Easington Colliery FC
Welfare Park
Memorial Avenue
Easington Colliery
Durham
SR8 3PL
Ground Number: 1012
Sunday 17th October 2021
Easington Mechanics 4-0 Roseberry Park
Peterlee & District League D1 Cup 1st Round 1st Leg
EASINGTON COLLIERY FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was established in 1913 and straight away joined the Wearside League. They've spent a large majority of their history here and were champions in 1929–30, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1947–48 & 1948–49. Originally known as Easington Colliery Welfare, they changed their name in 1976, dropping the Welfare suffix. Easington Colliery would join the Northern League Division 2 in 1985, starting in Division 2 and finishing as runners-up behind Blue Star in their first season to seal promotion to the top tier. In 1987, they enjoyed their best-ever finish in their debut season of 10th. They generally struggled though and would alternate between the two divisions for a number of seasons. In 2005, the club finished second bottom and were relegated to the Northern Alliance. They spent two seasons here before returning to the Wearside League. A runners-up spot behind Ryhope CW was good enough for promotion but they lasted just one season before being relegated back down. Another runners-up spot, this time behind Stockton Town was good enough for promotion back to the Northern League. They finished 6th in their first season and remain there to this day.
The club's best-ever FA Cup run came in 1955. They beat Seaham CW, Silksworth CW, Consett and Horden CW before losing 2-0 to Football League side Tranmere Rovers in the 1st Round. They also reached the FA Vase 4th Round in 1983, losing to Percy Main Amateurs in a replay. In terms of local cups, they've won the Wearside League Cup four times, the Monkwearworth Cup on three occasions and the Sunderland Shipowners Cup twice. Their record attendance of 4,500 came for that FA Cup match against Tranmere Rovers. Easington Colliery is a town in County Durham, England, known for a history of coal mining. It is situated to the north of Horden, and a short distance to the east of Easington Village. The town suffered a significant mining accident on 29 May 1951, when an explosion in the mine resulted in the deaths of 83 men (including 2 rescue workers). The current population is around 5,000. The team I was going to see, Easington Mechanics, play in Division 1 of the Peterlee & District Sunday League. They were a strong Premier League team, following promotion from Division 1 in 2016. However, they spent last season out of football and were demoted as a result.
MY VISIT
With me seeing a game at Newcastle United in the afternoon, I wanted a morning game to go with it. It would be a Sunday League game and there was no shortage of competition, though finding fixtures was a bit tricky if you didn't know where to look. Luckily, a member of the Non-League Matters forum was on hand to help and pointed me in the direction of the Peterlee and District Sunday League. This provided me with my initial target of Seaham Red Star. However, I checked on Thursday night and the fixture had disappeared. Instead, I went for a game at Easington Colliery as it had two games, presumably one on the back pitch. It was also available on the same bus ticket that I was going to use to get to Seaham. I did my research on the clubs and started my blog to try and get a better understanding of the game.
I woke on the day of the game at 5.30, having had six hours of sleep thanks to a boozy night on Saturday. I watched YouTube for a bit before having a shower, getting my stuff together and leaving at 8.20. I walked to town and had a chicken and stuffing baguette from Greggs before getting my ticket from the train station. It was then a 10 minute walk to Sunderland Interchange where I got my bus to Easington Colliery. I had a 6 minute walk to the ground and was there by 10.10. It was a great venue to watch a Sunday League game at but I didn't see any signs saying it was the home of Easington Colliery.
Easington Mechanics were in 2nd place. They were unbeaten for the season and their last two games had seen them beat East Durham 7-1 and Newton Aycliffe Roundhouse 9-2. They'd drawn 1-1 with Roseberry Mechanics in the league. Their opponents were also doing well, top of the league. They'd won 3-0 at Chilton & Windstone and 4-1 at Peterlee Helford United. All this was very impressive for a host that was out of football last season and an opponent who were freshly promoted from Division 2. The hosts were in yellow and black and the visitors in red and white. Despite there being two dugouts, the Roseberry coaches opted to stand on the opposite side, something that seems to be a tradition in Sunday League. Roseberry looked the neater side but it was Easington Mechanics that took the lead on 11 minutes with the first real chance of the game. It was a low finish from around 10 yards to put them 1-0 up. On 22 minutes, it was 2-0, a well worked move finished with the ball being slotted past the advancing keeper. Roseberry hit the post and up until now, the game had been even. Easington Mechanics stepped it up in the second half, hitting the post on 48 minutes. Roseberry fired narrowly wide on 52 minutes and that was their last real chance to get back in the game. On 63 minutes it was 3-0, the ball fired into the roof of the net from the edge of the area. Two minutes later it was 4-0 and now Roseberry face a big ask to turn it around in the second leg next Sunday. They were very unlucky to lose 4-0, so anything is possible. There were around 30 in attendance overall.
THE GROUND
WELFARE PARK is a pleasant ground in a nice setting. There's just the one covered area with around 150 seats and 100 standing spaces. There's plenty of terracing elsewhere which is open to the elements. All around is parkland but there are plenty of shops and takeaways nearby but I didn't see any pubs. Parking is plentiful and it's fairly well served by bus routes.
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