Newport County 1912-1989

From time to time I will be looking out for supporters memories of County and Somerton Park on Messages Boards etc....

The first two threads first appeared on the http://www.the-exiles.co.uk/ Messsage Board.

FIRST THREAD 

What did you miss about Somerton Park?......Here is a selection of the replies as they were written.......

I tell you what I miss about Somerton Park people. The big lump of wood which used to stick out of the ground in the Cromwell End. If you are looking from the Railway end, it was to the left of the Cromwell.

I used get my coffee from the burger cabin and rest it on the lump of wood. It was like a railway sleeper sticking out of the ground.

Can anyone remember it?

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I miss selling programmes at the away end - I could do with the £2.50 or so I used to get!!!
I also miss getting chips from Stranarti's on the way home and eating them walking up Beechwood Hill!!!

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The buzz as you reached the highest point on the railway bridge.
The exchange of objects thrown across the gap on the Cromwell.
Managers and subs taking out the deck chairs to sit nearer the touchline

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My late Father.............
He took me to my first game in early 1965 against Rochdale. Still feel closest to him when I am watching County.

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I first went there in 1973 and i really miss it like. Just as i would miss a family member. From my child hood days untill the end. I will never forgive newport council or the people who turned there backs on county .It was old it was falling apart but it was ours it was home of NEWPORT COUNTY FOOTBALL CLUB the only club i will ever support .
newport county for ever

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have some great memories to keep from the old stadium but what was good about it. Still seperated from the pitch as we are now and not much more atmosphere than now (apart from the early 80's). Be fair the stands and facilities were crap and it was not the place to encourage wives, and families. I have loads of good memories but the stadium itself was poor and needed to come down.

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I miss "San-Siro-Somerton" terribly.

It was a dump, no doubts about that, but I loved the place unconditionally - the saddest day of my life was the day I saw a huge open, bulldozed space where the famous old ground had once stood - seeing that in the flesh for the first time is just about the biggest shock I've suffered in my 39 years I reckon.

Must admit though, I laughed out loud at a few of the comments on here - as much as I adored Somerton Park (& still do), they're not wrong!!!!

I remember using the "toilet" (and I use the term extremely loosely) behind the Bob Bank, and holding my breath for a good two minutes as I had a pee, such was the gut-wrenching stench!! Or what about that little toilet beneath the grandstand, on the side of the covered terrace?

It was so dark in there I had no idea where I was slashing - or indeed what unknown creatures lurked in there. You had to be desperate or brave to even consider venturing in there.

Entering the Supporters Club bar was like travelling back in time to the 1940s or 50s, and the "club shop", with it's bare shelves & wooden-planked floor was seemingly only held together by the suckers on the pennant that adorned its window!!!

Funniest comment of all though came from a pal of mine one week in Baramber at Spytty - we were discussing what our "lottery dream" would be and what we'd "do for the County".

His suggestion had us clutching our sides in laughter.....he said he'd rebuild Somerton Park......exactly as it was!!!!!

Somerton Park was "home" though - and Spytty has never felt the same sadly - the only thing I've ever liked about our current home is its close proximety to Somerton - that's the only thing that feels right about the place.

Once a Cromwell Ender, always a Cromwell Ender!

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the buzz as you walked over the bridge was amazing, ok it wasnt the best ground in the league by far ( possibly even 1 of the worst as far as facilities were concerned ) bit it was ours!! it was where we spent many a happy Saturday afternoon etc. The supporters club was prehistoric but its where my mates drank after the game just like we do now at Baramber. It really pizzes me off driving over the bridge now & seeing houses on the Sacred ground. I'd love it if we still played there.

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I have made a point of not driving past Somerton and, on the rare occasions when I have had to, I've either driven with one eye shut (which is an issue as my right eye is seriously shite) or gone past holding my hand to the side of my face so I can't accidentally catch a glimpse of the houses that are there. I am worried that if I see the houses I might forget what it used to look like. Since I have never seen the estate my vision of the ground is still untainted. It still looks like a scruffy old dump but as someone else has said previously it was our scruffy old dump.

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i do the same it makes my stomach turn looking at those houses

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i went to a few games in the leauge but what i remember the most was kettering at home in the conference the yea we went bust
id seen countys last 2 years in the leauge and when glynn millet scored ight on half time the place erupted
unfortunatly it was as we all know a false dawn,we lost 2-1,but that night,for 45 minutes it was the happiest id seen in years

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Anyone remember those 2 short blokes who used to take wooden boxes to stand on in the railway end. O K when we were getting over 5,000, but they looked stupid when we were down to 1,200.
And what about the triangles of green matting in the corners where the speedway had been.

