Sunderland AFC 1913 European Tour
The 1912/13 campaign was a successful one that saw Sunderland AFC become league champions for the 5th time, reach the FA Cup Final at The Crystal Palace, where they were narrowly defeated by Aston Villa in front of a worlds record crowd, and at the end of it all the…
Bob Stokoe, The Messiah
"I should pack it all in; there will never be a moment like it". On the 47th anniversary of Sunderland's heroic and iconic 1973 Wembley FA Cup triumph Ryehill Football thought it appropriate to remember the man indelibly linked with that run and ultimate success. Whilst one of the abiding…
Roker Park – The Ground That Lives Forever
3 May 2020 marks the anniversary of the last league game at Roker Park, played on 3 May 1997. Although this was the last league game, v Everton; a Northern Intermediate game was played at the ground between Sunderland and Middlesbrough 4 days later. Of course The Farewell To Roker…
The Strange Tale Of Ian Davison, SAFC Fan; Freedom Fighter?
PLO Perhaps the strangest story ever told about a Sunderland fan, or indeed any football fan, was that of South Tyneside born Iain Davison who joined the Palestine Liberation Organisation, was convicted of murdering three Israelis that he reckoned were Mossad agents, spent time in a Cypriot jail and ended…
Johnny Campbell, The Twice World Club Championship Winner
Johnny Middleton Campbell Sunderland AFC 1889 to 1897 Born: 19 February 1869, Edinburgh, Scotland Died: 8 June 1906. Newcastle upon Tyne, England Campbell (back and centre) with his family, in a specially commissioned colourised photograph. Born at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, the illegitimate son to Jane Middleton; daughter of…
Sunderland AFC, World Club Champions; 125 Years On
As I write this article it is Sunday, 26 April 2020 and tomorrow it will be 125 years since Sunderland AFC became the football world club champions with the defeat of Hearts at Tynecastle in Edinburgh. The match report from that game appears elesewhere on the Ryehill Football website. Given…
Sunderland AFC & Sevilla
In administering the Ryehill Football website I sometimes receive emails from other football fans around the world. On 9 April I received the following email from Jose Ramon, a supporter of Sevilla in Spain: I am a fan of Sevilla FC, I have seen the Netflix documentary, Til I die,…
Sunderland AFC’s First League Champions 1891/92
Sunderland AFC's First League Champions 1891/92 “William, tell me what my boys were like today?” “Well”, I said to him, “what is the moon like on a bright and clear night?” “Oh, it’s a beautiful sight”. “Then”, I said to him, “the Sunderland team today was just like a full…
The Art Of Sunderland AFC aka Sunderland Til I Die
In the run up to Sunderland AFC's Netflix debut; Sunderland Til I Die, due for airing on 14 December 2018, Ryehill Football thought that we'd take a look at another sample of The Art Of Sunderland AFC. Those who frequent the site may recall that we had a first instalment of…
Sunderland AFC And The 1951 Festival Of Britain
In 1951 towns and cities across Britain still bore the devastating scars of the Second World War which had ended only six years earlier. After more than a decade of rationing, austerity and making-do, gloomy post-war Britain needed a lift. The government’s antidote was ‘The Festival of Britain’, a national…