Sale Sharks programme - 2021

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
Kingsley Hyland’s series of rugby reminiscences continues
with a Boxing Day special, charting the history of the club’s
post-Christmas matches. .
BOXING DAY ‘DERBIES’
With modern day players generally limited to playing one
match a week, club rugby on Boxing Day has become
something of a rarity in the professional era.
Things were very different in the amateur days, as club
treasurers salivated at the prospect of bumper crowds and
bar takes as the holiday season was crammed with fixtures
between local rivals.
Gosforth, for example, would traditionally play Northern on
Boxing Day and Novocastrians on New Year’s Day. If
December 26 happened to fall on a Saturday the club would
Gosforth’s inexorable rise through the 1970s coincided with a
steady decline in the fortunes of Northern which has never
really been reversed, with the club now playing its league
fixtures at level 7 in the RFU pyramid.
Gosforth in turn fell from grace during the 1980s, although
their decline was partially arrested following the move to
Kingston Park in 1990. In fact, Northern’s only victory in the
fixture in the 15 years before the game went open came in
1989, as Gosforth endured their worst season since the
Second World War.
1980: Gosforth 12-6 Northern
1981: No fixture
1982: Gosforth 9-6 Northern
1983: Northern 6-30 Gosforth
1984: Gosforth 42-0 Northern
1985: Northern 0-3 Gosforth
1986: Gosforth 19-7 Northern
1987: Northern 25-40 Gosforth
1988: Gosforth 17-13 Northern
1989: Northern 9-3 Gosforth
1990: Newcastle Gosforth 34-4 Northern
1991: Northern 6-54 Newcastle Gosforth
1992: Newcastle Gosforth 42-0 Northern
1993: Northern 7-51 Newcastle Gosforth
1994: Newcastle Gosforth 62-0 Northern
David ‘Banty’ Johnson turning out in Northern colours.
play four matches in nine days, with the majority of the
players playing in all four.
The Boxing Day derbies between Gosforth and Northern
were always compelling affairs, even if the quality on show
did not always match festive expectations.
The two clubs were walking distance apart, separated by the
width of the Great North Road. Both clubs were running five
adult sides along with veteran XVs – the Gosforth Nomads
and Northern Gypsies – and Colts, and on Boxing Day all
seven teams were pitted against their local rivals.
Whilst the two clubs might only attract a few hundred to their
regular club fixtures, attendances in excess of 2,000 were
commonplace on Boxing Day, with the respective
clubhouses packed post-match with supporters for whom this
annual fixture was their only visit.
The matches also proved an accurate indicator of the relative
standings of the two clubs.
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Gosforth: P14,W13, L1, Pts for 418, Pts against 83.
Northern: P14, W1, L13, Pts for 83, Pts against 418.
Northern’s sole victory in this period in 1989 owed much
to Gosforth’s record points scorer, David Johnson.
Having represented the club since a teenager Johnson had
decamped to Northern in the close season, lured by the offer
of a job in the building industry. He scored all of Northern’s
points with two penalties and a drop goal after Gosforth had
taken an early lead through a Graeme Spearman penalty.
The teams that day were as follows:
Gosforth: J.Whisker; G.Spearman; C.Leslie; D.Briggs
(rep.R.Wilkinson, 50); D.Ogilgie; A.Markham; S.Douglas; M./
Fraser; G.Cooper; P.Harvey; K.Westgarth; T.Roberts;
R.Thorpe; N.Frankland; P.Smith.
Northern: J.Murray; J.Briggs; B.Russell (rep.A.Elliott);
N.Robinson; M.Carr; D.Johnson; J.Tiffen; P.Jackson;
A.Tucker; P.Watson; A.Oglethorpe; J.Foster; J.Baldwin;
G.Evans; M.Carter.
Gosforth got some measure of revenge when they regained
the Northumberland Senior Cup four months later, beating
Northern 16-3 at Morpeth.
By the end of the 1980s it had become clear that Newcastle
could not sustain two successful clubs at senior level, and
following Gosforth’s decision to sell their Great North Road
ground there were talks between the two clubs about the
possibility of a merger.
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