This title provides the first definitive story of how football arrived in the Hotbed of the North East and Tyneside. It includes many previously unpublished and vintage illustrations of the Pioneers of the North. Both Newcastle United and Sunderland provide the English game with some of the finest ever line-ups and most celebrated players in football's history, as well as arguably the country's most passionate supporters. Pioneers of the North is a comprehensive account of how football developed and took a grip on the very life and soul of the region, on Tyneside in particular but also in Northumberland as well as neighbouring County Durham. Related in detail is the social and sporting background, the origins of football and its growth from Berwick in the north to Darlington and Middlesbrough in the south. Other significant clubs which took a non-league route in development are examined notably Shankhouse Black Watch as well as forgotten pioneer teams such as Rendel and Elswick Leather Works
