Around the Alliance - part one

Ground no.154 - Grounsell Park
Heaton Stannington v Newcastle University
1st December 2007



Stannington are based east of Newcastle city centre in High Heaton, formed way back in 1919 as previous members of the Tyneside and Northern Amateur Leagues, before joining the Northern League prior to the First World War, the club were elected as non-playing members when football recommenced after the Second World War because the ground was still being used by the
military during the 1945-46 season. The club resigned from the league in 1952 and joined the Northern Alliance where they’ve largely played ever since, apart from a ten year break in the Wearside League between 1972 and 1982.
The ground was formerly known as Newton Park but is now recognized as Grounsell Park and has the basic standards for this level, with a white perimeter fence and dugouts on either side, spectators stand in front of the clubhouse on a built up patio area to view the game from over the home dugout where there’s also a diminutive shelter. The car park is inside the entrance grounds with a large portakabin used for changing rooms and storage in the corner.
Heaton Stannington looked to be heading for a comfortable win, but for a plucky comeback from a young University side, coming back from 4-1 down to 4-3 made for a great finish, although Heaton had good chances to secure the victory themselves, they held on the take the three points, so both teams put on a good show, pity it was in front of a near empty ground.

Matchday facts
unofficial HC att. 8
Score 4-3 – scorers: Yates(9,51,54), Scott(45 )-/- Blunt(38,80), Robertson(64)




Ground no.156 - Monkchester Green
Walker Central v Shankhouse
29th December 2007

Walker Central is another club due east of Newcastle, tucked in between Byker and Wallsend; formed in 1988 by amongst others, former Newcastle United player Lee Clark and scout Brian Clark, they won promotion to the Northern Alliance Premier in only their second season. In 1995 the club added Central to their name and won the Alliance title for the only time so far in 2000-01.
In 2004 the club received the FA Charter Standard Community Award, as well as the senior side there is and now over 20 boys and girls junior teams of all ages
The ground has the basic requirements with a spacious clubhouse and changing facilities called the Peggy Shepherd Pavilion (opened by MP Kate Hoey) set back from the park, the club are ambitious and have looked into the possibility of installing lights and eventually progressing to the Northern League.
A great first half performance saw the league leaders race into a four goal lead, it was hard to tell if Walker were good or if Shankhouse were.. well…shank! but an improvement in the second half saw Central only add one more to their total after missing a hatful of chances with the visitors grabbed a consolation goal themselves.
There was a decent crowd present due to the fact that other games close by were hit by the wet weather, amongst those were three ground hoppers who made the long trip from Staffordshire to bag a couple of grounds in Newcastle (they later went up the road to visit Team Northumbria) they like myself enjoyed a very good game with the home side looking a good bet for the title.

Matchday Facts
Unofficial HC att.52
Score 5-1 - scorers - Cave(14) Mills(17) Miley(32,35) Lamb(55) -/- Binney(64)

Ground no.159 Ponteland Leisure Centre
Ponteland United v Heddon
19th January 2008

Ponteland is a suburb north-west of Newcastle, just over the Northumberland border, located close to Newcastle Airport and neighbouring upmarket Darras Hall, a favoured setting for the north-east’s rich and famous.
Ponteland United were formed in 1900 and have played in the Northern Alliance since 1983/84, finishing runners-up in the league twice during the ‘90’s, they’ve also lost nine of the various leagues cup competitions, so the club have won nothing in their time but have come mighty close. In 2006 the club formed a junior section, merging with local side Blue Star Junior FC producing players to eventually make the progression to the senior side.
The ground is situated within the grounds of the Ponteland Leisure Centre, fenced off separately from the complex and the nearby local rugby club, with changing facilities in a building attached at the far side of the centre, there’s a doorway sharing access for players and paying customers with the dugouts at the far side of the ground.
The game didn’t fall victim to the wet weather, with the pitch holding up well, giving way to an enjoyable match
An enjoyable, but at times physical encounter between Ponteland and local rivals Heddon on a pitch which held up well surviving the preceding weeks wet weather, allowing some good football from both teams. Heddon were the better side, it could really have been game over by half-time, after missing several good chances, a fine headed goal from ‘McElroy was all they had to show for their efforts at the break. ‘Pont’ improved in the second half with an equaliser out of the blue courtesy of a long range effort from Willis, but a late winner by Zubairn finishing off a fine move gave Heddon a deserved victory.
The match saw plenty of dirty tackles flying about, surprisingly not only were no players sent off, but there wasn’t a single yellow card issued, I suspect the referee must have forgotten his cards which added to the frustration of the management, players and both sets of supporters, but on a personal level added to the afternoons entertainment.

