The new Roker Park ...

[Bigmackem]

It was sad to have to leave Roker Park but the place was dropping to bits and would not be able to get a safety certificate . After the final match was played before our move to the SOL I requested permission to take some photographs along with my son and was given the go ahead , whilst there I was talking to one of the ground staff who confirmed the poor state of the ground and showed me an area where one of the support uprights was so corroded it didn’t touch the floor and they had covered it up with bitumen to hide the fact and this wasn’t the only one . Needless to say it proved to me that it made more sense to move to the new stadium and I think Bob Murray made totally the right decision to take the project forward and with the various grants developed a super venue at a very low cost .

 

[Smug in Boots]

It was sad to have to leave Roker Park but the place was dropping to bits and would not be able to get a safety certificate . After the final match was played before our move to the SOL I requested permission to take some photographs along with my son and was given the go ahead , whilst there I was talking to one of the ground staff who confirmed the poor state of the ground and showed me an area where one of the support uprights was so corroded it didn’t touch the floor and they had covered it up with bitumen to hide the fact and this wasn’t the only one . Needless to say it proved to me that it made more sense to move to the new stadium and I think Bob Murray made totally the right decision to take the project forward and with the various grants developed a super venue at a very low cost .

The difference between the SOL and SJP couldn't be much greater. As you say Bob Murray made the right call, difficult at the time, whereas various Newcastle owners have taken the 'bodge it and scarper' option. I've never had access to SJP but have family who did until recently, they say it's an UXB with a slow fuse. No one knows how Newcastle will get out of the corner they've painted themselves into.

 

[Nads]

1987 my first game.

Weird thing. As I’ve stated before on here my Dads a Mag in a Hylton Castle family, he blames rebellion against a strict Forces Dad. I tell him he’s just a twat.

Anyway he did it right took me to a Mags game one week and Sunderland the next. Mags was first.

We were in clock stand paddock, we lost 4-2. I remember being absolutely transfixed by the angle, I was a short kid I grew a foot from 15-17. The Vaux lads, that warmth. I just knew it was Sunderland.

I’d loved going to a game up the road but even as a 7 year kid it didn’t hit me like Roker.

Then, get to learn the game, know players, clubs.

Thinking the likes of Barnsley were big club.

Uncle started taking me every week and got me season ticket for 87-88 season. I’ve never given it up.

Uncle moved down London Dads pal took the baton till I was old enough to take myself (14-15 ish I guess) and moved to the Main Stand Roker Wing.

Phil Gray v Sheffield United
Russel x 4 v Millwall.
Bridges double off bench (Huddersfield?)
Scott penalty v Mags
Waddle free kick.

Tip of an iceberg.

For me, being 15-16 and passing the SOL as was being built I used to ride down on my bike and just stare at it so I was in love with it from day one.

**** name we all thought. I don’t think that now. There’s something about it. We can’t say unique cos we pinched it but for me I link it to the fact we refuse to burn out. The faces pre match of folk from 8-80 years old glowing for the game. It’s links. It works. A club that will never die. The eternity of light.

Shame its ‘full’ debut wasn’t in the PL but what a game. Floodlight. Quinn and Phillips. Nectar.

Carlos
Quinn v Arsenal
3-2 v Spurs
Ricco free kick
Fabio
Beach ball
Allardyce run in
Ballard
This season.

The SOL is special. You don’t quite get the ‘community’ of Roker but that’s understandable. We aren’t packed in seemingly 11 per square foot.

Remember the Villa fans singing ‘what a ****ing ****hole’, also remember Villa away couple years later raucously singing it back at them.

I feel this season the colour and the murals brought it from a fine stadium to a home and then the lads on the park have enhanced that.

One isn’t better than the other, they were just different.

Both wonderful.

I love the way it peaks over the top driving down Newcastle Road. Love its visibility from city and adore the footbridge and approach that have made it feel brand new and elite.

We are blessed to have been born into this club. Blessed.

Both homes are just wonderful parts of that rollercoaster and that fiercely volatile tapestry of this incredible football club.

Next season we may get to see Milan or Juve at the SOL. We will never forget next seasons nights.

 

[RTB]

I loved going to Roker Park during the 70s and 80s but it was falling apart at the end of the 90s.
The SoL was completely different and sitting down at a game was just weird to me.
Being based down South, I always preferred going to away games as I just didn't enjoy the atmosphere at the SoL especially during the prem years.
But that has totally changed this season and what a joy it has been.
I can't wait for next season to start.

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[Northumberland Rocks]

... has arrived.

It was so hard to leave Roker Park after all the incredible games and atmospheres we'd witnessed.

