Thread For The Over 40's Only

[Deleted member 6830]

3 to start with as I remember - 1 at Dishforth (cant remember the others) then as you say it was whittled away to zero.

Wetherby and Ripon.

Strange thing is, SAFC don't have much of a rep with the so called hard firms. We are very rarely mentioned in any hooli type books.
Why do you think that is?

Easy - we have spent too much time out of the top division between 58 and now.

I seem to recall the buses at Leeds at one time had to travel up this road passed a pub and turn round at the roundabout and back down again. We went past this pub and got all sorts hurled at the windows. We got to the end and thought fuck we've got to through it again. When we got back down the Leeds fans were trying to barricade themselves inside the pub as a couple of buses had stopped and they were all wading into them

It was that old bus that the Wingate/Peterlee lads had - they used the benches as battering rams to get the doors open !!

 

[DJP]

Immediate memories:

Sitting on the vile orange rug my mam & dad had watching the '73 Cup Final on our black & white telly. My grandparents were looking after me as my parents were at Wembley.

Feeling pissed off after a midweek home defeat 2-1 to Fulham approx 1975.

My first away game was at Ipswich in the late 70s. We got beat 4-1 and they were an amesome side under Bobby Robson. Brazil, Gates, Wark, Mariner, Beattie, etc.

The best team performance I've ever seen was when we lost 4-1 at Everton in 1985. Andy Gray scored two diving headers and Trevor Steven scrored a cracker after Ian Wallace had given us an early lead. I think Everton won the league by about 13 points that year ahead of a great Liverpool side. They were phenominal.

Winning promotion against West Ham in 79-80 and having to walk to Roker Park all the way from Hylton pit as the traffic was solid from Castletown to the ground and the bus couldn't get out of the village. The throngs of fans outside the Roker End at 5.30 that evening were amazing and I remember it nearly kicking off as a young lass got her foot crushed by a police horse.

Getting arrested after just 13 mins for doing "V" signs in the Roker End v.Watford at the age of 17. It finished 2-2 but I'd still seen 3 of the goals. Arrested again later the same season at Birmingham for doing a similar thing. Thrown out of the ground in the first half but still saw Mick Buckley score the one and only goal looking through a hole in a gate at St.Andrews!

The Isle Of Man Football Festival in 1984 - met my (now ex-) wife there. It was a tremendous week long piss up and we became mates with a load of Blackburn fans from Whalley - loads of stories for another thread!

A trip to Blackburn a year or two later to see our new mates for a match at Ewood Park. Me and a mate went down on the Friday by train and missed each connection at Carlisle and Preston due to train delays. We were mortal by the time we got to Blackburn. Rob got lifted after we had an altercation on a local bus. We had bottles of Brown Ale and were singing Sunderland songs and got hoyed off the bus by the driver. A local lad started giving us the fingers from onboard once we got off so Rob launched half a bottle of Brown at him - it missed him but went through one window, across the bus and smashed through the window on the other side.

We legged it but the coppers soon caught us. I protested our innocence but it was a bit pointless as we had our Sunderland shirts on on a Friday night somewhere in Blackburn! Rob admitted he'd done it so got arrested. I sat in the waiting room of the main Blackburn Police Station for a few hours waiting for my mate when eventually a copper spotted me and said "Are you still here? Your mate's being kept in all night so you better leave or they'll lock you up as well." I wandered Blackburn Town Centre, still pissed, bewildered, carrying two hold alls (one was Rob's) and wearing my Sunderland top as the Blackburn Pubs were emptying. Dodgy - and I was dying for a piss so I went back to the Police Station looking for the bogs rather than chancing a kicking in a pub. There was nobody in the Waiting Room so I pissed in a waste paper basket then up the wall. Revenge!

