Blyth’s ‘Other’ Team
This week we headed to Blyth… not to see the famous giant-killing Spartans but Blyth’s ‘other’ team.
Blyth Town doesn’t have the famous giant-killing history of their neighbours but they are catching them up in league position.
As Spartans’ fall from grace continues apace, Town are climbing nicely and currently occupy third place in the Northern League Division One.
Of course, as a Stoke City fan, the name Blyth Spartans curls inside my stomach like a cold snake, causing inner turmoil whenever their name is mentioned.
That didn’t stop me from visiting Croft Park quite early on in our Hopping adventures and having a great day there. I fully intend to return at some point, too, as it’s a lovely little stadium to watch football in.
Today, though, we turn our attention to Blyth Town, who lie poised and waiting for their chance to overtake their more illustrious neighbours.
Just last season, the Spartans were in the National League North and Town were in Division Two of the Northern League. Promotion for Town and relegation for Spartans, means the two are now just two divisions apart.
Is the dream of the two meeting in a competitive league match ever going to happen? Maybe, maybe not but the people of Blyth have two great teams to watch locally and it was time to go and see what the upstart club is all about.
Let’s see how we got on.
The Journey
Another Saturday ‘hop’ without Mrs Hopper!
After staying at home to catch up with work last week, this obviously sat well with her.
For some reason, she decided that sitting in a warm house is preferable to trailing around the Northern League grounds, watching a sport she cares little about.
Honestly, Americans!
I caught the X1 to Newcastle at 10:10, just a couple of minutes late and arrived at Haymarket by 11:18.
Again, time was not on my side, just like last week. My connecting #308 bus was due at 11:20 but fortunately, it was also a couple of minutes late, giving me some breathing room.
I arrived in Blyth at 12:30, having passed Whitley Bay’s Hillheads ground along the way.
Before I go into my day in Blyth, let’s take a look at the history of the town itself…
Blyth
Blyth is a Northumberland coastal town, lying fourteen miles northeast of Newcastle.
The town lies almost entirely on the south bank of the River Blyth, although the Port of Blyth is located on a spur of land north of the river. The town also takes its name from the river.
The river’s name comes from an Old English adjective – blīðe – meaning gentle, or merry.
At the last Census of 2021, the town had a population of 39,731, showing 6% growth since 2011.
Blyth’s port has existed since the twelfth century but didn’t expand until the start of the sixteenth century.
By 1730, a new set of quays and a lighthouse had been constructed and the port prospered.
Coal mining and shipbuilding were key businesses in the growth of Blyth, although fishing and salt trading were also big contributors.
The first aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark Royal was built in Blyth in 1914.
By the 1960s, Blyth exported upwards of six million tonnes of coal annually.
Despite many of these businesses closing over the years, the port is still busy and accepts imports of paper and pulp from Scandinavia, feeding the newspaper industries of Scotland and England.
Modern Day Blyth
Regeneration in the 1990s has helped Blyth’s population recover from the setback of industries closing down. The Market Place and Quayside have been revamped. It is hoped that this will encourage more businesses into Blyth.
However, the Keel Row Shopping Centre is in the process of being demolished having failed to be viable. The plan is to ‘make way for exciting new developments‘. I’m sure the residents of Blyth will have their fingers crossed that it works out.
The UK’s first two offshore wind turbines were placed in the sea 0.62 miles off the shore of Blyth. These joined the nine that were already located on the opposite side of the River Blyth and comprise the Blyth Harbour Wind Farm.
Part of the redevelopment of the shopping centre will be the Energy Central Hub.
It is hoped that this facility will further strengthen the area’s role in driving the clean energy revolution.
Blyth Beach & Harbour
Despite forecasts of rain the night before, it had been one of those lovely late autumn sunny days. Perfect for having a walk in a coastal town.
I headed for a place called Hole in the Wall, not knowing what to expect… the answer was pretty self-explanatory in retrospect…
Yup, nothing special, just a hole in a perfectly ordinary wall that led onto Blyth’s South Beach.
Lots of people were exercising their dogs along the sands and what a lovely location to do so.
The Northumberland coast is quite beautiful in places and despite the industrial nature of the nearby port, Blyth Beach remains a place where you could enjoy a day with the kids.