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Also, what about the old speedway team when it started? I thought it was going to be a complete flop, but still turned up on the first night... with about 17,000 others home to Wolverhampton. Peter Vandenburg and
Alby Golden got me hooked for a few years. And then when blokes like Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger raced for teams such as Swindon and Newcastle Diamonds!!!! They were a class above all others

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remember vividly leaving the ground after a big football game. No one pushed, and we all walked steadily and slowly from the terraces, through the main gate and up the steep steps onto Somerton Bridge. Unfortunately, in this day and age there would have been someone injured from time to time.

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For me its the smell of the linament on a cold January night ( Just about noticable above the smell of beer from Tony Kellow). Also the thrill of getting off the 73 bus from Chepstow and seeing the floodlights as you walk past the Cross pub.
Sadly these feelings can never be re-created.

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Talking of cold frosty nights, remember the game against Carlisle when Darren Peacock broke is leg - I swear you could hear the crack all round the ground. Did'nt seem to spoil his career though!

The "Cross Hands". It used to be packed on match days before and after the game. The beer was flowing, as everyone got tanked up. Now it's like a bloody funeral parlour.
I also recall the old boy, who stood at the entrance to the players' dressing rooms, guarding the door in the 195o's. He had a peaked cap and a uniform, like a modern day traffic warden. If you were polite to him, he'd let you stand just inside the door, so you'd get the autographs first.

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Freezing my backside off during a FA Cup 4th round game against Colchester(?) in 1979. I ran on the pitch at the end of the game just to warm my feet.

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Remember that game well! Pitch like an ice rink.10,000 crowd and 0-0 draw which if we'd won (re play lost 0-1) would have been Man U home in Rd 5!

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Those toilets were an adventure every time. I used to tell my mates to call International Rescue if I'm didn't come out within 10 mins.
Happy times

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The smell of cigar smoke everywhere. At least I think it was cigar smoke!

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50% of the cromwell end wearing white staypress,bought from tesco,s, dr martins & denim jackets

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Sadly even the steps down from the bridge are gone now, there is just one left at the top to show you where they were. Two things that are left are the carpark at the end of Somerton Lane which although overgrown is pretty much as it was and the Joe Leeds graffiti on the bridge! (im sure that was there was there in the early 80's?) I had a nostalgic wonder recently, sad to see what became of the old place.

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being ballboy when i was in duffryn junior on a cold mid week game getting shouted at whenever the ball came to me "slow down you f****r we are 1-0 up" 25 years ago

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Second Thread

Top Ten Matches

I've been thinking what are county best top ten victorys
my own personal best game was countys f a cup win over west ham utd 2 1
The match had everything even a great west ham goal from just inside the half way line
I will always remember us battleling all the way great fans singing and shouting west ham thinking they only had to turn up.and then turing them over it was great

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The 4-2 win at Walsall to win promotion after spending most of my life watching a team in the bottom division. Great away support and a wonderful performance.

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A few favourites -
Cambridge United 4-2 76/77
West Ham 2-1 FA Cup 3rd Rd 78/9
Portsmouth 4-3 '79/80
Cardiff 2-0 Welsh Cup '79/80
Walsall away 4-2 '79/80
Oxford away 3-0 '82/3

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Oxford away 1983. They coudn't get the ball off us.

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1-0 home to Cardiff, April 83 to go top of the 3rd division, over 16,000 there

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Beating runaway league leaders Notts County 2-1 in 70-71 when we were a struggling bottom four team in Div 4.
Two Willie Browm hat-tricks to beat Swansea in the League Cup and Welsh Cup in 72-73.
The final league game of 72-73 beating Bury 4-3 at Somerton. Roddy Jones outstanding.
The "Great Escape" 1-0 over Workington in May 77 to avoid the bottom fouragainst all odds, wearing the sky blue & white stripes.
A brilliant 5-3 win over Reading in early January 1978 after being two down
Numerous games in 79-80, most notable the home and away wins over Portsmouth, plus the Walsall promotion clincher, and the second leg of the Welsh Cup Final at Shrewsbury when we took them apart, 3-0

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I remember some of those. Bury - the three goals conceded meant we missed promotion by 12/100ths of a goal on goal average.

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Workington - we played them the last two games of the season (I was at both) and the game at Somerton was Workington's last game in the football league in front of an attendance of (if memory serves me correctly) 8,313.

