Birtley Town F.C.

Birtley Town FC
Full name	Birtley Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Hoops, Green and White Army, Super Greens
Founded	1993 (reformed)
Ground	The Robinson Heating & Plumbing Stadium, Birtley
Capacity	6600+ (50 seats in stand)
Manager	Paul Beat
League	Northern League Division Two
2017–18	Northern Alliance Premier Division, 2nd of 16 (promoted)
	Home colours
	Home colours

Birtley Town Football Club is a football club based in Birtley, Tyne and Wear, England. They are currently members of the Northern League Division Two for the 2018-19 season after a two year stint in the Northern Football Alliance following relegation in 2016.

History

Although a side from Birtley competed in the inaugural season of the Northern League in 1889–90, the current team were only founded in 1993, when they joined the Wearside League. The reformed side won their first major trophy in 1998 when they defeated Annfield Plain in the League Challenge Cup Final.^[1] Four years later they narrowly missed out on a clean sweep of the Wearside League's three cup competitions, winning both the Monkwearmouth and League Challenge Cups but losing in the final of the Sunderland Shipowners' Cup to Jarrow FC.

In the same year they merged with Birtley St Joseph's Juniors, expanding the club to include junior sides from the ages of seven to eighteen while adding girls, ladies and reserve teams. This led to the award of FA Charter Standard Club status in 2004.^[2]

Despite ending the town's 57 year wait for a league championship by lifting the 2003–04 Wearside League title, Birtley were unable to move up to the Northern League as their ground did not meet the required standard. Following the addition of floodlights and changing facilities, they won the 2006–07 Wearside League, finally gaining promotion to Division Two of the Northern League.^[3] In their first season they finished eleventh ^[4] and reached the quarter – final of the Northern League Cup.

During the 2008–09 season Birtley Town made their first appearance in the FA Vase. Given a bye in the First Round, they were drawn at home to Scarborough Athletic, the visitors winning the game 3–2 in front of a crowd of 240. They consolidated their position in the Northern League, improving their final league position to eighth ^[5] with 61 points from 38 matches.

Before starting their 2009–10 campaign, however, the club's main sponsor pulled out, leading to an exodus of players and a season in which they lost thirty of their thirty-eight matches, winning four, drawing four and ending the season with a final goal difference of minus seventy-four. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Billingham Synthonia, losing 3–1 in a home Extra-Preliminary Round replay.^[6]

They remained in the Northern League Division Two until the 2015-16 season where a 21st position finish saw them relegated to the Northern Football Alliance Premier Division. After a significant rebuilding process over two years both on and off the pitch, they secured promotion back to Northern League Division Two in 2017/18 with a second place finish and won the Northern Football Alliance League Cup.

Current squad

Position	Player	Position	Player
MID	James Allsopp (C)	ATT	Joseph Barwick
GK	Jordan Bolton	DEF	Michael Dodds
ATT	James Fenwick	ATT	Connor Finlay
DEF	Michael Graver	DEF	Martin Guy
DEF	Jordan Hailes	MID	Nick Hay (VC)
DEF	Simon Hay	MID	Dan Hill
GK	Mark Hodgson	MID	Jack Honour
DEF	Cameron Hood	MID	Dan Irving
DEF	Connor Lane	ATT	Aaron McEwen
DEF	Mark Pattison	DEF	Adam Quigley
GK	Curtis Richardson	ATT	Tony Smith
DEF	Matty Soulsby	DEF	Morgan Spence
MID	Ricky Tanoh	MID	Charlie Watson
MID	Alex White	DEF	Lewis Whybrow

Youth teams

There are a wide range of youth teams from Under 6's (SoccerTots) through to Under 18's with the Under 18 side of the 2012/2013 season entering the FA Youth Cup; the first Junior Birtley side to do so beating Scarborough at home 3-0 before losing their next game 1-0 at Bedlington Terriers.

There have also been some footballers that have made it professionally from Birtley such as Premier League striker Gary Madine who plays for newly-promoted Cardiff City and former Chelsea FC Reserve Vice-Captain and current Hartlepool United FC defender and Captain, Carl Magnay.

Honours

Wearside League Division One Champions – 2002–03, 2006–07
Wearside League Division Two Champions – 1994–95
League Challenge Cup
Winners – 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06
Finalists – 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07
Monkwearmouth Cup Winners – 2001–02
Shipowners' Cup Finalists – 2001–02
Northern Football Alliance League Cup Finalists – 2016–17
Northern Football Alliance League Cup Winners – 2017–18

Records

FA Vase: Best performance: First Round – 2010-11 ^[7]
FA Cup: Best performance: Extra-Preliminary Round – 2009-10
Northern League: Best League position: 8th, Division 2 – 2008-09

References

↑ "1990's". Wearside-football-league.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
↑ "Tyne - Junior Football - News & Talk". BBC. 2004-04-05. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
↑ "Club Details". Northern League. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
↑ "Northern League Archive Division Two Table". Northernleague.org. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
↑ "Northern League Archive Division Two Table". Northernleague.org. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
↑
↑ http://www.fchd.info/BIRTLEYT.HTM

External links

Birtley Town at the Football Club History Database

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "1990's". Wearside-football-league.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-08-19.

[2] "Tyne - Junior Football - News & Talk". BBC. 2004-04-05. Retrieved 2012-08-19.

[3] "Club Details". Northern League. Retrieved 2012-08-19.

[4] "Northern League Archive Division Two Table". Northernleague.org. Retrieved 2012-08-19.

[5] "Northern League Archive Division Two Table". Northernleague.org. Retrieved 2012-08-19.

[6] ↑

[7] ttp://www.fchd.info/BIRTLEYT.HTM

2018–19 Northern League
Division One	Ashington Bishop Auckland ~~Blyth~~ Consett Dunston UTS Guisborough Town Hebburn Town Newcastle Benfield Newton Aycliffe North Shields Penrith Ryhope Colliery Welfare Seaham Red Star Shildon Stockton Town Sunderland Ryhope Community Association ~~Team Northumbria~~ West Auckland Town Whickham Whitley Bay
Division Two	Bedlington Terriers Billingham Town Billingham Synthonia Birtley Town Brandon United Chester-le-Street Town Crook Town Durham City Easington Colliery Esh Winning Heaton Stannington Jarrow Northallerton Town Redcar Athletic Ryton & Crawcrook Albion Thornaby Tow Law Town Washington West Allotment Celtic Willington
Seasons	1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19