My Matchday - Federation Park

Newcastle Benfield Bay Plastics 1v0 Sunderland Nissan

Arngrove Northern League Cup Final

May 7th 2007

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(Revisiting Ground no.88 -1st visit Dunston Fed 1v3 Newcastle United XI,9th September 2002,Friendly)

I’ve been meaning to revisit Federation Park and do a feature on the home of ‘The Fed’ all season, so with the club playing hosts to this seasons Northern League Cup Final it was the ideal opportunity to see how the ground has developed since my last visit,and to see the battle for silverware in a classic Tyne v Wear clash as Newcastle Benfield Bay Plastics faced Sunderland Nissan.
Dunston Federation Brewery Football Club have played at Federation Park since 1986 after the club acquired the land from Gateshead Council and approaching the neighbouring local brewery to back the club with sponsorship and help with the clubs growth,they willingly agreed and renaming the club and ground after the brewery that gave us such beverage delights as LCL Pils Lager and the hangover phenomenon which is ‘Fed Special’
The clubs humble beginnings began back in 1975 when a group of workers at a factory on the Team Valley Trading Estate formed a football team and played in the Newcastle City Amateur League,after a good start the club set up base at the Bay Horse pub in Whickham under the title of Whickham Sports FC playing in the Northern Amateur League on a public park in Dunston,the club then decided to move closer to their pitch and set up new headquarters at the Mechanics Club in Dunston,so changing their name to Dunston Mechanics FC,joining the Northern Combination League in 1982.
With the new ground and the backing of the brewery behind them the club made rapid progress,winning the league and cup double in their first season and taking the step up into the Wearside League,where they enjoyed four successful seasons becoming champions twice along with winning the League Cup.
In the 1991-92 season the club took the next step up the football pyramid when they joined the Northern League Second Division,winning promotion in only their second season along with a quarter final appearance in the FA Vase.The Fed established themselves as one of the top clubs in the ANL and this came to a pinnacle in the 2003-04 season when the club won it’s first League title and cup double,and better still the same feat was also achieved by the Fed the following season.
Dunston is in the west end of Gateshead next to the world famous Metrocentre,Federation Park lies in between the residential and industrial parts of Dunston,access is gained via two entrances in the corners behind both goals,the main entrance has the clubhouse,changing rooms and ‘The Kabin’snack bar,where there is also a picnic type seating area,behind the opposite goal is an open standing area which has a lawn which spectators can use to have a lie down and watch the game at their leisure.
When I last visited the Fed the ‘Paul Gascoigne Stand’wasn’t built.this is a neat little stand which has a mixture of 120 brown bench and flip red seats,it also houses the PA System,Gazza is of course a famous son of Dunston and the club was proud to name their main stand after him,I always thought that the Geordie football genius had put his hand in his pocket and financed this stand,but when I enquired if this was the case I was surprised to find out he didn’t put a penny towards it,so Gazza still owes the club big time.
Adjacent to the main stand is ‘The Shed’ which mirrors in it’s appearance,but this is a standing terrace which has the dugouts in front of it and is a popular viewing area for Fed fans.
The pitch was in immaculate condition and worthy to host a cup final,Benfield were appearing in the League Cup final for the first time and the majority of the crowd (about 99.95%) were either supporters or lending their support to the team in all Blue,their opponents Nissan were coming off the back of the dissapointment of losing out on the league title on the last day of the season,they only needed a home win over Billingham Synners but lost 2-1,hence handing the title to Whitley Bay,so a win in the League Cup would be some consolation to what’s been a very good season for them.
The match was a tense encounter with Benfield showing the initiative early on with a couple of good chances,but as the game went on it was the defences that came out on top and the possibility of a stalemate and extra time loomed (which was no good to me as I had a date with Spiderman3 at the Metrocentre Odeon with the breadknife and kids at 3.15) it took the one piece of class in the game to clinch it as Benfield captain Alu Bangura struck a sweet free kick from the edge of the box to clinch the cup for the Tyneside club,on the final whistle the Benfield players celebrated as if they won the FA Cup,many congratulations to them on winning their first piece of silverware.

