How the Black Cats' former teenage history makers reacted to 15yo Chris Rigg's Sunderland AFC debut

At 15 years and 203 days, Rigg became Sunderland’s youngest-ever outfield player – and only the second to make the first team before turning 16.

He broke a record which had stood since September 25, 1971, when Jimmy Hamilton took to the pitch aged just 16 years and 103 days.

It was the start of a career that would see Jimmy play for the likes of Bristol City, Plymouth and Hartlepool, as well as enjoying two stints in Australia.

Jimmy, who now works at a crematorium close to his home in Dumfries, admitted he had not realised his record had been broken until contacted by the Echo.

‘I am pleased for the lad, I really am’

He remembers coming on to cheers from the crowd chanting his nickname, Chico: “There was a Chico Hamilton playing at Aston Villa at the time and the fans had latched onto that,” he recalled.

"It was only while I was at Sunderland that I was Chico – once I left I never got called that again.”

Jimmy, 67, reckons the second club record he set that day will stand for a while yet - though Chris Rigg may have something to say about it. Finding the net within just five minutes of coming on, Jimmy is the Black Cats’ youngest goalscorer.

He is philosophical about seeing his 51-year record broken: "I am pleased for the lad, I really am, and also a bit jealous, I suppose, because I would love to still be playing,” he said.

Jimmy may have held the record as the Black Cats’ youngest outfield player but the youngest person ever to pull on a first team jersey was already seven years into his Roker Park career when Chico burst onto the scene.

Derek Forster was just 15 years and 185 days old when he replaced first-choice keeper Jimmy Montgomery in the starting line-up for Sunderland’s first home game back in the top flight on August 22, 1964.

Indeed, until Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri made his first appearance in September, aged just 15 years and 181 days, Derek was top flight football’s youngest-ever debutant.

‘I was too young’

Derek, now 73, had been an England schoolboys international and was courted by a number of clubs: “At Sunderland, I was given a contract that guaranteed I would play if there was an injury to the first team keeper, which I thought was a very good thing,” he said.

“Then Monty got injured two weeks before the match, under my contract they had to play me, and I found myself up against Gordon Banks in front of 55,000 people.”

Derek acquitted himself well under an intense media spotlight, but admits he was too young for the attention and his words of advice for Rigg.

“Everywhere he goes, people will be looking and there will be pressure,” he said.

"You are too young to take it in at that age, I was too young to take it – you should just be concentrating on being the best player you can.”