BLYTH DISREGARD
While Newcastle may be the latest and most high-profile club in the north-east of England to be linked with an autocratic foreign state renowned for its laissez-faire attitude towards human rights abuses, they certainly weren’t the first. Fans who rocked up to Croft Park to watch Blyth Spartans’ 2-2 draw with Spennymoor in the National League North on Boxing Day 2018 were somewhat surprised to see a new pitchside advertising hoarding imploring them to “Visit North Korea”. Paid for by a student in the University of Sunderland who had a side-hustle organising tourist excursions to the world’s most secretive country, it is not known how many of those fans present that day have since visited Pyongyang. It is unlikely to have been many considering one among their number told the Newcastle Chronicle “you’d struggle to get anyone to visit Ashington in here, never mind the People’s Republic of North Korea”.
