Redcar Athletic 4-1 Hemsworth Miners Welfare, Saturday 7th August 2021

Redcar Athletic 4-1 Hemsworth Miners Welfare, FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round, BM Bi-folding Doors Stadium (Green Lane), att. 29

As per Whitley Bay last week, my plan was to take my other half out and leave her to wander while I went to a Northern League game. I was going to go and see a match Newcastle way and drop her off in the city centre. However, I sensed exhaustion from yesterday’s trip to Hadrian’s Wall (Chesters fort, since you ask – a friend was visiting), plus the Olympics had reached its penultimate day, and she loves a bit of sport. So when Molly (based in South Yorkshire) asked where I was going today, I knew he fancied a trip out. I looked again at the fixtures and Redcar stood out, somewhere inbetween our locations. My partner jumped at the chance of staying in.

Redcar (the place) has always been one of the north-east’s main seaside venues, containing as it does miles of sandy beach. Back in the day it used to have a large (indoor) amusement park too, though that’s long since closed, along with the steelworks that once employed half the town. The latter has been of some debate as to its future, between historical conservationists who’d like to see some of its buildings saved for posterity, and local (Tory) politicians, who wanted it levelled and turned into yet another industrial estate / ‘job creation scheme’. The decision-makers won and demolition has started.

Back to the football, and today was a historic day for Redcar Athletic – their first ever fixture in the FA Cup. If that doesn’t sound impressive, they’ve had a steady rise since forming in 1993 and playing in the Teesside League. Having worked their way up through the Wearside League, their championship win of 2018 allowed them entrance to the Northern League. And thanks to their promotion to division 1 (based on a points-per-game basis over the last 2 incomplete seasons) they can finally join the country’s premier cup competition. On the up and up.

The stadium is a new-build on the edge of town. Indeed, it’s nearer Marske United than Northern League 2 Redcar Town. I’ve seen it before, and feared a it was a little characterless, but with a decent crowd inside (nearly 300) it had a certain charm. As you enter through the turnstile, there is standing room to the left behind the goal. Today it was slightly sullied by a couple of Dirty Leeds flags from the travelling fans, so I’m hopeful these don’t appear every week.

To the right as you enter are 2 identical stands holding 50 people each. How long did they take to put up? An afternoon? I’m not joking. I can imagine them arriving on the back of a big lorry, being plonked down and a couple of men with screwdrivers finishing it off. Still, very smart with its bright red seats and when the rain came down second half, it provided welcome temporary relief.

The rest of the stadium is neatly enclosed with a wooden fence and obligatory gates to enable someone to rescue the ball when it was skied over. Collecting the ball is no mean feat at this time of year, as two sides of the ground are bordered by farmer’s wheat fields. Good luck finding the ball in there. Behind the near goal are more pitches, while there is a snazzy social club behind the Main Stand(s), with the clever addition of half a dozen wooden ‘pods’ outside, where 6 or so fans could sit in each one and remain dry while enjoying their pint.

Going back to heritage, I’m pleased Hemsworth Miners Welfare have retained their traditional name despite the closure of the mines. It’s a small town inbetween Barnsley and Pontefract and today they brought a fair few, no doubt bolstered by the Premiership season not starting till next week. They also brought a mouthy, yet inept defence, who conceded a penalty after two minutes and gave Redcar two further goals from cock-ups leaving the poor keeper stranded. Hemsworth scored a comedy equaliser themselves as the Redcar keeper somehow fumbled a low cross into his own net. Thankfully, the one bit of quality was to be Redcar’s, a well taken 4th goal rounded it off as Owen Clarkson bamboozled a back-tracking defender before sidefooting the ball into the far corner. Athletic won’t have to wait quite as long for their second FA Cup game as they did their first.

The Damage:
£6 ent
£2 programme
£1 Coca-Cola
= £9

The Tunes:
Come on Feel the Illinois! (Sufjan Stevens)
BBC6 Music (Gilles Peterson / Craig Charles)

Whitley Bay 2-1 Whickham, Saturday 31st July 2021

Whitley Bay 2-1 Whickham, Northern League Division 1, Hillheads, att. 448

Welcome to ...

