The Ballad Of Billy Whitehurst

Dearne & District  3  Armthorpe Welfare  5

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Admission / Programme – No / No

It would have been December 2008, I’d got a week off work and decided that I was going to have a day out on the train and take in a football match. The problem was the sub-zero temperatures meant that I was very limited in terms of choices, but the solution was a very simple and indeed local option.

I noticed that Leicester City were playing Wolves in an FA Youth Cup tie at what was then called the Walkers Stadium, of course the relatively new ground had undersoil heating so we were all systems go. I’d taken a train trip to the same stadium previously, on that occasion it was the Conference Play Off Final between Halifax Town and Hereford United, and as a result I was well versed with a pub route to the ground.

So that was the plan, and, I’d also convinced my mates Steve and Jamesie to come along, albeit they were travelling independently by car. It all went to plan, in fact it went too well, by the time I met up with Steve and Jamesie I was battered. Loud and uncoordinated I made my way to the seats, it wasn’t long before those around us moved, and as for me, I was at one point seeing double. I might also have fallen over at half time as I tried to leave my seat, but anyway, it didn’t end well, Steve decided that no way was I getting a train home so he gave me a lift, but not before I had a row with a fellow motorist at a roundabout…..

So what the hell has this got to do with a trip to Dearne & District?

During the course of the game at Leicester, Steve and Jamesie struck up a conversation (I couldn’t join in, I couldn’t talk) about a footballer called Billy Whitehurst, a player who played professionally at the likes of Hull City, Newcastle United and Oxford United. He was something of a character and a real hard man, who started out in non-league football, playing for Mexborough Town in the Midland League.

Steve used to be a bank manager, and he knew Billy as a customer, you see Billy was born in a village called Thurnscoe, which is one of the places that forms the Dearne Valley. There are many tales about Billy and some of his antics, he was a renowned hard man, in fact in Alan Hansen’s autobiography he recalls one of the most terrifying moments of his Liverpool career was having to mark Billy in a cup tie.  Other tales include one of his time at Oxford where he used to challenge people to bare knuckle fights for cash!

Fast forward several years, Dearne & District FC have dropped onto the radar, moving to the Central Midlands League from the Doncaster Senior League a couple of seasons ago, they have moved from what was their home on Kingsmark Way in Goldthorpe to the Miners Welfare ground, which it seems was the clubs traditional home.

I went to Kingsmark Way in pre-season for a game against a well respected Sunday side called Dog Daisy United (who had one or two well known semi-pro’s in their squad, notably Danny South who at the tine was with Belper Town). Dog Daisy won the game 5-0, but what impressed me about Dearne, off the field, was the enthusiasm and the level of support they appeared to be able to muster.

Social media confirmed that the Tuesday night visit of Armthorpe Welfare was indeed going to be played at the Welfare Ground, so after a call to Steve, it was mutually agreed that we were going to make out way to the hub of what he called the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Thurnscoe, Bolton Upon Dearne and indeed Goldthorpe.

Goldthorpe sits just off the Dearne Valley Parkway, a road that essentially runs between the M1 South of Barnsley, to the A1 just to the West of Doncaster. Principally mining areas, that have suffered since the closure of the pits, it is now an area of growth and innovation (if you believe what you read) with industrial zones scattered along the corridor. But, ‘Goldy’, will always be a pit village, and rightly proud of it they are too.

I got a call just as I was driving into Goldy, having been lost in thought along the Parkway, it was Steve, it seems he decided to have a trip down memory lane to see what’s become of his old bank. Turns out it’s become a pub, well, we were left with no choice.

Steve pointed out the location where his office was, seems it was in the very table area where a woman was removing her husbands nasal hair, while what was effectively the counter, was now serving very reasonably priced Carling at £2.60 a pint.

Of course, the stories flowed, in fact one of them being a relatively recent one when Goldthorpe was on national television ‘commemorating’ the death of Margaret Thatcher, an unpopular character locally for obvious reasons. But no, as you would expect, the conversation moved on to Billy Whitehurst.

With kick off approaching it was a short trip back through the village out to where the Welfare Ground lies, and I have to say, if I was a betting man, give it a couple of years and I think this club could be looking at a Step 6 move. They’ve done a tremendous amount of work to a ground that I’ve passed regularly on the train. Hard standing is being put down, while floodlights are already in place, as is a small covered stand. The players currently change in the building down the bank which is also the home of the social club. Various kids teams had been training, but impressively, I would estimate that close on 200 people rocked up to watch the game.

Dearne are managed by local footballing legend Mick Norbury, a man who has played professionally, and from a style perspective, well, if you asked who his influences have been, Billy wouldn’t have been far down the list I suspect! Mick will always have a place in the hearts of the fans of Belper Town, being part of the management team that got the club promoted in the play-offs a couple of seasons ago.

Mick has pulled together a more than useful squad, and I have to say, along with Armthorpe they provided us with a superb evening’s entertainment, with eight goals going in. Armthorpe took an early lead but Josh Moore equalised on ten minutes, they were soon in arrears again but Bayly Lowe was on hand to make it 2-2 with only seventeen minutes gone.

Welfare took advantage of a couple of mistakes as the game continued to ebb and flow, but by half time we had a 2-4 scoreline. They went on to make it 5-2 just after the break but then Conor Leake-Blunt pulled a goal back for Dearne, it could have been closer n the end but Lowe missed a late penalty for the hosts.

So that was it, a very enjoyable night out, a great club and a wonderful community. Talking of community, the conversation wandered back towards Billy as the game was drawing to it’s conclusion. Was he still in the locality, what was he doing nowadays, and did that autobiography that kept getting mentioned ever get written?

Alan Hansen is wondering if he’s going to get a mention……

What Happens In Costa......

Notts Olympic  0  Heanor Town Reserves  7

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Admission / Programme – No / No

Sometimes football clubs appear out of nowhere and before you know it, everywhere you seem to look you see their name appearing.

That’s exactly what's happened with Notts Olympic, I spotted them on Twitter back in May, and since then they have been regular, and I have to say very professional posters about a newly formed club, that really isn’t a new club at all…

You see Notts Olympic, the original version, were formed in 1882 and in the late nineteenth century they competed in the FA Cup playing against the likes of Nottingham Forest and Leicester Fosse. An amateur club, they competed in the Midland Amateur Alliance and the Notts Alliance, but they are probably most famous for one of their players.

Herbert Kilpin played for the club in 1890’s, before moving to Italy to work in the textile industry. He became one of the pioneers of football in the Country, playing for a club called Internazionale Torino, before moving from Turin to Milan and being one of the founding charter members of the Milan Football & Cricket Club, which became known as AC Milan. He spent nine seasons with the Rossoneri, making 23 appearances in total, and winning three titles.

Kilpin is so revered in Milan that in 2016 a film entitled ‘The Lord of Milan’ was released, while in Nottingham, a bar is named after him on Bridlesmith Walk while a green plaque depicting his birthplace adorns a wall on Mansfield Road.

It is also noticeable that there is something of a Gilpin influence in terms of football in Nottingham, alongside Notts Olympic, you also have a side in the NSL called The Rossoneri, while I have a suspicion that AC United may also be a nod in the great man’s direction.

So, Notts Olympic then. Well, it seems if you want to be involved with the club there are numerous ways you can do it, and raise funds at the same time. You can become a Board Member and have a say on the decisions and direction of the club, you can sponsor the club or you could become a Patreon at varying levels, either way the door is very much open, with the clubs goal of returning to the FA Cup, a competition that of course we know they had involvement with.

As I say, the clubs social media activity is very, erm, active and it seems from a marketing point of view they’ve got individuals who clearly have a handle on that subject matter. All is looking good on that front, but of course, you need a home and you need players.

