Consett Association Football Club is a football club based in Consett in County Durham,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They are currently members of the and play at Belle View Stadium.

History

The club was established on 1 July 1899 as Consett Celtic.History
Consett A.F.C. They joined the

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...

in 1919, and were renamed Consett in 1922.Northern Alliance 1919-1960
Non-League Matters They finished bottom of the league in 1922–23, but were runners-up in 1925–26. At the end of the season all the clubs in the league joined the

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although so ...

as members of the new Division Two. They were the first Division Two champions in 1926–27, earning promotion to Division One.North Eastern League 1906-1933
Non-League Matters However, after finishing second-from-bottom of Division One in 1930–31, they were relegated back to Division Two. In 1932–33 Consett were Division Two runners-up and were promoted to Division One. After finishing second-from-bottom of Division One in 1934–35, they left to return the Northern Alliance, which had been re-established. However, after two seasons in the Northern Alliance, they rejoined the North Easter League, which was now running with a single division. When the league was suspended in 1939 following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, a competition was run with ten clubs, which Consett won.North Eastern League 1933-1964
Non-League Matters In 1946–47 they finished seventh in the league and subsequently applied for election to the Football League. However, no vote took place and the four clubs up for re-election retained their places in the Football League. The club went on to win the League Cup in 1950–51 and 1953–54. When the North Eastern League was disbanded in 1958, Consett spent the 1958–59 and 1959–60 seasons in the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

, also reaching the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the first time in 1958–59, losing 5–0 at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

. In 1960 they were founder members of the Northern Counties League; the club were champions in 1961–62, and the league was renamed the North Eastern League in 1962. They finished bottom of the league in 1963–64, with the league disbanded at the end of the season. The club subsequently joined the

Wearside League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 (or levels 11 to 13) of the National League System and is a feeder to the Northern League Di ...

,Wearside League 1960-1988
Non-League Matters They were runners-up in 1968–69 and 1969–70, after which the club joined the Northern League. In 1976–77 they finished joint top of the table with Spennymoor United, but lost the championship play-off 3–0 in a match played at Willington. They were later relegated to Division Two after finishing bottom of Division One in 1987–88. The 1988–89 season saw Consett win Division Two at the first attempt, earning an immediate return to Division One. They won the League Cup in 1994–95 with a 2–0 win over Whitby Town in the final, and in 1996–97 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for a second time, losing 4–0 at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

. The early 2000s saw the club

yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

between the divisions, as they were relegated in 2002–03, promoted in 2003–04, relegated again in 2004–05 and promoted again in 2005–06 after winning Division Two. They went on to finish as Division One runners-up in 2007–08, 2008–09 and again in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

. In 2019–20 the club reached the final of the FA Vase, losing 3–2 to Hebburn Town in a match that was delayed until May 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In the 2021–22 season they were runners-up in Division One, qualifying for an inter-step play-off against

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...

from the level above, which they won 2–1 to earn promotion to the Northern Premier League.

Ground

The club originally played at Vicarage Field, which was owned by the

Consett Iron Company The Consett Iron Company Ltd was an industrial business based in the Consett area of County Durham in the United Kingdom. The company owned coal mines and limestone quarries, and manufactured iron and steel. It was registered on 4 April 1864 a ...

. Spectator facilities were restricted to a small stand, with an army hut used for changing rooms.Dave Twydell (2001) ''Denied F.C.: The Football League election struggles'' Yore Publications, pp64–65 However, in 1948 the site was needed for expansion of the steelworks. They spent two seasons at Eden Colliery Welfare's Leadgate ground before returning to Consett to play at the new Belle Vue Park ground on Ashdale Road. Built largely by volunteers, the new ground had banking around the pitch made from mine workings,Consett
Pyramid Passion with two stands erected, one of which was paid for by the £1,150 transfer fee received from

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

for Tommy Lumley. The first match at Belle Vue Park was played in August 1950, attracting a record attendance of 7,000 to see a game against Sunderland reserves. One of the stands was later closed, although the steel structure was left in place. The remaining stand consisted of covered bench seating and a small terraced area in front. The club played at Belle Vue Park until 2013, when they moved to a new ground on Delves Lane, named Belle View Stadium; the new ground included an artificial pitch after the 2012–13 season had seen 18 matches at Belle Vue Park postponed due to the weather."Hit the north", ''When Saturday Comes'', March 2018, issue 273, p27 The first match was played on 22 November, with Newcastle United the visitors; a crowd of 3,054 saw Newcastle win 2–1.

Honours

*Northern League **Division Two champions 1988–89, 2005–06 **Challenge Cup winners 1994–95 *North Eastern League **Champions 1939–40 **Division Two champions 1926–27 **League Cup winners 1950–51, 1953–54 *Northern Counties League **Champions 1961–62 *Sunderland Shipowners Cup **Winners 1967–68 *Sunderland Shipowners Centenary Cup **Winners 1997–98 *Monkwearmouth Charity Cup **Winners 1967–68 *

Durham Challenge Cup The Durham County Challenge Cup (commonly known as the Durham Challenge Cup) is an annual football competition held between the clubs of the Durham County Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the senior county cup for the ...

**Winners 1947–48, 1949–50, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1968–69, 2006–07, 2017–18

Records

*Best

performance: First round, 1958–59, 1996–97 *Best FA Trophy performance: Second round, 1978–79 *Best FA Vase performance: Runners-up 2019–20 *Record attendance: **At the original Belle Vue Park: 7,000 vs Sunderland reserves, August 1950

References

External links