Consett’s old ground till 2013, Belle Vue Park, looked full of character; at its peak containing two large stands (one later knocked down), plenty of terracing (including paddocks in front of the seating) and banking formed from colliery waste. The new ground, ‘Belle View’ leaves me cold – literally, on a midweek night in January. There are two stands, identical in design if not size, which look like they were delivered by lorry and put up in an afternoon. They probably were. Four rows of seating, low to the pitch. Everything is pristine – but not in a good way. However, with no terracing and a plastic pitch, it is anodyne to say the least.
Any semblance of enjoyment is taken from the quality of the football and the general crowd hubbub (Consett currently being the best-supported side in the Northern League, with an average of over 500. Tonight’s Durham Challenge Cup game brought a lower 354). There’s no worry of matches being postponed, a la the previous ground, and the ball does run smoothly as the home side generally like to pass it around. But am I the only one irritated by the glare of the pitch from the floodlights? Or the lack of anything approaching a tackle? (As I mused the latter, a player finally went through his opposite number to earn a booking.) I was further annoyed by my tea, though I blame myself for this one. I should’ve told her to leave the teabag in, because had I not seen her wringing the thing out in my cup, I’d swear it’d never seen a teabag.
Consequently, I found myself rooting for the Railwaymen of Shildon against the Steelmen. Promoted to the Northern Premier League East this season, Shildon are a division up on tonight’s opponents. Consett, endeavouring to follow in their rivals’ footsteps, have been virtually unbeatable in the Northern League this season and possess crowds far in excess of Shildon. Would home (plastic) advantage be key? No. After an early miss from Consett when the centre forward tried to lift it over the keeper, Shildon ran out comfortable winners, 0-3.
The opener was a deft bullet header from star striker Billy Greulich-Smith. I thought he’d put it wide, as did everyone else judging by the lack of acknowledgement. It was only when the players started celebrating did most of us know different. I’d chosen the wrong end, thinking Consett would put up a fight, so wandered along the touchline to get a closer view of the Shildon attack. There’s a decent gap in the crowd, I thought. Yes – because the bloke nearest appeared to be giving a running commentary on the game. Highly bloody irritating, but he was obviously a regular, knowing all their names. I headed to the (slow) queue for the tea in time to seethe keeper get not quite enough of a paw onto a 20 odd yarder. At least the clubhouse was sizeable, and warm…and pristine. So that was half-time, before Shildon got an early penalty, second half. Game over.
The Damage:
£7 ent
£1.50 programme
£1.20 tea
£0.90 Snickers
= £10.60
New Long Leg (Dry Cleaning)
Tomorrow’s Harvest (Boards of Canada)
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