We are due a league match against City on January 10. A recent copy of the weekly Rugby Paper had an article bemoaning the disappearance of historic Boxing Day games. The author provided a short list of the most special of these and amongst them was the annual fixture between Sunderland RFC and Durham City RFC. As those 73ers long in the tooth will recall, some of the good and great of rugby football took part in these games. ( Please name some in our WhatsApp if you can reca

SRFC’S 1877 RIVALS   Just recently while carrying out some research in the Sunderland Echo I came across the fixtures list for SRFC for the 1877 – 8 season and it makes for interesting reading. During the season we faced seven opponents home and away. Three of the seven are still in existence – Darlington, Westoe and Durham University. Darlington is one of our oldest rivals and the first ‘club’ club founded in Durham County (though not continuous due to a dabble in associati

James Harry Edwards is standing back left with arms folded - mistakenly noted as John in handwritten club records There are two versions of the song online Come on the Durhams or Jamie's Song Come on, the Durhams Below are the two case studies that inspired the song. I did over 250 case studies 2014-18 - Get in touch if you want a free online copy of the book. I have hi-lited the reference that led to the song keith.gregson@talk21.com SCFC/FWW/54 EDWARDS JOHN H/K.I.A –WO 339/

Below is a list of the rugby lads who died in or because of war – in brackets is an identifiable year in which they played for the club – the date thus 05/05/1917 is the date of death.   1914-18 War James Adamson jnr. (1913) – RFA/RHA – 05/05/1917 fly half Robert W Adamson (1907) – 7th DLI – 25/05/1917 centre Charles W T Barker (1914) – 15th DLI – 24/03/1918–fly half Harold T F Barker (1911) – RGA/RFA – 29/03/1918   scrum half George H Carter (1906) – RFA - 18/11/1915 –winger

During the centenary of the First World War I produced an online book about the Ashbrooke members - past and present - who took part in the conflict. There were some 250 case studies with over 60 losing their lives as a result of the war. ( Anybody interested in an online copy can still get in touch with me for one). One of the interesting case studies involved a Cecil Boyns Ellis and runs as follows; SCFC/FWW/55 ELLIS CECIL B – SAPPER ROYAL ENGINEERS This is a difficult case

In April we set off on our course to digitize the club's archives and to let the rest of Sunderland know what we ( Marcus and self) have...

Red Bull and 'Newcastle Falcons' have just announced the takeover and re-naming of the club and, in so doing, has also referenced the...

According to the list Alan Ayre Smith is in the middle of the second row up with the plain low necked top Alan Ayre Smith's Sunderland...

Sunderland RFC's early Lions Founded in 1873, Sunderland (Rugby) Football Club has long been recognised by the Rugby Football Union as...

This week, of all weeks [containing V E Day 80], has led me to a couple of our members who gave their lives in World War II. Researcher...

As noted elsewhere there is now a great deal of interest in Howard Marshall as the club has been given a plaque in his memory by the...

Welcome to our new co-archivist - County Rugby under 20 and Newcastle University history student Marcus Harris. Thanks to a grant from...

Many of you are aware that we have access to 'the oldest complete set of club kit' known to the World Rugby Museum. Phil McGowan, curator...

Alan Hughes is known to many at the club - as supporter, former player and official but how many are aware of his current role as time...

We have jut been sent a copy of this lovely picture of one of our England internationals. Poole played for us both before and after his...

Here's a little poser for readers! Besides recalling the efforts of the late and much missed Harry Wilson -answer these questions - how...

I am pleased to announce that I am back on track with the Club Heritage site thanks to the technological knowhow of Mr Tony Hodgson. Many...

A number of club members attended Robin's funeral on 19 December. Robin was a great club man and his obituary has been placed on a number...

While sorting out my online photo archive recently I came across correspondence I had a little while back with local man Philip Darling....

I have mentioned in a number of blogs the fact that we are lucky to have one of the most complete club archives in the country. For a...