The Wasps are back for one night only

Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson looks at the history of one of the North-East's most successful sporting teams

GONE but not forgotten, this season marks the 60th anniversary of Durham Wasps, one of the most iconic and successful names in North-East sport.

Born in 1947; dead, to all intents and purposes, in 1995, the Wasps dominated British ice hockey throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, a period when the sport enjoyed arguably its finest hour thanks to regular live coverage on terrestrial television.

Four British Championships and five Heineken Premier League crowns briefly positioned Durham at the heart of the nation's sporting consciousness, but if the highs were to be considerable, the lows would prove even more dramatic.

Three years after the Wasps' last British title, they were no more, sacrificed on either the folly of Sir John Hall's vision of a Geordie sporting empire', or the justified pursuit of the former Newcastle United chairman's dream of a North- East sporting superpower, depending on your perspective.

The sport lives on in the region courtesy of the Newcastle Vipers and Whitley Warriors, both clubs that owe their existence to the success of the Wasps, but Durham's link to it has vanished. Even the Riverside rink that once hosted some of the biggest names in British ice hockey has disappeared.

To celebrate this year's anniversary, Durham Wasps will re-form for a one-off game against the Warriors tomorrow at Whitley Bay's Hillheads rink.

It has been billed as a celebration but, to some, it will also be something of a wake.

"The whole sorry saga still rankles with me, even now after so many years have passed," said former Wasps fan Nick Quail, a supporter of the County Durham Ice Foundation's campaign for a new rink in Durham.

"I couldn't believe that a famous club such as Durham, with all its history and its important place in the community, could be relocated like any other commodity. I just wish that another way could have been found."

Instead, after a brief reincarnation as the Durham City Wasps, almost 50 years of history disappeared at a stroke. Travel to the Cathedral City today, and it is almost as though it never happened at all.

DURHAM'S first ice rink opened in 1940, primarily to provide the city's population with a distraction from the worries of the war, but also to offer the large Canadian contingent stationed at Middleton St George a sporting pastime they could relate to.

The Royal Canadian Air Force encouraged their troops to compete against each other on the ice, and Canadian professionals such as Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer, all stars with the world-beating Boston Bruins, regularly took part in exhibition games at Durham.

Staging the games was hardly a simple task, as the temporary rink was covered by a marquee, which was supported by a series of wooden posts. Removing the posts was not an option, so the hockey players simply had to skate around them as they homed in on goal.

"There were four posts that ran down the middle of the ice and two posts that held the marquee roof up at each end but, to be honest, they got in the way of visiting teams more than us," said Jim Hall, a Durham local who first donned a pair of skates in the early years of the war.

"The ones in the middle of the ice were generally regarded as two extra defence men as visiting teams weren't used to them being there.

"As well as that, with it being wartime, there were a number of times when they had to black the rink out whenever there was an air-raid warning, so you'd end up skating around in the pitch black, hoping you'd not collide with a post."

The rink survived German attacks, only to be demolished by a storm in 1944, but County Durham's affinity for ice hockey endured despite the departure of its Canadian airmen.

Icy' Smith, the founder of the temporary rink, donated and raised £64,000 to construct a permanent structure on the banks of the River Wear and, in time for the start of the 1947-48 season, Durham Wasps were established by Mike Davey, a Canadian who remained in the North-East following the end of hostilities.

"The first jerseys were striped, so we looked a little like Wasps," said Hall. "We played our opening game in the new rink against Kirkcaldy Flyers and lost 5-4. Initially, we played against a lot of the Scottish League teams like Kirkcaldy, Glasgow, Ayr, Paisley and Falkirk and also the Southern League amateur teams like Nottingham, Wembley and Brighton."

The Wasps gradually gained momentum and, in the 1950s, Smith split the team in two to create the Whitley Bay Bees (now the Warriors), spawning a rivalry that would endure for more than four decades.

The 1960s and 70s witnessed fluctuating fortunes but, by the start of the 1984-85 season, the Wasps were in a position to compete with the best. The next ten years would see them revel in their status as the heroes of the British game.

