The match that clinched the title when Sunderland last tasted top flight success in 1936

This article was written for Roker Report when Sunderland faced Birmingham City away in January 2018.

Sunderland has faced Birmingham City on many occasions at St Andrews but one game stands above any other and that took place on Easter Monday 13 April 1936. 

Three days previously League leaders Sunderland had beaten Birmingham City 2-1 before a 41,500 Roker Park crowd. The scoreline failed to do justice to the Wearsiders who twice hit the woodwork, missed a host of chances and were frequently denied by an inspired Harry Hibbs, who was a fine goalkeeper who made 25 international appearances for England. 

When Patsy Gallacher had headed Sunderland ahead after just two minutes it raised  hopes that this most brilliant of sides would finish the day by breaking a hundred League goals for the season, his effort making it 96. 

The away side snatched a shock equaliser on 15 minutes when Fred Harris, pivoting quickly, turned the ball beyond eighteen-year old Johnny Mapson, who was making only his second of what ultimately proved to be 382 first team appearances in the Sunderland goal. Just over two months earlier the whole town of Sunderland had been left shocked when regular keeper Jimmy Thorpe had died after sustaining a number of injuries during the home game against Chelsea on 1 February 1936.

Sunderland took both points on Easter Friday 1936 when Raich Carter hooked the ball beyond Hibbs and Gallacher, looking suspiciously offside, made sure by heading it into the net. The success meant that the winning side travelled over the Pennines that night knowing that if they beat Bolton Wanderers the following day that the First Division title was theirs even though Sunderland still had a further four games to play once the match at Burnden Park had ended. 

Sunderland grabbed an early lead through Carter but finished the game losing 2-1 to Bolton Wanderers. Most of the match was played in midfield and in a game of few chances Bolton took the two they created with Jack Milson and Jack Atkinson scoring.

Two days later Sunderland, with Gallacher missing due to injury, took the chance to clinch the title, the club’s sixth, which brought them level with Aston Villa as the most successful League club ever at the time. 

Many reporters afterwards remarked they had never seen Sunderland play better as they showed they were worthy champions by winning 7-2. Carter was the inspiration and his constant prompting and probing had the home defence in knots. Frank Clack in the home goal played the match of his life and thus prevented the away side establishing a new all-time League away victory to beat Sunderland’s 9-1 thrashing of Newcastle back in December 1908. 

Bobby Gurney put his side ahead on 13 minutes and it was Sunderland’s 99th League goal in the season. Only once previously - in 1892-93 - had 100 goals  been scored in a season. Birmingham equalised through Joe Loughran on 31 minutes but five minutes later Carter smashed home the ball to make it 100 goals! 

Birmingham were not finished though and the 21,693 crowd saw the home side again equalise, this time through Albert Clark on 41 minutes. 

Utility man Cecil Hornby had been signed from Leeds United at a cost of £1,000 in February 1936 and he only went on to make 13 first team appearances for Sunderland. Playing at inside right he scored his first goal for his new side when he cleverly headed home Carter’s cross to put Sunderland 3-2 ahead at the break.

On 55 minutes the away side made it 4-2 with a goal credited to Gallacher. Yet in fact the final touch was made by Carter who afterwards said he had only touched it to make sure it crossed the line and therefore it should - and was - given to his colleague! 

Eight minutes later Carter created another goal for Gurney, who snatched his fourth on 75 minutes when he guided a Bert Davis corner beyond Clack. With four minutes to go the irrepressible Carter presented an unmissable chance to Scottish international Jimmy Connor who completed the scoring. It was Sunderland’s third 7-2 success in the League in 1935-36. 

Despite having watched their side humbled the home fans applauded Sunderland from the pitch. Among the crowd was a small party of Sunderland fans who had travelled through the night to watch this thrilling event. The fans were invited to join the players at a nearby hotel where they heard the SAFC chairman, Sir Walter Raine, congratulate the players on their brilliant season.

Within an hour of the game finishing, Sunderland received a telegram of congratulations from the old champions Arsenal. In a season when each victory earned two points, Sunderland, despite losing the final two games, went on to win the League title by eight points. A total of 109 League goals were notched. 

