If I were asked to nominate the one thing that makes me most
angry about the conduct of our support, I would opt for the blanket negativity
towards any player who doesn’t play like Messi every game. Without even
touching on the opprobrium visited on Yoan Gouffran from the corridor of hate,
the contempt that Sissoko suffers among a gaudy sun-hatted section of our
self-appointed “super fans” is caused by his inability to replicate his explosive
debut performances against Villa and Chelsea in every game, while the abuse
endured by Sami Ameobi and Paul Dummett, is simply unacceptable and yet another
reason why I opt to watch their respective brothers Tomi and Marc turning out
for Whitley Bay and West Allotment Celtic. Frankly, there’s a greater chance of
me seeing Samuel Perez at Croft Park than his hermano Ayoze at SJP. It isn’t a new phenomenon to see the siblings
of pro players plying their trade in the grassroots game; for example, the recently
deceased Ronnie Beardsley had a distinguished career in the Northern Alliance,
as did the penalty box predator, Callum Colback, who top scored at Percy Main
Amateurs in the 2009/2010 season.
Having joined the Percy Main committee in July 2009, I was a
zealous convert, regularly proselytising one of the finest non-league clubs in
the region to all who’d listen, as The Villagers successfully gained promotion
to the Northern Alliance Premier division and won the Pin Point Recruitment
Combination Cup in my first season on board. These wonderful successes were
helped along in no small measure by the goals of our top scorer Callum Colback,
who’d arrived from Whitley Bay, by way of his hometown club Killingworth YPC. Those
who know about Northern Alliance football in the first decade of the 21st
century will tell you that while Ponteland United’s Harry Tulip was the best
target man in the league, the most intelligent, incisive and lethal finisher
was Callum Colback. Scoring goals was both instinctive and effortless for the
lad and his signing was the first, major hint that Jason Ritchie was assembling
a squad at Purvis Park that was likely to gain promotion.
It would be almost impossible to place a defined start point
and finishing line on my journey of disenchantment with professional football,
though the nearest I can find to a eureka
moment to prove I’d breasted an imaginary tape would have been around 4.45
on Saturday 5th February 2011. That was the day when Newcastle
United recovered from 4-0 down at half time to Arsenal to claim a point in the
supposed greatest comeback in Premier league history. More importantly, Tony
Browell’s goal saw Percy Main Amateurs through to the final of the
Northumberland FA Senior Benevolent Bowl after a 1-0 victory over Ponteland
United at a packed Purvis Park. In the bar post match, as we watched events
unfold at SJP on Final Score with mild interest, a mate of mine, paying his first
visit to Purvis Park since our promotion noticed the absence of Callum from
that day’s team and asked “who does Colback’s brother play for now?” My reply
was “the Mackems.” I wasn’t trying to be funny or disingenuous. This response
simply demonstrated my process of disengagement from the professional game was
complete.
To be honest, I do love the Northern Alliance; it is the
quintessential Geordie league as the 45 constituent clubs, apart from half a
dozen up in Northumberland, are from the greater Tyneside area. Games kick off
at 2.00 or 2.30, so getting into the bar at full time coincides with the
business part of Saturday afternoon, as the scores start to come in. While a
load of lads are concerned about their bets coming up, almost without
exception, the players, officials and spectators involved in the 3 divisions
follow Newcastle United. Any NUFC goal is loudly cheered and a win celebrated almost
as much as their own side’s successes. It isn’t like that in the Northern
League, for several reasons; geography, but also money. At that elevated level,
players get paid, while in the Alliance, lads do it for a love of the game. That
means sometimes they have to miss a game to work overtime or because of their
shifts. However Callum, having done his A Levels at Tynemouth College, had a
good job with regular hours and was always available to play, if we ignore the
small matter of the 3 game ban imposed after a red card for foul and abusive
language in a 3-0 away over Amble in the quarter final of the Minor Cup.
Callum made his debut for the Main with a praiseworthy shift
in a 2-0 victory over Hebburn Reyrolle on 15th August 2009, grabbing
the opening goal and Man of the Match award. This game put down a marker for the
standard of performance he would turn in on a regular basis throughout a season
that was a personal triumph for him, during which he scored 21 goals from 26
appearances. The best of these was a free kick in the dying minutes of a home
game against Wallington at the end of August. With the light fading, he placed
the ball on the top left hand angle of the box, ran up and laced an unstoppable
shot into the roof of the net, sealing a 2-0 home win. A magical moment. The
only other league game Callum missed was a comfortable 2-0 home win over
Northbank Carlisle on 26th September, on account of the fact he’d
gone to watch his brother play. At that time, Jack was on loan to Ipswich Town
and the game, beamed live on BBC on Saturday team time, acted as a kind of
final memorial for Sir Bobby Robson. Ipswich were managed at the time by an
increasingly bizarre and unpredictable Roy Keane who, seeking to find a fresh
challenge after his stint with the Mackems went down the pan, was rendered
speechless as Newcastle ran out 4-0 winners. As devoted black and whites, the
whole Colback family would have been delighted at the score, if sympathetic to
Jack’s feelings. To be honest, Callum didn’t talk much about his brother, or
the professional game in general. Indeed on Easter Monday 2010, as I sat in the
Milburn Paddock enjoying our promotion party over Sheffield United, Callum
texted me to say I’d made a mistake in my match report for Percy Main’s 4-4
versus Peterlee the previous Saturday, by failing to attribute the first goal
to him.
Callum’s last game for Percy Main, and indeed final
competitive Saturday fixture, was on May 29th 2010 against Hebburn
Reyrolle, the same opponents as his debut. Fresh off the plane from a foreign
holiday with his brother, he played in a 1-0 victory in the Combination Cup
Final. The week later we had our end of season do, which coincided with his
engagement party. With impending nuptials and parenthood on the horizon, Callum
made a brief visit to our do, but only long enough to collect his Goal of the
Season trophy and announce his immediate retirement, explaining he had sensibly
decided to put his family ahead of his playing career, though he still turns
out now for Burradon on a Sunday morning and is banging in the goals by all
accounts. Callum Colback was a truly great finisher in the Northern Alliance
and I’ll remember his contribution to that special season with enormous
fondness. I’d love to think his brother, who I rate very highly on the basis of
his entire career, can provide equally happy memories in the future.
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