Arngrove Northern League 2nd Division
6th January 2007
att. 144
After last weeks trip to the Wansbeck district of Northumbria,it was south this week into County Durham and to Brewery Field the home of Spennymoor Town.
The present club in Spennymoor was formed as recently as 2005, after uniting two clubs which ran into difficulties during the 2004/05 season .Spennymoor United were removed from the Unibond Premier League after being unable to complete their fixtures or pay the players wages,this resulted in the club folding,while neighbouring club Evenwood Town had completed their season in the Northern League, but were unable to continue the following year.
The two parties affiliated when the Spennymoor United fans formed a supporters trust with the intention of forming a new club in the town,meanwhile a consortium behind Evenwood Town were looking at the prospect of continuing at the now vacant Brewery Field,both groups made bids on the lease and after a meeting between both parties they decided to join forces and support Evenwood’s bid for the lease and the transfer of a new club.
The FA granted permission for Evenwood Town to change the clubs name to Spennymoor Town and they took their place in the Arngrove Northern League 2nd Division for the 2005/06 season.
Evenwood Town were formed in 1931 and Northern League champions on three occasions,the last of those in 1970/71,while Spennymoor United have a longer history,formed in 1905,their list of honours includes winning the title six times the last of those in 1978/79,Durham Challenge Cup winners an impressive 15 times(remember Gateshead haven’t won it once)and they played within the seventh level of English football in the Unibond Northern Premier League.
On arriving at Brewery Field you’re greeted with an archway above the entrance gate next to the turnstiles announcing Spennymoor United AFC, a name the Moors fans will one day love to be known as again.
When entering the ground from the corner of the ground to your immediate left is the remains of the old clubhouse,which is sadly now just a burned out empty shell,but hopefully in time will be rebuilt and again become an important base for the club,behind this goal and is an open terrace which continues around one side of the pitch,where there is four floodlight pylons.
Behind the opposite goal is the very smart “tin shed” or to call it by it’s proper name ‘The Joyce Hindmarch Stand’ named after the breadknife of the chairman Barrie,this is where the Spenny Barmy Army congregate(or whatever goal the Moors are kicking towards)this 1500 capacity covered terrace was opened by the “monkeys heed” himself Peter Reid in July 1996.The Spenny fans give a good vocal support and their chant which sounds like “Moo Ass”(Moors)and my particular favourite of telling the rest of the crowd that sunderland are getting beat.
The main stand looks very nice,the seated area has five rows,decked out in the club colours of alternated black and white seats,above this is the temporary bar and lounge which serves a quality beef based drink,a cup of Bovril for 50p,not any of this oxo cube rubbish that you get at some grounds.
The players enter the arena to the sound of Mark Knopfler’s ‘Local Hero’ and with the Moors wearing the classic combination of black and white stripes,it had a very familiar feeling to somewhere I frequent on a more regular basis,there’s also another thing Brewery field has in common with St James Park and that’s the slope,while the one at SJP is a very slight slope which runs side to side,this one at Brewery Field is like an ascent which runs the full length of the field.
After refusing to let the club die the town and supporters of Spennymoor have a club to be proud of,their slogan is “With Hope No One Shall Fail” well lets hope failure is a thing of the past. match report @ http://www.spennymoorunitedfc.co.uk/
Updates-
May 2007 - Spennymoor Town went on to easily win promotion with a 20 point gap between themselves and 4th spot and also took the title by a clear 10 points from nearest rivals Seaham Red Star.
Final ANL Division Two table
The club are looking to progress even further and have the ambition to regain their previous Unibond League status.
Skif visits Brewery Field(September 2007) -http://hobotread.blogspot.com/2007/09/spennymoor-town-2-brigg-town-1.html
2 comments:
Shaun,
It's a shame about Spennymoor folding. I didn't know about that. They were a big name in non-league for years. Good to see them rise from the ashes again. I bet their ground is the best in the Northern League 2 by a long shot! That's step 6 isn't it?
Good article and I'm impressed that you have updated my grounds tally! I know someone reads my articles now. I was going to get to 115 and update you but you're ahead of the game.
Aye! Brewery Field is a smashing little ground.
Your articles will be read by the rest of the groundhoppers community,don't worry about that. :-)
Post a Comment