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The 4-2 win at Walsall for promotion, particularly after the 0-2 defeat at the bottom club, Rochdale on the previous Tuesday.

And Shrewsbury, 2-1 win at home and 3-0 away with 23 coaches travelling to Gay Meadow for the second leg.

Carl Zeiss Jena away was quite good too, although that was only a 2-2 draw.

The West Ham game, especially Plumley's save from Robson, was also memorable, as was the 14, 123 (or thereabouts) attendance.

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1-0 home to Workington in the Great Escape year

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Darlington away, last away game ever as a league club.

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Was on the original Royal Mail coach for that one took about 20 Post men! and some Jamican Woodbines!

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Pompey 4-3 not just because we won but due to the fact that the football was outstanding. Jeff Hemmerman (?) was brilliant for them and a constant threat throughout the game.
Walsall for promotion was great apart from getting my head kicked in after the match....kinda ruined the day really.

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There's been some memorable County victories I've witnessed over the years, but personally (albeit on par with the West Ham FA cup victory),I do remember PROUDLY, the victory over Sheffield Wednesday,1963/4......Joe Bonson, Ralph Hunt,....still worshipped , by me personally.....but then again...Howard Goddard and Eddie Woods, ala West Ham, having said that.....any Amber victory, many having being mentioned to date makes me so proud to be COUNTY......COME ON 'U PORT..

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I can't remember the years, but sometime in the late 1950's the County came back twice from the brink of defeat at Somerton Park. Two nil down, I recall, with about 18 minutes to go in each game, they pounded Bounemouth & Boscombe and then Reading 5-3 and 5-2 respectively. I recall Rocky Hudson hitting a hat trick, including a couple of penalties, against Bournemouth.
The Sheffield Wednesday FA Cup win over a team full of English internationals and 6th in Division 1, when we were in the 4th Division, was also a great day. The Easter win over Cardiff City in the early 1980's in front of an 18,000 crowd at Somerton was also tremendous.
Great games - but we still lost: Arsenal (FA Cup-home), Spurs (FA Cup away and home), and Burnley (FA Cup away).
Alternatively, my worst moments in order of humiliation have been losing to Borough United in the Welsh Cup Final, losing away to Barnet 1-6 in 1970, when they were non-league, and losing 0-3 at home to Accrington Stanley in their final season of league football in the 1960's.
Sorry about my loss of memory on dates. It's either the long term effect of following the County, or the consumption of alcohol. On reflection, probably the combination of both!!

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The Sheffield Wednesday game also holds great memories for me. Losing 1-0 at HT. Equalising then going behind again before scoring 2 late goals, both coming from crosses by left winger Granville Smith, as far as I remember. This game really got me hooked on following the County. I can remember my late father, who didn't like football but took me to this game, jumping up and down with the rest of the bob bank when we scored the winner

Other top wins of course must include the Walsall promotion game and the Carl Zeiss games (which we nearly won).

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One of my favourites has to be Bolton Wanderers away, around 1984ish

Losing 2-1 with three or four minutes to go and we end up winning 3-2.
Think it was Tony Reid and Roy Carter that scored late on.

Great player Carter was. Play anywhere.

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Thanks for jogging my memory about that win at Bolton. Great day out.

From the Western Mail Letters Section

 The following contains a lovely story at the end......

1939 was Newport County’s finest hour, when they gained promotion from the old division three (south), to the second division for the first time in its history.

I remember listening intently to the football results on the wireless – there was no television then. The score was Newport 3, Southend United 0 and County were no longer the underdogs of the third division.

But they only played three games, won one, drew one, and lost one.

Then on September 3 we were at war with Germany and league football as we knew it would resume only when the war was over, six years on.

Newport County back in the third division after only a year in the second division, once went to the sixth round of the FA cup, drawn at home with Huddersfield Town, then a first division side, (there was no premier division then), which had lost 1-0 to Preston North End in the 1939 FA cup final, which featured the controversial Mutch penalty.

Before a capacity crowd of 23,000 Newport drew 3-3, but won the replay at Huddersfield.

I failed to get a ticket for the game at Somerton Park, but turned up nevertheless five minutes before the kick-off.

The outside of the ground perimeter was deserted, except for a solitary police sergeant who was usually on duty when County were at home.

In his hand was a bundle of field tickets. He offered me one asking if I wanted a ticket.

I couldn’t believe my luck and so I gained free admission by courtesy of the old Newport Borough constabulary.