Synthetic Ammonia

Billingham Synthonia  0  Chester Le Street Town  1

Northern League – Second Division

Synthetic Ammonia is synonymous with the town of Billingham.

The huge ICI works in the town just North of the River Tees is a famous landmark in that part of the Country, and, is one of the largest, if not the largest producers of fertiliser in the stratosphere.

That is how Billingham Synthonia Football Club got their name, the ‘Synthonia’ is a mash up of the words Synthetic Ammonia….and I was fortunate enough back in August 2015 to visit their Central Avenue ground. Somewhere within my blog articles is a report on the game against Ryton & Crawcrook, albeit the article was written pre-blog days, I just posted it during the first lockdown when we were all interned and unable to fashion any new experiential content!

A lot has happened since my visit back then to the quite magnificent stadium Synthonia played at, with it’s huge iconic stand (once the biggest of it’s kind in the Country). Tragically, due to rising costs of maintenance (it was a big bugger of a stand to be fair), the club were forced to vacate and move just up the road to the home of Norton & Stockton Ancients.

Central Avenue has since been demolished, which was a tragedy in itself, but as if the short hop over the A19 to Norton was a huge leap in many ways for the loyal fan base, this season what was a mile and half journey from their spiritual home, has turned into a fourteen mile jaunt from the heavy industrial areas of Teesside to the North Yorkshire market town of Stokesley.

With the meeting in Gosforth due to finish at 5pm, calling in at Stokesley on my way home to Derbyshire seemed a good idea. It did mean a somewhat stop-start journey through Gateshead out to the A19, but once on the road that links Teesside to North Yorkshire, it was a pretty easy run to the Southern edges of Middlesbrough and the short cross country jaunt to the edges of the attractive town.

They still have some games kicking off at the traditional time of 7.30pm in the Northern League, which is good to see, especially when you are looking at a two hour journey home afterwards, but that said, due to the Tyneside traffic I was a little later arriving than I would have hoped and did well to get what was the last car parking space.

Stokesley Sports Club is a sizable venue, it’s the home of the North Riding County FA, Stokesley Football Club, Stokesley Cricket Club and Stokesley Tennis Club. More importantly, it has a bar, which always makes me a happy soul at a midweek game…

The football ground has seen Northern League action before, when Stokesley Sports were promoted from the Wearside League in 2006. The club did get to the top flight of the league briefly after winning the Second Division in 2009-10 but at the end of the 2015-16 they were relegated back to the Wearside where they remain.

As you would expect the ground does the job for Northern League football. It has a seated Atcost towards the end of one side, with a small tea bar adjacent to it. Behind the car park end goal are two areas of shallow cover, whereas the remainder of the ground is hard standing. The dressing rooms are actually on the other side of the car park in the County FA building, with a temporary barrier protecting the pathway to the pitch.

The ground does offer lovely views to the South with the hills of the North Yorkshire Moors in the distance, while Synthonia have tried to make it their own with some flags and hoardings, but for me, it will never be the same as looking at the towers and the chimneys at the adjacent ICI plant.

It was a tight affair on the field against Chester-Le-Street Town, with the game being decided just before half time when a challenge on the home goalkeeper saw the ball drop loose for a visiting player to tap into an empty net.

Synthonia gave it a real good go in the second period, in front of a crowd of just over 100, but they were unable to breach the defences of the County Durham side, and so they came away with nothing for their efforts.

As I drove away, turning left at the roundabout heading in the direction of Thirsk, the bulk of the traffic was going in the opposite direction towards Middlesbrough, and that kind of saw it hit home for me. This must be a really tough gig for Synthonia, and as much as they have nice facilities to play at, and I’m sure they have been made hugely welcome in Stokesley, it’s not home, on so many levels.

Even if the club can find a way back into Billingham (share with Town maybe, but I don’t know the politics?), wherever they end up, it will never be quite like Central Avenue. That ground was what the famous old club was all about, and on the day they started to demolish it, part of the club disappeared into the rubble.

That said, the loyal band of club officials, helpers, and supporters continue to do all they can to keep the club alive…..their illustrious history alone means survival is the only option they can pursue.