LINKS-

Nissan Report?
Previous Winners

My Matchday Pics -123 Welfare Park

Bedlington Terriers 0v2 Nissan Sunderland
Arngrove Northern League 1st Division
30th December 2006
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My last match of 2006 turned out to be an unplanned but welcome visit to Welfare Park,home of the Bedlington Terriers.
Due to heavy rain the ANL programme was a wash out,and of the seven surviving fixtures their was two grounds I hadn’t been to,the other being Alnwick Town,so I went for the closer option.
Welfare Park is tucked within a housing estate,I struggled to find it and arrived at the ground at 3.05,with the turnstile operator cheekily informing me that "the match had kicked off at 3 O’Clock and the score was still nowts each".
The Terriers have had a long and eventfull history,formed in 1949 the present club played in the Northern Combinations League as Bedlington Mechanics,in the early fifties they changed their name to Colliery Town and then Bedlington Colliery Welfare when they won their first title,before joining the Northern Alliance League in 1955/56.
The clubs history has had many ups and downs,including disbandment and reformation,another name change as Bedlington United,playing in minor leagues and the Tyneside Amateur League, league titles and cup honours in the Northern Alliance,including the “double” in 1966/67,before becoming founder members of the newly formed Northern League 2nd Division in 1984/85,finishing as runners-up and promotion to the 1st Division in their first season.
In 1993 the club found itself at rock bottom and with the prospect of going out of business,they sat bottom of the 2nd Division,with their fixtures suspended for a month,but a rescue package was put together from Bedlington club veteran Billy Ward with the financial help from local businessmen Dave and Keith Perry,gave birth to the “Terriers”
The club went from strength to strength,winning promotion the following season,and progressed with wins in the League Cup and winning the Northumberland Senior Cup beating Morpeth Town 2-0 at St. James Park,the hard work that had seen the club nearly disappearing was rewarded,winning the first of 5 consecutive league titles from 1997/98,sadly the club saviour Mr Ward wasn’t alive to witness the clubs resurrection.
The Terriers current ground at Dr Pit Welfare Ground is Bedlington’s third home,they originally played at West Sleekburn ‘A’ Pit,and after the reformation in 1965 they took up residence at Milnes Park,where they stayed for three seasons before the club move to their current home.
The ground is made up of a main stand with a small seated area called the Jack Carter Stand,the home team dugout is in front of this,the opposite end you have the away team dugout,which gives the away team officials the inconvenience of having to walk across the clarty pitch,the rest of this side of the ground is made up of three sheltered standing areas with five thin floodlight pylons.
Behind each goal is an open standing area,like I mentioned earlier,the ground is hidden away amongst a housing estate,where the residents behind one goal have an exclusive and free view of all Terriers matches,either from the bedroom window or if you fancy a bit of fresh air,a gap in your garden fence,where I saw two young lasses take advantage of this facility.
The players tunnel is in the corner of the ground,next to the clubhouse,beside this there is a built up office,where club officials view the game from,or maybe you could describe it as a poor mans executive box,I know if SKY ever visited Bedlington,it would be ideal for “Old hairy hands” Richard Keys to view to game from along with his studio guest.
Being my first visit to Welfare Park,my only recollections are seeing them on TV,either on the local sports news when they had success in getting to Wembley for the FA Vase or on Match of The Day when they had that fabulous 4-1 win over Colchester in the FA Cup in 1998.But it doesn’t matter what time of the year you view Welfare Park the pitch always looks a mud bath,today was obviously no exception,but I did see a good game of football with league leaders Nissan stretching there lead at the top to eight points,thanks to two second half goals from inform striker Gavin Cogden.
Match reports-
The Home view- http://www.bedlingtonterriersfc.co.uk/
The Away view-http://www.nissanfc.co.uk/fixture/21
I enjoyed my last minute trip to the home of the Terriers,and pleased to see the club survive,after another summer of discontent which almost saw the club extinct,it again needed history to repeat itself in the shape of a local businessman to come to the rescue,on top of all that there was a serious arson attack on the clubhouse,which has just recently been reopened and will provide much needed revenue to the club.
It will be a struggle to starve of relegation this season,but with a dog of a pitch,which can be a great leveller against better sides,and a barking mad loyal support,things aren’t as rough as it seems,and the club maybe will have to take a step back and paw their way back again,as they did in the past. “Woof Woof Terriers”
(sorry about the quality of the pictures,but with the trip being a last minute decision,I forgot my camera and had to use my phone)

