Backtrack
One door opens….
11:11am Saturday 14th September 2019
At the start of what was to prove a memorable weekend, though for some forgettable reasons, the handsome new Brian Johnson gates at Darlington Cricket Club – still the Feethams ground – were formally opened last Friday evening.
Mike Amos: Splendid weekend for Willington Cricket Club and its great stalwart
11:00am Saturday 14th September 2019
SENT to bed early, like a recalcitrant child, last week’s column was unable to record a splendid weekend for Willington Cricket Club and for John Coe, its great stalwart and president.
Mike Amos visits the closest football ground to the sea in Europe
5:00am Saturday 7th September 2019
Arbroath Football Club is famous for two things, three if you include the steak and black pudding pies.
Mike Amos: New play chronicles links between Manchester United and Bishop Auckland after the Munich air disaster
11:20am Saturday 31st August 2019
A NEW play chronicling the links between Manchester United and Bishop Auckland after the Munich air disaster will be launched next year.
Mike Amos: Perhaps a billions-to-one shot, I catch up with the nine-hole wonders
11:00am Saturday 31st August 2019
HE was a joiner’s son, raised on a council estate in Lancashire, is now reckoned Britain’s third wealthiest man – down from top place last year – with a net worth of £18.15bn.
Long-serving former West Auckland FC secretary Allen Bayles has died, aged 71
11:30am Saturday 24th August 2019
Long serving former West Auckland FC secretary Allen Bayles, perhaps better known to Backtrack readers as the Midnight Cowboy, has died. He was 71.
Mike Floate’s football photographs have filled more than 20 books
11:00am Saturday 24th August 2019
They took all the trees
Pitch perfect in the Feversham League - despite travails of Northern Rail
5:00am Sunday 18th August 2019
Among the myriad joys of the Feversham Cricket League is that, with a little bit of help, it’s possible to access matches via the North Yorkshire Moors Railway from Grosmont to Pickering.
Visiting cricketing Aussies suffer another washout - but in County Durham this time
5:00am Saturday 17th August 2019
Raby Castle, the North-East’s first recorded cricket venue, hosted a party of elderly Australian tourists last Sunday. Old old story, it poured down.
Sharon Gayter targets breaking men's records following latest epic challenge
11:00am Saturday 10th August 2019
Almost four days to the stopwatched second since she ran wearily, wondrously, into Lands End, Sharon Gayter almost bounces to the door of her home in Guisborough, Cleveland. It’s Tuesday evening.
Guiding lights
11:00am Saturday 10th August 2019
First time in donkeys’ years, so he reckoned, former England international footballer Dave Thomas was back on West Auckland’s football ground last Wednesday. He used to nick over the wall, he admitted.
World beater
10:46am Saturday 3rd August 2019
The uniquely awesome Sharon Gayter was within 20 miles of Lands End – and of a truly incredible world record – as today’s column was being tucked up.
High Plains drift
10:48am Friday 2nd August 2019
One of the region’s top golf clubs is marking a milestone; the column raises a glass at the 19th
From Skerne Park to Aston Villa to Cummins: The Darlington footballer back in love with the game
5:00am Saturday 27th July 2019
Before considering the nomadic life and times of Neil Tarrant it is necessary to ponder the meaning of the Scottish term “teuchter”, because that’s what they called him at Ross County.
Barnes storming
11:36am Saturday 20th July 2019
Two over-50s make a hundred – or in this case a pair of centurions
Means and ends
11:30am Saturday 20th July 2019
Back in 1996, Darlington Quoit Club – perhaps the town’s least-known licensed premises – marked its 150th anniversary. Here’s the second paragraph of the resultant column:
Fingers outing
1:00pm Saturday 13th July 2019
n the tea train up Wensleydale we find ourselves sitting opposite Dave “Fingers” Morrison, the wicketkeeper with metacarpals like a relief map of the Himalayas.
Tangle o’ the Isles
12:00pm Saturday 13th July 2019
A 35-0 win, a great exhibition and memories of the day that ladybirds stopped play
Early kick-off - the football season's already started in this town
9:20am Saturday 29th June 2019
BEFORE Wimbledon, long before the first test match, the day after the summer solstice, football returned last Saturday – Richmond Town v Penrith on what’s twice been voted England’s most scenic ground
Winded in the Willows: Village with no pub, shop, state school or church, sa bus service which seldom runs and a railway which doesn’t stop
8:20am Saturday 29th June 2019
NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS, permanent population about 350, is an attractive village a few miles west of Bedale in North Yorkshire and must on no account be confused with the much larger place of the same name, pop 22,000, between Manchester and Liverpool.
Award winning columnist Mike Amos tells the stories of North-East grassroots sport stalwarts and looks back at the characters that live long in the memory
Sport Columnists
Scott Wilson
Wilson's World
Chief sports writer Scott Wilson takes a look back at the last seven days in sport and picks his chumps and champs of the week.
Paul Fraser
Fraser Kicks Off
Chief football writer Paul Fraser keeps an eye on the region’s football scene and considers whether Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough do things right.
Mike Amos
Backtrack
Award winning columnist Mike Amos tells the stories of North-East grassroots sport stalwarts and looks back at the characters that live long in the memory.
Paul Fraser
Fraser From The Fairway
Golf writer Paul Fraser takes a look at the North-East golf scene.
Trevor Oakley
Darlo Diary
Trevor Oakley, 34, has supported Darlington FC for over 25 years, seeing few highs and many lows. Like all fans, he has his opinions; time will tell whether you agree.