Mark Metcalf wrote a book titled TOTAL FOOTBALL with Paul Days on the Sunderland AFC 1935 to 1937 side.  

Vintage art prints featuring Raich Carter hoisting aloft the FA Cup at Wembley in 1937 can be purchased from:- http://thedribblinggame.com/1930s/the-1937-fa-cup-final/

Catherine Bottomley - RIP

This was published by Roker Report in April 2018 

Dedicated to Sunderland fan Catherine Bottomley 

Sunderland will travel to Fulham on Friday. Missing the action will be some of the Wearsiders’ most fervent fans of the last 40-50 years. They include a good number who were at Wembley in 1973 for the FA Cup final when the Sunderland number 9 was former Cottager Vic Halom, whose goal earlier in the competition against Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round replay at Roker Park was one of the finest ever seen at the old ground during its 99 year history.

City were beaten 3-1 that night by a really good side that was backed by a passionate home crowd, who again turned out in force for the sixth round tie against another of Halom’s former clubs, Luton Town. The Hatters looked like they might hold on to earn a replay until late goals by Dave Watson and Ron Guthrie set up a first semi-final tie since 1956 for Sunderland. 

The last four match took place at Hillsborough. It was Halom. who was born in Burton upon Trent, who struck Sunderland into an early lead when he forced the Gunners centre half Jeff Blockley into a mistake. When the ball ran free, Halom beat Arsenal keeper Bob Wilson to it and knocked it into the net in front of the massed ranks of Sunderland fans on the massive Hillsborough Kop. 

Halom’s strike partner Billy Hughes added the second at the Leppings Lane End in the second half. Despite a late Charlie George goal it was Sunderland, a Second Division side, who went through to Wembley to face Leeds United. 

I won’t dwell on what happened on 5 May 1973 except to say that Sunderland deservedly beat the West Yorkshire side with a single Ian Porterfield goal. Halom had a fine game, keeping the Leeds defence constantly under pressure and holding up the ball to bring other players into the match. He might even have scored late on. 

The following season, 1973-74, Halom played two of his finest games in a lengthy, successful career in which he made 435 Football League appearances for and scored 131 goals. These were the second round League Cup replay at Roker Park against Derby County, which finished 1-1, and the second replay in which he scored three goals as the Rams left beaten 3-0. Halom ran former Sunderland defender Colin Todd and his international colleague Roy McFarland ragged. Little wonder that Vic Halom became a cult hero with many Sunderland supporters. 

In the 1975-76 promotion season that ended Sunderland’s six year spell in Division Two, Halom found himself replaced up front by Mel Holden and he scored his final Sunderland goals when he hit two against Nottingham Forest in a 3-0 victory at Roker Park on 8 November 1976. When he left in the summer for Oldham Athletic he had made 130 first team starts, plus 4 appearances as a substitute,  scoring 40 goals.

One man who saw the majority of Vic Halom’s games was fanatical Sunderland fan John Bottomley, who lives in Chester, and who on 5 June 1996 in San Francisco married Catherine, who in turn became a follower of the Lads and was a season ticket holder in the North Stand for many years. 

Catherine was the regular driver on the Saturday morning trips to home games from Chester to Sunderland, where the pair would book in to their regular B&B on Roker Terrace in Seaburn for the night, before enjoying the sea view and a few pints at the nearby Roker Hotel and various other local pubs. 

Catherine also joined John in attending many away matches. Her first Sunderland match was, in fact, a 0-0 draw at Oldham on 14 January 1995. It was Steve Agnew's Sunderland debut. Catherine was somewhat mystified as to how us regulars were celebrating a great result when it finished 0-0.

Sadly, Catherine has, after a long illness, died. Her funeral is this Friday afternoon in Chester and I will, like many other Sunderland fans, be there to remember a really lovely woman and also to show John that we share some of his grief and will support him during this terribly difficult time in his life. A large number of people from places far and wide will honour Catherine’s memory by attending. John and Catherine enjoyed many trips abroad and actually met whilst on holiday in America in 1994. They enjoyed a long, loving relationship. 