The game against Heanor Town Reserves was being played at the Jubilee Sports Centre which forms part of the University of Nottingham campus just off of Wollaton Road, and for those of us a certain age, just a bit further along towards the City from where the Raleigh factory used to be! My understanding was though that the clubs home for the 2023-24 season was to be the Harvey Hadden Stadium, but we are still waiting for the NSL to confirm things for the campaign.

Anyway, Steve and I arrived in good time, and after a few issues locating the car park, which did include asking for directions, you know what Uni Campuses are like, we thought we’d try and find some liquid refreshment.

Costa Coffee, it serves a purpose clearly, but not as a pre-match drinking venue before a game. In fact, I was sat with my Americano (I don’t get coffee, and that’s as near as I can find to Nescafe), Steve had some poncey Latte, and it was quite awkward, we were out of place, fish out of water, blokes without a beer, you could cut the silence with a knife at times, we had to get out….

Once at pitch side, normal service was resumed and the decision was taken that what happened in Costa stays in Costa, we would never speak of it again, and, never would we knowingly allow ourselves to be put in that position, ever again!

I’ll be honest, a decent sprinkling of folks rocked up to watch the game, I’m not sure what level of ‘entry’ they were to Notts Olympic in terms of their involvement model, or in fact whether like us, they just went along out of curiosity, but turn up they did, for what was the first ever game of the club.

They got a bit of a lesson to be fair, Heanor won 7-0 and throughout the game they were comfortably the better side. Notts had some decent young lads but the athletic Heanor side looked like they’d played together for some time and their understanding of each others game quickly took the match away from Olympic.

So that was it, we’d witnessed history, and having read up a bit more about Herbert Gilpin and his somewhat colourful lifestyle, I can absolutely guarantee he wouldn’t have gone within miles of a Costa Coffee, in fact, I suspect he was looking down on us shaking his head in disgust.

Sorry Herbert, it won’t happen again…..

Retirement Benefits

Langwith Whitestar  11  Langwith Whitestar United  2

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Admission / Programme – No / No

Friday teatime and I’m clueless, I have absolutely no idea where to go the following day for a bit of pre-season footy.

I’d got this kind of half-baked idea of driving down to Ipswich for a game, but having been on the road most of the week with work, I can’t say as I was overly motivated by that prospect, but then the benefit of having friends who are retired well and truly kicked in.

Steve, who’s days are taken up by eating out, watching cricket on the telly and visiting zoological establishments, had got a bit of time on his hands and did some homework, and it was when he phoned me while I was on my way back from the Doncaster office that my mind was made up.

You see, he’d been having a fiddle around with social media and spotted that Langwith Whitestar, one of the new clubs in the Notts Senior League, were playing a home game against what appeared to be their Sunday team, also called by the same name, but with the suffix ‘United’ at the end.

That was an 11am kick off, but not only that, he’d discovered that another newbie in the shape of Notts Olympic had a home game at 2pm, on a ground we’d not been to, albeit quite possibly not the ground that Olympic were to be calling home for the season.

So, from nothing to two in the shape of a phone call, I was to return the favour the following midweek but more on that another time, but what was the trip to Langwith like then?

Firstly, a fair few clubs have been admitted to the NSL for the new campaign, and if I’m being honest I haven’t got the foggiest who many of them are, or indeed where they play, that will of course all be revealed when we either get a handbook or a fixture list. For example, Nottingham Greens anyone? All I can find is a political party, and I suspect they haven’t branched out into forming a football club….

Getting to Langwith is not an onerous task by any means, you come off the M1 at junction 29 and go down through Glapwell to the roundabout at Pleasley. It’s then the road to Shirebrook, along past the Academy and then a right turn which takes you into Langwith itself. The ground is on Cockshut Lane and is more Whaley Thorns than it is Langwith. Interestingly, Whaley Thorns has a train station, I haven’t checked, but I suspect it‘s not a frequent service and I can’t imagine you can get one after last orders, but anyway, if you are stuck one day in Mansfield without a car, fill yer boots!

The clubs home is a public recreation area, which is a vast expanse, with the football pitch set in the middle of it. They had stuck the obligatory respect rope down one side, probably as per NSL instructions, but otherwise, it was a nice rural setting on a morning that was pretty windy and threatened showers.

