On This Day (15 September 1890): A tale of two goalkeepers: The Prelude! 

09/15/2024 01:00 AM

Well over a century ago, Sunderland were days away from the arrival of a would-be icon, signed in response to their early league troubles and a defeat to Wolves

Football League new boys Sunderland would soon take the competition by storm, but following their initial election, our first few outings in the competition weren't without problems.

Despite being crowned champions in our second and third seasons, the first campaign was about finding our feet.

The club had built a strong reputation in local knockout tournaments and glamour friendlies, but once there were points to play for, it took a couple of months to acclimatise, as shown in our maiden league outing against Burnley, who despite finishing second bottom the season before, still won the game.

Both the Burnley fixture and the following game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on this day, were staged on Wearside, and the club's offer to help meet the travelling expenses of sides visiting the 'far flung' North East was believed to be one of the reasons their application to join the league was accepted.

As it happened, no team is thought to have ever requested payment from Sunderland, but against Wolves it was our own naivety that ended up costing us dearly, as after racing into a three goal lead, we somehow conspired to lose the match.

The two early defeats- during which seven goals had been conceded- prompted widespread concerns about the Lads' defence and particularly our goalkeeper, although the action had all taken place at the other end of the pitch during the opening stages of the encounter.

Wolves lost the toss and had to play into a stiff breeze, and although backed by a good number of away fans, they struggled with the conditions at first.

Debutant John Gillespie scored within a quarter of an hour, following up well after Charlie Mason had blocked a Johnny Campbell attempt. The visitors seemingly disputed the goal with the officials, although the nature of their complaint wasn't reported, and their mood wasn't helped when an error from goalkeeper Billy Rose allowed John Scott to make it 2-0 a couple of minutes later.

Wolves did attempt to compose themselves and were given a boost when a Campbell 'point' was ruled out, with most onlookers unsure as to why.

However, it wasn't long before Campbell did get a goal, albeit there again appears to be some confusion around it, with some sources previously crediting it to one of his teammates.

The first hand account that's now available from the archives of The Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette was unequivocal about the scorer, stating that Campbell had spun on and put away a John Harvie centre.

Harvie had been Sunderland's first ever professional player and his assist brought about more rancour and puzzlement.

With a Wolves defender prone on the ground, some of his colleagues had stopped playing by the time he'd crossed, yet whilst they were helping their teammate to his feet, the referee signalled that the resulting Campbell effort would stand.

This sense of injustice was perhaps what prompted the Midlanders to dig deep and get into gear after the break, whilst playing with the wind them behind them could've also been a factor.

Another Wolverhampton player had spent a period on the deck before being able to resume, and even though kick off had been at 17:06, it wasn't until 18:00 that the second half started, and it was from this point that the Lads showed a touch of inexperience and once an hour had been played, we started losing our grip on proceedings.

Expecting an offside call to be made against them, Sunderland turned away from the ball and started readying themselves to defend a free kick.

No such award was made though, and in the few seconds during which they were switched off, Wolves raced upfield. William Kirkley in nets had to concede a corner as his defence scrambled back, from which Charlie Bowdler is thought to have scored.

Encouraged, Jack Addenbrooke's men then grabbed another soon afterwards as they broke down the middle again, with this one coming from either Sammy Thomson or Bowdler, depending on which source you accept.

Darkness was creeping in when the flag fell to signify the final ten minutes, and whilst another Sunderland attempt was ruled out for offside, the incident was sandwiched in between two valid strikes from Wolves that meant they'd completed a fantastic turnaround.

Although Burnley hadn't taken on Sunderland, Wolves had made four previous trips and each one had finished level, so this defeat, and the nature of it, raised questions.

As is always the case, there were some that looked to apportion blame to individuals rather than the team, and although the Echo didn't point any fingers, it was stopper Kirkley that anecdotally took most of the stick.

How fair this was is open to debate, not least because he supposedly felt unwell during the game.

Nevertheless, whilst it was early days for the club in Football League terms, this proved to be the end of the road for the hitherto stalwart of the club's early non-league beginnings. As a local lad, he remained in the area, but wouldn't get to pull on a Sunderland Association Football Club shirt ever again.

For information about what he did do next, and on the subject of who took his place between the sticks, you'll have to come back on Tuesday 17 September, by which point in 1890, the identity of his replacement was common knowledge.

Monday 15 September 1890

Football League

Newcastle Road

Attendance: 5,000

Sunderland 3 (Gillespie 15', Scott 20', Campbell- before half time)

Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 (Bowdler 65', Thomson 67', Wykes 82', Wood 89')

Sunderland: Kirkley, Porteous, Oliver; Wilson, Auld, Spence; Harvie, Gillespie, Campbell; Scott, Hannah