Relegation to the 3rd Div. After losing the play-off to Gillingham I sat crying on the Fulwell End. I heard a bloke near me say to his mate, "Look at the state of him. He's crying", like the defeat didn't matter. I jumped up and was gonna smack him one. "Its my fuckin' Club you cunt. MY FUCKIN' CLUB!"

Great days out in the 3rd Div mind you. Blackpool and the Pink Panther on someones shoulders in the Manchester Pub on the sea front. Singing Sunderland songs whilst on the "Grand National" at the Pleasure Beach. On the pitch at the end of the Blackpool game. Getting fleeced off these owld women playing "Five Card Turny Ower" on the coach home.
Getting chased all the way to Preston Station after seeing a Sunderland fan get his face slashed after the match at Deepdale (its amazing how fast you can run when your life depends on it). Promotion at Port Vale.

An away day at Brighton in the 80s - last match of the season and another Friday night starting point - remember the overnight Clipper coaches to Victoria from Park Lane? Playing footy on Brighton beach at approx 9am on the Saturday and gate crashing a wedding reception at a pub on the way to the ground. A 3-1 defeat after Mark Proctor had given us the lead then a barmy train ride back to London. Chaos, beer and lots of laughs. A night around in London then the Clipper home.

A drive down to Southampton for an FA Cup 3rd Round tie in the mid-80s (again leaving late on the Friday!). The weather was terrible - snow and freezing - and somehow the match still went ahead. We got murdered 4-0 (I think) but it was farsical. One of the goals happened when the ball bounced over Chris Turner's head 'cos the pitch was rock hard. Called in for beers at Newbury and Oxford on the way back. Our driver crashed the car on the way back somewhere near Leicester, nodding off in the middle of the night and skidding on black ice!

Loads of other great days out, Liverpool (I've been to Anfield 4 times now and haven't seen us get beat!), Man Utd, Fulham (Marco's first goals), QPR, Barnsley, Play-Offs v the Mags, Arsenal, the Milk Cup run (Stamford Bridge was unforgettable!) and the Final in '85, loads more.

Pre-1992, pre-Sky, Pre-Premier League, Pre-Premiership, whatever bollocks you want to call it. They were proper footballing days in the 70s and 80s. Raw, passionate and ours.

 

[Deleted member 1079]

Another tradition that has fallen (no pun intended) by the wayside ... the obligitory floodlight pylon climber. Anyone remember them climbing to the top of the Roker End lights (main stand side) in the late 70's, before they were barb-wired off.

I can also remember 2 lads watching a match from the roof of the Clockstand!

It might have been during the 1973 cup run at a guess.

With regards to Sunderland fans not having much of reputation for bother from the big lads, try reading Chelsea's 'Hoolifan' and the full chapter entitled 'Malice in Sunderland'. It's about that infamous first match of the season at Roker in 1975.

I was daft enough to go to the return match in the December and they certainly took their revenge in full (still mentally scarred by the experience!).

 

[Deleted member 2014]

