Our fair share of sporting legends

May 22 2007 By The Journal

It used to be said in the North-East that you only had to whistle down a mine shaft and you'd get a team of great footballers. Those days of it being "the hotbed of soccer" may have waned for now, but for sporting talent, heroes, excitement, world records, gold medals and newspaper headlines, the region has provided more than most.

Although it's a long time since a North-East football club won top honours, long enough for finely-honed bodies to turn to into middle-age spread, sport has been inseperable from The Journal's other news for 175 years.

Times have changed since Alf Common became the first £1,000 footballer when he was transferred from Sunderland to Middlesbrough in 1905, but who could forget Bob Stokoe's jig when his underdog Sunderland side beat Leeds United in the 1973 FA Cup final?

Then there was Brendan Foster's world record in the 3,000 metres at Gateshead Stadium on August 3, 1974. And, those mad three weeks in July and August 1985 when Steve Cram took no fewer than three world records in the 1,500 metres (in Nice), the mile (Oslo) and at 2,000 metres (Budapest).

The Journal's back page beamed: "Steve sets third world record" and goes on to quote him: "I'm not likely to do that one again for a long while. It was really tough. It is like running the world mile record with a bit extra on top."

Sports headline writing and presentation have changed dramatically, while match reports and observations have moved with the times, too.

Take the way the 1932 FA Cup Final was reported - the famous "over the line" game when Newcastle United brought the cup back to Tyneside for the third time. The headlines read: "How Newcastle Won the Cup. Great fight back. Wing halves make big difference. Allen's two goals".

The history of football in the North-East, traced through The Journal's files, is naturally, dominated by Newcastle United, but the exploits of other clubs aren't ignored.

Sunderland, for instance, have also been one of the successful clubs in the past. Perhaps not everyone realises just how good a record the club has been in home competitions. We all know of their famous victories in the 1937 and 1973 FA Cup finals, but they have reached the semi-final stage seven times. They have also been League champions six times, the last time in 1936 - the year before their first Cup win.

Alan Shearer

Only Jackie Milburn, whose Newcastle United goal-scoring record Alan Shearer surpassed in his final season with the club, is as revered by the Toon Army. He was a product of the famous Wallsend Boys Club and as a 16-year-old was rejected by his home-town club who reputedly tried him out in goal. He went to Southampton where he scored a hat-trick on his full debut against Arsenal aged 17 years and eight months, becoming the top-flight's youngest goal-scorer... a record held by Jimmy Greaves for the previous 30 years. Goal-scoring records were never to be far away.

In 1992 he was signed by Blackburn Rovers and under manager Kenny Dalglish scored an astonishing 112 goals in just 138 games, winning a Premier League winners' medal. A world record £15m move to Newcastle United - managed by Kevin Keegan - followed, where 15,000 fans turned out to celebrate his arrival.

Shearer started and continued, despite serious injuries, to score prolifically for the club, but trophy-wise he was to leave his beloved Newcastle empty-handed. He was appointed an OBE for services to Association Football and awarded the Freedom of the City of Newcastle in 2001. His total of 313 competitive goals in 622 games marks him out as one of England's greatest ever marksmen.

Jackie Milburn

The Ashington-born football legend whose name is synonymous with Newcastle United. Christened John Edward Thompson Milburn, the initials JET were particularly appropriate as he had devastating pace as well as a thunderous shot in either foot. As a youngster he excelled at football and athletics.

He will be forever known as "Wor Jackie", the number nine who led Newcastle United to three FA Cup wins in 1951, 1952 and 1955, a competition that seemed to bring out the best in him, as he scored in every round in 1951 and netted one of the fastest ever Cup Final goals in 1955 with a header after just 45 seconds.

Milburn scored 200 goals in competitive appearances for Newcastle, a figure surpassed only by Alan Shearer in 2006. Milburn also scored 38 goals in war-time games which some contend still makes him the Magpies' highest ever scorer. He also scored nine goals in just 13 appearances for England, a low return of caps for someone so talented. At the height of his fame he never earned more than £17 a week.

Len Shackleton

The Clown Prince of Football came to the attention of talent scouts by scoring 166 goals in six years of wartime football at Bradford Park Avenue.

In February, 1948, after fewer than two years with Newcastle United, where he was transferred for £13,000, he signed for Sunderland for a then-record fee of £20,500.

He scored 101 goals in 348 games with Sunderland, but his team's fortunes were poor and despite his great work and astounding ball skills they never reached the heights the fans demanded. He gained five caps for England and was famous both on and off the field for his sense of humour, hence the nickname which he used in 1956 for his autobiography.

One chapter of that book was The Average Director's Knowledge of Football. It consisted of a single blank page.

The Northumberland Plate

The "Pitmen's Derby" forms the centrepiece of the three-day racing festival at Newcastle Racecourse, usually on the last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in June. The race is run over a distance of 2 miles 19 yards, contested by thoroughbreds aged three-years-old and upwards, and is one of the richest two-mile handicaps in the world.

It was first run in 1883 and in its early years, it afforded a rare holiday for the local mining families who flocked to the course to enjoy the racing. It continues to attract huge crowds.

Harry Clasper

A professional rower and innovative boat builder who was one of the most famous sportsmen of the mid-Victorian era. Harry began competitive rowing at the age of 30 and was largely concerned, during his time on the water, with streamlining his boats and oars to have a competitive edge.

He formed a formidable rowing team with his brothers William, Edward, Robert and Richard as cox on the River Tyne where their races attracted huge crowds. Great rivals at this vintage era in rowing were James Renforth and Robert Chambers.

Clasper built the first widely-raced keelless boat, The Five Brothers, in 1844 - which, manned by the Claspers, went on to win at the Royal Thames Regatta on June 22 of that year. He then built the Lord Ravensworth, a new boat for the 1845 Thames Regatta, which captured the World Championship on June 26. Harry and his team returned to Newcastle with the cup to a massive civic reception, bringing the city to a standstill.

In later years, he specialised in building racing rowing boats and even today there is a type of sliding seat that bears his name.

His funeral in 1870 was a massive event, with a crowd estimated between 100,000 and 130,000 lining the route from his home in Ouseburn, Newcastle, to his final resting place in Whickham cemetery, Gateshead.