IT'S the stuff dreams are made of – a coal miner footballer from Crook who ended up as manager of Peru's national team.

An audience of more than 50 crowded into Aycliffe Village Hall for a gem of a production by Backscratch Theatre about footballing legend Jack Greenwell.

The little-known story told in Hewin' Goals – a reference to hewing coal – is a funny, at times moving, mix of dialogue, drama, music and use of black and white film projecting information on to a backdrop.

The simple stage set allowed for close involvement between the four actors and the audience, and a footballing quiz tested how well people knew their local footballing history.

Joint artistic director Tom Burton, who is from Crook, said: "When we heard about Jack Greenwell, we felt it was a story that had to be told. We wrote the play in about five weeks, although the idea to do a show was conceived about two years ago."

He and fellow actors – his brother Jack Burton, Michael Daynes and Joseph Robson – are currently on tour around venues in the region, and recently played at the Voodoo Cafe, in Darlington.

They wanted to do something to commemorate the Northern League – the second oldest football league in the world – which, this year, celebrates its 125th anniversary, and are grateful for funding from a number of organisations, including the Big Lottery Fund, Great Aycliffe and Middridge Partnership, and the Arts Council England, which has helped to make their production possible.

Jack Greenwell was born in 1884 and began his footballing career playing for Crook at the age of 17, before playing for and then, in 1917, managing Barcelona – a role he had for seven years.

He went on to become the first non-South American to win the championship as Peru's manager in 1939. A year later, he moved to Bogota, Colombia, to work with the national team, and died there in 1942 of a heart attack.

For more information about venues and dates for Backscratch Theatre's next performances, visit their website at backscratchtheatre.wordpress.com.

Jackie Craft