It has produced football legends such as Alan Shearer and Michael Carrick and helps to transform the lives of thousands of youngsters every week.
But now Wallsend Boys Club believes the safety of the children it coaches and the facility's future are being put at risk by proposed plans to build hundreds of homes next to its Kirkley Park site.
The plans have been submitted to North Tyneside Council by developer Bellway Homes who, according to planning documents, are seeking approval to build 215 new houses on Centurion Park, Rheydt Avenue, in Wallsend. The application was submitted to the council in June and is currently awaiting a decision by planning chiefs.
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Wallsend Boys Club chairman Steve Dale has launched a petition opposing the development which he said will cause traffic chaos on Rheydt Avenue - the only access road leading to the club, as well as the old Wallsend Sports Centre site, and Wallsend Golf Club.
Steve said Rheydt Avenue already cannot cope with the current levels of traffic and believes the new homes will result in an additional 1,000 daily journeys on the road. He said Wallsend Boys Club has not been consulted on the plans and stressed that "youngsters will be at significant risk of traffic accidents" if the plans get the green light.
The charity moved to Kirkley Park in 2010 and hosts more than 40 representative teams for girls, boys, men, and women. In 2023, it will be opening a new youth and community hub but the proposed housing development has sparked fears for the safety of those travelling to and from the facility.
"We think it is insane that they think they can build more than 200 houses at the end of one narrow road, that can't even cope with what it deals with now on an evening and a weekend," Steve said.
"There are more than 1,000 people a week who come and use our facility and that is going to leap up when we have a community hub there.
"We are a charitable, voluntary organisation that gives up huge amounts of our time to give the kids something positive to do with their lives and we feel completely taken for granted."
The club says more than 200 residents have already objected to the planning application online and more than 800 people have signed the petition.
"North Tyneside, sadly, has some of the worst statistics for childhood obesity, mental health, and child poverty," Steve said.
"We are on the frontline dealing with those issues. At times we feel like we are banging our heads off a brick wall [because] we are doing all these good things, but out of sheer greed, there is a chance to build houses on what has been a sports centre for decades.
"All the people who use it to walk their dogs, go out for a jog or cycle, think of it as a precious area that should be retained as open space. We want to work with the council to keep it as a leisure facility and to use some of it to ease the parking issue and get some of the cars off the road."
Steve said if plans go ahead then it will also stunt the growth of the club in the future by making it "land-locked."
"It will restrict the growth because each time teams are successful the FA says you need to have a different set of facilities that will cope with the demand and it would mean that we are land-locked forever. So we would not be able to grow beyond a certain level which we are fast approaching now."
But aside from football, Steve said the club has been an instrumental part of the lives of youngsters in the area for more than 100 years.
"Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley, and Michael Carrick are fantastic examples of what the club produces, but there are tens of thousands of youngsters who have never gone on to play professional football but have found the club a big part of their lives as kids," he said.
"It is a safe place to go where they meet their mates and future partners. That is what the club has been all about for over 100 years."
A spokesperson for Bellway Homes said: "Bellway is aware of the concerns raised by Wallsend Boys Club and have addressed any material planning considerations for the proposal within the planning submission. Bellway has separately offered to work with the Boys Club to address any existing parking issues that they may experience albeit this is not linked to the Bellway proposals for residential development."
North Tyneside Council said that it is unable to comment on a live application.
Objections to the application can be submitted online here until Friday, December 2.
The Wallsend Boys Club petition can be viewed and signed here.
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