"HISTORY"
How Garnett became the Mighty Green and Black


Garnett F.C was founded by residents of Newcastle University's Garnett house in the mid 1970's. Until the early 1980's the club fielded just one team in the University's Saturday Intra-Mural League.

In 1984-85, the club began it's rise from the lower divisions to it's current position. That season Garnett won the 3rd Division Championship, to be followed by a further promotion the next season. It took little time for the club to adjust to the 1st Division as runners up spot was secured at the first attempt. In fact with only 10 minutes left in the season Garnett were in pole a position but a late KOSA equalizer on the adjoining pitch secured them the Championship. Garnett were not to be denied and dropped only one point (a goalless draw v Henderson) the following season becoming the 1987-88 1st Division Champions. In doing so Garnett became the first student based team to win the League. Unfortunately Garnett in traditional style bottled the Cup Final deservingly losing 0-1 to Howden Labour Club Pathology.

Despite a constant changeover of players, Garnett remained the most consistent team in the League finishing runners up three of the next four years. The other year, 1990-91, Garnett came third and runners up in the Cup Final to Jesmond Jets, a game Garnett dominated. 1991-92 saw Garnett win eight of their last nine games (another 0-0 draw v Henderson proving costly) only to lose out on the title, to GORS on a goal difference of one. Major honours on a Saturday eluded the Club until 1998-99 but Garnett remained a force to be reckoned with.

Over the years more teams were added as Castle Leazes joined Leazes Terrace as the Garnett power base. The 2nd team worked their way up from the 4th Division in 1985-86 to Division 1 Championship contenders. The club grew to field four Saturday teams and the depth of talent was displayed as all four teams began finishing with winning records. Making the Green and Black the biggest senior team in the North East.

In 1998-99 after a couple of below par seasons and a weakening of the league due to the departure of the local sides Garnett made the bold decision to join their old friends in the Corinthian League. Garnett made a great start by winning every game in the 2nd Division and fighting their way through to Radio Newcastle Corinthian League Cup Final. After decades of Cup disappointments Garnett triumphed 2-1 over Social Studies to end the jinx. The 1st Annual Garnett Reunion also took place and was hailed a great success.

The 1999-2000 1st Division Championship was clinched by an 11 point margin as Garnett saw out the Millennium in style. The season was an incredible one for the whole club as amazingly 6 out of 7 teams won their leagues. In 2000-01 the club grew to 5 Saturday teams and again decided it was time to play at a higher standard, the 1st team joined the Tyneside Amateur League. Despite a disappointing 9th place finish, it was widely agreed that the move was a success. The second team now playing in the Corinthian 1st Division finished an impressive runner up. The season also saw Garnett venture abroad for the first time with the hugely enjoyable and never to be forgotten Barcelona tour.

This season gone, the 1st team were top of the Tyneside Amateur League through into March, but 5 loses out of the last 8 games left them in 5th place, 9 points off the top. While the 2nd team struggled all season with bad results, they finished with 4 wins out of 5 to end in 6th place and secure Corinthians 1st Division football for another year. The 3rd team finished comfortable runners up in Newcastle University IM Division 1 and the 4th team after leading the Corinthians Division 2 all season wound up unlucky runners-up. The spirit of the club was however as good as ever as shown by the success of the Presentation night in the North Terrace.

This season Garnett merged with Newcastle Bohemians F.C. (formed 1894) and the new creation proudly continues the strong amateur traditions of both clubs. Sponsored by the North Terrace and playing at the old Bohemian ground at
Benson Park, the 1st team led the Tyneside Amateur for many weeks but eventually dropped down to 3rd.

The Reserves had a record breaking season, 11 games unbeaten helped them clinch the Corinthians 1st Division, and a 1-0 victory over Newcastle City (the renamed Social Studies!) secured the Calvert Cup to make a unique 2nd team double winning season. The 3rd, 4th and 5th teams all battled hard with varying degrees of success in Newcastle University IM Division 1 - 5th, Corinthians Division 2 - 4th, and Newcastle University IM Division 2 - 8th
respectively.

This season saw the club raise to new heights with the 1sts being elected to the Northern Alliance 2nd Division , the Reserves taking their place in the Tyneside Amateur League Division 1 and the A's slotting into the Corinthian's 1st Division. The 1sts secured promotion to Division 1 with a dramatic draw in the last game of the season and also reached the Northumberland Minor cup Final only to lose 2-1 to 1st Division Blyth Town by a last minute own goal. A crowd of over 280 paid to watch the Green and Black, a truly memorable night.

The Reserves came an impressive 4th after picking up only two points from the first seven games. The A's had a tremendous season they only lost their first game of the season in repeating last season's Reserves' success of the League Division 1 and Calvert Cup double and they were runners up in the BBC Radio Newcastle Cup. The 4th team narrowly missed promotion by one defeat, finishing 4th and losing in BBC Cup semis to the A's. The 5th team also finished fourth meaning all five Saturday teams finished in the top four of their leagues, which when one considers the upper three teams in the club were playing at a higher level reflects well on the improvement in playing standards at the club. The Wednesday A's at long last ended the club's cup jinx, thrashing Henderson A 4-1 in the Final, and finished 1st Division runners up with the B's in 3rd place, and C's 5th in Division 2..

'FORTISSIMI PRATINONIGRI'

The club motto 'fortissimi pratinonigri' means 'the mighty Green and Black'. Green and Black
have been the club colours since 1983-84 and a Professor of Classics at Newcastle University
created the motto in 1987.