12th August 2015
Billingham Synthonia 2 Ryton
& Crawcrook Albion 0 (Northern
League Division Two)
Little known fact time – Billingham Synthonia
are the only club in the World to be named after an agricultural fertiliser!
The ‘Synthonia’ part of their name is anyway,
in the sense that it is a contraction of Synthetic Ammonia, a product made by
ICI and a company the club has had close links with.
I’m no chemist, but while the name Synthonia
does sound quite nice, I should imagine the substance itself is far from
pleasant, wearing gloves, goggles and a face mask is probably a pre-requisite
of dealing with the stuff. But then we are in Middlesbrough, the home of the
‘Smog Monsters’ as they are affectionately referred to by their fellow North
East rivals, a City where chemicals, heavy industry and probably a fair degree
of noxious fall out was once commonplace.
For some bizarre reason Rach was happy for me
to go out for another evening of football, and whereas the game at West
Auckland the night before was an hour away, I could make it to Billingham in
around 45 minutes so not feel quite so far away from them, certainly not like I
had done on the Tuesday when all I wanted to do in the end was get back. That
said, when the fixtures for the Northern League came out, this was always on
the radar and the Tuesday only entered into the equation at the last minute, so
unless she had put her foot down, this was always going to happen anyway.
I was really curious about this one, I recall
Billingham Synthonia from my early days of becoming interested in non-league
football. Obviously the quirky name helped, but also, I recall from seeing
pictures in directories and guide books that they had a simply awesome stand at
the ground, that still remains, and is considered one of the iconic landmarks
of non-league football, not only in the North East, but in the Country itself.
The journey was a simple one, back up the A174
to the A19 and then up a couple of junctions to the Billingham exit. From there
it’s simply across a few roundabouts and the ground sits nicely on the left
hand side of Central Drive. The dwellings in the locality are synonymous with
the kind of housing you would expect in an area associated with heavy industry,
and while old and somewhat tired, it certainly didn’t feel intimidating or by any
means rough. Just traditional, honest, working class areas, in the shadow of
the huge industrial landscape that sprawls along the North bank of the Tees
into Middlesbrough.
Once inside, the size of that famous old stand
hits you full in the face, what a magnificent structure it is. It straddles the
full length of the pitch, and it’s the only form of spectator accommodation at
the ground, while underneath lies the huge ‘Synners Bar’ the dressing rooms and
the tea bar. The centre of the stand is taken up with seats, while either flank
is terraced with crush barriers. The paddock below is also standing but sloped
rather than terraced. It is truly a magnificent sight.
The pitch itself was in magnificent shape, and
on a lovely night, with shadows being cast across the surface, it was one of
those alter-idyllic settings for watching a game of football. Not your typical
Porthmadog type mountainous scenery, but a harsh yet beautiful venue with
surroundings that conjured up similar feelings, but in a totally different way.
People laughed at me when I went to Runcorn Town and talked about the sheer
beauty of a ground set amongst Oil Refinery’s, well this was similar, not quite
as hemmed in by the industry as Runcorn, but compensated by the fact that the
stand itself felt almost like an extension, or indeed a monument to the nearby
steelworks.
Sometimes you forget you have gone to watch a
football match, so engrossed in the venue you become, but I had, and it was to
be a shock to the system for the Synners as it was their first home game in the
Second Division of the Northern League since the 1986-87 campaign, having been
relegated at the end of last season.
The Synners have historically been one of the
top teams in the Northern League, but my thoughts are that when teams with such
strong links to the local industry, as Synthonia have, find that economic times
are getting tough, it gets harder for them as the industry that once supported them
ceases to do so, or certainly to the level it once did. Furthermore, as that
industry employed a big chunk of their support, and they fell on hard times
personally or indeed moved away, the support base erodes.
All in all, a once big name, if now just that,
a big name, because on the pitch they are miles away from where they once were,
winning Championships and hosting league clubs in the FA Cup. It’s a shame, but
times move on and the ground remains perhaps the only semblance of any
authority and prowess the club once had in the Northern League.
The game wasn’t a patch on the previous
evening’s entertainment. Synthonia beat visiting Ryton 2-0 at pretty much a
canter, it wasn’t a great spectacle, but it was a case of job done for the home
side. I would suggest a crowd of just over 100 was in attendance, and that
after the club were pretty active with their Social Media based marketing in
terms of trying to boost the gate by admitting children for free.
They do retain a hard core support though, who
wear the shirts and the scarves, and in fairness they do take pride in their
facilities, as everywhere was clean and tidy, but from reading the programme
you can just see how close the club came in the summer to going out of
existence. The previous Chairman decided to call it a day, and for a while the
club had no direction and it seemed a new leader was not going to be
forthcoming. However, one did, a management team was installed and now at least
some stability has been restored, so perhaps getting back to former glories on
the pitch isn’t really the number one priority right now, just having a club to
support is more important.
Clubs like Billingham Sythonia, and grounds
like Central Avenue are part of the fabric of amateur and latterly,
semi-professional football in this Country. What makes it doubly hard is being
located in the industrial North East, once a hot bed, it is now an area that is
economically depressed and in some areas, socially deprived, so you do wonder
what the future holds for clubs like them.
But for now, that wonderful old structure
remains in all its glory, I suspect though, it won’t be around forever. But
then again, maybe if the demand for Synthetic Ammonia spirals……..
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