Non League write up by Chris Towers, visit against Belper Town.
LOUD ‘N’ PROUD: The club shop in the town centre
Final Whistle with Chris Towers
Mining a rich seam: My time with Bishop Auckland
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE EAST
BISHOP AUCKLAND 0 BELPER TOWN 0
I DIDN’T know what to expect when my train rolled into Bishop Auckland, but found a gem of a club and town ahead of their Northern Premier League
East match with Belper Town.
The match-up was appetising, and there was so much to appreciate, and as a poet of Non-League, it was not going to be difficult to find some words for the occasion.
First, there was the town hall, built in a so-called Gothic revival style.
Second, there was a market square, full of interesting cafes, but also the scene of a monthly market, as the town bathed in spring sunshine.
But, being a devotee of Non-League football, the third and no less a treasure was the club shop/museum.
This must be the only Non-League club shop housed in a town centre. ‘The Bishops’ was a real find, and stories from the shop manager made the place even more appealing. I also learned that the club were proud winners of the Amateur Cup, winning it no less than ten times from the 1890s to the 1950s.
There were more treasures in store as I approached the ground for a game against the Nailers of Belper Town with Bishops needing points to avoid any possibility of relegation back to Step 5. Derbyshire side Belper, fourth in the table, had their eyes on a place in the play-offs.
Bishops’ club chairman Steve Coulthard gave me a warm reception. But this warmth was not limited to the chairman.
Bishop Auckland famously donated players to Manchester United in the aftermath of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, when so many players and officials of the club lost their lives. And warmth was personified in the sight of Manchester United supporters at the game.
They had brought a contingent of supporters to the game, coming with gratitude for that act of kindness from Bishop – and it was and is not forgotten.
These are special links of great value at a time when sentiment in the game is often low. It is now 67 years since the Munich tragedy, but the kindness and recognition between the clubs endures.
The game itself was a close and cagey affair. The strong winds didn’t help, and the ball was punted around as the wind had its way, the weather more suited to drying laundry than playing football.
Chances were few and far between, and half-time came with hardly a shot on goal.
At half-time, I had a convivial conversation with a Manchester United supporter about players that have come and gone, the pride evident, and the wish to share.
Return to the Hinterlands is available from the National Football Museum
The ball was clumped and lumped as if swiped like a fly, glanced by a newspaper, on a day for drying laundry
After downing a much-valued Bakewell tart from the club hospitality, I noticed that the manager of the Bishops shop was sitting there a few rows in front of me, the club like a close-knit family.
The wind continued to dominate proceedings as the second half got underway, the ball moving from player to player like a frisbee, or a crown green bowl, in curving motions.
Bishops seem to improve after going down to ten men when a player on a yellow card pulled back a player, and was this time duly shown a red card.
The best chance came 20 minutes from the end when clean through, the Bishop’s striker struck it high, over the bar.
The ball flung around, like a Frisbee in the wind, as traffic swirled by on the side roads
The whistle blew for 0-0, and it meant an important point for both teams.
But more to the point, the club did me proud, and the town also was not easy to forget.
This club has made a huge contribution to the game and, as with many clubs in this region, the potential is always there for greater things, given the passion for the game.
I recall watching Bishop Auckland play at Matlock Town, sometime in the 1990s, but then lost them. However, their return to the Northern Premier League has found them for me again, even if the Ebac Northern League they have left is no doubt a good league also.
County Durham may not have mines any more, but the club is a rich seam of football devotion and adds much to the game.
And in these places where coal was mined, from seam to seam, I found connection, from Manchester to Bishop and beyond