FC Barcelona 2-4 Crook Town is probably not a scoreline you have heard before. To be fair, unless you are an avid follower of North East non-league football, or keen historian of the amateur game, Crook are possibly not a team you have heard of either.
As for Barcelona, well, they are a world-famous side, and as one of the globe's biggest names, their major trophy haul is seemingly endless - If you haven't heard of these Catalan giants, there is clearly something wrong with you.
But Crook Town? Whilst some might assume they are no different to all the other seemingly innocuous sides in English football’s ninth tier, or step 5 of the non-league pyramid, their history definitely tells otherwise. That long past does, unbelievably, include a 4-2 victory over that aforementioned Spanish superclub too.
I am here in Crook, a former pit village cum market town in County Durham, to watch not just a side who previously conquered Barcelona, however (beat them twice actually), but a team who have also played in front of over 100,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium. Indeed, the club who would later entice a similarly sized crowd to watch them during a tour of India actually took the field at the home of English football that day alongside none other than today’s opponents Bishop Auckland. This match is also very much a local affair, with Bishops based just a little over 5 miles down the road.
Crook seems a rather unremarkable place, and perhaps it is; certainly somewhere you wouldn't normally go out of your way to visit. But for those that do, sat amongst the County Durham coalfields, it is just a 30 minute bus ride from the historic cathedral city and university town of Durham. Adored by American writer Bill Bryson, Durham conveniently has a railway station on the East Coast mainline. This is the route I take myself for my matchday arrival.
Hardly a popular travel destination, Crook is, nonetheless, not without its pleasantness. The cheery market square and war memorial that sits opposite are a little reminiscent of a bygone era, and perhaps looking a little worn in places. However, the nearby refurbished 1980s build Civic Centre portrays a community that has tried to change with the times at least a little.
It is near here that you will find a plaque commemorating arguably Crook’s most famous son, Jack Greenwell. Born in the town on 2 January 1884, Greenwell was the son of a coal miner and would become one himself alongside playing amateur football as a wing half for Crook Town. He would soon leave this life behind in 1912, however, and join FC Barcelona.
In an era when travelling outside your region was probably considered an adventure for many, such a move was somewhat astonishing. How it came about is not certain. Some claim Greenwell met representatives from the club whilst guesting for nearby West Auckland Town when they won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in Turin, a well told story where the County Durham side won what some claim to be the original World Cup. This story falls down, however, when you consider that Barcelona never participated in said tournament.
After a playing career at the club, Greenwell would go on to become Barça’s longest serving manager before moving to South America. In South America, he led Peru to Copa América glory for the first time, a feat they have only reproduced once, and later coached in Colombia. It was Greenwell who helped organise Crook’s first tour of Catalonia, Spain, in 1913 (two more would follow over the next 10 years). During Crook’s visit, FC Barcelona were beaten 4-2, with two further draws against the same opposition completing the original three match tour.
At the time, bullfighting was the most popular pastime in Spain, and opposition to the foreign game of football was so high that when King Alfonso XIII suggested he would attend the games, he was met with death threats and reconsidered.
Football, of course, did, before long, take off big time in Spain and I’m sure many in Crook would like to think their little County Durham outpost played its part in that. Crook also became the first English side to tour India in 1976. But, although a crowd of around 100,000 turned out to see them lose 1-0 to the Indian national team at Eden Gardens cricket ground in Kolkata, football has yet to supplant cricket as the sporting religion in that part of the world.
Whether the proprietor of Crook’s Indian Cottage takeaway is aware of the club’s travels throughout the subcontinent, I do not know. But I do not stop to ask as I walk past on my way to Crook’s Sir Town Cowie Millfield ground, a stadium named after a local businessman most famous for his stint as chairman of Sunderland AFC. Cowie would later become president of Crook Town, where he helped them survive through a difficult time of financial upheaval. This historic footballing abode is easy to spot when I arrive just minutes after leaving the town’s marketplace centre.
Once inside the ground, having paid £8 entry and £2 for a programme, I survey my surroundings. Ahead of me are steps up into the main arena. I head up and find views of the pitch from behind the goal. I am positioned atop several rows of uncovered terracing with covered standing to my left. This covered section comes in the form of a seemingly ancient stand complete with a wonky roof that makes it look like it could be listed under the category ‘condemned’. Thankfully, it is not. A real gem if ever I have seen one.
