Slumberland

I’m not talking about the nonsense that took place at Sunderland back in October. Like most clubs, a visit from Leeds United did represent their cup final and their fans celebrated a draw in the same way as Burnley’s celebrate their goalkeeper watching Netflix during their matches.

This was an actual cup final – the FA Cup Final on 5 May 1973. Leeds were again favourites to beat their lower-league opposition. Sunderland won the match 1.0 with a goal by Ian Porterfield, but we were all convinced that Peter Lorimer had equalised in the second half. Referee Ken Burns waived both this and a penalty away after Sunderland defender Dave Watson had appeared to foul Billy Bremner in the area.

I genuinely do find it hard to talk about that match, even though more than 50 years have now passed. I suppose it cemented my contempt for corrupt officials – both referees and their sponsoring authorities – which had simmered since 1967, become toxic in 1971 and was reinforced 11 days later in Cyprus. Two years later in Paris it was even worse…

Ken Burns had also presided over the 1967 FA Cup semi-final against the team we’re all still waiting for father to arm us with his loaded weapon. Burns ruled out Terry Cooper’s second-half goal for offside before, in the final minute of the match, Leeds were awarded a free kick, just outside the penalty area. Johnny Giles tapped the ball sideways to Peter Lorimer who crashed the ball into the net. However, Burns ruled it out as Chelsea’s players had not retreated the regulation 10 yards and he hadn’t blown his whistle for the free kick to be taken.

I was seven and I was appalled. That was the day I became a Leeds United fan.During that same cup run we had met Sunderland in the fifth round. After a 1.1 draw in the original tie at Roker Park, four days earlier, the replay took place at Elland Road on 15 March 1967.

Because of the short turnaround in the matches, the replay could not be made all-ticket and, despite Elland Road's official capacity at the time being 52,000, the attendance that evening was recorded as 57,892 - still Leeds United's record attendance at Elland Road. Many thousands were locked outside and, with the turnstiles being closed some 23 minutes before kick-off, others tried to scale walls and climb onto the roofs of both the Scratching Shed and the Old Peacock to get a glimpse of the action.

Amid this mayhem, a crush barrier on Lowfields Road collapsed causing over 1,000 fans to spill onto the pitch. The game was halted by the referee for 17 minutes while 32 injured people were picked out of the crush and taken away in ambulances to Leeds General Infirmary. The match itself finished 1.1 again. Leeds won a second replay at Hull City's Boothferry Park, 2.1, five days later.

Whilst we wouldn’t want anyone to be hurt on Monday, it is an absolute certainty that Elland Road will be alive and kicking - something we rarely see at Sunderland’s home ground, apart from when receiving gifts. Not that much changes does it?

I suspect quite a lot of you visited Roker Park. ‘The most comfortable place in the world’ it certainly wasn’t – especially with those ferocious gales blowing in from the North Sea – but, even with the delusion of the Stadium of Light, ‘slumberland’ does seem more and more appropriate label for Sunderland than a ‘superpower’ anytime soon.

Our first ever match in the First Division took place on 30 August 1924 against…Sunderland. It too ended in a draw. Sunderland were one of the top teams in the country at that time. Hopefully, after Monday, they will remember where they are now, and we won’t be playing them again for a very long time.