On a slightly different theme the recent Everton/Kone thread had me thinking that Kone is the closest we've had to Charlie since watching him as a kid. Just saying like...
Yes its Stan Anderson, what a great picture of two of our greatest players, ever, Kone love the guy, but he has to go some to be compared to the magnificent player that Charlie Hurley was in his prime.
I was very luck in that I grew up watching 'the Bank of England Side'. Note I said SIDE rather than Team! But it was entertaining as one or other of those prima-donas would take his turn to show how it should be done. But they weren't all just showoff's. There was local lad, Stan Anderson who had come up through the ranks. Willy Watson, a rarity who played for England at Cricket and Football. (Some might remember his Sports Shop in the old Arcade, run by his brother). We seemed to have centre halves to spare and forwards like Ford, Chisholm, Purdom, Fleming along with wingers like Bingham, Elliot and Grainger. But towering over all of them was Shack. Then just as those glory days were fading Hurly picked us up along with Stan Anderson and Jimmy McNab. Younger contributors can only wonder at those of us who can (just about) remember that once upon a time it was an absolute privilege to be a Sunderland Supporter.
401 games for us and never got booked ! His 80th birthday is on 4th October - hope the club will do something for him -- nearest home game is 1st Oct
Yes he should be the guest of honour at that game on the 1st Oct. Does anyone know if any progress has been made on the statue to him? I know that they were fund raising in the Burton house last season but haven't heard anything since
In those far off days a team only played one centre half. They came in two types. The big rough tough crash tackling type, (the vast majority) and the footballing type. The later tended to be smaller but they tackled cleanly and could pas, as opposed to the crash bang wallop and hoof it over the stands approach. Joe Shaw of Sheffield United was one of the best of the footballers. Then along came Charlie. Big, strong, fast, clean in the tackle and athletic but he could dribble like shack, (perhaps that's an exaggeration). He was young when he arrived and in his first two games I think we let in seven then six. His comment was said to have been, 'well at least I'm improving. By an odd coincidence I dug out my old Charlie Hurley Shirt last week end. There can't be many left around as I believe that they were a limited addition.. It has his picture and ----- CONSTRUCTED ENTIRELY FROM PRE-CAST CONCRETE CHARLIE HURLEY IS WITHOUT DOUBT THE GREATEST HUMAN BEING EVER TO HAVE LIVED ENTIRE WEARSIDE FAMILIES ARE NAMED IN HIS HONOUR CHARLIE WOULD OFTEN PLAY ENTIRE GAMES WHILE FATALLY INJURED AND ON ONE MEMORABLE OCCASION PLAYED 90 MINUTES WITH HALF HIS HEAD MISSING AFTER THE GAME-THE CRANIAL DEFICIENCY BEING POINTED OUT, CHARLIE'S COMMENT WAS "NOWT BUT A SCRATCH" THE MISSING DOME WAS LATER SPOT WELDED BACK IN PLACE CHARLIE WOULD OFTEN TRAIN BY SLIDE TACKLING PASSING S.D.O. TRAMS AND ONCE, IN A MOMENT OF OVER-EXUBERANCE HEADED AWAY THE ENTIRE TOP LEVEL OF THE QUEEN ALEXANDER BRIDGE AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS 'BINNS LIFT' CHARLIE WOULD HOVER IN MID AIR AT WILL INDEED THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL BODY OF OPINION THAT INSISTS CHARLIE'S BOOTS NEVER ACTUALLY TOUCHED THE GROUND AT ALL If any of you are in a Pub and some old fool at the Bar is droning on about how brilliant Charley was, be tolerant. It will possibly be ME.
All that bold type. I had that on a t-shirt years ago. I think I bought in Binns when I was up one weekend. It provoked a lot of comments when I was on holiday!
I remember being at Roker Park one game when Monty came to the edge of his box to collect a long punt upfield, however their centre forward followed through and flattened Monty, (you could do those things them days). Well Charlie grabbed the forward by the scruff of his neck and flung him round like a rag doll, he didn't actually punch him but he assaulted him in every other way. Eventually the ref separated them both spoke a few words in Charlie's ear and the game continued, Monty was able to continue. These days of course that would have,been a,straight red card, but Charlie was very protective of his,team mates and that incident was typical of how he behaved during his time with us.
Legend is a word used far too often in my opinion but it can not in any way be an overstatement when applied to our player of the century.
