Gateshead A.F.C.

South Shields

Although the club was formed in 1930, it can trace its roots back to 1889. Then, South Shields Adeleide, located eight miles (14 km) from Gateshead, were formed. They originally played in the Northern Alliance before joining the North Eastern Leagues and changing name to just South Shields. They joined the extended Football League Second Division in 1919–20. The mid-to-late 1920s saw the club struggling financially before in 1928 the club finished bottom and were relegated to the Third Division (North). After two unsuccessful seasons in the lower division, the struggling club took the step of not just leaving the Horsley Hill ground but of moving the club to another town in search of more support. Newcastle upon Tyne, was mentioned as a possible destination, but Gateshead was eventually chosen, mainly due to the enthusiastic support of the Gateshead Council – Gateshead A.F.C. was born.

Football League years

After a six-year absence, the town of Gateshead had a new representative football club. A new stadium was constructed at Redheugh Park in the West end of Gateshead and South Shields F.C. was relocated. In August 1930, Gateshead A.F.C. started a new era when 15,545 supporters watched Gateshead beat Doncaster Rovers 2–1. Gateshead missed out on promotion, finishing runners-up decided by goal average at a time when only one promotion place was available. They were runners up again in 1932 and in 1950, but they still stayed in the lower divisions until the regional divisions were replaced by the third and fourth divisions in 1958.

In the 1950s, Gateshead enjoyed some relatively successful FA Cup runs. The 1951/52 season saw Gateshead drawn at home to West Bromwich Albion in the fourth-round. The game venue was re-located to Newcastle United's St James' Park, where 39,287 fans witnessed West Bromwich Albion coming out on top, winning the match 2–0. One of Gateshead's greatest ever seasons occurred the following year in 1952/53, the club reached the quarter-finals, having already beaten Liverpool 1–0 at home in the third-round. 15,193 spectators attended the match in the foggy Redheugh Park). Gateshead beat both Hull City and Plymouth Argyle away from home to set up a 1952–53 FA Cup sixth-round tie against Bolton Wanderers. A sold out Redheugh Park saw 17,692 fans turn up as Gateshead changed their traditional plain white shirts to an unfamiliar black and white stripes. At 0–0 late on in the match, Bolton defender, Eric Bell, handled the ball inside of the penalty area (Bell later admitted the offence), but the referee waved play-on and Bolton quickly broke away and England international Nat Lofthouse headed the ball past Gateshead goal-keeper Bob Gray to give Bolton a winning 1–0 lead. During this time the club regularly included the brothers Tom and Jack Callender, whose combined appearances for Gateshead, established a record for the most by two brothers at a single club. Jack Callender also set a personal record for the most Football League appearances for the club with a total of 470.

Gateshead missed the chance to become a member of the new National Third Division, losing out by only one point. Gateshead were founder-members of the Fourth Division. The distance in travelling between the clubs of the new National Division proved difficult for many, but especially for one as far north as Gateshead. In the 1958/59 season, Gateshead finished in twentieth (20th) position at the end of the season, then the following season, the 1959/60 campaign, Gateshead finished the season even lower than the previous one, finishing in twenty-second (22nd) position. At that time, the bottom-four teams in the Fourth Division had to apply for re-election. Gateshead applied along with Southport, who applied for the third year running, and for the seventh time altogether. Oldham Athletic, who were also applying for the second year in a row, and Hartlepool United, who were applying for the fourth time. The Football League failed to re-elect Gateshead and Peterborough United took their place.

Post Football League and liquidation

With no National League System in place at the time, the club played in various regional leagues before becoming founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968. The club played in the Northern Premier League for two seasons, 1968–1969 and 1969–1970 when they finished bottom of the division and were not re-elected. After a season replacing their reserves in the parochial Wearside League, the first team were accepted to play in the Midland League. At this point, the club was in severe financial difficulties and were eventually forced to leave Redheugh Park. They took up residence at the Gateshead Youth Stadium, however the new venue did not alleviate the financial problems. Gateshead A.F.C. resigned from the Midland League and went into liquidation in August 1973.