IN 1984, Durham beat Fife Flyers at Streatham Ice Rink to claim the Bluecol Autumn Cup. It was to be the first of 13 major trophies the club would win before the end of the 1991-92 season.

Such a lengthy period of success is almost unknown in North-East sport and, for the best part of a decade, the club could justifiably claim to be the foremost sporting outfit in the region.

Stars like Mario Belanger, Rick Brebant, Ron Katerynuk and Ian Cooper strutted their stuff at the Riverside rink, but at the heart of Durham's success lay three brothers born and bred in the city.

The Johnsons - Shaun, Stephen and Anthony - were exposed to the sport of ice hockey from an early age thanks to the influence of their father, Peter, who had previously played for the Wasps.

Shaun, the younger of the trio, played his 1,000th game in professional ice hockey earlier this season, but while the end of his career came in a Newcastle Vipers vest this spring, he will forever be associated with Durham Wasps.

"Because of my dad, I could skate before I could walk,"

said Johnson, a confirmed participant in tomorrow's anniversary game along with his two brothers. "I made my first start for the Wasps when I was 15, and I played my 1,000th game in Belfast a few months ago. I've represented my country in the World Championships, but my favourite memory is winning things with the Wasps.

"We had some amazing times, times that would be hard for anybody to repeat nowadays. We picked up just about every trophy that was going, and as the interest continued to grow, it felt like we were at the heart of something special.

"It was a great time for British ice hockey in general. Pretty much all of the players were British, the games were regularly shown on TV and we were playing to full houses every week. And if you were playing for Durham Wasps, you were winning."

Those victories persuaded crowds of more than 4,000 to follow the Wasps, with regular away-days to Wembley repeatedly attracting more than double that figure.

"The crowds were incredible,"

said Johnson. "If it was a home game, we would have to turn up two or two-and-a-half hours before the game, and there would still be hundreds of supporters queuing up for their favourite seat.

"The atmosphere was fantastic, especially for the derby games against Whitley Bay. It felt like you were at a party waiting for something special to happen. More often than not, something exciting did." By 1995, though, the party was about to come to an end.

TO many former Durham Wasps fans, Hall's purchase of the club was doomed from the start. The then Newcastle United chairman promised much, a North-East sporting empire, a state-of-the-art new rink in the shadow of St James' Park and a continuation of the Wasps' legacy.

Yet there were no promises that his new club would be called Durham. It would retain few, in any, direct links with the city, and would force supporters to make a drive of up to an hour just to attend home games. To say that it was unpopular would be an understatement.

Resistance was both strong and sustained, aimed first at Rex Brown, the owner of the Riverside rink, and then at Hall, who uprooted the Wasps to Sunderland's Crowtree Leisure before taking them to the Newcastle Arena 12 months later and renaming them the Newcastle Cobras.

A breakaway club, the Durham City Wasps, survived at a lower level for a season, but support dwindled and the debts began to mount.

The Riverside rink closed for the final time on July 8, 1996, reopening a year later as a bowling alley, and Durham's icy heyday was over as quickly as it had begun.

"Losing the Wasps was a great shame," said Johnson.

"But it's even worse that the rink has gone. Not only from the perspective of the senior players, but also just in terms of giving the kids of the city something to do.

"I speak to a lot of people from the hockey world, and all of that interest has completely disappeared now. Young kids don't even know that the city used to have an ice rink and an ice hockey team, and that's really disappointing.

"I remember going down to the rink on a Thursday or Friday night and seeing hundreds of kids out there on the ice skating. It was something that brought the community together, and it was something the city could be proud of."

Tomorrow, at Whitley Bay, that pride will surface once more. But it will be tinged with a sadness at the end of the Durham Wasps tale. The name lives on, as witnessed by the four-figure crowd that will attend the anniversary game, but sadly the club that nurtured it does not.

■ Tomorrow's game starts at 6.30pm, and admission is £6 for adults, £4 for concessions and £2 for children (16 and under).

Supporters can pay on the door, or book tickets on www.warriorsvwasps.co.uk * The County Durham Ice Foundation campaign for the creation of a new ice rink in County Durham. Further information can be accessed at http://cdif.wordpress.com.