descriptions of roker


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For a year I begged my dad to take me.

He finally relented when I turned seven.

Walking through the turnstile that day remains one of the highlights of my life - so exciting and then to walk up the old stairs in the Clock Stand (all standing basck then in 63) and see the pitch for the first time.

As cathedrals go it was pretty run down I suppose but no devout catholic looking at the ceiling of the Sistine Chappel could ever have been so much in awe.
 
Atmosphere for me was better at Roker Park, but you could stand and you lose some of it when sat down.

Clock Stand Paddocks was my place, massive gaps appearing when some bloke decided to have a piss, the sway of the crowd and trying not to fall over when you would be stamped on, then when we scored ending up in the opposite part due to massive jumping around and going bananas.

Went in there from when I was 15 went in a boy came out a man - not in a gay way though :lol:
 
the photo shows vaux samson on the kit. 1996?????? final season?
 
The smell of rollies and bovril in the paddocks..
Walking up the steep central steps in fulwell.
The players entrance under the paddocks.
The smallest of ticket offices.
 
Biggest killer of atmosphere is the pre-match experience at games. Shit music blaring over a PA system, daft raffle draws or kids playing football (good experience for them, I suppose), dear and scrap food and alcohol, soulless stadiums etc. Everything's too sanitised now. Dare I say it, too focused on kids and families. At Roker the "lads would go out earlier, have a couple of pints then be in the ground a good 60-45 minutes before kick off with their mates, chanting and laughing, the general hustle and bustle was as much as part of the atmosphere as the singing. Sellers going around the ground "peanuts, tanner a bag" and they'd got chucked up, the money would be thrown in return. Football was the pinnacle of the week for a lot of people. They worked hard all week and would then meet up with their mates at the match. It was a chance to let off steam and do stuff that you wouldn't normally do during the week. The world and football is a different place now.
Interestingly a lot of 'the lads' would go in the clock stand seats for a better atmosphere. Funny how times change.
Roker Park was grey, damp and miserable at times, probably the majority of the time, but at other times it could be magical.
 
I loved Roker Park even at the end when it was a shadow of its former self. Ji's goal against city created an atmosphere at the Sol reminiscent of Roker and yes I know it wasn't always like that at the old ground. Until standing is reintroduced ( which I think is increasingly more possible ) atmospheres like that will be few and far between.
 
It was a different life back then. People had "their spot" on the terraces and turned up early to claim it. People were often waiting outside the ground for the turnstiles to open and even an hour before kick off, the ground was filling up nicely. By the time kick off arrived, people had been there a while and the anticipation was built right up so the atmosphere was immense right from the start.

Now people know they have a seat so they arrive at the ground much later. Sometimes even when the Dance of the Knights music comes on, the ground looks half empty. Think that is the biggest killer of atmosphere.
Halfway up the Fulwell in line with the left goalpost, standing on the barrier to get an extra couple of inches so I could see was my spot until I moved into the clockstand seats.
 
It was a crumbling shithole by the time we left if but there were some good memories. 92 cup quarter final stands out for me.

Looking back though, in my view, the atmosphere in the 80s and 90s was nowhere near as good as some people make out. For instance, there was little or no singing from the Fulwell end. The main noise came from the paddocks or main stand seats strangely enough.

Cracking pitch, though, up there with the best on the country. This was a bit of a problem for us in the last season there as teams seemed to enjoy knocking the ball around us.
 
I can remember how green the grass always seemed at the start of every season; the smell of tobacco and the hugely basic facilities
 
It was a different life back then. People had "their spot" on the terraces and turned up early to claim it. People were often waiting outside the ground for the turnstiles to open and even an hour before kick off, the ground was filling up nicely. By the time kick off arrived, people had been there a while and the anticipation was built right up so the atmosphere was immense right from the start.

Now people know they have a seat so they arrive at the ground much later. Sometimes even when the Dance of the Knights music comes on, the ground looks half empty. Think that is the biggest killer of atmosphere.

That's when i come out of the pub.
 
I went there for the first and only time in the summer of 1990. After years of hearing my dad go on about it. I finally got to see it....I found it amazing. Just thinking of the history of the club,that dad and his father and his fathers father before had all watched games there and cheered the lads on.( I think my grandad played for the boys team too)
We got given a tour by one of the staff and I got to hold Marco's boots....my dad then got me the home shirt (Hummel Vaux) which I still have......
The day started a bit crap as it was my nans funeral that day....but ended being brilliant...I'm just gutted I never got to see a game there..
 
The buzzing nosie that the floodlights made as they got turned on, I will always remember.

The orchestrated celebrations we now have at football pisses me off. Like those announcers that say out a players first name when they score for the crowd to shout the surname etc. I feel good wasn't exactly great either.[DOUBLEPOST=1392390029][/DOUBLEPOST]
why did the roker end bogs have no roof.

It didn't need one
 
Roker Park was aground that was used in the World Cup in 1966 and it hosted a quarter-final. Not bad for a dump that mind. The atmosphere before a game grew from the crowd talking among themselves and that murmur gradually became all out singing just before the teams came out. Crowds were down to 8000 in the early 70s but by the end of the 72/73 season we were getting 35K. It was always said that when we had a bad team the supporters didn't go anywhere else - they just stayed at home waiting for the good times to come back. No demonstrations, no going to watch that lot up the road, no mock funerals. Just sitting at home getting frustrated like hell listening to the results and getting beat at home again! Saturday night ruined.

Then you went back and as soon as you walked up the maze of steps at the Roker End and looked at the pitch - the queasy feeling in your stomach started. Youw ere home and yes the bogs were outdated and sometimes it was pouring down and you were sodden by the end. Over 20000 in the Roker End against Man City and Luton in the Cup run and nearly 14000 in the Fulwell End. If you were not there you could not possibly imagine it. That sort of atmosphere was/is special.

We didn't have a ticket office at all until 1975 and we sold the Cup tickets in the "Counting House" area under the Main Stand and next to the Dressing rooms. We used the old Black Cat Club once as well as turnstiles. The tickets were sold by the receptionist through a little window before that.

She is long gone and when she went she was a frail old thing but she was ours.

So be easy on the old lady.

BTW - that lot up the road had a stadium that was only 1/4 covered and very few seats until they were reformed in 92. Not a World Cup ground in 66 either.
 
rok
It looked about as welcoming as a kneecap to the bollocks, and with North Sea winds whipping through it, and no roof on the away end, it probably wasn’t on the ‘best away days’ list for many fans. A shit hole, basically, but a tremendous shit hole made all the more glorious by the ‘Welcome To Sunderland’ sign at the back of the home fans’ Fulwell End.[DOUBLEPOST=1392386219][/DOUBLEPOST]
how the fck did i do that? didnt even want to create a thread. sorry.
http://www.regista-blog.com/2014/02/five-legendary-old-terraces/[DOUBLEPOST=1392386322][/DOUBLEPOST]
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i'll carry on now i've started
roker was our home have some respect for the 1000s who attended no longer with us ..... times have changed and the younger generation can only hear stories ect of rokers hay day ... it was our home always will be never a shit hole to real folk from the 1800s to the day it was knocked down show respect not being nasty just honest ..
 
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