Catherine was born in Epping on 2 March 1955 and met John when she was working in Cambridge in 1994. She worked all her life in the health sector, mainly in the NHS, and was very proud of having trained at the London Hospital in 1972-73. When she moved to Chester she began working as a recovery sister at the Countess of Chester Hospital, which, sadly, was where she also died on March 29. 

Catherine’s two favourite Sunderland players were Kevin Ball and Niall Quinn, who when she worked at the Evelyn Hospital in Cambridge, was amongst a number of high profile footballers who were patients. 

Years later Catherine and John were joined in the Clarendon Hotel on the Banks of the Wear by the Sunderland then chairman - who was with members of the Drumaville consortium. Niall Quinn was delighted to Catherine.  Over a few beers, Quinny praised Catherine and all the other hospital staff who had helped save his career when he was forced to undergo a series of operations on a serious knee ligament injury. Niall and Catherine, who both liked a glass of ale or two, had a real laugh together. 

Catherine’s last Sunderland match was against one of Quinny’s former clubs, Manchester City, at the 2014 League Cup Final. 

RIP Catherine Bottomley 02-03-1955 - 29.03.2018. 

Mark Metcalf, who will miss his first Sunderland game since 20 October 1973 at Craven Cottage, which is his favourite away ground.

Help needed to locate original Norman Cornish drawing

Anyone know who owns this original Pitman Painter Norman Cornish's drawing of WWI veteran & Co Durham landlord Jack Cornish? Also does anyone have a copy of Northern Echo 1970s article on it? Help needed for new book by Spennymoor youngster Jack Cornish.

Unions' disputed call to make coal cleaner

Big Issue North article from September 2017 

Claim that carbon tech could renew industry 

Environmentalists say focus on renewables 

Trade unionists have urged the government to fund carbon capture technology that would make coal a cleaner fuel, insisting it will also help protect local jobs. But environmental campaigners say it would be a distraction from an urgent need to end the use of fossil fuels completely. 

Human activity is annually generating billions of tonnes of waste carbon dioxide (CO2), which is helping to warm the climate. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process that aims to collect the CO2 from power stations and factories before burying it securely underground. 

No government interest 

Although the technology has existed for decades, there are few examples in the world of large-scale CCS plants. The National Coal Board led the way in CCS research until the 1990s, when most of Britain’s remaining mines were closed. 

Bill Adams, secretary of Yorkshire and the Humber Trades Union Congress (TUC), said the government should respond positively to a report earlier this year by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on CCS. 

The report criticised David Cameron’s government for withdrawing in 2015 £1bn
of funding to develop the technology, and said CCS “had the potential to help the UK achieve its ambitious targets to reduce CO2 emissions, if it is used in the power and industrial sectors”. 

Adams said: “Government is being very shortsighted. Across Europe, trade unions and governments are combining in a partnership model on CCS. But when we approached the then energy secretary Amber Rudd she showed no interest. 

“I recently attended a House of Lords reception at which the chief executive of Gassnove, the state-run Norwegian company, was telling everyone they would welcome possible projects being sent to them for funding. 

“They see this as an opportunity to decarbonise. Our government is saying let’s leave it to the market and that is not having it. In comparison our governnment are spending billions on Hinckley Point nuclear power station, which seems a lot for a project that also won’t do too much to ensure we have a secure energy supply in the future.” 

“Devastating for region” 

According to Adams around 28,000 jobs in Yorkshire and Humber could be affected by the 2016 Paris Agreement to restrict global temperatures by limiting the amount of CO2 generated by human activity. They include jobs in ceramics, cement, glass, food and beer, all of which use coal. 

“Losing so many jobs would be devastating for the region. It would be like the pit closure programme again of the last century. 

“The TUC welcomes any moves towards a green economy. We are encouraging trade unionists to discuss with their employers technological changes to reduce CO2 but solar and wind are not yet ready to supply all our energy needs. They won’t be for a few decades and so CCS needs developing now and quickly.” 

In 2012, 2Co Energy proposed a large clean coal CCS power station at Hatfield Colliery in South Yorkshire. This would have involved constructing a large underground pipeline to transport CO2 out into the North Sea. Despite the promise of considerable EU match funding, the UK government refused to back the £1bn project, which had the potential to create an estimated 7,000 new jobs in the Doncaster area. 

