Page 34 - 360633 LP236168 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (April 2022)

I LOVE/HATE FOOTBALL
I hate football. It irritates me. VAR, prima donna Premier League players rolling around on the floor, owners who are, basically, international criminals, owners who shouldn’t be owners, League One referees who can’t keep up with play or keep up with play you wish they hadn’t bothered, players who start timewasting at the coin toss. It’s rubbish.
And, yet every summer I can’t wait to go through it all again. So what keeps me interested? Why
do I put up with the constant disappointment? Because every once in a while, there are magical moments of happiness. Moments when you realise that it might just be the greatest game in the world. The vast majority of the 47 years I have been a Sunderland fan has been miserable. We’ve had 40 managers (including caretakers) and have changed divisions 18 times. But there are some moments that, when I look back, remind me what I love about this ridiculous game and this ever so annoying club.
1: MY FIRST GAME
The first time you go to a live game of football stays with you forever. The anticipation for me went on for weeks because, at the start of the summer holidays, my Dad told me I was to have a season ticket and sit with him in the Main Stand. I counted down the days. I couldn’t wait. We arrived
at the ground and, it might sound silly when we’re talking about Sunderland, but, I remember the red. It seemed
to be everywhere. And this is a time before replica shirts were commonplace, though there were of course plenty of scarves. I mean the ground itself. At Roker, all the signs outside were red with white writing, the main reception area was red, the signs above all the doors, the turnstiles... a lot of people talk about the famous latticework too but, as I was in the Main Stand, that doesn’t form part of my memories, beautiful though it was. The red was beautiful. And the grass was green. I know you know that grass is green. And you know pitch markings are white. But your first game is different, that grass was the greenest grass, with the cleanest white lines I have ever seen in my life.
It was perfect. And it is a memory of pure happiness. I will always feel sorry for younger fans who never got to experience Roker Park. From that first visit in the main stand to standing, lifting myself up on my elbows and swinging on the barriers with friends in the Roker End, it
34 ALOVESUPREME ISSUE258