Steve had arrived before me, he’s retired you know, nothing else to do, but having met up and carried out the customary piss taking that usually occurs, it was time for the game, and I have to say, at one point I did have visions of seeing my record score, which happened at a game I shouldn’t have been at, when we weren’t allowed out, and a team scored 17 past another, let’s leave it at that shall we! The reason I say that is that the Saturday side had found the net NINE times before the break. The law of averages suggested I was looking good at beating the 17, every attack seemed to result in a goal, and no one showed any signs of easing up.

As often happens though, changes were made at half time to both tactics and personnel, which meant while it was still pretty much one way traffic, it wasn’t the ongoing massacre that was expected. Two more goals followed, they could have had more, but a combination of better defending, trying to walk the ball in, and a bit of good fortune meant that day at the place I shouldn’t have been at remains in the record books, even though I wasn’t officially at it…..but I might have been walking my dog past it at one point.

So that was that, another one chalked off, can’t see Langwith Whitestar calling anywhere else home this season, especially as they have a sign on the gate as you drive in. We had time on our hands and next stop was Nottingham.

I don’t have a dog by the way.

Outposts

Louth Town  0  Boston Town  3

Friendly

Admission / Programme - £4 / No

With the absolute greatest of respect to Louth Town Football Club, getting to Louth Town Football Club, especially midweek, is not the most pleasurable of experiences!

In fact, I’ve got nothing but respect for the club, for making the move to the Northern Counties East League, where they will have to endure some serious journeys, not strictly mileage wise, more time wise, and some of them will of course be on midweek nights.

Context time, for those not familiar, Louth is in Lincolnshire, and the best way to describe it, is it sits inland between Grimsby and Skegness, just to the West of Mablethorpe.  But, the ground isn’t in Louth, it’s in a small village called Saltfleetby which is half way between Louth and the coast. From the motorway junction on the M180 it’s about 50 minutes away, whereas if you are heading from Lincoln it’s a similar kind of journey time.

So, whichever way you are going, it’s a right old poke, but as for Louth, they’ve got a right old poke about twenty times to contend with! They do have a derby game to be fair, Brigg Town, which is about an hour away…

My journey hinged on one thing, getting out of a meeting / training in Sheffield in good time, and hoping the roads were kind. It took me about two hours, heading down the M1 to the M18, onto the M180 and then down past Humberside Airport to Louth itself, and then the final leg out towards Saltfleetby. Two hours in a car by my standards is not a significant drive, but, and I remember this from the previous time I went to Louth (more on that later), it just feels like it’s a lot longer, probably because the last bit is the most challenging bit in terms of the roads and the speeds.

Louth Town won the Lincolnshire League last season and were one of the successful applicants to move into Step 6, but the story of football in Louth is a bit more complex. The current incarnation started life as CGB Humbertherm who changed their name in the 2017-18 season after the previous version of Louth Town folded.

The previous incarnation came about in 2007, playing in the Central Midlands League, before joining the NCE in 2010 after winning the Supreme Division title. In 2015 though the club resigned from the NCE and elected to drop back into the Lincolnshire League, but within a year the club found themselves locked out of their Park Avenue ground by the landlord who wished to develop the site.

But, going back a little earlier was the club known as Louth United. They played at Park Avenue and joined the Midland League in 1974, where they remained in 1979 before heading back to the Lincolnshire League. In 1977-78 they actually finished third in the Midland League which at the time was a feeder to the Northern Premier League.

In 1987 they joined the Central Midlands League and then in 1993 they took the jump into the NCE, where they remained until 2003, they did then end up back in Lincolnshire but had another season back in the CML in 2006-07, before once again dropping and folding mid season in 2009-10. By which time, they had left Park Avenue, to be replaced by Louth Town, with United having to play in Saltfleetby, which is where Town are now anyway, confused, yeah, aren’t we all!

So, noting all of that, when I went to Park Avenue, which version was I actually watching?

