THE RISE AND FALL OF ALBION: SUNDERLAND’S OTHER FOOTBALL CLUB
Like Manchester, Glasgow and Sheffield, Sunderland was once a two-club town. For a brief period in the 19th century Sunderland AFC weren’t the only big club on Wearside.
There was a time that Sunderland AFC’s nearest rivals were a lot closer to home in the form of Sunderland Albion.
The two clubs origins are intrinsically linked and both can be traced back to one man.
Sunderland AFC was founded by a Scottish-born teacher who taught at Thomas Street Boys’ School in Hendon, James Allan.
Allan was a rugby aficionado, but his real love was for a better game and in October 1879, he and 10 other teachers attended the inaugural meeting of the Sunderland and District Teachers’ Association Football Club. Sunderland’s first football club.
Most of the 10 teachers would play for the team, Allan himself was a left winger who once scored 12 goals in a 23-0 win over the mighty … Castletown.
The club soon needed more revenue and, in order to attract interest from the wider community, ie. non-teachers, it dropped the “and District Teachers” part from its name.
Another money-spinner was a raffle in which the top prize was a committee member’s canary.
But it wasn’t all glamour and SAFC’s first known game was on November 13, 1880, when they faced Ferryhill at home in the Northumberland and District Challenge Cup at the Blue House Field in Hendon. Ferryhill won 1-0.
Sunderland AFC played in blue and wouldn’t adopt their famous red and white stripes until 1887.
The Football League began in 1888, but Sunderland was not among its 12 founder members.
Sunderland applied to join the Football League in 1889, but were turned down, at the time all 12 clubs were from either the North West or the Midlands and the teams didn’t fancy the arduous journey to
Wearside.
But in 1890 sense prevailed and Sunderland replaced Stoke in the league, finishing seventh in their first season. This was only after SAFC agreed to pay the travelling expenses of every visiting club.
A hard bargain, but worth it. They were champions of England in 1891-92 and again the following season. Sunderland were a football superpower.
But although James Allan should have been thrilled, an almighty feud had broken out.
In December 1887 Sunderland AFC beat Middlesbrough 4-2 in an FA Cup tie, but the Teessiders took exception and appealed.
Earlier in the season, Sunderland had paid the train fares of three players to bring them from Scotland to Wearside. Middlesbrough huffed that this made them “professionals” and that Sunderland should consequently be chucked out of the competition. Incredibly, the Teessiders got their way.
For some reason James Allan, then club treasurer, was infuriated by Sunderland’s handling of the situation. He stormed off in 1888 to found a rival club: Sunderland Albion.
Albion played their home games at the Blue House Field, which had been vacated by SAFC who began playing at Newcastle Road in 1886 (Roker Park would not open until 1898).
It was not a friendly rivalry. For a start, Allan took seven Scottish players with him, including the three “professionals” at the centre of the initial rumpus.
There was a certain inevitability that the two clubs would be drawn together in a cup tie and they were due to play in the FA Cup in December 1888. Albion were delighted; it meant a great deal to them financially.
Sunderland responded by simply withdrawing from the competition (having already played in two rounds), citing spurious reasons about the inferiority of cup football.
This gave Albion a bye into the next round, but they were furious. The incident was duplicated when the clubs were drawn together in the Durham Challenge Cup.
Sunderland eventually and reluctantly bowed to a local outcry and the teams met on December 1 in a “friendly” before a record 18,000 crowd at Newcastle Road. Sunderland won 2-0.
The teams lined up again at Newcastle Road on January 12, 1889, amid a large police presence. The game was expectedly bad tempered.
Albion led 2-0 at half-time. But Sunderland fought back to win 3-2, with Albion vociferously disputing that the winner had actually gone over the crossbar.
James Allan was a linesman that day and required medical attention after a stone was lobbed at him.
Albion’s headquarters in
North Bridge Street was also stoned and they lodged a formal complaint which was rejected at an FA meeting at the Grand Hotel in Fawcett Street.
Sunderland defended themselves by bringing James Allan’s own behaviour into question. Despite all the illfeeling, Albion were keen to play their rivals again on a neutral ground, but Sunderland felt they had nothing to prove and weren’t interested.
Two more Wearside derbies would take place, both in April 1892. However, these were non-events. Sunderland were about to win the Football League and a glorious future awaited. They won both fixtures, 6-1 and 8-0.
Sunderland now had every conceivable advantage over the newer club and Albion were finished. They still hadn’t been allowed into the Football League, and their rivals’ famous “Team of All Talents” would win the league three times in four seasons.
Compounded by financial troubles, Sunderland Albion FC were dissolved in August 1892.
James Allan spent the rest of his days in the town and continued teaching, including a stint as headmaster at Hylton Road School.
He held this role when he died of apoplexy, on October 18, 1911. He was 54.
Sunderland AFC did at least sent a wreath to the funeral.