Best League in the World

The 2015/2016 football season begins on Saturday, July 4^th, with the first of the pre-season friendlies. Benfield are playing Broomhill Sports up in Glasgow at Maryhill’s ground, where I’ve already been. I’m not going, though the main reason preventing my attendance is Ben’s imminent departure on a month long inter rail jaunt on Sunday 5^th. As a result, not only am I unsure what game to watch next weekend but, at this stage, what sport to attend, which is the point of this blog. Remember, there’s more to football than Newcastle United and there’s more to sport than just football. As the last game I saw during 2014/2015 was on June 6^th, when I was pleased to be present near Glenrothes in Fife when Thornton Hibs clinched the McBookie North Division title with a 4-0 win over Lochee Harp in the East Region Scottish Juniors, it hasn’t exactly been the longest of close seasons. Consider this; from July 5^th 2014 to June 6^th 2015, I saw a game of football on 49 consecutive Saturdays, though to be strictly accurate two of those saw deviations from a diet of association football; July 26^th was the 4A All Ireland qualifiers in Tullamore and May 30^th was Magic Weekend at SJP. Semantics aside, it’s a pretty astonishing statistic and testament to my monomaniacal obsession with utilising Saturdays properly.

So, what have I done with these last few spare Saturdays in June? Well last year I wrote about how glad I was to have discovered the joys of watching Northumberland play Minor Counties cricket. The £30 annual membership fee is an absolute steal and I’m delighted to say I’ve seen Stuart Tiffin’s team, captained again by Jacques Du Toit with Benfield player Chris Youlden behind the timbers and 7 or 8 Durham Academy players gaining valuable experience of the long form game, reach the semi-finals of the Unicorns knock out trophy at home to Norfolk on July 26^th after crushing home wins over Lincolnshire at Swalwell and Cumberland at Jesmond. County Club is a ground I’ve written about before, but it was a new experience visiting Swalwell. My parents used to live next to where the old Swalwell Cricket Club was, but that land was sold for a couple of estates of large new builds (sample street name; The Covers) and the developers laid out replacement football and cricket clubs out along the road to Rowlands Gill. The football club I’d been to before; perennial strugglers at the foot of Alliance Division 2, but with a great set up. The turn off before that ground is the new cricket club. Scenic, sympathetic to the landscape and blessed with a top notch pavilion, it’s a great spot. Mind the day was so windy I saw a sight screen blow over.

Unfortunately, Northumberland’s fortunes in the 3 day game remain at rock bottom; Lincolnshire gained revenge at Sleaford and Cumberland did the same at South North. I attended the first and last days of the Cumberland game, suffering sunstroke on both occasions, leading me to my first ever purchase of sun block at the age of almost 51. The defeat to Cumberland was a heroic one; with Adam Craggs absent hurt, the final wicket pairing of Michael Allan and Connor Harvey repelled the Cumbrians for over 2 hours, until Harvey fell to what was scheduled as the penultimate ball of the day. Sometimes a loss, even by 131 runs, can be cruel and unjust.

However, I’ve also discovered the joys of watching club cricket, mainly in the North East Premier League, and I can state conclusively that I am falling in love with this competition in the way I fell in love with the Northern League and north east grassroots football in general well over 20 years ago now. If Harry Pearson’s wonderful book The Far Corner expressed what I’d already found out for myself about the Northern League, then it will seem as if the circle has been squared when Harry lends me Jack Chapman’s definitive book about the history of north east club cricket, Cream Teas and Nutty Slack. Who is Jack Chapman? He’s a Sunderland fan, but that’s irrelevant. He’s Blaydon Cricket Club’s stalwart member, who used to be an English teacher; he taught my pal and local cricket devotee Gary Oliver and Jack’s daughter taught my sister. I also used to be a GCSE English examiner under Jack’s guidance. It’s a small world and a great world and I’m looking to learn more about it.

The first spare Saturday was June 13^th. While there were 2 Scottish Junior finals that day, I’d been to the grounds hosting them, Pollok and Bathgate, twice each already, so I opted not to head north. I had noticed that Newcastle Thunder were at home to Gloucester All Golds and so that was a fall back plan. However, having taken a skeg at the fixtures on http://nepremierleague.play-cricket.com/ I saw that Tynemouth were hosting Gateshead Fell. Games start at 11.30 and are 65 overs a side and so I got on the bike, cycled the half a mile to the ground and nearly passed out when I discovered Graham Onions was playing for bottom of the table Gateshead Fell. As could be expected, Onions was lethal at this level, taking 4/15 from 10.5 overs as Tynemouth were dismissed for 181 in 51.5 overs. Sadly, Gateshead Fell aren’t bottom of the table without good reason and they subsided to 59 all out in 24 overs. Literally moments after the players headed off the pitch, there was a massive cloudburst which meant nearly all the other games in the area were abandoned.  If they’d held out for 2 more overs, they’d have claimed a losing draw. Ironically, as the game was over by mid-afternoon, I could have made it to Kingston Park to see Thunder wallop Gloucester 59-6. Instead me and Ginger Dave went on the pop.

