The People's Game

 AFC Newbiggin Central 3 Blaydon Community 5 saw me complete my Northern Alliance set. Until the club inexplicably moves grounds that is...

While I’m very pleased that Percy Main Amateurs are the side I’ll watch the most this season, it doesn’t automatically follow that I’ll take in all their away games. For instance, on Saturday 23 October they were away to Newcastle Blue Star. As everyone with a keen eye on local football knows, the resurgent Scotswood-based outfit don’t need much in the way of support or publicity, so I decided to give this one a swerve. The subsequent 4-0 win for the home side was probably one of the least surprising results of the weekend, so I felt vindicated in keeping away.

My choice of game was dictated by the need to complete the Northern Alliance, as it is currently constituted. While Ponteland are due to move into their new home soon, and other teams may move at the drop of a hat, as it stood on that Saturday morning, the only ground I’d yet to visit was Ashington’s People’s Park; the current home of AFC Newbiggin (formerly based at Newbiggin Sports Centre) and AFC Newbiggin Central (previously at Newbiggin Welfare). The fixtures had Newbiggin Central at home to Blaydon Community and so a trip on the X22 was in order.

I headed off around noon, took the Metro to town, picked up the new Roddy Doyle from Waterstone’s and caught the 12.50 bus that dropped me off an hour later, after a totally forgettable trip on a near deserted double decker, on Park Road. One regular problem on adventures like these is the frequent inaccessibility of hot drink vendors; hence, I get a coffee where I can, sometimes benefitting from the growing number of shops that have basic barista facilities. Just by the bus stop, I spied Park Stores, with a sign proudly boasting that it is “open 7 days a week;” we’re out in the sticks remember. Could they have a Costa machine? I intended to find out. However, my progress stalled when I realised I’d lost my wallet. Frantic searches of every pocket confirmed the bad news. It must have fallen from my unzipped coat pocket during the journey.

My immediate thought was to call Arriva and get them to radio the driver to secure my property.  After frantic googling, it became clear that, unlike Park Stores, Arriva customer support was only open 5 days a week. Not only that, lost property reporting protocols required you to fill out an extensively detailed on-line pro forma, or send an email. I wasn’t really in any frame of mind to do that. In terms of this customer’s experience, things could not have been any less convenient, so it was no surprise that the phone number for Ashington Bus Station was shrouded in secrecy. In short, I was stranded about 30 miles, as the bus flies, from home, with about ten bob’s worth of slingy in my pocket, facing the prospect of a highly expensive Uber home and a Saturday evening on hold to a myriad collection of call centres, attempting to cancel my cards. Having lost both my Instagram and Twitter (@PayasoDeMiera2) accounts to hackers in the previous fortnight, the digital world was no longer a place I wished to inhabit.

In American football, a Hail Mary is a very long forward pass, typically made in desperation, with an exceptionally small chance of achieving a completion. Due to the difficulty involved, it references a prayer for divine intervention. Now, as an atheist there was no way I was going to issue imprecations to celestial entities, but I did detect that fleeting sensation of hope when I saw the X22 returning from Ashington bus station to the Haymarket. I thrust out my hand and the bus stopped. This was my last chance.

The same driver who’d borne my northwards peered quizzically at me; “The game can’t have been that bad surely?” he inquired, only for me to respond with a garbled account of my misfortune. He invited me on board; luckily, the upper deck was as deserted as it had been earlier. Incredibly, my wallet sat where I’d sat. Third from the back on the passenger side. It was untouched, amazingly. As I went to alight I offered the driver a £5 for his help, but he waved it away telling me not to be daft, though encouraging me to be more careful in future. Indeed, I will and I’m sure it is time to break the old thermos flask out of hibernation as the Park Stores coffee machine was out of order, so a big bottle of water it was, which I slugged from then stashed as I made my way across People’s Park to the football pitches. On the farthest of them, a North Northumberland League encounter between Newbiggin Reserves and a side from Berwick, attired in a Partick Thistle kit. This had kicked off at 1.30, so by the time I arrived it was in to first half injury time. I caught a few minutes, but not enough to form an opinion on the standard of play. Despite being an open public park, bedevilled by ignorant dog walkers allowing their beasts to shit everywhere and at risk of damage caused by motocross morons on trails bikes, the playing surface of both pitches looked pretty good; well grassed, flat and drained. Really, it’s better than almost anything I got to play on in my career, though I must admit I was crap.

So preoccupied had I been with the saga of my wallet that I’d failed to notice a DM to my @GloveLitZine Twitter account, from Newbiggin Central, asking if I’d be blogging about my visit. Thankfully, the fella who’d sent it to me, Ben, a sociable and informed bloke, soon made contact and we watched the first half together. It turns out that Newbiggin Sports Centre is having a complete overhaul; re-laid pitches, small sided 4G courts and, crucially, a protective fence round the whole development. That should be enough to keep the localised plague of horses out, unless they are proper show jumping equines of course.

As far as this game was concerned, having seen Newbiggin butcher Morpeth Town Reserves last year about this time, and Blaydon edge past Gosforth Bohemian Reserves in a truly awful contest at the end of April, I was convinced I’d see a comprehensive home win. I wouldn’t say I was amazed, but I was highly impressed by the massive improvements shown by Blaydon. Newbiggin Central were of a similar standard today, as they were last year, but they came up against a rejuvenated outfit that showed, yet again, that the quality of football played in the Alliance third division is often far better than in the divisions above. The curse, as ever, is teams folding, meaning limited outfits avoid relegation and others unprepared for higher standards are unjustly promoted. Meanwhile, new and vibrant teams come in at the bottom rung and demonstrate the ability to play neat possession football, mainly on the deck, with young lads new to the senior game showing an array of tricks and skills quite out of place in their surroundings.

And so it was today; I saw the best Alliance Division 3 game ever. Blaydon started off like a team possessed and took the lead from a superb volley on the turn within 5 minutes. Newbiggin were not fazed and drew level soon after from their first dangerous attack. Until half time, things were nip and tuck as the sides played good football, but failed to take their chances. I had a quick chat with ref Barry Sweeney at the break, who was thoroughly enjoying the contest, which is always the sign of a quality game.

Things went off the scale in the second period. Within 5 minutes of the restart, it was 2-3. Blaydon took the lead with a neat finish into the bottom corner, then doubled it a minute later when an isolated away player tapped in after a header hit the bar with the home defence absent without leave. Newbiggin roared back with a venomous finish that showed how much pent up aggression was coursing through their red and black shirts.  Despite renewed and redoubled efforts, it was Blaydon who restored their 2 goal advantage on the hour with the goal of the game. A short corner routine saw an attacker bear down on goal and finish intelligently from a tight angle. Soon after, the big bottle of Evian began to make its presence felt and I took off for the cubicle bogs outside the adjacent Covid testing centre, missing Newbiggin’s third goal. Again they plugged away, but couldn’t get level. Instead, Blaydon wrapped up the scoring after 83 minutes with a very soft penalty, making the final score 3-5.

As I caught the bus, I could see Newbiggin players taking down the nets and collecting the corner flags. This was a fitting conclusion to pair of proper community teams providing 90 minutes of top drawer entertainment. I saw my first ever Alliance game in August 1998, when Heaton Stan beat Berwick Highfields 2-0. I was immediately impressed by the skill, passion and sense of community the league showed back then and it is still the same now. Other than my trips to Scotland, I really can’t see me watching football at any other level any time soon.

P.S. Just to update things, Blaydon lost 6-1 at Walker Central in their next game, while Newbiggin were without a game because the referee cried off. What I love about football is how predictable it is...