I stood on every terrace, including the 'away' section under the scoreboard, and sat in every stand over many years ...

... since we left I've avoided the area so, in my mind, it's still there.

I've stayed in Sunderland for games and been in hotels around Roker but have made sure I've never walked past and asked taxis to take the long way round. If I close my eyes I could walk around every inch of the place, inside and out. I know every cut through, every turnstile and every step of the Fulwell End.

I always knew leaving was the right thing to do but it was still heartbreaking and I thought I'd never love the Stadium of Light ...

... but after Sunday I've finally fallen in love with the place.

Looking back now there's been so many incredible goals, from Defoe to Woltemade, and so many wonderful games from Coventry to Chelsea, I have to say I love the place. As I left on Sunday a passing lass grinned at me, pointed to her two young teenagers and said, 'They think this is normal' then rolled her eyes.

On Sunday night I got home at 10pm, poured a glass of rum and raised a glass to Roker Park ...

... like an old love I'll never forget you but, times have changed and now it's time to move on.

Thanks for the memories, thanks for all the great times ... lots of love and you'll always be in my heart.

Great post. As a kid I was in the roker wing main stand seats for the West Ham game in 1980. I thought that would never be beaten but there has been some tremendous atmospheres this season as well as the Sheff Utd play off game, Chelsea 1999, the mag games, Everton with big Sam and Coventry. The SOL is a tremendous football ground and we have a lot to thank Sir Bob for.

I really hope we push on soon with the south and east stand expansion so we can get more in (kids especially to build our future fan base) and create an even better atmosphere.

63,000 on a big European night will be something else

 

[Northumberland Rocks]

I loved going to Roker Park during the 70s and 80s but it was falling apart at the end of the 90s.
The SoL was completely different and sitting down at a game was just weird to me.
Being based down South, I always preferred going to away games as I just didn't enjoy the atmosphere at the SoL especially during the prem years.
But that has totally changed this season and what a joy it has been.
I can't wait for next season to start.

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Great that thanks for posting. He comes across well does Eddy.

We have some great social media / podcasters / fan reps that come across as sensible, measured and knowledgeable…..contrast our lads n lasses to the mags

 

[Chunksafc]

Dad reckoned the coventry game noise was as close to the roker roar as hed ever heard at the SOL.

My abiding memory of roker was the pitch, the greenest peace of grass I had ever seen, then being sat on the barriers and feeling safe surrounded by men I didnt know as the surge had took my uncle rows away

 

[mrs em]

Roker park is no more but the roar lives on.

 

[kirkyboy]

Dad reckoned the coventry game noise was as close to the roker roar as hed ever heard at the SOL.

My abiding memory of roker was the pitch, the greenest peace of grass I had ever seen, then being sat on the barriers and feeling safe surrounded by men I didnt know as the surge had took my uncle rows away

Your post Chunk reminded me of my post that I made in the build up to that Coventry 2nd leg on the match day forum and what my dad said about the Roker Roar:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the old man recently in the run up to the game and the stories he used to tell about Roker Park in the 50’s and 60’s - specifically stories about the Roker Roar. A lot of people have talked about it and over the years I’ve heard many commentators elude to it but it’s this one particular conversation I had with my Dad many many years ago about it which I’ve never forgot.


Actually it’s not such a story, more of his “explanation” as to what he believed was behind it and why it became famous. He would describe the types of supporters that would go to the match during that era - typically men, working class men who would usually have worked hard, manual jobs down the pit or in the ship yards. Jobs that they had worked for years and would probably work for many more and within that would lie a deep sense of anger, frustration……a sense of…not hopelessness, more an acceptance of that was going to be their lot in life and any opportunities to improve their lives would be few and far between…..and that anger and frustration would need to be vented. It would need an outlet…


Imagine then a match day, a packed Roker end filled with these men. All that pent up anger and frustration having been at work all week in those hard manual jobs……ready to be released!


The Roker Roar, as my dad described to me wasn’t the crowd singing songs, or chanting players names….it was literally a roar that would cause opposition teams to freeze. All that pent up anger and frustration I described being released in unison by thousands of supporters in a simulated, primal roar!!! I get goosebumps when I think about it and how I would love to see it return at the SOL.!!

……and it certainly did return that night and gave us one of the most iconic moments the Stadium of Light has seen!!

 

[Chunksafc]

Your post Chunk reminded me of my post that I made in the build up to that Coventry 2nd leg on the match day forum and what my dad said about the Roker Roar:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the old man recently in the run up to the game and the stories he used to tell about Roker Park in the 50’s and 60’s - specifically stories about the Roker Roar. A lot of people have talked about it and over the years I’ve heard many commentators elude to it but it’s this one particular conversation I had with my Dad many many years ago about it which I’ve never forgot.


