Crook Town helped promote football in Cataluña in 1913.
Crook Town FC v Shildon FC
The FA Carlsberg Vase
Third Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 5 December 2009
Millfield Ground, Crook Town FC
Winning clubs will receive £1,300 from The FA prize fund
Click here for all the Third Round Proper fixtures
Few of the 100,000 people in the Camp Nou for 'El Clasico' last weekend will have known that the popularity of football in Cataluña is in part down to a small mining town in County Durham.
The unlikely link between Crook Town and Barcelona was formed in 1913 when the clubs played the first of a series of games intended to promote football as the region's main sport rather than bullfighting.
The relationship was forged by Jack Greenwell, the Crook-born son of a miner who managed Barcelona for seven consecutive years, a record only bettered by Dutch legend Johan Cruyff. The sides clashed ten times in friendlies in the 1910s and 1920s and, with two victories, Crook may have even been the first English team to ever beat the Spanish giants.
Fast-forward to 2009, and while Barcelona are Spanish and European Champions, Crook are celebrating their 120th anniversary with an FA Vase run that continues on Saturday in the Third Round Proper when they host Shildon.
"It's a bit of pub quiz knowledge and it means a lot that we have such a great history - no other club at our level can boast that," said club secretary Kieron Bennett.
"We have loads of memorabilia from our past and that adds to the status of the club.
"Crook have also won The FA Amateur Cup five times so we're traditionally big hitters in cup competitions.
"We reached the quarter-finals in The Vase a few years ago and a repeat of that would be fantastic because it's a huge competition for us in a number of different ways."
Crook currently sit eleventh in the Northern League Division Two but with plenty of games in hand they are eyeing up a challenge for promotion this season.
And Saturday's game against a team who play in the league above them will certainly test their credentials, admits Bennett.
He added: "Whitley Bay won The Vase last year and Gateshead are doing really well, so hopefully we will repeat the success of other north-east teams and climb through the leagues.
"The infrastructure is certainly here and we're a proper community club."
