We continue the preparations for the 125th anniversary of the opening of Dean Street football ground and Hackett and Baines store with a brief history of football in Shildon.
The 125th anniversary of the opening of the Dean Street ground as home to Shildon Football Club will be marked with an exhibition running throughout much of July at Old Shildon Workmen’s Club – just a long throw from the much loved ground. Organised by the Durham Amateur Football Trust, the exhibition will be launched at noon on Saturday July 1 by former Shildon player Eddie Swift, now 85 and still in the town. It will then open to the public from 1-6pm that day.
That same afternoon, the football club will stage a community open day and junior tournament while the workmen’s club plans an afternoon of entertainment featuring popular singer Sparky. The first six names in a Shildon FC “Hall of Fame” will also be revealed before the club invites nominations for other heroes down the years – on and off the field.
The exhibition is being run in conjunction with Hackett and Baines’ family-owned shop in Main Street which is also marking its 125th anniversary this year. An evocatively illustrated 20-page brochure chronicling the history of both the Dean Street ground and of Hackett and Baines has been produced and will be available, free of charge, throughout the celebrations. Backed by local members Shirley Quinn – now town mayor – Samantha Townsend and Matt Johnson, it’s sponsored by Durham County Council’s Area Action Partnership.
Football in Shildon was first recorded as early as 1884 when a team called Shildon First travelled down the road to play two 35-minute halves against Rushyford Juniors. The ball burst 15 minutes from time, Shildon winning 1-0, and the match was abandoned. Soon there were teams like Shildon Town, Shildon Heroes, Shildon Rangers and Shildon Rovers – among their problems finding a suitable place to play. Early reports suggest the popularity of a field on the north side of what is now West Auckland Road, owned by Mrs S E McNaughton who had the Surtees Arms – later the Grey Horse – just around the corner. By the mid 1890s, however – Shildon United, which became the present club – had moved down to the Blue House Field at Coppycrooks, near where West Auckland Road now meets the bypass, and that seemed even less an ideal home.
“The Shildon ground is by no means an ideal one with a slope somewhat similar to that at St James’ Park” observed one of the papers in 1896, though what Newcastle United made of the comparison is, sadly not recorded. “On a bleak day no field could be more unpleasant to stand upon” added the Middlesbrough Daily Gazette in 1898. A further problem was that the ground was said to be almost two miles from the Shildon Telegraph Office – a long way to run for the poor chap serving the Victorian equivalent of the Pink. The answer lay in the town centre.
Since 1877 there’d been a cycle track at Dean Street, popular with riders throughout the North and featuring races of up to 100 miles on a 500-yard track. The ground was bought by a “company”, the cyclists obliged to change gear from track to road – based at St John’s vicarage – and the new ground formally opened on September 3 1898 by the Wagon Works manager. The grandstand and turnstile block, near-venerated by lovers of old football grounds, were officially opened in 1921 by club president Michael Watson JP before a North Eastern League game against Darlington Reserves which drew a 6,000 crowd. Though much changed and improved, not least thanks to the drive and initiative of current chairman David Dent – born and raised in Shildon – and to the enthusiasm of a loyal band of volunteers, the ground remains at once recognisable.
The exhibition in July will also offer other local football memories – like the Auckland and District League, now defunct – and items of more general Shildon interest. “We hope it will further interest not just in Shildon FC and the Durham Amateur Football Trust, but also in the workmen’s club, who’ve been very generous to us,” said local lad Mike Amos, who’s helping organise the exhibition for DAFT.
Offers to loan other items of historical interest concerning the football club – or, indeed, of Hackett and Baines – would still be welcomed. Mike Amos can be contacted at mikeamos81[@]aol[.]com or on 01325 377463.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
3 people always think of when football talk about shildon George Elliot , Henry Nicholson and Bob Strophair .