Simple Piemans visit last season -

http://pieandmushypeas.blogspot.com/2006/04/bedlington-terriers-1-billingham.html

My Matchday Pics -118 Nissan Sports Complex

Nissan Sunderland 1v2 Dunston Federation Brewery
Arngrove Northern League First Division
11th November 2006



This was the second time in a week that I've seen Nissan in action,following the disapointment of seeing them knock Gateshead out of the Durham Challenge Cup, at the International Stadium on Monday night,I ventured into the outskirts of Makemland to check out one of the most progressive clubs in the ANL.

Nissan Motor Manufacturers UK formed their own football club in 1988 and played their first season in the newly formed Wearside League 2nd Division as Nissan FC.They made there first of two name changes in 1994 adding Washington to their title and won promotion into the Northern League 2nd Division in 2000/01, they then progressed with 6th,5th and then a 2nd place finish and promotion into the 1st Division.

At the beginning of last season came yet another name change,this time adding sunderland to the team name,This was the first time that the town of sunderland's name been used in the last 99 years of the Northern League,so they became Sunderland Nissan or is it Nissan Sunderland? On the cover of the matchday programme it announces "A Warm Welcome to Nissan Sunderland Football Club",but thumbing through the pages they are mentioned as Sunderland Nissan(7 times)Nissan Sunderland(5 times) and Nissan FC(5 times)so what is it? I think I'll just nickname them "Makem Japs" or should that be "Jap Makems"!!! The club nickname is naturally 'The Motormen' so that will have to do.

When I visit a new grounds for these games,I usually spectate it as a neutral and hope to see an entertaining game and of course get some good matchday pics,but this afternoon is different.If you tied me down and tortured me by sticking matches under my fingernails and blasting out a James Blunt CD in my ears I would then confess that my Northern League allegence lies with Dunston Federaton Breweries FC.This is because the club is based in Gateshead and therefore is my local ANL club,as the crow flies about 2-3 miles away from my fortress in Sheriff Hill.

The Nissan Sports Complex has one main stand,with two sides of the ground exposed to the elements with the Sports Complex and changing rooms behind the goal.The best thing about the ground is the Penshaw Lounge,which stays open during matchdays which means on a cold Autumn day like today there's the luxury of staying in the upstairs bar and watching the game from the window,with beer on tap and Sky Sports Soccer Saturday on in the background,i'd describe it as a communal executive box,not bad for £4. So after standing around in the cold for the 1st half I made the wise move of watching the 2nd half with the 'Fed Lads' in the luxury and warmth(my view of the game is the bottom pic on left)

The game was a typical ANL game which involves 'taking no prisoners tackles' and constant abuse towards the referee coming from both tug-outs and both sets of fans.The match seemed to have swung towards the Motormens favour after the dismissal of Leon Scott for a profesional foul around the hour mark,Nissan took advantage of the extra man with a goal from Stephen Halliday and looked to have secured the 3 points.But a late rally from 10 man Fed produced a goal from Graeme Armstrong capitalising on a football howler from the Nissan keeper(which wouldn't look out of place on one of those football funny DVDs which usually come out at Xmas)and an injury time winner from Stephen Preen,or was that Dennis Bergkamp? It looked like him from the bar window and that's without a good drink!

(click on thumbnails for larger images,sorry about the quality of some of the pictures,but my camera was in a funny mood)

Updates

May 2007- In a season where Nissan looked the team most likely to, having been league leaders for a large majority of the season, they were piped to the title by Whitley Bay.
The season went to the wire with the Motormen needing to win their last game of the season at home to Billingham Synthonia to guarantee the title. Billy Town had finished their season the previous evening and were hoping that their two rivals would slip up, Nissan did, beaten 2-1 by the Synners while Bay took the title on goal difference with a 3-1 win at Durham City, so in the end Nissan finished a dissapointing 3rd.
Final ANL Division One table