My Matchday 134 - Seaham Town Park

Seaham Red Star 3v1 Guisborough Town
Arngrove Northern League Division Two
14th April 2007
att.81 A trip to the seaside but without bucket and spade or egg and tomato sandwiches,instead it’s pen and note paper,camera and a ‘scabby eye’ at half time,it’s a Saturday afternoon,which of course means football,so with seaside weather I headed towards the coast to Seaham as Red Star go in search of three points to clinch second spot and promotion to ANL Division One.
The Red Star pub formed a football team in 1973, playing on Sunday mornings,the following season they changed to the traditional Saturday’s playing in the Northern Football Alliance League,by 1979 they were plying their trade in the Wearside League under the handle of Seaham Colliery Welfare Red Star and in 1982 they won a league and cup double and took the step up into Northern League Division Two.
In 1984 they changed to their present shorterened name,winning promotion after finishing runners-up to Stockton in 1987-88,this was followed by four good seasons in Division One including a runners-up spot in 2000 before they were relegated in the 2001-02 season.
Seaham is 6 miles South of sunderland via the A19, they also play in red and white striped shirts like their illustrious neighbours,the ground is easy to find as Seaham Town Park is found on arriving into Seaham with the Red Star pub located on the main road.
The pub now acts as the club house and is near the entrance to the park,the football ground is at the top of the park up a slight hill,past the kids playground and the war memorial.The entrance is in the corner of the ground and when arriving the sight of the building next to the stand is pleasing on the eye,this is the club changing rooms,refreshment area and toilets,it has white walls with red trimmings and a salient blue roof,the main stand next to it has only three rows of seats,cheekily divined by being marked rows A,B and C. The other three sides of the ground are grass standing areas with three large floodlight pylons on each side of the pitch,the team dugouts are in front of the red,white and blue building and look like roller shutters but made with blue congregated iron.
Many of the grounds at this level in the football pyramid don’t have a public address system, but this ground has,they make use of it by blasting out a couple of tunes as the teams enter the pitch,firstly there’s a slight blast of Carmina Burana followed by Telstar by the Tornadoes,both tracks come to a sudden abrupt end,as if they’re playing a vinyl record and somebody knocked the needle.
Before the match there was a one minute silence observed prior to kick off in honour of Jimmy Cahill,who was a former committee man and a great supporter of the club who sadly died on Good Friday,he did an excellent job in raising funds which went a long way towards the building of the main stand,that eventually assured there application into the Northern League.
The match itself was a lot closer than the final score suggests,Red Star took a two goal lead but failed to put Guisborough to the sword,who then pulled a goal back just before half time.During the game there was a woman sat not far from where I stood,she was giving the home team plenty of encouragement,she shouted “C’mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham”..5 second pause..”C’mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham"…5 second pause…C’Mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham "(I could go on) The second half was more nervy on Seahams part. ”C’mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham” the game could have gone either way but was finally settled in the last minute “C’mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham” with Lanky centre forward Andy Jennings getting his second notch of the afternoon,and so clinching the three points ”C’Mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham”…5 second pause…”C’mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham” so now promotion is guaranteed for Red Star. I had walked away from the nice lady by the end of the game,but I guess her match summary would have been "Good job Lads,Well played Seaham"
LINKS-
Red Star Match Report








3 comments:

fitba daft said...

C’mon Lads,Ha’way Seaham...did you get her number smid!?

Shaun said...

I'm a happily married man Jamie :-)
But even if I wasn't,I'm like any other full blooded man,I like the birds,but not parrots!

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