The fixtures have been released for the 2024/25 Ebac Northern Football League Division Two season and Ryton & Crawcrook Albion will begin with a home match against Yarm & Eaglescliffe at Kingsley Park on Saturday 27 July.
Nathan Beckham’s side then face back-to-back away matches with a short trip to Prudhoe-based Newcastle University on Thursday 1 August followed by a visit to Esh Winning two days later.
There are ten league matches provisionally scheduled for the first five weeks of the season and seven consecutive midweek rounds in a packed opening two months.
The regular season is scheduled to conclude on Saturday 19 April 2025 with Jarrow visiting Crawcrook.
The league winners at the end of the season will again be promoted automatically to the Northern League’s top tier whilst a four-team play-off will be used to decide the second team to go up. The bottom three sides in the 22-team division will be “liable to relegation”.
Ryton & Crawcrook will visit neighbours Prudhoe YC Seniors on Boxing Day in the first Tyne Valley derby of the season at Essity Park, with the return scheduled as the first game of the new year on Saturday 4 January.
Albion will travel to the newly-promoted Alnwick Town (promoted from the Northern Alliance Premier Division) on 17 August, Grangetown Boys Club (from the North Riding Football League) on 20 August and Darlington Town (from the Wearside League) on 7 September.
The trio will visit RACA HQ on 1 February, 30 November and 15 February respectively.
The only club to be relegated from the First Division last term – Sunderland RCA – host RACA on 13 August while the return at NE40 will be on 23 November.
Aside from the quartet of new clubs, Albion will be visiting a couple of different grounds next season with Billingham Synthonia playing at Stockton Town and Chester-le-Street United deciding to return to the Sunderland Hub.
The full league fixture list is available on the season fixture graphic below. And you can sync all RACA’s 2024/25 fixtures directly to your calendar on your smart device here.
Please don’t forget, fixtures are subject to change. Please check the website Matches page and follow our social media channels (@RACAFC1970) for updates.
There are a number of “free” Saturdays (7 December, 1 March & 29 March) built into the fixture schedule to allow for any postponed fixtures to be rescheduled.
Meanwhile, the FA Vase First and Second Qualifying Rounds are scheduled for 24 August and 21 September respectively with the draw expected to be released on 5 July.
The Northern League will decide later in the season if its two cup competitions – the Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup and the Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup – will go ahead after being scrapped for the last two years due to fixture backlogs.
And, the Durham County FA Challenge Cup is expected to kick off in mid-September.