Turns out it was the day after Boxing Day in 2006, a local derby against Grimsby Borough that they lost 4-0, and it seems it was United I saw, in their CML days (second spell!).

Now Park Avenue was an interesting ground, and from memory I can recall two things. On the night I went it was bloody cold, but on a positive they had a stand with a glass fronted viewing area at the top which meant if you wanted to stay warm and have a scoop or two while watching the game, you could.

When I say stand, it was a huge tall building that stretched back from the pitch, with it’s already mentioned glass frontage, and of course an area in front of it for standing under cover thanks to the overhang above.

That was Park Avenue, but what about Saltfleetby then?

A work in progress without a doubt, but it does look like it’s going to be a very good little venue. A small car park greets you (be interesting when a big crowd rocks up), while behind the South goal is the dressing rooms and a bar area that was doing a decent trade. Three sides of the ground are railed while currently spectators are permitted on two sides. The area behind the goal is hard standing, while to the side on the East is also hard standing but it also has what looks distinctly like the foundations being set for a stand of some sorts.

The side where the dugouts sit on the West side does look like it may well be permanently out of bounds, but the trenches and wiring all look to be in place for floodlights which I would suggest are imminent.

Being able to ‘build’ a football ground in what is without doubt a very rural setting, and probably sought after as well due to it’s coastal proximity, has I suspect not been an easy job, but credit to Louth Town on what they’ve managed to do, and clearly continue to do.

So, onto the football, well it was 2-0 to the Step 5 visitors at half time and if I’m being honest, Louth were never at the races. Louth did put up a better showing in the second period although the visitors from down the road did go on to score a third. It’s very early days and the transition from notional Step 7 to Step 6 is a big one, you are effectively going amateur to semi-professional in old money. What was once ‘paying subs’ is flipped to ‘getting petrol money’, it’s a jump and let’s not forget that. I can think of another club not too far from Louth (in comparative terms) who have also made the same move, and trust me, those players will be on a screw!

I did enjoy it, and even the journey home, via Lincoln, was actually a relatively painless and relaxing one. Football in Louth has had it’s up’s and downs over the years, let’s hope the move to Saltfleetby and all that brings, see’s some stability and sustained progress.

Still a frigging long way though!

Get The Badge In

Stotfold  0  Chesham United  3

Friendly

Admission / Programme - £10 / No

Stotfold Football Club have got a bloody brilliant badge!

I’d never noticed it before, but it was when I was admiring the frontage of the impressive clubhouse and dressing room facilities that it kind of jumped out at me.

You can judge from yourselves from the photo’s contained within, but for someone like me who has something of a penchant for the colours yellow and black, likes all things German, and who’s favourite continental club is Borussia Dortmund, the Stotfold badge was all of those things contained.

The badge, in yellow and black of course, depicts an eagle on a crest with the letters SFC picked out in ornate fashion on a shield, it’s pure Teutonic, and if you have been fortunate to visit Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund on a match day (I have, five times, gloat gloat!), then some of the supporters club emblems are not dissimilar. Oh, stood at the New Roker Park in Stotfold on a July afternoon, I was crying out for a stein of pilsner and a bratwurst!

Ok, so lets move swiftly back to reality and chat a little about why I was in a village in Bedfordshire in the midst of thunderstorms that were engulfing the country.

To start with, back in the 2004-05 season I actually went to the original Roker Park home of Stotfold which was in the centre of the village, and that was for a United Counties League game. At the time I was working my way through the grounds and had left some of the further ones until last, namely Stotfold and Potton United. They drew 1-1 with Woodford United, and from a memory point of view, I do recall it being a nice setting with a decent little bar insitu.

Things changed though, yes, I’ve always kept on top of the UCL, but as the boundaries shifted and the league worked it’s way North, some, in fact many of the clubs South of Northampton found their way into the Spartan South Midlands League, and so, kind of fell off my radar.

