The day Sunderland's European opponents were swarmed by hundreds of kids during a training session
‘One lad had been sent to the shop by his mam to get a loaf of bread, so he got a player to sign the loaf!’
An SAFC fan has reflected on the amazing day he met Sunderland’s last European opponents - and even ‘trained’ with them on a school playing field.
Paul Barron was just 9 years old when he and his pals at Our Lady of the Rosary School in Peterlee came face to face with the stars of Sporting Lisbon.
Sunderland’s European Cup Winners Cup opponents were staying at the Norseman Hotel in Peterlee at the time and had spotted the school playing field nearby. They headed over for a training session without reckoning on the scene which would soon face them.
“They started doing star jumps and warm-up runs but they were soon surrounded by hundreds of kids,” said Paul who is now a 63 year old business boss.
“We were running next to them. As far as we were concerned, that was our pitch and the stars were playing on our school field until they gave it up as a bad job.”
It was an amazing experience for a young lad and Paul remembers another part of the Lisbon players’ stay in Peterlee.
“All the boys at school were talking about how Sporting Lisbon were staying at the Norseman. Me, my brother and the other kids in the street lived in the nearby streets of Moray, Forth and Tees Close where it was all young families at the time.
“After school finished, we would all pile on down to the Norseman and it seemed like every boy aged 8 to 15 was there, trying to get to see the players.”
Occasionally, the stars would come down to meet the youngsters and would hand out signed postcards with their faces on.
“The hotel staff would try and keep us out but we would get inside the lobby.”
Paul even remembers the lengths that the Peterlee youngsters went to just to get an autograph.
“One lad had been sent to the shop by his mam to get a loaf of bread, so he got a player to sign the loaf of bread!”
The Lisbon stars even spent time on a walk with youngsters and were pictured by the Sunderland Echo as they mixed with youngsters.
Paul remembered: “They were the bigger boys and they got ahead of us with their Chopper bikes.”
Paul was a Sunderland fan himself and began going to matches in the mid 1970s. “Once you go, the die is cast,” he said.
His sons Joseph, 23, and Noah, 18, followed on and became Black Cats supporters.
We would love to hear from more people who remember the year when European football came to Wearside in 1973. Were you there and did you get to the away games in Budapest and Lisbon?
Tell us more by emailing [email protected]