For some unknown reason which I have yet to find out I received on Saturday morning in a jiffy bag ,(postage 76p) a week old football pink from my American cousins now resident Toonside, nice gesture and one I appreciate , it took me back to far off days where after my wedding in sixty three I left two weeks later for the West Indies Station leaving strict instructions to my new bride that the Pink was to follow me on my Island hopping journey`s, bless her wee cotton socks, at every port of call and they were numerous the Pink was there it had to be read at the best opportune moment, and what better than sitting on the focusle on a balmy Caribean evening. There were four Geordies and a Mackem in the Marine Det of 16 , goes without saying that the Mackem was "lasty Reads". The mother-in-law by this time was well inducted so when I went to Singapore accompanied the Pink followed on, diverting at various times to Sarawak, Sabah , Labuan and Australia. I remember in Australia clutching four pinks as my passport to a night out and heading for Brisbane Oval where I knew that the affable Colin Milburn was playing, they were fielding and as per usual from junior days Colin was at first slip , when the ball went through the cordon of fielders and the great man would half turn to watch he would see this dervish of a figure waving a bundle of newspapers at him. They went in for tea, I made my way to the players pavilion, stopped in my tracks by a steward , no way was I getting in, okay pal, just get a message thro, tell him that there is a guy from your village with four football pinks for you, close of play and just say I had a enjoyable night with Colin , Tony Lock, and Wally Grout,

As usual as Mac says I have rambled, with the latest pink I looked at it from back to front and in a way pieced together the past 20 yrs away football wise, the two teams I started from scratch are still playing Sunday football in the same league, both mid table,Holmside and the Highwayman, no change there. Dunston SC managed by Colin Richardson and Frankie Peareth were always there or there abouts in the 70`s , could not find them in any league. Remember when leaving that Lemington Labour were coming to the fore, 20 years on still top of the pile, Poor Whickham eh, Vase winners at Wembley, second bottom of Div 2 now, West Allotment Celtic still lording their league, these and numerous others took me back in time , El Supremo Gibson and his Gateshead connections, is it a pre-requisite that Newcastle sports reporters are plain ugly, Gibson/Oliver?, what league are Heaton Stannington in now ?, and whats the story with this `Brothers` set-up. The thing that struck me most in respect to our club is the similarity in views expressed by those on here and fans letters,thanx

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Answers

Da Ali P

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Sorry folks missed my main bit of whimsey out, scanning the leagues, in the Consett Sunday League I came across Lintz Celtic , ex Derwent Valley team , my first team where as a snotty nosed, patchy pants, wide eyed kid of six I got my first smell of the linament and my first drink of the half time oxo, apparently they did not attend League Agm were booted into the 2nd div but look to get promoted, well done lads Power brokers in the amateur game, bliddy gestapo

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Thankyou Mr. Buff. That brought tears to me owld eyes.

As an aside, are you due to reach the big 40 in the matrimoney stakes in a couple of years ?

We're a bit of a dying breed if that is the case, so remind us in 03 - I reckon it's still something worth celebrating.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

I stil look to see who is in the Northen Combination cos that's where Whickham and Swalwell played when I first used to go. I remember the excitement when John Farrey moved from Swalwell up to Whickham and the next time the two teams played and he got lumped all over the pitch by the Swalwell centre halves, and took a stack of abuse from the travelling support. Of course he had class so Whickham still won. He passed his class on to Micky who later captained Blyth and I think played for Gatehead and then the Fed. There was also a decent side from Winlaton then.

All north east football success for the last 30 years seems to have been Colin Richardson's fault !

Was Frankie Peareth Susan's dad ? Dark curly haired horse mad, seemed to live at the stables ?

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

With nostalgia the mood -- what about my home team Ashington -- member of the 3rd div North (before my time!)and stalwart of the North Eastern League with the likes of Blyth Spartans, Consett, Spenymooor, Blackhall Colliery, Workington Town, and of course Newcastle and Sunderland Reserves. The big attraction for the townsfolk, however, was Newcastle -- there were a few renegades who supported Sunderland -- and every other Saturday busload after busload would make for the town. In the late forties and early fifties we had so many star players -- Milburn, Bentley, Shackleton, Pearson, Mitchell, Brennan, Harvey, Scoular,Taylor,McMichael, Wayman - - it seemed that every footballer wanted to play for us --- and we were generally served up a fistfull of goals. I remember three consecutive home games in which we put six past Bury, seven past Burnley and seven past Spurs. -- It is sad that the last two generations have been denied such great recollections.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

I haven't seen a football pink in over 21 years. Is it still actually pink in colour??

