Hello errr...Jonno....err Pilgrim...errr Screach :-)

Question: When did NUFC adopt Blaydon Races as a football anthem, i.e. when was it 1st sung at NUFC by the hordes?

Honest answers only please. Just noticed a big debate about this on another site so I thought I'd get it from the nags gob.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Answers

Were you aware that Blaydon was actually in Durham until Tyne and Wear came about in the early 80's? Opposite side of the Tyne to Newcastle. Strange that.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

The origins bother me little mate. There's a lovely debate going on at the mo about football songs and thievery on another site. The scousers are going nuts that it's suggested that YNWA was originally used as a football song by Celtic!!

Either way it's cak song for football....like the Blayden Races actually :-)

I don't care about songs being "nicked" anyway. Leeds fans were unhappy that we used "ohh ahh Cantona I said Ohh ahh Cantona" cos they used it 1st. Obviously never heard of Ohh ahh Paul McGrath :-)

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

"...Warwick Road". isn't that a Carlisle United song?

;7)

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Aye that song you sing to the tune of the entertainer really gets on my wick. Why not just boo like us? I actually heard a bindipper on Talksport singing the Celtic version as if to prove it was their song. I dont know either way.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Before my time mate (so it must be old).

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Ahhhh..the Entertainer. I always call it the "snooker tune" :-)

".......'cos United are going to Glasgow.....there'll be thousands of red with no tickets or beds...'cos United are going to Glasgow. Follow follow follow........"

hee hee...could sing it all day.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Well I'm even younger than the Minnesota Kid so I've no chance!

On a slightly serious note the song was written by George Ridley in 1862 so we (and Sunderland) have probably been singing it for a hell of a long time. It certainly predates anyone posting on this board (Yes, even Screacher).

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

It doesn't matter if we nicked it. It doesn't matter if Blaydon used t be part of Durham. All that matters is that if you say to any neutral "Blaydon Races" the only football team they'll assosciate that with is NUFC. Of course it HAS to be a north east song with words like "gannin" and "Scotswood road."

Recently when I've been watching Man.Utd I've heard a song that I'd never heard before and they seem to sing it for ages and seem to sing it more than any other song. I've been wondering what it was but couldn't make out the words. The words LR just wrote, "follow etc..." seem to go to it perfectly.

LR - is this the song that you sing the most currently at Old Trafford? If so I finally know the words to that bloody awful tune.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

The song has been sung since I first visited SJP (which many would have you believe was before Geordie Ridley wrote the bliddy thing!) The fact that it is OUR song is beyond question, it is a national anthem of Geordieland, a region noted for it's vibrant folk tradition and unique cultural identity.

I am (as usual) baffled by another SK jibe at the Toon, pointing out that Blaydon was in Durham. I suppose this implies that the Geordies are celebrating an event which is not theirs? Well, the song was written by a Geordie, written by a man called Geordie, and it was written about Geordies (taking a trip from Balmbras in the centre of Newcastle). That apart, I daresay any link with the city is indeed, tenuous at best :-)

Where they were going is immaterial. It could have been a charabanc (whatever that might be) to the seaside. The point is that it was a Geordie day out. Apparently, the races were a fairly insignificant event in the racing calendar, and the fact of the matter is that nobody would have ever even heard of the Blaydon races were it not for the fact that they have been immortalised by the Geordie song. History does not record whether or not there was an entry fee for a day at Blaydon races, but I daresay if it was free one or two Mackems probably turned up as well. LOL! :-))

Not strange that.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Thank you for that vote of confidence (?) Pilgrim. As for the Blaydon Races, it's aal aboot Newcassel folks gannin' oot fer a day. Aah mean, they took the bus from Balmbra's (not Bamburgh as is thought by most in SJP), they went alang Colin'wood Street, past Armstrang's fact'ry, not to menshun Scotswood Road. Eeh, aah remember it well :-(

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

the lasses crinolines came off there, doesn't translate into Salford speak at any level

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

I'll tell you what though, a couple of weeks ago I did a search using Yahoo for Blaydon Races, and the 4th link down was (Sit down for this): red11.org - Manchester United Songs & Chants. I couldn't resist having a peek. Some of their songs are pretty naughty but I laughed my socks off at some of them (actual link is If I can remember how to do this

Starburst (Hello by the way - I haven't seen you post before) you might find your song there.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

No offence Minnie eh?

I'm still waiting for my ticket for tomorrow's match to arrive in the post. Your friendly publican sent it recorded delivery yesterday (actually sent the full book). I checked with him tonight and he's confident it will be here first thing. I hope so!

I wonder if there's any tickets available at the box office still if it doesn't come?

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Jonno ,when is ajibe not a jibe?

Answer-When it's factual.

Factual-Blaydon is south of the tyne and used to be in Durham.Whats the problem?

Can I also point out,and Macb should confirm this,that Whickham used to play in the vaux wearside league and host the Sunderland shipowners cup on good friday every year. However Whickham is thought as being part of Newcastle! Strange that.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Bedlingtonshire was also part of Durham at one point despite being enclosed in Northumbria, probably some legacy of the feudal system...

