West Auckland Town

West Auckland Town FC is a non-league football club from the old mining community of West Auckland in County Durham in the north east of England who were formed in 1893 as West Auckland FC.

A fascinating history of competitive football began in 1896 as the club competed in the Wear Valley League before moving to the South Durham Alliance in 1900 and then the Mid Durham League from 1905.

The club had yearned to join the Northern League for a few years, and they eventually became members for the 1908-09 season. However, a far greater adventure was to befall West Auckland later that campaign.

Businessman, tea magnate and sports enthusiast Sir Thomas Lipton wanted to hold a football tournament featuring the leading clubs of Europe. The Italian, German and Swiss FA’s complied but the English FA refused to send a team.

Sir Thomas selected West Auckland; a team of coal miners to represent England. The reasons for their selection have never been established, although there have been a couple of theories.

One was that an invite was mistakenly sent to the north east when it was meant for Woolwich Arsenal. The other was that the businessman had received a touching letter from a young member of the West Auckland team and decided that they deserved an opportunity.

The team travelled to Turin in April 1909, with several players having to raise the money themselves. Despite the long trip, Auckland defeated German side Sportfreunde Stuttgart 2-0 with goals from Whittington and Dickinson.

The final ended in a 2-1 victory over Swiss club FC Winterthur with J. Jones and R. Jones scoring the goals. West Auckland were awarded the magnificent trophy to become the unofficial champions of the world.

West Auckland returned to Turin in 1911 to retain the trophy following wins against Zürich and then host club Juventus; who were hammered 6-1 to keep the trophy in perpetuity. The cost of the trip took its toll, so the trophy was pawned to the landlady of the local hotel on the team’s return.

The club folded in debt and left the Northern League in 1912, before being reformed in 1914 as West Auckland Town FC. After competing in regional league football, the club was admitted to the Northern League in October 1934 to replace Esh Winning.

The 1950’s were a boom time in the area as neighbours Bishop Auckland dominated the first half of the decade in both the Northern League and FA Amateur Cup. ‘West’ followed on with a golden period of their own.

In 1956-57 and 1958-59 the team finished as league runners-up. However, West Auckland weren’t to be denied in the 1959-60 season as they were crowned as Northern League champions as well as reaching the FA Cup first round, before retaining the league title the following season.

In 1960 a village appeal managed to raise enough money to buy back the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy for the football club.

The 1960-61 season also saw a magnificent season in the Amateur Cup as Penrith, Walton & Hersham and Leytostone were defeated to set up the final at Wembley against Walthamstow Avenue, which the Londoners won 2-1.

The 1961-62 season saw West reach the first round of the FA Cup once again; where they went out to Barnsley in a replay. The team also reached the semi-final of the Amateur Cup before being defeated by Crook Town at Ayresome Park.

Following this the club became a middle table Northern League club before being relegated to the recently formed Division Two in 1982-83. The 1990-91 campaign saw West crowned as Northern League Division Two champions, and win promotion.

The famous Lipton Trophy was stolen, and never recovered despite a £2,000 reward being put up on offer. A replica was later made thanks to sponsorship from Unilever, the owners of the Lipton brand.

In 1996-97 the team finished bottom of the table and were relegated, but they recovered twelve months later to regain their Division One place after ending the season as league runners-up.

The 1998-99 season saw West Auckland reach the FA Cup first round for a third time; on this occasion they went out in a replay at Darlington Road to Yeovil Town following a penalty shoot out.

Several managers such as David Bayles, Lee Ellison, Phil Owers, Brian Fairhurst and Ray Guthrie all had spells at Darlington Road. The team finished in the relegation places in 2008-09 but were saved from the drop after Sunderland Nissan pulled out of the league.

Former Hartlepool United legend Brian Honour was appointed as the new team manager, while the club embarked on a dream journey to commemorate the centenary of the Lipton Trophy win with a trip to play Italian giants Juventus.

However, the trip didn’t quite work out as expected. Read the report from the Northern Echo here:

Honour and then Wilf Constantine both left after brief spells as manager with Peter Dixon arriving to steer the side away from a relegation battle. He continued to build a fine side which finished as Northern League runners-up in 2011-12.

The same season saw the club reach the FA Vase final at Wembley after fine run which culminated in a aggregate victory over Herne Bay in the semi-finals before West went down to fellow Northern League side Dunston UTS in the final.

West Auckland returned to Wembley in 2014 after defeating St Andrews of Leicester in the FA Vase semi-final. In the final at the national stadium, Dixon’s side were defeated 1-0 to Sholing.

Dixon resigned as West Auckland manager in August 2014. Steve Skinner and Darren Williams had a spell as joint managers before Skinner took on the role alone. He departed in January 2017 to be replaced by the former Shildon boss Gary Forrest, who led the team to  safety at the end of the 2016-17 campaign.

West Auckland Town FC will play in the Northern League Division One in the 2017-18 season.

My visit

Wednesday 25^th January 2017

The start of my week on the road had begun well; especially now that the sun had broken through the fog. I’d visited two clubs in Darlington and well as the homes of Shildon and Bishop Auckland before a bus deposited me in the centre of West Auckland.

The statue commemorating the ‘World Cup’ win on the green separating Front Street was the first thing that caught my eye. It never failed to captivate me how a small mining town could achieve such a magnificent thing.

It was just a short stroll down Darlington Road to the entrance to The Wanted Metal Stadium, as the ground had been renamed in a sponsorship deal. Unfortunately the gates were locked, but I hadn’t travelled all that way to be disappointed.

I wandered down Oakley Manor; a new cul-de-sac with neat housing. Towards the bottom of the road the housing gave way to allow me a view for photos. I also straddled a gate to enter a field at the bottom end to enhance my options.

The ground was neat and tidy, but mainly open flat standing, apart from along the road side, where there was a seated stand with players tunnel in the middle, and a small covered standing area.

I’d been keeping an eye on bus times towards Crook via Bishop Auckland, which was my destination. I was also trying to work out how much time I had to fit in all my plans. I managed to find a spare thirty minutes.

I entered the quiet West Auckland Working Men’s Club & Institute where the friendly lady behind the bar served me a pint of Sam Smith’s Sovereign Bitter. I asked if I could see the famous trophy. It was no problem!

The replica was kept in a secure cabinet in the club since the original had been stolen. The lady put the lights on for me so I could have a proper look. She said it was a fairly regular request from visitors.

The club was pretty typical of many such places in the north east. The non nonsense punters said what they thought while watching the Racing Channel on TV. I enjoyed listening to them relate tales about the price of ale in London. I kept silent!

My visit to West Auckland had been relatively short, but it ticked all the boxes. I really needed to return for a match at some point.