Malta-based Sunderland fan makes 2,000-mile trip to see SAFC in action

Meet the Sunderland fan who has travelled 2,000 miles to follow SAFC.

Karl Bonavia is visiting the city for two months to follow the Black Cats home and away.

He does it because 'the support and passion from the fans is amazing and still amazes me to this day."

Karl, 34, lives in Malta but he's been watching the Black Cats since the 'Peter Reid, Quinn and Phillips era.

A belter from Craig Gardner

He has even just bought his first season ticket.

His first live game was a 2-0 win during the Martin O'Neill era when he got to see two superb goals from Stephane Sessegnon and Craig Gardner.

Karl said: "At the time I didn't come to matches as often as I would have liked.

'You waste your first day travelling'

"The major issue is to find flights to come over, from Malta to Newcastle flights are very very limited and you have to find alternative destinations which makes it even harder. Most of the time you waste your first day travelling.

"Recently, I've been coming to Sunderland for longer periods (a few months) since my work allows me to work remotely and I can be able to watch SAFC home and away while I'm here.

"This season is the first time I got my season ticket!"

Amazing fans, incredible support

Karl's love for Sunderland started 25 years ago but he admitted: "Even though results were good at the time, it wasn't the reason I got so passionate about SAFC.

"The support and passion from the fans is amazing and still amazes me to this day.

"In those early days it was almost impossible to watch SAFC matches in Malta so I used to listen to all the games on commentary from the SAFC website.

"Trying to get all the news possible I remember having a subscription for the Legion of Light of Magazine, which took ages to be delivered to Malta.

A whole collection of SAFC shirts

"I try to collect as much SAFC stuff as I can, nowadays I have a wardrobe full of SAFC shirts which I started collecting a long time ago.

"I don't only read about the club and its history but I also took a lot of interest in the history of Sunderland and the North East."

Karl is one of a number of SAFC fans in Malta and others include Colin Backhouse who shared his story with the Echo earlier this year.

The former Wearsider lives in Sliema but hasn't waned in his love for SAFC.

Karl said: "Back in Malta, I met a few other SAFC fans (some of them are from the North East but moved to Malta) and we meet for every match in a particular pub, which helps when results aren't good!"

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