper is fundamentally a football lover and will visit a ground more than once, but you only get one tick. There is something known as a "bracketed tick", for when you see a different home team playing on a ground you have already visited. For example, I had a bracketed ticket to see Inter Milan at the San Siro in 2003, having seen AC Milan at home 15 years earlier. In Hong Kong, I have seen both Happy Valley and Eastern as the home side at Mongkok."

Groundhoppers have their own set of rules which vary from person to person and Hoenig is no different in what he deems as a football ground visited.

"The strictest groundhoppers will only consider men's open age football, and then only first team football. Others will watch reserves, youth teams and women's games. Some will not see the full game in order to get an extra match in. My own rules are just off the strictest - as I want to see the men's open age game, with the first team at home, unless the ground is not generally used for such a team. I will never leave a game early to get to another, but will accept a match where a small part has been missed due to circumstances beyond my control, (such as traffic problems on the way to a game). My rules can become more flexible when I am further from home - for example seeing the final day of a youth international tournament at Myanmar's Thuwanna Stadium. If the matches were in England, I would still have been happy to watch them, but would want to visit the stadium for a more countable game."

Hoenig went on to share his vivid and diverse groundhopping experiences and how he first started his favorite hobby.

"I had been introduced to the notion of groundhopping at a time when I was attached to a Southern League club, Hillingdon Borough FC. At the time, the Southern League was one level below the Football League, with Wimbledon as one of the more notable clubs in the league at the time. When my club folded early in the 1980s, I took up groundhopping on a regular basis.

My travels were helped at this stage by changing work locations through the decade, through Portsmouth, Cheltenham, Grimsby and then back to London. Cheltenham was always my favourite of these locations, and over time I became attached to the club, buying a season ticket when they joined the Football League in 1999.

In 1988, I was working for BP Chemicals, and was asked to visit the factory near Marseille. At that time I had never been to France and they allowed me to book a flight out via Paris, spending the weekend there. Prior to this, I had been to 996 grounds, all in England, Wales or Scotland.

I was in Paris on the night of the French Cup Final, Sochaux v Metz. I went to the stadium (Parc des Princes), and had no trouble getting a ticket off the tout. I paid 250 FF (£25).

Stéphane Paille put Sochaux ahead, and the second goal I saw abroad was by a Scotsman, Eric Black - he got the equalizer for Metz and they eventually won the cup on penalties.

This was the final match of the season, but it started to open up the world for me. In the following season, I saw 200 games for the first (and only) time in my life and watched football in ten European countries, as well as England, Scotland and Wales.

In July 1989, I was sent to observe a systems test in Singapore. I was in Singapore for three weeks and saw two games in Singapore, two in Malaysia. I traveled to Kuala Lumpur on the Singapore Football Supporters' coach!

I already knew other groundhoppers in England who traveled to Europe frequently, and was introduced to two concepts.

1) The day trip to Belgium - starting at Dover for the 01.00 ferry to Oostende, you could travel to most parts of Belgium and get back to Dover on the last ferry of the night. Day trips to Belgium were to become regular occurrences, (along with a few longer trips). When the tunnel was opened, the ferry to Oostende stopped running, but Eurotunnel had special prices for trips of 48 hours or less and we started driving over.

2) The interrail ticket. This marvelous creation allows one to travel across Europe, (with the exception of your country of residence). In mid to late May and even into June, it is possible to see matches every day in different countries. The trips can be tiring and exhilarating, and you rarely see everything a city has to offer. My first trip started with Saint Pauli beating Stuttgart Kickers 1-0, and finished at Wiener Sportklub losing 3-0 at home to Tirol. I saw 15 games (in 14 days) but could not stay until the weekend as my brother was getting married.

For the Belgium day trips, I would always know people on the ferry doing the same - and when it was switched to car travel, it was rare to travel alone

For interrail, I have always been semi-independent. There would be other people I knew travelling at the same time and I would meet up for a game or two, and then travel alone for a day or two.

Which are your favourite football stadiums that you have been to? Who are the most passionate fans?

I never name a favourite stadium. I like those with something unusual and quirky about them. As a neutral, the best games are often when the small team gets a big match. This brings out such a good natured crowd, because they want to win, but accept it when they don't.

Overall, the most passionate fans and best fan culture is in Germany. This tends to spread down to the lower divisions.

While not naming the best stadium, there is a best stand. The honour of the most beautiful football stand in the world, (if not the easiest to spell or pronounce) is with the Changlimithang Stadium, in Thimphu, Bhutan

As ground hopping becomes more popular, Hoening discussed the community and if all the fans who travel around the world knew each other.