In February 2020 the club moved into their new home on the Arlesey Road, right on the edges of the village, but until last season when they won promotion to the Southern League thanks to a 2-0 win at Dereham Town in the Inter-Step Play-Off, this after finishing runners up to Leighton Town, I’d not really paid much attention to them.

Southern League now, back on the radar, on the list, some pre-season friendlies advertised nice and early, let’s make my first Saturday outing of the campaign a trip to Stotfold.

It’s very rare these days that I venture into Bedfordshire for football, so when I exited the M1 at Milton Keynes South and made my way through Ampthill, it did bring back memories of the times back in the period 2003-2007 when I was watching a lot of football in this part of the World, quite a bit of it to be fair was also in midweek. The road took me out towards Shefford, over the raised bit that looks down on Arlesey, and then into the village with the ground appearing on the left hand side.

They’ve done a cracking job of it. A large car park welcomes you while the turnstiles sit in the corner behind the goal. Immediately to your right is the clubhouse which was smart and spacious, while also contained within the building are of course the dressing rooms. Further down from the dressing rooms is a seated stand that offers good elevation and consequently good views of proceedings, while on the opposite side, sat back between the two dugouts is a covered standing area. Other than that it’s open behind both goals but the footprint is spacious enough for more development if it’s needed.

I’ve kind of told part of the Stotfold story, but to fill the gaps, here goes.

The club were founded in 1946 and joined the South Midlands League in 1952, working their way through two divisions to reach the top flight in 1954, where they had a twelve year spell in which they were runners-up six times, and never finished lower than sixth, but, they never won it!

That elusive first title came in 1980-81 season, but then for the start of the 1984-85 season they were transferred to the United Counties League. The title was won in 2007-08 and then runners up was gained the following season, but elevation to the Southern League never came, although a shift back to the now Spartan South Midlands League did of course happen in 2010.

At the end of the 2018-19 season they found themselves relegated from the Premier Division to the First Division, but they bounced back in the first full season post Covid, and then of course the following season (last season), they made it two consecutive promotions.

They’ve never won the FA Cup, the FA Trophy or the FA Vase, so we shan’t dwell on that, but they have won some Bedfordshire related competitions it appears.

They are now managed by Brett Donnelly, and when I read his name it immediately rang bells with me. I knew the name from somewhere and following a quick Google it started to come back to me. I would have seen him playing (and indeed scoring) for Arlesey Town, Hitchin Town and possibly even Stotfold themselves. His goalscoring record over a twenty year period was hugely impressive, and let’s be honest, he’s not made a bad start to management either!

As for the game, well Step 3 Chesham United (and a very good team at that) took the lead in virtually the first minute, and over the course of the ninety minutes they were the better team, scoring twice more to seal a comfortable victory. Stotfold showed plenty of endeavour but against a quality opponent, they didn’t pose a huge threat. But this is pre-season, it’s about fitness, it’s about minutes under the belt, it’s about confidence and sharpness, and in the case of Stotfold, it’s about being as prepared as they can be for life at a higher level. Brett Donnelly knows all about that higher level, he’ll know exactly what is needed to survive and indeed thrive at Step 4.

But I’ll tell you what, that badge…. 

The Hare Is On The Move

Newton Aycliffe  0  South Shields  2

Friendly

Admission / Programme - £9 / No

Forty five days after a long stroll back along the A6 following the final game of the 2022-23 season, we’re back again, and this time, it all starts again with a Tuesday night trip up the A1.

I mean, I could have started on Saturday, but that had to be parked because of some pre-purchased tickets to Cheese-Fest in Staffordshire. Yes, that’s right, we went to a Cheese Festival, in Staffordshire, and had a marvellous day eating cheese and watching people like James Martin show us how to cook things involving cheese. It was very cheesy, but it wasn’t football, however I digress.

The close season seems to have gone by in a flash, no sooner was I wondering how to fill my Saturday’s and keep myself busy on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, info was starting to filter through about new constitutions, new clubs, new venues, and of course the steady trickle of pre-season games that may, or may not, actually happen.

