Sports

Blyth Spartans Host Inaugural Better Together Cup at Croft Park

Around 700 supporters turned out at Croft Park for a five-club pre-season tournament that raised money for Tyneside and Northumberland Mind, backed by a £20,000 donation from QTS Data Centres.

Blyth.live·29 July 2026

Pre-season friendlies rarely draw a crowd, but the weekend of 17 to 19 July was different at Croft Park. Blyth Spartans hosted the inaugural Better Together Cup, a five-club tournament that turned three days of summer football into a fundraiser for mental health — and it brought roughly 700 supporters through the turnstiles on Plessey Road.

The format was simple: semi-finals on the Saturday, then the final and a third-place play-off on the Sunday. Alongside the Spartans, the field brought together clubs from across the country — Ashington AFC and AFC Newbiggin from the North East, Horley Town from Surrey, and Dunstable Town from Bedfordshire. It was Dunstable who were crowned the first champions, edging Blyth Spartans in the final to take the trophy south.

Football with a bigger purpose

The weekend raised money for Tyneside and Northumberland Mind, boosted by a £20,000 donation from QTS Data Centres. The Better Together initiative uses the pull of matchday to open up conversations about mental health, and the tournament carried that message throughout — with presentations from figures including Clarke Carlisle, now chair of Spartans in the Community, and Kevin Miles, chair of Blyth Spartans and chief executive of the Football Supporters' Association.

For a club that has long framed itself as "your community club," it was a fitting way to start the new campaign. The junior and outreach work run by the Spartans' community arm carries on year-round at Croft Park, from soccer schools to holiday camps, and this was that same spirit scaled up for a weekend.

Best for: The Better Together Cup returns as an annual fixture — a friendly weekend of football with mental-health fundraising at its heart.

Speaking after the final, Blyth Spartans chair Kevin Miles said the response spoke for the town: "The atmosphere across the weekend was electric, and the whole club felt it. To see Croft Park packed for a cause that matters so much to people here made everyone proud."

You can read the full match report and weekend round-up in the Northumberland Gazette.

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