Monday 6th April 2026 ko 11:30

Northern League Division Two

JARROW 2 (Barber 64 Hardie 74)

BOLDON COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 2 (Laidler 45+1 Devlin 90+3)

Whitfield (assistant manager) sent off 56 (serious foul play)

Att 507

Entry £5

Programme £2

The Northern Hop’s last day has all the feel of trying to reintregrate outselves into the real world after 10 games in 4 days. Robyn and I were tasked with taking “Welsh Football” editor Dave Collins to Darlington Station- unfortunately Bank Holiday Monday and trains to Cardiff don’t mix!

We made a virtue of the detour, visiting David Mach’s “Brick Train” sculpture then on a more more random level, Teesside Airport Railway Station. The latter is famous for being Britain’s least used railway station, mainly because it was built completely on the wrong side of the airport.

From there we headed north for the final time, to Jarrow, which other than being the birthplace of the Venerable Bede, is probably best known for shipbuilding- and it was the deprivation caused by the closure of Jarrow’s shipyard in 1934 that led to the Jarrow March of October 1936. It was an organised protest against the unemployment and poverty and 200 men, or “Crusaders” as they preferred to be called, marched from Jarrow to London, carrying a petition to the British government requesting the re-establishment of ship building industry in the town.

The petition was received by the House of Commons but was not debated, and the march produced few immediate results. The men of Jarrow went home believing that they had failed. The fact that people still talk of them today shows the impact their sacrifice had.

Jarrow FC are based at the Perth Green Community Association and have done so since their founding in 1981. The ground then was little more than a railed off pitch, but was substantially upgraded for entry to the Northern League in 2017. What makes the place interesting is that those upgrades were built around the Community Association. Look at the covered walkway leading from the main building to the changing room and tea bar and kitchen you walk past the library!

The two clubs playing here being paired was interesting for some of the older groundhoppers. Around 20 years ago Richie McLoughlin owner of Jarrow Roofing Ltd started a club named after his firm. Like so many clubs that are no more than a rich man’s plaything they don’t last long, but for those of us based in the south it wasn’t a daft assumption that they were from Jarrow? Of course they weren’t, their ground was adjacent to Boldon CA’s some 6 miles south! Jarrow Roofing folded in 2018 but the ground is still there. At times it did feel like one of derbies that aren’t I like to collect- the Cwmmaman one for example!

There was plenty riding on the game too with Jarrow pushing hard for promotion but Boldon were staring relegation in the face, Here Boldon battled hard for the draw helped in no small part by a massive goalkeeping howler in the final seconds of the game. Perhaps you make your own luck!