OTD: FIRST GAME AT SOL

On this day in 1997, we were introduced to our new home. Roker Park was no more and we found ourselves at the Stadium of Light. The first game that was played that day was a friendly against AFC Ajax.

Ajax were more than worthy opponents to christen a stadium and perhaps too good, after all you would want your first game there to be a win right? As the game got going we held our own. Kevin Ball opened the scoring-or at least we thought he did- his goal was disallowed but everyone who had been screaming and jumping didn’t mind. It was a friendly at the end of the day.

The game ended 0-0 but no one went home disappointed, we didn’t lose and actually looked decent against a decent side. Everyone was walking out of our new polished stadium with big smiles on their faces and why not? We had a palace to go to every week or two. The massive potential for huge crowds and a stage for bigger games was something to look forward to. With our recent promotion, that will be the case most weeks this upcoming season.

Since that first game this stadium has seen some memorable games, as well as five promotions and four relegations. Let’s hope the latter stays that way. Recently the club have been putting in a lot of effort to make the matchday experience better, there are new hospitality offerings, LED boards, a system for click and collect on the concourse and better food and drink options. Safe standing has been reintroduced as well. A far cry from the delapitated look it had towards the end of our last Premier League spell.