IN MEMORIAM: RAICH CARTER

On this day in 1994, club legend and boyhood Sunderland fan Raich Carter passed away at the age of 80.

By the age of 24 Raich had won all of the then ‘top honours’ in the English game, including international caps, and Football League and FA Cup winner’s medals. He also shone at cricket, playing first-class for Derbyshire.

On the football pitch, Carter played inside-right and had many nicknames including the Wizard of Dribble, and was beyond popular within the Sunderland fanbase. Moreover, he was self-confident, yet modest and had an excellent footballing brain – setting him up for the managerial career he would lead later in life. He could also rip a defence to shreds and pass a ball through the eye of a needle. In the penalty box, even when he had two or three defenders marking him tightly, he could put a shot away effortlessly.

Together with Stanley Matthews, England had a right-wing pair which was formidable. Matthews once said “Carter was a supreme entertainer who dodged, dribbled, twisted and turned, sending bewildered left-halves madly along false trails”.

His talent was something so special, if he were to be playing today, very few clubs would be able to afford the hefty price tag likely to follow him. If his prior talents were not enough to build him up a good enough reputation, Carter captained his Sunderland team to the league title in the 1935/36 season and was the league’s joint top scorer with 31 goals during this title winning campaign. Then, in 1937, he was the captain during Sunderland’s first FA Cup final victory.

Carter transferred to Derby County towards the end of the Second World War, where he played from 1945 to 1948. In this case, the transfer fee was £8,000, which, in 2025, would have been worth around £300,000. He led his new club to their first ever FA Cup victory in 1946, making Carter the only player to have won an FA Cup winner’s medal either side of WW2.

On the 4th July 1992, Carter suffered a mild stroke, followed by a further stroke on the 3rd September 1993. He passed away at home in Willerby on the 9th October 1994. After his death, his widow Pat arranged for his medal collection to be sold to the Sunderland City Council for display in the city.

His mural in Hendon is a constant light – and reminder of the local talent he was, and, the ‘Raich Carter Sports Centre’, a social centre for the developing sports players of a place so central to Carter’s family. The leisure centre is located a mere ‘corner kick’ from his family home – making it an even more special part of the area.

RIP Raich Carter.