1. The Agony And The Ecstacy Of Supporting Crook Town AFC
People in Crook love their football. Head on down to the Kings, Queens, Mill, Vault, or Mucky Duck on any given Saturday or Sunday and you'll be sure to find swathes of fans watching whichever Premier League match is being played. Wherever possible this will be the Sunderland or Newcastle matches respectively. What is a great shame conversely is that Crook Town AFC aren't playing at the level and attracting the levels of support its stature deserves. Founded in 1889 Crook Town are one of THE most successful and prestigious amateur teams in the whole region. Winners of 5 FA amateur cups, 6 northern league titles, and 3 league cups they are a impressively decorated side. However they can boast even bigger accolades. Back in 1913 Crook went out a tour of Spain where they played a recently formed Barcelona. One of the players that day, a Crook native Jack Greenwell, decided he preferred the sunnier climate and remained there to play for the Catalan giants. Over a 10 year period Crook would play Barcelona a total of 10 times, winning 2, losing 4, and drawing 4. It is believed that Crook were in the fact the first British team to beat Barcelona. After winding up his playing career Greenwell actually became manager of Barcelona in 1917 until 1923, a six year tenure which only comes second in duration to Cruyff. A twice replayed Amateur cup final between Crook and local rivals Bishop Auckland in 1954 is still the longest recorded major final in England, and attracted crowds of over 200,000. Today the humble capacity at the Mill Field is only 1,500 but attracts a die-hard passionate core of supporters who watched the side ship a quite incredible 182 goals in 2014/15 and tumble mercilessly towards relegation. With so much history and tradition it's unfair that Crook AFC still find themselves among the doldrums of Northern Football League Division 2. Are you from Crook? Do you share these feelings? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
