what's your one defining moment as a Sunderland fan?

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Being on the Leazes as a callow 16 year old watching the lads beat the vermin 2-0. Boy was school fun the next day.....

Or the Cup run in 92, the wins over West Ham, Chelsea and Norwich, can't describe the feeling. Never thought I'd see us in the Cup final.

Probly won't again !!!
 


Watching the Lads get relegated at Man City in 1990. Went with South Shields Supporters Ass, and got loast TWICE getting to the ground and missing the whole first half.
Also came on the radion that Mick Harford had scored for Derby against, only for it to come thru 2 mins later as an OG. and an apology for SAFC fans!!

But the support that day, was unique and something i've never experienced again. How can 15,000 sing the name of a manager who has just relegated his club. How loayalty and passion is second to none. WE should be proud of it.
 
May 1990 against Newcastle in the play-offs. Going back home after the 1st leg their legendary arrogance surfaced and they were soooooooooooo confident.
Come 10-30 on Wednesday night and my local was empty upon return from sid james park.
Oh and I was in the Milburn ,d, paddock with the vermin. I nearly got pulled onto the pitch when John kay punched and kicked Billy Askew at the same time right in front of some very dodgy characters in that paddock. Happy day indeed.
 
I have many great (and not so great) memories of games but the one thing I will always remember is the final game at Roker Park. I'm not ashamed to say that I stood in my spot in the Fulwell end as the crowds disappeared from the ground and shed a tear as we left that place that did and always will mean so much to me ....
 
Chris Turner penalty save on the way to the milk cup. What a high, then the feeling of being at the final with David Corner on the pitch, and no Colin West.
 
Two of many...but the ones i remember for whatever reason....
1976 ? ...Last match of the season V West Ham and we beat them 6-1 and they were already relegated...seeing 7/8 of them getting into the back of a transit van afterwards dressed in wellies and sleeveless donkey jackets and heading back for the 280 odd mile trip...taught me about loyalty.
SAFC V Austrailia circa 1975? on a Tuesday night, me and my brother walking through Barclay Court on the way to the match while avoiding all sorts of stuff being dropped/thrown from up above... taught me about Barclay Court/Nutters.
Just a different slant on things.

Many others....eg. Wimbledon tears :cry:
 
ive got a couple of moments.
me first was me first ever game, sunderland 1 v 1 newcastle at roker (early 90's sometime, might of been when a skunk scored that fluke goal). i was in the clock stand right at the front. i cudnt see a thing cos i was too small! i dont remember sunderlands goal or who scored it for that matter, but i remember newcastles, just as whoever it was hit it, a bloody copper walked infront of me. i was about 5 for christs sake, it was bad enuff tryin to see without a fat man in black walk infront of me!

another was the 6-1 win over millwall. was the first time i ever saw sunderland absolutely trash some1, what a night.

then there was promotion to the premiership for the first time. 0-0 against west brom i think, most boring game ever, but atmosphere was amazing, i was in the roker end.

then of course, there was the play off final. went on the train with me dad, was at the end where the penalties were taken. i was really lookin forward to goin to wembley (i was 12 or something), but christ it was a mess. it might have memories, but its the only time ve been to wembley, and i was very disappointed. hell of a game like, shame about the feckin score (i had a man with poor eyesight infront and beside me (a stranger and me dad, i had to tell em who was scoring cos they couldnt see).

then me first season ticket, second spell in the premiership. best game i saw is too close to call, its between safc 2-2 man utd (cheated by a little norweigan), safc 4-1 chelsea (nuff said, i had no voice for a week), and safc 2-2 nufc (i have never heard a noise like it in my life, the premier concourse echoed everything, that pitch invasion was a classic, i could see the skunk fans tryin to get onto the pitch, but cud they shite).

past couple of seasons i havent had a season ticket cos i cant get to all the games (dad work, once i can drive im there on me own). but ive attended a canny few games (man u, nufc, liverpool, boro, ipswich, bradford (not just the big teams)).

i kno this is a long post and ul be bored by now. but at 16 years and 363 days old, ive seen a canny bit! good and bad, its too bloody addictive, no matter how much i say i hate them, it never works.

FTM 4 EVA! cook
 
This tells a story.......(it's worth reading)

.....from Planet Football 1999

Statistics can't tell the story of the Roker Roar but think of this.......... (and I have many times thought of this as "what being a Sunderland supporter is like"

Quote
In both 1991 and 1997 Sunderland took over 15,000 supporters to Manchester City and Wimbledon on the final day of the season to witness their team relegated. The game at Manchester City saw a higher crowd than that of the Mancester derby. Whilst there were expected tears from the rank and file from Wearside, many City fans openly wept with them, the sign of a devotion recognised by fellow "loyals"
By 1998 Sunderland had won 1 domestic trophy in 60 years. They had suffered third division football, 3 trips to Wembley in which they had failed to score a solitary goal, and had not been in the top half of the top flight for 40 years. The Club had been relegated 7 times in that period. A whole generation had grown up on a diet of, at best, mediocrity. In terms of what should be parallel clubs eg. Arsenal Man Utd and Liverpool, the transfer outlay was insignificant, a lack of "stars" evident.
Playing Reading on a Tuesday night in February 1998 they attracted 40,579 to what was a Nationwide "second division game" Can someone please tell me what other Club in British, perhaps world football, could emulate that feat, having endured so much.

The words "I'm thinking hard" and "none"spring to mind.
 
THAT Gillingham game & and an episode of Saint & Gre

Two things stick in my throat...

1) Sitting on the Fulwell End terrace crying my eyes out after Gillingham had relegated us. All around me were leaving and I just would not (could not?) budge. I remember 2 older fellas pointing at me and laughing because I was so crying.

I thought to myself "You pair of c***s! This is my Town, my Club, my religion, my life, and you simply think its a joke?"

2) The week after the Hillsborough disaster Saint & Greavsie showed a piece where Jimmy Greaves had visited Milan for a Wednesday night Milan Derby just 4 days after the disaster. As the players stood around the Centre circle to prepare for a mins silence the whole ground rose to a man and started singing "You'll Never walk Alone" for ages. Now remember these are Italian football fans who detest all things Liverpool since their compatriots died at Heysel. I know Greavsie (who was actually there) will agree, it was the most moving thing I have ever witnessed at a football match and I'm getting a lump in my throat writing this.
 
defining monemts...

I've got a few, here goes...

1-My first match, I think it was against West Ham around 1981, I was 6 and I can't remember the score it may have been 1-0 or 0-0. I remember the overpowering smell of cigarettes and the brilliant green of the pitch and spending most of the game looking up at the Fulwell.

2-The game aginst Northampton when we got the 3rd div trophy at Roker, the atmosphere was mint, from a 12 year olds perspective.

3- Notts County away when Buxton was in charge. We got into the away end fairly early and the stewards wouldn't let us go further than about one third of the way up the stand 'cos they didn't expect many of us. By about 2:45 the stand was completely full and people were being shifted into the other stands, we were shit, we got beat and there were SAFC fans beating each other up but it also highlighted, to me, the extreme levels of emotion generated by football for the first time. Oh yeah, then we couldn't find the coach and had to ask a policeman where it was.

There are others but i'll save them for another day...
 
Brian Clough scoring two at huddersfield about 1962 the season was his 250th league goad
And living in Bradford I was amazed by the away support, i dont know the numbers,but I can still remember the busses, so old you wouldn,t believe them and all seemed to come from some pub or another, the whole ground was a mass of red and white.
memories is what its all about. ps we won 3 - 0
 
Has to be a game against QPR at Roker Park. I can't remeber what year (probably around 1990? - so I'd have been 15). It was an evening kick off and I got the bus on my own from Consett (took about 90 minutes). It pissed it down the whole night and I spent the evening on my own in the Roker End and I don't recall there being any goal scoring chances. I remember walking out at the end and looking at the rain in the beam of the floodlights. I thought of the long, lonely bus ride home and then realised that no matter how bad that game had been, i'd be back for the next one. That's when I knew..............
 