Beating Swindon 5-2 when we hadn't scored a goal in 3 months or something. 1972? Paddy Lowry and Johnny Latham were the heroes.
West Ham and Millwall as others have remembered.
Sammy the Chin.
Chasing Portsmouth into the sea at Roker.
Roker, where all the buses from the pit villages parked.
Brian Little beating us at Aston Villa 2-0. Facing the Zulu Warriors.
Blackpool away, where my mate had a fishknife that looked like a ruler hidden in a flag. The cops examined it on the way in and gave it back. If they'd just pulled it apart...
Same game with us in their end separated by chicken wire from floor to ceiling and bottles hurled against it to shatter over the opposition fans. Man U's game that day had been called off and they came to Blackpool to take us on.
Taking Man U head on at Old Trafford.
Taking the Holgate.
Liverpool away on New Year's day - only about 500 daft enough. Everton's game at Leeds was called off and they came in with us at our game saying they would stand with us against Liverpool and melted away when it kicked off.
Man City at home in the FA Cup - still the best ever. That's when we really believed we could do it and the whole ground knew.
Arrested against the mags on Good Friday. Out in time for Leeds and Man U on the Saturday and Monday. How come we don't get 3 days like that any more?
Seeing the same faces away every couple of weeks from all over the NE - united by a common bond. You didn't work with them, they weren't your friends but they were your SAFC mates. Standing side by side in adversity. I'd still know them now if I saw them and they me.
Nearly dieing in a crush at Hull.
Fighting our way back to the station at Newcastle.
Getting the bus at 1130 on a Friday night in Shields after the pubs closed with carrier bags full of beer to see us all the way to Cardiff or Swansea or Bristol or Wrexham or Portsmouth or whichever town took forever to get there in those days. Arriving at 7 or 8 in the morning and waiting for the supermarkets to open to buy beer to last until the pubs opened.
Windows put out on our bus at Darlington after a stop off on the way home and a battle with their lads, including a lad with a knife - well done our lad with the jacket, btw. Bloody freezing.
Running minibuses from Sheffield when I was at college.
I could go on all bloody night.
One last story to sum up the 70's. Swansea away and another early arrival. Me and two mates decided we wanted to keep out of bother that day so had a look around town and walked out of town to find a quiet boozer. Found one and got playing pool with a couple of canny local lads who insisted we go into town with them for another pint before the match. We got into Swansea town centre and they led us down into this basement pub full of skinheads. They were greeted by their mates saying something like 'Taff, have you seen all the f***ing Geordies here today?'. To which Taff replied, ' Yeah, I've got three of them with me'. Stunned silence for milliseconds then he said 'But they're all right'. Had a great crack on with the locals until a couple of lads stumbled down the stairs with blood all over their shirts. They shouted out they'd just been smacked by Sunderland who had taken the pub over the road. In seconds the whole pub emptied leaving me and my mates alone in the place. We finished our pints and went to the match.



Was at all of those games. Thanks for reminding me about Burnley. We took 7-9,000 depending on reports and they put us in the Bob Lord stand along one of the sides. Constant battles with their (handy, I might add) fans. We, as fans, were castigated the next day in the national press for the abuse we gave out. Can't remember what it was about now but remember fatha being 'disappointed'.
Which reminds me of Man City away in one of the first games of the 1980 season, a week before I left for the states. Night game. 4-1 to us with John Hawley the hero. Again, in the same end (Kippax) as the home end, thousands of us, and running battles. Had travelled alone and hooked up with a couple of Manc Sunderland fans on the bus from the city centre. They took me into a pub which was completely unfriendly blue and white. Fastest pint I've ever had.
The Sheff United home game was 6-2, btw. Another night game, so not enough to run a bus from Sheffield, so me and a mate decided we'd take the Sheff Utd supporters bus to the match and keep quiet. Got on the bus and there in the front seat was another Sunderland supporter. No bother on the way up but they tried to leave us on the way back. Had to catch the bus up in traffic and bang on the door to be let on. Back in Sheffield and making out way home through the 'Hole in the Road' with our red, white and black scarves just after the pubs closed. Greeted by a bunch of pissed Wednesday fans sing 'Going down, going down...'. Just about to retort with a chant of 'Sunderland' when from one of the alleys that converged there came a group of Sheff United skinheads running shouting 'Don't take that shit from them'. Kept on our merry way as the locals sorted it out.


You're right. It was Blackpool, not Portsmouth.


I disagree. West Ham have a lot of respect from when they tried to take the Bluebell. Don't have the book at hand to give you a quote.

Great post :-D

 

[CuggyBuchanMordueTopTrio]

Wetherby and Ripon.



Easy - we have spent too much time out of the top division between 58 and now.

It was that old bus that the Wingate/Peterlee lads had - they used the benches as battering rams to get the doors open !!

Aye - Millwall have been top flight regulars for half a century.

