Any Sunderland strongholds left ?

[Sgt Pepper]

I’d go the other way. Boldon has a Tyneside accent (changes after the dog track). 70/30 SAFC in East Boldon I reckon.

Definitely. Spent a fair amount of time in West and East Boldon because my lass used to live there before we moved in together and it’s comfortably more red and white and they definitely don’t have Wearside sounding accents in my experience. Not as familiar with the Colliery though.

 

[Deleted member 52509]

Incorrect. Massive black and white contingent in Peterlee.

Never used to be -1992ers I would guess then
I worked there in late 70s and 80s and 80 per cent were red and white -in fact all the collieries down that way were.
Maybe Keegan and the closing of the pits changed that ?

Young fans just follow success, like supporting Man Utd or Liverpool in the past. They dont count . Just glory fans. Don't worry, once we have a centre forward playing for us, they'll soon come back.

Can you imagine being a father and a mlf and your kid supporting the Mags ?
I have two lads who live and work in Newcastle-née way would they support the Mags -I think it’s about setting standards ( ha ha )

 

[Ava Ava Ava]

From Peterlee and there were a few Mags at the grammar school in the 70's.
Have now lived in North Northumberland for thirty years and come across loads of Sunderland fans, a high proportion of whom go to the games.
Massively outnumbered by Mags of course who are mostly armchair fans who wouldn't be able to find their way to the mosque on the hill.

 

[king of the road]

I’d go the other way. Boldon has a Tyneside accent (changes after the dog track). 70/30 SAFC in East Boldon I reckon.

The North East has mental accent changes. Birtley to Washington is the one for me and you can even hear it in the school kids. If you compare the accents of the kids in Lord Lawson with those of say Biddick it’s incredible.

 

[Vauxie]

From Peterlee and there were a few Mags at the grammar school in the 70's.
Have now lived in North Northumberland for thirty years and come across loads of Sunderland fans, a high proportion of whom go to the games.
Massively outnumbered by Mags of course who are mostly armchair fans who wouldn't be able to find their way to the mosque on the hill.

Mosque on the hill

 

[king of the road]

Never used to be -1992ers I would guess then
I worked there in late 70s and 80s and 80 per cent were red and white -in fact all the collieries down that way were.
Maybe Keegan and the closing of the pits changed that ?

Can you imagine being a father and a mlf and your kid supporting the Mags ?
I have two lads who live and work in Newcastle-née way would they support the Mags -I think it’s about setting standards ( ha ha )

I don’t think anyone would argue with your 80%. Some people on the board won’t accept that there’s NUFC fans in East Durham. I know a good few and they’ve been going since the 70s through thick and thin.
Likewise with Sunderland fans in Northumberland towns like Bedlington and Ashington. People do actually move around!

From Peterlee and there were a few Mags at the grammar school in the 70's.
Have now lived in North Northumberland for thirty years and come across loads of Sunderland fans, a high proportion of whom go to the games.
Massively outnumbered by Mags of course who are mostly armchair fans who wouldn't be able to find their way to the mosque on the hill.

If Newcastle had as many armchair fans as this board reckons they’d never get 10,000 in!
Both clubs have at least x5 or x10 who claim to be supporters but never go. My 85 year old mother’s Newcastle daft but never been to a game in her life

 

[Deleted member 52509]

I don’t think anyone would argue with your 80%. Some people on the board won’t accept that there’s NUFC fans in East Durham. I know a good few and they’ve been going since the 70s through thick and thin.
Likewise with Sunderland fans in Northumberland towns like Bedlington and Ashington. People do actually move around!

My point was there is by the sound of things a lot more than there was in the 1980s in the likes of Peterlee .
Some may have moved in-however the lad with the Mexican Hat on here says there’s a “massive “amount there now -so they can only be “ new “ 1992 ers or plastics I would guess ?

 

[king of the road]

My point was there is by the sound of things a lot more than there was in the 1980s in the likes of Peterlee .
Some may have moved in-however the lad with the Mexican Hat on here says there’s a “massive “amount there now -so they can only be “ new “ 1992 ers or plastics I would guess ?

Aye maybe. The 92 ers is 30 years ago now, all my crowd are over 50, no idea who the young ‘uns are following

 

[Ava Ava Ava]

I don’t think anyone would argue with your 80%. Some people on the board won’t accept that there’s NUFC fans in East Durham. I know a good few and they’ve been going since the 70s through thick and thin.
Likewise with Sunderland fans in Northumberland towns like Bedlington and Ashington. People do actually move around!

If Newcastle had as many armchair fans as this board reckons they’d never get 10,000 in!
Both clubs have at least x5 or x10 who claim to be supporters but never go. My 85 year old mother’s Newcastle daft but never been to a game in her life

Didn't say no-one goes, just that lots of the ones around here must be on your 20000 waiting list because they never go to a game.
Why did you never take your mam?

 

[bobpc30]

Mine and my fathas house.

 

[NorthCountryBoy]

The North East has mental accent changes. Birtley to Washington is the one for me and you can even hear it in the school kids. If you compare the accents of the kids in Lord Lawson with those of say Biddick it’s incredible.

