There Is A Hetton Le Hole In My Bucket

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There was always a saying I can recall from being a young 'un. "The North East is a hot bed of football". I'm still not sure to this day how you would apply that to Pools, but there you go. It was also said that if Newcastle or Sunderland wanted a new centre forward they just needed to shout down the nearest pit shaft and another one would appear! I find myself on a sunny, mild Good Friday in Hetton le Hole. Summer was surely just round the corner. There were people wearing shorts. It had been a quiet journey up the A19. The media circus that had descended on Castle Eden the day before seemed to have evaporated. I turned off the main road towards Houghton le Spring and Hetton, where the Durham FA Challenge Cup Final was due off at 11.00 am.



Hetton le Hole has long been on the footballing map, although the folks calling down the pit here were from the North West not elsewhere in the North East. A small plaque high up on a Tesco Local on Front Street gives the game away. Bob Paisley. Liverpool Legend. Bob was a promising footballer in his youth for Eppleton School and Sunderland to be fair did take a look, Alas, he was branded too small and was left to progress his options via amateur giants, Bishop Auckland, before being picked up by the red half in Liverpool. After hanging up his boots, he swapped them for a place in the infamous Boot Room and continued Bill Shankly's work to become the Liverpool FC's most successful Manager in history. 9 Seasons as Manager, 3 European Cups, 1 UEFA Cup, 6 League Division 1 Titles, 3 League Cups. The small plaque is just a taster for the rather larger Memorial erected by Liverpool fans in the park just behind the store. The more grand structure pays tribute to Bob - "Man of the People" . The other raiders from the North West who have profited from the village are Burnley. The legendary manager, Harry Potts, who led them to the League Division 1 Title and on into Europe hailed from a few doors away from Paisley and one of the mainstays of their late 1960s team, Ralph Coates, was also a Hetton lad.



The town was fairly busy for 10.30 am on a Good Friday. A queue was the order of the day in the Tesco, as the locals perused their Easter Egg shopping opportunities. The Bus Station was directly behind. The empty bus shelters indicated the delights of Newcastle and Sunderland hadn't captured the imagination. Perhaps they were all going to the big match round the corner? The Hetton Centre complex is a multi-use facility, featuring the local Town Council offices, a recruitment office, a creche and a bar named after Bob Paisley. The actual centre building is on the site of the old Eppleton Colliery cricket ground. However, the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Football Ground has been preserved and improved at the southern end. The old football club is no longer operational, but the ground has a new lease of life provided by local giants, Sunderland AFC. They use it as a base for their reserve team (or Under 21's as Premier League teams like to disguise them these days) and Sunderland Ladies.



I approached the turnstile from the Hetton Centre end. I say the word singularly, although in fact demand was such that another was open from the Park View side. I parted with my £5 and was pleasantly surprised to receive a free programme from the Durham County FA guys just inside the entrance. The Durham FA Challenge Cup is an impressive trophy. I know this, because it was conveniently perched on a table top by the side of the said Durham FA personnel. This is football at a level that still retains a personnel touch. The last time I got so close to a trophy was the Irish FA Cup in 1995, where my seat at the old Lansdowne Road in Dublin allowed me to almost sit next to it for the 90 minute - Derry City went on to beat Shelbourne 2-1 by the way in front of 15,000. There wouldn't be 15,000 today because the capacity wouldn't take it, but a healthy number continued to wander through the entrance. The 2 teams on show today, Newton Aycliffe and West Auckland, had only been confirmed at the start of the week. It transpired that 2nd Division, Whickham, had fielded an ineligible player as they cruised past West in the semi. They were therefore booted out of the Cup and West reinstated. The offending player had actually turned out earlier for Esh Winning and then even more surprisingly, represented Whickham against Sunderland RCA and Brandon before anybody realised the mistake in the semi. Footballing justice sorted, the final tie was confirmed. The Durham FA were keen to point out it was the team's responsibility to check player eligibility and not theirs! It set up the biggest game of the 50 year Newton Aycliffe history and pitted their manager and some of their players against their former club. The first Durham FA Challenge Cup Finals date back to 1884 and were played out between more familiar names. A total of 18 clubs took part in that inaugural competition, in what was the first County Cup competition of it's kind in the country. The early years were dominated by Sunderland and Darlo. Sunderland won the Final 4-0, but Darlington complained that the 2,000 crowd were guilty of intimidating their players. The Final was replayed and sent their top man - the Howard Webb of his day - a certain Major Francis Marindin to referee the game and maintain order. This time Sunderland won the game 2-0.