Matchday Facts Unofficial HC attendance 45
Score 1-2 - scorers - Wills(58)-/- McElroy(30) Zubairn(83)

(click on pics for larger image)

My Matchday - 158 King George V Stadium

Guisborough Town 0v1 Penrith Town
Arngrove Northern League 2nd Division
12th january 2008
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After a wee break from the intrigue and splendour of the Arngrove Northern League, I’m back on the road in my pursuit of finishing off the northern goalfields with a trip to North Yorkshire and my 39th of the current ANL 42.
Guisborough is a market town in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, pronounced locally as ‘Gizbrah’ the towns early football history goes back into the 19th century although records and history have become more a mystery, competitive football from such clubs like Guisborough Red Rose, Guisborough Celtic, Guisborough United, Guisborough Brigantes, Guisborough Boys Club as well as another Guisborough Town who played one season in 1945, all until the arrival of the present club, formed in 1973,when the club proudly declared “a new era of football was born”
The current Guisborough Town starting life successfully in the Middlesbrough & District League before joining the Northern Alliance in 1977, winning the title in their third season, the same season as their glorious achievement of reaching Wembley in the FA Vase, plotting their way through eight rounds including a record gate of 3,112 at the King George V Ground for the semi-final against Hungerford, before losing 2-0 against Stamford in the final.
The 1979-80 Northern Alliance title lead to promotion and a brief spell in the Midland League before becoming founder members of the North Counties East League in 1982, the club moved over to the Northern League 2nd Division in 1985, winning promotion in their second season and stayed in the 1st Division for the next eighteen seasons before the Priorymen were relegated in 2004-05.
To give the ground it’s shortened name, the KGV was developed in the late ‘70’s, the ground has two stands, one on each side with open standing behind each goal, the turnstiles are in the corner with the changing rooms in a separate building. The Main Stand runs along one half of the field with a high pitched white roof with red walls, fitted one half with two rows of red and white flip seats and the other with two red benches, split in between by the press box which unfortunately is out of use at the moment due to vandalism. The seats are set back allowing spectators to stand in front causing no obstructions, with the refreshment bar built into the side of the stand, the social club is at the rear and was reopened in 1997 after the original club house, opened by the clubs prestigious vice-president Selina Scott was damaged by fire. The far side of the ground has a covered standing enclosure, running centrally along a third of the pitch, it has a red and white frame and walls with white supporting pillars, the opposing managers are kept apart with one dugout in front of each stand.
Guisborough Town currently lie fifth, just off the promotion places, but title chasers Penrith came away with maximum points with a typical performance that you’ll see from any club in any league, who are sitting at the top.
The Priorymen started the game lively and created several chances, but the Blues weathered the storm and slowly took control as the half progressed, taking the lead on the half hour with a goal from big centre half and man of the match Wayne Robertson, who after an initial corner and a spot of ping-pong in the box, took advantage when the ball fell kindly at his feet, ramming the ball home from 12 yards.
The second half saw a spirited performance from the home side but the Penrith defence were solid and looked more likely to get another and secure the victory rather than concede, it’s obvious that Guisborough are lacking a good finisher and they’ll have to rectify this if they have ambitions to gain one of the three promotion spots this season, but they did nearly snatch a point deep into injury time, but the foot of the post came to Penrith’s rescue after their defence had been seriously breached for the first time.
Another good ground and day on Teesside plus another Northern League ’tick,’ it’s a shame there isn’t more than 42 clubs in the ANL because i'll miss these 'Northern Ventures' when i've completed the set.
Ground no.158 - KGV Stadium – Matchday Web album (15 pictures)