As I took my partner to hang around in Whitley Bay for an afternoon while I went to the match, I was reminded of a childhood episode. My dad took me to a Barnsley away match at Oldham and we brought my mum along – she’d been promised a day out and ‘there must be something to see since Oldham is quite sizeable’. He was wrong. Oldham was a rundown dump with nothing there, a fact I told the Thomas Cook rep that summer. I was 10 and my friends would say my diplomatic skills have not improved since. Luckily, an afternoon in Whitley Bay is a lot more pleasant than Oldham. Sarah had 2p machines to amuse herself. (What are they called? Coin sliders? I dunno…)

Whitley Bay was the star seaside attraction of my youth, the amusements at the white walled Spanish City the mightiest of all the north-east resorts. Indeed, an inscription on a nearby wall said as much….’Ah…Whitley Bay…The Dome! The white Dome! It was the Taj Mahal to us!’ Sadly, cheap package holidays became the rage and our seaside resorts either withered or moved with the times. Whitley Bay has cleverly done the latter. The rides may no longer be there, but Spanish City hasn’t been completely demolished; the dome and main building survive to be a posh restaurant (with London prices) and a craft pub, amongst others.

However, I was here for the football, and after an ice cream I ventured forth, following Google Maps…and ending up at the rugby ground. Luckily, the rugby ground is next to the cricket ground…which is next to the ice rink…which is next to the football ground. If the facilities were a bit better, it might almost be Germanic, putting all the sports together in one area. And I’m sure the Happy Mondays played the ice rink, back in the day.

Whitley Bay FC have been back in the Northern League 20 years, having been members of the Northern Premier League previous to that. However, they weren’t the first (and won’t be the last) to suffer financial problems leading to coming back with their tails between their legs. One upshot of this though is their phenomenal record in the FA Vase, winning it a remarkable 4 times between 2002 and 2011. In general, Northern League teams do very well, a quirk of geography which means clubs at this level often have better players.

Hillheads is a traditional non-league ground. One old Main Stand, supporting pillars to obstruct the view, as well as a floodlight pylon protruding through the roof. Adjacent on the entrance side is a terrace the width of the stand, with a small cover at the back. I guess this was mirrored on the other side of the stand, but it’s now fenced off and overgrown. Opposite the Main Stand is a cover over terracing which sweep round behind the goal to join its seated companion. There’s no terracing behind the far goal, but its enclosed, with a raised flowerbed (weedbed?) running its width. This could look spectacular if it was planted and cared for.

Through the turnstiles is also a club shop (‘Ho’way the Bay’ CDs reduced to £3!) but with Covid-19 restricting it to one person or family at a time, I didn’t want the self-awareness of being the only customer in while others waited. Beer was available via the social club, but I took a spot behind the goal at the terraced end. Today was the opening day of the Northern League season and a healthy crowd of 448 was rewarded with an excellent opener. Bay took the lead in the 12th minute at the weed end when a lovely through ball ended with Coulson rounding the keeper and slotting. You don’t see enough of that kind of thing higher up the ladder.

After finishing last year’s Opal Fruits which I’d found in my coat pocket, I circled round and took a pew in the Main Stand. I think I got one of the few seats left with a view of BOTH goals, what with the roof supports. Perhaps one was in the way of the Whickham keeper, who came racing out, kicked the ball straight to Malone, and watched as said player hit the ball 35 yards into an empty net. 2-0 Bay.

With the game looking safe, Bay centre half Callum Anderson swung and sliced a cross which bulleted towards goal. What looked like a great save turned to despair as the ball landed behind the keeper and bounced into the net. I love non-league football!

*Good to see Whickham keeping up the local habit of wearing the colours of the nearest ‘big’ team, the black and white stripes of Newcastle. (Around Sunderland they all seem to wear red and white stripes.) And how often do you hear the ref call the keeper ‘young ‘un’? Only in the north-east!

The Damage:
£7 ent
= £4
(no programmes)

The Tunes:
Black Sunday (Cypress Hill)
XXX (Roxette)