Actually it’s not such a story, more of his “explanation” as to what he believed was behind it and why it became famous. He would describe the types of supporters that would go to the match during that era - typically men, working class men who would usually have worked hard, manual jobs down the pit or in the ship yards. Jobs that they had worked for years and would probably work for many more and within that would lie a deep sense of anger, frustration……a sense of…not hopelessness, more an acceptance of that was going to be their lot in life and any opportunities to improve their lives would be few and far between…..and that anger and frustration would need to be vented. It would need an outlet…


Imagine then a match day, a packed Roker end filled with these men. All that pent up anger and frustration having been at work all week in those hard manual jobs……ready to be released!


The Roker Roar, as my dad described to me wasn’t the crowd singing songs, or chanting players names….it was literally a roar that would cause opposition teams to freeze. All that pent up anger and frustration I described being released in unison by thousands of supporters in a simulated, primal roar!!! I get goosebumps when I think about it and how I would love to see it return at the SOL.!!

……and it certainly did return that night and gave us one of the most iconic moments the Stadium of Light has seen!!

Thats exactly how dad described it, just a wall of noise that made the hairs on your arms stand up

 

[Becs]

Your post Chunk reminded me of my post that I made in the build up to that Coventry 2nd leg on the match day forum and what my dad said about the Roker Roar:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the old man recently in the run up to the game and the stories he used to tell about Roker Park in the 50’s and 60’s - specifically stories about the Roker Roar. A lot of people have talked about it and over the years I’ve heard many commentators elude to it but it’s this one particular conversation I had with my Dad many many years ago about it which I’ve never forgot.


Actually it’s not such a story, more of his “explanation” as to what he believed was behind it and why it became famous. He would describe the types of supporters that would go to the match during that era - typically men, working class men who would usually have worked hard, manual jobs down the pit or in the ship yards. Jobs that they had worked for years and would probably work for many more and within that would lie a deep sense of anger, frustration……a sense of…not hopelessness, more an acceptance of that was going to be their lot in life and any opportunities to improve their lives would be few and far between…..and that anger and frustration would need to be vented. It would need an outlet…


Imagine then a match day, a packed Roker end filled with these men. All that pent up anger and frustration having been at work all week in those hard manual jobs……ready to be released!


The Roker Roar, as my dad described to me wasn’t the crowd singing songs, or chanting players names….it was literally a roar that would cause opposition teams to freeze. All that pent up anger and frustration I described being released in unison by thousands of supporters in a simulated, primal roar!!! I get goosebumps when I think about it and how I would love to see it return at the SOL.!!

……and it certainly did return that night and gave us one of the most iconic moments the Stadium of Light has seen!!

My Dad said similar. He started going from the late 50's onwards.

He was at the Man Utd cup tie in the 60's when the wall fell down and loads of people surged into the ground. He said that was the loudest noise he ever heard.

Also afterwards, people posted money to Roker Park to cover the admission fee they'd been unable to pay as they were caught up in the surge.

 

[cumbrianmackem]

My Dad said similar. He started going from the late 50's onwards.

He was at the Man Utd cup tie in the 60's when the wall fell down and loads of people surged into the ground. He said that was the loudest noise he ever heard.

Also afterwards, people posted money to Roker Park to cover the admission fee they'd been unable to pay as they were caught up in the surge.

I wasn't allowed to go to that Man Utd replay, but the daughter of our family doctor who was only in her 20s collapsed and died outside the ground prior to the start of the match.
Our Doc was never the same man after that happened according to my mam.

 

[samwise_new]

mentioned this afore but always comes back when 'Roker Park' threads appear.

1972 was my first time, evening game with a few of the lads from school, now my memory has always been dire but i can always see that first image inside the ground, flood lights and green is all that hit me, gorgeous.

the toilets (least said) and the overheated scabby eyes along with a scaddin cup of bovril could not sour it, and i was hooked.

 

[mrs em]

My friend used to take the pee out of me cos I always said look how green the pitch is it was even better for a night match, absolutely magical.

 

[OldNewtown]

My friend used to take the pee out of me cos I always said look how green the pitch is it was even better for a night match, absolutely magical.

My Dad took my Mam to one of the early games at Roker Park under floodlights, think we played Racing Club Paris in a friendly, might have that wrong, but my Mam used to speak about how green the grass was etc. Dont think that she remembered much about the match but that first look at the pitch under floodlights was burnt into her memory.

 

[rowley]

Nice thread this!

I became attached to the SOL quite early actually, not sure why, maybe going to Roker all that time and then seeing it decline and have such a small capacity was subtracting from its lure a bit.

