No. 77: Stadium of Light [Sunderland]

Sunday, 4th January 2015.
Sunderland AFC v. Leeds United [FA Cup 3rd Round] 1-0

A visit to Sunderland is where my pedantry overtakes that of the official 92 Club bigwigs. Because according to their criteria (rule 6), my visit here to watch England play Belgium in 1999 counts towards the 92.

As this is a journey to visit the homes to the 92 Prem & FL clubs, it seems bonkers to count a ground if you don't see said home club on the visit. And so - the longest journey of the season, to watch Sunderland play at their Stadium of Light was on.

The day didn't start with much light in it - leaving home as I did at 5am to drive to a very foggy Heathrow for an early flight north. It's a 5 hour drive to Wearside from South Oxfordshire - so with a 1pm KO I'd have had to leave at that sort of time anyway if I'd wanted to have a look around the City, so I thought I'd push the boat out and travel in style to Newcastle.

Wearside from the Air. Can you spot the SoL?

The skies over the North-East were beautifully clear, and I had a great birds-eye view of Sunderland as we flew past it on our descent into Newcastle Airport. Sadly that didn't come out so well in photo-form due to the scratched-up plane window, but you get the idea.

It's a remarkable little corner of England up here, and I've always enjoyed visiting the North-East. The rival cities of Newcastle & Sunderland are only 15 miles apart from each other with Gateshead wedged in-between them - Tyneside & Wearside being linked by a very efficient Metro system.

We hear about the Tyne-Wear rivalry of course every time the two teams play each other - I've always wondered why we always think of this as such a passionate derby over others. I'm told by one fan I spoke to that you can actually date it back to the Civil War - Newcastle being a Royalist stronghold whilst Sunderland came out for Cromwell's Parliamentarians. History nerds will also note that 'loyalist' Newcastle also declared for the Hanoverian line during the Jacobite rebellion a century later - with Sunderland supporting the rebel claim to the throne.

So it is a social and political distinction between the cities that runs deep beyond the different coloured stripes their respective teams play in. Sunderland always appears to be the naughty upstart in the relationship, antagonising the establishment & conservative neighbours in Newcastle. Good on them - I was looking forward to paying them a visit.

I am not sure why, but I really love the Tyne & Wear Metro, and as it extends out to the Airport I couldn't wait to jump on a train for the 1 hour ride to Sunderland. The sun had just come up and it was a wonderful sunny, crisp morning - perfect weather for football.

Pithead Wheel at Stadium of Light.

I hoped off at The Stadium of Light Metro stop and got my first glimpse of what I always thought was the most pretentiously-named of English stadia.

But one of the joys of my 92 quest is liberating myself from ignorance - The stadium was so named as a symbolic link to the local mining community, being a reference to emerging from the darkness of the pit-shaft into the light at the end of their shifts.

On a Saturday, the light that came with the return to surface level for most workers would have meant a trip to Roker Park to cheer on the Black Cats. H'away The Lads indeed.

There is even a statue of a Davy Lamp and a Pithead Wheel outside the new ground - linking the ground to this heritage. A nice touch, I thought.


I had a couple of hours spare, so decided to take a look at the recommended Roker Beach, some 20 mins walk away. I was half sure of the direction but asked a local, wrapped up in a red and white scarf if I was on the way to the beach.

"Aye that's right - go down here and past Roker Park and it's nay but a 10 minute walk."
"Oh, Roker Park,  is that where the old ground Roker Park was?" I asked, realising the answer was obviously 'yes' as soon as I said it.

Roker Pies: Closed for Business.

But I didn't draw a shake of the head from him for being a daft Southerner. Instead, just a teary glint in his eye, a smile and "Aye, that's right, good old Roker Park!"

I never got the chance to visit Roker Park, but it looked like a great old place. Falling to bits, apparently not fit for purpose in the 21st Century and clearly lacking in many ways compared to the Stadium of Light - itself acknowledged as one of the best new grounds in England.

