WE'RE THE NEW PRIDE OF BORO!

HAVING opened English football’s newest stadium, namely Phoenix Park, in September, Boro Rangers became the first club to host Northern League football in the town of Middlesbrough for 124 years.

- Tony INCENZO

Middlesbrough FC were the previous side to do so back in 1898/99 prior to gaining Football League membership, but now Rangers follow in those illustrious footsteps. They play on a 3G pitch which cost £500,000 to install inside the Trinity Catholic College on Lacy Road.

Containing 100 seats and covered standing for another 100 spectators, it comfortably meets stringent grading requirements for Boro’s Northern League Division One status at Step 5.

I drove 250 miles up to Teesside to take a look for myself and after witnessing a comprehensive 6-0 demolition of Birtley Town (attendance 125), I caught up with to Boro’s hard-working founder/chairman/secretary Mark Curtis, who proudly told me about the positive headway generated since winning promotion from the North Riding League to the Northern League Division Two in 2022.

Back-to-back promotion was achieved within 12 months – a truly notable achievement by a club formed only 20 years ago.

“Before moving to our new home, we groundshared at Stokesley Sports Club FC, Curtis said. “But the subsequent timing has been good for us because Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NPCAT) were improving their site at Trinity Catholic College for T6 Football Academy students to utilise a new 3G playing surface across weekday mornings and afternoons.