Call to honour the 'overlooked' Sunderland players of SAFC's 1973 FA Cup glory

File photo dated 05-05-1973 of Sunderland's captain Bobby Kerr held aloft by his teammates Billy Hughes and goalkeeper Jim Montgomery after their FA Cup Final victory against Leeds United at Wembley Stadium. PA Photo. Issue date: Tuesday May 5, 2020. Sunderland defied the odds to beat Leeds in the FA Cup final on May 5, 1973. See PA story SOCCER On This Day Sunderland. Photo credit should read PA/PA Wire.

Sunderland has a long-running tradition of honouring citizens who make ‘significant contributions to the wellbeing and community spirit of Sunderland’, be they residents or those from outside the city who have served Wearside in some way.

The SAFC 1973 cup final team are the latest proposed for Freedom of the City, which aims to celebrate the pride and glory they brought to residents.

Sunderland City Council’s cabinet backed the proposals earlier in October, with the award expected to be finalised by full council next month.

While welcoming the news, Conservative councillors have called for the civic honour to be extended to the players, though not in the final match, who helped the club reach Wembley.

It is the idea of St Michael’s ward councillor, Michael Dixon, who has supported the club since 1959 and was at all but two matches in the cup run.

He said: “It does tend to get overlooked that there were a number of players who, though not selected against Leeds, played a big part in us getting to the final by being in the squad of twelve for every game except the sixth round Luton match.

“Each were the product of the excellent youth system we had in place at the time, namely Jackie Ashurst, Joe Bolton, John Lathan, Mick McGiven and John Tones who all played, while Keith Coleman once, and Brian Chambers, several times, were the named single substitutes.

“So I would like us as a city to extend this award, with one of their number receiving the honour while representing them all as a collective group, in recognition of the very important, but to date, rather unheralded, part they played towards our eventual cup triumph.”

Cllr Dixon added: “What I believe makes this recognition even more deserved is that in total all these lads played nearly 700 times for Sunderland, with Joe Bolton alone representing us in over 270 games.

“I am sure the appropriate wording can be agreed and I would hope, for this added part to the overall award, we can get the support of the council leader and his group, plus the other three political parties.”

Labour leader of Sunderland City Council, councillor Graeme Miller, welcomed the proposals.

He said: “Reaching the FA Cup final was an all-round team effort and on behalf of all fans, I’d like to thank councillor Dixon for his positive comments and observations.

“This is certainly a welcome idea that we can all look at when the next steps to granting this Freedom of the City are considered at our full council meeting in November.”

Sunderland AFC were victorious in the FA Cup final on May 5, 1973 winning 1-0 in front of a crowd of 100,000 fans.

The Division Two side faced Division One’s Leeds United, who were the FA Cup holders as well as playing in their third final in four seasons.

Sunderland became the first Division Two side to lift the cup since West Bromwich Albion in 1931 and the win remains the last significant trophy that Sunderland AFC has won.

The Freedom of the City has already been conferred several times to recognise the milestone win.

In January 1974, the council conferred the Freedom of the City to both the club and the team’s manager Robert ‘Bob’ Stokoe.

The team’s goalkeeper James ‘Jimmy’ Montgomery BEM, also received the accolade on May 12, 2016.

Team members Richard Philip ‘Dick’ Malone, Ronald George ‘Ron’ Guthrie, Michael Frederick ‘Micky’ Horswill, David Vernon ‘Dave’ Watson, Richard Ernest ‘Ritchie’ Pitt, Robert ‘Bobby’ Kerr, Victor Lewis ‘Vic’ Halom, Dennis Tueart, and David Young are named in a report for the latest Freedom of the City honour.

Although two members of the team, William ‘Billy’ Hughes and John Ian Porterfield, have sadly passed away, they will still be recognised alongside their teammates, with their families invited to receive the honour on their behalf.

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