When Sheppey United’s new era took another significant step with their first evening kick-off under lights at Holm Park, standing in the shadows amid the club’s growing faithful was Sky Sports and TalkSport reporter Tony Incenzo.

The visit was part business, part pleasure as his behind-the-mic duties usually take place at grounds far more glamorous and familiar.

Tony had made the 130-mile round trip from his Hertfordshire home because he’s a committed groundhopper, meaning his goal is to visit every league and non-league football stadium in Britain and beyond at least once.

When he crossed Holm Park’s threshold on that chilly Tuesday night, he was setting foot on his 1,958th venue of a 42-year travelogue which has seen him call at every club in the top 16 divisions of English football.

He’s also dropped-by at all Scotland and Ireland’s league grounds and numerous stadiums in Europe and America.

The 52-year-old not only makes friends and memories during trips, he keeps a full record of his visit, including drawing sketches and taking photos of grounds, details which are subsequently stored in 20 scrapbooks running to 2,000 pages.

Die-hard football fans and fellow groundhoppers will understand the meticulous devotion to his hobby, but others will simply ask, “why?”

“I like looking at how these clubs operate, how they finance themselves,” Tony said, a nod perhaps to his pre-journalism plan of becoming a football administrator.

“What Sheppey have done has cost a lot of money and I like to remember everything.

“For example, I went to the old Sheppey ground about 25 years ago. I can remember which parts of the ground were covered, how many seats they had and so on.”

According to Tony, buying a programme is “essential” for a groundhopper visiting a new stadium. He also likes to authenticate his record of the trip with an official’s signature, preferably the club’s chairman.

It gives the impression Tony and his tribe are the trainspotters of the terraces – but their number appears to be growing.

“There are a lot of ground hoppers now and we have organised groundhop weekends,” he said.

“One time 10 years ago we saw five games at five different grounds in one day.

“There’s a road in Nottingham with three small grounds next door to each other.

“It was like the Wacky Races, we came out of one and went steaming along to the next. By the end of the day we were physically and mentally shattered.”

“One time 10 years ago we saw five games at five different grounds in one day" - Tony Incenzo

Tony said the galloping groundhop day earned him and his cohorts a Guinness Book of Records certificate.

It’s not the first time his high-mile hobby’s been recognised.

“It was like the Wacky Races, we came out of one and went steaming along to the next" - Tony Incenzo

In 1981, aged 17, Tony was interviewed by TV’s John Craven after becoming the youngest person to visit all 92 English league grounds.

It was a feat he was able to complete thanks to a well-paid summer job – and a student railcard.

“It meant you could go to Liverpool or Manchester and back for about £12,” Tony said.

“To go to Newcastle now it’s more than £100 return.”

Tony’s football obsession was kick-started when he sat at home and watched the brilliant Brazilians dazzle their way to victory in the 1970 Mexico World Cup.

He began following his local professional team, QPR, in 1973 – he’s seen 1,065 consecutive home games since then – and attended other venues near and far whenever his beloved ‘Hoops’ weren’t hosting matches.

Four spare rooms of his home are filled with memorabilia he’s gathered on his travels. A Liverpool shirt signed by Kenny Daglish, which he received for completing the 92 grounds takes particular precedence, as does an autographed QPR shirt, a present from ‘Rs’ chairman Tony Fernandes when Tony himself hit 50.

He rates the Metlife Stadium in New York as the best of the nearly 2,000 venues he’s seen.

But as every ‘hopper’ knows, all grounds are unique.