Easington Colliery A.F.C.

Category	Sports
Dates	Founded 1913; Easington Colliery Welfare from 1919; Welfare Park opened September 1929; FA Cup first round proper, November 1955; disbanded 1964; re-formed 1973; present name 1976; Northern League from 1985 and again from 2024.

The football club of the Durham pit village of Easington Colliery, founded in 1913 and for most of its history called Easington Colliery Welfare, which plays at the Welfare Park the colliery opened in 1929 and reached the first round proper of the FA Cup in 1955.

A dark metal pit cage standing on grass on a clifftop above the sea. — The Pit Cage Monument on the site of Easington Colliery Graham Hogg, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

The mining history in this record

The club was formed in 1913 and joined the Wearside League, withdrawing during the First World War and returning in 1919 as Easington Colliery Welfare. In 1929 the colliery opened a recreation ground for its workers and their families, with two football pitches, a cricket ground, three tennis courts and two bowling greens; Ramsay MacDonald opened the football field that September with the councillors Joseph H. Blackwell and George W. Bloomfield of the Seaham Divisional Labour Party.

The Welfare won the Wearside League in 1929-30, 1931-32 and 1932-33, and again in 1947-48 and 1948-49. In 1955 it beat four Northern League sides to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup, where Tranmere Rovers won 2-0 at Welfare Park before a record crowd of 4,500.

People

Ramsay MacDonald, who opened the Welfare Park football field in September 1929.

Legacy today

Easington Colliery Welfare disbanded in 1964 and was re-formed in 1973; it took its present name in 1976 and, in one account, merged with Easington Rangers. The club played in the Northern League from 1985 and returned to it in 2024. The colliery closed in 1993, but the club still plays at the southern end of the Welfare Park, which remains open with fewer facilities than it once had.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

Easington Colliery's football club was founded in 1913 and played as Easington Colliery Welfare from 1919. (documented fact) ^1,2
The colliery opened its recreation ground, the Welfare Park, in 1929 for its workers and their families, and Ramsay MacDonald opened the football field that September. (documented fact) ³
In 1955 the club reached the first round proper of the FA Cup and lost to Tranmere Rovers at Welfare Park before a record crowd of 4,500. (documented fact) ^1,2
The club won the Wearside League in 1929-30, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1947-48 and 1948-49. (documented fact) ¹
The Welfare club disbanded in 1964 and was re-formed in 1973. (documented fact) ^1,2
The re-formed club merged with Easington Rangers to form the present Easington Colliery AFC. (documented fact, uncertain) ²

Mines

Easington Colliery — County Durham
The club played as Easington Colliery Welfare and has its ground on the Welfare Park, the recreation ground the colliery opened for its workers and their families in 1929.

Real-world mining concepts used here

Colliery

Sources

(secondary) Easington Colliery A.F.C. (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia
(secondary) The Underdogs: The Lowdown on Easington Colliery (Redcar Athletic, 1 November 2024) — Redcar Athletic F.C.
(secondary) Easington Colliery Welfare Grounds (North East Heritage Library sports archive) — North East Heritage Library

Record created: 25 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026