Christopher Joseph Mason (born 26 June 1986) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who captains and plays as a defender for

Spennymoor Town Spennymoor Town Football Club is a football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, in the North East of England. They currently compete in and currently play their home matches at The Brewery Field. The club began playing in the Northern ...

. He previously appeared in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, and played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

(several spells),

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

and

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

, as well as in the Swedish sixth tier for Östavalls IF. With Spennymoor, he won four Northern League titles and the 2013 FA Vase.

Life and career

Mason was born in

Newton Aycliffe Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act 1946, New Towns Act of 1946, the town sits about five miles to the north of Darlington and ten miles to the south of Durham, E ...

, County Durham, where he attended

Woodham Academy Woodham Academy (formerly Woodham Community Technology College and originally Woodham Comprehensive School) is often simply referred to as Woodham and is an 11–16 Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school with Academy (English school), academ ...

. He played representative football for Durham Schools before joining

when he left school. He spent time on loan at

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

club

in early 2004, and the club were disappointed when he was recalled to Darlington as injury cover. On the final day of the

2003–04 Football League The 2003–04 Football League (known as the Nationwide Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 105th completed season of The Football League. This was the last season of the Football League with the Nationwide Building Society as title ...

season, the 17-year-old Mason made his senior debut for Darlington as a very late substitute in a 1–0 win away to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. He was Darlington's Youth Team Player of the Year the following season, as well as spending more time with Bishop Auckland, but despite being given a first-team squad number ahead of the 2005–06 season, he was allowed to leave the club in August 2005. Mason signed for

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

in August 2005. He spent yet another spell on loan at Bishop Auckland at the start of the season, to maintain match fitness, before returning to Harrogate where he established himself as a first-team regular. He finished the season with 34 appearances in all competitions, mostly in the starting eleven, and scored once, but was one of several players to be released at the end of the season. He went to Sweden, where he scored nine goals for Östavalls IF in

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success o ...

, the sixth tier of Swedish football, and was named as the club's player of the year. When the Swedish season finished at the end of September, Mason came back to the north-east of England with

, where he made 23 appearances in all competitions, 18 in the Northern Premier League, before returning to Östavall for the 2007 season. Having tried and failed to sign Mason the previous February,

succeeded going into the 2007–08 season. Alongside playing for Shildon in the Northern League, Mason played

Sunday League football Sunday league football is a term used in Britain and Ireland to describe the amateur association football competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term pub league may also be used, owing to the number of ...

for Hetton Lyons Cricket Club. He was a member of their team that won the

FA Sunday Cup The FA Sunday Cup is a knock-out competition founded in 1964 for English Sunday league football teams. Prior to 1960 The Football Association did not permit clubs or players under its jurisdiction to take part in competitive football played on S ...

in 2008, and also in 2010, by which time he had moved on to

. He contributed to the club's three consecutive Northern League titles in his first three seasons, was captain on the day as Spennymoor beat

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

2–1 in the 2013 FA Vase Final, was appointed club captain in January 2014, and finished the season with another league title and promotion to the

Northern Premier League Division One North The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

Coaching career

Ahead of the 2022–23 season, Mason was named as Spennymoor Town's Strength and Conditioning Coach. He was still registered as a player for the coming season.

Outside football

Mason has worked as a residential social worker and as the head coach in a

Crossfit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

gym. His partner, Beau-Louise Morton, gave birth to the couple's first child, Freddie, just before the FA Vase Final in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Chris 1986 births Living people People from Newton Aycliffe Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Darlington F.C. players Bishop Auckland F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Shildon A.F.C. players Spennymoor Town F.C. players Northern Premier League players English Football League players Northern Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden