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 moon shining brilliantly among the Preston stars”.
Those words no sooner reached his ears than his cheeks were covered in joyful tears.
William Perry, Sunderland Echo main sports reporter, to Sunderland AFC’s then Secretary, Tom Watson; who had been too nervous at the Newcastle Road ground to watch his red and white champions clinch their first league title at home to Blackburn Rovers.
Ryehill Football is proud to announce its latest project, chronicling the history of Sunderland AFC. A unique and pioneering one off publication is being produced looking at the football clubs very first championship winning side in 1891/92. An early demo version can be viewed below and this page will be updated with a demonstration of the books progress. The book is A3 landscape size and also takes in a colourisation project of both SAFC and opponent images. The final version is expected to be ready for Xmas 2020. The contents of the book are as follows:
- Introduction
- Season Synopsis – a narrative of all the happenings in and around the club during this momentous season
- Match Reports – all 55 match reports from the season, word by word, as they appeared in the local press of the time, together with colourised images of the opposition teams.
- Player Profiles – colourised images and profiles of all the Sunderland AFC players who featured that season
- Statistics – full statistics of all players plus a one glance results listing for the season
- Update – 7 February 2020 – the project is progressing and I am updating this page with the latest version of the book on a weekly basis. Profiles are being completed every day and the colourisation project is on-going. Therefore any pages that you see that are still in black and white will ultimately be replaced by a coloured version in due course, as will blank pages. However the black and white versions give an intriguing glimpse of the colourisations to come.
- World Championship – for those who know there was a football world championship back in the 1880’s to early 1900’s between Scottish and English league teams; usually the cup winners or league champions. Sunderland were world champions in 1895. Through parallel research I have found a new world champion that for some reason has been overlooked. We can now add Aston Villa to the list. More details to follow on that discovery.