Saturday 5th April 2026 ko 11:00

Northern League Division Two

AFC NEWBIGGIN 1 (Turnbull 90+9)

Livingstone sent off 90+7 (dangerous play)

ALNWICK TOWN 1 (Shell 44)

Ogidan sent off 62 (violent conduct)

Att 466 (Ground record)

Entry £5

Programme £1.50

Saturday on the Northern Hop sawe us head, well north. Certainly from an English perspective the second you cross into Northumberland, you are certainly in the north. I did have a slight advantage heading through the Tyne Tunnel, I’d visited Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on holiday 20 years earlier.

Back then I used Newbiggin as a base to tick off Blyth Spartans and the new defunct Bedlington Terriers- and it does seem barely believable that the Terriers will nt be on a Northern Hop on this run. But this cold morning was all about Newbiggin where “Angry Young Men” author John Braine wrote his novel “Room at the Top” in 1957. I suspect he’s best known for his novel “The Crying Game” although the film of the same name has no similarity to it.

AFC Newbiggin were formed in 2011 one of a line of clubs representing the town, with Newbiggin Central Welfare having scratched from the Northern Alliance in 2005. They’ve always been based at Newbiggin Sports Centre and half the fun of visiting is how the leisure centre and the football club have had to work together to allow the club to progress. Those who booked in advance wondered why there was a red wristband in their programme packs- one look at the leisure centre and you could see why, it was to seperate those who were there for football from regular users.

It was good too see Alnwick there, and back in the league. I remember when a trip to St James Park was the northern height of my groundhopping ambitions- it is geographically isolated in footballing terms. Nevertheless they are very much in our throughts for future hops, and they were part of an entertaining game here.

In fact the only issue was I could have so easily missed half of it. The 4 of us at GroundhopUK were invited into hospitality at half time, and past UEFA and FA Cup Final referee, and current League committeeman George Courteney was holding court. He is a thoroughly likeable gentleman with real charisma, and I could have listened to him for hours. The football did come first as it has to, and the second half turned into quite an affair with two red cards and a late equaliser for Newbiggin. All things considered, it would have be churlish to have begrudged them that. I may be a man, but I’m not young, or angry!