We also went on the pop the following Friday, along with Laura and Gary, at the South North beer festival. Last year, Gary and I had watched Northumberland v Hertfordshire on the last day of the 2014 beer festival, when they gave the stuff away after tea to anyone who wanted it. We got well and truly hammered in 2 hours. The same thing happened to Boldon at this festival. While Ginge took Laura to see the sights of Gosforth High Street before the beer festival got underway at 7.30, Gary and I took in the South North innings in the Friday evening 20/20 competition. South North have former Australian test star Marcus North as their professional; this is a little unfair on the opposition I’d suggest. South North amassed 164/3 and their innings closed just as the doors opened.

Beer festivals are now big business; the same night my mate Bill was at the Corbridge Festival at Tynedale Rugby Club, which has about 4,000 visitors. There were probably about 200 at South North, almost all attired in Ralph Lauren polos and Gant shorts, but they’d made the right choice. South North is a fabulous place to watch cricket; superbly maintained and a fascinating blend of old and new architecture.  A great selection of beers, free entry, £5 for 3 tokens and a quid for a souvenir glass, as well as a free, high quality Indian buffet. Despite the insistence on playing snatches of music after each boundary, over and wicket, it was almost the perfect night out, unless you were a Boldon supporter. At one stage they were 14/7, so I suppose they rallied to make 43 all out. As the NEPL has two divisions and clubs were allocated to a 20/20 group from an open draw, there will always be mismatches like this. However, the spectacle wasn’t ruined and I had a bloody good sup.

The day after I had intended to get to Newcastle v Chester Le Street, but the beer at South North slowed my progress and so instead, I opted for a Northumberland Division 1 fixture between Whitley Bay and the Civil Service. Now I have an awful lot of work to do to understand the myriad divisions and leagues in our region, but I do appreciate the fact that Whitley Bay are a good few steps below the NEPL premier Division, playing in Northumberland Division 1. You can tell by the ground; West Park, just down from the football ground and ice rink on Hillheads Road may be a natural 

amphitheatre, but it is completely Spartan compared to leafy NE3 or County Club. There is no fence, no sight screens and nor are there seats, other than a few school chairs for the players, sat in front of the small pavilion, waiting to bat. Players work the scoreboard and take turns to umpire. This is social, recreational cricket; 45 overs a side and a 1.30 start. Civil Service batted first and were 160 all out after 40 overs. In steady drizzle, Whitley began their reply; there was no chance of these going off for rain. The lads, some of whom were older than me, wanted the game played to a conclusion. It may not have been a great standard (one poor fella bowled 5 successive leg side wides), but this was cricket played for the sheer love of the sport. Whitley won by 5 wickets with 10 overs to spare and I was glad to have been present.

Last Friday saw the final group games in the 20/20 competition. One game stood out for me; Felling against South North. Having escaped from Felling aged 19, I’d not seen a game on that ground since about 1974 when a combined XI made up of Newcastle and Sunderland footballers lost to the home team. I’d also not been in the bar since a few 18^th birthday parties at the start of the 80s. I took the metro over to Heworth and walked up; I got there a bit early, so I thought I’d have one in The Ship, but it’s now a supermarket. Oh well, back to the cricket. Both sides wore coloured clothing, but thankfully there was no musical accompaniment this week. There was little to write home about in the home side’s innings, as they made a less than stellar 79/9 from the full complement. South North eased home by 7 wickets with 7 overs to spare, but it was a glorious, sunny evening and the cricket club looked splendid. It was one of the few happy instances I can recall from my infrequent returns to NE10 since I escaped. Felling Cricket Club, unlike so much else in the place I grew up, is vibrant and decorous; I wish them all the luck in the world.

One of the most despicable lies told about cricket by those who know nothing of the game, is that it is a middle class sport; the fact the game not only exists, but flourishes in such solidly proletarian areas as Felling and Benwell Hill proves that cricket transcends all classes. Certainly, it’s cheaper than football as, other than the £30 I paid for my Northumberland membership, I have never been charged entry to any games. I really think they should; even £2 would help boost club coffers, when the average attendance is probably about 100, except at Whitley Bay where I was the only spectator to watch the whole game, though the odd passing dog walker stopped and took in a few overs. 

Unfortunately, the only time I haven’t seen a full game was Benwell Hill versus Newcastle. I took the 38 from High Heaton halfway along the West Road, then strolled down towards the ground on a glorious morning. Like every ground I’d been to, bar Whitley Bay, Benwell Hill was picture postcard beautiful. Newcastle batted beautifully too; Graham Clark scored an elegant 106 and Du Toit chipped in with a quick-fire 44, including 3 enormous sixes, allowing County club to declare on 276/7 after 58 overs. As I was going out for a meal for Ben’s birthday at 6.30, I couldn’t hang around to watch the full reply. I cleared off at tea, with the Hill at 25/1. When I got in the house, I checked Benwell’s twitter feed and was astonished to see they’d subsided to 60 all out. Perhaps Newcastle Cricket club were also going out for a meal?

Well, that’s my account of my delicious experiences watching North East club cricket so far. What I particularly like is that I don’t have a particular allegiance to any one team; I simply enjoy seeing the game in different locations, though I’m not intending to become a cricket ground hopper just yet. Looking ahead, I’m intending to take in Newcastle v Eppleton 20/20 quarter final next Friday and probably Tynemouth v Hetton Lyons on Saturday. Football can wait for once.