Whitley Bay Football Club, also known as The Seahorses, or simply The Bay, are an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

based in the

seaside town A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the German ' ...

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...

, in the North East

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

. Initially founded as Whitley & Monkseaton Football Club in 1897, the club took its present name in 1958. The team plays its home matches at Hillheads Park, which is adjacent to the

Whitley Bay Ice Rink Whitley Bay Ice Rink is an ice rink located in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, England and is the home of the Whitley Warriors ice hockey team. An additional team played out of the ice rink, the Newcastle Vipers, who are now disbanded. It is one of tw ...

and has a maximum capacity of 4,500. Since 1958 the club has spent the vast majority of seasons in the

Northern Football League The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division ...

's Division One. The Seahorses first competed in the division for 30 years between

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, before rejoining for the 2000–01 season, where they have been ever since. Whitley Bay are the most successful club in

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

history, the national

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

for more than 600 teams in the 9th and 10th tier of

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

. They have won the competition a record four times, including three consecutive victories at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. The club has also won twelve Northumberland Senior Cups, three

championships, and a

Northern Premier League Division One 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 ...

title.

History

Origins; formation and early years (1896–1958)

A football club has existed in Whitley Bay since 1896. The first team was known as Whitley and Monkseaton F.C; later renamed Monkseaton FC and then again to Whitley Bay Athletic in 1950. In 1958 a limited company was formed, with 'Athletic' dropped from the title. From 1950 until 1955, Whitley Bay Athletic were members of the Northern Alliance League, winning the League Championship, League Cup (twice), and in 1952–53 became the first amateur team to win the

Northumberland Senior Cup The Northumberland Senior Cup, officially named the Techflow Marine Senior Cup, is an annual football competition held between the clubs of the Northumberland Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the senior county cup for t ...

in sixty years, beating rivals

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

in front of 17,000 fans inside

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

. In 1955, The Seahorses briefly 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 som ...

wholly made up of professional sides,

First appearance in the Northern Football League (1958–1988)

Initial success (1958–1973)

Whitley Bay was elected to the Northern League by a winning vote of 11–3 on 14 June 1958. It was here that the club won two league titles (in 1964–65 and 1965–66) and two Northern League Cups (in 1964–65 and 1970–71). In addition, the

was won eight times in twelve years between 1961–1973. In the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

(the predecessor to the

), The Bay twice reached the semi-finals, and quadrice the quarter-finals; A 1965 quarter-final appearance of which holds the club record attendance (7,301) in a 3–1 loss to

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

. On 18 March 1968, floodlights were installed around Hillheads Park; marked by a friendly match against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Decline and then recovery (1973–1988)

Fortunes began to fade from the mid-1970s before having to re-apply to the Northern League as a result of coming last in the 1979–80 campaign. Success remained limited in the aftermath of re-election, with successive finishes of 19th, 19th, 13th, and

9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

—during the early 1980s. Former player, Bobby Graham, was appointed first team manager in 1986. Graham's first season marked Whitley Bay's highest league position in 15 years ( 5th), their best-ever FA Trophy campaign (reaching the

final sixteen Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

) and their first Northumberland Senior Cup since 1973 (beating

Newcastle Blue Star Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, it won the FA Vase. Having won promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Divi ...

, 2–1, in the final at Hillheads Park). The team then sustained a title challenge for the majority of the following season before finishing 4th in midst of numerous injuries.

Northern Premier League members (1988–2000)

Division One (1988–1991)

Whitley Bay left the

after 30 successive years in the division, applying for promotion to the second tier of the Northern Premier League (NPL) at the end of the 1987–88 season. In their debut season in the NPL Division One, The Seahorses finished 5th. The team then followed it up with 4th place the season after, in a campaign that also saw them record their best–ever

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 ...

run, when they reached the Third Round Proper, beating

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

of the fourth tier and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

of the third, before losing 1–0 to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. In only their third season, Whitley Bay became champions of the

, gaining promotion to the

Northern Premier League Premier Division 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 ...

Premier Division (1991–1995)

Whitley Bay only spent four seasons at the club's zenith. 17th in both the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

season, the highest-ever final league position to date of 11th in the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, before 21st place relegation in the fourth sent the club back to

Division One (1995–2000)

Following relegation at the end of the 1994–95 season, Whitley Bay returned to the NPL Division One, finishing 8th in their first season back. The Seahorses then followed it up with 12th in the second season, 13th in the

, and 19th in the fourth. The Bay then finished 22nd and bottom in 1999–2000, being relegated back to the

Return to the Northern Football League (2000–present)

Following a second relegation in six seasons in 1999–2000, Whitley Bay returned to Northern Football League Division One after a 12-year absence. In 2005, Whitley Bay ended an 18-year barren run without a

title. The Bay won their third-ever Northern League title in 2006–07, 41 years on from their back–to–back titles in 1964–65 and 1965–66, however they did not apply for promotion. In 2010, The Seahorses won a twelfth Northumberland Senior Cup.