But Roker was a great place, steaming with atmosphere most of the time, even for me when I was a kid and the crowds would sometimes be really low.

My favourite all time memory is from a game with a lowish crowd. I like to say I helped score the winner!!!

It was against Birmingham, early seventies. I was pretty young, we had been losing, and had scored an equaliser. I was in the Fullwell paddock with my mates. It's nearly full time, ( hardly any extras were played then, it always seemed as if the ref wanted an early dart!) and the ball went out of play and bounced into the paddock near us.

I won the race to grab it and handed it to Bobby Park, (and what a player he would have been) who took it off me and said "Good lad". He threw it in and not long after we scored the winner. We all went completely nuts of course and we were all laughing at me having just touched the ball! They didn't do "assists" in those days, or I'd have wanted a quarter of one!

But it has helped cement the memory. The smell of the grass and the bright green of it under the lights, and the brilliance of the strip against it. Mesmerising to me. And a couple of years or so later, it really did all go seriously nuts!

It was a great old place, but of it's time, and Sir Bob knew that. His creation is some place now, probably at its best, and will have even better days to come.

 

[TeamOfTalents]

I never saw Roker in it's prime, Roker end already reduced by the time I went. Then with the reduction to 22K and largely second division football I was quite happy to go to the shiny new SOL.

 

[samwise_new]

nobody wanted to leave the Park, so many memories were etched into the folklore but it had to be done, as the new place was being worked on and slowly growing i think it was seen as a soul-less bowl.

the name was intensely disliked in general with fans having other names they preferred, then came the bricks and the first bit of 'character' came in, over the years a lot of little additions have appeared in and around the stadium and currently the work on the sheepfolds have built it into the well loved stadium it is now.

Bob's idea looked drastic at the time considering the quoted price, it really looked like a 'bargain basement' job, but in fairness there were also plenty of plans put in place to extend and grow without the need to close areas down (just bring a raincoat for a few weeks) so it is still building.

personally i liked the place, 'not Roker Park' but it was never intended to be and sitting down at the march was the strangest part...hell, i hate change and football has changed a lot and probably will continue to alter but we are all still here.

 

[Smug in Boots]

nobody wanted to leave the Park, so many memories were etched into the folklore but it had to be done, as the new place was being worked on and slowly growing i think it was seen as a soul-less bowl.

the name was intensely disliked in general with fans having other names they preferred, then came the bricks and the first bit of 'character' came in, over the years a lot of little additions have appeared in and around the stadium and currently the work on the sheepfolds have built it into the well loved stadium it is now.

Bob's idea looked drastic at the time considering the quoted price, it really looked like a 'bargain basement' job, but in fairness there were also plenty of plans put in place to extend and grow without the need to close areas down (just bring a raincoat for a few weeks) so it is still building.

personally i liked the place, 'not Roker Park' but it was never intended to be and sitting down at the march was the strangest part...hell, i hate change and football has changed a lot and probably will continue to alter but we are all still here.

As usual mate, you manage to sum things up pretty well.

Personally I loved the way people swayed between the Fulwell and Roker Ends.

It was hilarious how opposition 'hooligans' would follow the idea that the Fulwell was 'our end' and think they could act the big lad in the Roker ...

... then find themselves in the centre block completely surrounded.

On a few occasions they'd beg the police to put them under the scoreboard or the Clockstand Paddock ...

... and when Spurs got in early, thought they'd 'taken the Roker' and ended up running onto the pitch to get away

 

[D-K]

Some amazing stories on this thread (thank you @Smug in Boots) and although I only got the last few years of Roker, boy I'd give anything to have one more night game there.

As has been said, that pitch just got you when you reached the top of the steps in the Fulwell. What a lush patch of green that was! I went with my school mates, stood in the corner of the cage and thought we were all cool as anything! Even managed to get a few chants going in our time which only cemented our coolness

My memories are of Don Goodman, Phil Gray, Johnny Kay and Dickie Ord (shooooot) etc but my stand out memories are of Peter Davenport's goal against Boro, Lee Power's top bin against I can't remember who and that night Bosnich turned into Superman!

Yes, I didn't have a long relationship with the old girl but I will always love Roker Park and would be there in an instant if I was offered '1 last night'.

The SOL has come a long way though since the first few years and now with all the nice touches it's becoming more a home than a place to go and watch the Lads. Chelsea was unreal, the noise was incredible that night and the game matched it but of all the memories I've had in football, Ballard is my greatest. The ecstasy in that moment and the noise and sheer enjoyment that went into the night after the final whistle was epic. And then my Mrs texting me to say she could hear us nut cases from our house was one of those surreal, how the hell can she hear us moments! I live in Humbledon!