"Yes and No - there is a community but it is not organized, and groundhoppers tend to resist attempts to be organized. There have been attempts to create clubs, but most of the groundhoppers reject this. In the same way, hoppers can never agree on actual rules for the hobby. It can be quite amazing just home many definitions there are on what is required to constitute a match (especially if for some reason, part of the game is missed or not played). Similarly, the question of whether or not a ground is "new" after a pitch move or rebuild is open to multiple definitions. Whenever two groundhoppers meet, they tend to discuss this, but the conclusion is always "My ideas are right, yours are a bit odd, and everyone else is wrong". There are of course many groundhoppers that know each other, either by name or face. I am particularly bad at remembering people's names anyway, but I normally recognise people I have met before.

In Britain, we have "Groundhop UK", which manages to persuade clubs in certain leagues to amend kick off times, allowing three (or even four) matches in a day and maybe 7 or more over a weekend. By running a coach between the matches as well, they can deliver somewhere between 100 and 200 extra spectators to a ground - but each ground can only be covered once! For these matches, a matchday programme is essential, and some groundhoppers try to only go to games with a programme. International hoppers soon rid themselves of the idea. In the majority of countries, football programmes are a rarity."

As Hoenig is such a seasoned traveler with years of experiences under his belt, he was happy to offer basic tips and expertise to new ground hoppers regarding finances, costs and safety.

"As already mentioned, my international journeys started as work trips, and then trips to the nearest alternative countries. I have always taken some holidays with friends which tend to be football orientated, while family trips may just have a single match on the weekend. I have no specific advice on finance, it always costs more than you will expect! Travel and hotels are always going to be the bulk of your expenditure.

Not an option when I started, but for top level games in Europe at least, I would advise trying to obtain tickets in advance from official sources. The demand for tickets at top level has increased significantly - when I first started, it was easily possible to get match tickets anywhere on the gate. Safety is rarely a problem for someone who is aware of his surroundings. Rule 1 is not to stand out - although of course you cannot avoid being different in some parts of the world.

I would always suggest having a solid grounding in your own country before venturing elsewhere, but also to look out for any games that can be fitted in with a trip you are making for non-football purposes."

Hoenig is quite well known and sometimes fans around the world reach out to him for advice and sometimes he gives advice on social media forums.

I don't go out of my way to give advice, or claim to be a great source of knowledge - although I would claim to be a good researcher, capable of finding detail. Social media has made connecting with clubs much easier anyway.

I use an internet forum, nonleaguematters.co.uk which is primarily a discussion of non-league football in England. It also gives a lot of scope for exchanging experiences of groundhopping both in the UK and abroad. Anyone that posts on there can get advice from myself and also others who are better informed than me. (Plus a little gentle abuse if the answer to the question is in the public domain and easy to find - don't ask someone else to type your question into google)."

Hoenig discussed the different stadiums that he has visited and if the history or the designs of the different stadiums appealed to him.

"There is no specific answer to this, I am not a student of architecture or design, but I like to see venues that look different, and I enjoy being at the small ground for a big match, (such as the last rounds of any cup with amateur or semi-professional teams involved, before it becomes impossible to get tickets). The whole hobby would be less interesting if all the grounds looked the same. I also try to see some of the places I am watching the games, especially when traveling further afield.I will drive two hours, arrive shortly before kick off and then leave the ground immediately after the game finishes, but this is generally when I know the place. I will not fly for two hours, arrive shortly before kick off and leave immediately after the game. (Except to visit 1860 Munchen, but it was far from being my first or last visit to the city. At the time, it seemed that the iconic Grunwalderstrasser Stadium would see its last ever first team game that season, with both Munich clubs moving to the new venue. As it happened, this was not in fact the case and it is still in use. Still, I flew in and out of Munich (from London) on a day return - the game finished 0-0).

Another good one was my first visit to Hong Kong. This was in February 1990 and marked a few days off I had after a work trip to Japan. I wanted to get somewhere warmer and took a flight via HK to get home. On my first day in Hong Kong, I ventured to the HKFA offices, as fixtures were not available on the internet at the time. They told me that there were games on the following Saturday and Sunday, one each at the Hong Kong and Mongkok stadiums. This was a Tuesday, and it started to rain as I left the office. It did not stop. I spent a few days wet sightseeing, before heading to the stadiums and finding both matches called off."

For more go to: leohoenig.com

by Chris KL Lau