Gary Rowell has died

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It was in 1968 I first met Gary. Just started at Seaham Northlea. We played in the same school team. Even then he was a hell of a footballer and our leader for a number on years on the pitch. By the time we got to the third year we ended up in the same class. His dad had played for Sunderland. Gary was a very down to earth lad and as humble as you can find anyone. This never changed through his career and beyond. In my life's journey it was a honor to meet him....and get to know him.
I know he would have been very pleased with our result on Sunday....the tributes to him would have probably made him blush. We have lost a beautiful human being and God has received a true legend, Rest in peace mate....please remind God if any penalties are ever awarded....you take them. Gary the boy who lived the dream.....god bless mate....LA.
 
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Gil T Azell said:
If it has already been posted apologies.
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I never saw Raich or len play but ive seen Gary Rowell play and that will do me!A very sad loss for the safc massive and my thoughts are with you and your family at this sad time In Truth Gary will live on forever as no matter how much time passes on this blue planet some safc fan somewhere in the world will be watching your father score a hat trick against the old enemy and think to themselves hes one of us!
 
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LAMackem said:
It was in 1968 I first met Gary. Just started at Seaham Northlea. We played in the same school team. Even then he was a hell of a footballer and our leader for a number on years on the pitch. By the time we got to the third year we ended up in the same class. His dad had played for Sunderland. Gary was a very down to earth lad and as humble as you can find anyone. This never changed through his career and beyond. In my life's journey it was a honor to meet him....and get to know him.
I know he would have been very pleased with our result on Sunday....the tributes to him would have probably made him blush. We have lost a beautiful human being and God has received a true legend, Rest in peace mate....please remind God if any penalties are ever awarded....you take them. Gary the boy who lived the dream.....god bless mate....LA.
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Beautiful post that mate.

Lucky you to have known and played alongside the Lord himself.
 
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https://www.a-love-supreme.com/post/otd-rowell-hat-trick-v-arsenal

OTD: ROWELL HAT TRICK V ARSENAL

BY DANIEL McCALLUM

The late Sunderland legend Gary Rowell scored all three goals in a win against Arsenal in the First Division on this day in 1982. Overall, Rowell managed 103 goals in 297 games for SAFC, his most famous moment being when he bagged a hat-trick and set up the other goal in a 4-1 win against Newcastle United at St James' Park in 1979.

Rowell made his debut for the Lads in the 1975/76 season, aged just 18, and his first goal came in a 4-1 win at Hull City in April that season with a low shot from the edge of the area. It took him a good six to nine months to nail down a spot in the first team, as he was in the same position as captain Tony Towers and Gary was seen as Tony’s understudy.

A boyhood Sunderland fan, Gary had gone to the 1973 FA Cup final with his mates and watched the likes of Bobby Kerr and Jim Montgomery lift the trophy. They were still at the club when Rowell broke into the first team, which must have been an amazing experience. Ian Porterfield actually scored the winner on Rowell’s debut, too.

The Lads won the Second Division title in 1976, where Rowell showed great potential and was tipped to go right to the top. He was selected for the England Under-21 tour of Scandinavia in 1977, and he really blossomed in the 1977/78 season, scoring an impressive 18 league goals in 39 appearances.

The following season he did even better - finding the net 21 times in just 31 games. It was in this season that Rowell became known as the mag-slayer, scoring a hat-trick and getting one assist in our 4-1 win at St James’ Park. He famously had a conversation with fellow youngster Kevin Arnott, debating whether to go for a fifth goal, or just take the piss. In Gary’s words, “we decided to take the piss.”

Disaster struck just a month later, though, as Gary suffered a medial ligament injury that ended his season. Ultimately, it would hamper his career until his retirement. In the 1979/80 season, his appearances were restricted to just eight starts and a handful of substitute appearances, although the team didn’t seem to suffer, as they won promotion to Division One.

Gary was a regular in the next four Division One seasons, scoring another memorable hat-trick against Arsenal in 1982. An effective and clinical goal scorer, Rowell’s 103 goals in red and white surpassed Len Shackleton as Sunderland’s top post-war scorer. This record stood until someone called Kevin Phillips came to the club and did quite well. Not bad, considering Gary wasn't even a proper number nine! He would often play on the wings or drop a bit deeper.

Rowell spent 10 years on Wearside, and became one of Sunderland’s most popular players post-war. He had finished as the club’s top scorer in six separate seasons but was sent to Norwich City by new Sunderland gaffer Len Ashurst. He was trying to put his stamp on the team by implementing a complete overhaul - a fatal mistake which led to the side being relegated from the First Division, before being relegated again to the Third Division soon after.

Gary was already at Norwich by then, but couldn’t replicate his goalscoring exploits in East Anglia. He suffered massively with injuries, starting just twice and making four substitute appearances.

Ironically, the year after he departed, Rowell was due to face his old team, Sunderland, in the 1985 Milk Cup final, but he didn’t play due to injury as the Canaries lifted the cup. Still a Sunderland boy at heart, Gary came over to salute the Sunderland fans after the final whistle in an enormously emotional game.

Of his subsequent moves, 10 goals in 27 appearances for Middlesbrough was his best goal return since leaving Sunderland. He retired in 1990, having also played for Brighton and Hove Albion, Dundee, Carlisle United and Burnley before hanging up his boots.

After his playing days, Rowell worked as a financial consultant and radio pundit. He commentated on all Sunderland games for Metro Radio and then the now defunct Real Radio. In 2005 he was voted Sunderland's all-time cult hero on Football Focus and in the following year A Love Supreme voted him Sunderland's Best Player of the 1980s. Gary was later inducted into the Sunderland AFC Hall of Fame.

On the 13th December 2025, on the eve of the first league Wear-Tyne derby for nine years, it was announced that Gary Rowell had passed away of leukemia. The announcement came as a huge shock to everyone associated with Sunderland A.F.C., not least because of him only being 68 years old. Rowell's goals against Newcastle were obviously talked about and the following day saw the club organise a minutes applause before kick-off against our bitter rivals. We won the game 1-0 in the end, which seemed like a fitting tribute to Gary Rowell.
 
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