From newcastlecitybreaks.com
Up-and-down results and financial problems beset the club, and in September 1995 it was to undergo another major change, when Newcastle United soccer chairman Sir John Hall realised his long-held dream of establishing a Newcastle sporting club, encompassing rugby union.
The recent change to legalising professionalism in the game had facilitated the move, and with Newcastle Gosforth’s fortunes on and off the field diminishing somewhat, Hall’s involvement could hardly have come at a better time.
Hall’s new Sporting Club held 76 per cent of the shares in the club, while the other 24 per cent was held by the Newcastle Gosforth members. To this day, the ’24 per centers’ as they are known, are still involved with the club, and provide valuable support.
Having secured the club’s future, Hall then set about instituting one of the biggest makeovers in sporting history, recruiting Wasps and England fly half Rob Andrew as director of rugby and star player, as well as a raft of other high-profile signings. Dean Ryan and Steve Bates were enlisted as key coaching and playing figures, while the likes of All Black Inga Tuigamala, Scotland stars Gary Armstrong and Doddie Weir, and England’s Tony Underwood soon followed.
The 1996/7 season saw the first under the current name of Newcastle Falcons, and the club also changed its home colours to black and white. That year saw the team rise through the second tier of English club rugby and clinch promotion to the Premiership, scoring masses of points on the way.
The1997/8 season was then to go down as arguably the biggest in the club’s history, as the all-star squad sensationally went on to lift the Allied Dunbar Premiership trophy in the first season back in the top flight.
Saracens pushed them all the way, but a sun-baked afternoon at The Stoop saw the north-easterners gain the necessary win against Harlequins that they needed to stave off the Sarries challenge. That feat was then followed up straightaway with a dramatic win over a World XV in the Sanyo Cup at Twickenham.
Rugby politics denied the Falcons a chance to have a crack at the Heineken Cup the season after, as English clubs embargoed the competition for a year, and it was 1999 before the club next had the chance to win a trophy - sadly, a Twickenham defeat to London Wasps in the Tetley’s Bitter Cup final.
It was that year, however, that the latest chapter in the club took flight, when current chairman Dave Thompson bought out Sir John Hall’s Sporting Club shareholding. Thompson, a businessman but also a keen local rugby man, kept faith with the coaching team, and made sure that professional rugby survived in the north-east.
Indeed, it was with his backing that the club reached the 2001 Tetley’s Bitter Cup final, where a last-minute try from Dave Walder secured a dramatic late win over NEC Harlequins.
The team then repeated this success in 2004, when more than 50 bus-loads of supporters made the trip down the M1 to Twickenham to see a thrilling Powergen Cup final victory over Sale Sharks, with Phil Dowson pouncing for the winning try towards the end of the second half.
So, after more than a century-and-a-quarter of existence, it is clear that the history of Newcastle Falcons – under whichever name and at whichever ground – has been one of great persistence and resilience, under-pinned by the dedication of those charged with its upkeep, and its loyal and growing support base.