Roker Park Today: 'Relegation Close' might have been more apt!

And yet, this man's wistful look back over his shoulder towards where the perceived anachronism used to stand is quite telling - and one most football fans schooled on the terraces would share.

Sadly, all that stands there today is a housing estate - the main drag being "Midfield Drive" with "Clockstand Close" and "Promotion Close" leading off from it. "Mid-Table Mediocrity Mews" or even "Relegation Close" were road names dropped at the planning stages, I believe.

Roker Beach: Lovely.

From here it was a few short steps to the beach - and what a gorgeous vista it was on such a beautiful, sunny morning. I found a fantastic place on the top of the promenade for breakfast called "Cafe Bungalow" with great views out onto the North Sea.

Cafe Bungalow, Roker Beach

Here, I battled with a ginormous full English Breakfast and read about Sunderland Manager Gus Poyet's thoughts ahead of today's game in the Tyne & Wear edition of the Sunday Sun.

Tyne&Wear Edition of Sunday Sun, Full English & a Latte. Outstanding!

Cripes!

One story from the local news section of said gutter rag made me made a mental note not to get into any trouble whilst up here.

They breed them hard in these parts, by all accounts.

After that tremendous gut-buster I took a walk out onto the pier out to the lighthouse to burn off some of the calories, and looking back to shore the Stadium of Light was just visible behind the Victorian terrace houses on the beachfront and between the tower blocks beyond them.

Which reminded me I actually had a football game to go to.

Arty Bollocks on the Beach: And Roker Pier & Lighthouse behind.

Similar to my recent visit to Southampton, the ticket sales policy at Sunderland dictated that for this game I could only be sold a ticket if I'd already been to a game this season. Luckily, there was a way around this if you are wily.

Tickets in the "Black Cats Bar" - the budget hospitality section were only £30 for today's FA Cup game. That included a free programme and a meal. Seemed reasonable to me, and being in the hospitality section, it bypassed the club's 'strict' ticketing policy. As I was in Sunderland, home to such aforementioned dissidence to the establishment - I thought this an apt purchase.

I didn't have the meal though. Not after that breakfast!

What I did have was a genuine sense of excitement for this game. It was the first time the two teams had played each other in the FA Cup since Sunderland's famous 1973 victory in the final. That day, Sunderland were the plucky underdogs at the bottom of the 2nd tier, Leeds were the overwhelming favourites in their pomp at the top of the Football League under Don Revie.

Stokoe 1973: Jubilant.

Sunderland beat their betters against the odds, and Sunderland manager Bob Stokoe jubilantly ran on the pitch in his trilby and mac, an event immortalised in statue form at the Stadium of Light. And if you go to the main entrance, Stokoe's hat and mac from the final are even on display behind glass.

There is no doubt that the Cup Final against Leeds was Sunderland's greatest and proudest hour.

North Stand: Ha'way The Lads.

Roll on 41 years and Sunderland today are hardly the team Leeds were in the 70s, but it's the visitors that are today's underdogs, languishing in the bottom 5 in the Championship. Leeds fans certainly were here for a good day out and travelled in good numbers - a steward told me they had sold about 7,000 tickets, and they were certainly in good voice.

Singing for most of the game, the travelling Yorkshire-men weren't treated to a performance from their team that their supporters deserved in the 1st half. It was pretty one-sided and I can't remember them even venturing into the Sunderland box once. When Van Aanholt drove home a low belter from the edge of the box on the half-hour it looked like it might be a rout.

One old boy behind me was so shocked at how bad Leeds' number 4 Rudolph Austin was that he exclaimed aloud "Ha'way, if I had a pigeon like him I'd pull his heed off!"

You cannot get away from the expression 'Ha'way' in Sunderland. I must have heard it 100 times during the game.

