Sunderland supporter wears NUFC shirt for charity

Nov 24 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

DIE HARD Sunderland football supporter Peter Connon changed his allegiance for the day yesterday – by wearing a Newcastle United black and white top.

The 53-year-old father of four, who has Sunderland’s black cat emblem tattooed on his right leg, was challenged by pals to wear the colours of his hated rivals.

He was at the Blake Arms pub in Seghill, Northumberland, where his son Ritchie, 30, plays for the football team, to watch Sunderland’s match against West Ham yesterday.

And he managed to raise some money for teenage cancer sufferers – as well as a lot of laughs. Peter, a self-employed painter and decorator of Wembley Avenue, Monkseaton, Whitley Bay, said: “I was asked what the worst thing was I could think of doing and it was wearing a Toon top.

“I have banned people from wearing black and white in my house. Anybody can shave their legs or abseil off a building for charity, but I am having to be very brave to wear this thing. I’ve never had a black and white top on in my life before today.

“Living on North Tyneside most of my mates are black and white daft, including my son Ritchie. Mickey West, who manages the pub team, dared me to wear his Toon top for the day.”

When he appeared in the pub wearing the unfamiliar black and white, his friends greeted him with a mixture of good-natured jeers and Newcastle songs, but Peter responded by asking for his sponsorship money.

His friends have pledged to sponsor him to the tune of £300 plus towards the £50,000 needed to build a chill-out room in the Teenage Cancer Ward at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary which will allow sufferers to have somewhere to relax while undergoing treatment.

The chill-out unit will have day care facilities, social and recreational areas, a kitchen and dining area for patients and parents, broadband access, computer equipment and a roof-top garden.

Peter, who has supported Sunderland for 47 years, said his favourite moment was watching his heroes beat Leeds United at Wembley in the FA Cup Final of 1973, at the tender age of 18.