 

[Deleted member 6830]

Remember going to Blackpool early 70's, thought Blackpool was a safe place to go for my first away game. Iirc it was an evening kick off and we lost 0-1 and i think Mel Holden was playing upfront for us. I didn't see too much of the game due to the Blackpool lot throwing coins (sharpened edges) from their enclosure up to the metal roof to bounce back into the Sunderland crowd, i recall some bugger shouting they're throwing darts. Oh them were the days

Blackpool away 74-75 - 2-0 down, came back to equalise and then Hughes missed a penalty to put us 3-2 ip - peanut seller antics. Walsh got the winner and goal of the season.
Been to hundreds of away games, but the fighting on the Kop at Blackpool went on all game - no segregation, just the odd copper and it was just full on all game.

Aye - Millwall have been top flight regulars for half a century.

[/B]

good point !

 

[Deleted member 6830]

sure it was souness

whoever it was, it was one hell of a shot, that ruled out any slaver about the game being fixed for a safc win

sure it was at the kop end

Souness, McDermott and Dalglish were rested that day as they had a European Cup final a week or two later.

Gayle and a young pup called rush played for them that day as well as big SAFC fan Ray Kennedy.

Sure it was Hansen.

I have still got the Footy Echo of that day and will dig it out and report back - its bugging me now - I was there but can't even remember them hitting the post.

 

[Deleted member 1079]

Souness, McDermott and Dalglish were rested that day as they had a European Cup final a week or two later.

Gayle and a young pup called rush played for them that day as well as big SAFC fan Ray Kennedy.



I have still got the Footy Echo of that day and will dig it out and report back - its bugging me now - I was there but can't even remember them hitting the post.

I'm 100% certain that Souness played and he was the one who hit the post.

 

[Confucius]

I'm 100% certain that Souness played and he was the one who hit the post.

That is what I understood. I thought that he was the only one who tried to fuck us over cos he played for Boro. I'm bastard confused.

 

[Oor Wullie]

Standing on the Roker end (before it was reduced). Someone shouted 'they're coming' as the West Ham fans ran up the steps to 'take' the Roker. Thinking back it was all a bit surreal and I don't recall any violence. Mind you, my mind is failing me a bit these days.

Aye i can remember that day, it was the late seventies i think just when the ICF had kicked off although nobody knew them as that back then, just made me think about it when i read the first Cass Pennant book a few years ago and wondered if he was there that day ?

I went with my older brother and i would have been about eleven or twelve at the time, we were stood on the left side of the goal and i can remember the crowd surging backwards and forwards, my abiding memory (apart from shitting me fekin sel) was this bird with a skinhead dressed in a crombie, martens, rolled up jeans etc being carried out by two coppers kickin and screamin her heed off shouting " you fackin geordie bastards fack off " Everyone from the south classed us as geordies back then regardless of where you were from.

 

[lambton cat]

Aye i can remember that day, it was the late seventies i think just when the ICF had kicked off although nobody knew them as that back then, just made me think about it when i read the first Cass Pennant book a few years ago and wondered if he was there that day ?

I went with my older brother and i would have been about eleven or twelve at the time, we were stood on the left side of the goal and i can remember the crowd surging backwards and forwards, my abiding memory (apart from shitting me fekin sel) was this bird with a skinhead dressed in a crombie, martens, rolled up jeans etc being carried out by two coppers kickin and screamin her heed off shouting " you fackin geordie bastards fack off " Everyone from the south classed us as geordies back then regardless of where you were from.

Hardly surprising as we used to sing 'geordies' until the early 80's...

 

[Oor Wullie]

Hardly surprising as we used to sing 'geordies' until the early 80's...

Just sayin man! it was an exert from the eyes of an eleven year old at the time, nee need to be so picky !!

 

[lambton cat]

Just sayin man! it was an exert from the eyes of an eleven year old at the time, nee need to be so picky !!

It was for the benefit of any under 40's sneaking a peek..