Having the "Why does everyone in my class support Newcastle?" discussion with my 5 year old.... I went through what I thought was a reasonable list (e.g. your were born in Sunderland, all your family are Sunderland supporters)... she looked me in the eye, and said: "I know all that, daddy, but why do they support Newcastle...." and sighed despairingly. I was so proud.
 
Dominic Sharkey said:
A defining moment?

Ten years old..1960...When I first walked up the steps of the Fulwell end and looked over that expanse of verdant green and the brilliant red and white.

That's it - I was hooked. There was no going back. A Love Supreme indeed.

Same year for me Dom, at 8 years old. Having been brought up on all the stories about Buchan, Carter, Shack etc from my Grandas, Uncles and Dad, the great day arrived. I was so excited going through one of the Roker End turnstiles, with bobble hat,scarf and rattle of course, that I was shaking, then up those concrete stairs and out onto the Roker End and I was so happy I cried. Sun'lun till I die.
 
JW said:
"I know all that, daddy, but why do they support Newcastle...." and sighed despairingly. I was so proud.

What an intelligent daughter you have JW, just wish my 60/40 gooner son would get 100%....working on it always and getting there, wear them down.
 
I've shared in many of the moments mentioned.Nothing has made me more proud of my fellow supporters than the way we behave in adversity.From Man City to Wimbledon to Cup Finals lost to Charlton,we have remained steadfast and loyal.
I'M surprised no-one has yet remembered the Adamson kids,when we lined up at kick off with 7 men on the half way line and scared the opposition to death.We won 1-0,4-1,6-0and6-1 if I recall.I can remember the goosebumps on my neck watching us kick of against West Ham with 1 defender,2 in central midfield and 7 attackers.It was like a cavalry charge and was so exhilarating.
 
red lenny said:
I'M surprised no-one has yet remembered the Adamson kids,when we lined up at kick off with 7 men on the half way line and scared the opposition to death.We won 1-0,4-1,6-0and6-1 if I recall.I can remember the goosebumps on my neck watching us kick of against West Ham with 1 defender,2 in central midfield and 7 attackers.It was like a cavalry charge and was so exhilarating.

We hadn't won a match in 13, might not have scored in 13 as well. The 1-0 was against one of the Bristol clubs on a Friday (why?) night iirc, Mel Holden (rules the skies) scored, then 4-1 against the Smogs the following Saturday. 6-0 mid-week against WBA, it pissed down all night, left the Roker End soaked to the skin, happy as a pig in shit. 6-1 against West Ham in the sunshine, Bobby Kerr scored a cracker that went in off the underside of the bar. :D :D :D :D :D

Aye, it was some run that, and the birth of Charleys (coach Elliot) Angels Shaun Elliot, Gary Rowell and Kevin Arnott (for the benifit of younger readers) but we still went down a few weeks later.
 
Thought Leicester won the league that season, we went up as runners up.

My all time favourite at Roker Park was Gordon Armstrongs header against Chelsea in the quarter final replay, as it looked as if Chelsea would go on and win it after they equalised. :p :p :p :p :p :p :p
 
1. West Ham away, 5th round FA Cup 1992. Craig Russell's winner right in front of where we were standing (3-2)! Went Ape (no pun intended Peter) on a rare beautiful night in England! Went back into Leicester square, to slam down a couple of pints, but beforehand called the Missus to tape Sportsnight so I could watch the game when I got home (I was living in Greater London at the time).

2. The Wife and I staggering back home (completely rat-arsed) from a friend's house after watching the 1992 semi victory against Norwich. We were singing SAFC songs at the top of voices through the posh streets of Cheam (Surrey).
 
1958 LINCOLN FIRST AWAY GAME OUTSIDE TOP DIVISION

Went with me dad and brother
I was only 8 and I got a clip as I was cheering the team in red and white not realising that was Lincolns colours
One small clip for boy
One giant leap made me a man
 
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