On This Day (1st December 1952): Wright looks bright down in Hampshire!
Yesterday at 01:00 AM
An early floodlight game for Sunderland saw makeshift striker Tommy Wright stand out at The Dell on this day seventy two years ago
Sir Joseph Swan's work in developing the first incandescent bulbs makes him one of Sunderland's most prominent pioneers, and the area continues to be associated with 'light' through the club's 'Davy lamp' derivations, but for today's feature, we're going back to the 1950s, when the club was involved in some of the earliest examples of floodlight football in the UK.
Even before then, Sunderland had appeared under a shiny gaze, when in 1933 we played a friendly game against Racing Club de Paris under 'artificial light'.
Kicking off late in the evening in France, the match ended 3-0 to Johnny Cochrane's side, who a fortnight earlier had hosted the same team on Wearside and won 5-2.
This was during the same decade that Arsenal had first looked to utilise floodlights at their Highbury base, but it wouldn't be until the 1950s that the Football League allowed these to be operated in senior fixtures.
By then, Southampton were taking the idea forward and in 1950, The Dell became the first ground in England to have permanent floodlighting put in, with the hosts staging various friendlies and reserve team games, with others following suit.
By December 1952, Sunderland were ready to test their own system out and did so against Dundee, but before that, we experienced playing under such conditions, having accepted an invite from the second division Saints.
Bill Murray's squad had already been down south, having played at Tottenham Hotspur that weekend, so were able to make the Monday night game quite easily.
However, we were to be without Trevor Ford, who as well as scoring twice at White Hart Lane in a 2-2 draw, had picked up an ankle injury. Southampton kindly allowed the star striker to make use of their facilities and receive some treatment at The Dell ahead of the exhibition, but he was unable to make a sufficient recovery ahead of kick off.
Sunderland had last played there in 1948 when they were the victims of a minor FA Cup upset, and come the end of the season, they finished one place above the Division One relegation zone, whilst Southampton only just missed out on promotion into the top flight.
When the teams were drawn against each other again in 1951, the Black Cats exacted their revenge by progressing to the fifth round, and they followed that up here with another good show in an entertaining affair played in front of around 15,000 appreciative supporters – many of whom found attending at night time to be more convenient for them.
One upside to Ford's absence was that the man asked to deputise at centre forward, Tommy Wright, scored a hat trick in a 3-2 success.
Willie Watson created one of the goals, and it was Len Shackleton that set up the other two on his return to the side following injury.
Also brought into the starting eleven were Maurice Marston and Bill Walsh, both of whom were predominately backup players at this stage, and Tommy Reynolds – whose time at the club was also winding down.
Diminutive Reynolds wore size four boots and prior to joining Sunderland, had been based in Sri Lanka with the RAF, having earlier worked in the laboratory of a paint factory.
As well as the pre-game changes, there was a substitution made ahead of the second half – a rarity in those days – with Jack Stelling replacing Arthur Hudgell.
The score was 1-1 at that point after Frank Dudley had made it 1-0 in the early minutes (some sources attributed the goal to Ted Bates) and the hosts lead again when Eric Day notched after an hour, only for Wright to grab another equaliser and then the winner.
