The Three Johns

Saturday 4th October; nostalgia... Over 40s away to Fiddlers Three at Heworth School, trip to lay flowers on Grandparents' grave in the cemetery and then Jarrow Roofing v Benfield, with their front pairing of Ex Benfield John Campbell and Ex Heaton Stan Jon Jon Wright. Well, that was the idea... Over 40s lost 3-1 after being 1-0 up with 15 to go and I was sub unused... The shop opposite The Swan at Heworth is now a shop, so no flowers... Jon Jon has gone back to the Stan and Benfield lost 1-0; meh... However, I did pen this article for the brilliant Jarrow Roofing programme, which had to be edited because of Jon Jon's transfer; so here's the uncut version, for posterity's sake...

As the UK economy continues to buckle under the death agonies of capitalism, the effects of the longest recession since the 1930s bite even the more privileged sections of society. The offspring of their white collar and professional classes find their degrees in the Sociology of the Mass Media from Doncaster Institute of Higher Education to be of less value than a book of Green Shield Stamps and so are forced to take mindless jobs in the 21^st century equivalent of workhouses; the Call Centre. Those who fight shy of the mind forged manacles of a desk in such dark satanic mills are forced to amble languidly across the globe, taking temporary jobs behind bars that they are temperamentally and linguistically ill-suited for. Such anti career choices are laughably known as a Gap Year, which is a concept that can be applied to non-league football.

Since their arrival in the Northern League in 2003, Newcastle Benfield have been my Northern League team. For six years, I watched them in conjunction with Newcastle United, where I held a season ticket from 1988 until 2009. Fairly obviously, the last half decade of attendance at SJP brought no pleasure whatsoever, unlike visits to Sam Smiths, or even trips to away games following the Walkergate Brazilians, as I styled them. I was at Dunston Fed on May Day 2007 to see an Alu Bangura goal win the Northern League Cup against Nissan. I travelled to Penrith in May 2009 to see Stephen Young’s late winner bring the Northern League title to Benfield, in the last game to be played at Southend Road and I saw the finest ever goalkeeping performance at this level by Andrew Grainger, also against Penrith, as the double was secured with a League Cup win over Penrith a fortnight after the league game. Benfield were my team and I was delighted to call myself a fan.

Then, suddenly, I hardly saw them for the next 4 years. In summer 2009 I accepted the offer of a place on the committee with Percy Main Amateurs in the Northern Alliance and thoroughly enjoyed my time with them, publishing a book about the 2009/2010 season, Village Voice. Despite my skillset being completely at variance to what was required at Purvis Park (I’m completely impractical, but good with words, when the Villagers needed someone to help keep the ground in good working order), I was happy enough to stay with PMA. 

However, things change and it is often time to move on, though I truly feel I’ve reached the end of my spiritual journey and my non-league wanderings are at a close. It is time to put down roots and I don’t intend to leave Benfield ever. That said, it’s always nice to catch up on old friends and former players, which is why I’m looking forward to seeing Roofing’s front two of John Campbell and Jon Jon Wright; the Three Johns as I call them, even if nobody else does.

While I never saw John Campbell at Heaton Stannington at all and only briefly and infrequently at Newcastle Benfield, I must say that he scored the best goal I’ve ever seen at Northern League level. A cold and bleak January afternoon in 2011; the 15^th it was, with Newcastle United inactive the day before a trip to Wearside for a 1-1 draw, back in the days when we didn’t lose to them. Percy Main were without a fixture and in search of entertainment, I came back home to endure a forbidding and unforgiving wind from the west that brutalised the hunched and round shouldered gathering of supporters, huddled in front of the clubhouse at Sam Smiths Park, all of whom seemingly querying the wisdom of leaving the comfort of their hearth for a contest such as this. The opposition were Billingham Synthonia, who were to finish 12^th in the league, while Benfield would end up in 4^th spot and win the League Cup against Spennymoor, courtesy of another incredible performance by Andrew Grainger.

That was the future; the reality was an attendance of 40, the lowest of the season and a third of the club’s average that year, who were warmed by the amazing finishing of that man Campbell. Midway through the first half Benfield had a corner on the right, attacking the bowling green end. The ball was headed away back towards the touchline, resulting in a touch and hit cross to near the edge of the area that grazed the head of a defender. Stood unmarked 25 yards out on the left, Campbell reacted instantly; with the ball still 3 feet off the ground, he launched a first time volley with indescribable pace that exploded into the top corner of the net. The proverbial postage stamp finish. I’ve never seen a ball hit that hard and that accurately, with such breathtaking technique, at our level. 

Typically enough, to prove that fairy tales don’t exist in sport the same as all other aspects of life, Synners grabbed a late, undeserved and scrappy equaliser to rob Benfield of 2 points. So what? Nobody seeing Frank Worthington’s goal of the season for Bolton Wanderers considers the fact Ipswich came back from a goal down to win at Burnden Park that day; everyone simply admires the skill involved, which is what I continue to do.

In contrast to my infrequent sightings of John Campbell, I saw 40 of Jonathan Wright’s goals for Heaton Stannington last season; some (many!) of them were spectacular, such as his hat trick against West Allotment, or stunning late winners against Whickham and Tow Law, but none matched Campbell’s amazing finish. Yet Jon Jon still has a record in my eyes, as he notched the best goal I’ve ever seen in the Northern Alliance, for Heaton Stannington, against Percy Main. March 2012, a month that ended gloriously with Newcastle toying with Liverpool in a 2-0 victory that saw Andy Carroll dragged off and Jose Enrique humiliated in goal, was unseasonably warm and dry; on St Patrick’s Day, the Villagers travelled to Grounsell Park. The bone dry pitch was bumpy and treacherous; with the Stan heading for the title and Percy Main in lower mid table, the fixture seemed to be a home banker, yet the surface was acting as a leveller.

Jon Jon had already missed an early penalty, awarded for handball, seeing his sidefoot effort roll a yard wide of the goal, with Rob Rodgerson going the wrong way. Just as frustration was creeping into the Stan mindset, Wright intervened with the decisive moment of the game, putting the ball in the net for the only goal. Tony Browell was a stalwart at the back for Percy Main for a decade or more; the rock at the heart of the defence and the very epitome of a club legend. Skilled and confident in the air, he rose to forcefully nod away a hopeful punt forwards from almost on the D. The ball went 30 yards forward and, just past the centre circle, the advancing Jon Jon honed in on the ball. Without allowing it to drop, he unleashed a venomous, low volley that reminded me of Shearer’s incredible finish against Everton back in 2002. Needless to say, Rodgerson was left immobile by the precision of a strike that Jon Jon has said is his favourite ever goal. As I say, it is the best I’ve ever seen in the Alliance.

So, here’s to John Campbell and Jon Jon Wright; two brilliant strikers who I fervently hope draw a blank today. Nothing personal lads, it’s just Benfield’s interests I have to put first.