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Simple fact is SK that we all know Blaydon is south of the Tyne. So why bother to mention it? And what about the impish little "strange that" at the end of your post? What on Earth is strange about Blaydon being in Durham or being south of the Tyne? It's an ordinary (ie not strange) geographical fact.

Sorry SK, it certainly appears you were having a jibe at the Geordie National Anthem and appears hypocritical of you to deny it. Unless you can provide sensible answers to the questions asked in the paragraph above.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Have Sunderland got an anthem? (Apart from Reid out.)

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

Seriously what the fuck has Newcastle's historical friend Durham got to do with Cheese. The blaydon races is our song because 99% of the football people from blaydon, Scotswood and Gateshead are toon fans, (as are most -about 70%- of the football people of 'west inland Co. Durham' who live near to Newcastle than Sunderland). Not to mention you are a geordie if you live on the tyne and are loyal to the fucking Tyne. Thus the Blaydon Races is a Geordie song.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2002

You're too young Graham, when I first stood at the rec watching the boys in the black and white, they played in the Northern Combination which I think was a Blaydon type league with the likes of Swalwell, Winlaton having sides in it. Only as Whickham grew ambitious did they move on to the Wearside League, and the rest.

The juniors played in the North West Durham Juniors League and were the perennial opponents of Redheugh Boys.

As you well know if you stand at the wall at the end of Orchard Road and lean on the wall looking over the graveyard you can look right and see St James PArk, you look straight ahead and down you see the Scotswood Road, and you look left and you see Blaydon. The whole song can play out in front of you.

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2002

Yes Macb,it is a view I am all too familiar with.

Were you aware that you can see the Ssol from Marley hill? At the peak,just outside the school. Has to be clear like!

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2002

The bit of land that the races used to be held on is now north of the Tyne. There was a big power station built on it.

I was born and bred in Blaydon. 10d on the bus into Toon to see the lads aaah memories.

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2002

Can't you see Norway from Marley Hill on that imaginary clear day ?

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2002

Stella, Josh?

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2002

"Factual-Blaydon is south of the tyne and used to be in Durham".

Deary me no, it certainly never was in Durham. There always was a big chunk of land south of the Tyne that was and still is Northumberland. It currently takes in Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Hexham, Allenheads, Blanchland and half of the Derwent Reservoir. Before the creation of Tyne and Wear in 1974 (it'll never catch on), it also used to include Blaydon. From memory, the boundary with Durham then ran along the River Derwent, so Winlaton was in Northumberland but Wickham was in Durham.

Anyway, wtf does is matter? Is there really supposed to be some sort of NUFC-SAFC border somewhere? Down here just south of Durham City, observation suggests about a 50:50 split, and this is definitely nowhere near Northumberland. Just to show I'm not biased, mind, my former neighbour in Gosforth was a SoL season ticket holder. Bleedin' glory hunter!

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2002

Oh howay Dr B, why'd ya have to p!$$ on Soops' bonfire? For once, he thought the earth had moved for him :)

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2002

Well, I suppose you're right MF. Arguing over who gets Blaydon is a bit like, er, two bald men fighting over a comb.

Can't think why that sprang to mind, like. ;-))

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2002

Had a word with my fatha Lanky. His first match at SJP was the first game after WW2. The crowd were singing The BR at that game.

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2002

Thanks Bud - it was Stella.

Dr Bill - Sorry Blaydon was in CO Durham before Tyne & Wear was formed. The Northumberland border crossed the Tyne further up river.

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2002

Map at http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?grid2map? X=411784&Y=564367&arrow=N&zoom=5 shows Borthumberland meeting the river at about Ryton and following the river to about Wylam, it then wriggles to Consett, pushing High Spen and Chopwell and other such God forsaken places (Buff ?) into Durham/Tyne and Wear. This matches up with my junior school football opponents which went as far as Crawcrook, Chopwell, Marley Hill and Dunston, these were all Durham schools.

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2002

Hey what's with all of this Blaydon bashing? ;-) That's my home town, that is! I remember about five years ago they ran the Blaydon races again, not sure if they have carried on doing it though. Anyone know?

Ok, so there's not much there, but it does have it's own McDonalds now, unlike High Spen(spit) or the gill(spit). And they don't celebrate St. Patricks day. ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2002

Yep, have to own up I got it wrong (again!). Prudhoe was pretty much the most easterly point south of the Tyne that was and is in Northumberland, regardless of the formation of Tyne and Wear. Memory clearly fading faster than... what was I saying?

Anyway, I enjoyed pottering about at this site: http://www.abcounties.co.uk/newgaz/section2.htm if you're interested. No, thought not.

And of course Blaydon's a lovely place, sorry for the cheap shot folks. Now can I take the rest of the week off please? If I go on at this rate it'll be better to stay inside with the doors locked. But Durham is still 50:50 dammit!

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2002

5 or 6 years ago I reckon Durham City (My good ladies home town)was more like 80 20 in wor favour. The way Slumberland are playing it won't be long until that sort of number is back in wor favour.

-- Anonymous, March 24, 2002

I dont see how where Blaydon or Whickham play footy has any bearing on where they're based. I used to play for the Berkley Tavern in Whitley bay but in the Port of Blyth league (cos it was easier than the north tyneside league)...

-- Anonymous, March 25, 2002