Is Washington’s formal resignation from the Ebac Northern League merely to allow a little breathing space before the league’s annual meeting in June? Yesterday’s blog thought it possible, the club can’t be contacted but league secretary Kevin Hewitt thinks it’s curtains.
In that once-new town the faithful few are getting old and, inevitably, less vigorous. Wherever young blood flows thereabouts, it’s not in the direction of the Nissan ground on winter Saturdays. The trend is greatly worrying.
So what does the FA do? Instead of sustaining and supporting what they have, they encourage – some would say cajole – clubs to yet greater expense, greater travel and greater time commitment by taking what fancifully is known as promotion to geographically far-flung competitions.
Then they send overworked officials on compulsory courses. The approach has all the prescience of the tail-end Charlie of the Gadarene swine.
Anyone who has read Washington FC’s potted history will remember that the club was formed, as Washington Mechanics, in the bait cabin of F Pit in 1947.
As a Wearside League club they reached the FA Cup fourth qualifying round in 1970, losing 3-0 to Bradford Park Avenue. In 1988 they joined the Northern League (after finishing 11th in the Wearside.)
For a while they were known as Washington Ikeda Hoover, several times mis-translated as Ikea Hoover, though I don’t recall flat pack vacuum cleaners.
Four men stand out: club president Tom Boylen must be 80, chairman Derek Armstrong, secretary Barry Spendley and evergreen Bob Goodwin may all be pushing 70. They’ve done magnificently, not least back in 2001 when arsonists burned the clubhouse to the ground.
With the invaluable help of then secretary George Abbott, the replacement was palatial (and the chips fantastic.) It was further vandalism which compelled the move to Nissan in 2010.
So with Norton and Stockton Ancients already gone and West Allotment Celtic’s resignation still on the agm agenda, the Northern League faces losing an unprecedented three clubs in one season.
At the end of next season, the FA will likely hook another four or five in the specious name of progress. What on earth is to be done? Time for another course, I think.
Grass Routes 