Something a little different – not to mention unseasonal – blog reader Lance Kidney discovers this image among the Kingstonian FC archives. It was February 1960, and there was a dusting of snow at Ferryhill Athletic.
Borrowed from The Wind in the Willows, the phrase about what’s a little wet to a water rat comes to mind. Others sadly, appear to have demurred.
It was an FA Amateur Cup third round replay, the Ks having travelled north the previous day – “a four hour train journey from Kings Cross to Darlington” – though 200 supporters had left by coach at midnight. “A nine hour trip,” the archive insists.
Either it was a very slow coach or there was a bit of snow on the A1 as well.
The match was called off three-and-a-half hours before kick-off. “Understandably Ks were furious at the late postponement ,” says the website. “Ferryhill claimed they could have cleared the pitch had there not been another snow storm on Friday night but many other games in Co Durham had been called off on Friday afternoon.”
Northern Goalfields mentions nothing of the snow, possibly because it was pretty much par for the course, merely recording that at the same stage of the competition Shildon lost 3-1 at home to Enfield, Crook Town beat Walthamstow Avenue and West Auckland won 2-1 at Maidenhead United. When the Ks returned to Ferryhill – presumably having safely got home in the first place – they won 4-2.
Crook reached their third successive Amateur Cup semi-final, losing 2-1 at St James’ Park to blooming Kingstonian. West Auckland went on to win their first Northern League title, by two points from Whitley Bay, Penrith reached their first League Cup final but went down 1-0 to Bishop Auckland and poor old Billingham Synners were bottom with just 11 points from 28 games.
*Kingstonian were familiar opponents to Northern league clubs in Amateur Cup days, no match more memorable than a home Amateur Cup tie with Bishop Auckland in 1954-55.
Bishops led 12-0 when skipper Bob Hardisty advised that they could go easy a bit, prompting legendarily eccentric goalkeeper Harry Sharratt into an unaccustomed act of largesse. Some accounts suppose that he was up front trying to score the 13th, most that he simply leant against the post as the Ks hit three in quick succession.
Poor Hardisty was losing what little hair he had. “Not that bloody easy, Harry,” he said.
Harry was 71 when, much mourned, he died in August 2002. His obituary in The Times reckoned he’d been Blackpool’s reserve keeper in the 1953 FA Cup final.
Kingstonian’s goalie on the day of the doughty dozen was Geoff North, himself a former Bishop Auckland player, whose father had kept goal for the Two Blues in the 1914, 1915 and 1921 Amateur Cup finals.
*Impossible to think of snow around the Northern League, of course, without recalling Stanley United – as several recent blogs have done. Thawed out, we shall have a little more to say about them tomorrow.
Grass Routes 