28th December 2015
Newport County 1 Plymouth
Argyle 2 (Football League Second Division)
When it comes to having the piss taken out of places,
Newport has suffered a bit over the years.
It suffered at the hands of a musical parody
when Alisha Keys and Jay-Z recorded New York State of Mind, suddenly, up popped
Newport State of Mind, it became a YouTube sensation and even got a mention on
the News at Ten!
Then of course rappers Goldie Looking Chain,
who originate from the City, recorded various numbers, one of which was a
further parody of State of Mind. While entertaining and at times comical, it’s
fair to say they probably were not the local Tourist Boards favourite people.
Johnny Morris from Animal Magic is also from
Newport, while so is Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers, but other than
that, it doesn’t have an awful lot to shout about.
From a football perspective, Newport County
specialised in not achieving very much, but did create a bit of history when
they reached the quarter finals of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1980-81,
only to suffer a cruel defeat against East German outfit Carl Zeiss Jena.
County qualified for the competition on the basis that they won the Welsh Cup, at a time when Football League clubs were allowed to compete in it.
By 1988
County had been relegated out of the Football League and didn’t manage to
complete a full season in the Conference, going out of business in February
1989. Somerton Park, widely regarded by many as one of the worst grounds in the
Football League, was not to lie empty forever though.
A newly formed club, Newport AFC, emerged in
the Hellenic League, and after ground shares at both Moreton Town and Gloucester
City (due to political and legal reasons), they did eventually return for a
spell to the decrepit old stadium, however as the club reached the Southern
League, they then found themselves playing at the recently built Newport Stadium,
and returning to the former name of Newport County.
Somerton Park was demolished, County worked
their way to the Conference National, and then decided to move closer to the
City Centre to Rodney Parade, the home of Newport Gwent Dragons Rugby Club. A
place in the Football League came their way in 2013 via the play offs, 25 years
after they had dropped out, the future suddenly looked rosy again.
And that is where the story is currently at,
and for me it’s always held something of a fascination, and I think it’s partly
to do with the tangerine and black kit they wore, but not only that, on the day
of the tragic Bradford Fire, I was watching Alfreton Town v Denaby United,
while Derby County were playing away at Somerton Park. The Rams fans that day
trashed the place, but the news of that carnage very quickly got buried in the
events at Valley Parade. A week or so after the game my Dad got me the
programme from the match, so for one or two spurious reasons it’s always been a
club I’ve had a bit of a soft spot for.
I was too young to go to Somerton Park, and never
got round to visiting Newport Stadium, partly because it was a soulless athletics arena,
while trips to the City itself have been limited to travelling through it on
the train as a teenager en route to Cardiff, and then driving through it last
March when we went to an event at nearby Celtic Manor. It looked a bit of an
uninspiring place when we drove through it looking for somewhere to eat, but in
fairness, a lot of building work was going on and we did only effectively
travel along one main road! It was probably an unfair assessment!
We always like to go away between Christmas and
New Year, so when we spotted Forest were playing at Cardiff on the Tuesday
night, it was just a case of seeing if something could be twinned with it on
the Monday, and yes it could, at last I could go and watch Newport County play,
because league leaders Plymouth Argyle were the visitors at Rodney Parade.
The weather was a concern but South Wales had
got away with the storms that had wreaked havoc elsewhere, and from our base in
Cardiff City Centre, it was a brief fifteen minutes on the train down to
Newport, and then a ten minute walk over the bridge to Rodney Parade. Being
nice an early I secured a ticket, which proved to be a good move because as it
turned out, anyone arriving after 2.30pm to buy a ticket was not going to get
in the ground before kick off.
I made my way to the Rugby Club bar only to be
joined at a table by a bloke with his son, we got chatting and it turned out he
was from Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland, so as you can probably imagine we
shared a couple of pints and chewed the fat about all things Northern Ireland,
ranging from football to politics, and even a bit of rugby!
Rodney Parade is great, and while not the
aesthetic arena with clear lines and modern facilities that your average
Premier League fan would be wanting, it had a certain character and charm. The
old Hazells Stand with the terracing in front is a great structure, while I
stood to the left hand side of it on the North Terracing. To my left was the
modern Bisley Stand, while opposite me was the open Away Terrace.
I was expecting the pitch to be a complete mess
due to a combination of the weather and also the fact that Newport Gwent
Dragons had played Cardiff Blues the night before, but in fairness it was
absolutely fine. The largest crowd of the season had assembled,
boosted by an away following of over a thousand coming from Devon. It was a
decent atmosphere in the ground, and as darkness descended, this felt like a
throwback to the Eighties, I loved it.
Newport took the lead in the first half with a
delicate lob, and at half time were pretty good value for their lead. The
second half was a different story though, almost straight from the re-start it
was 1-1 due to a close range header, while a neat turn and finish soon after
saw a reversal of fortunes. Plymouth were leading 2-1, and after that, other
than a good save from the Argyle keeper, it never looked as though the points
were going anywhere else other than back down the M5.
Big celebrations at the final whistle from the
away contingent, and as I headed back along Rodney Parade towards the bridge,
they could still be heard in the ground. Newport City Centre was now lit up,
and it looked quite attractive, much of the building work now looks to have
been completed as they try to freshen up the image. I was quickly onto a train
back to Cardiff, it had been a very enjoyable afternoon.
Somerton Park may be no more, and some would
say thankfully so, while memories of Carl Zeiss Jena are simply that nowadays,
Europe will never happen again, not in our lifetimes anyway. But, Newport has a
Football League team, it has a proper ground, and despite the piss taking, it
also has regained a sense of pride in its football club, no longer the jokers
of South Wales struggling to compete with the likes of Merthyr Tydfil and Barry
Town
“Newport, concrete jungle nothing in order, not
far from the border….”
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