CRASTER ROVERS FC-A SLICE OF HISTORY-so far

I get the occasional nudge from football loving chums and here's one from a  book bought by David, as he was poking around a bookshop during a recent holiday in Northumberland. The centre of attention, for me, is a section on the history of Craster Rovers FC, who played in the North Northumberland League, a part of the North East of England "pyramid", lying between the Rivers Tweed and Wansbeck.  

One season in 1927-8, Craster won the North Northumberland League and if the team was ever short of a player they would sign up Sir John Craster, a local dignatory who would don the kit and play for the team. At the end of the season, he would invite the chaps to his stately home, receive the team in his Reading Room and present the medals and cups. Maybe a tankard or two was consumed also.

Craster Rovers would meet teams, during their season, from The Pirate, a pub side from Berwick, on the Scottish border and Alnwick Duke's School Old Boys. A quaint mixture. 

The book covers some historic moments in the 1950s, written by team members, pictured below. They  played in the Northumberland Minor Cup Final 1950, a major occasion for the village. They were all local lads and one, Adam Dawson, by all accounts went on to play for Chesterfield FC. Heaven knows how that happened? Others whom you wouldn't want to be tackled by included, Dougie Hogg who had experience of being sent off through rough tackling, Ralph who treated goalkeepers like Nat Lofthouse used to and Jimmy the Brick-enough said!

Training did not occur much, in those days, as the lads sorted that out for themselves, but I guess they kept pretty fit through the week, working, many on fishing boats. Getting to games was often left to individuals although one of the team had a Rolls Royce. He would have been first on the team sheet.

There were at this time, three father and son combinations in the team; the Robsons, Dawsons and MacLarens as pictured below. Post war, they reckon they had their best team, relieved from the burden of confrontation with the Germans and happy to take on the likes of local clubs Berwick FC, Alnwick, Wooler, Embleton, Amble and Bamburgh. Seahouses would be regarded as their local rivals and boat loads of supporters would come across to the harbour to cheer their teams on. 

Craster played at Bamburgh Cricket Club, on a sloping pitch that took wayward footballs down to the sea. The slope, it was reckoned, gave Craster a two goal advantage, often cited by the defeated opposition. The club played on land owned by Lord Howick  and a grant from the local Parish Council enabled them to build a clubhouse; it was worth £400, a fortune at that time.

I have tried hard to get some updated information on the club, but have drawn a blank. The club known as Craster was in dire straights so joined up with local Embleton FC. A local newspaper announced this: 

"A fixture was held on December 11th 2020: one of the biggest "local rival" games of the season for Craster & Embleton United tomorrow; known as Crembleton, they take on Alnwick Town Development team in what will be one of their biggest and toughest games of the season to date for the boys in blue.

Kick off is 4:30pm tomorrow afternoon under the lights at Alnwick's new 4G pitch which the "Crembleton" squad are looking foward to stepping foot on to see what their new facilities look like."

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