Refereeing Honour

Chester-le-Street Boys and Pelton Community School team manager, Mr Alan Baker, had the honour of refereeing the district final at the ESFA Schools' Finals at Wembley on Saturday April 26th. 2008. The day before, Alan refereed the semi finals at Watford's Training Complex with South Tyneside from Durham County Schools FA and London team, Lewisham progressing to the final at Wembley. Playing the finals at Wembley eight years after our own district team won the national finals in the last competition played at old Wembley gave the boys and Alan a chance of a lifetime. Sadly, South Tyneside were beaten by Lewisham but that didn't spoil a fantastic day.

 The magnificent Wembley Stadium

 5 a Side County Champions 07/08

An exciting morning's football at Consett Belle View Sports Hall resulted in Chester Boys carrying off the County 5-a-Side Trophy. Three wins and a draw saw us lift the trophy for a record 5th time since the competition began in 1992.

Chester-le-Street and Derwentside receive winners and runners up plaques

The team played particularly well throughout the tournament and thoroughly deserved the victory although it has to be said that Derwentside played exceptionally well also and only lost on goal difference (not an unusual event in small sided competitions!) A better goal difference, courtesy of a 5 - 1 win against Felling in the first match just edged out Derwentside.

Ready for kick off in the crucial final match against Derwentside

A win in a county competition is a great boost and the boys can be proud of their performance in this tournament

Scarborough Weekend 2007

One of the highlights each year in the trip to Scarborough at October half term and this year was no exception. A party of 47 boys, parents and teachers set off on a glorious Saturday morning to play the first match at Graham School, Scarborough. A "bellyy-buster" bun of sausage, bacon, egg and mushrooms is a must at the picnic area at Scaling Dam and we were relieved to find that the van was in operation this year. A later than normal breakfast was enjoyed by all including a chat extoling the merits of pease pudding as described in detail by Alan Hamilton!

The match itself was a great success (see match reports section) and, after refreshments provided by Scarborough Schools, we set off for the Yardley Manor and Chatsworth Hotels, located adjacent to Peasholm Park. After settling into rooms, a free afternoon was enjoyed by everyone in Scarborough including a trip to the Harbour Bar for ice cream by the Baker family - a tradition going back many years!

Joe McCormick, who was in charge of guiding us to a new pizza restaurant, was only slightly late in meeting us after a conducted tour of Scarborough in the afternoon ran over time. However, he came up trumps with his choice of restaurant and, having tucked into our meals, we left parents behind to head towards the sea front for one of those special ice creams before setting off for a session of indoor bowling and the "slotters". Scott McArdle proved to be the king of the rink while Connor Bell won the prize for the least score - by some distance! As usual, the slot machines were easy winners although it has to be said that Michael Wood did return with a boat load of 2p coins which severely hampered his speed as we negotiated the yearly "Steps Run" which was a tie between Scott and Mark with a super fast time of 17 seconds.

An excited party returned to the hotel just in time to see a disappointing end to the Rugby World Cup final. A surprise was in store when we arrived to find the Bell and Addison family already returned to the hotel although, judging by the photograph, they did seem to have enjoyed themselves!

Barbara & Kelly prove that you don't need to go on the town to enjoy yourselves!

One by one, the revellers returned to relate various tales of their night "on the town". Lee Elsdon had an interesting story about Scarborough taxi drivers, which he was keen to tell anyone who was listening, as can be seen below

Lee telling Phil about the night out in Scarborough

However, it has to be said that nothing could have been better than our night with the team - they were a great bunch to be with!

Relaxing in the Yeardley Manor Hotel

Thankfully, everyone was in for breakfast, generally looking lively and those who were in the Chatsworth were particularly satisfied with the generous sized meal they had eaten!

Leaving the hotel to prepare for the amtch against North Tyneside

Having left the hotel, we were keen to play the match against our traditional Sunday morning match against North Tyneside. The manner in which the team played gave parents and teachers alike great satisfaction (see "Match Report") and it was most definitely a fine end to a most enjoyable weekend in Scarborough.

The match against North Tyneside concluded the weekend in style

Grant Leadbitter

One of the success stories of a former Chester-le-Street schoolboy is the progress made by Grant to establish himself as a premier league player with Sunderland. It was always Grant's ambition to play for the team he supported as a schoolboy and our association is delighted that he has realised that ambition. His ability was first in evidence playing for Woodlea Primary School and Chester-le-Street Boys and it was obvious from first sight that he had a special gift which, together with an excellent attitude, has seen Grant make his way in the professional game. Hopefully, he will continue to develop as he sets out in the difficult world of being a premier league footballer and we look forward to following his progress throughout the season

Grant Leadbitter forging out a successful career with Sunderland FC

2005/06 District Team win "Team of the Year" trophy presented by Chester-le-Street Council on Thursday May 31st 2007

Our 2005/06 district team won the "Team of the Year" trophy presented by Chester-le-Street District Council for the most outstanding performance by any team under 18 years in the area. We are justifiably proud of this award and know that it was well deserved

Craig Roberts & Jonathan Maddison receive the "Team of the Year" award at the Civic Centre

Ex Chester Boys' Captain Wins Contract

Carl Magnay, captain of the all-conquering 2000 Chester Boys' team, has won a professional contract with Chelsea following participation in the Sky Sports 1 programme, "Football Icon"

Carl played in midfield for Birtley St Josephs school and the district team (see below). He, along with thousands of others, volunteered to take part in the competition and he has now come out top of the pile. Well done, Carl and best wishes for the future.

Carl is pictured holding the golden boot, front row

ESFA Sainbury's Super Soccer Saturday

Keel University, Staffordshire

Saturday 17 June 2006

Time for presentations at Keele University

This date will live long in the memory of those boys, teachers and teachers who spent a great day at the biggest football competition in the country. To reach the finals, the team had first of to be successful in our own county competition and followed this up by winning the North of England finals at the Academy of Light.

Qualifying for the national finals is not unusual for Chester-le-Street District team for they have qualified a staggering four times in the last six years!The team performed wonderfully well by topping the group and in doing so, looking sharp and focussed on what was a boiling hot day.

Group results were as follows: