Monday 6 July 2020

Retro - Newport County 1 Plymouth Argyle 2 (Football League Division Two - 2015-16)


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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