| Full name | Gateshead Association Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1899 | |
| Dissolved | 1973 | |
| Ground | Hartington Terrace Stanhope Road (–1908) Horsley Hill (1908–1930) Redheugh Park (1930–1973) Gateshead Youth Stadium (1973) | |
| 1972–73 | Midland League, 9th | |
Gateshead Association Football Club was afootball club based inGateshead,County Durham, England. The club was formed inSouth Shields in 1899 as South Shields Adelaide Athletic. After success in theNorth Eastern League prior toWorld War I, they were voted into theFootball League in 1919. Financial problems in the late 1920s saw the club relocate to Gateshead in 1930, adopting the name of their new town. They remained in the Football League until 1960, when they were surprisingly voted out of the Football League and replaced byPeterborough United, despite not having had to apply forre-election since 1937. They subsequently played in regional leagues before folding in 1973. In order to replace them, another South Shields club was then moved to Gateshead, becomingGateshead United.
The club was established in 1899 by Jack Inskip and was named South Shields Adelaide Athletic after the Adelaide Street area of the town where the founders were from.[1] Success in their early years saw the club win the South Shields Junior Alliance, the 'A' Division of the South Shields Juvenile League, the Shields & District League in 1904–05 and then the Tyneside Junior League.[2] In 1905 they were founders of the Tyneside League and were its inaugural champions.[3] After retaining the title the following season,[3] they joined theNorthern Alliance in 1907. After finishing fourth in their first season,[4] they were accepted into theNorth Eastern League.[5] The club were runners-up in their first season in the league.[5]
In 1910 the club was renamed South Shields after it became a limited company.[1] Former England internationalArthur Bridgett was appointed manager in 1912 and they were runners-up again in 1912–13,[5] and applied forelection to theFootball League. However, they failed to receive a single vote.[6] The following season saw them win the league title, after which they applied for Football League membership again, receiving a single vote.[6] The club retained the league title the following season;[5] another attempt at gaining entry to the Football League was more successful as they finished third with 11 votes, but the two clubs up for re-election,Leicester Fosse andStoke received 33 and 21 votes respectively.[6] The club's two championship winning seasons saw them lose only four matches and score 293 goals in 76 games.[5] DuringWorld War I the club played in the Tyneside Combination, which they won in 1915–16, and the Northern Victory League.[2]
When football resumed afterWorld War I, the Football League was expanded by four clubs. South Shields applied and with 28 votes, they were elected to theFootball League Second Division.[6] The club's first seven seasons saw them finish in the top half of the table every season except1922–23.[7] However, after finishing nineteenth in1926–27, they ended thefollowing season bottom of the table and were relegated to theThird Division North.[7] With the club suffering from financial problems, in 1930 they relocated to nearbyGateshead and were renamed Gateshead Association Football Club.[8]
In August 1930, Gateshead A.F.C. started a new era when 15,545 supporters watched them beatDoncaster Rovers 2–1. In1931–32 Gateshead missed out on promotion on goal average,[9] finishing runners-up toLincoln City. With the club's performances in decline thereafter, they finished second-from-bottom in1936–37 and were forced to seek re-election. However, they were easily re-elected, winning 34 votes to the 12 received by the most successful non-League club,Shrewsbury Town.[10] The club's fortunes improved afterWorld War II and they were runners-up again in1949–50, but there was still only one promotion place. In the 1950s the club enjoyed some relatively successfulFA Cup runs; after reaching the fourth round in1951–52 season, thefollowing season saw them reach the quarter-finals. The run included a third round win overLiverpool, before wins overHull City andPlymouth led to a quarter final match at home toBolton,[7] with a crowd of 17,692 seeing the away team win 1–0.[11] During this time the club regularly included the brothersTom andJack Callender, whose combined appearances for Gateshead established a record for the most by two brothers at a single club.[12]
In 1958 the Football League was restructured, with the regional Third Divisions reorganised intoDivision Three andDivision Four. A fourteenth-place finish in1957–58 saw Gateshead placed in Division Four. In1959–60 they finished in the bottom four of Division Four, forcing them to seek re-election. Despite not finishing bottom and having only had to face re-election on one previous occasion, the club received fewer votes than non-LeaguePeterborough United and were voted out of the league.[13]
Gateshead subsequently dropped into theNorthern Counties League, a newly-formed replacement for the North Eastern League (which later adopted the name of its predecessor). Playing alongsideSouth Shields, a club formed in 1936 to replace them when they had moved to Gateshead, they finished fourth in the League and won the League Cup in their first season.[14] They applied to rejoin the Football League, but received only three votes, well below the 32 received byHartlepools United, the worst-placed Football League club.[13] Another attempt at the end of the 1961–62 season saw them receive four votes, again well short of re-entry.[13] In 1962 they switched to theNorth Regional League, which was largely composed of reserve teams of Football League clubs, and again put themselves forwards for the Football League elections at the end of the 1962–63 season, receiving four votes again. Despite winning the league in 1963–64,[9] they again only won four votes in the Football League election process.[15] Further attempts in 1965 (four votes) and 1966 (one vote) were also unsuccessful.[15] In 1968 the club were founder members of the Northern Premier League. However, after finishing bottom of the table in1969–70, they dropped into theWearside League, replacing their reserve team. The club were Wearside League runners-up in 1970–71 and after another failed attempt to re-enter the Football League (receiving no votes)[16] subsequently joined theMidland League. However, after two seasons the club folded in 1973.
History was repeated the following year as the new South Shields club was moved to Gateshead to becomeGateshead United.[17]
South Shields Adelaide Reserves were champions of the Shields and District League in 1905–06 and 1906–07,[18] before joining the Tyneside League in 1908.[3] They then switched to theWearside League in 1909.[19] They were runners-up in 1910–11, but left at the end of the 1911–12 season,[19] returning to the Tyneside League.[3] Echoing the success of the first team, they won back-to-back Tyneside League titles in both 1913–14 and 1914–15.[3] When the club was elected to the Football League, the reserve team took over from the first team in the North Eastern League, which they won in 1923–24 and finished as runners-up in 1928–29.[5]
After becoming Gateshead reserves in 1930, the reserves remained in the North Eastern League.[5] They were runners-up in 1947–48,[14] but along with the other Football League reserve teams, they transferred to theNorth Regional League in 1958.[14] The reserves rejoined the Wearside League in 1967, where they played until being replaced by first team in 1970.[20]
South Shields Adelaide initially played on a pitch at Hartington Terrace,[1] before moving to Stanhope Road. In 1908 they moved toHorsley Hill.[21] The club's record attendance of 24,348 was set for anFA Cup fifth round match againstSwansea Town on 19 February 1928.[21]
When the club relocated to Gateshead, they played atRedheugh Park until 1973, when they moved briefly to theGateshead Youth Stadium,[22] before folding later in the year.
