Team Northumbria

Team Northumbria FC is the football team of Northumbria University, which is based in Benton, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Starting out life as Northumbria University FC they entered the Northern Alliance in 1999 as members of Division Two in the same year as their formation.

Promotion to Division One was achieved in 2001-02, where they ended runners-up in 2002-03 to move up to the Premier Division when they changed name to their present title. The team became Northern Alliance champions in 2005-06.

This led to a successful application to join the Northern League, where the Division Two title was collected in 2011-12, after team was given a higher priority after the appointment of Paul Johnson as manager.

Despite being relegated in 2013-14, the team rebuilt thanks to a new influx of students and ended as runners-up in 2016-17. Their Division One season of 2017-18 ended in a midtable finish before they resigned from the Northern League, returning to the BUCS Premier North League.

Team Northumbria FC will play in the BUCS Premier North League in the 2023-24 season.

My visit

Saturday 4th October 2008

I was on a whistle stop tour of a few grounds on a wet Saturday morning before heading off to the FA Vase clash between Esh Winning and Scarborough Athletic. I could easily have been there for a match as Esh had eliminated the students in the previous round of the competition.

I had decided to walk to the Coach Lane ground from my previous stop at West Allotment Celtic which was just a few hundred yards away. I was a little flustered as I went down Coach Lane as the university campus covers a large area. I saw a pitch with floodlights through a fence and thought about ways to gain access as I am very seldom beaten in my quests. 

As it was I continued as I saw some vehicles turning left in the distance. When I saw the road leading off I was most happy as a sign for Team Northumbria FC greeted me. The ground was relatively new and was positioned against a large sports hall complex.

All was locked up so I wandered around and took photos over the fence. I found a ball in the grass behind one goal and walloped it over the fence which would probably give them a surprise when they next played. 

The ground was extremely basic. It had a path and grass all the way round apart from in front of the sports hall which was hard standing where a small covered seated stand and refreshment caravan stood under the shelter of the large wall.

All in all I was not too impressed and rather thankful that Boro were playing at the comparatively plentiful facilities at Esh Winning that afternoon, bearing in mind the need of a good clubhouse and plentiful covering on a wet day for the largish Seadog away following. 

It all also made me wonder just how consistent were the ground graders when making their judgements?