TT No.266: Mike Latham - Saturday 19 May 2007: Northern Football Alliance; Gillford Park 3-1 Whitley Bay A.  Attendance: 70; Admission: £1; 8pp programme: 50 pence; FGIF Match Rating: 4*

View matchday images 01 02 03 04 05 06 07    It’s the penultimate Saturday in May and fixtures are running out fast, which explains why travellers from as far a-field as Sunderland, Sheffield, Mansfield, London and Chorley are lining the touchline at Gillford Park on a blustery but sunny afternoon in Carlisle.   Gillford Park have had another remarkable season and have earned their second successive promotion in some style- this hard earned victory in their final league match of the campaign saw them pass the 100-goal mark in league games and was a fitting way to finish.   Next season Gillford Park will rub shoulders with fellow Carlisle based teams Harraby Catholic Club, Northbank and Carlisle City in the Premier Division.  With plans to install floodlights in the next few weeks (due to the generosity of Gretna chairman Brooks Mileson, who is redeveloping Raydale Park and hence has no need for the old ones) this ground, remarkable for one at this level of the pyramid, could soon be gracing Northern League football.   Gillford Park has a chequered history, once the home of Carlisle’s professional rugby league club after they left Brunton Park in the mid-1980s until they ‘merged’ with Barrow at the end of the 1997 season.  What the merger meant was that Barrow acquired the Carlisle moniker, Border Raiders (subsequently amended to Raiders) and some of the best players, of whom Darren Holt has gone on to beat the immortal Willie Horne’s club points-scoring record, but that professional rugby league was lost in the border city.   Located to the south of Carlisle, about two miles from J42 of the M6 motorway off Petterill Bank Road, just before the railway bridge, Gillford Park is built on land occupied by the Carlisle & District Railway, Sports and Athletics Club. It was once a fairly intimidating place to visit for professional rugby league teams with a noisily passionate home crowd, coupled with some highly talented local players, combining to make life difficult.  Attendances of around the 500-mark, bigger for local derbies were easily accommodated. A ground record of 2,042 was established for a cup-tie against Workington Town in 2004.   Some ex-Carlisle players went on to have good careers in the game, George Graham later switching back to rugby union and going on to play for Scotland while Simon Knox played in two Wembley finals for Bradford, to name but two, while evergreen ex-GB fullback Paul Charlton was a noted coach.   Rugby League’s loss, though the amateur game is still played there, was football’s gain with a Gillford Park Spartans side operating upon the Raiders’ demise until they moved across the city to become Harraby Catholic Club.  The current club was only recently formed but with a hugely enthusiastic committee they are really going places and have a stadium that would certainly meet Northern League requirements given the installation of lights and a bit of TLC around the place, including work on the weeds at the far end of the ground.   Completely enclosed and surrounded by the mainline railway, a housing estate and farmland, Gillford Park is an impressive stadium with a distinctive stand straddling the halfway line, a covered shallow terrace on the far side and a small cantilevered stand behind the nearside goal, entitled the ‘Brookes (sic) Mileson Stand.’   They made it a day to remember, kicking –off at 1pm so that a barbeque could be enjoyed at the railway club adjoining the ground while the FA Cup Final could be ‘enjoyed’ on the big screen.  A super eight-page programme was produced and the team line-ups given over the tannoy together with goal-scorers.  As an added service the line-ups were repeated at half-time, a wonderful service, when snacks from the tea bar could be enjoyed at ridiculously cheap prices, a cup of tea retailing for 30 pence.   No wonder the travellers, who swelled the crowd to around the 70-mark, were full of enthusiasm for their visit at the tail-end of the season.  They saw a decent game, played on a lush playing surface with the visitors having the temerity to take an early lead before the champions earned another victory to end the campaign with an unbeaten home record.  The game was played in an excellent spirit and reflected well on the league.   Gillford Park also has an excellent website, the envy of many clubs far higher up the pyramid which, like the programme, is overseen by Harley Freemantle.   Their progress next season will be closely watched as here, clearly, is a team on the up.  They play excellent attacking football and have the stadium to match- the Northern League is clearly a realistic target for this ambitious and friendly club.

contributed on 20/05/07