 

[Deleted member 2014]

Aye i can remember that day, it was the late seventies i think just when the ICF had kicked off although nobody knew them as that back then, just made me think about it when i read the first Cass Pennant book a few years ago and wondered if he was there that day ?

I went with my older brother and i would have been about eleven or twelve at the time, we were stood on the left side of the goal and i can remember the crowd surging backwards and forwards, my abiding memory (apart from shitting me fekin sel) was this bird with a skinhead dressed in a crombie, martens, rolled up jeans etc being carried out by two coppers kickin and screamin her heed off shouting " you fackin geordie bastards fack off " Everyone from the south classed us as geordies back then regardless of where you were from.

I remember West Ham very quickly being beaten back down, and they only escaped further punishment on the terraces of the Roker, by running for their lives back down the stairs & through the big exit to get to the underneath of the Roker, where they were met by more Sunderland lads, waiting to give them a hiding underneath the Roker End

 

[Sandboy]

Hardly surprising as we used to sing 'geordies' until the early 80's...

hence the "geordie" meal alongside the cowboy at Whelan's chippy, they wouldn't sell many these days, I wonder when it all changed? Mackem was a real derogatory term when I was a lad

 

[Maximus]

Can I just add haversacks to the debate, if no one already has. Duly painted in either the clubs or your favourite bands colours

An enduring image - every time I see or even think of a haversack I remember fecking Jethro Tull!! bizarre as i was never a fan but adorned many a haversack

 

[Joe Fabulous]

An enduring image - every time I see or even think of a haversack I remember fecking Jethro Tull!! bizarre as i was never a fan but adorned many a haversack

We used to hijack each others haversacks. I remember one of the lads had his zapped (re painted).
When he got it back , it was painted up with T Rex , Hot Love all over it. Poor lad wasn't impressed...

 

[Porridge]

Cracking thread this...

More memories both concerning Villa away.

Season they won the League we lost 4-0 but the fans sang all game and even when Grandstand went over for the full-time report we were still in the ground (probably locked in...human rights didn't exist then!!) singing our heads off and my Dad said that Barry Davies started his report by saying that judging by the way the Sunderland fans were singing that they had won 4-0 not lost 4-0 but that that's what supporting your team was all about!!!

Two seasons later, first game of the season we had the European Cup holders away first up. 1-0 down at half-time but won 3-1 with a tremendous
2nd half peformance. Was ecstatic going back to the car and thought that we'd be the headline game on Sports Report only to find that serial quitter Kevin Keegoon had scored on his debut for The Scum and that was, apparently, more worthy than us beating the European Champions...never forgiven them for that...not that I'm one to bear a grudge or owt!!!!

 

[TexasSanddancer]

Some great posts and great memories in here,The day when if you had a scrap at football and got pinched you would get a slap on your wrists and sent home.

Also when the coppers would take yer laces out of ya boots to stop you from kicking any one and checking for steel caps.Think the Newcastle coal board donkey jackets were the chosen style of the boys.

National coal board, mate.

 

[Sunlun Geordie]

Oxford Utd at home, 1973: biggest crush I've ever been in (apart from York away '74).

Queuing outside Roker End from very early on, probably about noonish. The shuffle towards the turnstiles continued for two hours or so until they were within striking distance. Only a few folk ahead of me. Nearer, nearer, I'll be in in a min, and then the cry goes up "Nee vouchas left".

The vouchers were for tickets for the Luton game, 6th Round. In the ground at 2pm and all gone. By kick-off the crush in the Roker was unbearable. Beat them 1-0 I believe, but gutted I hadn't got a voucher.

Sent a postal order for 50p to Luton, pretending I was one of theirs, exiled to the barren wastes of Sunlun. They sent it back. Somehow managed to get a ticket though can't remember how.

The weird thing was the official attendance that day. IIRC, 39,000 on the button. Utter horseplop - there must have been that many in the Roker.