Going Up? A milestone or a lead balloon?
When it comes to groundhopping and keeping count of all the grounds you've watched a game at, there inevitably come milestones. This weekend's game of choice marks ground number 300 for me, which seems fairly insane to say the least. That said, when it's a weekly hobby for the best part of two decades in various home cities over the years, it's not as difficult as it might seem. But when reaching those milestones, you spend so long pondering - should I make it a special one? Should I finally try and tick off Cork City, club of my grandad's hometown? Would I have enough time and money to head to Berlin and tick off Hertha? And while I was quite annoyed that I couldn't make Lokomotiv Plovdiv the 300th ground, it led me to think - why does it matter? In many ways, it doesn't. After all, the hobby of groundhopping for me was essentially an extension of following Stevenage home and away, and moving from Stevenage and essentially being unable to do so on a weekly...