On this day in 1973, FA Cup hero Vic Halom made his Sunderland debut away to Sheffield Wednesday. Of course, he would go on to play against Leeds on May 5th, 1973, after playing an instrumental role in our cup run.
Vic joined the Lads from Luton in ‘73 and, despite failing to score in that debut defeat to Sheff Wed, wrote himself into the history books within three months of his arrival. The big centre-forward was vital in our cup run, scoring two huge goals.
The first came against Cup favourites Manchester City, in the fifth round replay at Roker Park. The blistering strike remains part of SAFC folklore, sending 51,000 supporters delirious. His second iconic goal came in the semi-final, at Hillsborough against Arsenal.
Halom was a strong and aggressive striker, and at £35,000 was one of Bob Stokoe’s earliest and also best value transfers. He became a cult hero on Wearside, mostly due to his role in the cup win. Even in the final, he didn’t score but he held the ball up so well and was a battering ram that didn’t give the Leeds defence anything in the air.
After the FA Cup win, Vic was in the headlines again for a marvellous hat-trick against Derby County in a League Cup tie in October ‘73.
In his final season at SAFC Halom was plagued by injuries, but still earned a Division Two championship medal in 1975/76 before joining Oldham for £25,000. He later linked up with his 1973 teammate Ian Porterfield at Rotherham, as Ian was player-coach.
Outside of football, Halom would stand for the Liberal Democrats in Sunderland North in the 1992 General Election, but finished third behind Labour and Conservative candidates.
If Big Vic was the Bomber, then Dennis Tueart and Billy Hughes were the Spitfire and Hurricane of the cup-winning team of '73.