My Matchday - 157 Love Street

St. Mirren 2v1 Hibernian
Scottish Premier League
5th January 2008
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When I heard the news of St. Mirren’s future departure from their Love Street home, it became my personal ‘Mission to Paisley’ to visit an historic ground before the bulldozers and the superpower of Tesco moved in for the kill, therefore a mission which wasn’t impossible. However the bad weather this week left me flapping that my planned trip north would be a wasted one, but thankfully they’re made of stronger stuff north of the border and a bit snow won’t get in the way of some SPL fitba.
Paisley is the second largest town in Scotland after East Kilbride, located in the West Central lowlands, eight mile south-west of Glasgow in Renfrewshire, the club take their name from Saint Mirin, an Irish monk and missionary who in the 6th century established the first Church on the Banks of the River Cart and after his death the shrine of Saint Mirin became a centre of pilgrimage.
St. Mirren Park affectionately known as Love Street, opened in 1894, their fourth home after initially playing on a field at Shortroods, Thistle Park at Greenhills and then Westmarch, where they were based when they became founder members of the Scottish League in 1890.The Saints wanted to return to their original home at Shortroods, but had to settle on the cheaper option which was just across the road in Love Street, bought for £3,900. Love Street wasn’t so lovely in the early days, in fact it was a right tip, based next to a slaughterhouse with the club raising extra finances by using the land as a public refuse dump.
The first major work on the ground began in 1911 with the first terracing and the construction of a main stand, which was finally completed and opened some ten years later, in 1957 a cover was built over the enclosure and 1959 saw the installation of floodlights making their debut for a Scottish Cup tie v Peebles which the Buddies won 10-0 on their way to winning the trophy that season. The grounds record gate was back in August 1949, 47,438 for a League Cup tie against Celtic, while nowadays Love Street has an all seated capacity of 10,800.
I travelled to Paisley by train, catching the 955 from Newcastle Central to Glasgow Central, and then a replacement bus to my destination, I met up with fellow ground blogger and 100FGC member Jaimie Mac (squad no.81) from Fitba Daft, and after a couple of pre-match sherbets made our way to the ground.
When arriving at the stadium, we did a quick lap of the exterior of the stadium and it’s noticeable that the neighbouring residents dwellings are built as close to the stadium as possible(see web album)so those tenants won’t have far to go for their shopping in the future.
The ground is a mixture of new and old, we opted to go in the 4200 capacity North Stand, which was a good choice, the Buddies supporters make plenty of noise throughout, the stand is covered seating stretching the length of the pitch with the TV gantry suspended under the cowshed roof. The away supporters have the Laidlaw Scott Stand, this is a steep 3015 capacity all seated with access gained high at the back of the stand due to five-a-side pitches and health club facilities underneath. The opposite goal has the Reid Kerr College Family Stand, this has a smaller capacity of 2000 with a cantilever roof and like the rest of the ground the seats are black white and red.
The Main Stand which runs parallel to the middle third of the pitch has a capacity of 1,774, this has the classic look of two tiers with a smaller lower tier of five rows of seats, while upstairs is much larger, it’s flagged by terracing which is no longer in use at one side and a car park to the other, it’s exterior has the stylish and best combination of black and white stripes on the wall.
The match was an entertaining encounter with the Saints two up by half time, thanks mainly to a bit of dodgy keeping from Hibs’ man between the sticks Ma-Kalambay letting a cross (it definitely wasn’t an intended shot)by Ian Maxwell sail into the net in the 4th minute followed by another error allowing Gary Mason to make it two on 43, with the poor goalie leaving the field at half time to a cheeky standing ovation from the home support. Hibs showed a bit more urgency in the second half but the Saints were never in danger of letting it slip, even a late well taken goal from Antoine-Curier didn’t make for a nervous ending as the home side were better than the 2-1 score line suggests and the valuable points are much needed in their fight against relegation.
St. Mirren plan to move to a new purpose built stadium some time early next season in nearby Greenhill Road in Ferguslie Park, the current site has been sold to supermarket chain Tesco and the capital gained will finance the construction of the new stadium as well as paying off the clubs current debts, this all makes good business sense but again a famous and much celebrated ground disappears to be replaced by another bog standard version, which may be pleasing on the eye but …it won’t be love.(street)

Ground no.157 Love Street - Matchday web album (18 pictures)
LINKS-
Match report
Fitba Daft report
Previous 100FGC ticks;
Tims 92

