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# When Harbour City played on the beach
- URL: https://pitch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/when-harbour-city-played-on-the-beach/
- Published: 2026-07-14T17:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-14T17:30:00.000Z
- Description: For three seasons after the war, the pitch was marked out on the sand at low tide. One game ended in water up to the ankles.
- Author: Kwame Mensah
- Tags: History, #Import 2026-10-02 15:58

For three seasons after the Second World War, Harbour City played their home games on a beach. Their ground had been used to store military vehicles, and nobody had the money to repair it. So the club marked out a pitch on the sand at low tide, put up two sets of posts, and played. It is one of the strangest stories in the league's history.

![Low tide at the old harbour beach. The pitch was marked out here every other Saturday.](https://pitch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/beach-sand-1.jpg)

Low tide at the old harbour beach. The pitch was marked out here every other Saturday.

## The tide timetable

The first problem was time. Games could only start when the tide was low enough to uncover the whole pitch, and had to finish before it came back. The club printed fixtures with the kick-off "subject to the tide". Some games started at 11 a.m. Some started at 4 p.m. One, famously, started at 7 a.m. in August.

## The sand

The sand was the second problem. Near the sea, it was hard and flat. Near the dunes, it was soft and deep. Visiting teams struggled. Harbour City's players knew exactly which half to choose at the coin toss, depending on the wind and the tide. Their home record in those three seasons was the best in the club's history.

## The crowds

People loved it. Crowds of several thousand stood on the sea wall and the dunes. Children swam at half-time. Fishermen watched from boats. A local band played on the promenade. A newspaper called it "the best afternoon out in the north".

> My father said you watched the game and the sea at the same time. When the tide turned, everyone knew the game was nearly over.  
>  
> **Peter Doyle, club historian**

![The sea wall, where several thousand people stood to watch.](https://pitch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/beach-wall-1.jpg)

The sea wall, where several thousand people stood to watch.

## The famous match

The most famous beach game came in March 1948\. Harbour City were losing 2-1 to the league leaders with fifteen minutes to go when the tide started to come in faster than expected. The referee shortened the pitch twice. City scored twice more in water up to their ankles and won 3-2\. The visitors complained to the league. The result stood.

## The rules

The league had no rules for a beach pitch, so it wrote some. The touchlines were marked with rope pegged into the sand, the goalposts had to be fixed deep enough to survive a strong wind, and the referee could shorten the game if the tide threatened the pitch. Visiting clubs got the kick-off time a month in advance, and Harbour City printed a tide table in every programme.

🌊

The club still has the original tide tables from 1946 to 1949\. They hang, framed, in the boardroom at The Quay.

Some visiting players hated it. Others loved it. One Kingsbridge forward said, years later, that it was the only away game where he went home sunburnt in February.

## The end

In 1949, the club finally raised enough money to repair The Quay, the ground it still uses today. The last beach game was played in April that year. Today, a small plaque on the sea wall marks the spot. Every summer, the club plays a friendly on the sand, at low tide, for charity.