"Ha'way man, that's not offside!"
"Ha'way, lets get a beer before half-time"
or just "HA'WAAAAAY!!!!" on it's own, shouted in exasperation.
It is even written in the seats in the North Stand as part of the club slogan 'Ha'way the Lads'.

Apparently it means 'come on' - but I took it that it can mean just about anything and just seems a way that Wearsiders like to start their sentences!

"Ha'way Granda, Sunderland are playing shite today!"

The 2nd half was a little different - if Leeds knew how to finish, I think Sunderland might have lost the game you know.

Leeds were clearly not the best team but they took the game to the Black Cats and you might say even had better chances to win it in the dying moments, but Sunderland grimly held on without really having to try it seemed, as the Leeds fans entertained themselves with renditions of "Let's pretend we've scored a goal." Terrace classic.

Birds. Thousands of them.

I enjoyed very much my trip to The Stadium of Light, but the game was hardly a classic. In fact I think the most entertaining thing in the 2nd half was when about 40 seagulls came spiralling into the ground for about 15 minutes and created a stir amongst the crowd.

"Ha'way, it's like that bloody Hitchcock film man - whatsit called?"
"The fucking Birds you daft twat!"
"Oh aye, that's it, The Fucking Birds."

I did have a chuckle.

I didn't have an awful lot more to do after the game other than find something to eat on a Sunday afternoon in Sunderland - no mean feat as a lot of the places I'd been recommended were closed.

View from the Wear Bridge. Of the River Wear, of course.

I was most disappointed to miss out on a trip to Borneo Bistro, which came highly rated by a number of people, but the owners were on holiday for the first few weeks of January!

Nonetheless I walked over the Wear Bridge and into Sunderland city centre to hunt something out. It's a pretty average city centre as they go - a few nice civic buildings for sure and nothing terrible about it, a bit run down in places but no more so than anywhere else.

For my afternoon meal, I made the decision to ignore my instincts and experiences of all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffets and go and eat at an all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffet. It was called 'Panda Oriental Buffet' and I'd been recommended it by one Sunderland fan.

Oriental Buffet: Not For Me.

The thing about all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffets is - they aren't for everyone. I'm not gonna deny that some of the food was passable, and I've certainly eaten a lot worse. But when you are supplying dishes in bulk to hungry folks for just £7.50 a pop, it isn't going to be a gourmet experience, exactly.

I'm probably just a great big snob because this place was damned popular.

But once already committed to the buffet and I saw that they also did a Sunday Lunch carvery alongside all the usual deep-fried sticky-sweet Chinese favourites, I shuddered a little bit.

Panda Carvery: I'm all for something different, but...

The chap at the table next to me had 3 plates, which seemed to consist as follows:

1st Plate: Spring Rolls, Spare Ribs, Deep Fried Seaweed, Prawn Crackers.
2nd Plate: Roast Pork, Yorkshire Pudding, Carrots, Roast Potatoes & Gravy.
3rd Plate: Egg Fu Yung, Chow Mein, Deep-Fried Chicken Balls & Sweet & Sour Sauce.

Clearly I just don't know what I'm missing, but I thought it an odd combo. I mean - you are meant to have Yorkshires with beef, not pork!!!

After I'd polished off 3 plates of MSG-loaded stickiness, I was done for the day and all that was left was to get back on the Metro for my flight back home.

Sunderland Station: Ha'way man, I'm gaan hurm.

I enjoyed visiting you Sunderland - you are not as flashy and loved by the media as your black&white striped cousins 15 miles North, but you have a lovely no-nonsence spirit about you, people are very friendly to strangers, its' a solid working-class community and do you know what - I'd happily live in the surprisingly appealing area around Roker Park and Beach if life ever took me to this corner of England.

But it probably won't. So I'll just have to come to another game some time. Ha'way The Lads!

With thanks to Daniel Parker (@dgp202)


NEXT UP: A HOLIDAY FOR FMO!
On holiday and business trips for much of Jan/Feb so unlikely another update until March. Sorry fans!