The Bishops, as they are known, are an amateur football club from the small town of Bishop Auckland in the north-east of England. They have won the FA Amateur Cup 10 times, and made the final another 8, making them one of the most successful amateur football teams in the country. Since their inception, the club have played in the Northern League, founded in 1889 – the second oldest surviving football league in the world, and they can still be seen playing in this league today. In modern times, amateur clubs like Bishop Auckland only attract a couple of hundred people to their games, but back in the clubs heyday, thousands would turn out to watch the Bishops play.

 

The clubs finest hour began in 1947 when, in the Northern League, they finished no lower than second for nine successive seasons. The Bishops beat Billing Symphonia FC to the Northern League title three times in a row from 1950 onwards, and reached the FA Amateur Cup final against another Northern League club, Willington AFC, whose home ground was just four minutes away from Bishop’s own Heritage Park. Both teams travelled down to London for the final, which was played out in front of a massive 100,000 strong crowd who had come to Wembley Stadium to see the two sides who played for the love the game. Such crowd numbers for an amateur game are unheard of today. In a game that was just as entertaining as any professional Football League match, albeit without quite as many skills and tricks, Willington pulled off a surprise upset and won 4-0.

 

It was a similar story the following year with a 2-1 loss to Pegasus in the final, and a runner-up place in the Northern League, but The Bishops attained another three league titles in a row after that, in 1954, 1955 and 1956. They again reached the FA Amateur Cup final in 1954, going for the double, but again tasted defeat thanks to Crook Town’s narrow win. However, victory was on its way, and the following three tournaments were unprecedented in FA Amateur Cup history. Bishop Auckland made the final and came out as winners on each occasion, finally claiming the trophy in 1955, 1956 and 1957, defeating Hendon 2-0, Corinthian-Casuals 1-1 and Wycombe Wanderers 3-1. This was the last occasion that an amateur match attracted a 100,000 strong crowd, and was Bishops last appearance in the FA Amateur Cup final, but it wasn’t the last of their silverware for the decade. They added the Durham County Challenge Cup in 1956. 4

 

The club had excursions into the FA Cup proper as well, battling League teams such as Preston North End, Burnley and Wolves. Probably their finest season was that of 1954-55, in which the Bishops won the Northern League Division One, the Northern League Cup, the FA Amateur Cup and reached the 4th round of the FA Cup, eventually losing to York City, who in turn lost to Newcastle United in the semi-final. The Bishops had in their ranks several players who were so talented, they soon made names for themselves in the professional game. Seamus O’Connell played for Chelsea, and following the Munich air disaster of 1958, Levin, Hardisty and Bradley moved to Manchester United to assist in replenishing their ranks – the latter went on to play for England at full international level.

Achievements: FA Amateur Cup – Winners x 3
                              Northern League Division One– Champions x6
                              Northern League Cup – Winners x6
                             Durham County Challenge Cup – Winners x2

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​Bradley joined Bishop Auckland, one of the leading sides in the country, in 1955. Three years later, many of Manchester United’s staff and players were killed in the Munich plane crash. Subsequently, they needed to source several good players at short notice to fulfil their immediate fixture commitments. They turned to Bishop Auckland for help. Bradley, Levin and Hardisty, all of whom were England amateur internationals, answered the call. The trio were loaned to Manchester United’s reserves while the club rebuilt itself. After Matt Busby recovered from the injuries he received in the crash, he was impressed by Bradley and subsequently signed him to the first team, turning him into a part-time professional while he took a job as a teacher. Bradley made his Manchester United first team debut in 1958 against his old club Bolton Wanderers. In May of 1959, Bradley was selected for the England national team by Walter Winterbottom. This made Bradley the first and only player to play for both the professional and amateur England teams in one season. That said, he only played three games for England, in a tour of the USA and Mexico, and his United career didn’t progress much further. Bradley was palmed off to Bury in 1962 for £2,500. After just two seasons with them, he moved on to such super squads as Northwich Victoria, Macclesfield Town and Bangor City. He later worked as a head teacher at Deane School in Bolton.