Hebburn Reyrolle F.C.
As a result of my club Heaton Stannington’s retention of the
Northern Alliance Premier Division title, the club has been promoted to
Northern League Division 2, which when combined with the usual resignations and
renamings that go on each close season, means that the Alliance has accepted 5
new teams for 2013/2014. Alongside Newbiggin and West Allotment Reserves, other
new faces include the returning Chopwell, a Gateshead Leam Rangers side that
will be of a supposed parallel standard to their Wearside League outfit and
Whitburn Athletic (the one near Souter Point, not the one halfway between
Glasgow and Edinburgh).
While in the past there have been such seemingly anomalous
members of the Alliance such as the East
Durham trio Peterlee Newtown, Murton
and Easington Colliery, these latter 3 neophytic outfits s that are joining
Swalwell in Division 2, alongside Birtley St. Joseph’s and Gateshead Redheugh
1957 in Division 1, will combine with Gateshead Rutherford and Hebburn Reyrolle
in creating the largest presence of clubs in the South Tyneside and Gateshead
area in recent memory. However, it must
be acknowledged that both Rutherford and Reyrolle hung on to their Premier
Division status in somewhat fortuitous circumstances; finishing well adrift
from the rest in the bottom two places, the duo were spared the ignominy of
relegation because of the resignations of both Amble united and Harraby
Catholic Club.
Hebburn Reyrolle are a club with a proud history as they
were formed as long ago as 1923, originally going under the name of Reyrolle
Staff F.C. The club played their football mainly in the North East Amateur
League until they were accepted in to the Northern Football Alliance in 1992,
where the 3 three seasons have been of particular interest.
Having won the 2010 Stan Seymour League Cup Final by
defeating Heddon 3-1, but losing to Percy Main in the same season’s Combination
Cup Final, Reyrolle set the bar even higher during the 2010/11 season, when
they completed a historic treble under the management of Mark Collingwood and
his assistant Simon Johnson as they won the Division One Title, The Combination
Cup and The Durham County Trophy. In 2011/2012, they retained the Durham Trophy
when they defeated Coundon & Leaholme after extra time. Were it not for a crucial home defeat by Percy
Main on May Day 2012, Reyrolle could well have pipped Heaton Stannington to the
Premier Division title; such glory seemed far away during the campaign just
ended.
In fairness, 2012/2013’s disastrous season for Reyrolle did
include some excellent results, including thrashing Percy Main Amateurs 4-1,
and it was a campaign made exceedingly difficult by the decampment of manager
Mark Collingwood and many of his players to Seaham Red Star. It is indeed a
tribute to Reyrolle that they showed such stoicism in the face of adversity and
made it through to the end of the season, from which time they’ve managed to
regroup. This season will see the club under the stewardship of newly installed
manager Aiden Finnigan, who is the father of former Newcastle
United reserve and current striker for Dundee Carl Finnigan and hopes are high of a Reyrolle renaissance.
Free Ticket Mag
I have a real
problem with individual sports; the arrogance, monomania and narcissism of the
preening solo superstar, whether they are Tom Daley, Jensen Button or Chris
Hoy, both grates and nauseates. Highest on my list of sporting hates is
anything involving motorised vehicles, horses or above all, for ideological
reasons, golf. Back in the good old days pre Glasnost and Perestroika,
those countries lucky enough to be part of the Warsaw Pact banned the existence
of golf courses on account of the shameful waste of good farming land
occasioned by the maintenance of greens and fairways; a decision I was in total
agreement with. Even worse than individual sports are the shameful ways those
gaggles of rampant egotists are herded together by some fake collectivist
ideal; Team GB, the Ryder Cup and, least convincingly, the Davis Cup doubles. The
individual sportsman loves only himself and his bank account; not his team.
However, please
allow me to be a hypocrite; despite a trip to a gloriously sun-drenched Jesmond
for day 1 of Northumberland (461-9 dec) v Bedfordshire (97-2) preventing me
from watching Andy Murray’s triumph at Wimbledon (or Wmbldn as Harry Carpenter
insisted on calling it), I welcome his victory, solely because he is a supporter
of Scotland’s greatest football team; Hibernian. For that we can forgive him
anything, though I’m still struggling to forgive Hibs for losing 3-0 in the
Scotch Cup Final to Celtic at the end of May. I attended this game, my debut
appearance at the wonderful Hampden Park, and enjoyed myself despite the score.
That said, I would struggle to say the game offered value for money at a cost
of £35 for a ticket. Indeed, I came away from Mount Florida firmly resolved
that I would do all I could to ensure I will not pay a penny piece to watch a
game of football in 2013/2014. Hence you’ll excuse me for not attending this
tournament.
Last season I
attended 14 Newcastle games; all the Sunday Premier League games and the Europa
League home games, only enjoying 2 of them; Bordeaux and Southampton. This cost
me around £300. While I managed to watch Northern Alliance games with my former
club Percy Main Amateurs without having to pay to view, those in the Northern
League cost between £4 and £6 per match; it adds up after 60 games a season.
Thankfully, following my big money transfer to Heaton Stannington, I will be
able to watch The Stan’s games for nothing, and I fully intend to see every
competitive game we play, but my other attendances may be limited. So far I’ve
taken in Whickham 7 Benfield 0 and Chemfica 1 Whickham 1; both free to watch,
both very enjoyable and both pointing the way forward in these straitened
economic times.
*S.T.I. = South Tyneside Invective
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