Groundhopping/there are no 'rules'

[Stag Nation]

This would be better suited to a trainspotting forum ...

[Marten]

Personally, I simply count a ground if I've gone there and have seen a football game. So I don't count a ground if I'm just visiting without a game or watching a different sport, like I didn't count the London Stadium when I went there for the World Athletics Championships and I only counted it several years later when I went there for a West Ham game. For the rest, a game is a game, as long as it's in that ground I count it. I do count grounds where I've seen a game without seeing the usual home team. For example, in the women's euro's I've been to grounds like Old Trafford & Stadium:MK, I've never been to a home game of either club playing there, but for me I've "done" both grounds and they are ticks in the EPL & EFL League 1 respectively.

I don't count training pitches, unless they're grounds in their own right like Gussie Park (Dundee United) or the main pitch of the Rangers Training Centre. I also don't count grounds I've played in myself when I played football but didn't watch a game of another team. 

 

But ultimately, it's your own choice, if anyone chooses to count ones I wouldn't count it's fair enough. If people have stricter rules, like only counting competitive games and/or if they have seen the home team play it's also fair enough. But I just can't stand these groundhoppers who tell others what rules they "should" follow. It's just a hobby in the end of the day and everyone should just do it in whatever way they feel is right for them.