Newspaper Clippings - Dick Butler - page 39
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74 Shields Gazette , Friday , April 11 , 1975-15 IAL Shields resign from Alliance WEARSIDE LEAGUE NOW THE TARGET SOUTH SHIELDS Mariners have taken a gamble and the whole future of senior football in the town is once again in the melting pot . They have resigned from the Northern Alliance and are hoping to be accepted into the Wearside League next season writes Dick Kirkup . The decision , naturally , Northern has upset the Mariners Alliance , but chairman Martin Ford said : " It is our sole aim to provide the highest class of football we can , and we feel we have a deep obligation to our town and our supporters to pursue this policy . " Horden and Steels have suddenly both resigned from the Wearside League , which means that this year there are two extra vacancies in that league , the bottom two sides also having to apply for re - election . 90/350 ' HIGHEST REGARD ' " We have the highest regard for the Northern Alliance to whom we shall always feel a deep sense of gratitude , and the only regret we have in our aim to join the Wearside League is that we may , in the process , upset the Alliance officials whom we hold in such high esteem . " It was in June of last year when , after failing to get into the Wearside League , the newly formed Mariners club was accepted into the Northern Alliance at a management committee meeting held in Morpeth . The agenda for that meeting had long been completed but I pleaded with their officials on the day of the meeting to add to the agenda an application for membership from Shields . Alliance secretary Jim McKay hurriedly telephoned each member of his management committee and he came back to me saying all agreed to consider the application . Martin Ford , committee member Bill Carr and I attended that meeting to put the club's personally and the meeting accepted the application even though it meant the Alliance would have an odd number of clubs 17 - a departure from their decision to restrict the competition to 16 clubs . case Rule Three of the Northern Alliance states that resignations must be received in writing by the secretary on or before March 31 , but the Mariners ' letter of resignation did not arrive until April 8 . ' AN OPENING ' Mr Ford explained this , saying : " We held a meeting Fast Sunday when the Wearside League situation was discussed . We had heard that Horden and Steels were resigning and we felt there might be an opening for us . We talked the whole thing over and decided though we knew Northern Alliance closing date for resignations had passed to resign and go for the Wearside League . even the " If we had known earlier about Horden and Steels our resignation would have been in the hands of the Alliance in good time , but we still felt that we owed the town the best class of football we could provide , and we dearly want to join the Wearside League with which our town has had long associations . " 1 Alliance chairman Stan Seymour Jnr . , expressed to me his disappointment over Shields ' decision to resign , and Jim McKay told mne : " We have replied to the club stating the contents of their letter will be put before the next meeting of management committee . " our Obviously the Northern Alliance is extremely upset and that upsets me . Buit how do you reconcile short term disappointments with the long term future of senior football in our town ? SINCERE The Northern Alliance officials are second to none , and while Shields may be seen to be walking out on them probably as champions the club's aims for the future are sincere ones . - be It's just a pity that the demands of the future must cause disappointment to fine body of men who did so much to make that future possible . a of the The generosity Northern Alliance will never South Shields . forgotten four Four points from games - that's all Shields need SOUTH SHIELDS moved inexorably towards clinching the Northern Alliance title by beating Alston 6-0 last week and need only four more points from those four remaining home games to win the champion ship outright . At the same time Jim Robson ( 2 ) regained the league leading scores tally to date with 30 goals , so the Mariners may well pick up two " firsts " by the end of the season . They may find it harder to reach the tally of 138 goals by Bedlington when the Terriers were champions in the 1967 season . Behind the leaders Morpeth Town had a vacant date so Marine Park took closer order with a hard earned 2-1 win at Wallsend Athletic in their local derby . Marine goals came early , through Billy Hair , and late when sub George Stoneman grabbed the winner close to finál . If Marine finish on level points with Morpeth they will win the Wright Shield for up on goal Memorial runners average . VITAL GAME Meantime Marine Park will be bidding for a hat trick of League Challenge Cup wins when they meet Workington Reserves on Monday evening at St. James Park , Newcastle . The Cumbrians notched their fourth successive win ( 2-1 ) by beating Throckley Welfare , and seem to be gearing themselves up for the vital game on Monday , while improving both their league placing and their goal average . sunk in their bid to escape re election Stockton were 4-1 at home to Belford , for whom Peter Taylor notched a cheeky hat - trick . The Teesiders foundered in the inclement combination of hail , snow , sleet , rain and wind ! Perey Main were held 2-2 by Alnwick Town but can still finish fourth in the table by winning their back log of fixtures . Trailing 1-0 at half time , the Amateurs rallied with two goals in a minute from Bobby Scott , only to be pegged ' back by Alnwick who showed much spirit and zest in their play than they had at Easter . BUSY STUDENTS more Provided the Mariners won their key game against Alnwick today they could well afford to rest on their laurels with 8 fixture free date next Saturday . Belford completed their programme this afternoon along with Alnwick , and can now look ahead to next season when their rebuilding programme should bear fruition . With 11 league games still to play , Newcastle University will be playing three games a week at least , and as their reserve side is similarly committed , the students may have to turn out on Sundays to field a full team ! If South Shields are champions this season they will emulate the feat of South Shields Reserves who were winners in 1938 . P W D L F A Pts SS Mariners 28 22 4 2 105 28 48 Morpeth T. 28 19 5 4 87 40 48 Marine Pk . 26 17 5 4 55 17 39 Alnwick T. 30 12 99 65 53 33 Belford 31 11 8 12 81 73 30 Percy Main 24 11 7 6 59 42 29 Seaham RS 28 13 2 13 Wallington . 26 12 4 10 W'k''ton Res 27 9 10 Alston : 26 18 1 12 58 65 27 Wallsend A 28 9 6 13 4456 24 Bede Coll . 25 9 5 11 30 41 23 N'ele Univ . 21 8 3 10 29 34 19 Bedl CW 26 8 2 16 Throck CW 27 4 6 17 Greenwells . 28 4 4 20 Stockton ...... 47 34 28 47 44 28 S 31 49 28 39 69 18 48 83 14 33 98 12 25 3 5 17 30 85 11 |
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