What's it all about for you?

[the flying graysons]

Well it means Pies for me

[King Kareoke]

Just love posts like this.

Me well for a number of reasons (kids etc ) I missed out on a signifcant part of the Premiership but those matches I went to I have always remained optimistic.

It is still a good feeling when the team runs out - I particulrly enjoy night matches and always have. The ups and the downs well add interest - the comments after Gillingham of never going back - and only missing four games in the season (followed by admitting to having my photo taken with the trophy).

The nights of unbelievable excitement - Chelsea - does it get any better

Now the hope is back - alright we are not world beaters but there is a buzz and goals away from home are met by joyous jumping around .

The downsides - it's easy to say the money/mercenaries but that's the way it is. All seated stadiums are good for viewing/families but the crack in the Fulwell end was always good

Here's to the next 30 years of up and down

[Feed the Monster]

[quote="Shack"]
Not so much since we have moved, but certainly in the old days of Roker, I could feel the ghosts of the old fellas that had stood there before me. In quiet, reflective moments, I would think about the lads who had watched the great 30s side and then went off to war, or the blokes who went to the match and talked about how they were going to live when they shut down the shipyards or the pits.


Excellent observations Shack - felt exactly that way and remember the Roker farewell game looking around the emptying terraces and just about physically feeling the spirits of the countless thousands who'd stood there and hoped before me. Emotional experience.

I'm persuaded - the sanitised Premiership can go lick itself. Grassroots Nationwide footy, bad pies and rickety stadiums for me (well for this season at least).

Great post Cassandra

One thing that always has struck me about Sunderland Football Club was the great sense of community and spirit. Even though I'm not a Sunderland or North Eastern lad I was always struck by it and one of the reasons why I fell in love with both the club and region.

I think that it's very important that SAFC remains true to itself. While I would be initially pleased if we got a millionaire in to buy us Zidane, Owen and Beckham,I would eventually feel that we had sold out a bit. Without sounding like a sychophantic twat I am honoured to support Sunderland and would rather see us have 11 local lads playing in the first Division than have a team of mercs playing in the CL.

Not sure if I and others would be saying that though if we were winning week in week out though mind...

Anyway. Changing my username again as this one sucks hard. :wink:

I'll be back, probably dragging my coffin around

Cracking posts lads and lasses, I'm chuffed to bits reading through so many moving and eloquent testimonies on the real meaning of the game. Take a bow each and every one of you.

IIRC it was Shack that mentioned feeling the spirits of the thousands that had stood on the Roker terraces over the years, how they must be smiling now.

Originally Posted by cassandra

Cracking posts lads and lasses, I'm chuffed to bits reading through so many moving and eloquent testimonies on the real meaning of the game. Take a bow each and every one of you.

IIRC it was Shack that mentioned feeling the spirits of the thousands that had stood on the Roker terraces over the years, how they must be smiling now.

It comes from a story my granda told me.

He took me to my first ever match - I was only about 5 or 6. When the team ran out the noise from the crowd frightened the life out of me and made me cry.

I asked him why it was so loud and he told me it was 'The Famous Roker Roar - made up from the voices of the living people present and the ghostly voices of all the men that loved Sunderland so much, that even after they died, they still came back to cheer on The Lads.'

He always was a silly old sod, but spookily enough, I often thought I felt him beside me at the match - even after he had passed away.

While I agree with most this the renewed sense of excitement and lack of prima donnas, I would have to say that if we were constantly a top six side in the PL (like Chelsea have been) and failed to make the next step up, mainly due to teams like ManU spending more and maintaining the distance ahead, I would quite like to win every honour in the game even with a Russian billionaire chairman.

Money is now the main driving force for successful teams.

If people are so happy with the current state of events why is there so much antipathy towards Murray and a constant wish for a white knight to come and take over.

[Wolfman]

One moment thats always stuck out in my mind was whilst I was watching the second Two One on the big screen at the SOL. After Speed scored in the first few minutes the doom and gloom was gathering. we'd made a slow start to the season and at half time it felt like a relegation fight was more likely to be on the cards than an assault on the top six.

Then Hutchison scored, and the change was unbelievable. A massive outpouring of relief and ecstacy around the ground. The feeling of being part of thousands of people all experiencing extremes of emotion all in a split second like that is something that non football fans will never feel. Complete strangers from different generations all hugging each other in celebration is something that doesnt happen outside football grounds. Armchair fans of fashionable teams will never experience it.

Like one of the lads on Premier Passions said-if you could put that feeling in a bottle and sell it you'd make a lot of money.

[Billericay Dichio]

Great thread.

I love the beer and craic in the club before the match and then the walk to the ground - everyone going one way with one aim and full of hope.

Despite the large number of winkers who follow the game nowadays it's a sport I've encouraged my son to play and watch at every opportunity.

There is nothing else like it on this planet.

Wherever you are in the world if you are a football fan you can always meet other fans and get on immediately. How many people go on holiday and end up laying daily five-a-sides with the rest of the guests/staff at the hotel? Walking miles on holiday to find a bliddy bar with the match on satellite.

[Paranoid Man]

Nice to see where people are coming from. For me it's a private thing, between me and meself. Inexplainable in a way - it's something I grew up with. Nostalgia. After living in exile for many years safc is the one thing that keeps me grounded - reminds me who I am, where I'm from. So I don't go to the match regularly for geographical/economic reasons but it's still part of me. I tend to coincide familial visiting duties both in the NE or elsewhere with a match if I can. It doesn't matter what division we're in. Doesn't matter what star names are in or out of the team, I just want them to do well. And when we lose I still feel depressed. In fact until we won at Preston, I'd forgotten about what it was like to wake up excited on a Sunday to go to the station to buy the English papers and actually read the reports, study the league table etc.