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Published: September 7th 2014
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We went to Europe. We won the cup twice! The Man in the Middle would have loved it. He could have started the singing. West Auckland went one better than the Trees mind and came back with the “World Cup”, as opposed to the Cup with Big Ears. The first “World Cup”, no less.
West Auckland were aiming for something a little lower today, although the place in the FA Cup Qualifying Round at home to Blyth Spartans was no mean prize. The conditions were ideal for an FA Cup upset. A stiff breeze, a bright sun and a troublesome uneven pitch could aid their cause. Darlington 1883 would arrive as hot favourites, having left the Northern League behind them very swiftly for the giddy heights of EvoStick competition after their administration troubles.
I parked up on the edge of the Village Green. An expansive open space in the centre of the village, that gives West a more attractive feel than most former coal mining communities. The helpful signs – Parking on the Village Green is Prohibited – are presumably designed to keep it that way and prevent passing caravans from settling in. The focal point in the centre
is the statue, depicting West Auckland’s victories in the Thomas Lipton Trophy. A footballer and a coal miner intertwined to demonstrate the link between the two in the community. The first “World Cup” was the brainchild of Sir Thomas Lipton, way before Jules Rimet got the other show on the road in Uruguay. He wished to form a tournament between 4 powers of the new game and envisaged the major clubs of Italy, Switzerland, Germany and England playing off against each other for his trophy. The ever enlightened FA, keen to embrace new ideas, declined to put forward a team for Sir thomas. They snubbed Jules Rimet’s vision too, so it was nothing personal. The The next stages as to how West Auckland came to represent England are shrouded in many theories, but regardless they set off for Italy in 1909 to uphold the pride of the nation. Stuttgart Sportfruende were brushed aside in the semis and Wintherthur dispatched 2-0 in Final. The trophy made it’s way back to West and did so on a permanent basis after another victory in 1911. This time Basle and the mighty Juventus were soundly beaten. Sir Thomas had decided that any team who
won the trophy twice could retain it and so it made it’s home at various locations in the village before it was stolen in 2004. The replica now sits in the Working Mens Club, although time restricted a foray to check it out.
The available parking filled up, as the cars of Darlo arrived. The Police were on hand to ensure all went well, but seemed to have nothing to trouble them other than a few kids intent on climbing the wall to get in for free. The admission prices were set by the FA, so it was a mere £6 (and £3 for concessions). The healthy crowd headed down the narrow lane to the Seagraves - purveyors of local pallets – Stadium. There was an efficiency at the turnstiles with clear direction for those who had pre-purchased to avoid possible congestion on the day – a few big city clubs could do well to emulate the example. The small Main Stand with it’s backless yellow and black seats was packed, but the small covered terrace to side had ample room as the roof wasn’t required in the bright sunshine. A sign read “This is West Auckland”, although it
West Auckland v Darlington 1883
No nonsense ref .......... Rebecca Welch probably didn’t have the same effect on visitors as at Anfield. The exploits of West Auckland in the Sir Tomas Lipton Trophy and the FA Vase were painted on either side of the back wall of the stand. Three flags were fixed to the mesh fencing behind the goal proclaiming West Auckland – World Cup Winners. I bought a programme for £1 – a rare event these days and obtained a pin badge from the Club Bar. It was doing a healthy trade and some were clearly intent on staying inside for the duration of the game.
The official crowd was 1238, with well over a 1000 supporting Darlo. It is a road well-travelled for the, as they still play home games at nearby Bish. I wandered round the open sides, which long with everywhere else was dominated by Darlington fans. I chuckled at the advertising boards – Franks Flooring – “I love carpets me! – one of iconic adverts from the old Radio Tees that still sticks in your mind. The West Auckland leisure tops still maintained the classic logo on the back. There was a misguided impression that West would fail to live with their higher ranked
visitors, but a neat turn and shot into the bottom corner by Dennis Knight saw West take an early lead. The Darlo coaching staff berated their defenders. The new management team at West Auckland – Anth Smith and David Rush – remained somewhat calmer and encouraged the players to simply get on with the game plan. Knight remained a thorn in Darlo's side all afternoon - irritating in the mould of Dennis Wise - and certainly succeeded in getting the Darlo management team to lose their cool at one point of teh 2nd half.
The remainder of the 1
st half saw a series of missed opportunities, woodwork interventions and an accomplished goal line clearance to allow the score to remain 1-0. Darlo clearly got a good talking to at half time, which saw them dominate the early stages of the 2
nd half and snatch a well taken equaliser. There was another misguided impression that West would fall about at this point, but by the final whistle the home team could probably feel a little unfortunate not to have grabbed a winner regardless of whatever the Darlington based press reporter might have subsequently printed.
The 1-1 final score meant
another pay day for the good people of West Auckland, which would be an extremely convenient hop to Heritage Park, Bish for their fans on a Wednesday night.
Appendix 1 FA Cup Preliminary Round Saturday 30 August 2014 Seagraves Stadium, West Auckland Attendance: 1238 West Auckland: Lowson; Pattinson, Wilkinson, Hall, Galpin; Vipond, Francis, Knight (Byrne 85); Briggs (Gibson 90); Richardson, Ward. Subs (not used): Ayers, Garthwaite
Darlington: Jameson; Brown, White, Hunter, Galbraith; Scott, Portas, A Mitchell; Dowson (Fisher 65), Armstrong (Hatch 65), Thompson. Subs: Bell (gk), Robinson, Reed, Purewal
Goals: Knight (10, 1-0); A Mitchell (49, 1-1)
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