All Golds v Newcastle Thunder KPL1 2017

Paul Franze left Gateshead
Thunder at the end of the 2009
Season following the club
entering administration
resulted in the release of Kelly
and fifteen Yorkshire- based
players.
The club later went into
administration with the now
young and inexperienced side
finishing bottom of the league.
Despite these problems and
with the help of a supporters’
committee things were slowly
turned round. Now in Rugby
League’s third tier, Thunder
reached the play offs in 2005
and 2006 and after
the arrival in 2007 of Australian
coach Dave Woods, Thunder
won their first honour – the 2008
National League Championship
- and won promotion back to
the Championship (second tier).
They finished a creditable
seventh in the Championship in
2009 but once again financial
problems were about to kick
them in the teeth.
The 2010/11 and 12 seasons
were lean years for Gateshead
who finished bottom of the
league each season with a slight
improvement to third bottom
in 2013. This was, of course, the
year the All Golds, Hemel and
Oxford joined the league and
Gateshead provided the All
Golds with their first win against
professional opposition when
the Golden Fern enjoyed an
18-16 victory in the North East
- Matt Bradley’s goalkicking
proving decisive that day as
he converted tries scored by
former Telford Raider, Mike
Venn, Jordan Rice and Tyla Hepi
(son of coach Brad Hepi), who
was to become the All Golds’
top scorer that season with 11
touchdowns.
The promise of a brighter future
arose in 2014 when Thunder
were taken over by the company
running Newcastle Falcons. A
move to their Kingston Park
ground and a change of name
to Newcastle Thunder followed
with Papua New Guinea legend
Stanley Gene installed as Head
Coach, although his tenure was
to be relatively short.
Last season, the club added a
second honour when they beat
North Wales Crusaders 31-26 in
the inaugural League 1 Shield
Joe Brown in action
Final for the clubs finishing in
the bottom seven of the league.
Pre-season optimism this year
has not yet been matched by
results so head Coach Mike
Mantelli was “shown the door”
and club stalwart Jason Payne
has taken over on an, at least,
temporary basis with a view to
improving matters.
Hopefully, Thunder can take
advantage of the increasing
interest in Rugby League
in the North East shown by
the successful Super League
“Magic Weekend” at St James
Park Newcastle a fortnight
ago. The evening before this
event, Thunder played what is
probably their ‘derby’ fixture
against York and drew a crowd
of 2,111 but went down 18-22.
On the ground, the excellent
work by community clubs such
as Cramlington Rockets has not
gone unnoticed and Thunder,
to their credit, run an Academy
team.
Just as here at the All Golds,
Thunder’s aim is for a team of
locally based players and, in
future, a team full of Geordies
would be great for Newcastle
Thunder and great for Rugby
League.
7
The limited company that ran
the club was wound up and
Thunder were found to be in
breach of the Rugby League’s
insolvency rules.
Once again, a new club was
formed and agreed to a
voluntary relegation to League 2
with a six point penalty to boot.
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