Beyond the terracing, there is a raised seated grandstand that also hails from days long gone. I feel like I’ve gone back in time many decades and keep myself stationed there for a good few minutes as I take it all in - what a treasure I have stumbled across here.
The other two sides of the ground consist of not much more than grassy banks. Now largely barren, these would once have been rammed with spectators for the big Cup ties that used to enthral these parts. My eyes, however, can’t divert away from the black and white television era structures to my left that make this stadium so captivating.
You can sense straight away that this ground probably has some real history behind it. But, as keen historian of the game, I already know this certainly to be the case.
I head back down the stairs and turn right towards the clubhouse where memories of past glories adorn the walls as that history really begins to come to life. This illustrious past includes not just visits to Spain and India but also exploits in the old FA Amateur Cup that saw trips to Wembley Stadium and five historic cup final wins. This includes four triumphs over a 10-year period between 1954 and 1964.
Crook were a top side nationally in the days of amateur football, a long ago period of prestige of which many present day fans are probably not aware. A time, however, that is nonetheless fascinating and almost at odds with the arguable greed of the modern game. Sat parallel to the professional (and semi-professional) game until 1974, when the distinction between the two was removed, strictly amateur football was not part of the same structure. Those once lauded Corinthian ideals made it for many years possibly more prestigious than much of its professional counterpart, at least below the first and second divisions, I would argue anyway.
The Northern League, in which Crook Town and indeed today’s opponents Bishop Auckland both played and still do (although Bishops have played at higher levels in more recent times), was once upon a time highly respected within the amateur game and several of its teams had much success at a national level.
Crook first won the Amateur Cup in 1901, but it was their second triumph some 53 years later which is the most compelling of their five amateur final successes. Their opponents in that final, Bishop Auckland, same as today, had already won the Amateur Cup seven times and would win a further three to complete what became a record ten. But the mammoth 1954 final would eventually see the Bishops succumb to defeat against Crook after 330 minutes of football in front of what today would be seen as unbelievably high crowds for amateur sport.
In charge of Crook Town at the time was a certain Joe Harvey, who would later manage Newcastle United and oversee their Inter-Cities Fairs Cup success in 1969, a forerunner to today’s Europa League. His Crook side found themselves 2-1 down at the break in their big final, but a second-half equaliser followed by a goalless extra-time meant a replay. No penalty shoot-outs in those days.
Those who hadn’t made it down to Wembley had the option of BBC radio updates in between that day's rugby union commentary or second-half television pictures for those lucky enough to own a TV. However, 20 special trains and 250 coaches had taken supporters from the North East down to Wembley, and many of the 103,992 in attendance turned up for the replay. This took place two days later on a bank holiday Monday at St James’ Park, Newcastle, with 56,008 making the short trip up from County Durham - a record for an Amateur Cup tie outside London.
Bishop Auckland had been favourites for the initial match, and despite many drawing the same conclusion for the second game, they were 2-0 down after 4 minutes. However, two second-half goals for Bishops saw another 2-2 draw, with extra-time again proving a stalemate.
It was decided that if still tied after a third match, both teams would share the trophy, but, in the end, this did not happen. Despite a 6pm kick-off on a Thursday, some 36,727 were in attendance at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough, to watch, finally, a game that did not end in a draw. Described as ‘irrepressible’ in the following day's Yorkshire Post, Crook were 1-0 up at the break and, with no further goals in the second-half, eventually had their hands on the trophy. This mammoth tie had at long last come to an end. Indeed, before this second replay the Shields Evening News wrote: 'The BBC must be wondering when the final is really going to end,' before adding 'Never in the history of broadcasting has so much been said about two amateur football teams.'
Back home, 15,000 people from Crook and the surrounding pit villages were present to greet the winning side. There was not much time to celebrate, however, as many of the players had work the next day, followed by a league match at West Auckland Town in the evening before a rearranged Northern League Challenge Cup semi-final with Shildon the day after. Modern professionals don’t even know they're born!
