Born on this day in 1915 is former Sunderland defender Alex (or Alec) Lockie. He was a centre half whose career, just like so many burgeoning footballers, was interrupted and ultimately cut short by The War. Despite this, Lockie managed to make a half-century of appearances in his time on Wearside, scoring one goal.
Lockie was born in South Shields and had played for his local side, South Shields St Andrews before joining SAFC in 1935. He spent a decade at the club yet only managed 50 appearances, such was the impact of the war. He was our third choice centre half before war broke out, behind Jim Clark and Bert Johnston, but when the former departed the club, Lockie established himself as first choice, actually playing more times than Johnson.
However, the season he broke into the team was the 38/39 season. On the 3rd of September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany. The Sunderland players and management heard the news in a hotel in the capital after a fixture with Arsenal and were subject to their first air-raid warning of the war there. They travelled back to home and official football didn’t resume until 1946. All players were effectively out of work, our directors decided to close the club down and take no part in the regional competitions.
During the course of The War, many football players had given their lives for their country, including former SAFC player and 1st Division winner Percy Saunders who was lost at sea following the invasion of Singapore in 1942, the only ex Sunderland player to lose their life in the conflict.
The 1930’s were a decade of astonishing success for Sunderland and after the war, as we know, we were never really very good ever again. Poor Alex Lockie was involved in the initial post-war season, but the arrival of Fred Hall from Blackburn Rovers meant that his frustrating Sunderland career came to an end.
He went on to finish his career at Notts County, who were playing in the Southern Section. He made only 23 appearances, meaning in a career spanning over a decade, Lockie only played 73 games. Obviously combating fascism anywhere is more important than football, but had that violent political ideology not broken out in Europe, who knows how many footballers’ careers could have panned out differently? There was no more unfortunate time to be in any profession than then.
Lockie sadly passed away in 1974 in his birthplace, South Shields.
