THE grandson of a footballer who played for one of the forgotten teams of the North-East has come forward to help shed light on the mysterious side.

In 1890 Darlington St Augustine's FC were the first winners of The Northern League, the second oldest football league in the world and the previous year won the Cleveland Cup, then a major competition that drew big crowds.

The Saints have long since ceased to exist as a team, but to commemorate their achievement a 'kick-about' game with a makeshift team wearing recreated Saints' kit against a fan's Sunderland team will take place on Saturday, (August, 8), at Beechwood Avenue, Darlington.

There will be a fun day from 1pm at St Augustine's on Larchfield Street followed by a play from 7.30pm about origins of The Northern League - called Hewin' Goals by the Backscratch Theatre Company - and an associated talk by Mike Amos, outgoing chairman of The Northern League from 7pm.

'Sunderland' - made up of a few Sunderland fans based in Darlington - have been chosen as the opposition because Sunderland played the Saints, a Roman Catholic church team, in their very first game wearing red and white stripes.

Dennis McGuire's grandfather, Patrick McGuire who died in 1944, played half back in the team that beat Redcar 5-1 in front of what The Northern Echo described as "a vast crowd" in Stockton in 1899, but he doesn't know for sure if he played in the first season of the Northern League.

However, his grandfather was not one of controversial "Scottish professors" - professionals - who were taken on by Saints, helping them to win the league.

Patrick McGuire, whose son John went on to play for Darlington and Charlton Athletic, was a forge worker from Albert Hill in Darlington, then a well-known Irish area in Darlington.

That indicates that at least some of the glorious team were ordinary men from Darlington playing for their own church team and not Scottish "professors" at all.

Mr McGuire, of Pierremont Gardens, who has his grandfather's gold Cleveland Cup winners medal, said he couldn't remember his grandfather's footballing ability being discussed, but the medal had been passed down with pride.

Mr McGuire has 1889 The Northern Echo report of the Cleveland Cup victory.

It said: "A crowd of some 2,000 persons awaited the return home of the victorious Saints at Bank Top Station.

"Capt Nolli was carried shoulder high along Parkgate into the centre of the town, the procession being headed by a brass band. A convivial meeting of the club's supporters followed at the Dunn Cow Inn, when the Cleveland Cup, filled to the brim with champagne, was passed round."

Tickets for the play cost £8 (£6 concessions) and are available from starsdarlington.co.uk.