Birth of the Blues
Bishop Auckland Football Club is famous for winning the FA Amateur Cup an astonishing 10 times – three in succession between 1955 and 1957 – and being losing finalists on eight occasions. The side has over its 133 year existence produced a string of top players, several of whom were to go on and earn international honours.
So renowned is Bishop Auckland FC that it holds the distinction of being the only amateur line-up to have featured in the popular table top soccer game, Subbuteo.
What is perhaps less well-known is that the team owes its origins to a boisterous kick-about among theology students studying at Auckland Castle.
Now the club’s hallowed beginnings and illustrious early history are being celebrated in an exciting new exhibition opening here at ‘The Two Blues’ spiritual home – Auckland Castle.
The Birth of the Blues is a community collaboration between the castle and Durham Amateur Football Trust.
It tells the story of Bishop Auckland FC from its inception in the 1880s, to the amateur game’s glory days in the 1950s, up to the club’s recent successes.
An exhibition for all the family, it brings together rare objects, memorabilia, archival film footage and fun events telling the story of the club, the players and the ‘religion’ – both sacred and secular - behind the world’s most popular ball game.
Visitors will be able to marvel at the FA Amateur Cup on loan from the National Football Museum in Manchester; see Olympic medals won by the greatest amateur player to have pulled on a Bishop Auckland jersey, Bob Hardisty; reminisce on some of the most eminent games through contemporary photographs and signed programmes; and see how the kit has changed over the past 100 years.
The fans’ story will also be told through original collectibles, including postcards, newspaper clippings, yearbooks, magazines, match tickets and the rare Subbuteo players wearing Bishop Auckland’s distinctive light and dark blue colours.
A programme of commemorative matches, tournaments and question and answer sessions with former Bishop Auckland players and respected football journalists, will also be held over the summer at the castle.
Admission £6 Adults, £5 Concessions, Under 16s Free, Annual Pass £15, £14 concessions
Open 10am -last admission 4pm every day except Tuesdays.
01388 743 750
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