The healthy numbers in the crowd were a surprising mix. As well as the obvious, I saw fans of Spennymoor, Brandon, Gateshead, Trimdon, Norton and Glasgow Rangers(?) as well as the copious Sunderland shirts. A few renegade Newcastle and Middlesbro shirts were also in evidence. It was all a bit Rugby League Cup Final. The small covered stand of blue seats had a section of terrace at the rear. The fresh stickers of the Sunderland Ladies season ticket holders had been applied to some - their first game was the following day. The seats were not favoured by the many, who preferred the sunny west side. The grass bank offered some terrace perspective to the view. A semi permanent TV gantry was in place for the satellite TV coverage of the ladies game. The northern end was occupied by the Hetton Centre. The door to the cafe was open. A waft of cooking chips would float out to make the keeper hungry in due course. The Bob Paisley Bar would become Newton Aycliffe central, once it opened. A sizeable contigient had spotted the opportunity that it's pitch view balcony would offer for refreshments in the sun. They playfully heckled all West Auckland fans as they wandered beneath. West erected their solitary flag on the railings near their dugout. The pitch had a slight slope, but was in fairly good condition. In view of some of the high and mighty who play on it wearing red and white stripes, I actually thought it would be more of a bowling green.



The football was committed. Tackles and challenges flying in. No quarter given. Regular cries from both benches, as both suggested the illegality of various attempts to win the ball.... "Howay Referee!!". I'll leave you to check your North Eastern dialect dictionary. The weather conditions were such that the better team would surely win. Newton Aycliffe set off with purpose. Their blue shirts with sponsor "Aycliffe Today" emblazoned on the front. Aycliffe Today. The World Tomorrow! The roof fell in with West taking a lead against the run of play with the first meaningful foray into opposition territory. The 1st half continued in much the same vain with Aycliffe missing chances and West remained in the lead at half time. The onslaught continued after the break, before a cracking equaliser nestled in the far corner of the West net. The West faithful near me feared the worst. I feared the worst, as they looked short of steam having being made to chase all game to date. The Aycliffe fans were making post match preparations. "I told our lass I'd be home fairly early and we'd go out for the afternoon", already confident of further additions to the scoresheet. It didn't happen, as the chances went astray. Extra-time then! The ground hopping members of the audience started to panic - they would have detailed plans for alternative games with a kick off at 3pm and didn't need the inconvenience of a penalty shoot out. They didn't need to worry. The inevitable finally happened very early on and you knew there was no way back for West Auckland. A clever free kick from 20 yards out broke the deadlock, before another swiftly after. Game over. The Aycliffe fan's story had changed by now - "I won't take our lass out after all. It isn't everyday, you win a Cup. Where we going for a pint?" It could and should have been more. Aycliffe celebrated the biggest trophy of their existence. As for West Auckland ...........it was only small fry - back to winning World Cups for them. Bob Paisley never added that to a trophy room!
























Appendix 1


Durham FA Challenge Cup Final


Date: Saturday 26 March 2016 @ 1100 Hours


Venue: Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground, Hetton Centre, Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham


Newton Aycliffe 3 - 1 AET West Auckland Town

Attendance: 604


Scorers: 1 - 0 Richardson (West Auckland) 4 Min, 1- 1 Campbell (Newton Aycliffe) 54 Min, 2 - 1 Knight (Newton Aycliffe) 94 Min, Garthwaite (Newton Aycliffe) 97 Min,



Newton Aycliffe: Winter, Pattinson, Brown, Coffey, Mitton, Close, Garthwaite (c), Boagey, Moffat, Knight, Campbell Subs: Hickman (Close 67 Min), Harrison (Zak Boagey 118 Min), Banks (Coffey 17 Min)

West Auckland Town: Knight, Proctor, Oldfield, Bell, Marron, Maddison (c), Edwards, Richardson, Emms, Burnicle, Hudson Subs: Farrington (Emms 83 Min)

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Photos

Hetton Cntre
Bob Paisley Bar

Hetton Le Hole
Bob Paisley - immortalised on a Tesco

Newton Aycliffe v West Auckland
The winner's medals - Made in China