Iconic SAFC Photos

This is the game where Charlie Hurley wore baseball boots. It's Stan Anderson's testimonial match at Roker on 13th April 1964. The awful kit that Stan is wearing shows the colours of the teams he played for.
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The thread about the Sunderland fan photo got me thinking about other iconic SAFC photos.

I’ll start, in a match against Bury at Roker Park on 26 December 1962, in icy conditions and torrential rain, Brian Clough was put through on goal and collided with the goalkeeper. Clough tore the medial and cruciate ligaments in his knee, an injury which in effect ended his playing career.

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The thread about the Sunderland fan photo got me thinking about other iconic SAFC photos.

I’ll start, in a match against Bury at Roker Park on 26 December 1962, in icy conditions and torrential rain, Brian Clough was put through on goal and collided with the goalkeeper. Clough tore the medial and cruciate ligaments in his knee, an injury which in effect ended his playing career.

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It's a romantic thought, but league matches did not use laced caseys as late as 1964. Still leather, I grant you, but the lace-up balls (still used by my school team at the time - complete with separate bladder) had been pensioned off in league games by then.
Although the actual lace was dispensed with in professional league games by the 60's it was the poor quality of the coating on the 18 panel leather ball that was the real issue. Before the introduction of the polyurethane coated ball by Adidas in 1970 leather balls would become saturated very quickly on a wet pitch increasing the weight of the ball by a huge amount. The removal of the cotton or leather lace during the 50's made them a little less lethal but a sodden leather ball was a bugger to kick and be hit with.

The family of Jeff Astle who played the bulk of his career during the 60's put his early death down to heading and been hit with the balls used during his time and I am sure that they were right. I recall myself that being hit in the face by a wet leather ball was like receiving a blow from Mohammed Ali. I am sure that there are plenty who enjoyed a similar experience to me.

As an aside when he finished in football the wonderful Jeff Astle set up his own window cleaning business in order to earn a living. The slogan on the side of his van read "I never miss corners."
 

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