Hopefully, the photos below show this to some degree.
I then turned my attention to the harbour just to the north, along the beach and had a wander around.
It seems to be owned by the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club and I had no idea if I was allowed in there or not but nobody came to tell me I couldn’t go in.
I wandered around taking pictures of the boats, ships and yachts moored in the marina.
Despite the sunshine, a cool wind was blowing off the North Sea. It made an eerie noise as it blew through a myriad of boats, piers and crab pots.
Bandstand
After leaving the South Harbour, I turned down Links Road and started the long(ish) walk to the ground.
Along the way, I passed Blyth’s South Beach bandstand, located in Beach Park.
This is an iconic feature of the town, built around 1928/29 and still regularly hosts live music and events.
It was a very peaceful area as I looked around and if I’d had food with me, this would have been a great place to sit down and have a snack.
However, I hadn’t, so I didn’t. Instead, I kept walking.
I completed the one-and-a-half-mile walk from the Harbour and saw my destination ahead.
Blyth Town – Gateway Park
Getting In
Access to Gateway Park is on Sandringham Drive, just off South Newsham Road.
Entry is £7.00 and payment is taken at a green shed at the east end of the ground. Cash or card is accepted, which I believe is true of all payment points in the ground. Please correct me if that’s not accurate.
I asked if there were any pin badges or programmes available and sadly, the answer was no to both.
Pin badges seem to have been on order for a while and I will have to keep an eye on the clubs’ online store to see if I can get one when they appear.
If someone has a badge available, please contact me via hoppersguide@hotmail.com
Programme
While Blyth Town doesn’t produce a programme, a digital issue is available for those who like the efforts that disappear with the memories, or your last mobile phone.
A printed team sheet is handed out around the clubhouse before kick-off, though.
I’m happy as long as there is at least a team sheet.
Before we get to the clubhouse, let’s take a look around Gateway Park.
East End
Having entered at the east end, that’s where we will begin our circuit.
Three sides of Gateway Park are bereft of a lot to say about them, and this is one of them.
A car park lies beyond the fence behind the goal and that’s about it, really.
North Side
The northern side is also lacking any kind of talking points.
A picturesque row of trees runs around the north and west of the ground and these give the ground a nice bit of character, as the autumn colouring starts to come to the fore.
Three of the grounds six floodlights are situated on this side.
West End
Behind the western end of the ground is what looks like a training pitch for the club, or maybe it belongs to someone else. Please comment below if you know and I will update this.
Again, there were people exercising dogs on this ground, having a fine time chasing tennis balls.
The dogs just stood and watched…
South Side
The southern side of Gateway Park is the hub of the ground.
There is the main stand, which incorporates a small four-step terraced section at the western end; the clubhouse, which is set back against the trees and an enclosed five-a-side court, where kids were happily playing football.
The dressing rooms are a part of the same building as the clubhouse and players enter the pitch from the southeast corner of the ground.
The technical dugouts are situated on either side of the halfway line and the other three floodlights line the pitch.
Blyth Town – Gateway Park Gallery
The Clubhouse
Gateway Park has an excellent clubhouse and there is an overriding sense of community about the place.
The club has quite a few junior teams and young kids are clearly, very welcome here.
I went to the bar and ordered myself a pint of Heineken (£4.90) and took a seat near a loaded trophy cabinet.
The Town players were sitting here, too, having a pre-match get-together before trooping off to the dressing rooms.
There was plenty of memorabilia, with framed shirts from Blyth Town and Newcastle United adorning the walls.
There is a pool table and ample TV screens dotted around, too, showing the League Two game between Chesterfield and Notts County.
While I sat talking to the guy next to me, people started to enter the clubhouse shaking rain off themselves like wet dogs.
Clearly, the forecast rain had arrived!
While talking to the gentleman next to me, he told me he was the father of one of Town’s players – Marcus Giles – and a nice guy he was. Though not a Town fan, he is a proud father and enjoys watching his son play football.
He was kind enough to agree to get my team sheet signed and said he would post it to me. (I grabbed another one for photograph purposes.)
Thank you, sir!
