Cockfield F.C.

Cockfield F.C.

Full name	Cockfield Football Club
Founded	Unknown
Dissolved	2010
Ground	Hazel Grove

Cockfield Football Club was an association football team from the village of Cockfield, County Durham in the north of England which was dubbed the "Village Wonder Team" in the 1920s after achieving success in the national FA Amateur Cup. The club's fortunes later declined significantly and it folded in 2010.

History

It is not known when Cockfield F.C. was formed, but the club won the championship of the Wear Valley League in the 1907–08 season. Cockfield joined the Northern League, at the time the leading amateur league in northern England, in 1921 and finished in the top half of the table for five consecutive seasons.^[1] In the 1922–23 season, the club reached the semi-finals of the FA Amateur Cup, losing to Evesham Town.^[1] This achievement by a team from a "two-street pit village"^[2] led to the club gaining the epithet the "Village Wonder Team" in football circles.^[3]

In the 1927–28 season the village side, consisting entirely of unemployed coalminers,^[2] again reached the semi-finals of the FA Amateur Cup and this time defeated Willington to reach the final. The final was played at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough, where Cockfield twice took the lead but eventually lost 3–2 to the holders Leyton in front of over 12,000 spectators.^[3][4] Cockfield played in the Northern League until 29 November 1939, when the club resigned its place in the league. The club continued to compete after the Second World War and in the early 1950s played in the Durham Central League and scored a surprise Amateur Cup win over South Bank of the Northern League.^[5] Cockfield also played in the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup, with minimal success, until at least the 1958–59 season.^[1]

The club continued to compete in local leagues into the 21st century. In the 2002–03 season the club competed in the Durham Alliance.^[6] By 2006 the club was playing in the very minor Crook and District League and its home ground at Hazel Grove was in an extreme state of dereliction. Although there had once been a grandstand and pavilion, there was little left except for a rail around the pitch and the dugouts.^[3] Lack of funding from the parish council for repairs to the changing rooms at Hazel Grove ultimately led to the club folding in 2010.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Cockfield". The Football Club History Database. http://www.fchd.btinternet.co.uk/COCKFIEL.HTM. Retrieved 4 November 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Riverside Reflections". Lancashire County Cricket Club. http://www.lccc.co.uk/index.php?p=news&id=3747. Retrieved 4 November 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Bauckham, David (2006). Dugouts. New Holland. p. 31. ISBN 1-8453-7478-9. 
4. ^ "The FA Amateur Cup". ayresomepark.co.uk. http://www.ayresomepark.co.uk/matchhistory/amateurcup.htm. Retrieved 10 September 2010. 
5. ^ "Established 1868 founder members of the Northern League". This is the North East. http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/elliscupfounded1889/page12.phtml. Retrieved 4 November 2010. 
6. ^ "Wearside league". icTeesside. 4 May 2003. http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0200sport/grassroots/2003/05/04/wearside-league-50081-12920603/. Retrieved 4 November 2010. 
7. ^ Dowson, Nigel (20 September 2010). "A New Community Centre???". The Northern Echo. http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/blogs/reader/cockfield/8402767.A_New_Community_Centre___/. Retrieved 4 November 2010.