Reconnecting
Let’s
name the New Wear Footbridge after SAFC founder James Allan because its opening
will connect the SAFC of today to the spot where it was formed
When the 250m
New Wear Footbridge opens later this year it will help create a smooth and safe connection for
pedestrian traffic from the city centre to the 'Stadium of Light’ and will
eventually bring together Sunderland's Sheepfolds area with Keel Square in the
city centre.
Hopes are
that the £30m+ structure will help spur thousands of new jobs and homes over
the next decade and during which Sunderland AFC will celebrate its 150th
anniversary.
With this
mind then is it not time that the founder of the club James Allan was publicly
recognised in the City and so why not name the new bridge after him?
The location
of the bridge is also perfect to name it after Allan, who became SAFC
secretary, because it is as close as can be to the former Rectory Park Schools.
This is where Sunderland and District Teachers’ Association met on 25 September
1880 and at Allan’s instigation formed a football club, which, following the
first ever practice game of football in Sunderland two weeks later,
subsequently became SAFC on 16 October 1880.
Today’s ISIS
pub would have been directly across from Rectory Park Schools, just a few
hundred yards from where the new bridge will start on the south side. As such
the new bridge will connect today’s club with its original history and for that
we have James Allan to thank.
Mark Metcalf
– author and football historian
07392 852561
metcalfmc@outlook.com
Mark
Metcalf’s updated biography on Charlie Hurley ‘The Greatest Centre-Half The
World Has Ever Seen’ is available for purchase from the ALS shop.