With the second pint supped, it was time to head out and get ready for the game. Luckily, the rain seemed to have died down again and stayed mostly sunny through the game, with a few second-half sprinkles.
Blyth Town Tidbits
Blyth Town Football Club was founded as recently as 1995.
Starting as a junior club with three teams, Town now has mini, junior and girls teams, as well as a Sunday team and the main first team.
There has been success for all concerned, with some of Town’s ladies going on to play professionally in the women’s game. Some have even represented their country at international level.
For the first team, there has been no shortage of success, either.
After gaining entry to the Northern Alliance Division Two in 2002, they won the league at the first attempt.
In 2004/05, they finished as runners-up and gained promotion to the Premier League.
In 2013/14, they won the Premier League and the following season they completed the treble of Premier League, Challenge Cup and George Dobbins League Cup winners.
Split
2015 saw the first team break away from the main club and become a separate organisation, playing home games at Ashington’s Woodhorn Lane ground.
Meanwhile, the main club fought an appeal against denied ground improvement plans and won the appeal in 2015.
Now known as Blyth AFC, success in 2015/16 saw them promoted to the Northern League Division Two.
The good times continued and in 2017/18, they won the Division Two title, before things started to go wrong.
Due to a lack of support and permanent home ground, they withdrew from the league in 2018/19, despite winning their first four games.
Meanwhile, the original Blyth Town, still playing at South Newsham Playing Fields (now Gateway Park), had been admitted to Division Two of the Northern Alliance in 2017/18 and were promoted to Division One the same season.
2018/19 saw them lift the Division One title, while Blyth AFC were resigning.
In 2020/21, Town were Premier League champions and admitted to the Northern League Division Two for the following season.
2021/22 saw them enter the FA Vase for the first time.
In 2023/24, they won the Division Two title by a whopping sixteen points and were promoted to Division One.
Unsurprisingly, the club’s record attendance was recorded for a Northumberland Senior Cup game against Blyth Spartans. 1,105 spectators were present for the tie in 2016/17.
Blyth Town – Pre-Game View of Gateway Park
Blyth Town v Boro Rangers – The Game
Form
Coming into today’s top-of-the-table clash, Blyth Town are in third place, with the visitors one place above them. Boro have a game in hand on league leaders, Redcar Athletic but sit four points behind them.
Blyth are unbeaten in their last seven competitive games, six in the league.
Last time out they only managed a draw at Guisborough Town but prior to that they won four of the last five in the league. This run included wins against Seaham Red Star (5-0), Birtley Town (4-2), Penrith (4-0), West Allotment Celtic (5-1) and Tow Law Town (4-2). The other non-win was a 1-1 draw at Crook Town.
Boro Rangers have lost just once in their last seven games. This came at the hands of league leaders, Redcar Athletic, suffering a 3-0 loss.
In the other six games, there were wins against Whickham (6-1), Northallerton Town (3-1), Easington Colliery (3-1) and Penrith (1-0).
The other two games ended in draws at home to Kendal Town (1-1) and last time out, a 3-3 draw at home to Newcastle Blue Star.
As you can see, scoring goals isn’t usually a problem for either of these two sides. Hopefully, that is also the case today when they face each other!
Pre-match prediction – 2-2 draw.
As the teams came out, there seemed to be a gentleman who didn’t necessarily belong with the team
I since found out he was on his stag do and the club had obviously agreed to let him walk out with the players as a mascot.
Brilliant!
Kick-Off
Summary
As you would expect from a top-of-the-table clash, there was a lot of tension in the air as the teams traded early jabs.
In just the fifth minute, the first real chance of the game came from a corner when Daniel Horner dived at full stretch to keep out Dan Wilson’s header.
Town took the lead with a scrappy goal from Wilson in the 27th minute.
At least, I’m told it was scrappy. I can’t say for sure because I was at the scran van, getting chipps and curry sauce. Labelled as £4.00 on the board, I was nonetheless charged £5.00…
In first-half injury time, Town doubled their lead and again, it was that man Wilson on the scoresheet.
I was recording this but the sun was shining on my phone and the camera wasn’t pointing where I thought it was at the crucial moment.
Half-Time – Blyth Town 2 Boro Rangers 0
As the second half wore on, it was clear that Boro Rangers weren’t going to take defeat lying down.
