South Shields

South Shields FC

Ground: Mariners Park

Capacity: 4,000

Club Founded: 1888

League: National League North Step 2/6th Tier (current level)

South Shields FC is a football club with a remarkable history and a great story of being dragged back from the brink to become a local favourite once again.

The Simplified Version of the Complicated Tale of South Shields

Early Years

The current incarnation of the club from the town on the south bank of the River Tyne began in 1974. However, it's said that their history goes way back, with 1889 being South Shields AFC's first recorded year. Other clubs at that time were South Shields Athletic and South Shields Adelaide. Confusion reigns as to the records of each club, but all seem linked. 

South Shields's earliest home ground was the Athletic Ground on Mowbray Road before they moved to Horsley Hill in 1904. Adelaide, it would appear, dropped that moniker before going on to win the North Eastern League in 1913-14. The club joined the newly extended Football League Division Two for the 1919-20 campaign with Jack Tinn as manager. 

Simonside Hall - Image taken from an online source

FA Cup Quarter-Finalists

Shields twice reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in the 1920s, the second time to Swansea Town, in front of 24,348 fans at Horsley Hill. The club was close to bankruptcy, so the owners decided to relocate and become Gateshead FC. The Shields Gazette newspaper helped the team reform in 1936. Their application to join the North Eastern League was accepted.

The new incarnation played at Horsley Hill with a former goalkeeper from the League days, Ernie Hoffman, as manager. The league title was lifted in 1938-39, before the 'Babes', as they were nicknamed at the time, finished runners-up on three occasions. Problems with the greyhound racing operators at Horsley Hill forced the club to look for an alternative home.

Simonside Hall - Image taken from an online source

Simonside Hall Opens

The new Simonside Hall ground was opened in 1950. The venue quickly developed into one of the best non-league grounds in the north. Gates averaged over 7,000 and featured a few runs to the second round of the FA Cup. The league title was won once more in 1957-58 before the Mariners joined the Midland League. 

Several FA Cup encounters with Football League clubs ensued before Shields joined the Northern Counties League. In the reformed North Eastern League, the team was led by the former Newcastle United and Irish international, Alf McMichael.

Filtrona Park - later known as Mariners Park

Back in the National Spotlight

The North Regional League title was won in 1966-67, with prolific goalscorer Len Smith in the team. He would go on to surpass 1,000 goals. The club became a founding member of the Northern Premier League (NPL) for the 1968-69 campaign, with the side ending fifth in the first two seasons.

The following season, the Mariners reached the third round of the FA Cup after beating Oldham Athletic. It ended in a 4-1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. Notts County defeated them in the second round a year later. It would be the FA Trophy that would provide one last hurrah for the second incarnation of the club.

Relocation to Gateshead - Again

Morecambe ended any dreams of a Wembley appearance in the 1973-74 semi-finals. Despite this, the directors decided to sell Simonside Hall due to poor attendance figures and again relocate the club along the Tyne, where it would become Gateshead United. The Supporters' Club were angry, having initially raised the cash to purchase Simonside Hall. 

A return to Horsley Hill was mooted, but both former grounds were eventually built on with housing. The present incarnation was set up soon after, initially as South Shields Mariners, playing at the basic Jack Clark Park. They won the Northern Alliance and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Vase in 1975-76, where they lost to Friar Lane Old Boys. 

Multiple Promotions

The success led to promotion to the Wearside League, which was lifted in their debut campaign under manager Tony Cassidy. Two more titles followed after the club had moved into their new Filtrona Park home in 1992. Shields went up to Division Two of the Northern League, where they won promotion in their debut season.

Filtrona Park had been generously developed by the club chairman, John Rundle, and his family, who had threatened to end the club if they went down, which is what happened in 1999-00. He relented but looked like he would in 2006 before a new committee took over.

Homeless and Extinction Threat

The Supporters Association was reformed. Promotion was won in 2007-08 under Micky Taylor as manager after helping keep the side in the Northern League and avoid relegation to the Wearside League. Rundle stated his intention to sell Filtrona Park in 2012. The club's supporters and board could raise cash for a mortgage to buy the ground from the owner.

It looked like the club would be left homeless and facing extinction. Rundle gave them a one-year extension to secure the deal. However, the club could not raise the required monies, so they decamped to play at Eden Lane, Peterlee, from the start of the 2012-13 season. 

The Geoff Thompson Era

Consequently, this led to poor form on the pitch and relegation. Things once again looked very bleak for the club as double-digit crowds headed the twenty miles to see Jon King's side in action. That was until local businessman Geoff Thompson bought the club and Filtrona Park in the summer of 2015. 

The Division Two title was won twelve months later, before the side won the Northern League title in 2016-17 and also delivered national glory. The Mariners reached the FA Vase final at Wembley, where they dismantled Cleethorpes Town 4-0 with a brace from David Foley and other goals from Carl Finnigan and Dillon Morse.

Recent Years

The all-star side of the day included former League defender Jon Shaw and Sunderland hero Julio Arca, who captained the side as crowds flocked to the renamed Mariners Park. 2017-18 saw the lifting of the Division One title in the NPL before the side ended as runners-up in the Premier Division a season later.

Two playoff semi-final defeats against the side managed by Lee Picton and Graham Fenton were put right after Sunderland's former striking superstar, Kevin Phillips, was made manager, a year after the club had turned full-time. His team romped to the NPL title, winning promotion to National League North.

A record home crowd of 3,800 also saw Shields lose to Forest Green Rovers in the second round of the FA Cup on live TV. Julio Arca stepped up as manager to replace Phillips, but the appointment failed. The Mariners were defeated in the 2025-26 playoffs before Mike Williamson was given the manager's job.

My visit

Friday 3rd October 2008

I was near the end of an exhausting whistle-stop tour of the grounds around Tyneside when I arrived at Filtrona Park. The ground was very conveniently located, a few minutes' walk from Bede Metro station, down an industrial road called Shaftesbury Avenue.

The ground at the time was pretty basic on three sides. It consisted of a small area of open, flat standing, with only the dugouts breaking the monotony down one side. However, the far side of the ground entrance was very impressive.

The main feature was an unusually designed Main Stand with a large wall dividing the seating level from the terracing. The seats were claret with the paintwork sky blue, to reflect the club's colours. A small covered area was in front of an impressively large two-storey clubhouse, which also contained the changing rooms and club facilities.

The ground had everything the Mariners could have wanted at the time, including protection from bad weather for spectators.

Many thanks to Tony Foster for supplying the evening photos of Mariners Park