On this day in 1893, Sunderland played their first ever game against Newcastle. The result? We won 6-1 with Johnny Campbell providing 4 of the goals.
Newcastle West End had folded and East End took the vacated over St James’ Park. This friendly match was our first game against the newly incorporated Newcastle United who arose out of East End changing their name. The game took place in front of a crowd of around 7000 people, but within ten years the rivalry developed so that 70,000 people piled in to St James’ to watch one of English football’s biggest games.
This was a special Sunderland team. Our club had developed at such a rapid pace over the decade 1880-1890 that it was an entirely different team by the early 90’s – but it was the best in the country. The ‘Team of All Talents’ boasted only two players in the early 90’s who had been there at the clubs formation – Wiliam ‘Stonewall’ Kirtley and ‘Dowk’ Oliver, the first Sunderland player to ever get a testimonial match. At this time we were England’s best club, which is hard to imagine now. No one alive has seen us be this dominant in football and perhaps no one will ever see it again.
By the time we played the first derby, ‘Dowk’ and ‘Stonewall’ had moved on but we still boasted a brilliant team. Instead of ‘Stonewall’ we had ‘The Safest Pair of Hands in Sunderland’, Ned Doig and on the first official derby day, Johnny Campbell spearheaded our attack, the best centre forward of the 1890’s. Despite his 5’7 stature, Campbell held his own in the First Division and was top scorer for two consecutive seasons, scoring 32 and 31 League goals respectively. So, it’s no surprise that in our first official game against Newcastle United, he bagged 4 goals. We could have won by more goals too, had Davy Hannah not limped off injured 20 minutes in. He scored the first goal just one minute in.
Before this important day in North East football, our main rivals were Sunderland Albion, but as we became not only Sunderland’s top club, but England’s, this rivalry was made essentially redundant. They were also bankrupt only four years after their formation. Recent friendlies between the two clubs underpinned our dominance as we hammered Albion at our ground on Newcastle Road 6-1 and then at their pitch at Blue House Field 8-0. It was time for a new rivalry...
As Newcastle United were formed and we were England’s best sides, this game was a natural fit and a proper football rivalry had been birthed. The best team in England and a local pretender to the throne. The fixture actually propelled the popularity of Association football in the North East and even wider. The sport continued to grow in popularity and crowds duly increased - in part, our rivalry had driven this.
By the time of our Good Friday encounter in 1901, the derby was a huge event. Our final game of the season was a replay of a game that was abandoned because of crowd trouble- St James’ Park only had a capacity of 30,000 and yet, upwards of 70,000 people descended, eager to see North East football’s premier fixture. With the lack of safety protocol, it is a miracle that there were so few injured and there were no lives lost. Hundreds, if not thousands spilled onto the pitch and the crowds weren’t completely evacuated until well after 7pm, despite the police presence and use of batons on the crowd. We won the reorganised fixture 2-0.
The advent of this fixture showcased the appeal of Association football and of course, the rivalry is now bigger than ever. Our games showed what a spectacle Association football could be and no doubt converted a few non believers to avid followers of this emerging sport in England.
