descriptions of roker


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I've posted this before and saved as a word document. Still relevant. Here goes!

1. The roller coaster of emotions vs Gillingham when we were relegated to Div 3. The final emotion was utter desolation.
2. 'Cowboy snack' at the chip shop round the corner from the Derby. 100% pure cholesterol.
3. Seat A217, Roker wing paddock, front row, main stand, edge of the 18 yard box. Best seat in the house when we were attacking the Roker end.
4. SAFCSA shop in the St John's ambulance building - before the club had a shop.
5. Playing the Mags in 1992 when they started the season off with consecutive wins. They came to Roker with a 100% record in October and I was CONVINCED we would win, end their run and kickstart our season. We didn't win, their run went on and the rest is history. It's all ended up OK in the end though !
6. Getting a Xmas card off the club the Xmas after we beat the Mags to get into the Div 1 playoff. It had on the front a blurred picture of Marco scoring. Must have been taken on a box brownie by one of the crowd. Who cares - it was Marco scoring against the Mags !.
7. The lads who used to sit along from us regularly coming in 10 minutes after kick off - sometimes with fish and chips under their jackets which they ate at half time. Exquisite torture.
8. Cec Irwin scoring with a cross-cum-shot in a game with, I’m sure, Gordon Marshall in goal. (I've looked it up and it's true - SAFC 3 vs Nottingham Forest 1 12/10/68). Only goal Cec ever scored.
9. Roker Park catering. Pies which were either stone cold or hot as lava but never midway. Pasties with crusts so hard they should have classed as offensive weapons.
10. Small boys in the paddock standing on stools or ‘swings’ their dads had made them
11. West Brom in the Roker end - Boyng, boyng
12. The peanut sellers. Pinpoint accuracy to any point in the crowd.
13. Can't remember the opponents (Portsmouth ?) but their mascot, a little lad aged maybe three, wouldn't go off the pitch at kick off time and had to chased by a player and caught.
14. Wondering whether to get a picture of Monty or Jim Baxter. Choose Baxter - he was transferred to Forest on the Monday.
15. Seeing in the programme a pen picture of a player (can't remember his name) we'd had on loan. The timing was 6 weeks after he'd gone back to his club!
16. That monster flag Rangers brought with them at Gary Bennett's testimonial
17. The Leitch latticework. Blue ones at Pompey, Goodison and Ibrox - we had the only red one. Writing in to the club asking them to remove the advertising hoarding for the last game so we could see the latticework for one last time. They did it and we all saw it for one last time, a little faded, a bit like Roker, but still with dignity.
18. The Roker pitch. Never bettered.
19. Playing West Ham on the Saturday after Bobby Moore died. Total silence, sunny day, supporters lay a wreath in the centre circle, Kenneth Wolstenholme 'they think it's all over' on the PA. A perfect setting and a very emotional experience for both sets of supporters.
20. Wondering who it was who did "Give uz an S,S,S ...., give uz a U, U, U".
21. Red card protest.
22. The joy of my voucher coming out of the ballot for a 1973 cup final ticket.
23. “Toddo” graffiti on the wall
24. Stokoes superstars silk scarves
25. The long journey home if we'd got beat (same at SOL)
26. Taking my little boy, Ross, to Roker when he was only three. He got fed up and I had to leave early with him. I think we were playing Huddersfield. When I left it was SAFC 1 Huddersfield 2. As I made my way back to the car there were two great roars. Final score SAFC 3 Huddersfield 2 (two late goals by Michael Bridges I think)
27. Lads from the back coming down to the front with a massive "FTM" flag to drape over the front of the main stand. "Hold on to this rope for us mate". Picture of me in the paper as one of the flagholders. Mam see's picture and asks what does FTM mean.
28. Upstairs in the Cambridge before it was done out
29. Picture taken with the Div 1 trophy in Reidys Bar
30. Getting a "Roker Park 1898-1997" brick put in at SOL. Possible competition to identify where?
One for luck, 31.Gary Bennett dangling David Speedie over the paddock wall.
And another one, 32. Gordon Armstrong’s header vs Chelsea
Last one, 33. Approaching the ground for a night game. Something special about those floodlights.
Some great and emotional memories.
Haway the lads.
 
It might have been a shithole but the night game atmosphere was far better than the SOL will ever be.
 
I wish we had a 'Welcome to Sunderland' sign atop the East Stand. Would give the SoL some more character and would look great on TV.
Me Granda always said of the sign "welcome to Sunderland, here's your two points!"(someone explain to the sky boys) I absolutely loved Roker Park, every other Saturday me and my mates would get there early, maybe catch a few players going in that pokey players entrance, with it's brown door, get a few autographs then race around to the Roker End (if it wasn't raining!) and get a 'seat' over one of the entrance tunnels so we had an unrestricted view of the greenest turf in the world, and wonder what football feast would we be treated with in an hour and a half when the game kicked off! Happy memories and I really feel for the lads who never got there, modern stadia are great but lack any real soul or individuality, there was always something magical about the old grounds, usually tucked away in the middle of a load of streets with only 200ft floodlight pylons to guide you....God I feel old!
 
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.
The atmosphere at the SoL is shite, it's had it's moments but essentially it's crap.
 
The world has changed totally since I first went to Roker in 1958, steam train from South Shields to Sunderland passing within a mile of three pits in a journey of five miles and numerous shipyards still very active. SD14s not yet invented. Full employment, council houses respectable places to live. Roker Park was a shithole long before it closed but I still get shivers down my spine when I still see in my minds eye, a header out from Hurley, a crossfield pass from Anderson, a dribble and a cross from Hooper and a goal from Clough. It wasn't only the grounds that made football.
 
Some great memories , some bad memories but the an apt description for me.

A long way past it's best at the end.
 
How many games you play?
Sorry didn't mean to confuse you. I was in administration and would keep myself fit (then!) with running around the ashtrack and sometimes a few of us would have a kickabout when nobody was around. I have stood in front of a full house in the middle before the game has started a few times and it is a tremendous feeling.
 
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