They were the better team in the second forty-five and they made that superiority count in the 62nd minute.
This time, I managed to capture the goal a little better.
Despite Boro’s pressure, they couldn’t find an equaliser and my pre-match prediction remained tantalisingly close but elusive.
If and when a full Match Report becomes available, I will post it here.
Attendance – 287
Entrance Fee – £7.00
Programme – Digital only (Team sheet available)
Blyth Town v Boro Rangers – Match Highlights
If and when match highlights become available, I will post them here.
League Table After Today’s Game
Up Next
Next up for Town will be an October 19th trip to struggling Seaham Red Star, who are second from bottom.
This is followed by two further away games at Northallerton Town (22nd) and Newcastle Blue Star (November 2nd). They return to Gateway Park on November 16th when Easington Colliery will be the visitors.
Boro Rangers face a trip to Bradford Park Avenue‘s Horsfall Stadium, where they will face Albion Sports in an FA Vase tie on October 19th.
They return to league action on the 23rd with a home game against Easington Colliery. A sterner test awaits them at Darlington Road, where they will face West Auckland (26th).
November begins with a home game against West Allotment Celtic on the 2nd.
Blyth Town – Thoughts
Considering Blyth Town’s short history, they have done incredibly well to get so far, so soon.
Character-wise, Gateway Park isn’t much to talk about but they have good facilities and the space to grow further should they be promoted again at some stage.
With their current position in the league, I’m sure they have already had discussions with the council about doing just that.
As ever, it always disappoints me when there is no printed programme but a team sheet is better than nothing.
The clubhouse is modern-looking yet has a ‘football feel’ to it. Snack facilities are good but maybe update the board if prices have changed? Otherwise, charge what it says. I’m sure there was a good reason for the extra £1.00…
I was talking to Marcus Giles’ dad about the possible pros and cons of a potential future merger with Blyth Spartans. Whilst I’m sure this will never happen, there would be pluses for both parties.
Spartans would inherit an incredibly successful community club with a plethora of junior and female teams. For Town, a move to Croft Park means they wouldn’t need to worry about finding funds for ground expansions.
The combination could help halt the slide of the FA Cup’s most notorious giant-killers while helping Town catapult up a couple of leagues.
What’s a few egos if that is the result for the town of Blyth?
Blyth – After the Game
After the game, it was a short walk to the bus stop on South Newsham Road.
I was talking to another gentleman who had been at the game, who was a Gateshead and Newcastle fan.
Like me, he is keen to visit all these wonderful Northern League grounds and this was also his first visit to Blyth Town.
Our bus arrived at 17:14, a fashionable seven minutes late and we got back into Newcastle bus station at 18:12.
Just in time to catch the 18:20 X1 back to Hetton, or so I thought…
Yes, this bus was also late, showing up at 18:34 but that wasn’t the problem.
I boarded the bus and we set off, only to sit at the traffic lights as they went from red to green, to red, to green, like the Chuckle Brothers.
We, meanwhile, just sat there.
Apparently, this bus wasn’t going to take us home after all and it was now 18:41. This left four minutes for me to catch the 18:45 X1.
Decision made, everyone piled off and onto the, surprisingly, on-time backup bus.
There was no further drama and I was back through the front door by 19:45, with another successful ‘hop’ in the books.
Next Up for Hoppers Guide
Next week sees us continue our Northern League odyssey with a visit to Jarrow Football Club.
This will be the next leg of our FA Vase journey, too, having previously taken in games at Boldon Community Association and Redcar Athletic in the first two rounds of the competition.
I’m looking forward to this one and hopefully will run into a couple of Twitter followers.
Lee Hughes, who has been by our side since almost the beginning and someone I’m keen to say hi to, the guy behind the fabulous Northern League-based content Twitter account, The Lead.
It’s always rewarding to run into people who are passionate about their clubs but for some reason, even more so when it comes to non-league teams.
It’s easy to follow the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool up and down the country. When you do the same thing for Belper Town or Jarrow, it hits harder.
These are what I call the true super-fans of football.
Onto the next!
I can send you a pin badge
Thank you Sandra! I have just emailed you. Much appreciated!