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I've met some truly mad Sunderland supporters .....

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The Falcon said:
The Bear was AB, Red house comp lad then drove a bus in Sunderland.Worked on a few doors last time I saw him he was on The Isis in Low row, that was some time ago.
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I bumped in to him in Pattaya the other year we were best of mates for a long time, since school, was good to see him.
Could write a book about the escapades in the 70's and 80's, magic memories.
For those knocking this thread/post, they just don't know, I never saw any Sunderland fan pick a fight with anyone who wasn't there for one.
Characters man, we had loads. I remember a lad used to get on Tennicks bus bottom of Houghton cut, Big Brian, he could sing all the verses of the Blaydon Races(In those days no such thing as a makem) class times.
 

Reiver said:
I shit mesel when we were jumped, at the side of the petrol station outside the away end, but the adrenalin must have kicked in.

I couldn't believe I held my own then got the upper hand, it was like watching Bruce Lee :lol:

When I went to court I pleaded not guilty but there were loads of other Sunderland who were all pleading guilty.

One lad, from Shotton, was charged with assaulting a police officer called 'King' ...... an alsation!

When he was asked why he'd bitten the dog he said, "Well he started it, he bit me first!"

Uproar in the court :lol:
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that was foster from shotton
seen him at stoke away
 
Vauxie said:
I bumped in to him in Pattaya the other year we were best of mates for a long time, since school, was good to see him.
Could write a book about the escapades in the 70's and 80's, magic memories.
For those knocking this thread/post, they just don't know, I never saw any Sunderland fan pick a fight with anyone who wasn't there for one.
Characters man, we had loads. I remember a lad used to get on Tennicks bus bottom of Houghton cut, Big Brian, he could sing all the verses of the Blaydon Races(In those days no such thing as a makem) class times.
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what you doing up at this time of night mate lol
gonna text yer some transfer stuff tomoz what i told you about last month it might just be a goer if the Coates deal gets done
 
MADBOB THE MAKEM said:
what you doing up at this time of night mate lol
gonna text yer some transfer stuff tomoz what i told you about last month it might just be a goer if the Coates deal gets done
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It's morning man, im at graft.
There was some mad lads from Seaham anarl Bob back in the hayday.
 
MADBOB THE MAKEM said:
i still see ger rids ralphy big tom millie top times them, just spent new yrs with slosh jake and brewster in the harbour ozz gone missing again lol
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Aye those lads were tops.
But remember the big split after SAB and FAB had a big ruck in the Fulwell end, after that they went renegade even attacked the train at Seaham station when Sunderland fans off to Boro, then they carried out an unprovoked attack on Harra down Seaburn one Sunday afternoon, put him in hospital massive head wound.
 
janey said:
I have to say I can't remember a lot of the names of the random people I met on away days but enjoyed some fantastic times. Flanny was a star when I travelled regularly on his buses.
One of the daft things that sticks in me mind was when we went to Amsterdam for pre season. We were on the train from the airport, it was full of Sunderland supporters and a Dutch bloke asked a Sunderland fan where he was from. The Sunderland supporter said "Southwick" when the Dutch bloke looked puzzled the Sunderland supporter said "you don't know where it is, it's near Marley Potts man"
For some reason that sticks in me mind and always makes me chuckle :lol:
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The megopolis that is Marley Potts. The daft Dutch get.
 
Reiver said:
Well that solves a mystery that's puzzled me for decades.

Arsenal had been to Sunderland and got a bit above themselves, they'd come a cropper in the area outside the Fort.

We just assumed they were there for revenge ... plus I'm colour-blind and was terrified :lol:

The walk to the tube, after the game, was shocking and the police virtually left us open to attack.

That was an incident that proves a point I've made a few times on here and attracted the usual predictable comments from the usual predictable clowns.

Chelsea, if you remember, we're waiting on the left hand side of the road as we turned right, out of the away end, to go to the tube

When the inevitable charge came the 'bobble hats' slunk behind the lads who were prepared to defend the group.

Those who were prepared to have a go, despite being outnumbered 10 to 1 were on the 'front line' without wishing to be.

As you say the tube was a total f***ing nightmare and there wasn't a single copper to be seen.
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In fairness to some who post if you weren't there its sometimes hard to believe. Travelling from Durham I don't know a lot of the names but I've been in an around some of the incidents mentioned. Went to Chelsea 5 times and the quietest was the 92 cup game when we only got one window put out. The ones in the late 70's and 85 were frightening. The Charlton game which has been mentioned me mate saved a lad who was getting kicked into a drainage ditch Cola took three on to get him out. Had me nose broke at Man Utd when they ran past us at the crossroads and shoved a brick in my face. Most bizarre experience was at Arsenal the year we had an away bit set up for us but had to walk through the Arsenal fans to get there. Some of the smaller places also became hairy because of who we were. Getting caught at Luton when there wasn't many of us and having to dive over hedges to get out of the road and Scunthorpe in the mid 80's when two mini busses of us were ambushed as we were in a pub with about 100 waiting outside and a very frightening night in Worcester on the way back from Swansea I was just glad to get home alive.
 
The Fitter said:
Whilst servicemen like myself in 1990 got my head kicked in in Swindon; bit daft wearing a Sunderland top on the day we got promoted..........still, for a 10 stone lad I f***ing marked a few of them good!

RAF vet: NI, Gulf, Bosnia, SMB.
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I had bother with a Swindon fan over our 1990 promotion. Thing was this was in 1996, the day England beat Spain on penalties in Euro 96 to be exact. strange scene really as it was in a pub in Manchester...the locals must have been baffled!!

