The date was Friday, April 6, 1901 â at a time when Sunderland were, as usual, battling it out at the top of Division One with Liverpool, Notts Forest and Notts County,â said Norman. âNewcastle were a few places further down, while The Lads, already at the top of the table, needed just one more win to secure the Championship. Who did they have to play? Yep, The Magpies.â It had been a season and a half for Sunderland. The Rokermen had already had knocked seven past Wolves in one of the seasonâs highest-scoring games and looked to be certainties for the top spot. But, as every fan knows, statistics can often fly out of the window in the red hot cauldron of a local derby. âIn the days when a good tackle was measured in how long the opposing player spent in hospital, this was destined to be a match that no one would ever forget,â said Norman. St Jamesâs Park was already full by 2pm, on April 6, but the trains kept on âspilling out fans from all over the North Eastâ â while thousands more made their way to the game on foot. Officials were eventually forced to close the gates at 2.30pm, by which time 30,000 fans were crammed into the ground. Tens of thousands more found themselves locked out. âLike some scene from a medieval siege, many of these 20th Century Civil War invaders smashed down the gates and forced their way inside,â said Norman, a member of Sunderland Antiquarian Society. âPlanks were pulled from what was left of the fencing and laid over the glass-topped walls. Then, like greenfly on a summer rose, the desperate fans swarmed inside in an unstoppable mass. âNow, it doesnât take Isaac Newton to tell you that if the inside of St Jamesâ Park was already full, then a further injection of tens of thousands of fans would make things very uncomfortable. âThose already within the ground were jostled, pushed and crushed. There was only one direction in which they could move, and that was forward â on to the field of play.â As the minutes ticked down to the 3.30pm kick-off, the Newcastle and Sunderland players assembled close to the pitch â ready to run on to their usual rapturous applause. The lack of space, however â with fans forced to crowd the pitch in a bid to escape the worst of the crush â caused a major headache. There was no space left for the teams to actually play. âThere wasnât a blade of grass to spare. People were packed in like sardines,â said Norman. âBut the fact the sardines were getting a bit agitated was an even bigger problem. âThe duty police sergeant and all 25 of his chaps were stuck in the middle of the melée somewhere, trying their best to appeal for calm and reason â a tough call with 5,000 people on the pitch. âThere was only one thing that the boys in blue could do to clear the field for kick-off â perform a baton charge. A few yards of field were secured at the expense of a few battered heads.â Elsewhere, however, an even bigger problem was developing. As a pitched battle was fought on the grass, many fans sought a safer vantage point â the corrugated roof of the ground. âWithin minutes it was teeming with fans of both persuasions, while the press reporters cocooned anxiously underneath the roof scribbled away at their pre-match reports,â said Norman. âBut the sound of stamping feet above their heads eventually brought writing to a halt. Just as the reporters made their escape, the roof gave way and dozens of fans slid back down to the stands.â As pandemonium broke out, so the players, referees and officials from both clubs surveyed the scene. The assessment could have only one conclusion â cancellation of the game. âThe fans heard the news with astonishment and alarm. Off? The big match â never!â said Norman. âSome Magpie fans cheered, knowing that the Rokermen would be denied the two points needed to secure the Championship. But Sunderland fans cried âConspiracy!â And then the match really kicked off.â According to a report in the Echo: âThree or four thousand young persons, mainly young fellows with caps on, formed themselves into one compact body and went on an expedition of wreckage.â The first targets were the goalposts at the Gallowgate End â which were defended by 24 police constables. Despite the overwhelming odds of success, the fans swerved away from the officers, and charged instead towards the goalposts at the other end of the pitch. âThese were defended by one constable. Despite the copperâs valiant efforts, the posts were torn down and, horror of horrors, the constableâs helmet was âknocked from his headâ,â said Norman. Bloody battles, violent mayhem and âgeneral disorder and destructionâ went on âunabated for hours.â It was well after 5pm when mounted police officers cleared the rioters. âIt was only then that the true cost of the derby match could be counted,â said Norman. âSt Jamesâs Park was in tatters but, in human costs, surprisingly little damage had been caused. âThe worst of the injuries appear to have been bruises and cuts caused by locked-out fans climbing the glass-topped walls.â Among the injured were Sunderland men Alfred Tetley and Albert Waite, who were treated for cuts to their hands. Others, mainly Newcastle United fans, suffered fractures after falling off the roof. âAfter Newcastle took out âsufficient fundsâ from the gate receipts to repair the damage, the rest of the spoils were divided between both Newcastle and Sunderland Borough,â said Norman. âIn the end, it would be charities supported by the local councils, rather than the clubs and their fans, which would benefit from a disgraceful spectacle.â The riot was a disaster for Sunderlandâs title hopes as well, with the club losing out to Liverpool by two points. The results of the re-arranged derby later that month saw The Lads snatch a 2-0 win over their black and white rivals. âA century later and passions are still raised by this clash of local Titans,â said Norman. âBut let us hope that the skunks in caps do us all a favour and stay at home for our derby in October.â pitch invasions by mags, 120 years later and the darlings are still up to it lol, wonder if we are winning this year what will happen.
They will bring that ****er Amadonkey on to do his derby day impression of ****ing Pele again, before he then goes back to being a static plank of wood for the other 36 games.
v Forest in the cup? I think it's because it's the only time the chav's have a chance to play on grass x
