I hadn’t expected to be back in the UK so quickly, but visa issues meant that it’s likely that my time in Saudi Arabia is done, at least for the time being. For what it’s worth I found the Saudi people to be incredibly friendly and the country to be modernising at pace. From a groundhopping point of view, I got to tick off ten of their grounds that I’d not ever expected to and across different divisions. Whilst the standard of football is patchy at the moment the fans are passionate about the game and with the world’s playing talent following the money it can only get better.
Prior to heading up to Chester-le-Street, Isla and I called into a couple of stables as part of the National Horse Racing Week. One of them was very well-organised with activities. At the other one, it transpired that the open day was actually six days earlier. Nevertheless, the trainer’s mother very kindly gave us a private tour.
The game that I’d earmarked for the afternoon was at the Riverside Sports Complex at Chester-le-Street. It’s right next to Durham’s cricket ground. I parked up and after what seemed like an eternity downloading the parking app and entering all of my details I wandered towards the entrance.
To my right I spotted some football action on one of four grass pitches and in the hope of adding a bonus tick to my list of grounds made my way over.
It turns out that there was a game going on. I had to speak to two different fellas to find out the teams, with each of them only knowing their own team and not their opponents. Nevertheless, we got there in the end and I established that Waldridge Park, in blue, were taking on Newbiggin Reserves, who were wearing a white kit.
A bit of further research revealed that the fixture was in the fifteenth-tier North East Combination League Premier Division, which sits just below the bottom rung of the better-known Northern Alliance League. I love the idea that organised Saturday afternoon football exists to this extent and beyond.
There were about twenty-five minutes remaining when I rocked up and the visitors were leading eight-one. I stayed long enough to see one of the Newbiggin players send a free-kick from just outside the box into orbit, but when you are seven goals to the good nobody is going to criticise you for that.
I left them after a few minutes to head to the game I’d originally intended to go to but was able to keep an eye on the remaining tier-fifteen proceedings from the main stand. Newbiggin added two more goals for a ten-one rout.
Tags: Loverose Way, North East Combination League, Riverside Sports Complex
Trail of the Lion King 
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