Durham is all set to stage a World Cup final in tribute to tiny West Auckland FC.

"I’m not all that keen on football to be honest,”

admits Durham Gala Theatre’s far-sighted artistic director Simon Stallworthy, who still couldn’t resist the incredible century-old tale of tiny West Auckland FC beating Italian giants Juventus 6-1 to win the first World Cup.

While some might regard that as heresy in the soccer-mad North- East, Stallworthy has to be realistic about the appeal of a sport which rarely transfers well to stage and screen.

On this occasion, West Auckland’s incredible victory is the stuff of legends and allowed him to commission North-East playwrights Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood to re-imagine what is was like for an amateur team of miners to travel to Turin and take on some of the best sides in Europe.

Stallworthy says: “When I did Far Corner (the play he adapted from Harry Pearson’s book about grassroots football) three years ago it mentioned West Auckland winning the World Cup in 1909.

“So I wasn’t actually looking for another football project it was just that I thought I couldn’t let the anniversary go by. I checked with other theatre companies thinking they’re bound to have commissioned plays but nobody else was interested. So then I contacted Ed and Trevor because I thought they’d be the best guys to write a funny, moving, quite lively play about a group of miners winning the World Cup.

“It is something that is really important to the region because it’s a celebration of this region’s incredible football heritage. Ed and Trevor are both football-mad and write for men very well and they’ve created a great, witty script and managed to bring the story to life with six actors.”

The six North-East actors are: David Nellist and Scott Frazer, who brought The Likely Lads to Durham’s Gala last year; Dean Logan from Gala’s first in-house production, Beamish Boy; Hebburn’s Wayne Miller, in the role of Charlie ‘Dirty’ Hogg (played by Tim Healy in the 1981 TV film A Captain’s Tale); Rob Atkinson as skipper Bob Jones (a role played in the film by Dennis Waterman) and Spennymoor’s John Carter who is the team’s goalkeeper.

Carter reveals that legal problems have meant that his character name has had to be altered from Tom Gill to Gubbins, but there have been few other problems with bringing these ghosts of the past back to life.

“We do have a ball in the rehearsal rooms and kick it about a bit. We’ve been talking about getting a five-a-side team going, but I’m not sure it will be allowed.

The trouble is we all fancy ourselves as midfielders,” laughs the London-based actor.

“I’m from Spennymoor originally and I was working at Northern Stage when I heard about the play. It’s nice to be doing FREQUENCIES Classic FM: (101-102 FM) Virgin: (1215 AM) Alpha: (103.2 FM) Fresh AM: (936, 1413 AM) talkSPORT: (1053, 1089 AM) Metro Radio: (97.1-103FM) Magic: (1152,1170 AM) Radio Newcastle: (1458 AM and 95.4, 96, 104.4 FM) Radio York: (666, 1260 AM and 103.7, 104.3, 95.5 FM) Sun FM: (103.4 FM) Century Radio: (100-102 FM), Galaxy 105-106: (106.4 FM) SATURDAY RADIO SUNDAY RADIO 26 ENTERTAINMENT The Northern Echo northernecho.co.uk SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2009 Weekendradio a project about football because they don’t come into theatres very often. It’s quite a struggle for some people to walk through the doors, so if the subject is about something close to their heart then it might just break that barrier down,” he adds.

“We live in an age where people are happy to turn their televisions on and leave them as background noise. Coming to the theatre is very different. I always like to think that when you stand in front of an audience for those two hours you in a contract with them and what happens that night is unique,” Carter says.

He feels the chances of West Auckland repeating the feat – Juventus are considering a replay – are forlorn. “I don’t think they could win at Bishop these days,”

Carter says.

One unsolved legacy is the whereabouts of the Sir Thomas Lipton trophy, won by West Auckland, which went missing in 1994. “It would be phenomenal if it did turn up during the run. It would certainly help sell a few more tickets,” laughs Stallworthy.

■ Alf Ramsay Knew My Grandfather runs at the Gala Theatre Durham from Thursday until Saturday April 25. Tickets: £10-£13. Pay What You Like Monday. Box office: 0191-332-4041 galadurham.co.uk