Used to know a load of lads from Stoke, Crewe, Stafford etc who followed the lads home and away. Many had connections to the N.E. from parents but were born in the North West. They ran a bus in the 90's to most games. Danny from Rochdale was another crackerjack, proper eckie thump accent but Sunderland through and through.
 
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Dont travel often nowadays but another 'character' we used to sometimes bump into at away games was a lad called 'Tom'. He was a skinhead and had a few front gold teeth. He told us he was working as a chef at a London Restaurant??? Always used to chat to us whenever he saw us. Anyhow, it was Bristol City away in 80s, he was stood in front of us in queue for away end. All of a sudden a meat wagon pulled up, out gets a few coppers, and lifted Tommy and took him away for some reasom? He didn't put up any struggle but never did find out why./. Anyone know/aware of him. Was told at one time that he had fucked off to Thailand and also another rumour wasthat he had died (this was not true )
 
Met Tommy in Donny on our way to Scunthorpe in the cup.

Result - I got locked up.

Fancy having to ring the " rules" to explain I would be late home for our wedding anniversary ;)

He went through a Clockwork Orange phase, inc make up & bowler !!
 
Vauxie said:
Aye those lads were tops.
But remember the big split after SAB and FAB had a big ruck in the Fulwell end, after that they went renegade even attacked the train at Seaham station when Sunderland fans off to Boro, then they carried out an unprovoked attack on Harra down Seaburn one Sunday afternoon, put him in hospital massive head wound.
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Harra from Boldon ?
 
JohnAin said:
It still surprises me that the vile, violent, brain dead bastards who stole football from us in the 70s and 80s feel safe enough to post upon here. Most of the physical assaults that I saw them launch at away games contained far more elements of cowardice than of bravery.

Any ex-serviceman will know what I mean.
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Tbf mate, this thread is about meeting characters over the years at matched NOT glorifying soccer hooliganism.
Sure, some lads got in to scrapes, but overall it is about daft lads and funny stories.
I and a few mates travelled a lot during the 70s and 80s and never ever went looking for trouble, but I could easily list 20 occasions where we nearly got filled in due to lack of knowledge of an area, wrong place wrong time etc. Sadly, it's just the way it was then, where loads of innocents got hidings- horrendous, I totally agree.
BBC and Itv actually used to show on the news the bother at matches, and papers used to publish photos of fighting until they twigged on they were actually perpetuating the thing !!
Remember Jimmy Hill focusing on violence in an fa cup between Chelsea and palace where he says "and just look at this kung fu kick"?
The Big Match in 74 focused on violence at WHL when Spurs relegated Chelsea. The scenes were unbelievable, the battle of Little Big Horn was less violent.
That Celtic/Rangers cup final late 70s possibly early 80s was the worst ever. Thousands on the pitch running at each other, mounted police trying to restore order -chaos.
So happy those days are gone, because it was no cake walk going away, and I would have hated for my son to have gone through what we went through.
 
Jack Ford said:
Dont travel often nowadays but another 'character' we used to sometimes bump into at away games was a lad called 'Tom'. He was a skinhead and had a few front gold teeth. He told us he was working as a chef at a London Restaurant??? Always used to chat to us whenever he saw us. Anyhow, it was Bristol City away in 80s, he was stood in front of us in queue for away end. All of a sudden a meat wagon pulled up, out gets a few coppers, and lifted Tommy and took him away for some reasom? He didn't put up any struggle but never did find out why./. Anyone know/aware of him. Was told at one time that he had fucked off to Thailand and also another rumour wasthat he had died (this was not true )
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This is the lad I was talking about. Cockney Tom (even though he wasn't a Cockney). He was originally from Coxhoe. He used to meet up with us everywhere we went. We would be ensconced in some boozer somewhere in the middle of nowhere and he would just walk in bold as brass. He used to spend several months a year in Thailand and did indeed work as a Chef in London eventually at a place called The Laughing Gravy.

He was big on the England scene as well and we had a few dicey trips to Poland and the like with him. The situation with his health was a bizarre one. He was diagnosed with a terminal illness and we all went down to Arsenal for a big send-off for him. He was planning to go to Thailand for his last few months. Then one day out of the blue I got a postcard from him 6 months later with just one word on it: "Alive". Apparently they had tried some revolutionary new treatment on him out in Asia and it had worked a treat.

We saw him a couple of times after that but then he just disappeared. I sometimes ask the London lads but no one has ever seen him since.
 
Wakey ftm in Sussex said:
Met Tommy in Donny on our way to Scunthorpe in the cup.

Result - I got locked up.

Fancy having to ring the " rules" to explain I would be late home for our wedding anniversary ;)

He went through a Clockwork Orange phase, inc make up & bowler !!
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Thats him! Used to don a butchers coat.

Stevie said:
This is the lad I was talking about. Cockney Tom (even though he wasn't a Cockney). He was originally from Coxhoe. He used to meet up with us everywhere we went. We would be ensconced in some boozer somewhere in the middle of nowhere and he would just walk in bold as brass. He used to spend several months a year in Thailand and did indeed work as a Chef in London eventually at a place called The Laughing Gravy.

He was big on the England scene as well and we had a few dicey trips to Poland and the like with him. The situation with his health was a bizarre one. He was diagnosed with a terminal illness and we all went down to Arsenal for a big send-off for him. He was planning to go to Thailand for his last few months. Then one day out of the blue I got a postcard from him 6 months later with just one word on it: "Alive". Apparently they had tried some revolutionary new treatment on him out in Asia and it had worked a treat.

We saw him a couple of times after that but then he just disappeared. I sometimes ask the London lads but no one has ever seen him since.
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Thats Tom, I believe he had a bit of a speech impediment. Would really like to know whether he was still about. I honestly thought at the time the illness was a bit of a ruse but was obviously wrong
 
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