My Matchday - 156 Turnbull Ground

Whitby Town 2v1 Gateshead

Unibond Premier League

1st January 2008

att.311

A new year with a new ground, Whitby Towns Turnbull Ground is a ground that has eluded me so far, games between the two sides are usually an unavailable midweek fixture for me, but I managed to get myself out of bed on New Years Day, a fine achievement in itself, but when there’s an opportunity of a new ground and one that Gateshead are playing on then I wasn’t going to miss out.
Whitby is a historic town in North Yorkshire on the north-east coast, a favored tourist destination and fishing port on the mouth of the River Esk, football in the town goes back to the early 1890’s when the original club played in the Cleveland Amateur League and then the Northern League, before travelling costs forced the club to resign from competitive matches and revert to playing friendlies.
By 1926 the town had two clubs, both playing in the Scarborough & District League, Whitby Whitehill Swifts and Whitby Town decided to join forces and became ‘United’ thus gaining membership into the Northern League, where they resided over the next sixty plus years. In 1946 the clubs name changed to Whitby Town, they reached Wembley for the first time in the 1965 FA Amateur Cup Final, losing 3-1 to Hendon, but the biggest feat in ‘The Seasiders’ history came in 1997, winning 3-0 against North Ferriby in the FA Vase Final after clinching their second Northern League championship in the same season, this time the step up to the Unibond League was granted after being denied promotion four years earlier after winning their first title.
A successful start to life in the Unibond, winning the First Division at the first attempt in 1997-98, the club are now established in the Unibond Premier with the club continuing to progress with the opening of an award winning main stand in 2006. This season the team have had a poor first half to the season, culminating in the resignation of manager Lee Nogan in October, with Phil Brumwell and Graham Clarke stepping in to steady the ship until a decision on a new gaffer is made in the New Year.
The Turnbull Ground has a capacity of 3200, the main vocal point is the aforementioned new stand, named The Mileson Stand, winner of Groundtastic magazines ‘Best New Non-League Stand’ in 2006, his has a seating capacity of 505 blue flip seats with the abbreviation WTFC picked out in white, at a cost of £370,000 it’s money well spent, as the spectators view is first class. The stand is made more attractive with floodlights perched on top of the cantilever roof, there is also a club shop and the toilets accommodated underneath, the changing rooms are in a separate building as well as refreshment bar and hospitality all on the near side of the stadium.
The far side has a covered terrace with three rows of seats at the front sitting in between the two dugouts, behind each goal there’s open hard standing and the ground has the chunky style floodlight pylons which makes the ground easy to spot from the seafront.
An 11am departure from a rain swept Gateshead with a 12.45 arrival at a ‘spitting’ Whitby, gave plenty of time to blow of the cobwebs and take an opportunity to get some traditional Whitby fare of fish and chips, which acted as good blotting paper to absorb the previous night/mornings booze. Having not been to Whitby for a number of years, I took the chance to have a look around and was amazed that the town was so busy with shops and restaurants open as if it was a normal week day. I made my way to the grounds clubhouse at around 2’o clock and had a few pints of Yorkshires finest; Tetley Bitter before kick off.
The pitch as you would expect was a bit of a mud bath, but full credit to both sides for providing an entertaining game, an even first half saw a Thompson header for the hosts hitting the crossbar and The Tynesiders taking the lead by the break courtesy of a Phil Cave penalty on the half hour. The second half saw The Seasiders cope better with the heavy conditions, choosing to pick out the long ball instead of trying to play short passes like their visitors; it was this tactic that produced the equaliser, scored by Andrew Thompson, running in between the Heed defence before rounding the keeper and finishing well. David Southern had a great chance to restore Gateshead’s lead after beating the offside trap but saw his shot go agonisingly wide before a winning goal from Danny Brunskill, who kept up his good record of scoring against the Heed with a well hit left foot shot from a wide angle, eluding keeper Keen and finding the corner of the net on 75 minutes, to give Whitby the much needed 3 points but disappointing for Gateshead in their pursuit of the promotion play-offs.
If you haven’t already visited the Turnbull Ground, Whitby is a ‘must do’ not just for the fact that the ground is a good venue, but the town itself is a great place to visit, however I’d recommend you try in August or April and make a full day of it, oh and don’t forget the fish and chips…top quality!

The coach trip to Whitby was completely free, thanks to Gateshead Chairman Graham Wood and the club who laid on the transport as a “thank you” for the teams fine support from the Heed Army so far this season, I’d personally like to thank Mr Wood for showing his appreciation to the supporters, a fine gesture and hopefully your own support and faith will be rewarded on the field at the end of the season.
LINKS-
Whitby match report

Ground no.156 Turnbull Ground – Matchday Web Album(19 pictures)