I still don’t find Washington (Gateshead end of it) that Mackem mind. Boldon to Seaburn I can tell more, on a stretch you can walk in 15 mins

 

[Alfies Hat]

The support for Sunderland has dwindled in Newbiggin, Ashington, Bedlington and Blyth as the link to the pits has all but disappeared.
Grandparents on both sides of my family were from Co. Durham, dad's side from Sunderland, mam's from Easington.
Three double deckers used to go to the matches from up here.

 

[Secret Visage]

There was a one sat in the beehive in Sunderland on Saturday lunchtime, took his coat off to reveal a skunk top. Sharp had to put it back on.

Looked a right snide little w@nker.

 

[safctommie]

The support for Sunderland has dwindled in Newbiggin, Ashington, Bedlington and Blyth as the link to the pits has all but disappeared.
Grandparents on both sides of my family were from Co. Durham, dad's side from Sunderland, mam's from Easington.
Three double deckers used to go to the matches from up here.

There used to be a taxi driver at Ashington who always wore his red and white shirt when at work.

 

[superlamb1971]

Seen a lad running up Norham Road in North shields with his red and white Sunderland top on a few weeks back.

 

[Thornleyite]

Definitely. Spent a fair amount of time in West and East Boldon because my lass used to live there before we moved in together and it’s comfortably more red and white and they definitely don’t have Wearside sounding accents in my experience. Not as familiar with the Colliery though.

I agree.I worked in Boldon Colliery for a number of years and my accent(East Durham)was different to theirs and different again to a Wearside accent.Support % in Boldon back then in 2012 maybe 60/40 for us,but now those figures may be reduced or even reversed?....In East Durham still staunch support for us,but even small relative success/media spotlight can influence people,particularly kids.

 

[PTID]

In truth, I don't know because I do other things with my life now.

Back in the mid to late '80s, we merged with a school from over there and the lads that came over were from Blackhall/Horden way.

We were very surprised to find they had a few mags among them. I can honestly say that I can't remember one mag in my year who went to Wellfield school (lads from Wingate, Shotton, Trimdon, Wheatley Hill, Thornley), so it was a surprise to find a few followed them from Blackhall/Horden way and they went to the matches.

Peterlee was a new town and so you would have had all sorts of types moving in there, but a couple of miles West of Peterlee I didn't know anyone in my year who followed them although there were a few a few years older from Wingate (they went to the matches also).

Having said I don't know, I moved back here after going to university and living away for a good while. It may be 30% in Peterlee/Blackhall/Horden, but it's definitely not 30% in the villages I mentioned. Driving around to go to shops and the like, I can't remember the last time I saw a mag top. And, the buses still go 'round here to SAFC. There remains no bus to Newcastle matches and I can't remember passing someone who looked like they were waiting for a service bus to take them to a Newcastle match.

That's a fair assessment I would think. That's not to say those from Blackhall/Horden are in anyway treacherous, but inland villages mentioned probably a bit more solid Sunderland. Reasons for this could be older coal mines back in the day, Blackhall/Horden/Easington newer villages, more people possibly moved there from former Mag strongholds in NW Durham for instance. Another reason could be public transport. Select coaches used to run a bus to both the Mags and Sunderland in the late 70s/early 80s and there were direct buses to Newcastle from the coast, at a push, there was always the train from Hartlepool as well, not sure getting to Newcastle was that easy from Wingate/Trimdon etc so more difficult to get to. But generally, think there have always been Mags around, I mean back in the 1950s/60s some fans would often watch both clubs on alternating Saturdays.
I suppose in a way. 73 to Sunderland was like 92 to the Mags. As a kid all the graffiti on the walls where I grew up was Everton, Man City, Leeds, Man U. hardly and NUFC or SAFC painted on the walls. It was the late 60s/early 70s and both clubs weren't pulling up trees.

 

[Locke's SAFC]

Fair assessment, not too many in the villages you mentioned, but still the odd handful. There’s actually a few in Trimdon I go with.

It must be Trimdon Village and not Trimdon Colliery and Trimdon Station.

I was going to post about Mags up Trimdon Village but didn't bother. The surprising thing when I was growing up is that the closer you got to Teesside, i.e. Sedgefield, Fishburn, Trimdon Village, there were a few who followed them but there were none in Trimdon Colliery and Trimdon Station (well 1 a few years older, who was a spot on lad). The lads from Trimdon Village went to Sedgefield school though, so we didn't even know they existed until we started drinking.

 

[Deleted member 39436]

There was a one sat in the beehive in Sunderland on Saturday lunchtime, took his coat off to reveal a skunk top. Sharp had to put it back on.

Looked a right snide little w@nker.

I’m imaging the scene some years back, would have fought each other just to get at the bastard!

 

[Northumberland]

Lad across road was talking to me today . Said "didnt know you supported sunderland ". Known him for 2 years . He said he did to.
Told him there was 2 fifty seaters left ashington every league game .
He couldnt believe it .
Yep tha both not full. But still canny