It is stated in the matchday programme that away from reaching Wembley finals, Crook regularly drew 10,000 plus crowds for big home cup ties. This is definitely something modern day health and safety would not allow at their modest sized venue - not even close. But whilst it was an Amateur Cup tie with Walton and Hersham in 1952 that drew Crook's record attendance of around 17,500, there were also bumper crowds for big FA Cup ties at their Millfield home too. In 1955-56, a 2-2 draw with Derby County, which was unfortunately followed by defeat in the replay, drew over 9,000. Nine years later, Carlisle United were beaten 1-0 on home soil before Crook lost at home to Oldham Athletic by the same scoreline in the next round. Both drew similar crowds to the Derby match.
Now long in the past, however, Crook’s former glories seem somewhat outlandish and rather distant.
Although they’ve previously made it as far as the third round in the FA Cup, unfortunately, 1976-77 was the last time Crook made even the first round proper. They will need to win a further five ties to make it that far this season, starting with a preliminary round tie that I am here to watch today. This comes having beaten Pickering Town in the extra-preliminary round, when the very first ties of this season's competition took place a few weeks earlier.
To some it could feel like a fall from grace, but in reality it is as much due to circumstance that Crook have ended up in the footballing landscape in which they currently reside.
Post-amateurism, the Northern League, in which, as mentioned, Crook still play amongst fellow North East sides, struggled to find its place in a new footballing world. Indeed, the league decided to remain separate from the main pyramid system until 1991, when it became a feeder league to the Northern Premier League. Here, now split across two divisions, it covers the 9th and 10th tiers of English football. By the 1990s, the league had lost much of the previous prestige that had even seen several of its clubs reject invitations to join the Alliance Premier (now National League) upon its formation in 1982.
Crook Town probably sum up the league’s decline as much as any club, and perhaps it is no coincidence that this decline occurred against a backdrop of coal mine closures in the 60s, 70s, and most notably the 1980s. This seemingly pushed County Durham, and much of the North East as a whole, into a downward spiral that lasted for a far from insignificant period of time.
Today’s attendance is a far cry from those bumper crowds of the past. But the 621 that do turn up is a more than respectable figure for a preliminary round FA Cup tie between two ninth-tier sides, even if it is a local derby. Indeed, a later online check by myself suggests this was the fourth-highest gate of the round, with 136 ties taking place across the country.
That crowd figure includes a significant number of away fans, which creates a rather jovial atmosphere between the two sets of supporters. The home contingent's repertoire of songs includes a version of the well known Allez, Allez, Allez chant, which in this case starts with the lyric “We’ve conquered Barcelona”, a nice reference to the club's touring past. I cannot, unfortunately, make out fully the chant two lads stood next to me in the second-half bellow out, but it ends with “Peru! Peru! Peru!”, surely a nod to the exploits of certain Mr Greenwell.
I am stood on the terracing behind the goal for most of the game and the visitors are attacking towards me in the first half. Also in attendance is a local youtuber I recognise who has a channel called Football Explorer. Chatting to him, having met once before, I discover that whilst researching online beforehand, he actually managed to find my online In Love With Football blog. I didn’t realise it was that popular!
One event from Crook’s noted history that I have thus far failed to mention is the infamous Crook Town affair of 1928. The incident, which gained national media attention at the time, saw the club suspended for breaking the strict amateur rules of the day by making illicit financial payments to their players. Fans during that era will have quickly wanted to forget about those dishonourable events, and the same can certainly be said about today’s game, which, unfortunately, does not go well for them.
The hosts find themselves 2-0 down at the break, and it doesn’t get any better in the second-half as Bishop Auckland score a third on 55 minutes. The scorer of the latter two goals is Gary Martin, a new recruit from National League North Hebburn Town 25 miles up the road. His career has taken him to countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, and Norway, but I find no record of him having ever faced Barcelona.
At 3-0, the Bishops goalkeeper, who has little to do prior to the third goal, finally finds himself called into action. But the hosts’ short lived period of dominance fails to produce a goal. The visitors seem happy enough with a 3-0 win, and that ends up the final score.
Perhaps today’s opponents aside, not many teams at this level have a history that can match Crook Town’s. One suspects Crook themselves will fail to match their previous adventures in the years to come but, nevertheless, there is still a place for them in the football pyramid. Their current small but loyal band of supporters will also no doubt continue to turn up at this wonder of a football ground come rain or shine. An arena the likes of which are mostly long gone. But thankfully, this one is not.
