Bold 2 in 1

Boldon Community Association 2 v Stockton Town 0, shipowners Cup, semi final

Without too much to choose from, a Wearside jaunt was the order of the day.  Both Mike and Mad Dai in tow, the later as primed as ever.

It was a TransPennine service up to Newcastle, for the incarceration of a Northern unit onwards, full of Pompey fans heading for Hartlepool.  Still, the sun was out over the Tyne.

Sunderland is one of the unsung hellhole stations, being rebuilt in the 1960s with a shopping centre on top, giving it all the glamour of a central Newcastle Metro station.

The centre of Sunderland is just like a large version of the sorts of precincts you get in 1970s council estates.  Square concrete buildings full of discount shops, with lots of brutalist street furniture for she'll suit wearers of all ages to gather around.  Here is the high street.

Still enough for Dai to take a holiday snap of.

We heading slightly out of town for the guide pubs.  However, the Ivy House and Fitzgeralds were both closed, so we ended up at the excellent Dun Cow, cleared with a Anarchy - Blonde Star, and a Camerons - A-hop-alypse.

Back into town for a bus move.  Mike and Dai's company obviously starting to wane.

Across the Wear.

Into Boldon, and heading for the ground.

I'd wrongly assumed that Boldon CA played at the Boldon CA sports club, but it seems this was actually Jarrow Roofings ground.

Poking through the fence, all was quiet.

However, shouts from behind an adjacent fence revealed this.

Boldon Community Association 2 v Stockton Town 0, Shipowners Cup, semi final

Boldon were formed in 1892 as Boldon Star, and were founder members of the Wearside League.  They have gone through some suffix changes, becoming Villa, then Colliery Welfare, and now Community Association.  They have continued in the Wearside league, winning it on four occasions.   

Stockton Town were formed in 1979 as Hartburn Juniors and for a long time they just played in the youth teams around Teeside.  By 2003, the club had changed its name to Stockton Town F.C. and were competing in mens leagues.  They have had a meteoric rise in the current decade, moving first to the Teesside League, and then immediately to the Wearside League which they have won three times in a row and are currently top of the league.  They have applied to join the Northern League but failed ground grading.

We entered just to see the home team take the lead.

The main feature of the ground is this cover.

On the near side is the original cover and tea bar, knocking out economy cheeseburgers for 50p.

Behind the near goal is a shallow grass bank, which houses the only seating n the ground.

Strenuous efforts had been made to repair a broken stretch of railings.  You can hardly notice it is missing.

A wonderful selection of agricultural clutter.

Mike gives this particular item of torture equipment a quick risk assessment.

Despite the fair weather, there was still an @keepers_towel present.

The far goal was adjoined by the only conservatory in Wearside.

Some wonderful Anderson Shelter themed dugouts.

Getting Mike and Dai to turn round for a photo, just as Stockton broke for a one on one with the keeper.  I didn't tell them.

Half time was a penalty shoot out competition for five year olds.  Won by the team who had the only player who could kick it far enough for it to cross the goal line.

I ventured off to the bogs, with its novel door lock of having a wheelie bin wedged against it.

Inside it had high end features such as exposed mains wiring and a knife to cut up the soap.

Second half and Boldon added another.

The game finished 2-0, which the local paper described as a 'shock win'.

We headed back to the bus.

This took us a different way back, through the former colliery areas, now enjoying an agricultural reprisal.

However, it still resulted in being back in Sunderland.

We jumped on the train South, alighting at Stockton and heading for the Sun Inn, which proclaims to sell the most pints of Bass in Britain, and it being the leading expert on how to pull them.

I was therefore slightly surprised to receive this.  Locals who I have discussed this with suggest this is how it should look, I'm not so sure.  My view is that it is a test to see if anyone uses the phrase 'can I get a flake in that', and if so, beating them to death with a large stick would be seen as doing society a favour of ridding it of base level humour cretins.

So we moved on to the very acceptable but tiny Golden Smog for a Welbeck Abbey - Kaiser.  I pointed out this scarf to Dai, who's response was that he'd never heard of them.  At this point I gave up and went home.  Education is futile.