In late 2015, the government withdrew promised funding for two CCS projects. One was at Peterhead and the other in North Yorkshire at Drax, the UK’s largest power plant, which currently relies on coal and biomass to generate electricity. 

Cost must come down 

The decision broke a pledge in the Conservative party’s 2015 election manifesto and the move was criticised by Shell, the CCS Association (CCSA) and the TUC, which argued that it would make it difficult for the UK to meet its carbon cuts target and to create a diverse energy mix. 

The PAC report is also critical of the 2015 decision to withdraw the funding, saying: “Many potential stakeholders now think the government should bear more risks, particularly over stored C02.” 

Adams said that if Labour won the next general election and carried out its commitment to set up a new national investment bank, the TUC’s first request would be for funds towards a major CCS project. 

He stressed that the TUC is not expecting the development of CCS to lead to the opening of coal mines here. But Dave Douglass, former National Union of Mineworkers branch secretary at Hatfield Main Colliery, wants to see CCS developed for just such an eventuality. “Government backing for CCS projects would mean coal can be used for energy generation. We are importing coal that is being mined in locations where workers are being badly exploited. 

“We have thousands of years of coal underneath us and it should be used, especially as renewables are not reliable and they have resulted in higher energy bills. 

“Coal fired power stations are still being built everywhere and 41 per cent of electricity worldwide
is germinated by coal. By cleaning coal through CCS then it should be burnt. This can help create 70,000 new jobs at 70 mines across Britain. This will help revive parts of Yorkshire where unemployment levels are far too high, especially amongst the young.” 

Alasdair Cameron, Friends of the Earth’s renewables campaigner, disputes this view. “CCS may be a useful technology for some industrial applications that are hard to switch to electricity or which have CO2 byproducts, such as steel manufacture or cement production,” he said. “But it is unlikely to play a major role in electricity generation. 

“Renewables can keep the lights on and have jumped from 7 to 26 per cent of our electricity supply in the last few years. The government’s projections show the figure will be 40-50 per cent by 2030. With the right investment it could be 75 per cent. 

“And to avoid catastrophic climate change we need to largely decarbonise our electricity system by 2030. Renewables are the most reliable way of doing this. 

“The direction of travel is clear and the age of fossil fuels is simply coming to an end. Even in India and China they are reducing their reliance on coal. India has this year cancelled coal power plants in favour of solar.” 

Asked about when it might respond to the PAC report a Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Department spokesperson said: “The UK is the third best country in the world for tackling climate change, but we have been clear that the costs of CCS must come down if it is to play a role in reducing the UK’s carbon emissions. 

“We are considering options for CCS in the UK and intend to set out our approach in due course.” 

Mining for the past: Durham Mining Museum, Spennymoor, Co Durham

SIDS Charity 'Ignored Decades of Research'

The Lullaby Trust finds pollution link to SIDS 

Father says warnings were long ignored 

A man whose studies found that infant mortality rates were higher close to incinerators has accused a leading children’s charity of “being asleep for decades” after it released the findings of a delayed study on the role of air particles in unexpected infant deaths. 

In 2012 the Lullaby Trust, which aims to prevent sudden infant deaths, funded research led by Dr Ian Litchfield, at Birmingham University.
The final report, now published in the British Medical Journal, has concluded: “Ambient air pollutants... may show an association with increased sudden infant deaths or SIDS.” 

Such deaths are the leading causes of death among healthy infants between one month and a year old. Around 300 cases occur annually in the UK. 

Pollution exposure 

The report, based on 200 SIDS cases over a 10-year period in the West Midlands, recommends further studies “on the role of air pollution on SIDS and... how we might reduce pollution exposure among infants”. 

Michael Ryan’s research about air pollution was sparked after he lost two children, one at 14 weeks, and considered their deaths may be related to pollution caused by living downwind of an incinerator. He has found that, whether incinerators are sited in affluent or poorer areas, infant mortality rates nearby are above average. 