Three appearances at Wembley Stadium and four FA Vase trophies

Whitley Bay first won the FA Vase at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

in 2001–02. The Seahorses then maintained a 100% record in finals as they went on to win three consecutive trophies at the

new Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium h ...

in 2008–09, 2009–10 and

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. I ...

, becoming the competition's most successful club both in the total number of titles and most won consecutively.

Current squad

Club officials

* Chairman: Paul McIlduff * Vice Chairman: Peter Siddle * Football Secretary: Derek Breakwell * Treasurer: Jennifer Breakwell * Commercial Manager: Duncan Howell * Pitch maintenance: David Styles * Commercial Director: Martin Kelly * Media Correspondent: Julian Tyley * 1st Team Manager: Nick Gray * 1st Team Assistant Manager: Liam McIvor * 1st Team Physiotherapist: Kevin Chapman * 1st Team Kitman: Andrew Turnbull * 1st Team Kitman: Jay Weldon * Reserve Team Secretary: * Reserve Team Manager: Andy Waugh

Finishing positions

*League Results:Northern League Archives
Northern League Official Website, 2010.Rundle, Richard.
Whitley Bay
Football Club History Database, 2006. ImageSize = width:600 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/2010 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1991 Colors = id:nl1 value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0.6) id:npl1 value:rgb(0.8,0.8,1) id:nplp value:rgb(0.6,0.6,0.8) PlotData= bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:21 from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:19 from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:22 from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 color:npl1 shift:(0,13) text: " NPL Div. 1" from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1995 color:nplp shift:(0,13) text: " NPL Pre. Div." from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/2000 color:npl1 shift:(0,13) text: " Northern Premier League Division 1" from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2010 color:nl1 shift:(0,13) text: " Northern League Division 1" ImageSize = width:600 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1990 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1971 Colors = id:npl1 value:rgb(0.8,0.9,1) id:nl1 value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0.6) id:nl value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.7) PlotData= bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1971 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1971 till:01/07/1972 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/1972 till:01/07/1973 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1976 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1977 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1978 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/07/1979 till:01/07/1980 shift:(0,-4) text:20 from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1981 shift:(0,-4) text:19 from:01/07/1981 till:01/07/1982 shift:(0,-4) text:19 from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1986 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/1986 till:01/07/1987 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1989 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1990 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1982 color:nl shift:(0,13) text: " Northern League" from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1988 color:nl1 shift:(0,13) text: " Northern League Division 1" from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1990 color:npl1 shift:(0,13) text: " NPL Div. 1" ImageSize = width:600 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/1950 till:01/07/1970 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1956 Colors = id:nel value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.8) id:nl value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.7) PlotData= bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center from:01/07/1955 till:01/07/1956 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/1956 till:01/07/1957 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/1957 till:01/07/1958 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/1958 till:01/07/1959 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1960 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1961 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/1961 till:01/07/1962 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1963 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/1963 till:01/07/1964 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/1964 till:01/07/1965 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/1965 till:01/07/1966 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/1966 till:01/07/1967 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1967 till:01/07/1968 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/1968 till:01/07/1969 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1969 till:01/07/1970 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1955 till:01/07/1958 color:nel shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/07/1958 till:01/07/1970 color:nl shift:(0,13) text: " Northern League"

Honours

**Winners 2001–02, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11 *

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 ...

**Division One Champions 1990–91 **Division One Cup Winners 1988–89, 1990–91 * Northern League **Champions 1964–65, 1965–66, 2006–07 **Runners-up 1959–60, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70 **Challenge Cup Winners 1964–65, 1970–71 **Runners-up 1967–68, 2013–14 *

**Winners 1953, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1987, 2005, 2010 **Runners-up 1954, 1955, 1956, 1966, 1977, 1986, 1991, 2003, 2013

Records

Attendances

*Record Attendance, (Hillheads Park) – 7,301 (v. Hendon – FA Amateur Cup, 1965) *Record Attendance, (St James Park, Newcastle) – 17,048 (v. North Shields – Northumberland Senior Cup Final, 1953)

Results

*Record Win – 12–0 (v.

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 ...

, 1961) *Record Defeat – 9–0 (v. Hebburn Town, 2019)

Goals

*Most goals scored in a season – 112 (1964–65) *Fewest goals scored in a season – 31 (1979–80) *Most goals conceded in a season – 97 (1994–95, 2014–15) *Fewest goals conceded in a season – 26 (1969–70)

Player

*Record Appearances – Bill Chater – 641 *Record Goalscorer – Billy Wright – 307 *Most goals scored by a single player in a season – Billy Wright – 51 (1964–65) *Most goals scored by a single player in a match – Ken Bowron – 6 (1961–62) *Record transfer fee received – £10,000 for Kevin Todd to

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

*Consecutive league games goals – Jack Foalle 12 Games

References

External links

* {{Coord, 55, 02, 04.93, N, 1, 27, 16.61, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Football clubs in England Northern Football League Football clubs in Tyne and Wear Association football clubs established in 1897 Whitley Bay Northern Premier League clubs 1897 establishments in England North Eastern League