So, one of the first decisions that was made was of course the make up of Steps 1 to 6, and generally speaking it was pretty easy to predict what was coming, especially in terms of the movement between Steps 5 and 4. The Northern League was a done deal, Newton Aycliffe won it and would be guaranteed a place in the First Division East of the Northern Premier League, as would Ashington who finished runners-up but beat Glossop North End in a play-off.

Ordinarily I would anticipate what was happening in the Northern League and get up to a game in April, but for a variety of reasons that didn’t happen this time around, so it was a case of seeing what was thrown up on the friendly front, and yes, a Tuesday night in Newton Aycliffe was the game of choice. Oh, and by the way, ground number 1700 for me, stick that on your Futbology App!

I’ve driven past Newton Aycliffe a few times, it’s basically a left turn at the roundabout for Darlington off the A1, and then a few minutes later it pops up on your left hand side. Travelling from North Sheffield as I did, it was all done in just over an hour and a half.

Interesting fact time, Newton Aycliffe was only founded in 1946, and came to being under the New Towns Act of 1946. Around 30,000 people now live in the town, and once upon a time Vic Reeves used to work in a factory in Newton Aycliffe. Thinking about it, there will be people living in Newton Aycliffe right now who are older than Newton Aycliffe itself, which is pretty weird isn’t it?

Anyway, I didn’t get to see an awful lot of the town, once off the main road that leads through to Durham, you wind your way through a housing estate that screams ‘New Town’ at you and right at the end sitting very close to the main A167 that you’d not long left, is the Sports Club where the football club plays.

I was early enough to grab a space in the car park, while in front of you is a smart clubhouse and the dressing rooms for the cricket and rugby clubs who play closest to the facilities. The football club is located down in the corner and as you would expect, has its own self-contained facilities. Fully enclosed, and lined with trees / hedges, you enter behind the North goal where the dressing rooms are to one side, and the tea bar / can bar on the other. Moving round in an anti-clockwise fashion you have a seated stand and a covered terrace on the West side of the ground, while both the South and East sides are open standing. It’s a tidy venue, and it obviously ticks the boxes for Step 4, with conversations being overheard about work being done over the close season to get the ground up to standard.

So what is the football club all about then? Well, as you would expect, they aren’t a club with 100+ years history, indeed, they were formed in 1965 but the earliest records I can find of them playing in senior football saw them enter the Wearside League in 1984. They stayed in the competition until March 1994 when they resigned from the league having played 20 games.

The club moved into the Durham Alliance having undergone a rebuilding process and it was success in this completion in 2008 that saw them successful in getting re-admitted to the Wearside League once again. They won the Wearside in their first season and for the start of the 2009-10 season they took up a place in the Second Division of the Northern League.

After a season of consolidation they went again, winning the Northern League’s second tier in 2010-11 and with it gaining promotion to Step 5. The first few seasons didn’t bear any fruit, but in 2021-22 they collected a fourth placed finish before winning the title last season after a close battle with Ashington.

Visiting South Shields were also newly promoted, having finally got out of the Northern Premier League and into the National League North. I remember writing a blog about South Shields following a visit in September 2017, and at the time I commented on the fact that as a then Northern Premier League First Division club, I fully expected them to get to the second tier in double quick time, but Covid and a couple of failed play-off attempts have seen that delayed longer than many would have expected.

I reckon about 500 or so rocked up to watch it, with a large number having travelled South down the A1, but to be fair in the first period the hosts put a decent showing and were worthy of being at least on a par with their lofty visitors by half time, but with the inevitable changes that came, the second half was a slightly different story.

Julio Arca’s side took the lead through Jordy Mongoy who netted from close, before Will McGowan scored a cracker from distance to seal a 2-0 victory. The hosts can feel positive though, they put a very solid shift in and showed signs that they could be a force this season. Let’s be honest though, promoted Northern League sides are certainly no mugs and recent history tells us that they typically have no issues adjusting to the higher level.

The journey back was very straightforward, back in the house by 11.15pm, we’ve started everyone, the hare is well and truly on the move!