He cites other scientists who challenge the norm that deprivation, poor parenting and cultural practices are the only reasons for infant mortality. A number of MPs have used his work to ask Parliamentary questions. 

In 2015 the Lullaby Trust promised to “get our scientific advisors to review [Ryan’s] research... as we do for all potential risk factors.” Now a Lullaby spokesperson has admitted this has not happened because it only makes recommendations “based on consideration of peer-reviewed research studies in academic journals”. 

The spokesperson added: “We are not aware of any research that Ryan has published of this quality.” 

Ryan, whose self-financed research has been reported extensively in Big Issue North, has been key to forcing Public Health England (PHE) to conduct a study on the impact of waste incinerators on infant mortality levels. First promised in 2003 this began at Imperial College London seven years ago. 

“Wasted time” 

Preliminary results were expected in March 2014. PHE has said it expects to submit its findings to peer-reviewed journals by the end of this month. The organisation continues to affirm its belief that incinerators are not damaging to the health of infants. 

A retired local government officer from Shrewsbury, Ryan said: “I didn’t believe the Lullaby Trust would examine my research. Yet now they are suggesting an association between air pollution and SIDS. They could have just read a 1985 book, SID: Patterns, Puzzles and Problems. This was co-authored by their now vice- President Sylvia Lush, the Countess of Limerick.” 

Ryan said the book examined a peer-reviewed study implicating air pollution in sudden infant death. 

“This study was, like mine, ignored in the Lullaby Trust report,” he said. “This has deeply upset me as the Los Angeles study was in 1981, before my children died. 

“Lullaby is well named as it has been sleeping for decades. They have wasted time and money.” 

A History of Sheffield Football 1857-1889 by Martin Westby is a great book

‘ONE OF THE GREAT FOOTBALL BOOKS’ 

Review by Mark Metcalf, co-author of FLYING OVER AN OLIVE GROVE, of the book A HISTORY OF SHEFFIELD FOOTBALL 1857-1889 by Martin Westby 

This is one of the best ever football books. Its author and publisher Martin Westby , who runs a British football magazines store called Soccerbilia, should be heartily congratulated for his considerable efforts and the accuracy he has achieved. 

Westby bases his investigations around Sheffield, where the first, Sheffield FC, and second, Hallam FC, clubs were formed and organised club football originated in the second half of the nineteenth century.  Between 1857 & 1889, 95 Sheffield clubs existed. 

Delving into the newspaper archives of the time, Westby meticulously analyses why, by whom — there’s some remarkable characters in the book — and with what purposes a series of long since departed clubs such as Attercliffe FC & Dronfield FC began.  

Such examinations of the clubs & their personnel are combined throughout with an explanation of how the rules of football were changed & developed. Some of these changes were covered in our Flying Over an Olive Grove book on Fred Spiksley & the approval that we received from readers clearly indicated that football fans are hungry for such detailed analysis on changes to the laws of the game. Westby’s work is thus to be welcomed.

What will prove especially interesting for football fans is the author’s attempt, essential to his desire to create a chronological history of football clubs, to compose a set of rules that can be applied right across all clubs, past and ongoing, in order to try and ensure the claimed foundation dates can be measured against each other. 

So, for example, with the rules evolving between 1857 until 1871 - when the Rugby Football Union was formed, thus creating a clear distinction between Football and Rugby - then a club that began by playing Rugby before turning to Association Football is included and its foundation date is when the club was originally formed. This will please followers of Bradford teams. 

If a club claims an earlier date than any of the evidence assembled suggests then it must appear in the press of the time to confirm that earlier existence. As is now accepted as fact, Stoke did not exist before 1868 and were not formed in 1863 as it currently states on the Stoke City badge and website. 

Westby dates the formation of WBA as 1874 and not 1878 and he shows how Reverend Tiverton Preddy, the man credited with setting up Barnsley, did not actually get involved with the Tykes until the Easter of 1888 and not in September 1887 when the South Yorkshire club were formed. 

This is a great football book and well worth buying at £15.95.  Purchase it at www.EnglandsOldestFootballClubs.com

Further information: 07979 794391 martin@EnglandsOldestFootballClubs.com

@martinwestby