Page 35 - 358264 LP231909 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (Issue 257)

BENNETT
Things were tougher back in the day too. We
all, if we’re honest, enjoy those tales of clashes with opposition fans. Perhaps it’s gratitude that
we weren’t involved in any of it, or if we were somehow, we survived. I’ve had a few moments following Sunderland over the years but none as dangerous and terrifying as my father had. Again, in his defence the 70s and 80s were a black spot in terms of hooliganism and downright naughtiness amongst football fans. It is rare that we see any trouble inside stadiums to the magnitude that was witnessed in that era. You might see a few scuffles on derby day but most of it is just posturing these days. In my dad’s day though... well of course it was tougher. My dad’s favourite story was a derby match at Roker Park. The fans didn’t want to take any risks in getting into the ground with weapons and so for weeks leading up to the derby they were smuggling sharpened coins and other makeshift armoury into the Fulwell End and stashing it. My dad was never clear about where they stashed
it, but it wasn’t until years later that I questioned this detail. As a child I lapped it all up. “It was a bloodbath” was always the way this particular
story ended. If I think back now, I do wonder about how responsible my father’s parenting was as he fed me with these stories. At Stoke away once
the Stoke fans were singing “Come and join us over here” and my dad would always laugh as he finished with “So the Sunderland fans did.” These days as I sit at the match with my son the idea of hooliganism is abhorrent. The thought of innocent people caught up in all of that is hideous. Those days must never be allowed to return, but the fact that this folklore exists builds the bravado and the sense that Sunderland are something of a force
to be reckoned with. There’s almost an arrogance to the tales and ultimately, if they happened, they happened. There has been a minor resurgence of incidents inside stadia recently and we have seen
in The Fulwell End and at least own a bit of that nostalgia as we bounced around in the cage, but with a crowd of 15,000 it’s hard to roar. The story around the Roker Roar that is most well-known concerns national journalists searching around the back of the Fulwell End the day after a game for a hidden speaker system of some sorts because they could not believe that the noise made was natural. In recent years the winner against Chelsea and the roars against Everton as we stayed up to send Newcastle down have been the only really remarkable noises to come from the stands at the Stadium of Light. The only parts of the ground that sing with any real consistency are the Roker End and the South West corner and when
away fans enquire whether they are in a library, it’s with begrudging embarrassment that we listen. Away matches are even providing less volume these days. When we travelled away with Sunderland in the past the noise was relentless. Perhaps that’s me slipping into that romance and nostalgia though.
some of that with Coventry and Portsmouth, hopefully those are rarities and we can avoid similar incidents in the future.
Perhaps the most popular dad story though is around that Roker Roar. A noise so phenomenal that it was named. Even to this day you can hear away fans
at the Stadium of Light sing “Where’s the famous Roker Roar” as the North Stand sit moping at another hopeless League One performance that has dulled them into silence. I was fortunate enough to stand
These tales and memories are important as they weave human experience into supporting a football club. They provide moments where it justified following a club who, for most of us, have provided grey skies with occasional sunny outbreaks. In the moments when the skies are darkest it is these tales that will tell you that it’s all worth it because it is part
of you and your history and the people you belong with. So dads, keep telling your kids the stories. Even though they roll their eyes they will be sat in a stadium in 20 years’ time or so telling your grandkids about Charlie Hurley and The Roker Roar.
ALOVESUPREME
ISSUE257
35
BY MICHAEL CONROY