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Certainly is PeteiC - probably a bit more costly now mind.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Thanks for the wonderful contributions Buff, I think that this bbs should christen you "Mr. Football", in fact why don't I just do that. So from now on Buff I'm going to think of you with that title in mind. Floridian listed a few of the players of our time. Before McMichael at LB we had Corbett and before him Taylor. Do you remember old Joe Richardson, or Gus Livingstone who came to us from the old Gateshead team. I guess you'd call Gus an old workhouse. Nothing pretty about him or Joe, long balls upfield, but Joe used to address the ball with style and kicked it with that "polished" look. phoenix

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

In answer, Pit Bill , Bit of a dying breed, haad yer tongue man, its costin the NHS a bliddy fortune in pills to keep me in my present nick

MAC, Frank Peareth and myself played for Blaydon Boy`s in 1950 and we moved onto the County team, another player from Dunston was a kid named Harry Tingle , the first coloured person I had spoke to in my life. Met Frank again after lots of years when he ran Dunston SC,

Swalwell/Whickham, Northern Combination , after I come out of the mob in late 68 I looked in the Pink for a game of football, saw that Swalwell were winning the Combo and the following season went for 2 trials with them. Felt I had done enough, they signed me on , and when I asked was I playing the first game the manager said that a card would be sent out to my home address, no kiddin that`s how they did it in thse days , I replied either Im playin or what ,tell me , would he hell like , The first game of that Season was Man U at home if I remember correctly, I then said to the manager, "Look pal ,I have been overseas, aint seen the Lads for three years, stick your team and the postcard, cannot be done with this crap and retired at 30 years of age for love of the lads.

Floridean, True or False , In by-gone days was it true that Ashington 21 working men type clubs and only one pub?.

Phoenix, Gateshead -v- Bolton remember the match , Auld Tommy Callender from the Teams was up here couple years back and we had a good aul blether, him and his brother, hard men ,Johhnie Ingham a 80`s footballer in the late 50`s , Redheugh Park, football and dogs eh

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001

'its costin the NHS a bliddy fortune in pills to keep me in my present nick'

Ah knaa the feelin, Buff.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001

Buff - you really should contact The Pink about this; it's a touching tale of footballing fanaticism across the seas :-)

And I reckon a party manifesto with a penny on income tax to support your story telling days would gain my vote :-)

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001

Buff, In days gone by Ashington had approx 63 clubs and three pubs. There was a bye-law which stated a pub could not open within a mile of another. So the Portland is at the top end; a mile and a yard down was the Grand and then another mile down (at the North Seaton end) is the North Seaton Hotel. However this latter pub is called locally The White Elephant. When it was built and all kitted out, they were refused a license as there were insufficient residents around. It remained closed for two years while the brewery built the two North Seaton Road houses. Then they got the license. Hence "The White Elephant" and the name has stuck ever since (for the last hundred years +/- 10 years).

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001

Buff, that is the brewery built all the houses on the two North Seaton Road blocks, not just two houses. I forgot to say the bye-law excluded clubs so the spaces between the pubs were virtually filled with clubs.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001

Bobby no way and with good reason , in the 60`s when I was out in the ulu in Sarawak the odd local jounalists from the UK used to come out and do a piece on the theme of I suppose "Yomping with the Jocks", "Bivouacing with the Brummies" "Gung ho with the Geordies! usual crap, I was camped up in Lundu doing a Hearts and Minds (football oriented) of course with about 20 local Iban children when the 2 i/c told me that a jorno from the Ronnie Gill was coming in on the next chopper, he was doing a series of articles, and wanted to speak to me,

In those days no media training, pc had not surfaced, so I grabbed a couple of cans of Tiger and sat down with Eric _________? (forget his name , but he was a big middle pages Journo} Robinson!!! He asked the usual, birthplace,married to who, where from , what I missed about Geordieland, I played down the actual nature of what we were doing in Borneo , he then took a photo of me, asking me to look rugged like, by this time I was getting stick from my oppos .

About a couple of months later I received as mentioned above my Football Pink and also a copy of the Ronnie Gill from my MiL. Bliddy center page, there I was , poor imitation of Rambo , and the title and lead up to the article made me the piss take of the commando, sample- Eric speaking/writing, "In the stillness of the jungle punctured only by the intermittent sounds of the wild life a voice ,a Geordie accent startled me, "You must be from the Chronicle Pal", I looked up to be confronted by a giant of a man , this was the man I had flown in to meet, the man the commandos called "Big Geordie", need I go on !!!!! A wee bit more in this vein , then on to the objective, living at Whickham, missed the toon , the wife in Singapore the usual. The damage had been done, copies had been sent to the CO, pinned on notice boards, jeez did I suffer. Truthful I was 13 stone and 5.11 at the time, This small beardy Joorno did my street cred irreparable damage, stay well clear now and thats why I am glad Jonno failed when he tried to get them involved in my 50th anniversary match, haad on a mo ,just got a feeling his name was Eric Foster, big cheese with Kemsley in 60s `

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001